dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. DODD: May I respectfully refer, Your Honor, to the last document in the document book, 4 pages from the end?
THE PRESIDENT: Which page do you refer to?
MR. DODD: I refer to the page bearing the Number 16 of the English text of the transcript of the interrogation and Page 21 of the German text. The answer quoted is: "The fact was that we were anxious to use workers from concentration camps in factories and to establish small concentration camps near factories, in order to use the manpower that was then available there. But it did not come up only in connection with this trip...." that is, Speer's trip to Austria. (Exhibit USA-220)
THE PRESIDENT: I think I ought to say to defendant's counsel that if he had waited until he heard that piece of evidence read, he would have seen that it was quite unnecessary to make any objection.
MR. DODD: Defendant Goering endorsed this use of concentration camp labor and asked for more. We refer to our Document 1584-PS, Part 1, which is Exhibit Number USA-221. His document is a teletype message from Goering to Himmler, dated 14th of February 1944. I quote from the document beginning with the second sentence: "At the same time, I ask you to put at my disposal as great a number of KZ"-concentration-camp-"convicts as possible for air armament, as this kind of manpower proved to be very useful according to previous experience. The situation of the air war makes subterranean transfer of industry necessary. For work of this kind KZ convicts can be especially well concentrated at work and in the camp." Defendant Speer subsequently assumed responsibility for this program; and Hitler promised Speer that if the necessary labor for the program could not be obtained, a hundred thousand Hungarian Jews would be brought in by the SS. Speer recorded his conferences with Hitler on April 6 and April 7, 1944 in Document R-124, which is Exhibit Number USA-179, already in evidence. I quote from Page 36 of the English text, Page 29 of the German text as follows: "Suggested to the Fuehrer that, due to lack of builders and equipment, the second big building project should not be set up in German territory but in close vicinity to the border on a suitable site (preferably on gravel base and with transport facilities) in French, Belgian, or Dutch territory. The Fuehrer agrees to this suggestion if the works could be set up behind a fortified zone. The strongest argument for setting up this plant in French territory is the fact that it would be much easier to procure the necessary workers. Nevertheless, the Fuehrer asks that an attempt be made to set up the second factory in a safer area, namely the Protectorate. If it should prove impossible there, too, to get hold of the necessary workers, the Fuehrer himself will contact the Reichsfuehrer SS and will give an order that the required 100,000 men are to be made available by lounging in Jews from Hungary.
MR. DODD: Stressing the fact that in the case of the Industriegemeinschaft Schlesien the building organization was a failure, the Fuehrer demands that these works must be built by the OT exclusively, and that the workers should be made available by the Reichsfuehrer SS. He wants to hold a meeting shortly in order to discuss details with all the men concerned." The unspeakably brutal, inhumane, and degrading treatment inflicted on Allied nationals and over victims of concentration camps, while they were indeed being literally worked to death, is described in Document L-159, which is not in the document book. It is an official report prepared by a U.S. Congressional committee, U.S. Senate Document Number 47. This Congressional committee had inspected the liberated camps at the request of General Eisenhower. It bears Exhibit Number USA-222. I would like to quote from the document briefly, first from Page 14, the last paragraph, and from Page 15, the first two paragraphs, of the English text: "The treatment accorded to these prisoners in the concentration camps was generally as follows: They were herded together in some wooden barracks not large enough for one tenth of their number. They were forced to sleep on wooden frames covered with wooden boards in tiers of two, three, and even four, sometimes with no covering, sometimes with a bundle of dirty rags serving both as pallet and coverlet. "Their food consisted generally of about one-half of a pound of black bread per day and a bowl of watery soup for noon and night, and not always that. Owing to the great numbers crowded into a small space and to the lack of adequate sustenance, lice and vermin multiplied, disease became rampant, and those who did not soon die of disease or torture began the long, slow process of starvation. Notwithstanding the deliberate starvation program inflicted upon these prisoners by lack of adequate food, we found no evidence that the people of Germany, as a whole, were suffering from any lack of sufficient food or clothing.
MR. DODD: me contrast was so striking that the only conclusion which we could reach was that the starvation of the inmates of these camps was deliberate. "Upon entrance into these camps, newcomers were forced to work either at an adjoining war factory or were placed 'in commando' on various jobs in the vicinity, being returned each night to their stall in the barracks. Generally a German criminal was placed in charge of each 'block' or shed in which the prisoners slept. Periodically he would choose the one prisoner of his block who seemed the most alert or intelligent or showed most leadership qualities. These would report to the guards' room and would never be heard from again. The generally accepted belief of the prisoners was that these were shot or gassed or hanged and then cremated. A refusal to work or an infraction of the rules usually meant flogging and other types of torture, such as having the fingernails pulled out, and in each case usually ended in death after extensive suffering. The policies herein described constituted a calculated and diabolical program of planned torture and extermination on the part of those who were in control of the German Government:..." I quote next from Page 11 of the English text beginning with the second sentence of Paragraph 2, a description of Camp Dora at Nordhausen, Page 12, Paragraph 1 of the German text, quoting as follows: "On the whole, we found this camp to have been operated and administered much in the same manner as Buchenwald had been operated and managed. When the efficiency of the workers decreased as a result of the conditions under which they were required to live, their rations were decreased as punishment.
MR. DODD: This about a vicious circle in which the weak became weaker and were ultimately exterminated." Such was the cycle of work, torture, starvation, and death for concentration-camp labor-labor which the Defendant Goering, while requesting that more of it be placed at his disposal, said had proved very useful; labor which the Defendant Speer was "anxious" to use in the factories under his control The policy underlying this program, the manner in which it was executed, and the responsibility of the conspirators in connection with it has been dwell upon at length. Therefore, we should like, at this point, to discuss the special responsibility of the Defendant Sauckel. The Defendant Sauckel's appointment as Plenipotentiary General for manpower is explained probably first of all by his having been an old and trusted Nazi. He certified in Document 2974-PS, dated 17 November 1945, which is already in evidence before this Tribunal as Exhibit Number USA-15, that he held the following positions: Starting with his membership in the NSDAP, he was thereafter a member of the Reichstag; he was Gauleiter of Thuringia; he was a member of the Thuringian legislature; he was Minister of Interior and head of the Thuringian State Ministry; he was Reichsstatthalter for Thuringia; he was an SA Obergruppenfuehrer; he was SS Obergruppenfuehrer; he was administrator for the Berlin-Subler Waffen and Fahrzeugwerke in 1935; he was head of the Gustloff Werke Nationalsozialistische Industrie-Stiftung, 1936, and the honorary head of the Foundation. And from the 21st of March 1942 until 1945, he was the Plenipotentiary General for Labor Allocation. Sauckel's official responsibilities are borne out by evidence. His appointment as Plenipotentiary General for manpower was effected by a decree of the 21st of March 1942, which we have read and which was signed by Hitler, Lammers, and the Defendant Keitel.
MR. DODD: And by that decree Sauckel was given authority, as well as responsibility, subordinate only to that of Hitler and Goering, who was the head of the Four Year Plan-subordinate only to those two for all matters relating to recruitment, allocation, and handling of foreign and domestic manpower. The Defendant Goering, to whom Sauckel was directly responsible, abolished the recruitment and allocation agencies of his Four Year Plan and delegated their powers to the Defendant Laurel and placed his far-reaching authority as deputy for the Four Year Plan at Sauckel's disposal In Document 1666-PS, a second 1666-PS but of another date, the 27th of March 1942-I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of this original decree, which is published in the 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt , Part I, at Page 180: "In pursuance of the Fuehrer's decree of 21st of March 1942, I decree as follows: "1. My manpower sections are hereby abolished (circular letter of 22d of October 1936). Their duties (recruitment and allocation of manpower, regulation of labor conditions) are taken over by the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, who is directly under me. "2. The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor will be responsible for regulating the conditions of labor (wage policy) employed in the Reich territory, having regard to the requirements of labor allocation. "3. The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor is part of the Four Year Plan. In cases where new legislation is required or existing laws need to be modified, he will submit appropriate proposals to me. "4. The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor will have at his disposal for the performance of his task the right delegated to me by the Fuehrer for issuing instructions to the highest Reich authorities and their subordinate offices, as well as the Party offices and their sections and their affiliated organizations, also to the Reich Protector, the Governor General, the military commanders, and heads of the civil administrations.
MR. DODD: In the case of ordinances and instructions of fundamental importance, a report is to be submitted to me in advance." Document Number 1903-PS is a Hitler decree of the 30th of September 1942 giving the Defendant Sauckel extraordinary powers over the civil and military authority of the territories occupied by Germany. We ask that judicial notice be taken by this Tribunal of the original decree, which is published in Volume II, Page 510, of the Verfugungen, Anordnungen, und Bekanntgaben , published by the Party Chancellery. This decree states as follows: "I herewith authorize the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, Reich Governor and Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel to take all necessary measures for the enforcement of my decree of 21 March 1942, concerning a Plenipotentiary General for allocation of Labor ( Reichsgesetzblatt I, Page 179), according to his own judgment, in the Greater German Reich, in the Protectorate, and in the Government General, as well as in the Occupied Territories-measures which will safeguard under all circumstances the regulated deployment of labor for the German war economy. For this purpose he may appoint commissioners to the bureaus of the military and civilian administration. These are responsible directly to the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor. In order to carry out their tasks, they are entitled to issue directives to the competent military and civilian authorities in charge of labor allocation and of wage policy. "More detailed directives will be issued by the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor. "Fuehrer headquarters, 30 September 1942. The Fuehrer,"- signed-"Adolf Hitler." Within 1 month after his appointment, the Defendant Sauckel sent Defendant Rosenberg his "Labor Mobilization Program".
MR. DODD: This program, Document Number 016-PS, already in evidence as Exhibit USA-168, envisaged a recruitment by force and the maximum exploitation of the entire labor resources of the conquered areas and of prisoners of war in the interests of the Nazi war machine at the lowest conceivable degree of expenditure to the German State. The Defendant Sauckel states-and I refer now to the bottom of Page 6 of the English text of that document. It is Page 9, Paragraph 2, of the German text, and I quote as follows: "It must be emphasized, however, that an additional tremendous number of foreign laborers has to be found for the Reich. The greatest pool for that purpose is the occupied territories of the East. Consequently, it is an imperative necessity to use the human reserves of the conquered Soviet territory to the fullest extent. Should we not succeed in obtaining the necessary amount of labor on a voluntary basis, we must immediately institute conscription of forced labor. "Apart from the prisoners of war still in the occupied territories, we must, therefore, requisition skilled or unskilled male and female labor from the Soviet territory from the age of 15 up, for the German allocation of labor." Passing to Page 11 of the English text, first paragraph and Page 17, Paragraph 4, of the German text, I quote as follows directly: "The complete employment of all prisoners of war as well as the use of ~ gigantic number of new foreign civilian workers, men and women, has become an indisputable necessity for the solution of the problem of the allocation of labor in this war." The Defendant Sauckel proceeded to implement this plan, which he submitted, with certain basic directives. He provided that if voluntary recruitment of foreign workers was unsuccessful compulsory service should be instituted. Document Number 304-PS is the Defendant Sauckel's Regulation Number 4, dated the 7th of May 1942.
MR. DODD: And we ask that the Tribunal take judicial notice of the original regulation published in Volume if, Pages 516 to 527 of the Verfugungen, Anordnungen,und Bekanntgaben , to which I have previously referred. Reading from Page 1, Paragraph 3, of the English text: "The recruitment of foreign labor will be done on principle on a volunteer basis. Where, however, in the occupied territories the appeal for volunteers does not suffice, obligatory service and drafting must, under all circumstances, be resorted to. This is an indisputable requirement of our labor situation." Sauckel provided also for the avocation of foreign labor in the order of its importance to the Nazi war machine. We refer to Document Number 3044(a)-PS, which is the Defendant Sauckel's Regulation Number 10, and ask that the Court take judicial notice of the original regulation, published in Volume 0, Verfugungen, Anordnungen, and Bekanntgaben , at Pages 531 to 533. Paragraph 3 of this regulation I quote as follows: "The resources of manpower that are available in the occupied territories are to be employed primarily to satisfy the requirements of importance for the war in Germany itself. In allocating the said labor resources in the Occupied Territories, the following order of priority will be observed: "(a) Labor required for the troops, the occupation authorities, and the civil authorities; "(b) Labor required for German armament; "(c) Labor required for food and agriculture; "(d) Labor required for industrial work in the interests of Germany, other than armaments; "(e) Labor required for industrial work in the interests of the population of the territory in question." The Defendant Sauckel, and agencies subordinate to him, exercised exclusive authority over the recruitment of workers from every area in Europe occupied by, controlled by, or friendly to, the German nation. He affirmed, himself-the Defendant Sauckel did- this authority in a decree, Document Number 3044-PS, already in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-206.
MR. DODD: I refer to Paragraph 5 on Page 1 of the English text of that document, and I am quoting it directly: "The recruitment of labor in the areas occupied by Germany will be carried out exclusively by the labor allocation offices of the German military or civil administration in these areas."
THE PRESIDENT: Haven't you read that already?
MR. DODD: No, I have not, if Your Honor pleases. We have referred to that decree before, but we have not referred to this portion of it. I am passing to Paragraph II, 1-a on Page 2, and quoting again directly: "For the carrying out of recruitment in allied, friendly, or neutral foreign countries, my commissioners are solely responsible." In addition, the following defendants, who were informed by Sauckel of the quotas of foreign laborers which he required, collaborated with Sauckel and his agents in filling these quotas: The Defendant Keitel, Chief of the OKW-which was the Supreme Command-who collaborated with Sauckel We refer to Document Number 3012(1)-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-190. This document is the record of a telephone conversation of the Chief of the Economic Staff East of the German Army, and it is dated March 11, 1943. I wish to quote from the first two paragraphs of the document as follows: "The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, Gauleiter Sauckel, points out to me in an urgent teletype that the allocation of labor in German agriculture, as well as all the most urgent armament programs ordered by the Fuehrer, make the most rapid procurement of approximately 1 million women and men from the newly occupied Eastern Territories within the next 4 months an imperative necessity. For this purpose, Gauleiter Sauckel demands the shipment of 5,000 workers daily beginning 15 March; 10,000 workers, male and female, beginning 1 April, from the newly occupied Eastern Territories." I am passing down to the next paragraph: "In consideration of the extraordinary losses of workers which occurred in German war industry because of the developments of the past months, it is now necessary that the recruiting of workers be taken up again everywhere with all vigor. The tendency momentarily noticeable in that territory, to limit and/or entirely stop the Reich recruiting program, is absolutely not bearable in view of this state of affairs.
MR. DODD: Gauleiter Sauckel, who is informed about these events, because of this applied directly to General Field Marshal Keitel on 10 March 1943, in a teletype, and emphasized on this occasion that, as in all other occupied territories, where all other methods fait a certain pressure must be used, by order of the Fuehrer." At this point we were prepared to offer a transcript of an interrogation under oath of the Defendant Sauckel Only the English of the transcript of the interrogation has been seen by the Counsel for the Defendant Sauckel. He has had it, however, for some time; and the excerpts on which we intended to rely were furnished to him as well in German. If I understood the ruling of the Tribunal correctly, it would be necessary for us to have furnished the entire record in German.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you might use this interrogation, as the excerpts have been submitted in German.
MR. DODD: Yes, they have, Your Honor, and the entire English text as well.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MR. DODD: I refer to a transcript of an interrogation under oath of the Defendant Sauckel, held on the morning of the 5th of October 1945 (Exhibit USA-224). That is the very last document in the document book. I wish to quote from the bottom of Page 1 of the English text and Page 1, Paragraph 11, of the German text, as follows: "Q: Was it necessary, in order to accomplish the completion of the quotas given, to have liaison with the OKW?' "A: 'I remember that the Fuehrer had given directives to Marshal Keitel, telling him that my task was a very important one; and I, too, have often conferred with Keitel after such discussions with the Fuehrer, when I asked him for his support.' "Q: 'It was his task to supervise the proper performance of the military commanders in the occupied countries in carrying out their assigned mission, was it not?' "A: 'Yes, the Fuehrer had told me that he would inform the Chief of the OKW and the Chief of the Reich Chancellery as to these matters. The same applies to the Foreign Minister."' We are also prepared to offer the transcript of an interrogation of the Defendant Alfred Rosenberg. There is this distinction insofar as this record is concerned. While we have supplied the counsel with the German translation of those parts of it which we propose to use, we have not had an opportunity to supply the whole text to counsel. However, they have been supplied with the German of the parts which we propose to use and to offer to this Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you are prepared to do it hereafter, I suppose?
MR. DODD: Yes, we will, Your Honor, as soon as we can get these papers down to the Information Center.
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
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.
MR. DODD: Isn't that right?' "A-: if regretted that the demands of Sauckel were so urgent that they could not be met by a continuation of voluntary 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 . . . "'