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Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 3

EIGHTEENTH DAY
Wednesday, 12 December 1945

Morning Session

Seventeenth Day Volume 3 Menu Nineteenth Day
Nuremberg Trials Page

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn this morning at 12:30 for a closed session and sit again at 2:00 o'clock.

MR. DODD: May it please the Tribunal, I should like to report to the Tribunal this morning with reference to the questions which arose yesterday afternoon concerning three documents.

After adjournment we found that Document 2220-PS was in the defendants' information Center in photostatic form, and that the two other documents, being respectively two entries from the Frank diary, were also there but in a different form. The Frank diary consists of some 40-odd volumes which we, of course, were not able to photostat, so we had placed instead in the defendants' room the excerpts. As a matter of fact, we had placed the entire document book there.

DR. ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for the Defendant Frank): Yesterday the Prosecution submitted documents concerning the Defendant Frank; the numbers are 2233(a)-PS and 2233(b)-PS, which were presented as Exhibits USA-173 add USA-174. These are not ordinary documents, but excerpts from the diary of Frank. Six weeks ago I applied in writing to have this diary, which consists of 42 heavy, thick volumes, submitted to me. I made this request for the first time on the 2d of September, the second time on the 16th of November, the third time on the 18th of November, and the fourth time on the 3rd of December.

Unfortunately, I have not so far received this diary, and I should like to ask the Tribunal that it be submitted to me as soon as possible, not least because this material was surrendered by the Defendant Frank himself to the officers who arrested him and was to be used as evidence for his defense.

I am of course not in a position to work through all this material in a few days, and I should like to ask the Tribunal that this diary be put at my disposal without delay.

In this connection I should like to call the attention of the Tribunal to another matter. The Tribunal has already approved that the four long speeches which the Defendant Frank delivered in Germany in 1942 and which led to his dismissal by Hitler from

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all his offices should be put at my disposal as evidence. The General Secretary of the Tribunal informed me of this on the 4th of December, but unfortunately I have not so far received copies of these speeches. I should be very grateful, therefore, if the Tribunal will ensure that its decisions are carried out and that the documents are submitted to me without delay.

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will look into these matters with the General Secretary of the Tribunal, and doubtless it will be able to arrange that you should have these documents submitted to you by the defendants' counsel Information Center.

DR. SEIDL: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Mr. Dodd.

MR. DODD: May I refer briefly to the discussion that we were engaged in yesterday in order to take up the train of thought.

I wish to remind the Tribunal that we were discussing or had just completed a discussion of Document L-61, which had to do with a letter written by the Defendant Sauckel to the presidents of the "Lander" labor offices. I had read two excerpts from that letter.

Referring to the letter, we say that the Nazi campaign of force and terror and abduction was described in another letter to the Defendant Frank, which we wish to refer to as Document Number 1526-PS.

THE PRESIDENT: Before you pass from that, Mr. Dodd, has either the original or the photostatic copy been shown to Sauckel's counsel?

MR. DODD: Oh, yes, Sir. A photostatic copy was in the defendants' Formation Center, and after adjournment yesterday we got the original and handed it to him here in this room.

THE PRESIDENT: And he saw it?

MR. DODD: Yes, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

MR. DODD: This document, Number 1526-PS, USA-178, is a letter written by the chairman of the Ukrainian Main Committee at Krakow in February 1943. I wish to read from the third page of the English text, beginning with the second paragraph; the same passage in the German text at Page 2, Paragraph 5. I quote:

"The general nervousness is still further increased by the wrong methods of labor mobilization which have been used more and more frequently in recent months.

"The wild and ruthless manhunt as practiced everywhere in towns and country, in streets, squares, stations, even in

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churches, as well as at night in homes, has shaken the feeling of security of the inhabitants. Every man is exposed to the danger of being seized suddenly and unexpectedly, anywhere and at any time, by the police, and brought into an assembly camp. None of his relatives knows what has happened to him, and only weeks or months later one or another gives news of his fate by a postcard."

I wish to turn to Enclosure 5 on Page 8 of this document, which I quote:

"In November of last year an inspection of all males of the age-classes born 1910 to 1920 was ordered in the area of Zalesaczyti (district of Czortkow). After the men had appeared for inspection, all those who were selected were arrested at once, loaded into trains, and sent to the Reich. Similar recruitment of laborers for the Reich also took place in other areas of this district. Following some interventions, the action was then stopped."

The resistance of the Polish people to this enslavement program and the necessity for increased force were described by the Defendant Sauckel's deputy, one Timm, at a meeting of the Central Planning Board, which was, by the way, Hitler's wartime planning agency. It was made up of the Defendant Speer, field Marshal Milch, and State Secretary Korner. The Central Planing Board was the highest level economic planning agency, exercising production controls by allocating raw materials and labor to industrial users.

Now, Document R-124, Exhibit USA-179. This document consists of excerpts from minutes of the meetings of this Central Planning Board and minutes of conferences between the Defendant Speer and Hitler. Only the excerpts, of course, from these minutes upon which we rely are being offered in evidence. I would say to the Tribunal, however, that the balance of the minutes are available-can be made available-if the Tribunal so desires.

This deputy of Sauckel, his name being Timm, made a statement at the 36th conference of the Central Planning Board; and it appears on Page 14, Paragraph a of the English text of Document R-124, and on Page 10, Paragraph 2 of the German text:

"Especially in Poland the situation at the moment is extraordinarily serious. It is known that violent battles have occurred just because of these actions. The resistance against the administration established by us is very strong. Quite a number of our men have been exposed to increased dangers; and just in the last 2 or 3 weeks some of them have been shot dead, for example, the head of the Labor Office of Warsaw, who was shot in his Office 14 days ago, and yesterday another man again. This is how matters stand at present; and

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the recruiting itself even if done with the best will, remains extremely difficult unless police reinforcements are at hand."

Deportation and enslavement of civilians reached unprecedented levels in the so-called Eastern Occupied Territories. These wholesale deportations resulted directly from labor demands made by the Defendant Sauckel on the Defendant Rosenberg, who was the Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories, and his subordinates, and also on the Armed Forces-a demand made directly on the Armed Forces by the Defendant Sauckel.

On the 5th of October 1942, for example, the Defendant Sauckel wrote to the Defendant Rosenberg, stating that 2 million foreign laborers were required and that the majority of these would have to be drafted from the recently occupied Eastern territories and especially from the Ukraine.

I wish to refer at this point to Document 017-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-180. This letter from the Defendant Sauckel to the Defendant Rosenberg I wish to quote in full. It begins by saying:

"The Fuehrer has worked out new and most urgent plans for armament which require the quick mobilization of two million more foreign workers. The Fuehrer therefore has granted me, for the execution of his decree of 21 March 1942, new powers for my new duties, and has especially authored me to take whatever measures I think are necessary in the Reich, the Protectorate, the Government General, as well as in the occupied territories, in order to assure, at all costs an orderly mobilization of labor for the German armament industry.

"The additional required labor forces win have to be. drafted, for the most part, from the recently occupied Eastern Territories, especially from the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Therefore, the Reichskommissariat Ukraine must furnish 225,000 workers by 31 December 1842 and 225,000 more by 1 May 1942. "I ask you to inform Reich Commissioner, Gauleiter, Party Member Koch at once about the new situation and requirements and especially to see that he supports personally in every possible way the execution of this new order.

"I intend to visit Party Member Koch shortly and I would be grateful if he could inform me as to where and when I could meet him for a personal discussion. Just now though, I ask that the recruiting be taken up at once with all energy and the use of every factor, especially the experts of the labor offices. All directives which temporarily limited the procurement of Eastern Workers are annulled. The Reich procurement for the next months must be given priority over all other measures....

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"I do not ignore the difficulties which exist for the execution of this new order, but I am convinced that with the ruthless use of all resources and with the full co-operation of an concerned the execution of the new demands can be accomplished by the date fixed. I have already communicated the new demands directly to the Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine by teletype. In reference to our phone-call of today, I will send you the text of the Fuehrer's decree at the beginning of next week."

I should like to remind the Tribunal that we have referred previously, yesterday afternoon, to this Reichskommissar, Gauleiter, Party Member Koch; and we quoted him as stating, the Tribunal will recall, "We are the master race. We must be hard," and so forth.

On the 17th day of March 1943, the Defendant Sauckel wrote again to the Defendant Rosenberg; and on this occasion he demanded the importation of another 1 million men and women from the Eastern Territories within the following 4 months. I wish to refer at this point to Document Number 019-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-181. Quoting that letter in full:

"After a protracted illness, my deputy for labor allocation in the Occupied Eastern Territories, State Councilor Peuckert, is going there to regulate the allocation of labor both for Germany and the territories themselves.

"I ask you sincerely, dear Party Member Rosenberg, to assist him to your utmost on account of the pressing urgency of Peuckert's mission. I may thank you already at this moment for the good reception accorded to Peuckert up to this time. He himself has been charged by me to co-operate fully and unreservedly with all bureaus of the Eastern Territories.

"Especially the labor allocation for German agriculture and likewise the most urgent armament production programs ordered by the Fuehrer, make the fastest importation of approximately 1 million men and women from the Eastern Territories within the next 4 months, a necessity. Starting 15 March the daily shipment must reach 5,000 female or male workers, while from the beginning of April this number has to be stepped up to 10,000, if the most urgent programs and the spring tillage and other agricultural tasks are not to suffer to the detriment of the food and of the Armed Forces.

"I have provided for the allotment of the draft quotas for the individual territories, in agreement with your experts for labor supply, as follows:

"Daily quota starting 15 March 1943: From General Kommissariat, White Ruthenia - 500 people: Economic Inspection,

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Center-500 people; Reichskommissariat, Ukraine-3,000 people; Economic Inspection, South-1,000 people; total-5,000 people.

"Starting 1 April 1943, the daily quota is to be doubled corresponding to the doubling of the entire quota. I hope to visit personally the Eastern Territories towards the end of the month, and ask you once more for your kind support."

The Defendant Sauckel did travel to the East. He travelled to Kovno in Lithuania to press. his demands. We offer in evidence Document Number 204-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-182. This document is a synopsis of a report of the City Commissioner of Kovno and minutes of a meeting in which the Defendant Sauckel participated. I wish to read from the second page of the English text, beginning with the first paragraph. The same passage appears in the German text at Page 5, Paragraph 2. Quoting directly as follows:

"In a lecture which the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor, Gauleiter Sauckel, gave on 18 July 1948 in Kovno, and in an official conference following it between Gauleiter Sauckel and the General Commissioner, the precarious labor situation in the Reich was again urgently presented for discussion. Gauleiter Sauckel again demanded that Lithuanian labor be furnished in greater volume for the purposes of the Reich."

THE PRESIDENT: Who was the General Commissar? Rosenberg?

MR. DODD: The Plenipotentiary for the Arbeitseinsatz?

THE PRESIDENT: No, the General Commissar.

MR. DODD: His name is not known to us. He was apparently a local functionary in the Party.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

MR. DODD: The Defendant Sauckel also visited Riga, in Latvia, to assert his demands; and the purpose of this visit is described in Document Number 2280-PS, bearing Exhibit Number USA-183. This document is a letter from the Reich Commissar for the Ostland to the Commissioner General in Riga, and it is dated the 3rd of May 1943. I wish to read from Page 1 of the English text, beginning with the first paragraph:

"Following the basic statements of the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, Gauleiter Sauckel, on the occasion of his visit to Riga on the 21st of April 1943, it was decided, in view of the critical situation and in disregard of all adverse considerations, that a total of 183,000 workers would have to be supplied from the Ostland to the Reich

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territory. This task absolutely must be accomplished within the next 4 months and at the latest must be completed by the end of August."

Here again we are not informed as to the name and identity of the Reich Commissar for the Ostland.

Sauckel asked the German Army for assistance in the recruitment and deportation of civilian labor from the Eastern Territories. We refer now to Document Number 3010-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-184.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, were you saying that it was not from what whom that document emanated?

MR. DODD: No, Sir. We say it is a letter from the Reichskommissar for the Ostland to the Commissioner General in Riga, but we don't know their names specifically at the time of the writing of the letter.

THE PRESIDENT: You don't know who the Reichskommissar of the Eastern Territories was?

MR. DODD: We don't know him by that title, "The Reichskommissar for the Ostland."

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

MR. DODD: Lohse, I am now informed, was his name. I understood that we did not know it.

THE PRESIDENT: All right.

MR. DODD: Referring to this Document 3010-PS, this document is a secret operational order of the Army Group South dated the 17th day of August 1943. I wish to read from the first page of the English text, the first two paragraphs, as follows:

"The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, in Decree Az. VI A 5780.28, a copy of white is enclosed (Enclosure 1), has ordered the mustering and calling-up of two complete age classes for the whole newly occupied Eastern Territory. The Reich Minister for Armament and Munitions has approved this order.

"According to this order by the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor"-GBA-"you have to recruit and to transport to the Reich immediately all labor forces in your territory born during 1926 and 1927. The decree of 6 February 1943 relative to labor duty and labor employment in the theater of operations of the newly occupied Eastern Territory and the executive orders issued on this subject are the authority for the execution of this measure. Enlistment must be completed by 30 September 43 at the latest."

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We say it is clear that the demands made by the Defendant Sauckel resulted in the deportation of civilians from the Occupied Eastern Territories. The Defendant Speer has recorded conferences with Hitler on 10, 11, and 12 August 1942; and this record is contained in Document R-124, which is already in as Exhibit USA-179. I now wish to quote from Page 34 of that same document in Paragraph 1 of the English text. In the German text it appears at Page 23, Paragraph 2. Quoting directly:

"Gauleiter Sauckel promises to make Russian labor available for the fulfillment of the iron and coal program and reports that, if required, he will supply a further million Russian laborers for the German armament industry up to and including October 1942. So far he has already supplied 1,000,000 for industry and 700,000 for agriculture. In this connection the Fuehrer states that the problem of providing labor can be solved in all cases and to any extent. He authorizes Gauleiter Sauckel to take ail necessary measures. He would agree to any compulsory measures in the East as well as in the Occupied Western Territories if this question could not be solved on a voluntary basis."

In order to meet these demands of 1,700,000-100,000 here and there-the Nazi conspirators made terror and violence and arson, as we said yesterday, fundamental instruments of their labor enslavement policy. Twenty days after the Defendant Sauckel's demands of the 5th of October 1942, a top official in the Defendant Rosenberg's Ministry described the measures taken to meet these demands. I wish to refer now to Document Number 294-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-185. This document is a top-secret memorandum, dated the 25th of October 1942, signed by one Brautigam.

I wish to quote from Page 4 of the English text starting with the last paragraph, as follows-in the German text it appears at Page 8, Paragraph 2-quoting directly:

"We now experienced the grotesque picture of having to recruit, precipitately, millions of laborers from the Occupied Eastern Territories, after prisoners of war had died of hunger like flies, in order to fill the gaps that have formed within Germany. Now suddenly the food question no longer existed. In the customary limitless disregard for the Slavic people, 'recruiting' methods were used whim probably have their precedent only in the blackest periods of the slave trade. A regular manhunt was inaugurated. Without consideration of health or age, the people were shipped to Germany where it turned out immediately that more than 100,000 had to be sent back because of serious illness and other incapability for work.''

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The Defendant Rosenberg wrote, himself, concerning these brutalities, to the instigator of them, the Defendant Sauckel; and we refer now to Document Number 018-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-186.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, from where did that top-secret document come?

MR. DODD: It came from the files of the Defendant Rosenberg. This document, 018-PS, is a letter from the Defendant Rosenberg to the Defendant Sauckel; and it is dated the 21st day of December 1942, with attachments. I wish to quote from Page 1 of the English text, starting at the middle of the second paragraph which reads as follows:

"The reports I have received show that the increase of the guerilla bands in the Occupied Eastern Territories is largely due to the fact that the methods used for procuring laborers in these regions are felt to be forced measures of mass deportations, so that the endangered persons prefer to escape their fate by withdrawing into the woods or going to the guerilla bands."

Passing now to Page 4 of the same English text, there is an attachment to Rosenberg's letter consisting of parts excerpted from letters of residents of the Occupied Eastern Territories-excerpted by Nazi censors apparently. Id the German text it appears at Page 6, Paragraphs 1 and 2. Starting the quotation:

"At our place, new things have happened. People are being takers to Germany. On October 5 some people from the Kowbuski district were scheduled to go, but they did not want to and the village was set on fire. They threatened to do the same thing in Borowyischi, as not all who were scheduled to depart wanted to go. Thereupon three truckloads of Germans arrived and set fire to their houses. To Wrasnyischi 12 houses and in Borowytschi 3 houses were burned.

"On October 1 a new conscription of labor forces took place. Of what happened, I win describe the most important to you. You cannot imagine the bestiality. you probably remember what we were told about the Soviets during the rule of the Poles. At that time we did not believe it and now it seems just as incredible. The order came to supply 25 workers, but no one reported. All had fled. Then the German police came and began to ignite the houses of those who had fled. The fire burned furiously, since it had not rained for 2 months. In addition the grain stacks were in the fawn yards. You can imagine what took place. The people who had hurried to the

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scene were forbidden to extinguish the dames, were beaten and arrested, so that six homesteads were burned down. The policemen meanwhile ignited other houses. The people fall on their knees and kiss their hands, but the policemen beat them with rubber truncheons and threaten to burn down the whole village. I do not know how this would have ended if Sapurkany had not intervened. He promised that there would be laborers by the next morning. During the fire the police went through the adjoining visages, seized the laborers, and brought them under arrest. Wherever they did not find any laborers, they detained the parents until the children appeared. That is how they raged throughout the night in Bielosersk ....

"The workers who had not yet appeared by then were to be shot. All schools were closed and the married teachers were sent to work here, while the unmarried ones go to work in Germany. They are now catching humans as the dogcatchers used to catch dogs. They are already hunting for 1 week and have not yet enough The imprisoned workers are locked in the schoolhouse. They cannot even go to perform their natural functions, but have to do it like pigs in the same room. People from many villages went on a certain day to a pilgrimage to the Poczajow Monastery. They were all arrested, locked in, and will be sent to work. Among them there are lame, blind, and aged people."

Despite the fact that the Defendant Rosenberg wrote this letter with this attachment, we say he nevertheless countenanced the use of force in order to furnish slave labor to Germany and admitted his responsibility for the "unusual and hard measures" that were employed. I refer to excerpts from the transcript of an interrogation under oath of the Defendant Rosenberg on the 6th of October 1945, which is Exhibit USA-187, and I wish to quote from Page 1 of the English text starting with the ninth paragraph.

THE PRESIDENT: You haven't given us the PS number.

MR. DODD: It has no PS number.

THE PRESIDENT: I beg your pardon. Has a copy of it been given to Rosenberg's counsel?

MR. DODD: Yes, it has been. It is at the end of the document book, if Your Honors please, the document book the Tribunal has.

DR. ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): In the name of my client, I object to the reading of this document for the following reasons:

In the preliminary hearings my client was questioned several times on the subject of employment of labor from the eastern European nations. He stated: that the Defendant Sauckel, by virtue

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of the authority he received from the Fuehrer and by order of the Delegate for the Four Year Plan, had the right to give him instructions; that he (the Defendant Rosenberg) nevertheless demanded that recruiting of labor be conducted on a voluntary basis; that this was in fact carried out; and that Sauckel agreed, provided that the quota could be met. Rosenberg further stated that on several occasions in the course of Joint discussions his Ministry demanded that the quota be reduced and that in part it was, in fact, reduced.

This document which is now going to be presented does not mention all these statements, it only contains fragments of them. In order to make it possible both for the Tribunal and the Defense to obtain a complete picture, I ask the Tribunal that the Prosecution be requested to present the entire records of the statements and, before submitting the document officially, to discuss the retranslation with the Defense so as to avoid misunderstandings.

THE PRESIDENT: I am not sure that I understand your objection. You say, as I understood it, that Sauckel had authority from Hitler. Is that right?

DR THOMA: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: And that Rosenberg was carrying out that authority.

DR. THOMA: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: But all that counsel for the Prosecution is attempting to do at the moment is to put in evidence an interrogation of Rosenberg. With reference to that, you ask that he should put in the whole interrogation?

DR. THOMA: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we don't know yet whether he intends to put in the whole interrogation or a part of it.

DR. THOMA: I know only one thing: I already have in my hand the document which the Prosecution wishes to submit and I can see from it that it contains only fragments of the whole interrogation. What in particular it does not contain is the fact that Rosenberg always insisted on voluntary recruiting only and that he continually demanded a reduction of the quota. That is not contained in the document to be submitted.

THE PRESIDENT: If counsel for the Prosecution reads a part of the interrogation, and you wish to refer to another part of the interrogation in order that the part he has read should not be misleading, you will be at liberty to do so when he has read his part of the interrogation. Is that clear?

DR. THOMA: Yes. But then I request the Tribunal to ask counsel for the Prosecution if the document which he intends to submit contains the whole of Rosenberg's statement.

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THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, there you going to put in the whole of Rosenberg's interrogation?

MR. DODD: No, Your Honor, I was not prepared to put in the whole of Rosenberg's interrogation, but only certain parts of it. These parts are available, and have been for some time, to counsel. The whole of the Rosenberg interrogation in English was given to Sauckel's counsel, however, and he has the entire text of it, the only available copy that we have.

THE PRESIDENT: Has counsel for Rosenberg not got the entire document?

MR. DODD: He has only the excerpt that we propose to read into the record here at this time.

DR. THOMA: May I say something?

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, the Tribunal considers that if you propose to put in a part of the interrogation, the whole interrogation ought to be submitted to the defendant's counsel, that then you may read what part you like of the interrogation, and then defendant's counsel may refer to any other part of the interrogation directly if it is necessary for the purpose of explaining the part which has been read by counsel for the Prosecution. So before you use this interrogation, Rosenberg's counsel must have a copy of the whole interrogation.

MR. DODD: I might say, Your Honor, that we turned over the whole interrogation to counsel for the Defendant Sauckel; and we understood that he would make it available to all other counsel for the Defense. Apparently, that did not happen.

DR. THOMA: Thank you, Mr. President.

DR. SERVATIUS: I received these documents from the Prosecution last night. They were in English; that is sufficient for me, but counsel for the other defendants are not all in a position to follow the English text, so that certain difficulties arise, and I must find time to interpret the document to my colleagues. But it would be desirable if the Prosecution could give us the German text, for the interrogation took place in German and was translated into English, so that the original German text should be available.

Those are the difficulties, and I would like to suggest that the German text be also handed to us as soon as possible.

MR. DODD: With reference to the so-called German text, the original is an English text. These interrogations were made through an interpreter and they were transcribed in English so that the original text is an English text, and that is what was turned over to the attorney for the Defendant Sauckel with the understanding that it would be made available to all other counsel.

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THE PRESIDENT: But of course that doesn't quite meet their difficulties because they don't all of them speak English, or are not all able to read English, so I am afraid you must wait until Rosenberg's counsel has got a copy of the entire interrogation in his own language.

MR. DODD: Very well.

Passing on beyond the document to which we have just referred -which we now withdraw in view of the ruling-and which we will offer at a later date after we have complied with the ruling of the Court, we have a letter dated the 21st of December 1942, which is Document 018-PS, and which bears Exhibit Number USA-186-which, by the way, is a letter from the Defendant Rosenberg to the Defendant Sauckel-and I wish to quote from Page 1, Paragraph 3 of the English text. In the German text it appears at Page 3, Paragraph 1. Quoting directly:

"Even if I in no way deny that the numbers demanded by the Reich Minister for Armament and Munitions as well as by the agricultural economy justify unusual and severe measures, I must, because I am answerable for the Occupied Eastern Territories, emphatically request that, in filling the quota demanded, measures be excluded the consequences and our toleration of which will some day be held against me and my collaborators."

In the Ukraine area, arson was indeed used as a terror instrument to enforce these conscription measures; and we refer now to Document Number 254-PS, which is Exhibit USA-188. This document is from an official of the Rosenberg Ministry and was also found in the Rosenberg file. It is dated June 29, 1944 and encloses a copy of a letter from one Paul Saab, a district commissioner in the territory of Wassilkov, to the Defendant Rosenberg. I wish to quote from Raab's letter, Page 1, starting with Paragraph 1 of the English text which reads as follows:

"According to a charge by the Supreme Command of the Army, I burned down several houses... in the territory of Wassilkov, Ukraine, belonging to insubordinate people ordered to labor service-this accusation is true."

Passing now to the third paragraph:

"During the year of 1942 the conscription of workers was accomplished nearly exclusively by way of propaganda. Only rarely was force necessary. But in August 1942, measures had to be taken against two families in the villages of Glevenka and Soliony-Shatior, each of which were to supply one person for labor. Both had been requested in June for the first time but had not obeyed, although requested repeatedly. They had to be brought in by force, but succeeded twice in

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escaping from the collecting camp in Kiev or while in transit. Before the second arrest, the fathers of both of the workers were taken into custody as hostages to be released only when their sons appeared. When, after the second escape, the re-arrest of both the young men and the fathers was ordered, the police patrols detailed to do this, found the houses empty."

Passing to Paragraph 4, it is stated, and I quote directly:

"At that time I decided at last to take measures to show the increasingly rebellious Ukrainian youth that our orders have to be followed. I ordered the burning of the houses of the two fugitives."

Would Your Honor like to have the rest of that paragraph?

THE PRESIDENT: I think you should read the next few lines.

MR. DODD: "The result was that in the future people obeyed, willingly, orders concerning labor obligations. However, the practice of burning houses has not become known for the first time by my actions, but was suggested in a secret letter from the Rein Commissioner for Allocation of Labor specifically as a coercive measure in case other measures should fail. This harsh punishment was acceptable to the local population. . ."

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): The Commissioner for Labor, Mr. Dodd-you just said, "an order from the Commissioner of Labor." Who was that?

MR. DODD: Well, we have discussed this matter previously to our appearance here today. The document does not identify him by name. We are not sure. The Defendant Sauckel was called Plenipotentiary General for Labor, and we think we can't go much further, and say we don't know. It just does not appear.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Thank you.

MR. DODD: Reading that last sentence again:

"This harsh punishment was acceptable to the local population because previous to this step both families had ridiculed on every hand the duty-conscious people who sent their children partly voluntarily to the labor allocation."

Turning to Paragraph 2 on Page 2, beginning about two-thirds of the way through the paragraph, I wish to read as follows-in the German text it appears at Page 3, Paragraph 1:

"After initial successes, a passive resistance of the population started, which finally forced me to turn again to arrests, confiscations, and transfers to labor camps. After a whole transport of conscripted laborers overcame the police at the

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railroad station in Wassilkov and escaped, I saw again the necessity for strict measures. A few ring-leaders, who of course had long since escaped, were located in Plissezkoje and in Mitnitza. After repeated attempts to get hold of them, their houses were burned down."

And finally, I wish to pass to the last paragraph on Page 3 of that same document. In the German text it appears at Page 5, Paragraph 7. Quoting from that last paragraph on the third page:

"My actions toward fugitive labor draftees were always reported to District Commissioner Dohrer, of the Wassilkov office, and to the Commissioner General in Kiev. Both of them knew the circumstances and agreed with my measures because of their success."

That is the end of that part of the quotation.

That Generalkommissar in Kiev, as we indicated yesterday and again this morning, was the man Koch-we quoted his statement about the master race.

Another document confirms arson as an instrument of enforcing this labor program in the village of Bielosersk in the Ukraine in cases of resistance to forced labor recruitment. Atrocities committed in this village are related in Document Number 018-PS, which is already in evidence as Exhibit USA-186. But in addition there is Document Number 290-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-189. This document consists of correspondence originating within the Rosenberg ministry, which was, of course, the office headquarters of the Defendant Rosenberg; and it is dated the 12th day of November 1943. I wish to quote from Page 1 of the English text, starting with the last line, as follows:

"But even if Muller had been present at the burning of houses in connection with the Reich conscription in Bielosersk, this should by no means lead to the removal of Muller from office. It is mentioned specifically in a directive of the Commissioner General in Luck, of 21 September 1942, referring to the extreme urgency of national conscription, that farms of those who refuse to work are to be burned and their relatives are to be arrested as hostages and brought to forced labor camps."

The SS troops were directed to participate in the abduction of these forced laborers and also in the raids on villages, burning of villages, and were directed to turn the entire population over for slave labor in Germany.

We refer to Document Number 3012-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-l90. This document is a secret SS order and it is dated the 19th day of March 1943. I wish to quote from Page 3 of

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the English text starting with the third paragraph. In the German text it appears at Page 2, Paragraph 3. It says, and I quote it:

"The activity of the labor offices, that is, of recruiting commissions, is to be supported to the greatest extent possible. It mill not be possible always to refrain from using force. During a conference with the chief of the labor avocation staffs, it was agreed that whatever prisoners could be released should be put at the disposal of the commissioner of the labor office. When searching villages or when it becomes necessary to burn down villages, the whole population will be put at the disposal of the commissioner by force."

THE PRESIDENT: Shouldn't you read Number 4 which follows it?

MR. DODD: Number 4 says:

"As a rule, no more children will be shot."

I might say to Your Honor that parts of these documents are going to be relied on for other purposes later and it sometimes may appear to the Tribunal that we are overlooking some of these excerpts, but nevertheless I am grateful to have them called to our attention because they are most pertinent to these allegations as well.

From the community of Zhitomir where the Defendant Sauckel appealed for more workers for the Reich, the Commissioner General reported on the brutality of the conspirator's program, which he described as a program of coercion and slavery. And I now refer to Document Number 265-PS, which is Exhibit USA-191. This document is a secret report of a conference between the Commissioner General of Zhitomir and the Defendant Rosenberg in the community of Vinnitza on the 17th of June 1943. The report itself is dated the 30th of June 1943 and is signed by Leyser. I wish to quote from Page 1 of the English text, beginning with the last paragraph; and in the German text it appears at Page 2, Paragraph 3. Quoting it directly:

"The symptoms created by the recruiting of workers are, no doubt, well known to the Reich Minister through reports and his own observations. Therefore I shall not repeat them. It is certain that a recruitment of labor in the true sense of the word can hardly be spoken of. In most cases it is nowadays a matter of actual conscription by force."

Passing now to Page 2 of that same document, and to Paragraph 1, line 11-in the German text it appears at Page 3, Paragraph 2-it says; and I quote it directly:

"But as the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor explained to us the gravity of the situation, we had

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no alternative. I consequently have authorized the commissioners of the areas to apply the severest measures in order to achieve the imposed quota. That a lowering of morale is coupled with this needs no further proof. It is nevertheless essential to win the war on this front too. The problem of labor mobilization cannot be handled with gloves."

The recruitment measures which we have been discussing enslaved so many citizens of occupied countries that whole areas were depopulated.

I now wish to refer to our Document Number 3000-PS, which is Exhibit USA-192. This document is a partial translation of a report from the chief of Main Office III with the High Command in Minsk, and it is dated the 28th day of June 1943. It was sent to Ministerialdirektor Riecke, who was a top official in the Rosenberg Ministry. I wish to read from Page 1 of the English text, starting with the second paragraph, as follows:

"Thus recruitment of labor for the Reich, however necessary, had disastrous effects, for the recruitment measures in the last months and weeks were absolute manhunts, which have an irreparable political and economic effect.... From... White Ruthenia approximately 50,000 people have been obtained for the Reich so far. Another 130,000 are to be taken. Considering the 2,400,000 total population. . . the fulfillment of these quotas is impossible.... Owing to the sweeping drives of the SS and police in November 1942, about 115,000 hectares of farmland. . . are not used, as the population is not there and the villages have been razed...."

We have already referred to the conspirators' objective of permanently weakening the enemy through the enslavement of labor and the breaking up of families; and we invite the Tribunal's attention to Document 031-PS, which is in evidence as Exhibit USA-171, for we desire to emphasize that the policy was applied in the Eastern Occupied Territories with the Defendant Rosenberg's approval of a plan for the apprehension and deportation of 40,000 to 50,000 youths of the ages of 10 to 14. Now the stated purpose of this plan was to prevent a reinforcement of the enemy's military strength and to reduce the enemy's biological potentialities. We have already quoted from Page 3 of the English text of that document to establish that the Defendant Rosenberg approved that plan, the so-called Hay Action plan. We referred to it yesterday afternoon.

Further evidence of the conspirators' plan to weaken their enemies, in utter disregard of the rules of international law, is contained in Document Number 1702-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-193. This document is a secret order, issued by a

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rear area military commandant to the district commissar at Kasatin, dated the 25th of December 1943. I quote from Page 3 of the English text at Paragraph 1. In the German text it appears at Page 12, Paragraph 1.

"The able-bodied male population between 15 and 65 years of age and the live stock are to be shipped back from the district east of the line Belilovka-Berditchev-Zhitomir (exclusive of these places)."

This program, which we have been describing, and the brutal measures that it employed were not limited to Poland and the Occupied Eastern Territories but covered and cursed Western Europe as well. Frenchmen, Dutchmen, Belgians, Italians, all came to know the yoke of slavery and the brutality of their slavemasters.

In France these slavemasters intensified their program in the early part of 1943, pursuant to instructions which the Defendant Speer telephoned to the Defendant Sauckel at 8 o'clock in the evening on the 4th day of January 1943 from Hitler's headquarters. I now refer to Document Number 556(13)-PS, which is Exhibit USA-194. This document, incidentally, is a note for his own files, signed by the Defendant Sauckel, dated the 5th of January 1943. I wish to quote from Page 1 of the English text, Paragraph 1 as follows:

"On 4 January 1943 at 8 p.m. Minister Speer telephones from the Fuehrer's headquarters and communicates that on the basis of the Fuehrer's decision, it is no longer necessary to give special consideration to Frenchmen in the further recruiting of specialists and helpers in France. The recruiting can proceed with vigor and with sharpened measures.".

To overcome resistance to his slave labor program, the Defendant Sauckel improvised new impressment measures which were applied to both France and Italy by his own agents and which he himself labelled as grotesque. I now refer to Document Number 31-124, which is Exhibit USA-179, and particularly Page 2 and Paragraph 2 of the English text; in the German text it appears at Page 8, Paragraph 1. Quoting directly from that page and that paragraph a statement made by Sauckel on 1 March 1944 at a meeting of the Central Planning Board:

"The most abominable point against which I have to fight is the claim that there is no organization in these districts properly to recruit Frenchmen, Belgians, and Italians and to dispatch them to work. So I have even proceeded to employ and train a whole staff of French and Italian agents of both sexes who for good pay, just as was done in olden times for 'shanghaiing,' go hunting for men and dupe them, using

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liquor as well as persuasion in order to dispatch them to Germany.

"Moreover, I have charged several capable men with founding a special labor allocation organization of our own, and this by training and arming, under the aegis of the Higher SS and Police Fuehrer, a number of indigenous units; but I still have to ask the munitions ministry for arms for these men. For during the last year alone several dozens of highranking labor allocation officials of great ability have been shot All these means must be used, grotesque as it may sound, to refute the allegation that there is no organization to bring labor to Germany from these countries."

His same slave labor hunt proceeded in Holland, as it did in France, with terror and abduction. I now refer to Document Number 1726-PS, which is Exhibit USA-195. This document is entitled, "Statement of the Netherlands Government in View of the Prosecution and Punishment of the German Major War Criminals." I wish to quote from enclosure "h," entitled "Central Bureau for Statistics-me Deportation of Netherlands' Workmen to Germany." It is Page 1 of the English text, starting with the first paragraph; and in the German text it appears at Page 1, also Paragraph 1. Quoting it directly, it reads as follows:

"Many big and medium size large business concerns, especially in the metal industry, were visited by German commissions who selected workmen for deportation. His combing-out was called the 'Sauckel action,' so named after its leader, who was charged with the procurement of foreign workmen for Germany.

"The employers had to cancel the contracts with the selected workmen; and the latter were forced to register at the labor offices, which then took charge of the deportation under supervision of German 'Fachberater.'

"Workmen who refused-relatively few-were prosecuted by the Sicherheitsdienst-the SD. If captured by this service, they were mostly lodged for some time in one of the infamous prisoners' camps in the Netherlands and eventually put to work in Germany.

"In these prosecutions the Sicherheitsdienst was supported by the German police service, which was connected with the labor offices and was composed of members of the NSB and the like.

"At the end of April 1942 the deportation of workers started on a grand scale. Consequently, in the months of May and June, the number of deportees amounted to not less than

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22,000 and 24,000 respectively, of which many were metal workers.

"After that the action slackened somewhat, but in October 1942 another peak was reached (2,600). After the big concerns, the smaller ones had, in their turn, to give up their personnel . . .

"This changed in November 1944. The Germans then started a ruthless campaign for manpower, passing by the labor offices. Without warning they lined off whole quarters of the towns, seized people in the streets or in the houses and deported them.

"In Rotterdam and Schiedam where these raids took place on 10 and 11 November, the number of people thus deported was estimated at 50,000 and 5,000, respectively.

"In other places where the raids were held later, the numbers were much lower, because one was forewarned by the events. The exact figures are not known as they have never been published by the occupants.

"The people thus seized were put to work partly in the Netherlands, partly in Germany."

A document found in the OKH files furnishes further evidence of the seizure of workers in Holland; and I refer to Document Number 3003-PS, which is Exhibit USA-196. This document is a partial translation of the text of a lecture, delivered by one Lieutenant Haupt of the German Wehrmacht, concerning the situation of the war economy in the Netherlands. I wish to quote from Page 1 of the English text, starting with the fourth line of Paragraph 1-quoting that directly, which reads as follows:

"There had been some difficulties with the Arbeitseinsatz, that is, during the man-catching action, which became very noticeable because it was unorganized and unprepared. People were arrested in the streets and taken out of their homes. It has been impossible to carry out a uniform exemption procedure in advance, because for security reasons the time for the action had not been previously announced. Certificates of exemption, furthermore, were to some extent not recognized by the officials who carried out the action. Not only workers who had become available through the stoppage of industry, but also those who were employed in our installations producing things for our immediate need were apprehended or did not dare to go into the streets. In any case it proved to be a great loss to us."

I might say to the Tribunal, that the hordes of people displaced in Germany today indicate, to a very considerable extent, the length to which the conspirators' labor program succeeded. The

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best available Allied and German data reveal that, as of January 1945, approximately 4,795,000 foreign civilian workers had been put to work for the German war effort in the Old Reich; and among them were forced laborers of more than 14 different nationalities. I now refer to Document Number 2520-PS, Exhibit USA-197, which is an affidavit executed by Edward L. Deuss, an economic analyst.

At the top of the first page there are tables setting forth the nationality and then the numbers of the various nationals and other groupings or prisoners of war and politicals, so-called. The workers alone total, according to Mr. Deuss who is an expert in the field, the 4,795,000 figure to which I have just referred. In the second paragraph of this statement of Deuss, I should like to read for the record and quote directly:

"I, Edward L. Deuss, for 3 years employed by the Foreign Economic Administration, Washington, as an economic analyst in London, Paris, and Germany, specializing in labor and population problems of Germany during the war, do hereby certify that the figures of foreign labor employed in the Old Reich have been compiled on the basis of the best available German and Allied sources of material. The accompanying table represents a combination of German official estimates of foreigners working in Germany in January 1945, and of American, British, and French figures of the number of foreigners actually discovered in the Old Reich since 10 May 1945."

Only a very small proportion of these imported laborers came to Germany on a voluntary basis. At the March 1, 1944 meeting of this same Central Planning Board, to which we have made reference before, the Defendant Sauckel himself made clear the vast scale on which free men had been forced into this labor slavery. He made the statement, and I quote from Document Number R-124, which is in evidence as Exhibit USA-179 and from which I have quoted earlier this morning. I wish to refer to Page 11 of that document, the middle paragraph, Paragraph 3. In the German text it appears at Page 4, Paragraph 2-the Defendant Sauckel speaking-and I quote directly from that document:

"Out of 5 million foreign workers who arrived in Germany, not even 200,000 came voluntarily."

The Nazi conspirators were not satisfied just to tear 5 million odd persons from their children, from their homes, from their native land. But in addition, these defendants, who sit today in this courtroom, insisted that this vast number of wretched human beings who were in the so-called Old Reich as forced laborers must

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be starved, given less than sufficient to eat, often beaten and maltreated, and permitted to die wholesale for want of food, for want of even the fundamental requirements of decent clothing, for the want of adequate shelter or indeed sometimes just because they produced too little.

Now these conditions of deportation are vividly described in Document Number 054-PS, which is a report made to the Defendant Rosenberg concerning the treatment of Ukrainian labor. I wish to refer to Document Number 054-PS, which bears the Exhibit Number USA-198. Before quoting from it directly-according to this report the plight of these hapless victims was aggravated because many were dragged off without opportunity to collect their possessions. Indeed, men and women were snatched from bed and lodged in cellars pending deportation. Some arrived in night clothing. Brutal guards beat them. They were locked in railroad cars for long periods without any toilet facilities at all, without food, without water, without heat. The women were subjected to physical and moral indignities and indecencies during medical examinations.

I refer now specifically to this Document Number 054-PS, which consists of a covering letter to the Defendant Rosenberg, first of all, and is signed by one Theurer, a 1st lieutenant in the Wehrmacht, to which is attached a copy of a report by the commandant of the collecting center for Ukrainian specialists at Kharkov; and it also consists of a letter written by one of the specialists in the Rosenberg office-no, by one of the workers, not in the Rosenberg office, but one of the specialists they were recruiting, by the name of Grigori. I wish to quote from the report at Page 2, starting at Paragraph 4 of the English text-and in the German text it appears at Page 3, Paragraph 4. Quoting directly from that page of the English text:

"The starosts, that is village elders, are frequently corruptible; they continue to have the skilled workers, whom they drafted, dragged from their beds at night to be locked up in cellars until they are shipped. Since the male and female workers often are not given any time to pick up their luggage and so forth, many skilled workers arrive at the collecting center for skilled workers with equipment entirely insufficient (without shoes or change of clothing, no eating and drinking utensils, no blankets, et cetera). In particularly extreme cases, therefore, new arrivals have to be sent back again immediately to get the things most necessary for them. If people do not come along at once, threatening and beating of skilled workers by the above-mentioned local militia become a daily occurrence and are reported from most of the communities. In some cases women were beaten until they could no longer

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march. One bad case in particular was reported by me to the commander of the civil police here (Colonel Samek) for severe punishment (village of Sozolinkov, district of Dergatchi). The encroachments of the starosts and the militia are of a particularly grave nature because they usually justify themselves by claiming that all that is done in the name of the German Armed Forces. In reality, the latter have conducted themselves throughout in a highly understanding manner toward the skilled workers and the Ukrainian population. The same, however, cannot be said of some of the administrative agencies. To illustrate this,. be it mentioned that a woman once arrived dressed with barely more than a shirt."

Passing now to Page 4 of this same document, starting with the 10th line of the third paragraph, and in the German text it appears at Page 5, Paragraph 2. Quoting directly again:

"On the basis of reported incidents, attention must be called to the fact that it is inexcusable to keep workers locked in the cars for many hours, so that they cannot even take care of the calls of nature. It is evident that the people of a transport must be given an opportunity from time to time, to get drinking water, to wash, and to relieve themselves. Cars have been shown in which people had made holes so that they could attend to the calls of nature. When nearing bigger stations, persons should, if possible, relieve themselves far from these stations."

Tuning to Page 5 of the same document, Paragraph 12 in the German text it appears at Page 6, Paragraph 1:

"The following abuses were reported from the delousing stations:

"In the women's and girls' shower rooms, services were partly performed by men, or men would mingle around or even help with the soaping, and vice versa there were female personnel in the men's shower rooms. Men also for some time were faking photographs in the-women's shower rooms. Since mainly Ukrainian peasants were transported in the last months, as far as the female portion of these are concerned, they were mostly of a high moral standard and used to strict modesty; they must have considered such a treatment as a national degradation. The above-mentioned abuses have been, according to our knowledge, settled by the intervention of the transport commanders. The reports of the photographing were made from Halle; the reports about the former were made from Kiwerce. Such incidents, altogether unworthy of the dignity and prestige of the Greater German Reich may still occur here or there."

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Sick and infirm people of the occupied countries were taken indiscriminately with the rest. Those who managed to survive the trip into Germany but who arrived too sick to work were returned like cattle together with those who fell ill at work, because they were of no further use to the Germans. The return trip took place under the same terrible conditions as the initial journey, and without any kind of medical supervision. Death came to many and their corpses were unceremoniously dumped out of the cars, with no provision for burial.

I quote from Page 3, Paragraph 3 of Document Number 054-PS. In the German text it appears at Page 2, Paragraph 3. Quoting directly:

"Very depressing for the morale of the skilled workers and the population is the effect of those persons shipped back from Germany who had become disabled or had been unfit for employment from the very beginning.

"Several times already transports of skilled workers on their way to Germany have crossed returning transports of such disabled persons and have stood on the tracks alongside of each other for a long period of time. These returning transports are insufficiently cared for. Nothing but sick, injured, or weak people, mostly 50 to 60 in a car usually escorted by 3 to 4 men. There is neither sufficient care nor food. The returnees made frequently unfavorable-if also surely exaggerated-statements relative to their treatment in Germany and on the way. As a result of all this and of what the people could see with their own eyes, a psychosis of fear was evoked among the skilled workers, that is, the whole transport to Germany. Several transport leaders, of the 62d and 63rd transports, in particular, reported on it in detail In one case the leader of the transport of skilled workers observed with his own eyes how a person who had died of hunger was unloaded from a returning transport on the side track (1st Lieutenant Hofmann of the 63rd Transport Station, Darniza). Another time it was reported that three dead had to be deposited by the side of the tracks on the way and had to be left behind unburied by the escort. It is also regrettable that these disabled persons arrive here without any identification. From the reports of the transport commanders, one gets the impression that these unemployable persons are assembled, penned into the wagons, and sent off provided only by a few men escorts and without special care for food and medical or other attendance. me labor office at the place of arrival as well as the transport commanders confirm this impression."

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Incredible as it may seem, mothers in the throes of childbirth shared cars with those infected with tuberculosis or venereal diseases. Babies, when born, were hurled out of these car windows; and dying persons lay on the bare floors of freight cars without even the small comfort of straw.

I refer to Document Number 084-PS, which is Exhibit USA-l99. This document is an interdepartmental report, prepared by Dr. Gutkelch, in the Defendant Rosenberg's Ministry, and it is dated the 30th of September 1942. I wish to quote from Page 10 of the English text, starting with the fourth line from the top of the page. In the German text it appears at Page 22, Paragraph 1. Quoting directly from that paragraph:

"How necessary this interference was is shown by the fact that this train with returning laborers had stopped at the same place where a train with newly recruited Eastern Workers had stopped. Because of the corpses in the trainload of returning laborers, a catastrophe might have been precipitated had it not been for the mediation of Mrs. Miller. In this train women gave birth to babies who were thrown out of the windows during the journey, people having tuberculosis and venereal diseases rode in the same car, dying people lay in freight cars without straw, and one of the dead was thrown on the railway embankment. me same must have occurred in other returning transports."

Some aspects of the Nazi transport were described by the Defendant Sauckel himself in a decree which he issued on the Seth of July 1942; and I refer specifically to Document Number 2241(2)-PS, which is Exhibit USA-200. I ask that the Tribunal take judicial notice of the original decree, which is published in Section BIa, at Page 48e of a book entitled Die Beschaftigung von auslandischen Arbeitshraften in Deutschland. I quote from Page 1, Paragraph 2, of the English text; and I am quoting directly:

"According to reports of transportation commanders"-Transportleiter-"presented to me, the special trains provided by the German railway have frequently been in a really brokendown condition. Numerous window panes have been missing in the coaches. Old French coaches without lavatories have been partly employed so that the workers had to fit up an emptied compartment as a lavatory. In other cases, the coaches were not heated in winter so that the lavatories quickly became unusable because the water system was frozen and the flushing apparatus was therefore without water."

The Tribunal will unquestionably have noticed or observed that a number of the documents which we have referred to-and which

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we have offered-consist of complaints by functionaries of the Defendant Rosenberg's Ministry, or by others, concerning the conditions under which foreign workers were recruited and lived. I think it is appropriate to say that these documents have been presented by the Prosecution really for two purposes, or for a dual purpose; to establish, first, the facts recited therein, of course, but also to show that these conspirators had knowledge of these conditions and that notwithstanding their knowledge of these conditions, these conspirators continued to countenance and assist in this enslavement program of a vast number of citizens of occupied countries.

Once within Germany, slave laborers were subjected to almost unbelievable brutality and degradation by their captors; and the character of this treatment was in part made plain by the conspirators' own statements, as in Document Number 016-PS, which is in evidence as Exhibit USA-168; and I refer to Page 12, Paragraph 2 of the English text. In the German test it appears at Page 17, Paragraph 4. Quoting directly:

"All the men must be fed, sheltered, and treated in such a way that they produce to the highest possible extent at the lowest conceivable degree of expenditure." Force and brutality as instruments of production found a ready adherent in the Defendant Speer who, in the presence of the Defendant Sauckel, said at a meeting of the Central Punning Board-and I refer to Document Number R-124, which is already in evidence and which has been referred to previously. It bears the Exhibit Number USA-179. I refer particularly to Page 42 of that Document R-124, and Paragraph 2 of that Page 42. The Defendant Speer, speaking at that meeting, stated: "We must also discuss the slackers. Hey has ascertained that the sick list decreased at once to one-fourth or one-fifth in factories where doctors are on the staff who examine the sick men. There is nothing to be said against SS and police taking drastic steps and putting those known as slackers into concentration camps. There is no alternative. Let it happen several times and the news will soon go around."

At a later meeting of the Central Planning Board, Field Marshal Milch agreed that so far as workers were concerned-and again I refer to Document Number R-124 and to Page 26, Paragraph 2, in the English text, and in the German text at Page 17, Paragraph 1. Field Marshal Milch, speaking at a meeting of the Central Planning Board when the Defendant Speer was present, stated; and I am quoting directly:

"The list of the shirkers should be entrusted to Himmler ...."

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Milch made particular reference to foreign workers again in this Document Number R-124 at Page 26, Paragraph 3-in the German text it appears at Page 18, Paragraph 3-when he said; and I am quoting him directly:

"It is therefore not possible to exploit fully all the foreigners unless we compel them by piece-work wages and have the possibility of taking measures against foreigners who are not doing their bits"

The policy as actually executed was even more fearful than the policy as expressed by the conspirators. Indeed, these impressed workers were underfed and overworked; and they were forced to live in grossly overcrowded camps where they were held as virtual prisoners, and were otherwise denied adequate shelter, adequate clothing, adequate medical care and treatment. As a consequence, they suffered from many diseases and ailments. They were generally forced to work long hours, up to and beyond the point of exhaustion. They were beaten and subjected to all manner of inhuman indignities.

An example of this maltreatment is found in the conditions which prevailed in the Krupp factories. Foreign laborers at the Krupp works were given insufficient food to enable them to perform the work required of them.

I refer to Document Number D-316, which is Exhibit USA-201. This document was found in the Krupp files. It is a memorandum upon the Krupp stationery to a Herr Hupe, a director of the Krupp locomotive factory in Essen, Germany, dated the 14th of March 1942. I wish to refer to Page 1 of the English text, starting with Paragraph 1, as follows; and I am quoting directly:

"During the last few days we established that the food for the Russians employed here is so miserable that the people are getting weaker from day to day.

"Investigations showed that single Russians are not able to place a piece of metal for turning into position, for instance, because of lack of physical strength. The same conditions exist in all other places of work where Russians are employed."

The condition of foreign workers in Krupp workers' camps is described in detail in an affidavit executed in Essen, Germany, by Dr. Wilhelm Jager, who was the senior camp doctor. It is Document Number D-288, which is Exhibit USA-202.

"I, Dr. Wilhelm Jager, am a general practitioner in Essen, Germany, and its surroundings. I was born in Germany on 2 December 1888 and now live at Kettwig, Sengenholz 6, Germany.

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"I make the following statement of my own free will. I have not been threatened in any way and I have not been promised any sort of reward.

"On the 1st of October 1942, I became senior camp doctor in the Krupp's workers' camps for foreigners and was generally charged with the medical supervision of all Krupp's workers' camps in Essen. In the course of my duties it was my responsibility to report upon the sanitary and health conditions of the workers' camps to my superiors in the Krupp works.

"It was a part of my task to visit every Krupp camp which housed foreign civilian workers, and I am therefore able to make this statement on the basis of my personal knowledge.

"My first, official act as senior camp doctor was to make a thorough inspection of the various camps. At that time, in October 1942, I found the following conditions:

"The Eastern Workers and Poles who worked in the Krupp works at Essen were kept at camps at Seumannstrasse, Grieperstrasse, Spenlestrasse, Heegstrasse, Germaniastrasse, Kapitan-Lehmannstrasse, Dechenschule, and Kramerplatz."-When the term "Eastern Workers" is hereinafter used, it is to be taken as including Poles.-"All of the camps were surrounded by barbed wire and were closely guarded. .

"Conditions in all of these camps were extremely bad. The camps were greatly overcrowded. In some camps there were twice as many people in a barrack as health conditions permitted.

"At Kramerplatz the inhabitants slept in treble-tiered bunks, and in the other camps they slept in double-tiered bunks. The health authorities prescribed a minimum space between beds of 50 centimeters, but the bunks in these camps were separated by a maximum of 20 to 30 centimeters.

"The diet prescribed for the Eastern Workers was altogether insufficient. They were given 1,000 calories a day less than the minimum prescribed for any German. Moreover, while German workers engaged in the heaviest work received 5,000 calories a day, the Eastern Workers with comparable jobs received only 2,000 calories. The Eastern Workers were given only two meals a day and their bread ration. One of these two meals consisted of a thin, watery soup. I had no assurance that the Eastern Workers, in fact, received the minimum which was prescribed. Subsequently, in 1943, I undertook to inspect the food prepared by the cooks; I discovered a number of instances in which food was withheld from the workers. .

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"The plan for food distribution called for a small quantity of meat per week. Only inferior meats rejected by the veterinary, such as horse meat or tuberculin-infested, was permitted for this purpose. This meat was usually cooked into a soup....

"The percentage of Eastern Workers who were ill was twice as great as among the Germans. Tuberculosis was particularly widespread among the Eastern Workers. The tuberculosis rate among them was four times the normal rate (Eastern Workers, 2 percent; German, 0.5 percent). At Dechenschule approximately 2.5 percent of the workers suffered from open tuberculosis. The Tartars and Kirghises suffered most; as soon as they were overcome by this disease they collapsed like flies. The cause was bad housing, the poor quality and insufficient quantity of food, overwork, and insufficient rest.

"These workers were likewise afflicted with spotted fever. Lice, the carrier of this disease, together with countless fleas, bugs, and other vermin, tortured the inhabitants of these camps. As a result of the filthy conditions of the camps nearly all Eastern Workers were afflicted with skin disease. The shortage of food also caused many cases of Hunger-Oedema, Nephritis and Shiga-Kruse.

"It was the general rule that workers were compelled to go to work unless a camp doctor had certified that they were unfit for work. At Seumannstrasse, Grieperstrasse, Germaniastrasse, Kapitan-Lehmannstrasse, and Dechenschule there was no daily sick call. At these camps the doctors did not appear for 2 or 3 days. As a consequence workers were forced to go to work despite illness.

"I undertook to improve conditions as much as I could. I insisted upon the erection of some new barracks in order to relieve the overcrowded conditions of the camps. Despite this, the camps were still greatly overcrowded but not as much as before. I tried to alleviate the poor sanitary conditions in Kramerplatz and Dechenschule by having some emergency toilets installed; but the number was insufficient, and the situation was not materially altered....

"With the onset of heavy air raids in March 1943, conditions in the camps greatly deteriorated. The problem of housing, feeding, and medical attention became more acute than ever. The workers lived in the ruins of their former barracks. Medical supplies which were used up, lost, or destroyed were difficult to replace. At times the water supply at the camps was completely shut off for periods of 8 to 14 days. We

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installed a few emergency toilets in the camps, but there were far too few of them to cope with the situation.

"During the period immediately following the March 1943 raids many foreign workers were made to sleep at the Krupp factories in the same rooms in which they worked. The day workers slept there at night, and the night workers slept there during the day, despite the noise which constantly prevailed. I believe that this condition continued until the entrance of American troops into Essen.

"As the pace of air raids was stepped up, conditions became progressively worse. On 28 July 1944 I reported to my superiors that:

"The sick barracks in camp Rabenhorst are in such a bad condition one cannot speak of a sick barracks any more. The rain leaks through in every corner. The housing of the sick is therefore impossible. The necessary labor for production is in danger because those persons who are ill cannot recover.'

"At the end of 1943 or the beginning of 1944 - I am not completely sure of the exact date-I obtained permission for the first time to visit the prisoner-of-war camps. My inspection revealed that conditions at these camps were worse than those I had found at the camps of the Eastern Workers in 1942. Medical supplies at such camps were virtually nonexistent. In an effort to cure this intolerable situation, I contacted the Wehrmacht authorities whose duty it was to provide medical care for the prisoners of war. My persistent efforts came to nothing. After remonstrating with them over a period of 2 weeks, I was given a total of 100 aspirin tablets for over 3,000 prisoners of war.

"The French prisoner-of-war camp in Noggerathstrasse had been destroyed in an air raid attack and its inhabitants were kept for nearly half a year in dog kennels, urinals, and in old bakehouses. The dog kennels were 3 feet high, 9 feet long, and 6 feet wide. Five men slept in each of them. The prisoners had to crawl into these kennels on all fours. The camp contained no tables, chairs, or cupboards. The supply of blankets was inadequate. There was no water in the camp. Such medical treatment as there was, was given in the open. Many of these conditions were reported to me in. a report by Dr. Stinnesbeck, dated 12 June 1944, in which he said:

" . . . There are still 315 prisoners in the camp. One hundred seventy of these are no longer in barracks but in the tunnel in Grunertstrasse under the Essen-MuIheim railway line. This tunnel is damp and is not suitable for continued accommodation of human beings. The rest of the prisoners are

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accommodated in 10 different factories in the Krupp works. The medical attention is given by a French military doctor who takes great pains with his fellow countrymen. Sick people from Krupp factories must be brought to sick call. This inspection is held in the lavatory of a burned-out public house outside the camp. The sleeping accommodation of the four French orderlies is in what was the men's room. In the sick bay there is a double-tier wooden bed. In general the treatment takes place in the open. In rainy weather it is held in the above-mentioned small room. These are insufferable conditions. There are no chairs, tables, cupboards, or water. The keeping of a register of sick people is impossible. Bandages and medical supplies are very scarce, although the badly wounded from the factory are very often brought here for first aid and have to be bandaged here before being transported to the hospital. There are many loud and lively complaints about food which the guard personnel confirms as being justified. Illness and loss of manpower must be reckoned with under these conditions....'

"In my report to my superiors at Krupps, dated 2 September 1944, I stated....

"Camp Humboldtstrasse has been inhabited by Italian military internees. After it had been destroyed by an air raid, the Italians were removed and 600 Jewish females from Buchenwald concentration camp were brought to work at the Krupp factories. Upon my first visit at Camp Humboldtstrasse, I found these persons suffering from open festering wounds and other ailments.

"I was the first doctor they had seen for at least a fortnight. There was no doctor in attendance at the camp. There were no medical supplies in the camp. They had no shoes and went about in their bare feet. The sole clothing of each consisted of a sack with holes for their arms and head. Their hair was shorn. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire and closely guarded by SS guards.

"The amount of food in the camp was extremely meager and of very poor quality. The houses in which they lived consisted of the ruins of former barracks and they afforded no shelter against rain and other weather conditions. I reported to my superiors that the guards lived and slept outside their barracks as one could not enter them without being attacked by 10, 20, and up to 50 fleas. One camp doctor employed by me refused to enter the camp again after he had been bitten very badly. I visited this camp with Mr. Grone on two occasions and both times we left the camp badly bitten. We had

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great difficulty in getting rid of the fleas and insects which had attacked us. As a result of this attack by insects of this camp I got large boils on my arms and the rest of my body. I asked my superiors at the Krupp works to undertake the necessary steps to delouse the camp so as to put an end to this unbearable vermin-infested condition. Despite this report, I did not find any improvement in sanitary conditions at the camp on my second visit a fortnight later.

"When foreign workers finally became too sick to work or were completely disabled, they were returned to the labor exchange in Essen and from there they were sent to a camp at Friedrichsfeld. Among persons who were returned to the labor exchange were aggravated cases of tuberculosis, malaria, neurosis, cancer which could not be treated by operation, old age, and general feebleness. I know nothing about conditions at this camp because I have never visited it. I only know that it was a place to which workers were sent who were no longer of any use to Krupp.

"My colleagues and I reported all of the foregoing matters to Mr. Ihn, director of Friedrich Krupp AG.; Dr. Wiele, personal physician of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach; senior camp leader Luke; and sometimes to the Essen health department. Moreover, I know that these gentlemen personally visited the camps."-signed-"Dr. Wilhelm Jager."

THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now until 2 o'clock.

[A recess was taken until 1400 hours.]

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Afternoon Session.

MR. DODD: May it please the Tribunal, we had just completed the reading of the affidavit executed by Dr. Wilhelm Jager at the noon recess. The conditions which were described in this affidavit were not confined to the Krupp factories alone but existed throughout Germany; and we turn to a report of the Polish Main Committee made to the Administration of the General Government of Poland, Document Number R-103, Exhibit Number USA-204. This document is dated the 17th of May 1944 and describes the situation of the Polish workers in Germany, and I wish to refer particularly to Page 2 of the English translation, starting with Paragraph 2; in the German text it appears at Page 2, Paragraph 2 also. In quoting from the document, it reads:

"The state of cleanliness of many overcrowded camp rooms is contrary to the most elementary requirements. Often there is no opportunity to obtain warm water for washing; therefore, the cleanest parents are unable to maintain even the most primitive standard of hygiene for their children or often even to wash their only set of underclothing. A consequence of this is the spreading of scabies which cannot be eradicated ....

"We receive imploring letters from the camps of Eastern Workers and their prolific families beseeching us for food. The quantity and quality of camp rations mentioned therein -the so-called class This absolutely insufficient to compensate the energy spent in heavy work. Three and one half kilograms of bread weekly and a thin soup at lunch time, cooked with kohlrabi or other vegetables without any meat or fat, with a meager addition of potatoes now and then, is a starvation ration for a heavy worker.

"When, on top of that, starvation is sometimes inflicted as punishment-for refusal to wear the badge 'East', for example-the result is that workers faint at their work (Klosterteich Camp, Grunheim, Saxony). The consequence is complete exhaustion, an ailing state of health, and tuberculosis. The spreading of tuberculosis among the Polish factory workers is due to the deficient food rations meted out in the community camps which are insufficient to restore the energy spent in heavy work....

"The call for help which reaches us brings to light privation and hunger, severe stomach and intestinal trouble, especially in the case of children, resulting from the insufficiency of food which does not take into consideration the needs of

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children. Proper medical treatment or care for the sick is not available in the mass camps."

We now refer to Page 3 of this same document and particularly to the first paragraph. In the German text it appears at Page 5, Paragraph 1:

"In addition to these bad conditions, there is lack of systematic occupation for and supervision of these hosts of children which affects the life of prolific families in the camps. The children, left to themselves without schooling or religious care, must run wild and grow up illiterate. Idleness in rough surroundings may and will create undesirable results in these children.... An indication of what these awful conditions may lead to is given by the fact that in the camps for eastern Workers ('Waldlust,' Lauf, post office, Pegnitz) there are cases of 8-year-old, delicate, and undernourished children put to forced labor and perishing from such treatment....

"The fact that these bad conditions dangerously affect the state of health and the vitality of the workers is proved by the many cases of tuberculosis found in very young people returning from the Reich to the General Government as unfit for work. Their state of health is usually so bad that recovery is out of the question. The reason is that a state of exhaustion resulting from overwork and a starvation diet is not recognized as an ailment until the illness betrays itself by high fever and fainting spells.

"Although some hostels for unfit workers have been provided as a precautionary measure, one can only go there when recovery may no longer be expected (Neumarkt in Bavaria). Even there the incurables waste away slowly, and nothing is done even to alleviate the state of the sick by suitable food and medicines. There are children there with tuberculosis whose cure would not be hopeless and men in their prime who, if sent home in time to their families in rural districts, might still be able to recover.... No less suffering is caused by the separation of families when wives and mothers of small children are away from their families and sent to the Reich for forced labor."

And finally, from Page 4 of the same document, starting with the first paragraph-in the German text it appears at Page 7, Paragraph 4:

"If, under these conditions, there is no moral support such as is normally based on regular family life, then at least such moral support which the religious feelings of the Polish population require should be maintained and increased. The elimination of religious services, religious practices, and religious

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care from the life of the Polish workers, the prohibition of church attendance when there is a religious service for other people, and other measures show a certain contempt for the influence of religion on the feelings and opinions of the workers."

THE PRESIDENT: Can you tell us who the Polish Central Committee were-or, I mean, how they were founded?

MR. DODD: Well, insofar as we are aware, it was a committee apparently set up by the Nazi State when it occupied Poland to work in some sort of co-operation with it during the days of the occupation. We don't know the names of the members, and we haven't any more specific information.

THE PRESIDENT: Is it a captured document?

MR. DODD: It is a captured document, yes, Sir. All of the documents that I am presenting in connection with this case are, excepting the Netherlands Government's report and one or two other official reports, the Deuss affidavit and. such other matters, are captured documents. That particular document, it has just been called to my attention, was captured by the United States 3rd Army.

Particularly harsh and brutal treatment was reserved for workers imported from the conquered Eastern territories. As we have illustrated, they did indeed live in bondage, and they were subjected to almost every form of degradation, quartered in stables with animals, denied the right of free worship and the ordinary pleasures of human society.

Illustrative of this treatment is Document EC-68, bearing Exhibit Number USA-205. This document, EC-68, bears the title, "Directives on the Treatment of Foreign Farm Workers of Polish Nationality," issued by the Minister for Finance and Economy of Baden, Germany, on the 6th of March 1941. And we don't know his name, nor have we been able to ascertain it.

Quoting from the English text of this document from the beginning:

"The agencies of the Baden State Peasant Association of the Reich Food Administration, have received the result of the negotiations with the Higher SS and Police F0hrer in Stuttgart on 14 February 1941 with great satisfaction. Appropriate memoranda have already been turned over to the District Peasants Associations. Below I promulgate the individual regulations as they have been laid down during the conference and the manner in which they are now to be applied: "1. On principle, farm workers of Polish nationality are no longer granted the right to complain, and thus no complaints may be accepted by any official agency.

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"2. The farm workers of Polish nationality may no longer leave the localities in which they are employed, and have a curfew from 1 October to 31 March from 2000 hours to 0600 hours and from 1 April to 30 September from 2100 hours to 0500 hours.

"3. The use of bicycles is strictly prohibited. Exceptions are possible for riding to the place of work in the field if a relative of the employer or the employer himself is present.

"4. The visit to churches, regardless of faith, is strictly prohibited, even when there is no service in progress. Individual spiritual care by clergymen outside of the church is permitted.

"5. Visits to theaters, motion pictures, or other cultural entertainment are strictly prohibited for farm workers of Polish nationality.

"6. The visit to restaurants is strictly prohibited to farm workers of Polish nationality, except for one restaurant in the village, which will be selected by the Regional Commissioner's Office"-Landratsamt-"and then only 1 day per week. The day which is allowed for visiting the restaurant will also be determined by the Landratsamt. This regulation does not change the curfew regulation mentioned above under '2'.

"7. Sexual intercourse with women and girls is strictly prohibited; and wherever it is discovered, it must be reported.

"8. Gatherings of farm workers of Polish nationality after work is prohibited, whether it is on other farms, in the stables, or in the living quarters of the Poles.

"9. The use of railroads, buses, or other public conveyances by farm workers of Polish nationality is prohibited.

"10. Permits to leave the village may be granted only in very exceptional cases by the local police authority (mayor's office). However, in no case may it be granted if a Pole wishes to visit a public agency on his own authority, whether it is a labor office or the District Peasants Association, or if he wants to change his place of employment.

"11. Unauthorized change of employment is strictly prohibited. The farm workers of Polish nationality have to work daily as long as it is to the interests of the enterprise and is demanded by the employer. There are no limits to the working hours.

"12. Every employer has the right to give corporal punishment to farm workers of Polish nationality if persuasion and reprimand fail. The employer may not be held accountable in any such case by an official agency.

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"13. Farm workers of Polish nationality should, if possible, be removed from the household; and they can be quartered in stables et cetera. No consideration whatever should restrict such action.

"14. Report to the authorities of all crimes committed by farm workers of Polish nationality which sabotage industry or slow down work-for instance, unwillingness to work, impertinent behavior-is compulsory even in minor cases.. An employer who loses a Pole sentenced to a long prison sentence because of such a compulsory report will upon request, have preference for the assignment of another Pole from the competent labor office.

"15. In all other cases, only the State Police is still competent. For the employer himself, severe punishment is provided if it is established that the necessary distance has not been kept from farm workers of Polish nationality. The same applies to women and girls. Extra rations are strictly prohibited. Noncompliance with the Reich tariffs for farm workers of Polish nationality will be punished by the competent labor office by the taking away of the workers."

The women of the conquered territories were led away against their will to serve as domestics, and the Defendant Sauckel described this program in his own words, which appear in Document Number 016-PS, already offered in evidence as Exhibit USA-168, 016-PS, and particularly Page 7, fourth paragraph of the English text. In the German text it appears on Page 10, Paragraph 1, and I quote directly:

"In order to relieve considerably the German housewife, especially the mother with many children and the extremely busy farm woman, and in order to avoid any further danger to their health, the Fuehrer also has charged me with the procurement of 400,000 to 500,000 selected, healthy, and strong girls from the territories of the East for Germany."

Once captured, once forced to become laborers in Germany, or workers in Germany, these Eastern women, by order of the slavemaster, Defendant Sauckel, were bound to the household to which they were assigned, permitted at the most 3 hours of freedom a week, and denied the right to return to their homes.

I now refer to Document Number 3044(b)-PS. That is Exhibit on the Defendant Sauckel containing instructions for housewives concerning Eastern household workers; and I ask that the Court take judicial notice of the original decree which appears on Pages 592 and 593 of the second volume of a publication of the Zentralverlag of the NSDAP, entitled Verfugungen, Anordnungen and Bekannfgaben,

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and I quote from the first paragraph of the English translation of a portion of the decree as follows:

"There is no claim for free time. Female domestic workers from the East may, on principle, leave the household only to take care of domestic tasks. As a reward for good work, however, they may be given the opportunity to stay outside the home without work for 3 hours once a week. This leave must end with the onset of darkness, at the latest at 2000 hours. It is prohibited to enter restaurants, movies or other theaters, and similar establishments provided for German or foreign workers. Attending church is also prohibited. Special events maybe arranged for eastern domestics in urban homes by the German Workers' Front, for Eastern domestics in rural homes by the Reich Food Administration in cooperation with the German Women's League. Outside the home, the Eastern domestic must always carry her work card as a personal pass.

"Vacations and return to homes are not granted as yet. The recruiting of Eastern domestics is for an indefinite period."

Always over these enslaved workers was the shadow of the Gestapo and the concentration camps. Like other major programs of the Nazi conspirators, the guards of the SS and Himmler's methods of dealing with people were the instruments employed for enforcement.

On the subject of the slave laborers, a secret order dated 20 February 1942 issued by Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler to SD and Security Police officers concerning Eastern Workers spells out the violence which was applied against them. It is our Document 3040-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-207, and I ask this Court to take judicial notice of the original order, which is published in the Allgemeine Erlass-Sammlung Part II, Section 2-A, III, f, Pages 15 to 24. I wish to quote from Page 3 of the English text, starting with Paragraph III-in the German text it appears in Section 2-A, III, f, at Page 19 of the publication-as follows:

"III. Combatting violations against discipline. (1) In keeping with the equal status of laborers from the original Soviet Russian territory with prisoners of war, a strict discipline must be maintained in quarters and in workshops. Violations against discipline, including refusal to work and loafing at work, will be dealt with exclusively by the secret state police. The less serious cases will be settled by the leader of the guard according to instructions from the state police headquarters with measures as provided for in the appendix. To break acute resistance, the guards shall be permitted to use also physical compulsion against the laborers. But this may be done only for a cogent reason. The laborers should always

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be informed that they will be treated decently when conducting themselves with discipline and accomplishing good work. In serious cases, that is, in such cases where the measures at the disposal of the leader of the guard do not suffice, the state police is to step in. In such instances, as a rule, severe measures will be taken, that is, transfer to a concentration camp or special treatment. The transfer to a concentration camp is made in the usual manner. In especially serious cases special treatment is to be recommended at the Reich Security Main Office; personal data and the exact facts must be given. Special treatment is hanging. It should not take place in the immediate vicinity of the camp. A certain number of laborers from the original Soviet Russian territory should attend the special treatment; at that time they are to be advised of the circumstances which lead to this special treatment. Should special treatment be required within the camp for exceptional reasons of camp discipline, this must be applied for."

And I turn now to Page 4 of the text, Paragraph VI; in the German text it appears at Section 2-A, III, f, Page 20:

"VI. Sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse is forbidden to laborers of the original Soviet Russian territory. Owing to their closely confined quarters they have no opportunity for it... For every case of sexual intercourse with German men or women application for special treatment is to be made for male labor from the original Soviet Russian territory, transfer to a concentration camp for female labor."

And finally from Page 5 of the same document, Paragraph VIII; and in the German text it appears at Section 2-A, III, f, at Page 21:

"VIII. Search. Fugitive workers from the original Soviet Russian territory are to be announced on principle in the German search book. Furthermore, search measures are to be decreed locally. When caught the fugitive must in principle be proposed for special treatment."

We have said to this Tribunal more than once that the primary purpose of the entire slave labor program was, of course, to compel the people of the occupied countries to work for the German war economy. The decree by which Defendant Sauckel was appointed Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor reveals that the purpose of the appointment was to facilitate acquisition of the manpower required for German war industries, and in particular the armaments industry, by centralizing under Sauckel responsibility for the recruitment and allocation of foreign labor and prisoners al war in these industries. I refer to the document bearing our Number 1666-PS-Exhibit USA-208. This document is a decree

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signed by Hitler, Lammers, and the Defendant Keitel-and it is dated 21 March 1942-appointing the Defendant Sauckel the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor. I ask that the Court take judicial notice of the original decree, which is published at Page 179, Part I, of the 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt; referring to the English text starting at Paragraph 1, as follows, and quoting directly:

"In order to secure the manpower requisite for war industries as a whole and particularly for armaments, it is necessary that the utilization of all available manpower, including that of workers recruited abroad and of prisoners of war, should be subject to a uniform control directed in a manner appropriate to the requirements of war industry, and further that all still incompletely utilized manpower in the Greater German Reich, including the Protectorate as weI1 as in the Government General and in the Occupied Territories, should be mobilized. Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel will carry out this task within the framework of the Four Year Plan, as Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor. In that capacity he will be directly responsible to the Delegate for the Four Year Plan. Section III (Wages) and Section V (Utilization of Labor) of the Reich Labor Ministry together with their subordinate authorities, will be placed at the disposal of the Plenipotentiary General for the accomplishment of his task."

Sauckel's success can be measured from a letter which he himself wrote to Hitler on 15 April 1943 and which contained his report on 1 year of his activities. We refer to the Document as Number 407(VI)-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-209. I wish to quote from Paragraphs 6 and 9 on Page 1 of the English text; in the German text it appears at Page 2, Paragraphs 1 and 2:

"After 1 year's activity as Plenipotentiary for the Allocation of Labor, I can report that 3,638,056 new foreign workers were given to the German war economy from 1 April of last year to 31 March of this year....

"The 3,638,056 are distributed amongst the following branches of the German war economy: Armament, 1,568,801 ...."

Still further evidence of this steady use of enslaved foreign labor is found again in a report of the Central Planning Board, to which we have referred so many times this morning and yesterday. Another meeting of this Central Planning Board was held on the 16th day of February 1944; and I refer to our Document Number R-124, which contains the minutes of this meeting of the Central Planning Board and which has been offered in evidence already as Exhibit Number USA-179. And I want to refer particularly to

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Page 26, Paragraph 1 of the English text of Document Number R-124. It is at Page 16, in Paragraph 2, of the German text:

"The armament industry employs foreign workmen to a large extent; according to the latest figures 40 percent."

Moreover, our Document Number 2520-PS, which is in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-197, records that, according to Speer Ministry tabulations, as of 31 December 1944, approximately 2 million civilian foreign workers were employed directly in the manufacture of armaments and munitions (finished products or parts). That the bulk of these workers had been forced to come to Germany against their will is made clear by Sauckel's statement, which I previously quoted from Paragraph 3 of Page 11 of Document Number R-124. We quoted it this morning, statement being that of 5 million foreign workers only 200,000, or less than 200,000, came voluntarily.

The Defendants Sauckel, Speer, and Keitel succeeded in forcing foreign labor to construct military fortifications. Thus, citizens of France, Holland, and Belgium were compelled against their will to engage in the construction of the "Atlantic Wall"; and we refer to our Document Number 556(2)-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-194. This is a Hitler order dated the 8th of September 1942, and it is initialled by the Defendant Keitel. Quoting the order directly:

"The extensive coastal fortifications which I have ordered to be erected in the area of Army Group West make it necessary that in the occupied territory all available workers be assigned and give the fullest extent of their productive capacities to this task. me previous allotment of workers originating from these countries is insufficient. In order to increase it I order the introduction of compulsory labor and the prohibition of changing the place of employment without permission of the authorities in the occupied territories. Furthermore, the distribution of food and clothing ration cards to those subject to labor draft should in the future depend on the possession of a certificate of employment. Refusal to accept an assigned Job, as well as leaving the place of work without the consent of the authorities in charge, will result in the withdrawal of the food and clothing ration cards. The GBA"-Deputy General for Arbeitseinsatz-"in agreement with the military commander, as well as the Reich Commissioner, will issue the appropriate decrees."

Indeed, the Defendant Sauckel boasted to Hitler concerning the contribution of the forced labor program to the construction of the Atlantic Wall by the Defendant Speer's Organization Todt. And we refer to Document 407(VIII)-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-210. This document is a letter from the Defendant Sauckel to Hitler,

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dated the 17th day of May 1943. And I refer to the second and last paragraph:

"In addition to the labor allotted to the total German economy by the Arbeitseinsatz since I took office, the Organization Todt was supplied with new labor continually.... Thus the Arbeitseinsatz has done everything to help make possible the completion of the Atlantic Wall."

Similarly, Russian civilians were forced into labor battalions and compelled to build fortifications to be used against their own countrymen. In Document 031-PS, in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-171, which is a memorandum of the Rosenberg Ministry, it is stated in Paragraph 1 at Page 1 of that document:

"The men and women in the theaters of operations have been and will be conscripted into labor battalions to be used in the construction of fortifications."

In addition, the conspirators compelled prisoners of war to engage in operations of war against their own country and its allies. At a meeting of the Central Planning Board, again held on February 19, 1943, attended by the Defendant Speer and the Defendant Sauckel and Field Marshal Milch, the following conversation occurred and is recorded in our Document R-124, at Page 32, Paragraph 5, of the English text. It is Page 20, the last paragraph, of the German text. And I quote it, the Defendant Sauckel speaking:

"Sauckel: 'If any prisoners. are taken, they will be needed there.'

"Milch: 'We have made a request for an order that a certain percentage of men in the antiaircraft artillery must be Russians. Fifty thousand will be taken altogether, thirty thousand are already employed as gunners. It is an amusing thing that Russians must work the guns.' "

We refer now to Documents Numbers 3027-PS and 3028-PS. They are, respectively, Exhibit USA-211 for 3027 and USA-212 for 3028. They will be found at the very back, I believe, of the document book, in a separate manila folder. They are official German Army photographs; and, if Your Honors will examine Document 3027-PS, the caption states that Russian prisoners of war are acting as ammunition bearers during the attack upon Tschedowo. Document 3028-PS consists of a series of official German Army photographs taken in July and August 1941 showing Russian prisoners of war in Latvia and the Ukraine being compelled to load and unload ammunition trains and trucks and being required to stack ammunition, all, we say, in flagrant disregard of the rules of international law, particularly Article 6 of the regulations annexed to the Hague Convention Number IV of 1907, which provides that the

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tasks of prisoners of war shall have no connection with the operations war. The use of prisoners of war in the German armament industry was as widespread and as extensive almost as..the use of the forced foreign civilian labor. We refer to Document Number 3005-PS, which is Exhibit USA-213. This document is a secret letter from the Reich Minister of Labor to the presidents of the regional labor exchange offices, which refers to an order of the Defendant Goering to the effect that-I quote now from Paragraph 1 of that document-I am quoting it directly:

"Upon personal order of the Reich Marshal, 100,000 men are to be taken from among the French prisoners of war not yet employed in armament industry and are to be assigned to the armament industry (airplane industry). Gaps in manpower supply resulting therefrom will be filled by Soviet prisoners of war. The transfer of the above-named French prisoners of war is to be accomplished by 1 October."

The Reich Marshal referred to in that quotation is of course the Defendant Goering.

A similar policy was followed with respect to Russian prisoners of war. The Defendant Keitel directed the execution of Hitler's order to use prisoners of war in the German war economy. And I now make reference to our Document EC-194, which has Exhibit Number USA-214. This document is also a secret memorandum, according to its label, issued from Hitler's headquarters on the 31st of October 1941; and I read from Page 1, Paragraphs 1 and 2, quoting it directly as follows:

"The lack of workers is becoming an increasingly dangerous hindrance for the future German war and armament industry. The expected relief through releases from the Armed Forces is uncertain as to the extent and date; its probable extent will by no means correspond to expectations and requirements in view of the great demand.

"The Fuehrer has now ordered that even the manpower of the Russian prisoners of war should be utilized to a large extent by large-scale assignments for the requirements of the war industry. The prerequisite for production is adequate nourishment. Also very small wages to provide a few every-day necessities must be offered with additional premiums for special effort, as the case may be."

And quoting now from the same document, Paragraph 2, II and III-I am quoting directly:

"II. Construction and armament industry.

"(a) Work units for construction of all kinds, particularly for the fortification of coastal defenses (concrete workers, unloading units for essential war plants).

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"(b) Suitable armament factories which are to be selected in such a way that their personnel will consist in the majority of prisoners of war under guidance and supervision (upon withdrawal and other employment of the German workers).

"III. Other war industries.

"(a) Mining as under II (b).

"(b) Railroad construction units for building tracks, et cetera.

"(c) Agriculture and forestry in closed units. The utilization of Russian prisoners of war is to be regulated on the basis of the above examples:

"To I. The Armed Forces.

"To II. The Reich Minister for Armament and Munitions and the Inspector General for the German Road System in agreement with the Reich Minister for Labor and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (Economic Armament Office). Deputies of the Reich Minister for Armament and Munitions are to be admitted to the prisoner-of-war camps to assist in the selection of skilled workers."

The Defendant Goering, at a conference at the Air Ministry on the 7th day of November 1941, also discussed the use of prisoners of war in the armament industry. And we refer now to our Document Number 1206-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-215. This document consists of top-secret notes on Goering's instructions as to the employment and treatment of prisoners of war in many phases of the German war industry. And I wish to quote from Paragraph 1 of Page 1 and Paragraph 4 of Page 2 of the English text and from Paragraph 1, Page 1, and Paragraph 1, Page 3 of the German text, as follows:

"The Fuehrer's point of view as to employment of prisoners of war in war industries has changed basically. So far a total of 5 million prisoners of war-employed so far 2 million."

And on Page 2:

"In the interior and the Protectorate it would be ideal if entire factories could be manned by Russian prisoners of war except the employees necessary for directing. For employment in the interior and the Protectorate the following are to have priority:

"(a) At the top, the coal mining industry. Order by the Fuehrer to investigate all mines as to suitability for employment of Russians, in some instances manning the entire plant with Russian laborers.

"(b) Transportation (construction of locomotives and cars, repair shops, et cetera). Railroad-repair and factory workers

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are to be sought out from the prisoners of war. Rail is the most important means of transportation in the East.

"(c) Armament industries. Preferably factories of armor and guns. Possibly also construction of parts for aircraft engines. Suitable complete sections of factories to be manned exclusively by Russians if possible. For the remainder, employment in groups. Use in factories of tool machinery, production of farm tractors, generators, et cetera. In emergency, erect in some places barracks for casual workers who are used in unloading units and for similar purposes. (Reich Minister of the Interior through communal authorities.)

"OKW/AWA is competent for procuring Russian prisoners of war. Employment through Planning Board for employment of all prisoners of war. If necessary, offices of Reich commissariats.

"No employment where danger to men or supply exists, that is, factories exposed to explosives, waterworks, powerworks, et cetera. No contact with German population, especially no 'solidarity.' German worker as a rule is foreman of Russians. "Food is a matter of the Four Year Plan. Procurement of special food (cats, horses, et cetera).

"Clothes, billeting, messing somewhat better than at home where part of the people live in caves.

"Supply of shoes for Russians; as a rule wooden shoes, if necessary install Russian shoe repair shops.

"Examination of physical fitness in order to avoid importation of diseases.

"Clearing of mines as a rule by Russians; if possible by selected Russian engineer troops."

The Defendant Goering was not the only one of these defendants who sponsored and applied the policy of using prisoners of war in the armament industry. The Defendant Speer also sponsored and applied this same policy of using prisoners of war in the armament industry. And we refer to the document bearing our Number 1435-PS, which also carries Exhibit Number USA-216. This document is a speech to the Nazi Gauleiter delivered by the Defendant Speer on the 24th day of February of 1942, and I wish to read from Paragraph 2 of that document, and I quote as follows:

"I therefore proposed to the Fuehrer at the end of December that all my labor force, including specialists, be released for mass employment in the East. Subsequently the remaining prisoners of war, about 10,000, were put at the disposal of the armament industry by me."

He also reported at the 36th meeting of the Central Planning Board, held on the 22d day of April 1943, that only 30 percent of

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the Russian prisoners of war were engaged in the armament industry. This the Defendant Speer found unsatisfactory. And referring again to Document R-124, the minutes of the Central Planning Board, and particularly to Page 17 of that document, Paragraph 10 of the English text, and Page 14, Paragraph 7 of the German text, we find this statement by the Defendant Speer, quoting directly:

"There is a detailed statement showing in what sectors the Russian prisoners of war have been distributed. This statement is quite interesting. It shows that the armaments industry received only 30 percent. I constantly complained about this."

And at Page 20 of the same document, R-124-Paragraph 1 on Page 20 of the English text and Page 14, the last paragraph of the German text-the Defendant Speer stated, and I quote from the paragraph directly:

"The 90,000 Russian prisoners of war employed in the whole of the armament industry are for the greatest part skilled men."

The Defendant Sauckel, who was appointed Plenipotentiary General for the utilization of labor for the express purpose, among others, of integrating prisoners of war into the German war industry, made it plain that prisoners of war were to be compelled to serve the German armament industry. His labor mobilization program, which is Document 016-PS, already marked Exhibit USA-168, contains this statement on Page 6, Paragraph 10 of the English text and Page 9, Paragraph 1, of the German text:

"All prisoners of war now in Germany, from the territories of the West as well as of the East, must be completely incorporated into the German armament and food industries. Their production must be brought to the highest possible level."

I wish to turn now from the exploitation of foreign labor in general to a rather special point of the Nazi program which appears to us to have combined the brutality and the purposes of the slave labor program with those of the concentration camp. The Nazis placed all Allied nationals in concentration camps and forced them, along with the other inmates of the concentration camps, to work under conditions which were set actually to exterminate them. This was what we call the Nazi program of extermination through work.

In the spring of 1942 these conspirators turned to the concentration camps as a further source of slave labor for the armament industry. I refer to a new Document Number R-129, bearing Exhibit Number USA-217. This document is a letter to Himmler, the Reichsfuehrer SS-and it is dated the 30th day of April 1942-from one

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of his subordinates, an individual named Pohl, SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen-SS; and I wish to quote from the first page of that document. Quoting directly: .

"Today I report about the present situation of the concentration camps and about measures I have taken to carry out your order of the 3rd of March 1942."

Then moving on from paragraphs numbered 1, 2, and 3 on Page 2 of the English text and at Page 1 of the German text, I quote as follows:

"1. The war has brought about a marked change in the structure of the concentration camps and has changed their duties fundamentally with regard to the employment of the prisoners. The custody of prisoners for the sole reasons of security, education, or as a preventive measure is no longer the main consideration. The importance now lies in the economic side. The mobilization of all prisoner labor for purposes of the war (increase of armament) now, and for purposes of construction in the forthcoming peace, is coming more and more to the foreground.

"2. From this knowledge necessary measures result which require a gradual transformation of the concentration camps from their former one-sided political character into an organization adapted to economic tasks.

"3. For this reason I called together all the leaders of the former inspectorate of concentration camps, all camp commanders, and all managers and supervisors of work, on the 23rd and 24th of April 1942 and explained personally to them this new development. I have compiled, in the order attached, the essential points which have to be brought into effect with the utmost urgency if the commencement of work for the purposes of the armament industry is not to be delayed."

Now the order referred to in that third paragraph set the framework for a program of relentless exploitation, providing in part as follows-and I now refer to the enclosure appended to the quoted letter which is also a part of Document R-129, found at Page 3, Paragraphs numbered 4, 5, and 6 of the English text, and Page 3 of the German text:

"4. The camp commander alone is responsible for the utilization of the manpower available. This utilization must be, in the true meaning of the word, complete, in order to obtain the greatest measure of performance. Work is allotted only centrally and by the Chief of the Department D. The camp commanders themselves may not accept on their own initiative work offered by third parties and may not negotiate about it.

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"5. There is no limit to working hours. Their duration depends on the kind of working establishments in the camps and the kind of work to be done. They are fixed by the camp commanders alone.

"6. Any circumstances which may result in a shortening of working hours (for example, meals, roll-calls, et cetera), have therefore to be restricted to an irreducible minimum. Timewasting walks and noon intervals, only for the purpose of taking meals, are forbidden."

The armament production program we have just described was not merely a scheme for mobilizing the manpower potential of the camps. It actually was integrated directly into the larger Nazi program of extermination; and I wish to refer, at this point, to our document bearing Number 654-PS and Exhibit Number USA-218.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you think it will be convenient to break off now for a few minutes?

MR. DODD: Very well.

[A recess was taken.]

MR. DODD: At the recess time I had made reference to Document Number 654-PS, which has the Exhibit Number USA-218. This document is a memorandum of an agreement between Himmler, Reichsfuehrer SS, and the Minister of Justice, Thierack. It is dated the 18th of September 1942. The concept of extermination to which I referred shortly before the recess was embodied in this document and I wish to quote from Page 1, Paragraph 2:

"2. Transfer of asocial elements from prison to the Reichsfuehrer SS for extermination through work. To be transferred without exception are persons under protective arrest, Jews, Gypsies, Russians and Ukrainians, Poles with more than 3-year sentences, Czechs, and Germans with more than 8-year sentences, according to the decision of the Reich Minister for Justice. :First of all the worst asocial elements amongst those just mentioned are to be handed over. I shall inform the Fuehrer of this through Reichsleiter Bormann."

Now this agreement further provided, in Paragraph 12 on Page 2 of the English text and Page 3, Paragraph 14, of the German text, as follows:

"14. It is agreed that, in consideration of the intended aims of the Government for the clearing up of the Eastern problems, in the future, Jews, Poles, Gypsies, Russians, and 'Ukrainians are no longer to be tried by the ordinary courts, so far as punishable offenses are concerned; but are to be

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dealt with by the Reichsfuehrer SS. This does not apply to civil lawsuits, nor to Poles whose names are reported or entered in the German racial lists."

Now, in September of 1942, the Defendant Speer made arrangements to bring this new source of labor within his jurisdiction. Speer convinced Hitler that significant production could be obtained only if the concentration camp prisoners were employed in factories under the technical control of the Speer Ministry instead of the control in the camps. In fact, without Defendant Speer's cooperation, we say it would have been most difficult to utilize the prisoners on any large scale for war production, since he would not allocate to Himmler the machine tools and other necessary equipment. Accordingly, it was agreed that the prisoners were to be exploited in factories under the Defendant Speer's control To compensate Himmler for surrendering this jurisdiction to Speer, the Defendant Speer proposed and Hitler agreed, that Himmler would receive a share of the armaments output, fixed in relation to the man-hours contributed by his prisoners. In the minutes of the Defendant Speer's conference with Hitler on the 20th, 21st, and the 22d September 1942-Document Number 11-124, which is Exhibit Number USA-179 -I wish to refer particularly to Page 34 of the English text. These are the Defendant Speer's minutes on this conference. I am quoting from Page 34, Paragraph 36, beginning at the middle of the page; and it is at the top of Page 26 in the German text:

"I pointed out to the Fuehrer that, apart from an insignificant amount of work, no possibility exists of organizing armament production in the concentration camps, because: (1) the machine tools required are missing; (2) there are no suitable premises. Both these assets would be available in the armament industry, if use could be made of them by a second shift.

"The Fuehrer agrees to my proposal that the numerous factories set up outside towns for reasons of air raid protection should release their workers to supplement the second shift in town factories and should in return be supplied with labor from the concentration camps-also two shifts.

"I pointed out to the Fuehrer the difficulties which I expect to encounter if Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler should be able, as he requests, to exercise authoritative influence over these factories. The Fuehrer, too, does not consider such an influence necessary.

"The Fuehrer, however, agrees that Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler should derive advantage from making his prisoners available; he should get equipment for his division.

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"I suggest giving him a share in kind (war equipment) in ratio to the man-hours contributed by his prisoners. A 3 to 5 percent share is being discussed, the equipment also being calculated according to man-hours. The Fuehrer would agree to such a solution.

"The Fuehrer is prepared to order the additional allocation of this equipment and weapons to the SS, upon submission of a list."

After a demand for concentration-camp labor had been created and after a mechanism had been set up by the Defendant Speer for exploiting this labor in armament factories, measures were evolved for increasing the supply of victims for extermination through work. A steady flow was assured by an agreement between Himmler and the Minister of Justice mentioned above, which was implemented by such programs as the following-and I refer to Document L-61, Exhibit Number USA-177; and I wish to quote from Paragraph 3. That document, the Tribunal will recall, is the Defendant Sauckel's letter, dated the 26th of November 1942, to the presidents of the Lander employment offices; and I wish to quote from Paragraph 3 of that letter:

"The Poles who are to be evacuated as a result of this measure will be put into concentration camps and put to work insofar as they are criminal or asocial elements."

General measures were supplemented by special drives for persons who would not otherwise have been sent to concentration camps

THE PRESIDENT: Didn't you read that this morning?

MR. DODD: Yes, I did, Your Honor. I was reading it again with particular reference to this feature of the proof.

For example, for "reasons of war necessity" Himmler ordered that at least 35,000 prisoners qualified for work should be transferred to concentration camps. I now offer in evidence Document Number 1063(d)-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-219. This document is a Himmler order dated the 17th of December 1942. me order provides, and I quote in part, beginning with the first paragraph of that document:

"For reasons of war necessity not to be discussed further here, the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police, on the 14th of December 1942, has ordered that by the end of January 1943 at least 35,000 prisoners fit for work are to be sent to the concentration camps. In order to reach this number, the following measures are required:

"(1) As of now, to begin with, until 1 February 1943, all Eastern Workers or foreign workers who have been fugitives

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or who have broken contracts and who do not belong to allied, friendly, or neutral states . . . are to be brought by the quickest means to the nearest concentration camps....

"(2) The commanders and the commandants of the Security Police and the Security Service, and the chiefs of the state police headquarters milt check immediately on the basis of a close and strict rule: (a) the prisons, and (b) the labor reformatory camps.

"All prisoners fit for work, if it is practically and humanly possible, will be committed at once to the nearest concentration camp, according to the following instructions, even for example, those who are about to be brought to trial. Only such prisoners can be left there who, in the interest of further investigations, are to remain absolutely in solitary confinement.

"Every single laborer counts!"

Measures were also adopted to insure that this extermination through work was practiced with maximum efficiency. Subsidiary concentration camps were established near important war plants. The Defendant Speer has admitted that he personally toured Upper Austria and selected sites for concentration camps near various munitions factories in the area. I am about to refer to the transcript of an interrogation under oath of the Defendant Albert Speer.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, do you understand the last document you read, 1063-PS, to refer to prisoners of war, or prisoners in ordinary prisons, or what?

MR. DODD: We understood it to refer to prisoners in ordinary prisons.

In view of the Tribunal's ruling this morning, I think I should state that, with respect to this interrogation of Defendant Speer, we had provided the defendants' counsel with the entire text in German. It happens to be a brief interrogation, and so we were able to complete that translation, and it has been placed in their Information Center.

DR. HANS FLACHSNER (Counsel for Defendant Speer): In reference to the transcript of the interrogation, the reading of which the prosecutor has just announced, I should like to say the following:

It is true that we have received the German transcript of the English protocol, if one may call it a protocol. A comparison of the English text with the German transcript shows that there are, both in the English text and in the German transcript, mistakes which change the meaning and which I believe are to be attributed to misunderstandings on the part of the certifying interpreter. I

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believe, therefore, that the so-called protocol and the English text do not actually give the contents of what Defendant Speer tried to express during the interrogation. It would, therefore, not further the establishment of the truth should this protocol ever be used.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, when was the German translation given to counsel for the defendant?

MR. DODD: About 4 days ago, Your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, is there any certification by the interrogator as to the English translation?

MR. DODD: There is, Your Honor. There is a certification at the end of the interrogation by the interrogator and by the interpreter and by the reporter as well. There are three certifications.

THE PRESIDENT: I think the best course will be, in these circumstances, to receive the interrogation now. You will have an opportunity, by calling the defendant, to show in what way he alleges, or you allege, that the interrogation is inaccurately translated.

DR. FLACHSNER: Thank you, Sir.

MR. DODD: May I respectfully refer, Your Honor, to the last document in the document book, 4 pages from the end?

THE PRESIDENT: Which page do you refer to?

MR. DODD: I refer to the page bearing the Number 16 of the English text of the transcript of the interrogation and Page 21 of the German text. The answer quoted is:

"The fact was that we were anxious to use workers from concentration camps in factories and to establish small concentration camps near factories, in order to use the manpower that was then available there. But it did not come up only in connection with this trip...."

that is, Speer's trip to Austria. (Exhibit USA-220)

THE PRESIDENT: I think I ought to say to defendant's counsel that if he had waited until he heard that piece of evidence read, he would have seen that it was quite unnecessary to make any objection.

MR. DODD: Defendant Goering endorsed this use of concentration camp labor and asked for more. We refer to our Document 1584-PS, Part 1, which is Exhibit Number USA-221. His document is a teletype message from Goering to Himmler, dated 14th of February 1944. I quote from the document beginning with the second sentence:

"At the same time, I ask you to put at my disposal as great a number of KZ"-concentration-camp-"convicts as possible

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for air armament, as this kind of manpower proved to be very useful according to previous experience. The situation of the air war makes subterranean transfer of industry necessary. For work of this kind KZ convicts can be especially well concentrated at work and in the camp."

Defendant Speer subsequently assumed responsibility for this program; and Hitler promised Speer that if the necessary labor for the program could not be obtained, a hundred thousand Hungarian Jews would be brought in by the SS.

Speer recorded his conferences with Hitler on April 6 and April 7, 1944 in Document R-124, which is Exhibit Number USA-179, already in evidence. I quote from Page 36 of the English text, Page 29 of the German text as follows:

"Suggested to the Fuehrer that, due to lack of builders and equipment, the second big building project should not be set up in German territory but in close vicinity to the border on a suitable site (preferably on gravel base and with transport facilities) in French, Belgian, or Dutch territory. The Fuehrer agrees to this suggestion if the works could be set up behind a fortified zone. The strongest argument for setting up this plant in French territory is the fact that it would be much easier to procure the necessary workers. Nevertheless, the Fuehrer asks that an attempt be made to set up the second factory in a safer area, namely the Protectorate. If it should prove impossible there, too, to get hold of the necessary workers, the Fuehrer himself will contact the Reichsfuehrer SS and will give an order that the required 100,000 men are to be made available by lounging in Jews from Hungary. Stressing the fact that in the case of the Industriegemeinschaft Schlesien the building organization was a failure, the Fuehrer demands that these works must be built by the OT exclusively, and that the workers should be made available by the Reichsfuehrer SS. He wants to hold a meeting shortly in order to discuss details with all the men concerned."

The unspeakably brutal, inhumane, and degrading treatment inflicted on Allied nationals and over victims of concentration camps, while they were indeed being literally worked to death, is described in Document L-159, which is not in the document book. It is an official report prepared by a U.S. Congressional committee, U.S. Senate Document Number 47. This Congressional committee had inspected the liberated camps at the request of General Eisenhower. It bears Exhibit Number USA-222. I would like to quote from the document briefly, first from Page 14, the last paragraph, and from Page 15, the first two paragraphs, of the English text:

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"The treatment accorded to these prisoners in the concentration camps was generally as follows: They were herded together in some wooden barracks not large enough for one tenth of their number. They were forced to sleep on wooden frames covered with wooden boards in tiers of two, three, and even four, sometimes with no covering, sometimes with a bundle of dirty rags serving both as pallet and coverlet.

"Their food consisted generally of about one-half of a pound of black bread per day and a bowl of watery soup for noon and night, and not always that. Owing to the great numbers crowded into a small space and to the lack of adequate sustenance, lice and vermin multiplied, disease became rampant, and those who did not soon die of disease or torture began the long, slow process of starvation. Notwithstanding the deliberate starvation program inflicted upon these prisoners by lack of adequate food, we found no evidence that the people of Germany, as a whole, were suffering from any lack of sufficient food or clothing. me contrast was so striking that the only conclusion which we could reach was that the starvation of the inmates of these camps was deliberate.

"Upon entrance into these camps, newcomers were forced to work either at an adjoining war factory or were placed 'in commando' on various jobs in the vicinity, being returned each night to their stall in the barracks. Generally a German criminal was placed in charge of each 'block' or shed in which the prisoners slept. Periodically he would choose the one prisoner of his block who seemed the most alert or intelligent or showed most leadership qualities. These would report to the guards' room and would never be heard from again. The generally accepted belief of the prisoners was that these were shot or gassed or hanged and then cremated. A refusal to work or an infraction of the rules usually meant flogging and other types of torture, such as having the fingernails pulled out, and in each case usually ended in death after extensive suffering. The policies herein described constituted a calculated and diabolical program of planned torture and extermination on the part of those who were in control of the German Government:..."

I quote next from Page 11 of the English text beginning with the second sentence of Paragraph 2, a description of Camp Dora at Nordhausen, Page 12, Paragraph 1 of the German text, quoting as follows:

"On the whole, we found this camp to have been operated and administered much in the same manner as Buchenwald

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had been operated and managed. When the efficiency of the workers decreased as a result of the conditions under which they were required to live, their rations were decreased as punishment. This about a vicious circle in which the weak became weaker and were ultimately exterminated."

Such was the cycle of work, torture, starvation, and death for concentration-camp labor-labor which the Defendant Goering, while requesting that more of it be placed at his disposal, said had proved very useful; labor which the Defendant Speer was "anxious" to use in the factories under his control

The policy underlying this program, the manner in which it was executed, and the responsibility of the conspirators in connection with it has been dwell upon at length. Therefore, we should like, at this point, to discuss the special responsibility of the Defendant Sauckel.

The Defendant Sauckel's appointment as Plenipotentiary General for manpower is explained probably first of all by his having been an old and trusted Nazi. He certified in Document 2974-PS, dated 17 November 1945, which is already in evidence before this Tribunal as Exhibit Number USA-15, that he held the following positions:

Starting with his membership in the NSDAP, he was thereafter a member of the Reichstag; he was Gauleiter of Thuringia; he was a member of the Thuringian legislature; he was Minister of Interior and head of the Thuringian State Ministry; he was Reichsstatthalter for Thuringia; he was an SA Obergruppenfuehrer; he was SS Obergruppenfuehrer; he was administrator for the Berlin-Subler Waffen and Fahrzeugwerke in 1935; he was head of the Gustloff Werke Nationalsozialistische Industrie-Stiftung, 1936, and the honorary head of the Foundation. And from the 21st of March 1942 until 1945, he was the Plenipotentiary General for Labor Allocation.

Sauckel's official responsibilities are borne out by evidence. His appointment as Plenipotentiary General for manpower was effected by a decree of the 21st of March 1942, which we have read and which was signed by Hitler, Lammers, and the Defendant Keitel. And by that decree Sauckel was given authority, as well as responsibility, subordinate only to that of Hitler and Goering, who was the head of the Four Year Plan-subordinate only to those two for all matters relating to recruitment, allocation, and handling of foreign and domestic manpower.

The Defendant Goering, to whom Sauckel was directly responsible, abolished the recruitment and allocation agencies of his Four Year Plan and delegated their powers to the Defendant Laurel and placed his far-reaching authority as deputy for the Four Year Plan at Sauckel's disposal

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In Document 1666-PS, a second 1666-PS but of another date, the 27th of March 1942-I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of this original decree, which is published in the 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, at Page 180:

"In pursuance of the Fuehrer's decree of 21st of March 1942, I decree as follows:

"1. My manpower sections are hereby abolished (circular letter of 22d of October 1936). Their duties (recruitment and allocation of manpower, regulation of labor conditions) are taken over by the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, who is directly under me.

"2. The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor will be responsible for regulating the conditions of labor (wage policy) employed in the Reich territory, having regard to the requirements of labor allocation.

"3. The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor is part of the Four Year Plan. In cases where new legislation is required or existing laws need to be modified, he will submit appropriate proposals to me.

"4. The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor will have at his disposal for the performance of his task the right delegated to me by the Fuehrer for issuing instructions to the highest Reich authorities and their subordinate offices, as well as the Party offices and their sections and their affiliated organizations, also to the Reich Protector, the Governor General, the military commanders, and heads of the civil administrations. In the case of ordinances and instructions of fundamental importance, a report is to be submitted to me in advance."

Document Number 1903-PS is a Hitler decree of the 30th of September 1942 giving the Defendant Sauckel extraordinary powers over the civil and military authority of the territories occupied by Germany. We ask that judicial notice be taken by this Tribunal of the original decree, which is published in Volume II, Page 510, of the Verfugungen, Anordnungen, und Bekanntgaben, published by the Party Chancellery. This decree states as follows:

"I herewith authorize the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, Reich Governor and Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel to take all necessary measures for the enforcement of my decree of 21 March 1942, concerning a Plenipotentiary General for allocation of Labor (Reichsgesetzblatt I, Page 179), according to his own judgment, in the Greater German Reich, in the Protectorate, and in the Government General, as well as in the Occupied Territories-measures which will safeguard under all circumstances the regulated deployment of labor

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for the German war economy. For this purpose he may appoint commissioners to the bureaus of the military and civilian administration. These are responsible directly to the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor. In order to carry out their tasks, they are entitled to issue directives to the competent military and civilian authorities in charge of labor allocation and of wage policy.

"More detailed directives will be issued by the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor.

"Fuehrer headquarters, 30 September 1942. The Fuehrer,"- signed-"Adolf Hitler."

Within 1 month after his appointment, the Defendant Sauckel sent Defendant Rosenberg his "Labor Mobilization Program". This program, Document Number 016-PS, already in evidence as Exhibit USA-168, envisaged a recruitment by force and the maximum exploitation of the entire labor resources of the conquered areas and of prisoners of war in the interests of the Nazi war machine at the lowest conceivable degree of expenditure to the German State.

The Defendant Sauckel states-and I refer now to the bottom of Page 6 of the English text of that document. It is Page 9, Paragraph 2, of the German text, and I quote as follows:

"It must be emphasized, however, that an additional tremendous number of foreign laborers has to be found for the Reich. The greatest pool for that purpose is the occupied territories of the East. Consequently, it is an imperative necessity to use the human reserves of the conquered Soviet territory to the fullest extent. Should we not succeed in obtaining the necessary amount of labor on a voluntary basis, we must immediately institute conscription of forced labor. "Apart from the prisoners of war still in the occupied territories, we must, therefore, requisition skilled or unskilled male and female labor from the Soviet territory from the age of 15 up, for the German allocation of labor."

Passing to Page 11 of the English text, first paragraph and Page 17, Paragraph 4, of the German text, I quote as follows directly:

"The complete employment of all prisoners of war as well as the use of ~ gigantic number of new foreign civilian workers, men and women, has become an indisputable necessity for the solution of the problem of the allocation of labor in this war." The Defendant Sauckel proceeded to implement this plan, which he submitted, with certain basic directives. He provided that if voluntary recruitment of foreign workers was unsuccessful compulsory service should be instituted.

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Document Number 304-PS is the Defendant Sauckel's Regulation Number 4, dated the 7th of May 1942. And we ask that the Tribunal take judicial notice of the original regulation published in Volume if, Pages 516 to 527 of the Verfugungen, Anordnungen,und Bekanntgaben, to which I have previously referred. Reading from Page 1, Paragraph 3, of the English text:

"The recruitment of foreign labor will be done on principle on a volunteer basis. Where, however, in the occupied territories the appeal for volunteers does not suffice, obligatory service and drafting must, under all circumstances, be resorted to. This is an indisputable requirement of our labor situation."

Sauckel provided also for the avocation of foreign labor in the order of its importance to the Nazi war machine. We refer to Document Number 3044(a)-PS, which is the Defendant Sauckel's Regulation Number 10, and ask that the Court take judicial notice of the original regulation, published in Volume 0, Verfugungen, Anordnungen, and Bekanntgaben, at Pages 531 to 533. Paragraph 3 of this regulation I quote as follows:

"The resources of manpower that are available in the occupied territories are to be employed primarily to satisfy the requirements of importance for the war in Germany itself. In allocating the said labor resources in the Occupied Territories, the following order of priority will be observed:

"(a) Labor required for the troops, the occupation authorities, and the civil authorities;

"(b) Labor required for German armament;

"(c) Labor required for food and agriculture;

"(d) Labor required for industrial work in the interests of Germany, other than armaments;

"(e) Labor required for industrial work in the interests of the population of the territory in question."

The Defendant Sauckel, and agencies subordinate to him, exercised exclusive authority over the recruitment of workers from every area in Europe occupied by, controlled by, or friendly to, the German nation. He affirmed, himself-the Defendant Sauckel did- this authority in a decree, Document Number 3044-PS, already in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-206. I refer to Paragraph 5 on Page 1 of the English text of that document, and I am quoting it directly:

"The recruitment of labor in the areas occupied by Germany will be carried out exclusively by the labor allocation offices of the German military or civil administration in these areas."

THE PRESIDENT: Haven't you read that already?

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MR. DODD: No, I have not, if Your Honor pleases. We have referred to that decree before, but we have not referred to this portion of it.

I am passing to Paragraph II, 1-a on Page 2, and quoting again directly:

"For the carrying out of recruitment in allied, friendly, or neutral foreign countries, my commissioners are solely responsible."

In addition, the following defendants, who were informed by Sauckel of the quotas of foreign laborers which he required, collaborated with Sauckel and his agents in filling these quotas: The Defendant Keitel, Chief of the OKW-which was the Supreme Command-who collaborated with Sauckel

We refer to Document Number 3012(1)-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-190. This document is the record of a telephone conversation of the Chief of the Economic Staff East of the German Army, and it is dated March 11, 1943. I wish to quote from the first two paragraphs of the document as follows:

"The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, Gauleiter Sauckel, points out to me in an urgent teletype that the allocation of labor in German agriculture, as well as all the most urgent armament programs ordered by the Fuehrer, make the most rapid procurement of approximately 1 million women and men from the newly occupied Eastern Territories within the next 4 months an imperative necessity. For this purpose, Gauleiter Sauckel demands the shipment of 5,000 workers daily beginning 15 March; 10,000 workers, male and female, beginning 1 April, from the newly occupied Eastern Territories."

I am passing down to the next paragraph:

"In consideration of the extraordinary losses of workers which occurred in German war industry because of the developments of the past months, it is now necessary that the recruiting of workers be taken up again everywhere with all vigor. The tendency momentarily noticeable in that territory, to limit and/or entirely stop the Reich recruiting program, is absolutely not bearable in view of this state of affairs. Gauleiter Sauckel, who is informed about these events, because of this applied directly to General Field Marshal Keitel on 10 March 1943, in a teletype, and emphasized on this occasion that, as in all other occupied territories, where all other methods fait a certain pressure must be used, by order of the Fuehrer."

At this point we were prepared to offer a transcript of an interrogation under oath of the Defendant Sauckel Only the English

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of the transcript of the interrogation has been seen by the Counsel for the Defendant Sauckel. He has had it, however, for some time; and the excerpts on which we intended to rely were furnished to him as well in German.

If I understood the ruling of the Tribunal correctly, it would be necessary for us to have furnished the entire record in German.

THE PRESIDENT: I think you might use this interrogation, as the excerpts have been submitted in German.

MR. DODD: Yes, they have, Your Honor, and the entire English text as well.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

MR. DODD: I refer to a transcript of an interrogation under oath of the Defendant Sauckel, held on the morning of the 5th of October 1945 (Exhibit USA-224). That is the very last document in the document book. I wish to quote from the bottom of Page 1 of the English text and Page 1, Paragraph 11, of the German text, as follows:

"Q: Was it necessary, in order to accomplish the completion of the quotas given, to have liaison with the OKW?'

"A: 'I remember that the Fuehrer had given directives to Marshal Keitel, telling him that my task was a very important one; and I, too, have often conferred with Keitel after such discussions with the Fuehrer, when I asked him for his support.'

"Q: 'It was his task to supervise the proper performance of the military commanders in the occupied countries in carrying out their assigned mission, was it not?'

"A: 'Yes, the Fuehrer had told me that he would inform the Chief of the OKW and the Chief of the Reich Chancellery as to these matters. The same applies to the Foreign Minister."'

We are also prepared to offer the transcript of an interrogation of the Defendant Alfred Rosenberg. There is this distinction insofar as this record is concerned. While we have supplied the counsel with the German translation of those parts of it which we propose to use, we have not had an opportunity to supply the whole text to counsel. However, they have been supplied with the German of the parts which we propose to use and to offer to this Tribunal.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you are prepared to do it hereafter, I suppose?

MR. DODD: Yes, we will, Your Honor, as soon as we can get these papers down to the Information Center.

THE PRESIDENT: Good.

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MR. DODD: The next document is rather lengthy, and I wonder what the Tribunal's pleasure is. Do I understand that I may proceed with the interrogation?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes:

MR. DODD: I wish to refer to the Defendant Alfred Rosenberg, the Reich Minister for Eastern Occupied Territories, as one who also collaborated with the Defendant Sauckel, and specifically, to refer to a transcript of an interrogation under oath of the Defendant Rosenberg, on the afternoon of the 6th of October 1945 (Exhibit USA-187). That record may be found about the third from the last of the interrogation records in the document book, and I wish to read from Page 1 of the transcript:

"Q: 'Isn't it a fact that Sauckel would allocate to the various areas under your jurisdiction the number of persons to be obtained for labor purposes?'

"A: 'Yes.'

"Q: 'And that thereafter your agents would obtain that labor in order to meet the quota which had been given. Is that right?'

"A: 'Sauckel, normally, had very far-reaching desires, which one could not fulfil unless one looked very closely into the matter.'

"Q: 'Never mind about Sauckel's desires being far-reaching or not being far-reaching. That has nothing to do with it. You were given quotas for the areas over which you had jurisdiction, and it was up to you to meet that quota?'

"A.: 'Yes. It was the responsibility of the administrative officials to receive this quota and to distribute the allotments over the districts in such a way, according to number and according to the age groups, that they would be most reasonably met.'

"Q: 'These administrative officials were part of your organization, isn't that right?'

"A: 'They were functionaries or officials of the Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine; but, as such, they were placed in their office by the Ministry for the Eastern Occupied Territories.'

"Q: 'You recognized, did you not, that the quotas set by Sauckel could not be filled by voluntary labor; and you did not disapprove of the impressment of forced labor. Isn't that right?'

"A-: if regretted that the demands of Sauckel were so urgent that they could not be met by a continuation of voluntary

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recruitments, and thus I submitted to the necessity of forced impressment."'

Then, passing a little further down on that page:

"Q: 'The letters that we have already seen between you and Sauckel do not indicate, do they, any disagreement on your part with the principle of recruiting workers against their will? They indicate, as I remember, that you were opposed to the treatment that was later accorded these workers, but you did not oppose their initial impressment. ' "

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, I think you ought to read the next two answers in fairness to the Defendant Rosenberg, after the one where he said he submitted to the necessity of forced impressment.

MR. DODD: Very well, I shall read those, Your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: " 'Did you ever argue with Sauckel . . . "'

MR. DODD: Yes.

"Q: 'Did you ever argue with Sauckel that perhaps in view of the fact that the quotas could not be met by voluntary labor, the labor recruiting program be abandoned, except for what recruits could be voluntarily enrolled?'

"A: 'I could not do that because the numbers or allotments that Sauckel had received from the Three to meet were absolutely binding for him, and I couldn't do anything about that."'

And then, referring again to the question which I had just read, the answer is as follows:

" 'That is right. In those matters I mostly discussed the possibility of finding the least harsh methods of handling the matter, whereas in no way did I place myself in opposition to the orders that he was carrying out for the Fuehrer."'

THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal might adjourn now.

MR. DODD: Very well, Your Honor.

[The Tribunal adjourned until 13 December 1945 at 1000 hours.]

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