WWII Reader With Video (Version II)

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BENITO MUSSOLINI.


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Document #2

Text of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

Watch: BBC Documentary - "Behind Closed Doors"The Government of the German Reich and The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republicsdesirous of strengthening the cause of peace between Germany and the U.S.S.R., and proceeding fromthe fundamental provisions of the Neutrality Agreement concluded in April, 1926 between Germany and theU.S.S.R., have reached the following Agreement:Article I. Both High Contracting Parties obligate themselves to desist from any act of violence, any aggressiveaction, and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other Powers.Article II. Should one of the High Contracting Parties become the object of belligerent action by a third Power,the other High Contracting Party shall in no manner lend its support to this third Power.Article III. The Governments of the two High ContractingParties shall in the future maintain continual contact withone another for the purpose of consultation in order toexchange information on problems affecting their commoninterests.Article IV. Should disputes or conflicts arise between theHigh Contracting Parties shall participate in any groupingof Powers whatsoever that is directly or indirectly aimed atthe other party.

Article V. Should disputes or conflicts arise between theHigh Contracting Parties over problems of one kind or another, both parties shall settle these disputes orconflicts exclusively through friendly exchange of opinion or, if necessary, through the establishment ofarbitration commissions.Article VI. The present Treaty is concluded for a period of ten years, with the proviso that, in so far as one ofthe High Contracting Parties does not advance it one year prior to the expiration of this period, the validity ofthis Treaty shall automatically be extended for another five years.Article VII. The present treaty shall be ratified within the shortest possible time. The ratifications shall beexchanged in Berlin. The Agreement shall enter into force as soon as it is signed.[The section below was not published at the time the above was announced.]Secret Additional Protocol.Article I. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement in the areas belonging to the Baltic States(Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania shall represent the boundary of thespheres of influence of Germany and U.S.S.R. In this connection the interest of Lithuania in the Vilna area isrecognized by each party.Article II. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state, thespheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers


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Narev, Vistula and San.The question of whether the interests of both parties make desirable the maintenance of an independent PolishStates and how such a state should be bounded can only be definitely determined in the course of furtherpolitical developments.In any event both Governments will resolve this question by means of a friendly agreement.Article III. With regard to Southeastern Europe attention is called by the Soviet side to its interest inBessarabia. The German side declares its complete political disinteredness in these areas.Article IV. This protocol shall be treated by both parties as strictly secret.Moscow, August 23, 1939.For the Government of the German Reich v. RibbentropPlenipotentiary of the Government of the U.S.S.R. V. Molotov


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Document #3

Adolf Hitler: The Obersalzberg Speech

Decision to attack Poland was arrived at in spring. Originally there wasfear that because of the political constellation we would have to strike atthe same time against England, France, Russia and Poland. This risk toowe should have had to take. Goring had demonstrated to us that his Four-Year Plan is a failure and that we are at the end of our strength, if we donot achieve victory in a coming war.Since the autumn of 1938 and since I have realised that Japan will not gowith us unconditionally and that Mussolini is endangered by that nitwit ofa King and the treacherous scoundrel of a Crown Prince, I decided to gowith Stalin. After all there are only three great statesmen in the world,Stalin, I and Mussolini. Mussolini is the weakest, for he has been able tobreak the power neither of the crown nor of the Church. Stalin and 1 arethe only ones who visualise the future. So in a few weeks hence I shallstretch out my hand to Stalin at the common German-Russian frontierand with him undertake to re-distribute the world.

Our strength lies in our quickness and in our brutality; Genghis Khan has sent millions of women and childreninto death knowingly and with a light heart. History sees in him only the great founder of States. As to whatthe weak Western European civilisation asserts about me, that is of no account. I have given the commandand I shall shoot everyone who utters one word of criticism, for the goal to be obtained in the war is not thatof reaching certain lines but of physically demolishing the opponent. And so for the present only in the East 1have put my death-head formations' in place with the command relentlessly and without compassion to sendinto death many women and children of Polish origin and language. Only thus we can gain the living space[lebensraum] that we need. Who after all is today speaking about the destruction of the Armenians?Colonel-General von Brauchitsch has promised me to bring the war against Poland to a close within a fewweeks. Had he reported to me that he needs two years or even only one year, I should not have given thecommand to march and should have allied myself temporarily with England instead of Russia for we cannotconduct a long war. To be sure a new situation has arisen. I experienced those poor worms Daladier andChamberlain in Munich. They will be too cowardly to attack. They won't go beyond a blockade. Against that wehave our autarchy and the Russian raw materials.Poland will be depopulated and settled with Germans. My pact with the Poles was merely conceived of asa gaining of time. As for the rest, gentlemen, the fate of Russia will be exactly the same as 1 am now goingthrough with in the case of Poland. After Stalin's death-he is a very sick man-we will break the Soviet Union.Then there will begin the dawn of the German rule of the earth.The little States cannot scare me. After Kemal's [i.e. Ataturk] death Turkey is governed by cretins and halfidiots. Carol of Roumania is through and through the corrupt slave of his sexual instincts. The King of Belgiumand the Nordic kings are soft jumping jacks who are dependent upon the good digestions of their over-eatingand tired peoples.


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We shall have to take into the bargain the defection of Japan. I save Japan a full year's time. The Emperor is acounterpart to the last Czar - weak, cowardly, undecided. May he become a victim of the revolution. My goingtogether with Japan never was popular. We shall continue to create disturbances in the Far East and in Arabia.Let us think as "gentlemen" and let us see in these peoples at best lacquered half maniacs who are anxious toexperience the whip.The opportunity is as favourable as never before. 1 have but one worry, namely that Chamberlain or someother such pig of a fellow (Sauker/) will come at the last moment with proposals or with ratting (Umfall). He willfly down the stairs, even if I shall personally have to trample on his belly in the eyes of the photographers.No, it is too late for this. The attack upon and the destruction of Poland begins Saturday early. 1 shall let afew companies in Polish uniform attack in Upper Silesia or in the Protectorate. Whether the world believes it isquite indifferent (scheissega/). The world believes only in success.For you, gentlemen, fame and honour are beginning as they have not since centuries. Be hard, be withoutmercy, act more quickly and brutally than the others. The citizens of Western Europe must tremble with horror.That is the most human way of conducting a war. For it scares the others off.The new method of conducting war corresponds to the new drawing of the frontiers. A war extending fromReval, Lublin, Kaschau to the mouth of the Danube. The rest will be given to the Russians. Ribbentrop hasorders to make every offer and to accept every demand. In the West I reserve to myself the right to determinethe strategically best line. Here one will be able to work with Protectorate regions, such as Holland, Belgiumand French Lorraine.And now, on to the enemy, in Warsaw we will celebrate our reunion.The speech was received with enthusiasm. Goring jumped on a table, thanked blood-thirstily and made blood-thirsty promises. He danced like a wild man. The few that had misgivings remained quiet.


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Document #4

US Declaration of War against GermanyDecember 11, 1941

The President's MessageTo the Congress of the United States:On the morning of Dec. 11 the Government of Germany,pursuing its course of world conquest, declared waragainst the United States. The long-known and the long-expected has thus taken place. The forces endeavoringto enslave the entire world now are moving toward thishemisphere. Never before has there been a greaterchallenge to life, liberty and civilization. Delay invitesgreat danger. Rapid and united effort by all of the peoplesof the world who are determined to remain free will insurea world victory of the forces of justice and ofrighteousness over the forces of savagery and ofbarbarism. Italy also has declared war against the United States.I therefore request the Congress to recognize a state of war between the United States andGermany, and between the United States and Italy.Franklin D. Roosevelt

The War ResolutionDeclaring that a state of war exists between the Government of Germany and the governmentand the people of the United States and making provision to prosecute the same.Whereas the Government of Germany has formally declared war against the government and thepeople of the United States of America:Therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Statesof America in Congress assembled, that the state of war between the United States and theGovernment of Germany which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formallydeclared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval andmilitary forces of the government to carryon war against the Government of Germany; andto bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are herebypledged by the Congress of the United States


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Document #5Watch: The German Invasion of Russia

Molotov: Reaction to German Invasion of 1941Vyacheslav Molotov (1889-1986), Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, had signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact on August 23, 1939. This bought the USSR two years in which to prepare for the Nazi attack,but in the meantime encouraged Hitler's aggression against Poland. By 1941 it was the Soviet Union's turn.For years, Hitler had claimed that Germany's future living space, or lebensraum, existed to Germany's east,namely Russia. He then turned his attention toward the Soviet Union and launched a massive attack on June22, 1941. Below is the initial Soviet reaction, broadcast to the people by Molotov.

Citizens of the Soviet Union:The Soviet Government and its head, ComradeStalin, have authorized me to make the followingstatement:Today at 4 o'clock a.m., without any claims havingbeen presented to the Soviet Union, without adeclaration of war, German troops attacked ourcountry, attacked our borders at many points andbombed from their airplanes our cities; Zhitomir, Kiev,Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, killing andwounding over two hundred persons.

There were also enemy air raids and artillery shelling from Rumanian and Finnish territory.This unheard of attack upon our country is perfidy unparalleled in the history of civilized nations. The attack onour country was perpetrated despite the fact that a treaty of non-aggression had been signed between the U.S. S. R. and Germany and that the Soviet Government most faithfully abided by all provisions of this treaty.The attack upon our country was perpetrated despite the fact that during the entire period of operation of thistreaty, the German Government could not find grounds for a single complaint against the U.S.S.R. as regardsobservance of this treaty.Entire responsibility for this predatory attack upon the Soviet Union falls fully and completely upon the GermanFascist rulers.At 5:30 a.m. -- that is, after the attack had already been perpetrated, Von der Schulenburg, the GermanAmbassador in Moscow, on behalf of his government made the statement to me as People's Commissar ofForeign Affairs to the effect that the German Government had decided to launch war against the U.S.S.R. inconnection with the concentration of Red Army units near the eastern German frontier.In reply to this I stated on behalf of the Soviet Government that, until the very last moment, the GermanGovernment had not presented any claims to the Soviet Government, that Germany attacked the U.S.S.R.despite the peaceable position of the Soviet Union, and that for this reason Fascist Germany is the aggressor.On instruction of the government of the Soviet Union I also stated that at no point had our troops or our airforce committed a violation of the frontier and therefore the statement made this morning by the Rumanianradio to the effect that Soviet aircraft allegedly had fired on Rumanian airdromes is a sheer lie and provocation.Likewise a lie and provocation is the whole declaration made today by Hitler, who is trying belatedly to concoct


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accusations charging the Soviet Union with failure to observe the Soviet-German pact.Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already been committed, the Soviet Government has ordered ourtroops to repulse the predatory assault and to drive German troops from the territory of our country.This war has been forced upon us, not by the German people, not by German workers, peasants andintellectuals, whose sufferings we well understand, but by the clique of bloodthirsty Fascist rulers of Germanywho have enslaved Frenchmen, Czechs, Poles, Serbians, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece andother nations.The government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence that our valiant army and navy andbrave falcons of the Soviet Air Force will acquit themselves with honor in performing their duty to the fatherlandand to the Soviet people, and will inflict a crushing blow upon the aggressor.This is not the first time that our people have had to deal with an attack of an arrogant foe. At the time ofNapoleon's invasion of Russia our people's reply was war for the fatherland, and Napoleon suffered defeat andmet his doom.It will be the same with Hitler, who in his arrogance has proclaimed a new crusade against our country. TheRed Army and our whole people will again wage victorious war for the fatherland, for our country, for honor, forliberty.The government of the Soviet Union expresses the firm conviction that the whole population of our country,all workers, peasants and intellectuals, men and women, will conscientiously perform their duties and do theirwork. Our entire people must now stand solid and united as never before.Each one of us must demand of himself and of others discipline, organization and self-denial worthy of realSoviet patriots, in order to provide for all the needs of the Red Army, Navy and Air Force, to insure victory overthe enemy.The government calls upon you, citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally still more closely around our gloriousBolshevist party, around our Soviet Government, around our great leader and comrade, Stalin. Ours is arighteous cause. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours.Vyacheslav Molotov - June 22, 1941


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Document #6Watch: The Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trial Witnesses: Zelewski, Erich Von Oem Bach7 Jan. 46

Afternoon SessionCOL. TAYLOR: Will Your Lordship swear the witness?THE PRESIDENT: What is his name?COL. TAYLOR: Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski.[The witness, Von dem Bach-Zelewski, took the stand.]THE PRESIDENT: What is your name?ERICH VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI (Witness): Erich

von dem Bach-Zelewski.THE PRESIDENT: Will you take this oath: "I swear by God-the Almighty and Omniscient-that I will speak the pure truth-and will withhold and add nothing."

[The witness repeated the oath.]COL. TAYLOR: May I remind the witness to speak very slowly, and to keep his answers as short as

possible? Can you hear me?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes.COL. TAYLOR: Were you a member of the SS?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes.COL. TAYLOR: What was the last rank you held in the SS?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen-SS.COL. TAYLOR: Did you serve in the 1914-18 war?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes. I was at the front from 1914 to 1918, was wounded twice, and received

the Iron Cross, First and Second Class.COL. TAYLOR: Did you remain in the army after the end of the last war?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes, I stayed in the 100,000-man army.COL. TAYLOR: How long did you remain in the army?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Till 1924, when I took my discharge.COL. TAYLOR: Did your military activities then stop?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: No, I was battalion leader in the Border Defense, and subsequently I took

part in maneuvers with the Wehrmacht until the campaign against Poland.COL. TAYLOR: Did you join the Nazi Party?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes.COL. TAYLOR: In what year?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: In the year 1930.

4757 Jan. 46COL. TAYLOR: What branch of the party did you join?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: The Allgemeine-SS.COL. TAYLOR: What were your activities in the SS prior to the outbreak of the war?VON DEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: I established the Allgemeine-SS Border Defense in the districts of

Schneidemuhl and Frankfurt-ander-Oder, and from, 1934 I was Oberabschnittsfuehrer in East Prussia andafterwards in Silesia.

COL. TAYLOR: Were you a member of the Reichstag during this period?


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VON OEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes, I was a member of the Reichstag from 1932 right up to the end.COL. TAYLOR: Oid you take any active part during this war, before the campaign against the Soviet

Union?VON OEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: No, not before the campaign against Russia.COL. TAYLOR: What was your rank at the beginning of the war?VON OEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: At the beginning of the war I was SS Gruppenfuehrer and lieutenant

general.COL. TAYLOR: And when were you promoted?VON OEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: I was promoted on 9 November 1941 to SS Obergruppenfuehrer and

general of the Waffen-SS.COL. TAYLOR: What was your position after the beginning of the campaign against the Soviet Union?VON OEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Would you please repeat the question; it was not quite clear.COL. TAYLOR: What was your position, your function, at the beginning of the war against the Soviet

Union?VON OEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: At the beginning of the campaign against Russia I served as Higher SS and

Police Leader in the central sector of the Russian Front, in the rear zone of Army Group Center.COL. TAYLOR: Was there a similar SS official in the rear zone of each army group?VON OEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: Yes, in each army group, North, Center, and South, there was a Higher SS

and Police Leader.COL. TAYLOR: Who was the commander of Army Group Center?VON OEM BACH-ZELEWSKI: The commander of Army Group Center was, in the beginning, General Field

Marshal Von Bock, and later General Field Marshal Kluge.COL. TAYLOR: Who was the Armed Forces commander in the rear zone of Army Group Center?

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