to present to the Fuehrer on 15 February 1942, and which was authorized by him in its unadulterated form. It was not an instrument of exploitation, but an act of liberal formation of the agrarian constitution in the midst of the most terrible of all wars. Right in the middle of the war the eastern countries not only received a new agrarian constitution but also agricultural machines. The witness Dencker, in his affidavit, has born witness to the following deliveries to the occupied Soviet territories including the former border states:

I do not think one can say that these deliveries were made in view of an exploitation. So, in this too, Rosenberg accomplished a piece of constructive work that was really a blessing.

In the following, I will first treat the question of Rosenberg's automatic responsibility as minister for the Eastern territories and then his criminal liability on the grounds of his official position.

2. Automatic responsibility (criminal liability). On 17 July 1941, Rosenberg was appointed Reich Minister for the occupied East territories. Two Reich commissariats were set up as supreme territorial authorities: "Ostland" (Esthonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and white-Ruthenia) under the Reich Commissioner Lohse and Ukraine under Reich commissioner Koch. The Reich commissariats were divided into general districts and regions. Right from the beginning, the East Ministry was not conceived as an administrative authority built on a large scale, but as a central office, and supreme authority, which was to confine itself to over

768060-48-21

all instructions and fundamental directives, and in addition was to insure the reinforcing of material and personnel. The actual government was the duty of the Reich commissioner, he was the sovereign in his territory.

It is, moreover, of special importance that Rosenberg as Minister for the East was not at the head of the whole Eastern administration, but that several top authorities existed at the same time. Goering, who was plenipotentiary for the four-year plan, was responsible for the control of the economy in all occupied territories, and in this respect had authority over the minister for the East, for Rosenberg could only issue economic decrees with Goering's permission. The chief of the German police Himmler was solely and exclusively competent for the security of the occupied Eastern territories as far as police authority was concerned; there was no police division at all in the ministry for the East, neither in the Reich commissariats. Rosenberg's competence was furthermore undermined by Himmler the "Reich commissioner for the preservation of German nationality" and by Speer, on behalf of whom a Fuehrer decree detached all technical matters. from the East administration. It was further weakened by Goebbels who claimed for himself the control of propaganda in the occupied Eastern territories too. Later on I shall come to the important question of labor employment which was put under the authority of Sauckel.

Nevertheless, Rosenberg was the minister responsible for the occupied Eastern territories. In this respect, the following must be emphasized: In this trial Rosenberg is not made responsible from the political standpoint, since the high tribunal is no parliament; neither is he made responsible from the point of view of constitutional law, for the high tribunal is not a Supreme Court of Judicature. The liability of the defendant with respect to civil law is not in question either; but only his penal liability, his responsibility for his own alleged crimes and for the crimes of others. I do not need to outline in more detail that for a penal liability and condemnation, it must be proved that the defendant culpably and illegally committed acts forming a case which is punishable by law, and that he may only be punished for a nonaction, i.e., a commission, if he had the legal duty to act, and if it was due to his inaction that the criminal result occurred, i.e., if he had the factual possibility of preventing the criminal result.

It seems to me of decisive importance that Rosenberg was a minister for the occupied Eastern territories, but not a sovereign. The Reich commissioners were sovereigns of the gigantic territories "Ostland" and "Ukraine". The lines along which these

in past by the Soviet Union after 1940, and in this restitution of the soil which had once been taken away from the German proprietors showed the greatest good will conceivable on the part of the German Reich.

This, as well as the already-mentioned agrarian order, has been expressly confirmed by witness Riecke (Transcript P. 8032).

In the general district of White Ruthenia, the independent administration was initiated under Reich Commissar Kube. The "White Ruthenia Central Committee" was founded, furthermore a White Ruthenian relief system and a White Ruthenian youth organization. When a White Ruthenian youth delegation returned from a visit to Germany, Kube said that he would continue to act as a father to the White Ruthenian youth. In the following night he was murdered, but his policy was not changed. I should like to observe in passing that the actual Russian territories between Narwa and Leningrad and around Smolensk had remained all the time under military administration. Likewise the districts around Kharkow and the Crimea.

As far as the Ukraine is concerned, Rosenberg intended to give it, as soon as possible, an extensive central self-administrative sovereignty, similar to the directorates in the Baltic states and pledged to a definite advancement of the cultural and educational needs of the people. After Rosenberg had originally thought that he could assume, Hitler agreed to this idea, another conception came to prevail, namely that all forces should be directed towards the war economy. Rosenberg only managed to achieve and carry through one thing: The new agrarian order of 15 February 1942 which provided for a transition from the collective economy of the Soviet Union to personal exploitation, and then to ownership by the peasants. On 23 June 1943 the property declaration was issued as a complement to this. At first it was not possible to carry it out because of Reich Commissar Koch's resistance, but then military events brought everything to an end. A further fundamental decree was based on a general adjustment of the school system, which Rosenberg had ordered to be worked out, because the Reich Commissioner of the Ukraine declined to do it himself. Rosenberg provided for elementary schools and higher technical schools, the Reich Commissioner protested against this. On account of the conflict which became more and more acute between Rosenberg and Reich Commissioner Koch, Hitler issued, in June 1943, the following written instructions: The Reich Commissioner had no right to make any obstructions, but the Reich Minister for the occupied territories of the East should confine himself to essential questions, and when issuing any orders should