Chapter 1, German seizure of means of payment.

A.) Indemnity for occupation costs.

I have already had the privilege, Gentlemen, of explaining under what conditions and within what limit, by virtue of the Hague Convention, the occupying power may raise contributions in money for the maintenance of its army of occupation.

I shall confine myself to reminding the Tribunal that these costs which are charged to the occupied countries can include only the costs of billeting, feeding, and possibly of paying those soldiers strictly necessary for the occupation of territories.

The Germans knowingly ignored these principles by imposing upon the Netherlands the payment of an indemnity for the maintenance of their troops which was far out of proportion to the needs of the latter.

According to information furnished by the Netherlands Government, which is contained in three reports (the reports of Trip, Hirschfeld, and the Minister of Finance) which I submit as Document Number RF-123, the following sums were exacted on the pretext of being indemnity for the maintenance of occupation troops: 1940 (7 months), 477 million guilders; 1941, 1,124 million guilders; 1942, 1,181 million guilders; 1943, 1,328 million guilders; 1944, 1,757 million guilders; 1945 (4 months only), 489 million guilders. That makes a total of 6,356 million guilders.

A sum as considerable as this constitutes a veritable war tribute raised on the pretext of the maintenance of an army of occupation. Germany thus fraudulently circumvented the regulations of the Hague Convention to seize a considerable amount of means of payment.

B.) Clearing.

In 1931 Germany, faced with economic and financial difficulties, declared a general moratorium on her previous commitments. Nevertheless, in order to be able to continue her foreign commercial operations, she had concluded with most of the other countries, notably with the Netherlands, agreements making possible the settling of commercial debts and, to a certain extent, of financial debts, on the basis of the exchange system called “clearing.”

Before the war there existed on the Netherlands “clearing” an excess of imports from Germany. But after the first months of occupation there was, on the contrary, a considerable excess of exports to Germany, whereas the receipts coming from that country dropped perceptibly.

From the month of June 1940 onward the Germans exacted from the Dutch declarations of foreign currency, gold, precious metals, securities, and foreign credits, as can be seen from the Ordinance of 24 June 1940, submitted as Document Number RF-95. Moreover, the Dutch could, by virtue of the same ordinance, be obliged to sell their stocks to the Bank of The Netherlands.

The German Reich Commissioner, Seyss-Inquart, forced the Bank of The Netherlands to make advances in guilders to maintain equilibrium in clearing, since Germany could furnish no equivalent in merchandise. On the other hand, it was decided that the clearing system should be utilized for the delivery of merchandise as well as for the payment of any debts.

In fact the Germans could buy merchandise and transferable securities in Holland without furnishing any equivalent. The credits in marks of the Dutch sellers were blocked in the Bank of The Netherlands which, on its part, had been obliged to make an equivalent advance on the clearing exchange.

To attempt to limit the fall of the Dutch account on the clearing exchange, and to avoid the transfer by this means of guilders or of transferable stock into Germany, on 8 October 1940, the Secretary General of Netherlands Finance imposed a large tax on the marks that were blocked on the clearing exchange.

However, under date of 31 March 1941, the credit of the Netherlands exceeded 400 million guilders, which in fact had been advanced by the Netherlands Government. At this point the occupiers demanded:

1) That a sum of 300 million guilders be withdrawn from the balance of 400 million and deposited in the German Treasury under the heading of “Military Occupation Costs Incurred ‘Outside’ The Netherlands,” and this was independent of payments already made by that country for the occupation costs.

2) By a decision of the Reich Commissioner, under date of 31 March 1941, reported in the _Verordnungsblatt_ in France, Number 14, which I submit to the Tribunal as Document Number RF-124, payment operations with the Reich were no longer to pass through the clearing exchange but to be operated directly from bank to bank, which would create direct credits of the Netherlands banks on the German banks at the imposed exchange of 100 Reichsmark for 75.36 guilders.

3) By a decree of the same date, 31 March 1941, which I submit as Document Number RF-125, the tax on blocked marks, created on 8 October 1940 by the Netherlands authorities, was abolished.

Faced with this situation, particularly dangerous to the Netherlands treasury, Mr. Trip resigned his position as Secretary General for Finance and President of The Netherlands Bank.

The Reich Commissioner replaced him with Rost von Tonningen, a notorious collaborator who complied with all the demands of the occupying power.

As the private banks were unwilling to keep credits in marks at a rate very disadvantageous to the real parity of 100 Reichsmark to 75.36 guilders, they transferred their credits in marks to the Bank of The Netherlands. The credit account of the Institute of Exports to Germany, through operations with that country, rose considerably; while the credit balance as of 1 April 1941 amounted to 235 million guilders, it was to rise by 1 May 1945, to 4,488 million guilders.

According to information given by the Netherlands Government, this credit was accounted for by purchases of all kinds of merchandise made by the Germans in Holland, of transferable stock or other valuable papers, by payment of services imposed upon Dutch enterprises, the wages of workers deported to Germany, and the liquidation debts incurred by the occupiers.

Apart from these two methods—indemnities for the occupation troops and clearing—the Germans procured resources for themselves in another way—by imposing collective fines, and this in violation of the provisions of Article 50 of the Hague Convention.

In the course of the occupation, under every pretext, the Germans imposed, by way of reprisal or intimidation, considerable fines upon the municipalities. These fines had to be paid by the inhabitants, with the exception of persons of German nationality, members of pro-Nazi associations (NSB, Waffen-SS, NSKK, Society for Technical Aid Services of the Dutch-German cultural community), and persons working for the Germans. According to information which has been obtained up to the present, of only 62 municipalities the total fines thus imposed amounted to a minimum of 20,243,024 guilders. This is based on testimony of the Netherlands Government, which I submit as Document Number RF-126.

From the same testimony, in the archives forgotten by the Germans at The Hague, there have been discovered two copies of letters relative to these collective fines. According to the first of these copies, which is a letter of 8 March 1941, collective fines amounting to 18 million guilders had been raised at the beginning of the year 1941. From the second, we learn that Hitler had given the order to employ this sum for National Socialist propaganda in the Netherlands. I quote:

“Reich Commissioner, The Hague, 1808, 8 March 1941.

“To Liaison Headquarters, Berlin, 1720 hours; to be submitted immediately to Reichsleiter M. Bormann.

“A sum of 18.5 million guilders representing contributions exacted as reprisals from some Dutch cities, will arrive in the next few days. The Reich Commissioner is inquiring whether the Führer has earmarked this sum for a special purpose or if it is to be used in the same way as the Führer has previously ordered in the case of confiscated enemy property. At that time the Führer stipulated that these sums should be spent in the Netherlands for the needs of the community under the proper political considerations.

“Heil Hitler!”—Signed—“Schmidt, Münster, Commissioner General.”

This, then, is the translation of the answer, Document Number RF-126:

“Obersalzberg, 19 March 1941, 1000; Number 4.

“Reichsleiter M. Bormann. . . .”

THE PRESIDENT: One moment! Some of the copies which you have just submitted to us don’t seem to be accurate and the passage which you have just been reading is omitted from some of them.

[_Another copy of the document was presented to the President._]

I now have another copy of the document from which you have read. The two copies which have been handed up are not identical.

M. GERTHOFFER: The document has possibly been improperly numbered. There are two documents, Number RF-126, which should have been indicated as RF-126(1), and RF-126(2). The representative of the Government of The Netherlands certifies the accuracy of the translation of the first copy; and in the second RF-126 document the same representative of the Netherlands Government certifies the existence of the copy of the answer from the headquarters of the Führer.

THE PRESIDENT: The first document is the one you have just read out. The second document begins with the words, “J’ai soumis aujourd’hui.” Is that the second document to which you are referring?

M. GERTHOFFER: It is the second document.

THE PRESIDENT: Could we see the originals? They are two different documents, are they? But they both begin in exactly the same way.

M. GERTHOFFER: The two documents have been submitted by the Netherlands Government. The representative of the Government of The Netherlands who has delivered them certifies that these two documents were found in the Netherlands among German papers.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Go on.

M. GERTHOFFER: The Dutch Government was obliged to make important payments into the German account; and in the reports submitted as Document Number RF-123, it is clearly stated that:

1) The Germans required that a sum of 300 million guilders, which was written to the credit of the Bank of The Netherlands, be used for the needs of their army of occupation outside the Netherlands and that a sum of 76 million guilders in gold be deposited for the same use. The total which the Netherlands had to pay under this pretext, namely, the maintenance of armies of occupation in other countries, was 376 million guilders.

2) From June 1941 on, the Netherlands was obliged to pay, as a contribution to the expenses of the war against Russia, a monthly sum of 37 million guilders, of which a part was payable in gold. The total of the sum that Germany raised under this heading is 1,696 million guilders.

3) The Bank of The Netherlands was obliged to undertake the redemption of Reichskreditkasse notes to the sum of 133 million guilders.

4) The costs of the civilian German government in Holland were charged to that country and amounted to 173 million guilders.

5) The Dutch Treasury was, moreover, obliged to pay 414 million guilders to the Reich account, covering divers expenses, such as wages of Dutch workers deported to Germany, the costs of evacuation of certain regions, costs of the demolition of fortifications, so-called costs for guarding railroads, funds placed at the disposal of the Reich Commissioner, and for various industries utilized by the Germans.

6) The Germans in July 1940 seized 816 bars of gold bullion belonging to the Bank of The Netherlands, which were in the wreck of a Dutch ship sunk at Rotterdam, which represented, including costs of recovery, 21 million guilders.

7) The Government of The Netherlands was obliged to bear annual expenses of 1,713 million guilders to assure the financing of new administrative services imposed on Holland by the occupying power.

In this way, Holland lost 8,565 million guilders. Altogether, including the raising of the gold from a ship sunk in the Meuse, the payments actually made to Germany amount to 11,380 million guilders. If these costs are added to the costs of occupation and clearing, the total of the financial charges imposed on Holland during the occupation amounts to the sum of 22,224 million guilders.

These operations had serious consequences for the economy of the Netherlands. Indeed, the gold supply, which on 1 April 1940 amounted to 1,236 million guilders, had, by 1 April 1945, fallen to 932 million guilders, owing to German levies.

The paper money in circulation, on the contrary, had risen from 1,127 million guilders on 1 April 1940, to 5,468 million guilders on 1 April 1945.

When the Germans occupied the Netherlands, a great portion of the gold of the Bank of The Netherlands had been sent abroad.

However, the Germans, under various pretexts, seized all the gold that was found in the vaults of the bank. I recall that, under the heading of indemnity for occupation, they collected 75 million gold guilders; and for the forced contribution of the Netherlands in the war against Russia, they demanded about 14.4 million gold guilders.

Rost von Tonningen, Secretary General of Finance and President of the Bank of The Netherlands, appointed by the Germans, wrote on 18 December 1943 to the Reich Commissioner that there had not been any gold in Holland since the preceding March. The copy of this letter is submitted as Document Number RF-127.

A document discovered by the United States Army, listed under Number ECR-174, which I submit as Exhibit Number RF-128, consists of a report of the Commissioner of the Bank of The Netherlands of 12 June 1941. It, too, states that the gold reserve of the Bank of The Netherlands amounted, on 12 June 1941, to 1,021.8 million guilders, of which only 134.6 million guilders were in Holland, the rest being either in England, South Africa, or the United States. The same report specifies that all the gold in Holland had been removed.

Not only did the Germans seize the gold of the Bank of The Netherlands, but they also made requisitions of the gold and other means of foreign payment in the possession of the population. The occupying power obliged private individuals to deposit gold which was in their possession with the Bank of The Netherlands, after which this gold was requisitioned and handed over to the Reichsbank. A sum of approximately 71.3 million guilders was paid in this way to the public in exchange for the requisitioned gold.

In the same way also the Germans bought from the public various foreign stocks to a sum of 13,224,000 guilders, and Swedish Government securities to a sum of 4,623,000 guilders.

With important financial means which they had at their disposal, the Germans proceeded to make large purchases in Holland. Such purchases, made with funds extorted from the Netherlands, cannot be considered as having been made in exchange for a real equivalent, but realized only by fictitious payments.

The Germans, in addition to numerous cases of requisitions which were followed by no kind of settlement, proceeded to illicit purchases on the black market and purchases outwardly regular. They thus procured a quantity of things of all kinds, leaving to the population only a minimum of products insufficient to insure their vital needs.

In the second chapter of this presentation we shall examine the illicit purchases on the black market; and in a third chapter, the purchases that were carried out in seemingly regular ways.