Chapter XXVIII: Part II: , Section 2-A, III, f, Pages 15 to 24. I wish to quote from Page (2)

“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 Führer 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 Führer, 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 but
their assigned mission, was it not?’

“A: ‘Yes, the Führer 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.

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: ‘I regretted that the demands of Sauckel were so urgent that
they could not be met by a continuation of voluntary
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 Führer 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 Führer.’”

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._]

NINETEENTH DAY
Thursday, 13 December 1945

_Morning Session_

MR. DODD: May it please the Tribunal, at the close of yesterday’s session we were discussing and had just completed reading the excerpts from the interrogation of 6 October 1945, wherein the Defendant Alfred Rosenberg was questioned.

There have already been introduced Documents 017-PS and 019-PS and I have read excerpts from them. The Tribunal will recall that they are letters written by the Defendant Sauckel to the Defendant Rosenberg requesting the assistance of the Defendant Rosenberg in the recruitment of additional foreign laborers. I refer to them in passing, by way of recapitulation, with respect to the Defendant Sauckel’s participation in this slave-labor program and also the assistance of the Defendant Rosenberg. Also the Defendant Sauckel received help from the Defendant Seyss-Inquart who was the Reich Commissioner for the occupied Netherlands.

I refer again to the transcript of the interrogation under oath of the Defendant Sauckel, which was read from yesterday; and I now refer to another part of it. The transcript of this interrogation will be found in the rear of the document book. It is the very last document and I wish to quote particularly from it. It is the first question:

“Q: For a moment, I want to turn our attention to Holland. It is
my understanding that the quotas for the workers from Holland
were agreed upon, and then the numbers given to the Reich
Commissioner Seyss-Inquart to fulfill, is that correct?

“A: Yes, that is correct.

“Q: After the quota was given to Seyss-Inquart, it was his
mission to fulfill it with the aid of your representatives; was
it not?

“A: Yes. This was the only possible thing for me to do and the
same applied to other countries.”

And the Defendant Hans Frank, who was the Governor General of the Government General of Poland, also participated in the filling of Defendant Sauckel’s quota requirements.

I refer again to the interrogation of the Defendant Sauckel and to Page 1 of the excerpts from the transcript of this interrogation as it appears in the document book:

“Q: Was the same procedure substantially followed of allocating
quotas in the Government General of Poland?

“A: Yes. I have principally to repeat that the only possibility
I had in carrying through these missions was to get in touch
with the highest German military authority in the respective
country and to transfer to them the orders of the Führer and ask
them very urgently, as I have always done, to fulfill these
orders.

“Q: Such discussions in Poland, of course, were with the
Governor General Frank?

“A: Yes. I spent a morning and an afternoon in Kraków twice or
three times and I personally spoke to Governor General Frank.
Naturally, there was also present Secretary Dr. Goebbels.”

The SS, as in most matters involving the use of force and brutality, also extended its assistance. We refer to Document Number 1292-PS, which is Exhibit USA-225. This Document, 1292-PS, is the report of the chief of the Reich Chancellery, Lammers, of a conference with Hitler, which was attended by, among others, the Defendant Sauckel, the Defendant Speer, and Himmler, the Reichsführer SS. I turn to Page 2 of the document, beginning with the third line from the top of the page of the English text; and it is Page 4, Paragraph 2 of the German text. The quotation reads as follows:

“The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, Sauckel,
declared that he will attempt with fanatical determination to
obtain these workers. Until now he has always kept his promises
as to the number of workers to be furnished. With the best of
intentions, however, he is unable to make a definite promise for
1944. He will do everything in his power to furnish the
requested manpower in 1944. Whether it will succeed depends
primarily on what German executive agents will be made
available. His project cannot be carried out with indigenous
executive agents.”

There are additional quotations, as the Tribunal may observe, in this very part from which I have been reading, but I intend to refer to them again a little further on.

The Defendant Sauckel participated in the formulation of the over-all labor requirements for Germany and passed out quotas to be filled by and with the assistance of the individuals and agencies referred to, in the certain knowledge that force and brutality were the only means whereby his demands could be met. Turning to Document 1292-PS again, and quoting from Page 1:

“1. A conference took place with the Führer today which was
attended by:

“The Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor,
Gauleiter Sauckel; the Secretary for Armament and War
Production, Speer; the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Army,
General Field Marshal Keitel; General Field Marshal Milch; the
acting Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture, State Secretary
Backe; the Minister of the Interior, Reichsführer of the SS,
Himmler; and myself. (The Minister for Foreign Affairs and the
Minister of National Economy had repeatedly asked to be
permitted to participate prior to the conference, but the Führer
did not wish their attendance.)”

Continuing the quotation:

“The Führer declared in his introductory remarks:

“‘I want a clear picture:

“‘(1) How many workers are required for the maintenance of
German war economy?

“‘(a) For the maintenance of present output?

“‘(b) To increase its output?

“‘(2) How many workers can be obtained from occupied countries,
or how many can still be gained in the Reich by suitable means
(increased output)? For one thing, it is a matter of making up
for losses of labor by death, infirmity, the constant
fluctuation of workers, and so forth; and further it is a matter
of procuring additional workers.’

“The Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor,
Sauckel, declared that, in order to maintain the present amount
of workers he would have to add at least 2½ but probably 3
million new workers in 1944. Otherwise production would fall
off.

“Reich Minister Speer declared that he needed an additional
1,300,000 laborers. However, this would depend on whether it
will be possible to increase production of iron ore. Should this
not be possible, he would need no additional workers.
Procurement of additional workers from occupied territory would,
however, be subject to the condition that these workers will not
be withdrawn from armament and auxiliary industries already
working there. For this would mean a decrease of production of
these industries which he could not tolerate. Those, for
instance, who are already working in France in industries
mentioned above must be protected against being sent to work in
Germany by the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of
Labor.

“The Führer agreed with the opinions of Reich Minister Speer and
emphasized that the measures taken by the Plenipotentiary
General for the Allocation of Labor should create no
circumstances which would lead to the withdrawal of workers from
armament and auxiliary industries working in occupied
territories, because such a shifting of workers would only cause
disturbance of production in occupied countries.

“The Führer further called attention to the fact that at least
250,000 laborers will be required for preparations against air
attacks in the field of civilian air raid protection. For Vienna
alone 2,000-2,500 are required immediately. The Plenipotentiary
General for the Allocation of Labor will need at least 4 million
workers considering that he requires 2½ million workers for
maintenance of the present level, that Reich Minister Speer
needs 1,300,000 additional workers, and that the above-mentioned
preparations for security measures against air attacks call for
250,000 laborers.”

Referring again to Page 2, the first full paragraph of the English text of this document, and Page 5, Paragraph 1, of the German text:

“The Reichsführer SS explained that the executive agents put at
his disposal are extremely few, but that he would try helping
the Sauckel project to succeed by increasing them and working
them harder. The Reichsführer SS made immediately available
2,000 to 2,500 men from concentration camps for air raid
preparations in Vienna.”

Passing the next paragraph of this document and continuing with the paragraph entitled “Results of the Conference” and quoting it directly after the small figure 1:

“The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor shall
procure at least 4 million new workers from occupied
territories.”

Moreover, as Document 3012-PS, which has already been offered as Exhibit USA-190, revealed, the Defendant Sauckel, in requesting the assistance of the Army for the recruitment of 1 million men and women from the Occupied Eastern Territories, informed the Defendant Keitel that prompt action was required and that, as in all other occupied countries, pressure had to be used if other measures were not successful. Again, as revealed by Document 018-PS, which has been offered and from which excerpts have been read, the Defendant Sauckel was informed by the Defendant Rosenberg that the enslavement of foreign labor was achieved by force and brutality. Notwithstanding his knowledge of these conditions, the Defendant Sauckel continued to request greater supplies of manpower from the areas in which the most ruthless methods had been applied. Indeed, when German field commanders on the Eastern Front attempted to resist or restrain the Defendant Sauckel’s demands, because forced recruitment was swelling the ranks of the partisans and making the Army’s task more difficult, Sauckel sent a telegram to Hitler, in which he implored him, Hitler, to intervene.

I make reference to Document Number 407(II)-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-226. This document is a telegram from the Defendant Sauckel to Hitler dated 10 March 1943. It is a rather long message, but I wish to call particularly to the attention of the Tribunal the last paragraph on Page 1 of the English text. It is Page 2, Paragraph 5 of the German text. Quoting the last paragraph of the English text:

“Therefore, my Führer, I ask you to abolish all orders which
oppose the obligation of foreign workers for labor and kindly to
report to me whether my conception of the mission presented here
is still right.”

Turning to Paragraph 5 on the first page of this English text, we find these words, quoting them directly:

“If the obligation for labor and the forced recruiting of
workers in the East is not possible any more, then the German
war industries and agriculture cannot fulfill their tasks to the
full extent.”

The next paragraph:

“I myself have the opinion that our Army leaders should not give
credence, under any circumstances, to the atrocity and
defamatory propaganda campaign of the partisans. The generals
themselves are greatly interested that the support for the
troops is made possible in time. I should like to point out that
hundreds of thousands of excellent workers going into the field
as soldiers now cannot possibly be replaced by German women not
used to work, even if they are trying to do their best.
Therefore, I have to use the people of the Eastern Territories.”

THE PRESIDENT: I think you should read the next paragraph.

MR. DODD: “I myself report to you that the workers belonging to
all foreign nations are treated humanely, and correctly, and
cleanly; are fed and housed well and are even clothed. On the
basis of my own services with foreign nations I go as far as to
state that never before in the world were foreign workers
treated as correctly as they are now, in the hardest of all
wars, by the German people.”

In addition to being responsible for the recruitment of foreign civilian labor by force, Defendant Sauckel was responsible for the conditions under which foreign workers were deported to Germany and for the treatment to which they were subjected within Germany.

We have already referred to the conditions under which these imported persons were transported to Germany and we have read from Document 2241(3)-PS to show that Sauckel knew of these conditions. Yesterday we referred at length to the brutal, degrading, and inhumane conditions under which these laborers worked and lived within Germany. We again invite the attention of the Tribunal to Document 3044-PS, already offered as Exhibit USA-206. It is Regulation Number 4 of 7 May 1942, issued by Sauckel as the Plenipotentiary General for the mobilization of labor, concerning recruitment, care, lodging, feeding, and treatment of foreign workers of both sexes. By this decree Defendant Sauckel expressly directed that the assembly and operation of rail transports and the supplying of food therefor was the responsibility of his agents until the transports arrived in Germany. By the same regulation Defendant Sauckel directed that within Germany the care of foreign industrial workers was to be carried out by the German Labor Front and that the care of foreign agricultural workers was to be carried out by the Reich Food Administration. By the terms of the regulation, Sauckel reserved for himself ultimate responsibility for all aspects of care, treatment, lodging, and feeding of foreign workers while in transit to and within Germany.

I refer particularly to the English text of this Document 3044-PS, Exhibit USA-206; and the part of it that I make reference to is at the bottom of Page 1 in the English text, and it appears at Page 518 of the volume in the German text. Quoting directly from the English text:

“The care of foreign labor will be carried out:

“(a) Up to the Reich border by my commissioners or, in the
occupied areas, by competent military or civil labor allocation
agencies; care of the workers will be carried out in
co-operation with the respective, competent foreign
organization;

“(b) Within the area of the Reich (1) by the German Labor Front
in the cases of non-agricultural workers, (2) by the Reich Food
Administration in the case of agricultural workers.

“The German Labor Front and the German Food Administration are
bound by my directives in the carrying out of their tasks of
caring for the workers.

“The administrative agencies for the Allocation of Labor are to
give far-reaching support to the German Labor Front and the
German Food Administration in the fulfillment of their assigned
tasks.

“My competence for the execution of the care for foreign labor
is not prejudiced by the assignment of these tasks to the German
Labor Front and the Reich Food Administration.”

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, don’t you think that that sort of passage is the sort of passage which might be summarized and not read, because all that it is really stating is that Sauckel, his department and commissioners, were responsible and that is what he is saying.

MR. DODD: Yes, indeed, Your Honor, we spelled it out, thinking that perhaps under the rule of getting it into the record it must be read fully. I quite agree.

THE PRESIDENT: A summary will be quite sufficient, I think.

MR. DODD: In the same document, I should like to make reference to the data on Page 3, Paragraph III, of the English text, which indicate, under the title of “Composition and Operation of the Transports” that this function is the obligation of the representatives of the Defendant Sauckel; and in Paragraph “c,” on Page 5 of the English text, under the title of “Supply for the Transport,” after setting out some responsibility for the Office of the German Workers Front, the Defendant Sauckel states that for the rest his offices effect the supply for the transport.

The Defendant Sauckel had an agreement with the head of the German Labor Front, Dr. Robert Ley, and in this agreement the Defendant Sauckel emphasized his ultimate responsibility by creating a central inspectorate charged with examining the working and living conditions of foreign workers. We refer to Document 1913-PS, Exhibit USA-227. This agreement between the Defendant Sauckel and the then Chief of the German Labor Front is published in the 1943 edition of the _Reichsarbeitsblatt_, Part I, at Page 588. It is a rather lengthy agreement; and I shall not read it all or any great part of it except such part as will indicate the basic agreements between the Defendant Sauckel and Ley with respect to the foreign workers and their living conditions and working conditions.

On the first page of the English text:

“The Reichsleiter of the German Labor Front, Dr. Ley, in
collaboration with the Plenipotentiary General for the
Allocation of Labor, Gauleiter Sauckel, will establish a
‘Central Inspection’ for the continuous supervision of all
measures concerning the care of the foreign workers mentioned
under 1. This will have the designation: Central Inspection for
Care of Foreign Workers.”

Paragraph 4 marked with the Roman numeral IV, in the same text, states:

“The offices for the administration of the Allocation of Labor
will be constantly informed by the ‘Central Inspection for the
Care of Foreign Workers’ of its observations, in particular,
immediately in each case in which action of state organizations
seems to be necessary.”

I should also like to call the attention of the Tribunal to this paragraph, which is quoted on the same page. It is the fourth paragraph down after the small number 2 and it begins with the words:

“The authority of the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation
of Labor to empower the members of his staff and the presidents
of the state employment offices to get direct information on the
conditions regarding the employment of foreigners in the
factories and camps will remain untouched.”

We have already offered to the Court proof that the Defendant Sauckel was responsible for compelling citizens of the occupied countries, against their will, to manufacture arms and munitions and to construct military fortifications for use in war operations against their own country and its allies. He was, moreover, responsible for having compelled prisoners of war to produce arms and munitions for use against their own countries and their actively resisting allies.

The decree appointing Sauckel indicates that he was appointed Plenipotentiary General for manpower for the express purpose, among others, of integrating prisoners of war into the German war industry; and in a series of reports to Hitler, Sauckel described how successful he had been in carrying out that program. One such report states that in a single year the Defendant Sauckel had incorporated 1,622,829 prisoners of war into the German economy.

I refer to Document Number 407(V)-PS, which is Exhibit USA-228. It is a letter from the Defendant Sauckel to Hitler on the 14th of April 1943. Although the figures in the document have been contained in another document, this is the first introduction of this particular document. Quoting from Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the English text, it begins:

“My Führer:

“. . . after having been active as Plenipotentiary for the
Allocation of Labor for one year, I have the honor to report to
you that 3,638,056 new foreign workers have been added to the
German war economy between April 1st of the last year and March
31st of this year.”

Passing on a little bit, with particular reference to the prisoners of war, we find this statement:

“Besides the foreign civilian workers another 1,622,829
prisoners of war are employed in the German economy.”

A later report states that 846,511 additional foreign laborers and prisoners of war were incorporated into the German war industry; and quoting from Document 407(IX)-PS, Exhibit USA-229, which is also a letter from the Defendant Sauckel to Hitler, I read in part from Page 1, Paragraphs 1 and 2:

“My Führer:

“I beg to be permitted to report to you on the situation of the
Arbeitseinsatz for the first 5 months of 1943. For the first
time the following number of new foreign laborers and prisoners
of war were employed in the German war industry . . . Total:
846,511.”

This use of prisoners of war in the manufacture of armaments allocated by the Defendant Sauckel was confirmed by the Defendant Speer, who stated that 40 percent of all prisoners of war were employed in the production of weapons and munitions and in subsidiary industries. I wish to refer briefly to Paragraphs 6, 7, and 8 on Page 15 of the English text of an interrogation of the Defendant Speer, on the 18th of October 1945, which was offered and referred to yesterday and has the Exhibit Number USA-220. Quoting from Paragraphs 6, 7 and 8 on Page 15—Paragraph 1 on Page 19 of the German text—there are two questions which will establish the background for this answer:

“Q: Let me understand; when you wanted labor from prisoners of
war did you requisition prisoners of war separately, or did you
ask for a total number of workers?

“A: Only Schmelter can answer that directly. As far as the
commitment of prisoners of war for labor goes, it was effected
through employment officers of the Stalags. I tried several
times to increase the total number of prisoners of war that were
occupied in production, at the expense of the other demands.

“Q: Will you explain that a little more?

“A: In the last phase of production, that is, in the year 1944
when everything collapsed, I had 40 percent of all prisoners of
war employed in production. I wanted to have this percentage
increased.

“Q: And when you say ‘employed in production’, you mean in these
subsidiary industries that you have discussed and also in the
production of weapons and munitions, is that right?

“A: Yes. That was the total extent of my task.”

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): What do you mean by “subsidiary industries,” Mr. Dodd? Is that war industries?

MR. DODD: Yes, Sir; war industries, as we understand it. It was referred to many times by these defendants as the component parts of the plans.

I also would like to call the attention of the Tribunal again to the “Minutes of the 36th Meeting of the Central. Planning Board,” Document R-124, from which we read a number of excerpts yesterday, and remind the Tribunal that in the report of the minutes of that meeting the Defendant Speer stated that, “Ninety thousand Russian prisoners of war employed in the whole of the armament industry are for the greater part skilled men.”

We should like, at this point, to turn to the special responsibility of the Defendant Speer and to discuss the evidence of the various crimes committed by Defendant Speer in planning and participating in the vast program of forcible deportation of the citizens of occupied countries. He was the Reich Minister of Armaments and Munitions and Chief of the Organization Todt, both of which positions he acquired on the 15th of February 1942; and by virtue of his later acquisition of control over the armament offices of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and the production offices of the Ministry of Economics, the Defendant Speer was responsible for the entire war production of the Reich as well as for the construction of fortifications and installations for the Wehrmacht. Proof of the positions held by the Defendant Speer is supplied in his own statement as contained in Document 2980-PS, which has already been offered to the Tribunal and which bears Exhibit Number USA-18.

The industries under the Defendant Speer’s control were really the most important users of manpower in Germany; and thus, according to the Defendant Sauckel, Speer’s labor requirements received unconditional priority over all other demands for labor. We refer to the transcript of the interrogation of the Defendant Sauckel on the 22d of September 1945. It is Exhibit USA-230. It is next to the last document in the document book. I wish to refer to Page 1 of that document, Paragraph 4. It is a brief reference, the last answer on the page. The question was asked of the Defendant Sauckel:

“Q: Except for Speer, they would give the requirements in
general for the whole field; but in Speer’s work you would get
them allocated by industry, and so on—is that right?

“A: The others only got whatever was left. Because Speer told me
once in the presence of the Führer that I am here to work for
Speer and that, mainly, I am his man.”

The Defendant Speer has admitted under oath that he participated in the discussions during which the decision to use foreign forced labor was made. He has also said that he concurred in the decision and that it was the basis for the program of bringing foreign workers into Germany by compulsion. I make reference to the interrogation of the Defendant Speer of the 18th of October 1945. It bears the Exhibit Number USA-220. We have already read from it; and I particularly refer to the bottom of Page 12 and the top of Page 13 of the English text:

“Q: But is it clear to you, Mr. Speer, that in 1942 when the
decisions were being made concerning the use of forced foreign
labor, that you participated in the discussions yourself?

“A: Yes.

“Q: So that I take it that the execution of the program of
bringing foreign workers into Germany by compulsion under
Sauckel was based on earlier decisions that had been made with
your agreement?

“A: Yes, but I must point out that only a very small part of the
manpower that Sauckel brought into Germany was made available to
me; a far larger part of it was allocated to other departments
that demanded them.”

This admission is confirmed by the minutes of Speer’s conferences with Hitler on 10, 11, and 12 August 1942 in Document R-124, which has been offered here and from which excerpts have been read. Page 34 of that document, Paragraph 1 of the English text, has already been quoted, and those excerpts have been read before the Tribunal yesterday. The Tribunal will recall that the Defendant Speer related the outcome of his negotiations concerning the forcible recruitment of 1 million Russian laborers for the German armaments industry; and this use of force was again discussed by Hitler and Defendant Speer on the 4th of January 1943 as shown by the excerpts read from the Document 556(13)-PS, where it was decided that stronger measures were to be used to accelerate the conscription of French civilian workers.

We say the Defendant Speer demanded foreign workers for the industries under his control and used those workers with the knowledge that they had been deported by force and were being compelled to work. Speer has stated under oath in his interrogation of 18 October 1945, Page 5, Paragraph 9, of the English text, quoting it directly:

“I do not wish to give the impression that I want to deny the
fact that I demanded manpower and foreign labor from Sauckel
very energetically.”

He has admitted that he knew he was obtaining foreign labor, a large part of which was forced labor; and referring again to that same interrogation of the 18th of October 1945, and to Pages 8 and 9 of the English text and Page 10 of the German text:

“Q: So that during the period when you were asking for labor, it
seems clear, does it not, that you knew you were obtaining
foreign labor as well as domestic labor in response to your
requests and that a large part of the foreign labor was forced
labor?

“A: Yes.

“Q: So that, simply by way of illustration, suppose that on
January 1, 1944 you require 50,000 workers for a given purpose;
would you put in a requisition for 50,000 workers, knowing that
in that 50,000 there would be forced foreign workers?

“A: Yes.”

The Defendant Speer has also stated under oath that he knew at least as early as September of 1942 that workers from the Ukraine were being forcibly deported for labor into Germany. Likewise he knew that the great majority of the workers of the western occupied countries were slave laborers forced against their will to come to Germany; and again referring to his interrogation of this 18th day of October 1945, and beginning with the fourth Paragraph from the bottom of Page 5 of the English text, Paragraph 10 on Page 6 of the German text, we find this series of questions and answers:

“Q: When did you first find out then that some of the manpower
from the Ukraine was not coming voluntarily?

“A: It is rather difficult to answer this here, that is, to name
a certain date to you. However, it is certain that I knew that
at some particular point of time the manpower from the Ukraine
did not come voluntarily.

“Q: And does that apply also to the manpower from other occupied
countries; that is, did there come a time when you knew that
they were not coming voluntarily?

“A: Yes.

“Q: When, in general, would you say that time was without
placing a particular month of the year?

“A: As far as the Ukraine situation goes, I believe that they
did not come voluntarily any more after a few months, because
immense mistakes were made in their treatment by us. I should
say offhand that this time was either in July, August, or
September of 1942.”

Turning to Paragraph 11 on Page 6 of the English text of this same interrogation and Page 7 and Paragraph 8 of the German text, we find this series of questions and answers—quoting:

“Q: But many workers actually did come from the west to Germany,
did they not?

“A: Yes.

“Q: That means then, that the great majority of the workers that
came from the western countries—the western occupied
countries—came against their will to Germany?

“A: Yes.”

These admissions are borne out, of course, by other evidence, for as Document R-124 shows and as we have shown by the readings from it, in all countries conscription for work in Germany could be carried out only with the active assistance of the police; and the prevailing methods of recruitment had provoked such violence that many German recruiting agents had been killed.

And again, at a meeting with Hitler to discuss the manpower requirements for 1944, which is reported in Document 1292-PS, Speer was informed by the Defendant Sauckel that the requirements—including Speer’s requirement for 1,300,000 additional laborers—could be met only if German enforcement agents were furnished to carry out the enslavement program in the occupied countries.

Now we say that notwithstanding this knowledge that these workers were conscripted and deported to Germany against their will, Speer nevertheless continued to formulate requirements for the foreign workers and requested their allocation to these industries which were subject to his control. This is borne out by the minutes of the Central Planning Board as contained in Document R-124, and particularly Page 13, Paragraph 4 of the English text; and that is Page 6 and Paragraph 4 of the German text. Speer speaking:

“Now the labor problem in Germany. I believe it is still
possible to transfer some from the western territories. Only
recently the Führer stated he wishes to dissolve these foreign
volunteers as he had the impression that the army groups were
carting around with them a lot of ballast. Therefore, if we
cannot settle this matter ourselves, we shall have to call a
meeting with the Führer to clear up the whole coal situation.
Keitel and Zeitzler will be invited to attend in order to
determine the number of Russians from the rear army territories
who must be sent to us. However, I see another possibility: We
might organize another drive to pick out workers for the mines
from the Russian prisoners of war in the Reich. But this
possibility is none too promising.”

At another meeting of the Central Planning Board the Defendant Speer rejected a suggestion that labor for industries under his control be furnished from German sources instead of from foreign sources. And again in this Document R-124, on Page 16, Paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 of the English text, and Page 12, Paragraphs 6 and 7 of the German text—I quote the Defendant Speer:

“We do it that way: Kehrl collects the demands for labor
necessary to complete the coal-and-iron plan and communicates
the numbers to Sauckel. Probably there will be a conference at
the Reich Marshal’s in the next week, and an answer from Sauckel
should have arrived by then. The question of recruitment for the
armaments industry will be solved together with Weger.”

Kehrl speaking:

“I wish to urge that the allotments to the mines should not be
made dependent on the possibility of recruitment of men abroad.
We were completely frustrated these last 3 months because this
principle had been applied. We ended December with a deficit of
25,000 and we never get replacements. The number must be made up
by men from Germany.

“Speer: ‘No, nothing doing.’”

We say also that, the Defendant Speer is guilty of advocating terror and brutality as a means of maximizing, production by slave laborers. And again I refer to this Document R-124. At Page 42 there is a discussion concerning the supply and exploitation of labor. That excerpt has been read to the Tribunal before, and I simply refer to it in passing. It is the excerpt wherein Speer said it would be a good thing; the effect of it was that nothing could be said against the SS and the police taking a hand and making these men work and produce more.

We say he is also guilty of compelling allied nationals and prisoners of war to engage in the production of armaments and munitions and in direct military operations against their own country.

We say that as Chief of the Organization Todt he is accountable for its policies, which were in direct conflict with the laws of war; for the Organization Todt, in violation of the laws of war, impressed allied nationals into its service.

Document L-191, Exhibit USA-231, is an International Labor Office study of the exploitation of foreign labor by Germany. We have only one copy of this document, this International Labor Office study, printed at Montreal, Canada, in 1945. We ask that the Tribunal take judicial notice of it as an official publication of the International Labor Office.

I might say to the Tribunal, with some apology, that this arrived at a time when we were not able even to have the excerpt mimeographed and printed to place in your document book, so this is the one document which is missing from the document book which is in your hands. However, I should like to quote from Page 73, Paragraph 2, of this study by the International Labor Office. It is not long; it is very brief. I am quoting directly. It says:

“The methods used for the recruitment of foreign workers who
were destined for employment in the Organization did not greatly
differ from the methods used for the recruitment of foreigners
for deportation to Germany.”

“The Organization,” by the way, is the Organization Todt. Going on with the quotation:

“The main difference was that, since the principal activities of
the Organization lay outside the frontiers of Germany,
foreigners were not transported to Germany but had either to
work in their own country or in some other occupied country.

“In the recruitment drives for foreign workers for the
Organization, methods of compulsion as well as methods of
persuasion were used, the latter usually with very little
result.”

Moreover, conscripted allied nationals were compelled by this same Organization Todt actually to engage in operations of war against their country.

Document 407(VIII)-PS discloses that the foreign workers who were impressed into the Organization Todt through the efforts of the Defendant Sauckel did participate in the building of the Atlantic Wall fortifications.

As chief of German war production, this Defendant Speer sponsored and approved the use of these prisoners of war in the production of armaments and munitions. This has been made plain by the evidence already discussed.

To sum it up briefly finally we say that it shows first that after Speer assumed the responsibility for the armament production, his concern, in his discussions with his co-conspirators, was to secure a larger allocation of prisoners of war for his armament factories. That has been shown by the quotations from the excerpts of Document R-124, the minutes of the meeting of the Central Planning Board; and in this same meeting the Tribunal will recall that Speer complained because only 30 percent of the Russian prisoners of war were engaged in the armaments industry.

We referred to a speech of Speer, Document 1435-PS—we quoted from it—in which he said that 10,000 prisoners of war were put at the disposal of the armaments industry upon his orders.

And finally, Speer advocated the returning of escaped prisoners of war to factories as convicts. That is shown again by Document R-124, Page 13, Paragraph 5, of the English text, where the Defendant Speer says that he has come to an arrangement . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, don’t you think that we have really got this sufficiently now?

MR. DODD: Yes, Sir; I just . . .

THE PRESIDENT: We have Speer’s own admission and any number of documents which prove the way in which these prisoners of war and other laborers were brought into Germany.

MR. DODD: Well I just wanted to refer briefly to that passage in that document, R-124, as showing that this defendant advocated having escaped prisoners of war returned to the munitions factories.

THE PRESIDENT: What page?

MR. DODD: Thirteen. I don’t want to labor this responsibility of the Defendant Speer. I was anxious—or perhaps I should say we are all overanxious—to have the documents in the record, and before the Tribunal.

THE PRESIDENT: Which is the passage you want to refer to on Page 13?

MR. DODD: I just referred in passing to the statement which begins with the words, “We have to come to an arrangement with the Reichsführer SS.” And in the next to the last sentence it says: “The men should be put into the factories as convicts.”

Finally, with reference to the Defendant Speer, I should like to say to the Tribunal that he visited the concentration camp at Mauthausen and he also visited factories such as those conducted by the Krupp industries, where concentration camp labor was exploited under degrading conditions. Despite this first-hand knowledge of these conditions, both in Mauthausen and in the places where these forced laborers were at work in factories, he continued to direct the use of this type of labor in factories under his own jurisdiction.

THE PRESIDENT: How do you intend to prove it as to these concentration camps?

MR. DODD: I was going to refer the Tribunal to Page 9 of the interrogation of the 18th of October 1945; and I refer to Page 11, Paragraph 5, of the German text and Page 9, beginning with Paragraph 9, of the English text:

“Q: But, in general, the use of concentration camp labor was
known to you and approved by you as a source of labor?

“A: Yes.

“Q: And you knew also, I take it, that among the inmates of the
concentration camps there were both Germans and foreigners?

“A: I didn’t think about it at that time.

“Q: As a matter of fact, you visited the Austrian concentration
camp personally, did you not?

“A: I did not—well, I was in Mauthausen once, but at that time
I was not told just to what categories the inmates of the
concentration camps belonged.

“Q: But in general everybody knew, did they not, that foreigners
who were taken away by the Gestapo or arrested by the Gestapo,
as well as Germans, found their way into the concentration
camps?

“A: Of course, yes. I didn’t mean to imply anything like that.”

And on Page 15 of this same interrogation, beginning with the 13th Paragraph of the English text and Page 20 in the German text, we find this question:

“Q: Did you ever discuss, by the way, the requirements of Krupp
for foreign labor?

“A: It is certain that it was reported to me what lack Krupp had
in foreign workers.

“Q: Did you ever, discuss it with any of the members of the
Krupp firm?

“A: I cannot say that exactly; but during the time of my
activities I visited the Krupp factory more than once and it is
certain that this was discussed, that is, the lack of manpower.”

Before closing I should like to take 2 minutes of the time of the Tribunal to refer to what we consider to be some of the applicable laws of the case for the assistance of the Tribunal in considering these documents which we have offered.

We refer, of course, first of all, to Sections 6 (b) and 6 (c) of the Charter of this Tribunal. We also say that the acts of the conspirators constituted a flagrant violation of Articles 46 and 52 of the Regulations annexed to the Hague Convention Number IV of 1907.

Article 46 seeks to safeguard the family honor, the rights and the lives of persons in areas under belligerent occupation.

Article 52 provides in part that:

“Requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from
municipalities or inhabitants except for the needs of the army
of occupation. They shall be in proportion to the resources of
the country.”

We say that these conspirators violated this article because the labor which they conscripted was not used to satisfy the needs of the army of occupation, but on the contrary, was forcibly removed from the occupied areas and exploited in the interest of the German war effort.

Finally, we say that these conspirators—and particularly the Defendants Sauckel and Speer—by virtue of their planning, of their execution, and of their approval of this program, which we have been describing yesterday and today, the enslavement and the misuse of the forced labor of prisoners of war—that for this they bear a special responsibility for their Crimes against Humanity and their War Crimes.

THE PRESIDENT: Are you finishing, Mr. Dodd?

MR. DODD: Yes, I have concluded.

THE PRESIDENT: I should like to ask you why you have not read Document 3057-PS, which is Sauckel’s statement.

MR. DODD: Yes. We had intended to offer that document. Counsel for the Defendant Sauckel informed me a day or two ago that his client maintained that he had been coerced into making the statement. Because we had not ample time to ascertain the facts of the matter, we preferred to withhold it, rather than to offer it to the Tribunal under any question of doubt.

THE PRESIDENT: He objects to it, and therefore you have not put it in?

MR. DODD: No, we did not offer it while there was any question about it.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

MR. DODD: Might I suggest to the Tribunal that a recess be taken at this time? I am sorry to have to say that I am due to be before the Tribunal for a little while—that is, I am sorry for the Tribunal—with the matters on the concentration camps.

THE PRESIDENT: You mean a recess now?

MR. DODD: If Your Honor pleases.

THE PRESIDENT: Certainly, yes; 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

MR. DODD: May it please the Tribunal, we propose to offer additional evidence at this time concerning the use of Nazi concentration camps against the people of Germany and allied nationals. We propose to examine the purposes and the role of the concentration camp in the larger Nazi scheme of things. We propose to show that the concentration camp was one of the fundamental institutions of the Nazi regime, that it was a pillar of the system of terror by which the Nazis consolidated their power over Germany and imposed their ideology upon the German people, that it was really a primary weapon in the battle against the Jews, against the Christian church, against labor, against those who wanted peace, against opposition or non-conformity of any kind. We say it involved the systematic use of terror to achieve the cohesion within Germany which was necessary for the execution of the conspirators’ plans for aggression.

We propose to show that a concentration camp was one of the principal instruments used by the conspirators for the commission, on an enormous scale, of Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes; that it was the final link in a chain of terror and repression which involved the SS and the Gestapo and which resulted in the apprehension of victims and their confinement without trial, often without charges, generally with no indication of the length of their detention.

My colleagues will present full evidence concerning the criminal role of the SS and the Gestapo in this phase of Nazi terrorism, the concentration camp; but at this point I wish simply to point out that the SS, through its espionage system, tracked down the victims, that the criminal police and the Gestapo seized them and brought them to the camps, and that the concentration camps were administered by the SS.

This Tribunal, we feel, is already aware of the sickening evidence of the brutality of the concentration camp from the showing of the moving picture. More than that, individual prosecutions are going on, going forward before other courts which will record these outrages in detail. Therefore, we do not propose to present a catalogue of individual brutalities but, rather, to submit evidence showing the fundamental purposes for which, the camps were used, the techniques of terror which were employed, the large number of victims, and the death and the anguish which they caused.

The evidence relating to concentration camps has been assembled in a document book bearing the letter “S.” I might say that the documents in this book have been arranged in the order of presentation, rather than, as we have been doing, numerically. In this book we have put them in as they occur in the presentation. One document in this book, 2309-PS, is cited several times, so we have marked it with a tab with a view to facilitating reference back to it. It will be referred to more than once.

The Nazis realized early that without the most drastic repression of actual and potential opposition they could not consolidate their power over the German people. We have seen that, immediately after Hitler became Chancellor, the conspirators promptly destroyed civil liberties by issuing the Presidential Emergency Decree of February 28, 1933. It is Document 1390-PS of the document book; and it sets forth that decree which has already been introduced in evidence before the Tribunal and is included in USA Exhibit B. It was this decree, which was the basis for the so-called “Schutzhaft,” that is, protective custody—the terrible power to imprison people without judicial proceedings. This is made clear by Document Number 2499-PS, which is a typical order for protective custody. We offer it for that purpose, as a typical order for protective custody which has come into the possession of the Prosecution. It bears Exhibit Number USA-232. I should like to quote from the body of that order:

“Order of Protective Custody.

“Based on Article 1 of the Decree of the Reich President for the
Protection of People and State of 28 February 1933
(_Reichsgesetzblatt_ I, Page 83), you are taken into protective
custody in the interest of public security and order.

“Reason: Suspicion of activities inimical toward the State.”

The Defendant Göring in a book entitled _Aufbau einer Nation_, published in 1934, sought to give the impression, it appears, that the camps were originally directed at those whom the Nazis considered Communists and Social Democrats. We refer to Document 2324-PS, Exhibit USA-233. This document is an excerpt from Page 89 of the German book. We refer to the third and fourth paragraphs of the document, which I read as follows:

“We had to deal ruthlessly with these enemies of the State. It
must not be forgotten that at the moment of our seizure of
power, over 6 million people officially voted for communism and
about 8 million for Marxism in the Reichstag elections in March.

“Thus the concentration camps were created to which we had to
send first thousands of functionaries of the Communist and
Social Democratic Parties.”

In practical operation the power to order confinement in these camps was almost without limit. The Defendant Frick, in an order which he issued on the 25th day of January 1938 as Minister of the Interior, made this quite clear. An extract from this order is set forth in Document 1723-PS, to which we make reference. It bears Exhibit Number USA-206. I wish to read Article 1, beginning at the bottom of Page 5 of the English translation of this order: