dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR. FLACHSNER: It is also prohibited for them to manufacture and transport weapons of all kinds, as well as to transport war material for combat units. In the armament economy under the control of the Defendant Speer, the only thing which could be considered as a violation of the afore-mentioned rule is the manufacture of weapons and munitions of all kinds. Such a violation, however, has so far not been proved by the Prosecution at all. It must furthermore be examined how the assignment of prisoners of war to plants took place. According to the testimony of the Defendant Sauckel, this as a matter of principle was done by the war economy officers with the military district commanders, who submitted the number of prisoners of war available for work to the Gau labor office; and the transfer of the prisoners of war to the plants then took place in the same manner as with ordinary labor. The only difference was that the camp officers-the prisoners of war were billeted in so-called enlisted men's camps (Stammlager)-were responsible for seeing that the directives issued by the OKW for the employment and treatment of prisoners of war were complied with. It was the responsibility of these camp of fleers to see that in the employment of prisoners of war any violation of Article 31 of the Prisoners of War Convention was made impossible. The commitment officers (Einsatzoffiziere) appointed by the camp commanders had constantly to control and examine the working conditions and the nature of the occupation of prisoners of war in armament plants, and they had to watch to see that no prohibited work was imposed on the prisoners of war. The Defendant Keitel has given an exact description of the manner in which the control of prisoners of war in the home area was carried out. Documents have also been submitted which give information about the treatment of prisoners ·of war.
DR. FLACHSNER: The prisoners of war who were confined in assembly camps were constantly being examined by camp commitment officers to see that their employment was in accordance with Articles 31 and 32 of the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention. As far as French prisoners of war were concerned, a special authority existed for them in the person of Ambassador Scapini, who had to forward to the OKW any complaints which were made against the use of prisoners of war for labor in a way which violated international law. Complaints of this kind by Ambassador Scapini were immediately investigated, and if they were found to be justified, improvements were made. It is, of course, possible that mistakes sometimes occurred in view of the vast organization necessitated by the large number of French prisoners of war. Measures for the correction of mistakes of this kind are, after all, provided by the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention itself in its regulations. These regulations were also effective in the last war. The representatives of the protecting powers intervened against bad conditions brought to their attention through complaints, and they also demanded and achieved their abolition. If such mistakes were recognized and reported, they were then immediately remedied. It would be wrong to try to conclude from individual occurrences that there was a premeditated plan. The protection which prisoners of war found through the labor commitment officers even laid Defendant Speer open to criticism by individual plant directors as being too extensive. In this respect, as far as the Defendant Speer's position in law is concerned, we must first examine whether the employment of prisoners of war in the armament industry is to be fundamentally regarded as a violation of the rules of international law. After the previous statements as to the character of the plants which were combined in the armament industry, this must be answered in the negative.
DR. FLACHSNER: Only insofar as prisoners of war were actually employed in the production of arms and in the production of urgent war materials could there be any mention of a violation of Article 31. That this regulation may have been violated in individual cases we will not deny. If, for example, as the photographs submitted by the American Prosecution show, prisoners of war were used near the front lines to unload munition trains, then this undoubtedly represents a violation of the regulations of Article 31. The Defendant Speer, however, cannot be accused of such incidents, as they do not fall within his competence. To use the fact of the employment of prisoners of war in the armament industry to conclude a violation on a large scale of the regulations of the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention is not justified.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn. [The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours.] Afternoon Session
M. JEAN JACQUES LANOIRE (Assistant Prosecutor for the French Republic): Mr. President, I would request the authorization of the Tribunal to make a very short statement in the name of the French Prosecution. Even though it is not the custom that the Prosecution should intervene in the course of the discussion, the counsel for Speer gave a few opinions which it seems to me I must go into without waiting for my turn, and also request the Tribunal to reject them.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal does not think it is appropriate that the speeches of the defendant's counsel should be interrupted by counsel for the Prosecution. Counsel for the Prosecution are going to speak afterward, and they will then have a full opportunity of answering the speeches that have been made on behalf of the defendants.
M. LANOIRE: Certainly, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Flachsner, if you will wait one moment, I have an announcement to make. The Tribunal refers to its order of 23 February 1946, Paragraph 8 of that order, which is on the subject of the statements which the defendants may make, under Article 24 of the Charter. In view of the full statements already made by the defendants and their counsel, the Tribunal assumes that if it is the defendants, desire to make any further -statements, it will be only to deal with matters previously omitted. The defendants will not be permitted to make further speeches or to repeat what has already been said by themselves or their counsel but will be limited to short statements of a few minutes each to cover matters not already covered by their testimony or the arguments of counsel. That is all.
DR. FLACHSNER: Mr. President, Your Honors, I now continue my speech. A further charge of the Prosecution refers to the violation of Article 32 of the Geneva Prisoner of War Agreement, according to which prisoners of war were employed in unhealthy work, insofar as prisoners of war had been employed in mines. For this reference is made to the minutes of a meeting of the Central Planning Board where the employment of Russian prisoners of war in mines is discussed. The employment of prisoners of war in mines is not to be considered as forbidden in itself, and it has been practiced in all industrial nations. The employment of Russian prisoners of war in mines is, therefore, not to be objected to, insofar as the prisoners concerned were in a physical condition that enabled them to do heavy mining work. It has not been established and proved by the Prosecution that these prisoners of war were not physically fit for the work given them. From the fact that the employment of prisoners of war in mines was discussed and approved by the Central Planning Board, it cannot be concluded that Article 32 of the Prisoner of War Agreement was violated. The treatment of prisoners of war has to be examined legally from various points of view. The German Government have taken the point of view that Soviet prisoners of war should be treated on a different legal basis from the subjects of the Western States, who were all parties to the treaty of the Geneva Prisoner of War Convention of 1929, whereas the Soviet Union did not sign this agreement. The Soviet Prosecution have presented Document EC-338, USSR-356, an investigation of the Foreign Counter-Intelligence Office (Amt Ausland Abwehr) in the High Command of the Armed Forces concerning the legality of the regulations issued on the treatment of Soviet prisoners of war, according to international law, and leveled sharp criticism at the latter.
DR. FLACHSNER: The essential point is that in this report the view is expressed that, as a matter of fundamental principle, Soviet prisoners of war cannot be treated according to the rules of the Geneva Prisoner of War Agreement because the Soviet Union did not participate in this. Moreover, this report refers to the decree of the Soviet Union of 1 July 1941 concerning the treatment of prisoners of war regarding which the opinion of the CounterIntelligence of the Armed Forces confirms that on essential points it agrees with the rules of the Geneva Prisoner of War Agreement. It is, however, characteristic that in this decree it is ordered that noncommissioned officers and enlisted men taken as prisoners of war may be put to work for industry and agriculture inside the camp or outside and that the only restriction is that the use of prisoner-of-war labor is forbidden: (a) in the combat area, (b) for personal needs of the administration as well as for the needs of other prisoners of war, so-called orderly service (see Pages 12-13 of the Speer document book, Document Number EC-338). An order restricting the use of prisoner-of-war labor according to Articles 31 and 32 of the Geneva Prisoner of War Agreement is not to be understood from the above-mentioned command. It now remains to investigate whether the stipulations of Articles 31 and 32 of the Geneva Prisoner of War Agreement flow from general rules of international law, which should be observed even if there were no special ruling by treaty, such as the Geneva Prisoner of War Agreement represents. This cannot generally be affirmed. The above-mentioned treaty regulations cannot be regarded as the prescription by treaty of a generally valid legal concept, if so important a member of the group observing international law as the Soviet Union does not accept a ruling of this sort. Proceeding from this idea, the employment of Soviet prisoners of war in work forbidden by Article 31 of the Prisoner of War Agreement is not to be objected to.
DR. FLACHSNER: The Italian military persons interned in Germany after Italy's fall do not come under the regulations of the Geneva Prisoner of War Agreement since no state of war existed between Germany and Italy. Moreover, these military internees did not come under the restrictions of Article 31 in their employment as manpower. It must, however, be pointed out that these military internees are comprised in the enumeration of Mr. Deuss of prisoners of war occupied in the armament industry. In conclusion, the following is to be said on this point: The procurement of prisoners of war for the factories was effected exclusively through the offices of the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor. The control of the proper allocation in accordance with the Prisoner of War Agreement depended on the labor commitment officer of the Stalag, who in return was himself finally responsible to the general for prisoner-of-war affairs at the Army High Command. It was not possible for the Defendant Speer to have any influence on the distribution of prisoners of war and their occupation. The Prosecution have not been in a position to bring any proof from which the participation of the Defendant Speer in unlawful employment of prisoners of war might be deduced. These assertions of the Prosecution have remained unproved. The Prosecution have now further brought against the defendant the charge that the Todt Organization, at the head of which Speer was placed in February 1942 after Dr. Todt's death, had used native workers to build fortifications in the French coastal areas. As far as the Todt Organization is concerned, it is a purely civilian institution of the general construction inspector for road maintenance. It worked on a private economic basis, that is, it allocated the construction work that it intended to carry out to private firms, also to foreign firms, which were established in the respective countries; and it merely supervised the execution of the constructions. The private firms could undertake the procurement of the necessary materials and labor themselves.
DR. FLACHSNER: For the very reason that native construction enterprises were used, it was possible to eliminate the difficulties which otherwise would have opposed themselves to the execution of the work. The workyards of the Todt Organization enjoyed a certain favor with the natives because the workmen had the assurance that they could not be compelled to go to Germany to work in industry there because these places of construction of the Organization Todt were considered as urgently important. The workers went voluntarily to the firms which were active for the Todt Organization to obtain this security. The example, quoted by the Defendant Speer during cross-examination, of 50,000 Todt Organization workers who were once taken from France to Germany to repair damages caused to two west German valley dams by air attacks, made such a bad impression on the workers employed in other Todt Organization construction sites that there was nothing else left to be done but to send these 50,000 workers back to France. In the meantime, many workmen of the Todt Organization construction sites in France disappeared, because they feared they would be taken to Germany sooner or later against their will, while up to then they had regarded employment in enterprises which worked for the Todt Organization as insurance against an eventual transfer to Germany. Only the return of the above-mentioned 50,000 workers to France, which was brought about by the Defendant Speer when these unfavorable consequences developed, restored the hitherto existing state of confidence. Here, too, the fact should be emphasized that, as a result of the event described, the Todt Organization workers were free to go where they wished in France-in any case, that no coercion was used against them. The consequence of this was that when the protected plants (Sperrbetriebe) were established in France, all enterprises working for the Todt Organization were declared protected plants and therefore could not be otherwise employed.
DR. FLACHSNER: This instance shows that the view of the Prosecution that the workers of the Todt Organization were forced into the Todt Organization plants against their will is a wrong interpretation. As it is established that the French Government agreed to the use of French workers in construction sites under administration of the Todt Organization as well as in any other armament industries in Germany and the occupied territories, illegality is excluded. It should not be left unmentioned here that, after the conclusion of the Armistice Agreement with France, the latter took no part in military hostilities. The Armistice Treaty certainly did not mean an agreement for a truce but, de facto, a final end to hostilities and was to serve as a preparation for the conclusion of peace. It was no longer a period of war, but it was not a definite return to peacetime conditions regulated by treaty. A resumption of hostilities was, however, according to both partners to the Armistice, completely out of the question. The Armistice was exclusively to regulate the situation until the definite conclusion of peace. Stipulations of the Hague Convention for Land Warfare as well as of the Prisoner of War Agreement forbidding services which run counter to loyalty toward one's own country still at war do not apply because the country is no longer at war. After a general armistice the production of arms and munitions can no longer be directed against the ally which has retired from hostilities but only against other allies still in the field. The aforementioned principle of respecting the loyalty to one's own country can no longer be applied in such cases. It must, moreover, be pointed out that the Todt Organization was in no way a paramilitary organization as has been falsely asserted. Apparently this false assumption has been strengthened by the fact that the German members of the administration of the Todt Organization abroad wore a uniform.
DR. FLACHSNER: These people were considered as Armed Forces followers; but on the other hand the labor engaged by the firms and the construction workers of the firms, as well as the technical personnel, stood in no such relation. The charge cannot be made, therefore, that these native workers were indirectly incorporated into an Armed Forces' organization. ~ A further charge against the Defendant Speer consists in the fact that prisoners from concentration camps were employed in the economic sector controlled by him. The defendant admitted this. Criminal responsibility because of this fact does not, however, stand the test of a legal verification. The employment of convicts for work of an economic nature has always been a practice in Germany. It could be carried out in various ways, partly by employment within the convict prison itself, partly outside. Owing to the shortage of labor due to the intensification of the economic war, it was necessary to draw upon the labor available in the concentration camps. The Prosecution have submitted documents from which can be seen how much trouble was taken by the offices subordinate to the Reich Minister Himmler to use the reserves of labor contained in the concentration camps for the construction of their own SS plants; and the Defendant Speer has supplied information during his hearing before the Court on 20-21 June regarding Himmler's efforts to build up a separate armament industry of his own, subordinate to him only, which would render any control over the production of arms in these intended SS plants impossible, so that the SS could have provided themselves with weapons without supervision by the Army or any other offices. The Defendant Speer successfully fought this. It was agreed that Himmler would release a part of the inmates of the concentration camps to be employed in the armament industry.
DR. FLACHSNER: The inmates of the concentration camps would thus improve their situation, since they obtained the higher food rations provided for those on long shifts or doing heavy work, as has been attested by witness Riecke; moreover, they left the large concentration camps and were no longer under SS control during working hours, but in the plants they were subject to the control of foremen and skilled workmen appointed by the plants themselves. It is true that to avoid transportation and marching difficulties special camps were erected near the plants or working places where they were employed, and these were not accessible to the supervision of the plant managers nor to the control of the offices of the Defendant Speer but were exclusively under the direction of the offices in charge of the administration of the concentration camps. For the poor conditions prevailing in such camps neither the plant manager nor the offices of the Defendant Speer can be held responsible. In general, as attested by the letter of the department chief Schieber of 7 May 1944 to the Defendant Speer (Speer Document Book 2, Page 88), the inmates preferred work in such plants rather than be assigned by the administration of -the concentration camp itself. And Schieber quite clearly states in his letter that for these reasons the employment of concentration camp inmates should be extended in order to improve their lot. But he further states that the number of concentration camp inmates employed in the armament industry amounted to 36,000 and that this figure was decreasing. The defendant's assertion, however, at his interrogation that the total number of concentration camp workers employed in the armament industry amounted to 1 percent of the total number of workmen employed in the whole armament industry has been calculated too high. Of 4.9 million workmen engaged in the final processing of armaments, the figure of 36,000 represents only 7 per thousand.
DR. FLACHSNER: The number of concentration camp inmates employed in the armament industry represents a very small part of the total number employed in the final processing of armaments, that is, of the total number employed in the plants manufacturing finished products. These figures show how misleading the assumption of the Prosecution is, that the employment of such prisoners in the armament industry had resulted in an increased demand for such labor and that this increased demand was satisfied by sending to concentration camps people who under normal conditions would never have been sent there. The opinion that the employment of prisoners from concentration camps in the armament industry led to an increase in the number of concentration camp inmates is disproved by Schieber's letter already . mentioned (Exhibit Number Speer-6, Page 88) and by his testimony, also submitted as Exhibit Number Speer-37. According to this the employment of concentration camp inmates in the armament industry occurred for the first time in the autumn of 1943, and the number of prisoners employed there reached its peak with the maximum figures of 36,000 in March 1944 and from that time on actually decreased. Therefore the conclusions of the Prosecution in no way bear examination. Nor has proof been brought forward that Speer had attempted to have people sent to concentration camps. At his interrogation the defendant admitted that everywhere in Germany people were afraid of being sent to a concentration camp. The population's dread of concentration camps was quite justified, for it depended only on the judgment of the police authorities under Himmler whether a person was sent to a concentration camp or not; further, because there was no legal authority to check the charges resulting in a transfer to a concentration camp; and finally-and this is the main reason-because it was left entirely to the discretion of the concentration camp authorities to decide for how long one was to be sent to a concentration camp.
DR. FLACHSNER: The Prosecution have further asserted that Speer went on having concentration camp inmates work in the armament industry after he had obtained knowledge of conditions prevailing in the Mauthausen Camp after a visit he had made there. That this was not the case improved by the evidence of the defendant on this point. As it was only a hurried visit for the purpose of instructing the camp administration to desist from tasks which served purely peacetime purposes but rather place labor at the disposal of the armament industry, the Defendant Speer could only obtain a superficial impression of the living conditions in the camp. On this point his evidence may be referred to. Moreover, through witnesses for the Prosecution, detailed reference has been made to the fact that during such visits to concentration camps by important personalities, the camps were seen from the best side only, and any signs of atrocities, et cetera, were carefully removed so that the visitor received no unfavorable impressions. In connection with this question we will deal with the further charge of the Prosecution, which asserts that Speer had approved using Hungarian Jews for the construction of the bombproof aircraft factories ordered by Hitler. In this respect reference must be made to the evidence of the witness Milch and that of the witness Frank. Milch stated that Speer, who was ill at the time, strongly opposed these constructions but that Hitler, who demanded that the work be undertaken, commissioned Dorsch, the leader of the Todt Organization, to carry them out. So that the controversy between Hitler and Speer should not become known to outsiders, Dorsch officially remained subordinate to Speer; but in this matter he had to deal directly with Hitler alone and was immediately subordinate to him. In his evidence Milch further stated that these construction plans were never actually carried out. I have submitted Hitler's order to Speer of 21 April 1944 as Exhibit Number Speer-34, Page 52, in my document book (Speer Document Book 1).