dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. DODD: The spreading of tuberculosis among the Polish factory workers is due to the deficient food rations meted out in the community camps which are insufficient to restore the energy spent in heavy work.... "The call for help which reaches us brings to light privation and hunger, severe stomach and intestinal trouble, especially in the case of children, resulting from the insufficiency of food which does not take into consideration the needs of children. Proper medical treatment or care for the sick is not available in the mass camps." We now refer to Page 3 of this same document and particularly to the first paragraph. In the German text it appears at Page 5, Paragraph 1: "In addition to these bad conditions, there is lack of systematic occupation for and supervision of these hosts of children which affects the life of prolific families in the camps. The children, left to themselves without schooling or religious care, must run wild and grow up illiterate. Idleness in rough surroundings may and will create undesirable results in these children.... An indication of what these awful conditions may lead to is given by the fact that in the camps for eastern Workers ('Waldlust,' Lauf, post office, Pegnitz) there are cases of 8-year-old, delicate, and undernourished children put to forced labor and perishing from such treatment.... "The fact that these bad conditions dangerously affect the state of health and the vitality of the workers is proved by the many cases of tuberculosis found in very young people returning from the Reich to the General Government as unfit for work. Their state of health is usually so bad that recovery is out of the question. The reason is that a state of exhaustion resulting from overwork and a starvation diet is not recognized as an ailment until the illness betrays itself by high fever and fainting spells. "Although some hostels for unfit workers have been provided as a precautionary measure, one can only go there when recovery may no longer be expected (Neumarkt in Bavaria).
MR. DODD: Even there the incurables waste away slowly, and nothing is done even to alleviate the state of the sick by suitable food and medicines. There are children there with tuberculosis whose cure would not be hopeless and men in their prime who, if sent home in time to their families in rural districts, might still be able to recover.... No less suffering is caused by the separation of families when wives and mothers of small children are away from their families and sent to the Reich for forced labor." And finally, from Page 4 of the same document, starting with the first paragraph-in the German text it appears at Page 7, Paragraph 4: "If, under these conditions, there is no moral support such as is normally based on regular family life, then at least such moral support which the religious feelings of the Polish population require should be maintained and increased. The elimination of religious services, religious practices, and religious care from the life of the Polish workers, the prohibition of church attendance when there is a religious service for other people, and other measures show a certain contempt for the influence of religion on the feelings and opinions of the workers."
THE PRESIDENT: Can you tell us who the Polish Central Committee were-or, I mean, how they were founded?
MR. DODD: Well, insofar as we are aware, it was a committee apparently set up by the Nazi State when it occupied Poland to work in some sort of co-operation with it during the days of the occupation. We don't know the names of the members, and we haven't any more specific information.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it a captured document?
MR. DODD: It is a captured document, yes, Sir. All of the documents that I am presenting in connection with this case are, excepting the Netherlands Government's report and one or two other official reports, the Deuss affidavit and. such other matters, are captured documents. That particular document, it has just been called to my attention, was captured by the United States 3rd Army. Particularly harsh and brutal treatment was reserved for workers imported from the conquered Eastern territories. As we have illustrated, they did indeed live in bondage, and they were subjected to almost every form of degradation, quartered in stables with animals, denied the right of free worship and the ordinary pleasures of human society. Illustrative of this treatment is Document EC-68, bearing Exhibit Number USA-205. This document, EC-68, bears the title, "Directives on the Treatment of Foreign Farm Workers of Polish Nationality," issued by the Minister for Finance and Economy of Baden, Germany, on the 6th of March 1941. And we don't know his name, nor have we been able to ascertain it. Quoting from the English text of this document from the beginning: "The agencies of the Baden State Peasant Association of the Reich Food Administration, have received the result of the negotiations with the Higher SS and Police F0hrer in Stuttgart on 14 February 1941 with great satisfaction. Appropriate memoranda have already been turned over to the District Peasants Associations. Below I promulgate the individual regulations as they have been laid down during the conference and the manner in which they are now to be applied: "1. On principle, farm workers of Polish nationality are no longer granted the right to complain, and thus no complaints may be accepted by any official agency. "2. The farm workers of Polish nationality may no longer leave the localities in which they are employed, and have a curfew from 1 October to 31 March from 2000 hours to 0600 hours and from 1 April to 30 September from 2100 hours to 0500 hours. "3. The use of bicycles is strictly prohibited.
MR. DODD: Exceptions are possible for riding to the place of work in the field if a relative of the employer or the employer himself is present. "4. The visit to churches, regardless of faith, is strictly prohibited, even when there is no service in progress. Individual spiritual care by clergymen outside of the church is permitted. "5. Visits to theaters, motion pictures, or other cultural entertainment are strictly prohibited for farm workers of Polish nationality. "6. The visit to restaurants is strictly prohibited to farm workers of Polish nationality, except for one restaurant in the village, which will be selected by the Regional Commissioner's Office"-Landratsamt-"and then only 1 day per week. The day which is allowed for visiting the restaurant will also be determined by the Landratsamt. This regulation does not change the curfew regulation mentioned above under '2'. "7. Sexual intercourse with women and girls is strictly prohibited; and wherever it is discovered, it must be reported. "8. Gatherings of farm workers of Polish nationality after work is prohibited, whether it is on other farms, in the stables, or in the living quarters of the Poles. "9. The use of railroads, buses, or other public conveyances by farm workers of Polish nationality is prohibited. "10. Permits to leave the village may be granted only in very exceptional cases by the local police authority (mayor's office). However, in no case may it be granted if a Pole wishes to visit a public agency on his own authority, whether it is a labor office or the District Peasants Association, or if he wants to change his place of employment. "11. Unauthorized change of employment is strictly prohibited. The farm workers of Polish nationality have to work daily as long as it is to the interests of the enterprise and is demanded by the employer. There are no limits to the working hours. "12. Every employer has the right to give corporal punishment to farm workers of Polish nationality if persuasion and reprimand fail. The employer may not be held accountable in any such case by an official agency.
MR. DODD: "13. Farm workers of Polish nationality should, if possible, be removed from the household; and they can be quartered in stables et cetera . No consideration whatever should restrict such action. "14. Report to the authorities of all crimes committed by farm workers of Polish nationality which sabotage industry or slow down work-for instance, unwillingness to work, impertinent behavior-is compulsory even in minor cases.. An employer who loses a Pole sentenced to a long prison sentence because of such a compulsory report will upon request, have preference for the assignment of another Pole from the competent labor office. "15. In all other cases, only the State Police is still competent. For the employer himself, severe punishment is provided if it is established that the necessary distance has not been kept from farm workers of Polish nationality. The same applies to women and girls. Extra rations are strictly prohibited. Noncompliance with the Reich tariffs for farm workers of Polish nationality will be punished by the competent labor office by the taking away of the workers." The women of the conquered territories were led away against their will to serve as domestics, and the Defendant Sauckel described this program in his own words, which appear in Document Number 016-PS, already offered in evidence as Exhibit USA-168, 016-PS, and particularly Page 7, fourth paragraph of the English text.
MR. DODD: In the German text it appears on Page 10, Paragraph 1, and I quote directly: "In order to relieve considerably the German housewife, especially the mother with many children and the extremely busy farm woman, and in order to avoid any further danger to their health, the Fuehrer also has charged me with the procurement of 400,000 to 500,000 selected, healthy, and strong girls from the territories of the East for Germany." Once captured, once forced to become laborers in Germany, or workers in Germany, these Eastern women, by order of the slavemaster, Defendant Sauckel, were bound to the household to which they were assigned, permitted at the most 3 hours of freedom a week, and denied the right to return to their homes. I now refer to Document Number 3044(b)-PS. That is Exhibit on the Defendant Sauckel containing instructions for housewives concerning Eastern household workers; and I ask that the Court take judicial notice of the original decree which appears on Pages 592 and 593 of the second volume of a publication of the Zentralverlag of the NSDAP, entitled Verfugungen, Anordnungen and Bekannfgaben, and I quote from the first paragraph of the English translation of a portion of the decree as follows: "There is no claim for free time. Female domestic workers from the East may, on principle, leave the household only to take care of domestic tasks. As a reward for good work, however, they may be given the opportunity to stay outside the home without work for 3 hours once a week. This leave must end with the onset of darkness, at the latest at 2000 hours. It is prohibited to enter restaurants, movies or other theaters, and similar establishments provided for German or foreign workers. Attending church is also prohibited. Special events maybe arranged for eastern domestics in urban homes by the German Workers' Front, for Eastern domestics in rural homes by the Reich Food Administration in cooperation with the German Women's League. Outside the home, the Eastern domestic must always carry her work card as a personal pass.
MR. DODD: "Vacations and return to homes are not granted as yet. The recruiting of Eastern domestics is for an indefinite period." Always over these enslaved workers was the shadow of the Gestapo and the concentration camps. Like other major programs of the Nazi conspirators, the guards of the SS and Himmler's methods of dealing with people were the instruments employed for enforcement. On the subject of the slave laborers, a secret order dated 20 February 1942 issued by Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler to SD and Security Police officers concerning Eastern Workers spells out the violence which was applied against them. It is our Document 3040-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-207, and I ask this Court to take judicial notice of the original order, which is published in the Allgemeine Erlass-Sammlung Part II, Section 2-A, III, f, Pages 15 to 24. I wish to quote from Page 3 of the English text, starting with Paragraph III-in the German text it appears in Section 2-A, III, f, at Page 19 of the publication-as follows: "III. Combatting violations against discipline. (1) In keeping with the equal status of laborers from the original Soviet Russian territory with prisoners of war, a strict discipline must be maintained in quarters and in workshops. Violations against discipline, including refusal to work and loafing at work, will be dealt with exclusively by the secret state police. The less serious cases will be settled by the leader of the guard according to instructions from the state police headquarters with measures as provided for in the appendix. To break acute resistance, the guards shall be permitted to use also physical compulsion against the laborers. But this may be done only for a cogent reason. The laborers should always be informed that they will be treated decently when conducting themselves with discipline and accomplishing good work. In serious cases, that is, in such cases where the measures at the disposal of the leader of the guard do not suffice, the state police is to step in.
MR. DODD: In such instances, as a rule, severe measures will be taken, that is, transfer to a concentration camp or special treatment. The transfer to a concentration camp is made in the usual manner. In especially serious cases special treatment is to be recommended at the Reich Security Main Office; personal data and the exact facts must be given. Special treatment is hanging. It should not take place in the immediate vicinity of the camp. A certain number of laborers from the original Soviet Russian territory should attend the special treatment; at that time they are to be advised of the circumstances which lead to this special treatment. Should special treatment be required within the camp for exceptional reasons of camp discipline, this must be applied for." And I turn now to Page 4 of the text, Paragraph VI; in the German text it appears at Section 2-A, III, f, Page 20: "VI. Sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse is forbidden to laborers of the original Soviet Russian territory. Owing to their closely confined quarters they have no opportunity for it... For every case of sexual intercourse with German men or women application for special treatment is to be made for male labor from the original Soviet Russian territory, transfer to a concentration camp for female labor." And finally from Page 5 of the same document, Paragraph VIII; and in the German text it appears at Section 2-A, III, f, at Page 21: "VIII. Search. Fugitive workers from the original Soviet Russian territory are to be announced on principle in the German search book. Furthermore, search measures are to be decreed locally. When caught the fugitive must in principle be proposed for special treatment." We have said to this Tribunal more than once that the primary purpose of the entire slave labor program was, of course, to compel the people of the occupied countries to work for the German war economy.
MR. DODD: The decree by which Defendant Sauckel was appointed Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor reveals that the purpose of the appointment was to facilitate acquisition of the manpower required for German war industries, and in particular the armaments industry, by centralizing under Sauckel responsibility for the recruitment and allocation of foreign labor and prisoners al war in these industries. I refer to the document bearing our Number 1666-PS-Exhibit USA-208. This document is a decree signed by Hitler, Lammers, and the Defendant Keitel-and it is dated 21 March 1942-appointing the Defendant Sauckel the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor. I ask that the Court take judicial notice of the original decree, which is published at Page 179, Part I, of the 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt ; referring to the English text starting at Paragraph 1, as follows, and quoting directly: "In order to secure the manpower requisite for war industries as a whole and particularly for armaments, it is necessary that the utilization of all available manpower, including that of workers recruited abroad and of prisoners of war, should be subject to a uniform control directed in a manner appropriate to the requirements of war industry, and further that all still incompletely utilized manpower in the Greater German Reich, including the Protectorate as weI1 as in the Government General and in the Occupied Territories, should be mobilized. Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel will carry out this task within the framework of the Four Year Plan, as Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor. In that capacity he will be directly responsible to the Delegate for the Four Year Plan.
MR. DODD: Section III (Wages) and Section V (Utilization of Labor) of the Reich Labor Ministry together with their subordinate authorities, will be placed at the disposal of the Plenipotentiary General for the accomplishment of his task." Sauckel's success can be measured from a letter which he himself wrote to Hitler on 15 April 1943 and which contained his report on 1 year of his activities. We refer to the Document as Number 407(VI)-PS, which bears Exhibit Number USA-209. I wish to quote from Paragraphs 6 and 9 on Page 1 of the English text; in the German text it appears at Page 2, Paragraphs 1 and 2: "After 1 year's activity as Plenipotentiary for the Allocation of Labor, I can report that 3,638,056 new foreign workers were given to the German war economy from 1 April of last year to 31 March of this year.... "The 3,638,056 are distributed amongst the following branches of the German war economy: Armament, 1,568,801 ...." Still further evidence of this steady use of enslaved foreign labor is found again in a report of the Central Planning Board, to which we have referred so many times this morning and yesterday. Another meeting of this Central Planning Board was held on the 16th day of February 1944; and I refer to our Document Number R-124, which contains the minutes of this meeting of the Central Planning Board and which has been offered in evidence already as Exhibit Number USA-179. And I want to refer particularly to Page 26, Paragraph 1 of the English text of Document Number R-124. It is at Page 16, in Paragraph 2, of the German text: "The armament industry employs foreign workmen to a large extent; according to the latest figures 40 percent." Moreover, our Document Number 2520-PS, which is in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-197, records that, according to Speer Ministry tabulations, as of 31 December 1944, approximately 2 million civilian foreign workers were employed directly in the manufacture of armaments and munitions (finished products or parts).
MR. DODD: That the bulk of these workers had been forced to come to Germany against their will is made clear by Sauckel's statement, which I previously quoted from Paragraph 3 of Page 11 of Document Number R-124. We quoted it this morning, statement being that of 5 million foreign workers only 200,000, or less than 200,000, came voluntarily. The Defendants Sauckel, Speer, and Keitel succeeded in forcing foreign labor to construct military fortifications. Thus, citizens of France, Holland, and Belgium were compelled against their will to engage in the construction of the "Atlantic Wall"; and we refer to our Document Number 556(2)-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-194. This is a Hitler order dated the 8th of September 1942, and it is initialled by the Defendant Keitel. Quoting the order directly: "The extensive coastal fortifications which I have ordered to be erected in the area of Army Group West make it necessary that in the occupied territory all available workers be assigned and give the fullest extent of their productive capacities to this task. me previous allotment of workers originating from these countries is insufficient. In order to increase it I order the introduction of compulsory labor and the prohibition of changing the place of employment without permission of the authorities in the occupied territories. Furthermore, the distribution of food and clothing ration cards to those subject to labor draft should in the future depend on the possession of a certificate of employment. Refusal to accept an assigned Job, as well as leaving the place of work without the consent of the authorities in charge, will result in the withdrawal of the food and clothing ration cards. The GBA"-Deputy General for Arbeitseinsatz-"in agreement with the military commander, as well as the Reich Commissioner, will issue the appropriate decrees." Indeed, the Defendant Sauckel boasted to Hitler concerning the contribution of the forced labor program to the construction of the Atlantic Wall by the Defendant Speer's Organization Todt.
MR. DODD: And we refer to Document 407(VIII)-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-210. This document is a letter from the Defendant Sauckel to Hitler, dated the 17th day of May 1943. And I refer to the second and last paragraph: "In addition to the labor allotted to the total German economy by the Arbeitseinsatz since I took office, the Organization Todt was supplied with new labor continually.... Thus the Arbeitseinsatz has done everything to help make possible the completion of the Atlantic Wall." Similarly, Russian civilians were forced into labor battalions and compelled to build fortifications to be used against their own countrymen. In Document 031-PS, in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-171, which is a memorandum of the Rosenberg Ministry, it is stated in Paragraph 1 at Page 1 of that document: "The men and women in the theaters of operations have been and will be conscripted into labor battalions to be used in the construction of fortifications." In addition, the conspirators compelled prisoners of war to engage in operations of war against their own country and its allies. At a meeting of the Central Planning Board, again held on February 19, 1943, attended by the Defendant Speer and the Defendant Sauckel and Field Marshal Milch, the following conversation occurred and is recorded in our Document R-124, at Page 32, Paragraph 5, of the English text. It is Page 20, the last paragraph, of the German text. And I quote it, the Defendant Sauckel speaking: "Sauckel: 'If any prisoners. are taken, they will be needed there.' "Milch: 'We have made a request for an order that a certain percentage of men in the antiaircraft artillery must be Russians. Fifty thousand will be taken altogether, thirty thousand are already employed as gunners. It is an amusing thing that Russians must work the guns.' " We refer now to Documents Numbers 3027-PS and 3028-PS. They are, respectively, Exhibit USA-211 for 3027 and USA-212 for 3028. They will be found at the very back, I believe, of the document book, in a separate manila folder.