rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich-william-shirer-pdf

THE NEW ORDER 847that a large slice of the Soviet Union would soon be within grasp, Hitler convokedGoering, Keitel, Rosenberg, Bormann and Lammers (the last, head of the ReichChancellery) to his headquarters in East Prussia to remind them of his aims inthe newly conquered land. At last his goal so clearly stated in Mein Kampf ofsecuring a vast German Lebensraum in Russia was in sight and it is clear from theconfidential memorandum of the meeting drawn up by Bormann (which showedup at Nuremberg) 1155 that he wanted his chief lieutenants to understand wellwhat he intended to do with it. His intentions, he admonished, must howevernot be ”publicized.”There is no need for that [Hitler said] but the main thing is that weourselves know what we want . . . Nobody must be able to recognizethat it initiates a final settlement. This need not prevent our takingall necessary measures – shooting, resettling, etc. – and we shalltake them.In principle, Hitler continued,we now have to face the task of cutting up the cake according to ourneeds in order to be able:first, to dominate it;second, to administer it;third, to exploit it.He did not mind, he said, that the Russians had ordered partisanwarfare behind the German lines; ”it enables us to eradicate everyonewho opposes us.”In general, Hitler explained, Germany would dominate the Russian territoryup to the Urals. None but Germans would be permitted to carry weapons inthat vast space. Then Hitler went over specifically what would be done withvarious slices of the Russian cake.The entire Baltic country will have to be incorporated into Germany. . . The Crimea has to be evacuated by all foreigners and settled byGermans only, [becoming] Reich territory . . . The Kola Peninsulawill be taken by Germany because of the large nickel mines there.The annexation of Finland as a federated state should be preparedwith caution . . . The Fuehrer will raze Leningrad to the ground andthen hand it over to the Finns.The Baku oil fields, Hitler ordered, would become a ”German concession”and the German colonies on the Volga would be annexed outright. When it cameto a discussion as to which Nazi leaders would administer the new territory aviolent quarrel broke out.Rosenberg states he intends to use Captain von Petersdorff, owingto his special merits; general consternation; general rejections. TheFuehrer and the Reich Marshal [Goering] both emphasize there wasno doubt that Von Petersdorff was insane.