Chapter XXXVI: Section 2: A III f (1)

Commitment of Manpower from the East. Circular Decree of the Reich Fuehrer SS and Chief of German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior dated 20 February 1942—S IV No. 208/42 (foreign workers).

Enclosed I am sending you general regulations concerning the recruiting and the committing of manpower from the East for your information and careful attention.

I have the following additional directives for the Security Police and the SD [Security Service]:

_A. MANPOWER FROM THE ORIGINAL SOVIET RUSSIAN
TERRITORY_

_I. General security measures._

1. The commitment of manpower in the Reich from the original Soviet Russian territory results in greater dangers than any other employment of foreigners in spite of the special standards of their way of living, since a complete separation from the German and other foreign laborers and a strict supervision will frequently, in practice and especially at the place of work, scarcely be effected. The Security Police is charged with the responsibility for preventing the danger and it must do everything to accomplish its tasks; that is, to diminish the possibilities of danger to a minimum. Since enforcements cannot be counted on, it is the special task of the inspectors and state police administrative offices to urge the other administrative offices, charged with the commitment of the manpower, to take over the affairs of the Security Police within the sphere of their jurisdiction.

* * * * *

_III. Combatting violations against discipline._

1. According to the equal status of the manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory with prisoners of war, a strict discipline must be exercised in the quarters and at the working place. Violations against discipline, including work refusal and loafing at work, will be fought exclusively by the Secret State Police [Gestapo]. The smaller cases will be settled by the leader of the guard according to instruction of the state police administration offices with measures as provided for in the enclosure. To break acute resistance, the guards shall be permitted to use also physical power against the manpower. But this may be done only for a cogent cause. The manpower should always be informed about the fact that they will be treated decently when conducting themselves with discipline and accomplishing good work.

2. In severe cases, that is in such cases where the measures at the disposal of the leader of the guard do not suffice, the state police office has to act with its means. Accordingly, they will be treated, as a rule only with strict measures, that is, with transfer to a concentration camp or with special treatment.

3. The transfer to a concentration camp is done in the usual manner.

4. In especially severe cases special treatment is to be requested at the Reich Security Main Office, stating personal data and the exact history of the act.

5. Special treatment consists of hanging. It should not take place in the immediate vicinity of the camp. A certain number of the manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory should attend the special treatment; at that time they are warned about the circumstances which led to this special treatment.

6. Should special treatment be required within the camp for exceptional reasons of camp discipline, this is also to be requested.

* * * * *

_IV. Subversive activities against the Reich._

Anti-Reich activities, especially dissemination of communist ideology, propaganda of disunity, sabotage acts, are to be fought against with the strictest measures. The care in obtaining information shall not suffer through quick arrests, in order to catch the whole group of perpetrators. Anti-Reich conduct is, as a rule, to be punished by special treatment, in slighter cases a transfer to a concentration camp may be considered.

_V. Criminal violations [Kriminelle Verfehlungen]._

1. As a matter of principle, criminal violations—regardless of whether committed inside or outside the camp—shall be punished by state police measures. * * *

2. Criminal offenses [Kriminelle Delikte] are generally to be punished as violations against discipline, that is, the state police measures provided for, shall take place in cases of smaller violations, and special treatment shall take place in cases of crimes—such as, murder, homicide, and robbery.

3. Concerning capital crimes against German persons, punishment by criminal court procedure may, however, in an individual case appear suitable. If the (superior) state police agency considers this opportune, it can transfer the case to the prosecuting attorney, under the provision that pursuant to the criminal laws, one can safely count on the death penalty for the perpetrator.

_VI. Sexual Intercourse._

Sexual intercourse is forbidden to the manpower of the original Soviet Russian territory. Because of their closely confined quarters they have no opportunity for it. Should sexual intercourse occur nevertheless—especially by the individually employed manpower on the farms—the following is directed:

1. For every case of sexual intercourse with our German countrymen or women [deutschen Volksgenossen oder Volksgenossinnen] special treatment is to be requested for male manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory, transfer to a concentration camp for female manpower.

2. When exercising sexual intercourse with other foreign workers, the conduct of the manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory is to be punished as severe violation of discipline with transfer to a concentration camp.

_VII. Measures against fraternization with manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory._

1. Special attention is to be paid to the fundamental segregation of manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory from the German population. It is important to prevent a penetration of communistic ideology into the German population by cutting off every contact not directly pertaining to the work and, if possible, to avoid every solidarity between German people and the manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory. Against Germans who act to the contrary, steps are to be taken by the state police according to the situation of the individual case.

2. If German countrymen or women should exercise sexual intercourse or commit indecent acts with manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory, transfer to a concentration camp is to be requested.

3. The intercourse between other foreign workers employed in the Reich and the manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory also brings great dangers to be dealt with by the Security Police; therefore, it should also be fought with measures against the foreign workers. As a rule, the transfer to a correction camp (deportation for Italians) will be proper; this also applies to cases of sexual intercourse.

_VIII. Search._

* * * * *

2. When caught, the fugitive must receive special treatment.

* * * * *

_B. MANPOWER FROM THE BALTIC COUNTRIES AND
FOREIGN MANPOWER, NOT OF POLISH ORIGIN,
FROM THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND FROM
THE ANNEXED EASTERN TERRITORIES_

_I. General._

1. This manpower is to be treated uniformly in the Reich by the state police. In view of the political attitude of these nations, or ethnic groups [Volksstaemme] toward the Reich on the one hand and their position in the East on the other hand, they are to be governed by the regulations valid for foreign manpower in general, but are subject to special limitations in their way of living.

2. These limitations consist essentially in a conspicuous separation of this manpower from the German people. Since the employment and housing of this manpower is not closely confined and guarded, it is the task of the Secret State Police to be especially watchful about the observation of the mentioned principle. The Secret State Police has to inform the offices charged with the employment of foreigners through constant communication, that this principle will be considered in all measures of work employment. Settlement of these persons in the Reich, individual billeting in spite of existing collective quarters, position superior to that of a German worker, etc., must not be tolerated. As far as these people themselves violate the established principle, and act unlawfully against Germans by insubordination and acts of violence, such a conduct will be met with state police measures.

3. This manpower must, however, by no means be put on the same level as the Poles or the manpower from the original Soviet Russian territory, on account of their nations’ fundamental antagonism toward the Polish people and Bolshevism. Nevertheless, special attention should be paid to them—especially by the establishment of an active intelligence service among this manpower—since their rather receptive attitude toward the German nation might change into the opposite, but at least could stiffen, because too high political expectations are not fulfilled.

* * * * *

_III. Fighting against breach of labor contract._

1. The fight against breach of labor contract of this manpower is principally the duty of the Secret State Police.

2. This does not mean, of course, an interference with the activity of the Reich trustee of labor, with the means at his disposal in the regulation and settlement of industrial difficulties as long as no active intervention is necessary. If more stringent measures are necessary, the Reich trustee of labor will transfer the proceedings to the Secret State Police.

3. In every case, however, it is the task of the (superior) state police agency to check whether the violation of the working duty by this manpower is not caused by the plant through breach of contract as well as general bad treatment. If the conduct of the concerned manpower appears justified through the fault on the part of this plant, the state police is not to interfere, since this is free manpower.

4. In any other case, however, immediate action is necessary and, in case of a breach of contract on part of this manpower, the transfer to a correction camp is to be ordered, as a rule. In cases of severe repetition the transfer to a concentration camp can also be requested. In the cases of breach of contracts handled by the state police, the Reich trustee of labor has to be informed each time about the decision.

_IV. Criminal violations._

* * * * *

3. * * *. Crimes against decency, acts of violence, and acts of sabotage are to be punished, as a matter of principle, by state police measures (special treatment); however, I have no objection against a transfer of the inquiry proceedings to the competent public prosecutor if, pursuant to the criminal laws, one can safely count on the death penalty for the perpetrator. In these cases it is to be ascertained what the outcome of the trial is; should, against expectations, a death sentence not be passed, a report has to be made to me, attaching copy of the judgment.

Inquiry proceedings concerning other offenses are, as a rule, to be transferred to the competent public prosecutor. If a strong increase of crimes is noted in certain spheres, then there are no objections at all against punishing purely criminal acts, as a deterrent example, by state police measures.

* * * * *

_VI. Sexual intercourse with Germans._

1. The sexual intercourse of the manpower from the Baltic states as well as of the foreign manpower of non-Polish origin from the General Government and from the annexed eastern territories with Germans is punishable by severest penalties. (Changed by Circular Decree dated 23 October 1943.) The workers will be thoroughly instructed through the attached orientation sheet (enclo. 3) [not reproduced] in the foreign languages when they report upon their arrival at the local police offices. An instruction of the German population will be effected through the Party administration offices.

2. The district [Kreis] police offices have received instructions to arrest without delay workers who violate this regulation and to report them to the competent (superior) state police agency.

3. For male manpower who had sexual intercourse with Germans, special treatment is to be requested, for female manpower, transfer into a concentration camp. The directives issued for the special treatment of Polish civil workers are valid correspondingly; this is also applicable for the treatment of the involved German persons.

* * * * *

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 016-PS[78]
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 13

LETTER FROM SAUCKEL TO ROSENBERG, 24 APRIL 1942, AND
EXTRACTS FROM REPORT ON SAUCKEL’S LABOR
MOBILIZATION PROGRAM, 20 APRIL 1942

The Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan The Plenipotentiary General for Labor Allocation GBA

Berlin W. 8, 24 April 1942
Mohrenstrasse 65
(Thuringia House)
Phone: 126571

[Stamp]

Bureau of Ministry [Ministerbuero]
received 27 April 1942, No. 0887 Min. 28/v
Dr. K.P. has been informed

Very esteemed and dear Party Member Rosenberg:

Enclosed please find my program for the mobilization of labor. Please excuse the fact that this copy still contains a few corrections.

Heil Hitler!
Yours,
[Signed] FRITZ SAUCKEL
5 copies
copy for Mr. Wittenbacher.
[Signed] WACHS
Chancellory 1 May 1942
[Kanzlei]
[Stamp] MISCHKE
read: ILFL/KS 4.5.42
filed: 1-5, 5/5 42 Pg

To The Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, Party Member Rosenberg Berlin

The Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan The Plenipotentiary for Labor Allocation 20 April 1942 Sckl./We. _The Labor Mobilization Program_

* * * * *

The aim of this new, gigantic labor mobilization is to use all the rich and tremendous sources, conquered and secured for us by our fighting armed forces under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, for the armament of the armed forces and also for the nutrition of the homeland. The raw material as well as the fertility of the conquered territories and their human labor power are to be used completely and conscientiously to the profit of Germany and their allies.

* * * * *

VII. * * * Should we succeed with the help of the Party to convince all the German intellectual and manual workers of the great importance of the labor mobilization for the outcome of the war, and succeed to take good care of and keep up the morale of all the men, women, and the German youths who work within the labor mobilization program under extraordinarily strenuous circumstances, as far as their physical and mental capabilities of endurance are concerned and should we furthermore be able, also with the help of the Party, to use the prisoners of war as well as civilian workmen and women of foreign blood not only without harm to our own people but to the greatest advantage to our war and nutrition industries, then we will have accomplished the most difficult part of the labor mobilization program.

_The Task and its Solution_

(No figures are mentioned because of security reasons. I can assure you, nevertheless, that we are concerned with the greatest labor problem of all times, especially with regard to figures.)

* * * * *

B. _The Solution_:

* * * * *

3. The armament and nutrition tasks make it vitally necessary, not only to include the entire German labor power but also to call on foreign labor.

Consequently, I immediately tripled the transport program which I found when I took charge of my mission.

The main effort of that transport has been advanced into the months of May-June in order to assure in time and under any circumstances the availability of foreign labor power from the occupied territories for an increased production, in view of coming operations of the army, as well as of agricultural labor in the sector of the German food economy.

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

It must be emphasized, however, that an additional tremendous number of foreign labor has to be found for the Reich. The greatest pool for that purpose is the occupied territories of the East.

Consequently, it is an immediate 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 or forced labor.

* * * * *

_Prisoners of War and Foreign Workers_

The complete employment of all prisoners of war as well as the use of a gigantic number of new foreign civilian workers, men and women, has become an indisputable necessity for the solution of the mobilization of labor program in this war.

All the men must be fed, sheltered, and treated in such a way as to exploit them to the highest possible extent at the lowest conceivable degree of expenditure.

It has always been natural for us Germans to refrain from cruelty and mean chicaneries towards the beaten enemy, even if he has proved himself the most bestial and most implacable adversary, and to treat him correctly and humanely, even when we expect useful work of him.

As long as the German armaments industry did not make it absolutely necessary, we refrained under any circumstances from the use of Soviet prisoners of war as well as of civilian workers, men or women, from the Soviet territories. This has now become impossible and the working capacity of these people must now be exploited to the greatest extent.

* * * * *

Therefore, I want to impress most cordially but also most emphatically upon all the men and women who participate decisively in this war in the labor mobilization program, the necessity to comply with all these necessities, decisions and measures, according to the old National Socialist principle:

Nothing for us, everything for the Fuehrer and his work,
that is, for the future of our Nation!

[Signed] FRITZ SAUCKEL
[Stamp]

(The Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan The Plenipotentiary General for Labor Allocation)

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 084-PS[79]
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 16-A

EXTRACTS FROM INTERDEPARTMENTAL REPORT OF THE MINISTRY
FOR OCCUPIED EASTERN TERRITORIES, 30 SEPTEMBER 1942,
CONCERNING THE STATUS OF EASTERN LABORERS

Berlin NW 7, Hegelplatz 2, 30 September 1942

Central Office for Members of Eastern Nations Ih (ZO)

Subject: Present situation of the Eastern Labor Problem

* * * The manner and method by which the problems created through the importation of millions of members of the eastern peoples into the Reich are being solved is relevant with respect to two big tasks:

1. the development of the _war situation_,

2. the enforcement of the German _claim for leadership in the East_ after the end of the war.

* * * * *

* * * The facts which, by the fall of 1942, have been changed only partially or incompletely, are, among other, as follows:

1. The _definition_ of workers from the occupied territories of the USSR was narrowed down to the legal labor and social labor concept of “Eastern workers”; thereby, a particular “employment relationship of a special type” was created among “foreigners”—something which had to be looked upon, by those affected, as degrading.

2. The _drafting_ of eastern male and female workers often occurred without the necessary examination of the capabilities of those concerned, so that 5 to 10 percent sick and children were transported along. On the other hand, in those places where no volunteers were obtained, instead of recruiting them pursuant to labor conscription law, coercive measures were used by the police (imprisonment, penal expeditions, and the like).

3. The _allocation_ to enterprises was not undertaken by considering the occupation and previous training but according to the chance assignment of the individual to the respective transports or transient camps.

4. The _billeting_ did not follow the policies for other foreigners, but was done like for civilian prisoners, in camps which were fenced in with barbed wire and were heavily guarded and which they were not permitted to leave.

5. The _treatment_ by the guards was, on the average, without intelligence and cruel so that the Russian and Ukrainian workers, in enterprises with foreign laborers of different nationalities, were exposed to the ridicule of the Poles and Czechs, among other things.

6. The _food_ was so bad and insufficient in the camps for the eastern laborers employed in industry and mining that, on the average, the good capability of the camp members dropped quickly and many sicknesses and deaths occurred.

7. _Payment_ was carried out in the form of a ruling in which the industrial worker would be left on the average with 2 or 3 RM each week, and the farm laborers with even less, so that the wage transfer to their homes became illusory, not to mention the fact that no procedure was as yet developed for such transfer.

8. The _postal service_ with their families was not feasible for months because of the lack of preparatory measures, so that instead of factual reports, wild rumors arrived in their countries—among others, by way of emigrants.

9. The _promises_ which had been made time and time again in the areas of enlistment were in gross contradiction with the facts mentioned under 3 to 8.

Apart from the natural impairment of morale and working capacity resulting from these measures and conditions, the result was that the _Soviet propaganda_ seized upon this matter and exploited it carefully; for this, an ample basis was provided not only by the actual conditions and the letters which reached the home country [of the workers] in spite of the initial blockade, as well as by stories of fugitives and such, but also by the clumsy publications in the German press about the respective legal regulations. As early as April 1942, Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Molotov, in his _note_ to the enemy powers referred to this, especially in section III of that note in which among other things it is stated:

“The German administration is stamping under its feet the long
recognized laws and customs of warfare by ordering its troops to
take into captivity the male civilian population, in many places
even the women, and to apply to them the kind of regime, which
the Hitlerites have introduced for the prisoners of war. This
does not only mean _slave labor_ for the captured peaceful
inhabitants but in most cases also inescapable death by
starvation or death through sickness, corporal punishment, and
organized mass murders.

“The deportation of peaceful inhabitants to the rear which has
been very widely practiced by the German-Fascist Army at the
time of its advance is taking on a mass character; it is carried
out at direct orders of the Supreme Command of the German Armed
Forces (OKW) and its effects are especially cruel in the
immediate rear areas during the retreat of the German Army. In a
series of documents which have been found by units of the Red
Army at the staffs of destroyed German units, there is a
reference to the Order of the High Command under No. 2974/41 of
6 December 1941 which orders the deportation of all grown men
from the occupied places to prisoner of war camps. * * *

“Sometimes, all the inhabitants were deported, sometimes the men
were torn away from their families, or mothers were separated
from their children. Only the smallest number of these deported
people have been able to return to their homes. _These returnees
report about unheard-of degradations, heaviest forced labor,
enormous numbers of deaths among inhabitants because of
starvation and tortures, about the murder by the Fascists of all
the weak, wounded, and sick._”

* * * * *

The effects of this large-scale radio, press, and leaflet propaganda which is based on documentary evidence, a propaganda operating even into German-administered territories, must be considered as one of the main reasons for this year’s stiffening of the Soviet resistance as well as the threatening increase of guerilla bands up to the borders of the General Government.

In the meantime, after a _betterment of the condition of the eastern laborers_ had been insisted upon, not only by the Main Office for Politics in the Reich Ministry for the occupied eastern territories, which has been able to find support in the repeated requests by the High Command of the Armed Forces, but also by the gentleman charged with the responsibility for all labor employment as well as the Department of Labor Employment in the German Labor Movement, which has the supervision of the eastern laborers—those previously existing legal and police rulings have been mitigated and the conditions in the 8-10,000 camps in the Reich have, on the whole, been improved. * * *

In spite of the improvements mentioned as well as others, which in many cases can be traced back to the personal intervention of the Plenipotentiary General of Labor Allocation, the _total situation_ of the eastern laborers (sampling date: 1 October 1942) must still be considered _unsatisfactory_, * * *.

There remains such a _quantity of grievances and problems_ that it would be impossible to relate now.

* * * * *

[Signed] GUTKELCH

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 294-PS[80]
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 19-A

EXTRACTS FROM TOP SECRET MEMORANDUM, SIGNED BY
BRAEUTIGAM,[81] 25 OCTOBER 1942, CONCERNING
EFFECTS OF SLAVE LABOR PROGRAM

Copy
Top Secret Matter of State [Geheime Reichssache]
[handwritten:] II 1 1161/44 g Rs.
Memorandum

In the East, Germany is carrying on a threefold war: a war for the destruction of Bolshevism, a war for the destruction of the Greater Russian Empire, and finally a war for the acquisition of colonial territory for colonizing purposes and economic exploitation.

* * * With the instinct characteristic of the eastern peoples, even the primitive person has soon found out that for Germany, the slogan “liberation from Bolshevism” was merely a pretext, in order to enslave the Slavic peoples of the East in her own manner. But lest any doubts at all exist as to this German war aim, the German public is, to an ever increasing extent, unabashedly pointing at this intention. Not only for Germany is the conquered territory publicly being claimed as colonization area, but even for Germany’s bitter enemies, the Dutch and Norwegians. * * *

* * * * *

Of primary importance, the treatment of prisoners of war should be named. It is no longer a secret from friend or foe that hundreds of thousands of them literally have died of hunger or cold in our camps. Allegedly there were not enough food supplies on hand for them. It is especially peculiar that the food supplies are deficient only for prisoners of war from the Soviet Union, while complaints about the treatment of other prisoners of war, Polish, Serbian, French and English, have not been heard of. It is obvious that nothing was so suitable for strengthening the resistance of the Red Army as the knowledge that in German captivity a slow miserable death is to be met. To be sure, the Main Department for Politics has succeeded here by unceasing efforts in bringing about a material improvement of the fate of the prisoners of war. However, this improvement is not to be ascribed to political insight, but to the sudden realization that our labor market must be supplied with laborers at once. We now experienced the grotesque picture of having to recruit millions of laborers from the occupied eastern territories, after prisoners of war have died of hunger like flies, in order to fill the gaps that have formed within Germany. Now the food question suddenly no longer existed. With the usual unlimited abuse of the Slavic humanity, “recruiting” methods were used which probably have their model 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 many more than 100,000 had to be sent back because of serious illnesses and other incapabilities for work. It need not be emphasized that these methods would of necessity have their effect on the resistance of the Red Army; of course, these methods were used only in the Soviet Union, and in no way remotely resembled this form in enemy countries like Holland or Norway. Actually we have made it quite easy for Soviet propaganda to augment the hate for Germany and the National Socialist system. The Soviet soldier fights more and more bravely in spite of the efforts of our politicians to find another name for this bravery. Valuable German blood must flow more and more, in order to break the resistance of the Red Army. Obviously, the Main Department for Politics has struggled unceasingly to place the methods of acquiring workers and their treatment within Germany on a rational foundation. Originally it was thought in all earnestness to demand the utmost efforts with a minimum of food. Here, as well, not political insight, but merely the most primitive biological knowledge has led to an improvement. Now 400,000 female household workers from the Ukraine are to come to Germany, and already the German press announces publicly that these people have no right to free time and may not visit theaters, movies, restaurants, etc., and may leave the house at the most three hours a week, except for duty purposes.

In addition, there is the treatment of the Ukrainians in the Reich Commissariat itself. With an unequalled arrogance, we put aside all political knowledge and, to the happy surprise of all the colored world, treat the peoples of the Occupied Eastern Territories as whites of class 2, who apparently have only the task of serving as slaves for Germany and Europe. Only the most limited education is suitable for them, no social services must be given them. Their sustenance interests us only insofar as they are still capable of labor, and, in every respect, they are given to understand that we regard them as of minute value.

* * * * *

Berlin, 25 October 1942

[Signed] BRAEUTIGAM

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT L-61
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 20

LETTER FROM SAUCKEL TO THE PRESIDENTS OF LABOR OFFICES,
26 NOVEMBER 1942, CONCERNING DEPORTATION AND
EMPLOYMENT OF POLES AND JEWS

Copy

The Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan The Plenipotentiary General for Labor Allocation

Berlin S.W. 11, Saarlandstr. 96
26 November 1942

Va 5431/7468/42 g

To the Presidents of the Landes Labor Offices (excl. Labor Office Brandenburg)

Special-delivery letter
Secret

Subject: Employment of Jews. _Specif_: Replacement of Jews in
war-essential jobs by Polish labor.

In agreement with the Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service, Jews still employed will now be evacuated from the territory of the Reich and replaced by Poles, who are being deported from the General Government.

The Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service has informed me on 26 October 1942, that it is anticipated that during the month of November the evacuation of Poles in the Lublin district will begin, in order to make room there for the resettlement of Germans.

Poles slated for evacuation, as a result of this measure, will be committed to concentration camps and put to work insofar as they are criminal or asocial elements. The remaining Poles, if fit for labor, will be transported without their families to the Reich, particularly to Berlin; there they will be put at the disposal of the labor allocation offices to serve as replacements for Jews to be eliminated from armament factories.

The Jews who will become available as a result of the employment of Polish labor will be deported _at once_. This will apply first to Jews engaged in unskilled labor since they can be exchanged most easily. The remaining so-called “qualified” Jewish laborers will be left in the industries until their Polish replacements have been made sufficiently familiar with the work processes by a period of apprenticeship to be determined for each case individually. Loss of production in individual industries will thus be reduced to the absolute minimum.

I reserve the right to issue further instructions. Please inform the labor offices concerned accordingly.

To the President of the Landes Labor Office Brandenburg, Berlin W. 62

I transmit the foregoing copy for your information. Insofar as the removal of Jews allocated for work concerns your district, too, I request that you take the necessary measures in cooperation with the competent offices of the Chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service.

[Signed] FRITZ SAUCKEL

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1063-D-PS[82]
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 21

EXTRACT FROM ORDER OF MUELLER, 17 DECEMBER 1942,
CONCERNING PRISONERS QUALIFIED FOR WORK
TO BE SENT TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS

Berlin, 17 December 1942

The Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service B. Nr. IV 656/42 Secret

Secret

Distribution—Secret:

All Commanders of the Security Police and the Security Service

All Inspectors of the Security Police and the Security Service

All Commandants of the Security Police and the Security Service

All Chiefs of State Police Headquarters

For information:

The Chief of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office,

SS Obergruppenfuehrer [Lt. Gen.] Pohl

All Higher SS and Police Chiefs

The Inspector of Concentration Camps

For reasons of war necessity, which need not be specified here, the Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police has ordered on 14 December 1942 that at least 35,000 prisoners fit for work are to be committed to the concentration camps before the end of January 1943.

In order to reach this number, the following measures are required:

1. As of now (and for the time being, until 1 February 1943) eastern workers or such foreign workers, who have been fugitives, or who have broken contracts, insofar as they do not belong to allied, friendly, or neutral states, are to be brought by the quickest means to the nearest concentration camps under observance of the simplest formalities listed under No. 3. In order to eliminate or forestall complaints by outside public offices, explanations will be furnished, if required, stating that the measures are essential for reasons of public security on the basis of the facts in the individual cases.

2. The commanders and the commandants of the Security Police and the Security Service, and the Chiefs of the State Police Headquarters will make immediate checks, applying especially rigorous and strict standards, on (a) prisons, and (b) labor correction camps. All prisoners fit for work, if at all possible physically and from a humanitarian aspect, will be committed at once to the nearest concentration camp, according to the following instructions, even if criminal procedures have already been or will be instituted in the near future. Only such prisoners who are to remain in solitary confinement, for investigation purposes, may be left.

* * * * *

By order:
[Signed] MUELLER
Certified correct.
[Signed] HELLMUTH
[Seal of Secret State Police] Chief Secretary of Police

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1526-PS[83]
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 25

EXTRACTS FROM LETTER FROM GERMAN-APPOINTED UKRAINIAN
MAIN COMMITTEE TO FRANK, FEBRUARY 1943

Copy

Prof. Dr. Wolodymyr Kubijowytch, Chairman of the Ukrainian Main Committee

Krakow, February 1943

To the Governor General, Reich Minister Dr. Frank.

Your Excellency:

Complying with your request I am sending you this letter, in which I should like to state briefly the critical conditions and the distressing incidents which are creating an especially grave situation for the Ukrainian population in the General Government. * * *

* * * * *

_II. Measures of labor procurement._

The general nervousness is enhanced yet by the wrong methods to obtain labor, which have been used increasingly in recent months.

The wild and ruthless manhunt carried on everywhere in towns and country, in streets, public squares, railway stations, even in churches, as well as in homes at night, has badly shaken the sense of security of the population. Everybody is exposed to the danger of being seized anywhere and at any time by the police, suddenly and unexpectedly, and being taken into an assembly camp. The family does not know what has happened to him, until weeks or months later one or the other gives news of his fate by a postcard.

I beg to mention some instances with their respective proofs:

_a._ During such a drive a schoolboy in Sokal lost his life and
another was wounded (App. 2).

_b._ 19 Ukrainian workers from Galicia, all provided with
identity cards, were assigned in Krakow to a transport of
“Russian prisoners of war” and delivered into a punishment camp
in Graz (App. 3).

_c._ 95 Ukrainians from Galicia, recruited for work in Germany
by the labor office in the middle of January, were sent via East
Prussia to Pskov in Russia, where most of them died as a result
of the very severe conditions (App. 4).

_d._ Seizure of workers under pretext of military recruitment
(Zalesczyki); kidnapping schoolboys from classes (Biala
Podlaska, Wlodawa, Hrubieszow) (App. 5).

* * * * *

_III. Question of Personal Security._

Of a much worse character are the mass executions of absolutely innocent persons * * *.

* * * * *

_Appendix 12_

* * * * *

As this holiday is celebrated by the Ukrainians with great piety, the shootings of these innocent people on this holy day caused great indignance and embitterment. These events depress the Ukrainian population. The view is current that now the shootings of the Jews are coming to an end those of the Ukrainians begin. The case of Ustrzyki is commented upon as follows: The Germans do not care about any non-German sanctity and holidays, they even shoot Ukrainians on the Ukrainian “Schtschedryj Wetschir” (the case in Ustrzyki).

The Ukrainian population is suspicious of all orders given by the German authorities and even keep away from the communal kitchens, for fear that those in need may be considered as beggars and shot.

* * * * *

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 407-V-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 30

EXTRACTS FROM LETTER FROM SAUCKEL TO HITLER, 14 APRIL 1943, CONCERNING
LABOR QUESTIONS

G.B.A.

April 14th, [1943]

Sckl./We.

Forwarded We.
[in ink] April 15th

To the Fuehrer Obersalzberg

My Fuehrer,

As Gruppenfuehrer Bormann has already informed you, I am going to the eastern areas on the 15th April in order to secure 1 million workers from the east for the German war economy in the coming months.

The result of my last trip to France is that, after exact fulfilment of the last program, another 450,000 workers from the western areas, too, will come into the Reich by the beginning of the summer.

With the addition of about 150,000 workers who furthermore may be obtained from Poland and from the other territories, it will then be possible by summer again to put 5-600,000 workers at the disposal of German agriculture and 1,000,000 workers at the disposal of the armament and other war industries.

I ask for your approval to have the new French workers come into the Reich under conditions similar to those of the last group. I have taken contact with the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW).

Since the largest part of the Belgian civilian workers and prisoners of war perform very satisfactorily, I ask you to agree that a similar statute to that which was granted to the French be made for some 20,000 Belgian prisoners of war. This very great concession by you has made a very deep impression upon Laval and the French Ministers. Laval has repeatedly asked me to transmit his sincerest thanks for this to you, my Fuehrer.

1. After one year’s activity as Plenipotentiary for the Allocation of Labor, I can report that 3,638,056 new foreign workers have been added to the German war economy from 1 April of last year to 31 March this year.

As a whole, these forces have produced satisfactory performances. Their feeding and housing is secured, their treatment so indisputably regulated that, in this respect too, our National Socialist Reich presents a shining example compared to the methods of the capitalist and bolshevist world. However, it is naturally inevitable that mistakes and blunders still occur here and there. I will continue to endeavor with the greatest energy to reduce them to a minimum.

In addition to the foreign civilian workers, 1,622,829 prisoners of war are also employed in the German economy.

2. The 3,638,056 workers are distributed amongst the following branches of the German war economy:

Armament 1,568,801
Mining industry 163,632
Building 218,707
Transportation 199,074
Agriculture and forestry 1,007,544
Other branches of the economy 480,298

In addition to the foreign workers, 5 million male and female German workers were channelled into the German war economy proper through transfer from enterprises unimportant to the war effort, to war-essential industries, etc.

* * * * *

Yours faithfully and obediently,
[Signed] FRITZ SAUCKEL

The following persons received a copy of the above version:

Reich Marshal Goering

Reichsleiter Bormann

Reich Minister Dr. Lammers

Reich Minister Dr. Goebbels

Additional text on the original letter to the Fuehrer.

Since I will be in the eastern territories on April 20th, I ask you, my Fuehrer, to accept in advance my most sincere congratulations along with those of my district [Gau] and my family.

Let me assure you that the district [Gau] of Thuringia and I will serve you and our dear people with all our strength.

It is the most fervent wish that you, my Fuehrer, may always enjoy the best of health and that we ourselves can serve you to your complete satisfaction.

Faithfully and obediently yours
[Signed] FRITZ SAUCKEL

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 407-IX-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 33

LETTER FROM SAUCKEL TO HITLER, 3 JUNE 1943, CONCERNING
FOREIGN LABOR SITUATION

The Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan The Plenipotentiary General for Labor Allocation 1751/43 [pencilled] forwarded on 6 June 1943

Berlin W 8, 3 June 1943

To the Fuehrer of Greater Germany The Fuehrer’s Headquarters.

My Fuehrer,

I beg to be permitted to read to you [a report] on the situation of the labor allocation for the first 5 months of 1943.

The following number of new foreigners and prisoners of war was for the first time put at the disposal of the German war industry:

January 1943 120,085
February 1943 138,354
March 1943 257,382
April 1943 160,535
May 1943 170,155
————
TOTAL 846,511

I may remark that it was possible to reach this figure of 850,000 only under great difficulties which had not existed during the previous year and only because all labor allocation agencies, particularly also in the occupied territories, approached their task with the greatest devotion.

Unfortunately, quite a number of our officials and employees became victims of assassination, attack, and the like, by partisans.

In addition to the labor forces put at the disposal of the economy within the Reich, several hundred thousand laborers were made available within the occupied territories by the agencies of the Labor Allocation Administration to the Organization Todt as well as to the enterprises working for the German war economy in the East and the West. Furthermore, it was possible to assign to the Wehrmacht, in addition to a large number of laborers, some considerable numbers of labor volunteers.

Moreover, by virtue of the order concerning compulsory registration, dated 27 January 1943, the following number of men and women are made available.

│ Men │ Women │ Total February │ 14,594 │ 163,012 │ 177,606 March │ 45,606 │ 494,931 │ 540,537 April │ 19,315 │ 269,374 │ 288,689 May │ 11,485 │ 186,683 │ 198,168 │ ———— │ ———— │ ———— TOTAL │ 91,000 │ 1,114,000 │ 1,205,000

However, approximately 600,000 of these persons are available only for less than 48 hours of work per week.

Altogether German war industry recruited 2,000,000 laborers during 5 months of 1943.

Furthermore, as regards wage control and increase of the output of the laborers in the various European territories, especially in France, negotiations were conducted as well as arrangements made and regulations issued, which enabled us to keep the wage system in the occupied European territories in order to secure, as far as possible, the living conditions of laborers working for German interests, in spite of the difficult conditions created by the war, and to increase production by means of wage regulations also in these territories. The coordination of these measures was achieved through agreements with the respective armament and agricultural agencies, as well as with the Reich Commissioner for Price Control.

Heil!
Yours faithfully and obediently,
[Signed] SAUCKEL

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 3000-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 34

EXTRACTS FROM REPORT RENDERED TO RIECKE,
MINISTERIALDIREKTOR IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE,
28 JUNE 1943, ON EXPERIENCES IN POLITICAL
AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS IN THE EAST

Freitag, Chief of Main Office III with the Commissariat General in Minsk

Minsk, 28 June 1943
Secret!

[stamp]
Main Group Food and Agriculture
Rec’d. 14 July 1943; no encl.
III E 733/43 Secret

To Ministerialdirektor Riecke in Berlin

Subject: Report on experiences in political and economic problems in the
East, particularly the Commissariat General White Ruthenia.

* * * * *

* * * The task of the military agencies and, subsequently, of the German administration, is: “Exploitation of the region for the German war economy,” and the motto: “Everything you do for Germany is right, everything else is wrong!”

* * * * *

* * * The recruitment of labor for the Reich, however necessary, had disastrous effects. 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 obtained. Considering the total population of 2.4 million, these figures are impossible * * *.

* * * * *

* * * Due to the sweeping drives [Grossaktionen] of the SS and police in November 1942, about 250,000 acres of farmland are left unused, as the population has gone and the villages have been razed.

* * * * *

[Signed] FREITAG

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 265-PS[84]
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 35

EXTRACTS FROM REPORT BY LEYSER TO ROSENBERG, 30 JUNE 1943, ON CONDITIONS
IN THE DISTRICT ZHITOMIR

The Commissioner General

Zhitomir, 30 June 1943
Secret

Oral report on the situation in the general district [Generalbezirk] Zhitomir, by Commissioner General Leyser, delivered at a conference with Reich Minister Rosenberg, in Vinnitsa, on 17 June 1943.

Mr. Reich Minister,

* * * * *

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 report them. It is certain that a recruitment of labor, in the sense of the word, can hardly be spoken of. _In most cases, it is nowadays a matter of actual conscription by force._ The population has been stirred up to a large extent and views the transports to the Reich as a measure which does in no way differ from the former exile to Siberia, during the Czarist and Bolshevist systems.

* * * * *

To date, almost 170,000 male and female workers have been sent to the Reich from the general district Zhitomir. It can be taken for granted that, during the month of June, this number is going to rise to approximately 200,000.

* * * * *

The struggle which has to be carried on is hard and full of sacrifices. But it will and must be carried through. Enormous moral forces have been mobilized in the personnel of the civil administration in their daily efforts. The successes which they were able to achieve so far are impressive, particularly with regard to the resistance encountered. May I, therefore, be permitted at the conclusion of this report to thank all my co-workers for their excellent work. They know that they are practically on the front. I can promise your Excellency, that we all shall do our duty now, and in the future, as our Fuehrer has ordered.

[Signed] LEYSER

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 204-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 39

EXTRACTS FROM MEMORANDUM OF A CONFERENCE, 18 FEBRUARY 1944, CONCERNING
THE RELEASE OF INDIGENOUS LABOR FOR PURPOSES OF THE REICH

The City Commissioner in Kaunas.
Kaunas, 18 February 1944.
_PROCUREMENT OF INDIGENOUS WORKERS FOR
PURPOSES OF THE REICH_

Numerous drives for the purpose of recruiting indigenous workers for the Reich have taken place since the entry of German armed forces into the general district [Generalbezirk] Lithuania in June 1941. A few weeks after the entry of the German troops, thousands of Lithuanian male and female farm workers were recruited at the instigation of the military administration, to work for 6 months on large estates in the Gau East Prussia. _Unfortunately, the promises made then were not kept._ These farm workers were not released after 6 months nor after 12 months; their families remaining behind were left without any support for months; they were for a long time refused a short vacation in Lithuania, and now it is even considered to transfer these farm workers, recruited in 1941 for 6 months, to the armament industry in the Reich.

The second major drive was started by the armed forces in the spring of 1942 and concerned the _collecting of approximately 7,000 male workers as so-called transport helpers_. The action, which was rushed into without sufficient propaganda preparation, was greatly handicapped by unwise measures on the part of the nervous armed forces command. Thus for instance, the Lithuanians, ordered to the official agencies “only for registration”, were not allowed to return home and were taken away under military escort to the local barracks, leaving them no way of either saying good-by to their families or putting in order their most important personal affairs. No wonder that the enemy propaganda exploited this “blemish” with avidity comparing the procedure with the deportation methods used barely a year ago by the Soviets.

Until most recent times, numerous additional drives have been undertaken for the purpose of obtaining volunteers for the armed forces, the police and the Reich Labor Service, or for obtaining workers for the armament industry in the Reich. * * *

* * * * *

Finally it must be recalled that the indigenous administration in its present form and since its inception _has completely failed_ in the question of procuring workers for the Reich. * * *

* * * * *

3. Gauleiter Sauckel requested that _30,000 indigenous workers for the Reich_ be recruited at short order and be shipped to Germany. At a conference between the Commissioner General and the First Councillor General [Ersten Generalrat] on 7 September 1943, the latter offered to assume the entire responsibility for the execution of this drive for the native administration and to recruit and ship the specified number of 30,000 workers by 7 November 1943.

* * * * *

4. In the meantime, Gauleiter Sauckel made an _additional demand_ to the effect that the general district Lithuania had to furnish _100,000 native workers_ (instead of the 30,000 demanded up until now) _for the Reich_. At a conference with all the general councillors on 24 January 1944, the commissioner general did not leave any doubts as to the fact that this number would have to be furnished regardless of any consideration, even at the risk of leaving many work projects in the general district unfinished and permanently removing workers needed on jobs in the country. The responsibility for the execution of this new drive lies again in the hands of the local administration, and, with the consent of the commissioner general, indigenous conscription commissions have been formed with all district chiefs and all chiefs of judicial and local districts. The total number to be made available has been divided up into contingents, and the quota to be furnished by every mayor or district chief was exactly determined. This is the way the matter looks in the district of the City of Kaunas:

New quota, to be supplied 7,000 workers
20 percent addition 1,400 workers
———————
TOTAL 8,400 workers

In the district of the City of Kaunas, according to the records of my labor office on 1 February 1944, there were 7,000 unfilled jobs in industry and the agencies of the armed forces, police, etc., so that to all intents and purposes 15,400 workers would have to be found in the city of Kaunas alone, in order to comply fully with the demands of the Reich and the local economy. _And all that with a total indigenous population of only a little over 130,000._

* * * * *

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT R-103[85]
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 40

EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER FROM THE (GERMAN-APPOINTED) POLISH MAIN COMMITTEE TO THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT OF POLAND ON THE CONDITIONS OF POLISH WORKERS IN GERMANY, 17 MAY 1944

Polish Main Committee 5 Vischer Street, Krakow

Krakow, 17 May 1944

To the Administration of the General Government, Main Department Internal Administration, Dept. Population and Welfare, 13 University Street, Krakow

No. Pa 1/724
————
6699/44

Subject: Situation of the Polish Workers in the Reich.

The living conditions of about 2 million Polish male and female workers in the Reich have given rise to shortcomings which are largely lowering the will and the capacity to work of many workers, endanger their health and even their lives, and also have a strong influence on the situation of their families within the General Government, thus directly affecting the sphere of our own work.

These bad conditions are felt with particular intensity by those groups of workers who have been assigned for work in factories and have been lodged in large camps [Massenlagern]. With regard to workers on the land, they occur as individual cases and are more easily dealt with. * * *

* * * * *

Food relief allotments—We receive letters from the camps for eastern workers and their large families, beseeching us for food. The quantity and quality of camp rations mentioned therein—the so-called fourth category of rations—is absolutely insufficient to maintain the energies spent in heavy work. 3.5 kg. bread weekly and a thin soup at lunch time, cooked with swedes or other vegetables without any meat or fat, with a meager addition of potatoes now and then, is a hunger ration for a heavy worker.