dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE 3RD CLASS MAJOR GENERAL N. D. ZORYA (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): "Immediately after the occupation of Yugoslavia, the Germans established offices for enlisting workers for 'voluntary' labor in Germany. They also used the organizations which already existed in Yugoslavia for arranging employment of workers, and began to carry out their plans through these organizations. Thus, for example, in Serbia they used the central office for arranging employment of workers as well as the labor exchange. Through these organizations, until the end of February 1943, and from Serbia alone the Germans sent 47,500 workers to Germany. Later on this number considerably increased but the relative data in this respect have not yet been fully established. These workers were employed in agriculture and various industries in Germany, mostly in the heaviest work." In the report of the Yugoslav Republic it is stated that the Gestapo and a special commission used pressure and force. This went so far that these "volunteer" workers were hunted in the streets, collected in units, and herded into Germany by force. "Apart from these so-called 'volunteer' workers, the Germans sent into forced labor in Germany a large number of prisoners from various camps, as well as politically 'suspicious' persons, who had to perform the heaviest kinds of work under disgusting living and working conditions. As early as 1942 many innocent victims of the Banyitza, Saimishte, and other camps, were sent into Germany. "The first transport of them left on 24 April 1942, and these transports continued without interruption until 26 September 1944. Old and young, men and women, farmers, workers, intellectuals, and others were taken not only to Germany, but to other countries under German occupation as well. "According to the registers of Banyitza Camp, which are far from giving an exact picture, over 10,000 prisoners were sent for forced labor from this camp alone. "The German authorities in Serbia issued a series of orders, aiming at maximum exploitation of manpower.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE 3RD CLASS MAJOR GENERAL N. D. ZORYA (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): Among the first measures two decrees were passed: The Decree for General Labor Service and Restriction of the Freedom of Labor, of 14 December 1941, and the Decree for the National Labor Service for the Reconstruction of Serbia, of 5 November 1941. According to the first decree all persons between 17 and 45 years of age could be called up for compulsory labor in certain enterprises and branches of economy. According to the second order, such persons could be called up for civilian service in the National Reconstruction, which in fact meant that they had to work for the strengthening of the German economic and war effort. "The persons eligible for labor in accordance with these two laws, although remaining in the country, worked in fact for the aims and benefit of the Germans' economic exploitation. They were primarily used for work in the mines (Bor, Kostolac, et cetera ), for road building and railway line repairs, in the water transport, and so on. "On 26 March 1943 the German Commander of Serbia, Befehlshaber Serbien, in a special order introduced the so-called war economy measures of the Reich in the occupied territory of Serbia, and by this act imposed the general mobilization of manpower in Serbia.... "By this decree, therefore, the entire population of occupied Serbia was mobilized for the German war economy. The Germans exploited Serbian manpower, in fact, to the greatest possible extent.... "The situation was in no way different in the other occupied areas of Yugoslavia. Without entering into numerous details of this planned exploitation, we shall quote here only one example from occupied Slovenia.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE 3RD CLASS MAJOR GENERAL N. D. ZORYA (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): "According to an official announcement of the German Farmers' Union in Carinthia (Landesbauernschaft Karnten) of 10 August 1944, issued in Klagenfurt, every case of pregnancy of non-German women was to be reported, and in all such cases these women were to be obliged to have their child 'removed by operation in a hospital.' The announcement itself explains that in cases when non-German women give birth to their children this 'creates difficulties for their use in work,' and besides, it is also 'a danger for the population policy.' Furthermore, this announcement states that the Office of Labor Service should try to influence these women to commit an abortion. "As another proof of the exploitation of manpower, we quote the circular instructions of the German Landrat for the Marburg (Maribor) district, of 12 August 1944. This circular deals with the question of enlisting everybody eligible according to that decree into the armed forces and into the labor service, and it calls upon all the inhabitants of Lower Styria, and not only upon the indigenous population, but also upon the Dutchmen, Danes, Swedes, Luxembourgers, Norwegians, and Belgians who may find themselves living there." I shall pass on now to the Report of the Polish Government which was presented to the Tribunal by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit Number USSR-93 (Document Number USSR-93). First we should note the special role of the Defendant Frank in organizing deportations of the Polish population for compulsory labor to Germany. I shall read into the record several excerpts from a document known under the title "Frank's Diary," which is at the disposal of the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-223 (Document Number USSR-223). Frank described his attitude toward the Poles at the meeting of the section chiefs which took place in Krakow, 12 April 1940, as follows -- I shall quote an excerpt on Page 62 of the document book, to be exact, on the reverse side of the page.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE 3RD CLASS MAJOR GENERAL N. D. ZORYA (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): I quote: "Under pressure from the Reich, it had now been decreed that, since sufficient labor did not present itself voluntarily for service in the German Reich, compulsion could be used. This compulsion meant the possibility of arresting male and female Poles. A certain amount of unrest had been caused by this, which, according to some reports, had spread very widely and which could lead to difficulties in all spheres. Field Marshal Goering had once pointed out, in his big speech, the necessity for sending a million workers to the Reich. One hundred and sixty thousand had been delivered to date.... To arrest young Poles as they left church or the cinema would lead to ever-increasing nervousness among the Poles. Fundamentally Frank had no objections to removing people capable of work who were lounging about in the streets. But the best way would be to organize a round-up, and one was absolutely justified in stopping a Pole in the street and asking him what work he did, where he was employed, et cetera ." During his conversation with Defendant Sauckel, 18 August 1942, the Defendant Frank stated -- I quote the part which is on Page 67 of the document book: "I am pleased to be able . . . to inform you officially that we have now supplied more than 800,000 workers for the Reich.... "You recently requested the supply of a further 140,000 workers. I am pleased to be able to inform you that, in accordance with our agreement of yesterday's date, we shall deliver 60 percent of these newly requested workers to the Reich by the end of October and the remaining 40 percent by the end of the year.... "Over and above the present figure of 140,000, you can, however, count on a further number of workers from the Government General next year, as we are going to use the police to recruit them." Frank fulfilled his promise given to the Defendant Sauckel.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE 3RD CLASS MAJOR GENERAL N. D. ZORYA (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): At the conference of the political leaders of the Labor Front in the Government General, 14 December 1942, Frank stated in his address -- this is on the same page of the document book: "You know that we have delivered more than 940,000 Polish workers to the Reich. The Government General thereby stands absolutely and relatively at the head of all European countries. This achievement is enormous and has also been recognized as such by Gauleiter Sauckel." Will you kindly permit me to quote that section of the report of the Government of the Polish Republic which is entitled, "Deportation of the Civilian Population for Forced Labor." This document is on Page 72 and 73 of the document book: "a) As early as on 2 October 1939 a decree was issued by Frank concerning the introduction of forced labor for the Polish civilian population within the Government General. By virtue of the said decree Polish civilians were under the obligation to work in agricultural establishments, on the maintenance of public buildings, road construction, regulation of rivers, highways, and railways. "b) A further decree of 12 December 1939 extended the groups of those liable to forced labor to children from the age of 14 years. And a decree of 13 May 1942 gave the authorities the right to use forced labor even outside the Government General. "c) The practice which developed on the basis of those decrees turned into mass deportation of civilians from Poland to Germany. "Throughout the Government General, in towns and villages, posters were continually inviting Poles to go 'voluntarily' to work in Germany. At the same time however every town and village was told how many workers it was to supply. "The result of the 'voluntary' recruitment was usually very disappointing. As a result of that the German authorities invited the people to go or arranged round-ups in the streets, restaurants, and other places, and those caught were sent straight to Germany. There was a particular hunt for young workers of both sexes.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE 3RD CLASS MAJOR GENERAL N. D. ZORYA (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): The families of those deported received no news from them for months and only after some time postcards arrived describing the poor conditions in which they were forced to live. Often, after several months, the workers used to return home in a state of spiritual depression and complete physical exhaustion. "There is substantial evidence that while on that forced labor thousands of men were sterilized, while young girls were forced into public houses. "d) These laborers were either sent to live with German farmers to work on their land, to work in factories, or to special work in forced labor camps. The conditions in those camps were terrible. "e) According to provisional estimates, in 1940 alone 100,000 women and men were sent to Germany as laborers. "f) To this great army of slave workers thousands of Poles deported from the incorporated territories have to be added and also 200,000 Polish prisoners of war who, by a decree issued by Hitler in August 1940, were 'released' from camps, but only to be sent to forced labor into various parts of Germany. "g) These deportations continued throughout the years of war. The total number of those workers reached at a certain point a figure of 2 million. "Exact figures are obviously not available. But if one considers that in spite of the very high death rate among those people, there are now about 835,000 Polish citizens registered in western Germany, the estimate appears correct. "The whole chapter concerning the deportations to forced labor is presented here in a very condensed form. Behind these few lines lies the history of hundreds of thousands of Polish families destroyed, tragedy, death, and sorrow. The history of each of these laborers was a continuous tragedy: fathers leaving their families without means; husbands their wives with no possibility of maintaining them, with no protection and little hope of return. The quoted number of 2 million conceals an ocean of broken lives, involving, at the least, 10 percent of the total population of Poland. "This was a terrible crime.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE 3RD CLASS MAJOR GENERAL N. D. ZORYA (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): Deportation and forced labor were a flagrant violation of the laws and customs of war." The Greek Report on German atrocities, submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-369 (Document Number USSR-369) states the following -- I beg you to refer to Page 74 of the document kook: "As in all the other occupied territories, the Germans pursued two main objectives in their occupational policy in Greece: the maximum exploitation of the country's resources in the interests of the German military economy, and the enslavement of the population by means of systematic terror and general repression. The Germans pursued their two-sided policy of plunder and revenge, violating commonly accepted laws." The section of the report of the Greek Government entitled "Recruitment of Manpower" contains two paragraphs which I intend to read into the record: "One of the problems confronting the German administration was that of recruiting labor. All males between 16 and 50 years of age were liable to labor conscription. Strikes were declared illegal, and severe penalties enforced for resort thereto. Persons who organized and directed a strike were liable to the death penalty. Strikers were tried by military courts. "At first the Germans, by propaganda and various forms of indirect pressure, tried to recruit Greek labor to work within Germany. They promised high wages and better conditions of life. As this kind of 'voluntary' recruitment failed to produce the expected results they abandoned it and confronted the workers with the dilemma either of being taken as hostages or else of being sent to Germany to work." Similar measures of deportation of manpower to Germany were applied by the fascists also in Czechoslovakia. But the deportation by the fascist criminals of the peaceful populations into slave labor reached its climax in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE 3RD CLASS MAJOR GENERAL N. D. ZORYA (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): I would like now to dwell briefly on the preparatory measures taken by the Hitlerite criminals for the utilization of forced labor in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union. Even before their attack on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in a document which is known to the Tribunal as the "Green File" of the Defendant Goering, Exhibit Number USSR-10 (Document Number EC-472), a whole chapter was dedicated to the problem of organizing compulsory labor in the Soviet territories which the war criminals intended to occupy; the chapter was called "Allocation of Labor and Recruitment of Indigenous Population." This chapter -- Pages 17 and 18 of the Russian text of the Green File, which is on Page 83 of the document book -- lays down the principle of compulsory labor for the peaceful Soviet population. Paragraphs 3 and 2 of Subsection A in the second part of that chapter entitled, "Recruitment of the Local Population," point out that: "The workers in public utilities -- gas, water, electricity, oil drilling, oil distilling, and oil storage, as well as emergency work in important industries . . . will be ordered to continue their work under threat of punishment, if necessary." And several lines above that: "In case of necessity, the workers will be organized into labor gangs." ' The nonpayment of wages for the compulsory labor of Soviet citizens had already been provided for in this so-called Goering's Green File. It was presupposed that the problem of payment was reduced to the question of providing the workers with food. The fascist slave owners were only interested in maintaining the working potential of the people and nothing more -- Page 18 of the Russian text of the Green File. This is the back of Page 83 of the document book . . .
THE PRESIDENT: This document has already been read into the record.
GEL. ZORYA: I think that this particular part of the document has not been read into the record. This is a document of the Soviet Prosecution, which Divas published completely for the first time in the note of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, V. M. Molotov, in May 1942.
THE PRESIDENT: If you say that it has not yet been read into the record, please go on.
GEN. ZORYA: On Page 18 of the Russian text of the Defendant Goering's Green File it is mentioned at least three times that food was to be the only payment. I do not wish to take more time of the Tribunal with this document, but will proceed with my presentation. Defendant Goering, who signed this directive for the plunder of the Soviet Union -- for how else could we refer to the above-mentioned document -- continued to organize forced labor in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union. As evidence I present to the Tribunal Exhibit Number USSR-386 (Document Number USSR-386), a document which discloses this phase of the Defendant Goering's activity. This document, or to be precise, these two documents are the record of the conference of 7 November 1941, on "Allocation of Russians," in which Goering participated, and a covering letter to this record. One hundred copies of the document were originally prepared and mailed to the 14 addresses which are listed, as Your Honors may see, on Page 5 of the Russian text of the document, at the end of the covering letter. The covering letter attached to the record bears the signature of the Chief, Military Administration, Economic Staff East, Dr. Rachner. 2Z Feb. 46 The minutes of the conference in question have been written by one Von Normann who was evidently an official of the same organization. I think it will promote clarification if I read into the record certain parts of these minutes. I quote Page 6 of the Russian text of the document which corresponds to Pages 95 and 96 of the document book: "Conference of 7 November 1941 on the allocation of Russian manpower. The Reich Marshal gave the following directives for the utilization of Russian manpower: "I. Russian labor has demonstrated its capacity for production in building up the gigantic industry of Russia. It must now be successfully allocated in the Reich. In the face of such an order of the Fuehrer, objections are of secondary importance.
GEN. ZORYA: The disadvantages that may result from the employment of Russian labor must be reduced to a minimum, and this is primarily the concern of the counterintelligence service (Abwehr) and the Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei). "II. Russians in the operational zone. The Russians are to be used primarily in the construction of roads and railroads, for clearing work, clearing out mine fields, and in the construction of air fields. The German construction battalions are largely to be dissolved (for example in the Air Force). German skilled workmen belong in war industry. Digging and stone breaking is not their work. The Russian is there for that. "III. Russians in the territories of the Reich commissioners and of the Government General. Here the same principle applies as in the second paragraph. In addition, increased use in agriculture; if machines are lacking, manpower must produce what the Reich will have to demand in the agrarian sector from the Eastern territories. Further local manpower should be made available for the ruthless exploitation of the Russian coal deposits. "IV. Russians in the territory of the Reich, including the Protectorate. The number to be employed is to be determined by the need. Need is to be decided from the standpoint that foreign workers who eat much and produce little are to be sent away from the Reich and that in the future the German woman is not to be used as extensively in the field of labor as hitherto. Along with Russian prisoners of war, free Russian manpower is also to be utilized." I shall now omit one page of this document and refer to Page 7. In the middle of the page there is Section B, entitled "The Free Russian Worker." My colleague, Colonel Pokrovsky, already mentioned the fact that the Hitlerites considered the civilian population as prisoners of war. This gave them the opportunity to increase for propaganda purposes the number of the allegedly captured Red Army soldiers in their reports on military operations, on the one hand, and to draw on them for manpower, on the other hand.
GEN. ZORYA: The section to which I just referred begins as follows, "Employment and treatment is not actually to be other than that given to Russian prisoners of war." It should here be noted that the minutes of the conference end with the following statement by Goering -- you will find this excerpt on Page 98 of the document book: "Enlistment of workers and the utilization of prisoners of war are to be carried on in a uniform manner, and they must be organizationally combined." Coming back to Page 7 of the same minutes we come across the following eloquent statement by Goering on the subject of labor conditions for Russian workers and particularly their wages...
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now. [A recess was taken.]
THE PRESIDENT: General Zorya, can you tell the Tribunal whether you think you will be able to finish the presentation of your documents this afternoon?
GEN. ZORYA: My intention is to finish my presentation today.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
GEN. ZORYA: I would like to read into the record statements by Goering which concern the labor conditions of Russian workers and particularly their wages, from the document I have just presented: "In connection with the labor conditions of the free Russians it is to be kept in mind that: "1. He may receive a little pocket money.... "3. Since his labor is available to the employer cheaply, financial compensation from the employer is to be given attention." To clarify the above statement the Defendant Goering makes further the following suggestion -- I quote on Page 8 of the Russian text of the document, Paragraph B, Subparagraph 6: "The allocation of Russians must under no circumstance be allowed to prejudice the wage problem in the eastern territories. Every financial measure in this sphere must proceed from the standpoint that lowest wages in the East --  according to a specific Fuehrer decree -- are a prerequisite for the equal distribution to balance war costs and the clearing of war debts by the Reich at the end of the war. "Infractions are subject to the severest penalties." This is followed by two lines which are of interest, not only because they incriminate the Defendant Goering for introducing the system of forced labor. Having expressed himself so categorically against the "prejudice of the wage problem in the eastern territories," Goering stated at the same conference as follows -- Page 98 of the document book, "The same applied in substance to every encouragement of 'social aspirations' in the Russian colonial territory." The covering letter appended to the minutes of the meeting consists of comments which really do not add anything new to the facts already presented to the Tribunal. Therefore I shall not quote this letter. The next document which I consider necessary to submit to the Tribunal and which I beg you to accept as evidence under Exhibit Number USSR-379 (Document Number UK-82) is a decree issued by the Defendant Goering on 10 January 1942.