She consists, in one part, of intermediate products which demand a certain amound of time to be transformed into finished, useful products; and, on the other hand, in raw materials which--such as aluminum, for example--can be used whilst we wait. But our own factories, which are being built, will be in a position to produce.
"For this question we must, above all, take into consideration the following industrial branches: Industries for the production of zinc, nickel, iron with a certain basis, wolfram, molybdenum, silver, pyrites; metallurgical factories for the production of aluminum, alumina, nickel; industrial production for explosives, synthetic acetates, acetates of calcium, superphosphate, carborate of calcium and soda base products; armament industries, naval dockyards, electric energy, electric energy furnished and from which depends all the industrial branches enumerated above.
"The production capacities of these industrial branches must be maintained for the duration of the occupation at the highest possible levels.
"Certain help coming from the Reich is, from time to time, necessary to surmount the difficulties which come from the seizing of English imports, or those coming from overseas.
"It is most important to assure this aid as far as the industries of raw materials are concerned, the production of which is based essentially on the imports coming from overseas. We can not for a moment overlook the question of the imports of bauxite coming from the German stocks and which can be used by the metallurgical factories of aluminum." Reichskreditkasse which were only legal in Norway and which could not be used in Germany. As in the other occupied countries, this was a means of pressure to obtain financial advantages, which were supposedly freely accorded by these brutally enslaved countries. and of Norwegian credit by two classic methods; imposition of war tribute on the pretext of the maintenance of the occupational army, and also by the functioning of a system of clearing to their profit.
German seizure of all the means of payment. First of all, indemnities for the maintenance of the army of occupation. with notes of the Reichskreditkasse. The Norwegians who had this paper money used to change it at the Bank of Norway; but this financial institution could not obtain from the Reichkreditkasse any real countervalue. In July, 1940 the Bank of Norway had 135,000,000 Rm. which came from the Reichkreditkasse, and the Bank of Norway was obliged to put the Norwegian notes at the disposal of the Germans, They used to draw checks on the Reichskreditkasse which the Bank of Norway was obliged to let go. amounts to 1,450,000,000 crowns at the end of 1940; 3,000,000,000 crowns at the end of 1941; 6,300,000,000 crowns at the end of 1942; 8,700,000,000 crowns at the end of 1943; and 11, 676,000,000 crowns after the liberation of this country. something against it. The constant threat of the new issuing of notes of the Reichskreditkasse as instruments of obligatory payment next to the Norwegian currency obliged the local financial authorities to accept the system of levies in account without actual counter value, which was less dangerous than the issuing of paper money, over the circulation of which the Norwegian administration had no power of control.
by General von Falkenhorst, commander in Norway, to the commander of the Reich, Reichsleiter Terboven, a copy of which was found not so long ago in Norway and which I submit to the Tribunal under Number 119. expenses of the Wehrmacht in Norway, von Falkenhorst writes:
"I am nevertheless of the opinion that the problem cannot at all be resolved in this manner. The only remedy is to completely abandon the actual monetary system; that is to say, the introduction of Reich currency. But, of course, this does not belong to my domain. That is why I also regret not being able to offer you any ether remedies, even though I am perfectly conscious of the seriousness of the situation in which you find yourself." occupation must be added a sum 380,000,000 crowns paid by the Norwegian Treasury for the billeting of the German troops. This information comes tous from a report from the Danish Government, which I submit under the Number 120. pretended maintenance of the occupation troops, a great part was used for other things; notably for the expenses of the police and propaganda. The occupier spent 900,000,000 crowns for these two things. submit under Number 121.
Clearing: The clearing agreement of 1937 for the barter of goods between Norway and Germany remained in force during the occupation, but it was the Bank of Norway which had to advance the necessary funds for the Norwegian exporters. other occupied countries, neutral countries, and with Italy. amounted to 90,000,000 crowns, but this balance does not show up the actual situation, for: handled through the clearing in a very abusive manner;
decided that the exportation should be made into the Reich. Then they sold these products in other countries, especially in Italy, as far as the fish was concerned; of prices, systematically raised the price of all raw products imported into Norway and which were used for the great part for the military needs of the occupiers.
On the other hand, they systematically drove down the prices of the products exported from Norway. the fraudulent operations of the occupiers, the Norwegian authorities could not hinder a very dangerous inflation. From the report of the Norwegian Government, which I submitted under Number 120 a few moments ago, it is seen that the figure of circulation, which in April 1940 amounted to 712,000,000 crowns, rose progressively to reach, on 7 May, 1945, 3,039,000,000 crowns. A inflation of this extent, which is the consequence of the activities of the occupiers, enables us to measure the impoverishment of this country. gold of the Norwegian Bank, as this had been hidden in good time.
Let us now, gentlemen, examine the levies in nature. The Germans proceeded in Norway to numerous requisitions which were or were not followed by so-called regular payments. requisitioned goods:
include the German purchases which were made with Norwegian currency or which were paid for through clearing. Right now it is not yet possible to determine or to appreciate the total extent of this. We can, however, say that the export of fish, which all went to Germany in the majority of cases, came to about 202,400 tons, whereas the official requisitions did not go past 26,000 tons. work under threat of arrest. Nevertheless, they requisitioned all ships which they could, notably, the majority of the fishing fleet. transported to Germany, as well as about 30,000 motor cars. Services, which I submitted under Number 116, we will see that the writer of the report himself estimates that the effort demaned from Norway was above her possibilities, and he writes:
"The Norwegian economy is seriously undermined by the exactions of the occupiers. It is for this reason that we had to limit the cost of occupation to one part only of the expenses of the Wehrmacht." up to January 1943 amounted to 7,535,000,000 crowns, which corroborates the data given by the Norwegian Government, the writer of the German report says:
"This sum of over 5,000,000,000 Rm. is very high for Norway. Much richer economies, as for example, that of Belgium, pay expenses which are hardly higher, and Denmark does not even furnish half of this sum. These huge levies are only made possible thanks to advances which were consented to by Germany. It is, therefore, not surprising that the exterior German-Norwegian commerce should have a very active character for Germany. That is to say, that it consists of advances.
Norway, owing to her very small population, can hardly put labor to the disposal of the German war economy. She is therefore one of the rare countries which are our debtors in the clearing."
Further on the writer adds:
"If we can deduct from these 140,000,000 Rm. the expenses of occupation and various credits calculated for after, we come to arrive at an important quantity of Norwegian levies; that is to say, approximately 4,900,000,000 Rm."
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps that would be a good time to break off.
(Whereupon at 1245 hours the hearing of the Tribunal adjourned to reconvene at 1400 hours.)
Military Tribunal in the matter of: The We continue with the expose of economic pillage in Norway.
I had the honor this morning of informing you of the fact that the occupants required a great amount of material in payment from Norway, We shall now expound the manner in which the occupants required these payments. private property, most often on some pretext or other - property belonging to Jews, Free-masons, Scout associations, et cetera. It has been impossible thus far to establish a very direct evaluation of these spoilations. We can only give some indications of them at this time. According to the report of the Norwegian Government in 1941, the Germans seized
THE PRESIDENT (interpolating): Have you any evidence to support the facts you are stating now?
M. GERTHOFER: This is based on indications contained in the report of the Norwegian Government which I have submitted under No. 121. According to the same report, in 1941 the Germans seized almost all the radios belonging to private individuals. The value of those radios is approximately 120 million Kronen. The Germans imposed heavy fines on the Norwegian comunities under the most varied pretexts, notably Allied bombing raids and acts of sabotage.
In the report presented under No. 121 the Norwegian Government gives two or three examples of these impositions of collecting fines. On March 4, 1941, after a raid on Lofoten, the population of the small community of Ostvagoy had to pay 100 thousand Kronen. Communities had also to support German families and families that were related to the Quisling movement. On 25 September 1942, after a British raid on Oslo, one hundred citizens were obliged to pay 3 million 500 thousand Kronen in damages. In January 1941, Trondheim, Stavanger and Vest-Opland had to pay 60 thousand, 50 thousand, and 100 thousand Kronen, respectively.
In September 1941, the municipality of Stavanger was obliged to pay 2 million Kronen for an alleged sabotage of telegraph lines. In August 1941, Regaland had to pay 500 thousand Kronen, and Alesund had to pay 100 thousand Kronen. were barely different from those employed in other countries the Germans, during the occupation of Norway, not only exhausted all its financial resources but placed the country considerably in debt. It has not been possible to furnish a detailed account of the German exaction made either after requisitions followed or not followed by indemnities or by purchases, in appearance voluntary ones, fictiously regulated by means of payments that were extorted from Norway. In the report which I have submitted under No. 121, the Norwegian Government summarized the damages and losses undergone by its country in a table. I shall give a summary of this table to the Tribunal. by industry and commerce amount to a total of 440 million Kronen, of which the Germans have made settlement, fictiously to be sure, only for 7 million Kronen; merchant vessels having a value of 1 billion 733 million Kronen, for which the German Government has made no settlement; on ports and installations the sum is 74 million Kronen, on which the German Government has fictiously settled only to the extent of 1 million. On railroads, canals, airports, and other installations the sum is 947 million, of which Germany has fictiously settled for 490 million Kronen; roads and bridges, 199 million Kronen, of which the settlement amounts to 67 million. Spoliation of agriculture reached 242 million Crowns, of which only 146 million have been settled; domestic and personal business, 239 million, of which nothing has been settled. Various requisitions, not included in the preceding categories, amount to 1 billion 566 million Crowns, of which the occupant, fictiously, has settled to the amount of 1 billion 154 million Kronen. a sum of 226 million Crowns, It estimates, on the other hand, that the years of man labor lost for the national economy by forced deportation to Germany and forced labor on the order of Germany in the national territory amounts to 3 billion 122 million Kronen.
Forced payments to the German authorities amounts to 11 billion 54 million Kronen, of which Germany has made no settlement whatsoever. The grand total, according to the Norwegian Government, is 22 billion Kronen, which represents more than 4 billion dollars.
Norway particularly suffered during the German occupation. Indeed, if its resources are considerable, notably wood in its forests, minerals, such as nicke, wolfram, molybdenum, sine, copper, aluminum, Norway must import consumer goods of first necessity for the feeding of its population. As the Germans had absolute control over maritime traffic, nothing could come into Norway without their consent. They could therefore, by means or pressure as they were to do in France with the line of demarcation between the two zones, impose their exactions more easily. The rations were insufficient to insure the subsistence of the Norwegian population. The continued undernourishment over a period of years entailed the most furious consequences: disease increased, mortality likewise increased, and the future of the population is compromised by the fact of the physical deficiencies undergone by its younger elements. Norway. I shall now deal with the aspect of the subject that relates to the Netherlands.
Economic pillage of the Netherlands: In invading against all the principles of rights of people of the country of the Netherlands, the Germans set themselves up in a country abundantly provided with the most varied wealth in one of the countries in which the inhabitants were the best nourished of Europe, and which, in regard to the number of its population, was one of the richest in the world. The gold reserve of Holland was superior to the amount of bills in circulation. Four years later, when the Allies liberated this country, they found the population afflicted by a veritable famine, and aside from the destructions which was the consequence of the military operations, a country almost entirely ruined by the spoliations of the occupants.
Seyss-Inquart of his governorship, a report dated 29 May to 19 June 1940, discovered by the Army of the United States, registered under the number 997-PS, which I submit before the Tribunal under No. 122. These are the chief extracts which I wish to read from this report:
"It is certain that in occupying the Netherlands it was necessary to take a considerable number of economic measures and even police measures, the first of which had astheir object the diminishing of the consumption of the population, on the one hand to put supplies and provisions at the disposal of the Reich, and on the other hand in order to assure an equal distribution of the remaining produce. Before the problem was considered it was necessary to see to it that all those measures should bear the signature of Netherlanders. This is why the Secretaries - General, with the consent of the Reichskommisar, were given the possibility of taking all the necessary measures by legal means. Indeed, until now all the instructions relative to the seizure and distribution of produce and supplies to the population, and all the decrees and ordinances relative to restrictions, have been published; but agreements on the transportation of a considerable number of supplies has also been achieved - agreements which bear the signature of Secretaries - Gernal of the Netherlands or of the chiefs responsible for economy, to the end that all these measures should present entirely the character of voluntary operations. On this occasion it is necessary to point out that in the course of the first interview the attention of the Secretaries - General was drawn to the fact that an open and frank collaboration was expected of them, but that, on the other hand, they had the right of withdrawing in case an occasion should arise in which it would seem to them impossible to guarantee their own responsibility. Until the present no Secretary-General has taken advantage of this right, and it may therefore be concluded that they voluntarily have given satisfaction to all the demands that have been presented to them. The gathering, collection, and the distribution of all the food supplies and textile produce have approximately been carried out.
In any case, all the instructions on the subject have been published and are in the course of execution. A series of instructions relative to the new direction of agriculture, a new direction that is prescribed by agriculture, has been published, and is in the course of being carried out, particularly those having to do with the utilization of feed, which is available, so that the greatest number of livestock, about 80 per cent of the number of hens and hogs, may be kept until the next campaign. A regulation and diminution were introduced into the domain of transports, and the matter of the principles of economic direction of fuel for the Reich were applied. The restrictions relative to the licensing in the realm of labor, as well as those relative to the renting of apartments, have been done away with in order to restrain and limit the liberal and capitalistic habits of the Netherland entrepreneurs and to avoid difficulties in the same order of ideas. For determined cases the due - date of debts have been remitted. persons having a hostile attitude towards the Reich and to Germany have been published under the signature of the Reichskommissar. On the basis of this ordinance an administrator for the royal fortune was named. The reserves of raw materials have been seized and distributed with the authorization of the Generalfeldmarschall, according to a plan intended to leave to the Dutch enough raw materials for six months, in order to allow them to maintain their economy. They thefore received the same quantity as Germany.
The same treatment was applied as concerns supplies in food. Considerable reserves of raw materials could thus be put at the disposal of the Reich; thus, for instance, 70 tons of industrial fats, which must present approximately half of the quantity which the Reich is lacking. A regulation on produce according to the system enforced in the Reich was promulgated.
of the Reich the means which the German administration might need in the Netherlands in order that those expenses should in no way hinder or embarrass the budget of the Reich. Sums in Florins were released to a value of 36 million to withdraw from circulation bills of the Reichskreditkasse. In addition, 100 millions were utilized for the needs of the army of occupation, and more especially, for the enlargement of air fields; in addition, 50 million for the purchase of raw materials to be transported to the Reich in so far as they have not the character of duty; and in addition, to assure the free transfer of savings which the Dutch workers in the Reich might send to their families. the OKH at one Florin for 1.5 Reichsmark, was brought back to its normal relation, that is, one Florin for 1.33 Reichsmark. But above all, it became possible to indure the president of the Netherlands bank, Trip, to adopt a measure that was proposed with the agreement of the Generalfeldmarschall by the Generalkommissar Fischboehle. This involved the reciprocal and unlimited acceptance of German and Netherlands stocks; that is to say, the Netherlands Bank was obliged to accept any sum in marks which the Reichsbank might deliver to it, and to give Florins in exchange at the rate of 1.33. In other words, one mark was equal to 75 cents. Only the Reichsbank had the right to control in the matter, but the Netherlands Bank was informed only in the case of certain specified transactions.
"This regulation exceeds any of these that had been carried out up to now with neighboring countries in the economic realm, even with the protectorates, and represents a step toward financial justification.
"In considering the importance of this agreement, which affects directly the independence of the Netherlands State, this admirable result was achieved, that is to say, that the president of the bank, Trip, well known in the financial and banking world of the East, 'freely' signed this contract.
"Signed: Seyss-Inquart." chiefly in the Netherlands that the Germans were to have the ingenuity of seizing control of the means of payment.
This spoliation will form the subject of a first chapter. We shall thereupon examine the use made by the occupant of these means of payment; in a second chapter we shall discuss the black market; in a third chapter we shall consider the accusations made only in appearance -- in a regular manner; a fourth chapter will be devoted to various kinds of spoliation. Finally we shall picture the chief consequences to the Netherlands of this economic pillaging. 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 limit myself to reminding the Tribunal that these expenses which are charged to the occupied countries can include only costs of billeting and feeding and paying soldiers strictly necessary to the occupation of territories. The Germans knowingly ignored these principles by imposing upon the Netherlands the payment of an indemnity for the maintenance of troops which were out of proportion to the needs of the latter. According to the information furnished by the Netherlands Government, contained in three reports -- the Trip report, the Hirschenfeld report and the Ministry of Finance report -which I submit under No. 123, the following sums were exacted on the pretext of being an indemnity for the maintenance of occupation troops: on the pretext of the necessity of maintaining an army of occupation. Germany thus fraudulently violated the dispositions of the Hague Convention to seize a considerable mass of means of payment.
difficulties, declared a general moratorium on its previous commitments. Nevertheless, in order to be able to continue its external commercial operations, it had concluded with most of the other countries -- notably with Holland -- agreements making possible the regulation, the settling of commercial debts and to a certain extent of financial debts, on the basis of the compensation or clearing system. Before the war there existed in the Netherlands "clearing" -- an excess of imports from Germany; byt after the first months of occupation there was on the contract considerable excess of exports to Germany, while the receipts coming from this country very perceptibly dropped. declarations of foreign specie, gold, precious metals, papers of value, stocks and foreign credits, as is indicated in the ordinance of June 1940, under No..95. Moreover, the Dutch could by vitue of the same ordinance be obliged to sell their stocks to the Netherlands Bank. The German Kommissar of the Reich, Seyss-Inquart, exacted that the Netherlands Bank make advances in florins to assure the equilibrium of the clearing arrangement, since Germany could furnish no equivalent in merchandise. On the other hand, and moreover, it was decided that the clearing system should be utilized as well for the delivery of merchandise as for the payment of any debts. In point of fact the Germans could therefore buy merchandise and titles to moveable property in Holland without furnishing any equivalent. The credits in marks of the Netherlands sellers were blocked in the Dutch Bank, which for its part had beer obliged to make an equivalent advance on the clearing exchange. exchange, and to avoid the transfer by this means of florins or of transferable stock into Germany, on the 8th of October, 1940, the Secretary General of Netherlands Finance imposed a sizeable tax on the marks that were blocked on the clearing exchange. However, under date of the 31st of March, 1941, the credit of the Netherlands exceeded 400,000,000 florins, which in fact had been advanced by the Netherlands State.
At this point the occupants demanded first of all that a sum of 300,000,000 florins be raised on the balance of 400,000,000 and deposited in the German treasury under the heading of "Military Occupation Costs," outside of the Netherlands countries, and this independently of payments already made for the occupation costs that had been paid by this country. Second, by a decision of the Reich Kommissar under date of the 31st of March, 1941, reported in the Verordnungsblatt, No. 14, which I submit to the Tribunal under No. 124, the 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 marks for 75.36 florins. Third, by a decree of the same date, 31 March 1941, which I submit under No. 125, the tax on the blocked marks created on the 8th of October, 1940, by the Netherlands authorities was abolished. In the presence of this situation, particularly dangerous to the Netherlands treasury, Mr. Trip resigned his functions as Secretary-General for Finance and President of the Netherlands Bank. The Reich Kommissar replaced him with Rost von Tonninge a notorious collaborator who yielded to all the demands of the occupying power disadvantageous exchange, at the real parity of 100 marks in exchange for 75.36 florins, they transferred them to the Netherlands Bank. The credit account of the Emmission Institute on Germany through the operations made with this country rose very considerably, while the credit balance on the date of 1 April 1941 amounted to 235,000,000 florins. It was to rise by the 1st of May, 1945, to 4,488,000,000 florins. According to the information given by the Netherlands Government, this credit is accounted for by purchases made by the Germans in Holland of merchandise of all kinds, of transferable stock or other stock to regulation of service impositions, imposed upon the Netherlands enterprises in payment of wages deported to Germany and to the mortgaging of debts incurred by the occupant. and clearing, the Germans were to procure themselves recourses in a different way by imposing collective fines, and this in violation of the provisions of Article 50 of the Hague Convention.
by way of reprisal or indemnity, considerable fines upon the municipalities. These fines were to be paid by the inhabitants, with the exception of persons of German nationality, members of pro-Nazi associations and NSV, Waffen SS, and NSKK technical aid services of the Netherlands, and cultural supervisors, etc., and of persons working for the Germans. According to information which has been obtained up to the present, out of 62 municipalities, the total of fines thus imposed amounts to a minimum of 20,253,044 florins. This is based on testimony of the Netherlands Government, which I submit under No.126. discovered two copies of letters relative to these collective fines. According to the first of these copies, which is a letter of March 7, 1941, collective fines amounting to 18,500,000 florins 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. The report -
THE PRESIDENT: Where are those letters?
M. GERTHOFER: These letters are intestimony, which I presented under No. 126 of the French documentation.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you read the passages which you consider material?
M. GERTHOFER: (reading) "Kommissar of the Reich, 1808 and from the 8341, the General Staff Liaison, General Staff in Berlin, for immediate transmission to the Reichsleiter, M. Bormann. The sum of 18,000,000 florins representing the contribution exacted from certain Dutch towns by way of reprisals will arrive in the next few days. The Reich Kommissar asks if the Fuehrer wishes to place this sum to a definite use or if it is to be utilized in the same manner as the Fuehrer had ordered on the occasion of the confiscation of enemy property. The Fuehrer had decided at this time that the sums should be placed at the disposal of the Netherlands for the needs of the country, not losing sight of the fact of the political principles. Hitler. Signed High Minister, General Commissioner."
"Reich. Hitler. M. Bormann"-
THE PRESIDENT: 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.
Perhaps it would be best, if you haven't got other copies, I will pass this one along. two copies which have been handed up, and they appear to be wrongly copied in some way. I will hand them down again.
M. GERTHOFER: The document has possibly been improperly numbered. It should have been indicated 126-one and 126-two. The first one from the Netherlands representative certifies the exactness of the translation of the first copy, and in the second "126" document the same representative of the Netherlands Government certifies the existence of the copy of the answer of the General Staff of the Fuehrer.
THE PRESIDENT: Just hand up the document again, the one I have handed down, will you? (This was done) The first document is the one y ou have just read out. The second document begins with the words, "J'ai soumis aujourdhui." Is that the second document to which you are referring? Perhaps you had better look at it. Look at that and see whether that is it.
M. GERTHOFER: It is the second document.
THE PRESIDENT: Did you use the second document?
M. GERTHOFER: It is the second document.
THE PRESIDENT: It is the same one.
M. GERTHOFER: It is the second document.
THE PRESIDENT: Could we see the originals? (Handed up.)
They are two different documents, are they? But they both begin in exactly the sane way.
M. GERTHOFER: The two documents have been submitted by the Dutch Government, The person who reported them represents the Netherlands Government and certifies that these documents were found in the Netherlands among the German papers.
M. GERTHOFER: The Dutch Government was obliged to make important payments on the account of the Germans, and in the reports submitted under No. 123, it brings out notably, First:
The Germans exacted that a sum of 300,000,000 Florins which was inscribed to the credit of the Netherlands Bank, be used for the needs of its army of occupation outside the Netherlands and that a sum of 76,800,000 Florins be deposited in gold for the same use.
The total which the Netherlands had to pay on this pretext, in violation of the Hague Convention, was 376,800,000.
Second: From June 1941, on, the Netherlands were obliged to pay, to contribute to the expenses of the war against Russia, a monthly sum of 37,500 Florins, of which a part was payable in gold. The total of the sum that Germany raised under this heading is 1,696,000,000 Florins.
Third: The Netherlands Bank was obliged to assume the charge of the reimbursement of Reichskreditkasse notes to a sum of 133,600,000 Florins.
Fourth: The expenses of the German civil government in Holland was charged to this country and amounted to 173,800,000 Florins.
Fifth: The Dutch Treasury, was, moreover, obliged to pay 414,000,000 Florins for the account of the Reich, including diverse expenses, such as the wages of Netherland workers deported to Germany, the costs of evacuation of certain regions, demolition costs, costs of fortifications, so-called costs for the watching of railroads, the guarding of railroads, funds placed at the disposal of the Reichskommissar, and for various industries utilized by the Germans.
Sixth: The Germans, in July 1940, seized 816 bars of gold bullion belonging to the Netherlands Bank, which were in the wreck of a Dutch ship sunk in Rotterdam representing and including the costs of recovery, 21,100,000 Florins.
Finally, and seventh: The State of the Netherlands was obliged to bear annual expenses of 1,713,000 Florins to assure the financing of new administrative services imposed on Holland by the occupying power, this amounting to 8,565,000,000 Florins. The total including the raising of the gold from the sunken ship and the payments made for Germany, amounts to 11,380,800,000 Florins. If one adds these costs to the costs of occupation and of clearing, the total of the financial charges imposed on Holland during the occupation, amounts to the sum of 22,224,800,000 Florins. These operations had serious consequences for the Netherlands economy. Indeed, the gold supply which on April 1, 19400 amounted to 1,236,000,000 Florins, had by the 1st of April 1945, fallen to 932,000,000 Florins.
The second effect: The money circulation on the contrary had risen from 1,127,000,000 Florins on the 1st of April 1940, to 5,468,000,000 Florins on 1 April 1945.
Netherlands bank had been evacuated abroad; however, the Germans seized all the gold that was to be found in the bank under various pretexts. I will recall that under the heading of Indemnity Payment, Occupation Indemnity Payment, they collected 75,000,000 Florins in gold for the forced contribution of the Netherlands against Russia, and they altogether demanded 114,000,000 Florins in Gold. Netherlands Bank, named by the Germans, wrote on 18 December 1943, to the Reichskommissar, that there was no more gold in Holland since the month of March preceding. The copy of this letter is submitted under the number of 127 This results from a document discovered by the Army of the United States, liste under No. ECO-24, in which I submit under No. 128, a document which constituted a report to the Bank Kommissar, Belgium, of 12 June 1941, who also points out that the gold stock of the Netherlands Bank amounted on 12 June 1941, to 1,021,800 000 Florins, of which only 134,600,000 were in Holland, the rest being either in England or in South Africa or in the United States raised -- collected gold by means of payments in possession of the population. The occupying power obliged private individuals to deposit gold with them which was in their possession, with the Netherlands Bank and then they requisitioned this gold which they handed over to the Reichsbank. A sum of approximately 71,000,000 Florins was paid to the public in exchange for the gold which was thus requisitioned. foreign values to a sum of 13,224,000 Florins and Swedish public funds to a sum of 4,623,100 Florins. By the aid of important financial means which they had at their disposal, the Germans proceeded to make important acquisitions in Holland.