dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR. SERVATIUS: The program of the mobilization of labor of 20 April 1942, Document 016-PS, accordingly proceeds to inveigh against all acts of cruelty and chicanery and demands that foreign workers be correctly and humanely treated; a hope is even expressed that a propaganda effect in Germany's favor ought to be achieved by the way in which labor allocation was carried out. This thought was frequently reiterated later. An economical allocation of workers was urged in order to counteract the waste indulged in by influential agencies. A year later, on 20 April 1943, the Defendant Sauckel again addressed a declaration of the procedure to be followed to all persons concerned with labor commitment. This is the repeatedly mentioned "Manifesto of Labor Allocation," Document Number Sauckel-81, which was issued as a warning and a call to battle addressed to all agencies preparing to challenge the serious responsibility of the Defendant Sauckel. Goebbels opposed it by claiming that the title was too assuming, while the propaganda aspect went beyond the bounds of the matter. Other agencies simply disregarded the copies sent to them and did not forward them, whereupon Sauckel sent copies directly to the industries concerned. How this circular was dealt with by the various recalcitrant agencies is shown by its description as a "notorious manifesto," as it was referred to unchallenged in a session of the Central Planning Board on 1 March 1944; Document R-124, Page 1779. The Defendant Sauckel was reproached for having been overzealous. I refer to a remark made by General Milch (who was interrogated before the Tribunal), in which he mentions the Central Planning Board, criticizing the allegedly too lenient treatment of loafers, and declaring that if anything was undertaken against them, agencies would immediately become interested in Germany which would protect the "poor fellow" and intercede for the human rights of others. This is Document R-124, Page 1913. The attitude of Defendant Sauckel was generally known and has been confirmed by various documents.
DR. SERVATIUS: Thus all the agencies addressed themselves to him in case of complaints and deficiencies, not in order to make the Defendant Sauckel responsible for them, but to solicit his help, because everybody knew how eagerly he advocated improvements. Thus Document 084-PS, which is a report by Dr. Gutkelch of the Central Agency for Eastern Nations of the Rosenberg Ministry, dated 30 September 1942, emphasized in various places the influence of the Defendant Sauckel and recommends getting into closer touch with him. His Codefendant Rosenberg also points to Sauckel's strenuous efforts in Document 194-PS, Page 6, a letter of 14 December 1942 to Koch, Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine. The Codefendant Frank likewise on 21 November 1943 applied to the Defendant Sauckel-Document 908-PS-for a basic change in the legal position of Poles inside the Reich. To what extent do real events correspond with that which has been stated? The first point to be dealt with is the mobilization, which is practically identical with the point of deportation. Then follows the examination of the treatment of workers as designated by the term "slave labor." The evidence has refuted the erroneous assumption that the Defendant Sauckel carried out the enlistment and mobilization of foreign workers on his own responsibility and through his own organization. It has been established that the supreme authorities in the occupied territories executed the laws regarding compulsory work as they had received them on Hitler's orders. All these agencies had their own administrative system and guarded their departments against the intrusion of others. A communication of the Rosenberg Ministry of the East to Koch, the Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine, dated 14 December 1942, Document 194-PS, Page 7, in which the Codefendant Rosenberg particularly refers to the right of sovereignty existing in questions of labor allocation, proves that this administrative system had not been infringed upon.
DR. SERVATIUS: These supreme authorities had their own labor offices which were organized in detail from each ministry down to the least important office. In reference I wish to cite Document 3012-PS, an ordinance of 6 February 1943, by the Supreme Command of the Army, dealing with compulsory work in the Eastern operational sector, and Document RF-15, an ordinance of 6 October 1942. The Defendant Sauckel could merely place requests with these agencies for the number of workers he was ordered to bring to Germany, and give them the necessary instructions. These were his limitations, which he never exceeded. He respected the right of execution as opposed to the right of issuing instructions. For these tasks deputies were appointed for each territory who, in accordance with the ordinance of 30 September 1942, Exhibit USA-510, were directly subordinate to the Defendant Sauckel; they did not however belong to his agency, but to the territorial authorities. It was expressly confirmed by the witness Bail, called by the Codefendant Rosenberg, that this applied to the chief deputy in the East, State Counsellor Peuckert who belonged to the staff of the Eastern Ministry. This State Counsellor Peuckert was at the same time consultant for the Economic Staff East for the rear army area which bordered on the territory under civil administration; here too he acted only in an accessory capacity as deputy of the Defendant Sauckel. This is proved by Document 3012-PS, which is a memorandum dealing with a conversation of 10 March 1943 concerning labor allocation, in which the position of Peuckert is noted on the attendance list. Through this arrangement with regard to Peuckert's functions, created in the interest of the territorial authorities, all personal interference by the Defendant Sauckel was made impossible.
DR. SERVATIUS: In Document 018-PS, that is, in the letter to the Defendant Sauckel dated 21 December 1942, the Codefendant Rosenberg complains about the methods of labor mobilization in the East; but this must be considered as the complaint of a minister who is unable to assert himself against his subordinates and turns toward the presumable sources of the difficulties he is encountering. It is true that these difficulties could have been removed immediately if the Defendant Sauckel had refrained from insisting on the fulfillment of his mission. But this fulfillment was the very task, specified in the decree of appointment as having to be effected under all circumstances. The Defendant Sauckel had to fight against all obstacles due to weakness or departmental egotism, and had to see to it that local agencies did not out of a desire to let things ride fail to supply the required manpower, while other offices held it back out of selfish interests. "With all means" and "ruthlessly" are recurring expressions employed in combating these symptoms. General Falkenhausen, the military commanded in Belgium and northern France, during his hearing erroneously declared in Document RF-15 that the Defendant Sauckel forced him to mobilize labor and had carried this out by the aid of a special "organization" of his own. However, he had to admit that this was incorrect when the order signed by himself about the introduction of compulsory labor was put before him. This is also confirmed by the statements of the witnesses Timm and Stothfang. In France workers were mobilized by the French administration. The superior German office was not the office of the Defendant Sauckel, but of the military commander in France, where Sauckel had only a deputy. The negotiations which the Defendant Sauckel conducted in Paris and which were the subject of the evidence lie outside of this activity; they are negotiations of a diplomatic nature between the German and French Governments in which Sauckel participated. They were held in the German Embassy.
DR. SERVATIUS: Conditions and circumstances in the other territories were analogous. The recruiting commissions, which corresponded to the labor mobilization staffs in the rear army areas and the operational zones, were also by no means offices of the Defendant Sauckel, as the Codefendant Rosenberg assumes. These recruiting commissions were vaguely connected with the Defendant Sauckel only insofar as they were composed of experts who emanated from the German labor offices belonging to Sauckel's, department. They received directives only through their superior office, in order to guarantee uniform handling of all recruiting regulations. Regulation Number 4 in Document Number Sauckel-15 is very clear on this point. This advance appointment of the deputies as of 30 September 1942, which was already issued on 7 May 1942, provides for the sole responsibility of the military and civil authorities of the occupied territories. The deputies mentioned there as having been assigned the same functions, are the deputies with the German missions in friendly foreign countries. This was misunderstood by the Prosecution, so that wrong conclusions were arrived at, to the disadvantage of the Defendant Sauckel, about the responsibility for recruiting and transport. The interpretation of the provision that all technical and administrative procedures of labor allocation were exclusively within the competence and responsibility of the Defendant Sauckel is also incorrect as far as occupied territory is concerned. This stipulation refers solely to the functions in the Reich and establishes the competence of the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor, of the district labor offices, and the labor offices; this can be seen from Document 016-PS, last paragraph. The Defendant Sauckel, therefore, is not directly responsible for the conscription of manpower. Indirectly, however, responsibility can be charged to him in that although he was aware of these unsatisfactory conditions and knew that they could not be stopped, he nevertheless demanded more workers.
DR. SERVATIUS: It must be added that in the Defendant Rosenberg's letter of 21 December 1942, Document 018-PS, the Defendant Sauckel learned for the first time of the recruiting methods which were described as mass deportation. At the meeting which followed in the beginning of January 1943, the Defendant Rosenberg declared that he was opposed to this and that he would not tolerate such procedures. This is also confirmed by his previous letter of 14 December 1942 addressed to Koch, Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine, Document 194-PS, in which he clearly calls the latter's attention to his obligations to proceed legally. Koch's memorandum of 16 March 1943, Document Rosenberg-13, of which the Defendant Sauckel learned only here at the Trial, explains that these incidents are exaggerated individual cases, their justification being based on the necessity of carrying out measures for the restoration of the prestige of the occupation authority. It is expressly declared in this that the recruitment of workers was undertaken by legal means and that steps were being taken in the event of arbitrary measures, Document Number Rosenberg-13, Pages 11 and 12. It was not altogether impossible that it might have been a matter of tricky propaganda exaggerations, as Koch specifically points out. In wartime such a possibility exists, and the propaganda tendency of the Molotov reports (Document USSR-151) goes to emphasize this. The Defendant Sauckel was also supported in this idea by the result of an investigation into the details of a "manhunt" which was reported to him at Minsk by Field Marshal Kluge; it turned out to be a round-up of workers employed by a private firm at the time of the retreat. The Katyn case shows how difficult it is to determine the truth of such events when they are made use of as effective weapons of propaganda. As the witnesses from the Defendant Sauckel's office have confirmed, no other incidents involving such abuses have become known.
DR. SERVATIUS: The cases reported are to a certain extent obviously repetitions of the same happenings as communicated from various sources. None of these reports, however, displays any desire to approve of such things; they are a sort of house alarm for the purpose of remedying and improving conditions. Now, can one believe the Defendant Sauckel when he declares that he did not know about the conditions alleged by the Prosecution? What reached him through official channels is insufficient as proof of cognizance, and the witnesses confirm that the so-called "methods" were unknown. On the other hand we find here documents of the authorities of the occupied countries from which it appears that the Reich Commissioner in the Ukraine ordered the burning down of houses in retaliation for resisting the administration, and there are decrees providing for such measures. Reports made to the Eastern Ministry regarding such events do not lead to penal prosecution but to suspension of the proceedings, such as the Raab case (Document 254-PS) and the Muller case (Document 290-PS). Any doubt must be countered with the following: The measures employed were not approved by the highest instances, and were only surreptitiously applied by the lower offices who therefore had every reason not to let them become known. From the files on the preliminary proceedings of the cases of Raaband Muller it definitely appears that the existing regulations were unknown at the ministry. The Defendant Sauckel did travel through the Ukraine, but it is unlikely that his attention should have been called to matters which might have got the local offices into trouble. The views of the Defendant Sauckel were well known, while on the other hand there existed a violent quarrel between the offices of Reich Commissioner Koch and Reich Minister Rosenberg. When the documents from both offices such as have been submitted are read carefully, it can be seen from the file notes that in this struggle both sides were collecting arguments and that neither wished to commit itself.
DR. SERVATIUS: Since the Defendant Sauckel himself had no direct authority, it is understandable that actual conditions should have remained unknown to him. Still another point of view must be considered: various documents mention that a certain pressure would have to be applied in the procurement of workers, since the workers were to be obtained "under all circumstances." Does this sanction all methods? It remains to be seen what was actually done in pursuance of these statements. The OKH in one case thereupon ordered the increased mobilization of workers and permitted collective conscription, while prohibiting collective punishment. In this connection see Document 3012-PS, containing a telephone message from the Economy Staff East to General Stapf of 11 March 1943. The best illustration can be found in that same Document 3012-PS by a file note concerning a discussion of 10 March 1943. Here General Nagel requests clear guiding principles and State Counsellor Peuckert asks for "reasonable" recruitment methods to be established by the OKH as the authorized agency. Document 2280-PS is also relevant here, which is the only personal statement made in Riga on 3 May 1943 on this question by the Defendant Sauckel. There he states that only "all permissible means" are allowed. Document 3010-PS, Economy Inspection South, may also be quoted, in which on 17 August 1943 the use of "all suitable means" is permitted. Orders are issued which contain severe measures in case of noncompliance with the duty to work: deprivation of ration and clothing cards. Imprisonment of relatives is threatened, as well as the taking of hostages. What is the position as to the admissibility of such measures? The deprivation of food cards has today become a generally applied means of coercion based on the rationing system, which derives from present-day conditions. It is easily carried out and does not require any special executive force, while being extremely effective. Concerning the imprisonment of relatives, severe violations of personal custody can be recorded even today.
DR. SERVATIUS: The Hague Convention on Land Warfare offers protection only against collective punishment of the population, but it does not protect the members of the family who may be considered as sharing the responsibility in the case of a refusal to work. The French law of 11 June 1943, which was presented as Document RF-80, also provides for such imprisonment only in the case of deliberate co-operation. . There finally remains the shooting of a prefect, which the Defendant Sauckel demanded. Apart from the fact that this statement as such is irrelevant from the point of view of criminal law, because it was not actually carried out, its legal import is merely a request to apply the existing French law. This law has been submitted by the Prosecution as Document RF-25, a decree of 31 January 1943 by the military commander in France, Article 2 of which provides for the death penalty. Equally misunderstood by the Prosecution is a statement uttered by the Defendant Sauckel according to which one should handcuff the workers in a polite way (Document RF-86, Page 10, negotiation by Sauckel in Paris on 27 August 1943). But as appears from the context, the point in question is merely a comparison between the clumsy manner of the Police and the obliging manner of the French; handcuffing was not thereby especially advocated as a method of mobilization: Clean, correct, and Prussian on the one hand while at the same time obliging and polite on the other; that is how the work was to have been done. I also refer to the proposal for "shanghaiing" as described in Document R-124, Page 1770, which is known to the Tribunal from the proceedings. The statement which the Defendant Sauckel has made gives an understandable explanation; according to it, this was legally a preliminary recruitment intended to induce the workers to agree to the real enlistment later on in the official recruitment offices.
DR. SERVATIUS: These various incidents-shooting of a prefect, handcuffing, and shanghaiing-may be explained in various ways, but one can reach a complete understanding of the subjective side only if one considers why these statements were made, and under what conditions. The underlying reason for all these statements is the struggle against resistance and sabotage which in France assumed ever greater pros portions. Therefore it is not a question of brutality and cynicism; rather were these statements intended to counteract the indecision displayed by the authorities. Another consideration which must be appended here is whether the Defendant Sauckel had not exhausted the manpower of the country by his measures to such an extent that more workers could only be obtained by inhuman methods and that the Defendant Sauckel must have known this. The important point here is the figure for the "quotas." It has been established that they were high, but it has also been established that they were not fixed arbitrarily, but only after a careful study by the statistical department. Only a small percentage of the population was actually apprehended, and the decisive issue was not so much their inability to perform the work required as their will to offer resistance. In the occupied territories of the East were large reserves of manpower, especially among older adolescents, which were not effectively utilized. The German troops, their ranks greatly thinned, saw the densely populated villages dig their retreat, and then felt the impact of the enemy thus reinforced shortly afterward. In France there were likewise many forces which placed themselves under the protection of the Maquis or the "blocked factories." This is confirmed not only by the French Government Report, Document Number RF-22, but is also apparent from a remark which Kehrl, a witness for the Codefendant Speer, made in the Central Planning Board on 1 March 1944, Document R-124, Page 66. This witness states there that labor was available on an abundant scale in France.
DR. SERVATIUS: Another conclusive contribution here is Document 1764-PS, Page 6, which is the report by Minister Hemmen of 15 February 1944, which deals with the "Reconstruction Program" of Marshal Petain, and points out that the population was unscathed by war and was increasing by 300,000 young men every year. If the number of workers mobilized is deemed to be of importance in this connection, it must be compared with the total population figures, while on the other hand it should be taken into consideration that Germany did not demand anything which she did not ask of herself to an even higher degree. The Defendant Sauckel was forced to the conclusion that the people, instead of being unable to work, did not want to do so. In order to influence the people the propaganda struggle intensified, and threats of punishment were proclaimed by both parties; this first engendered in the population of the occupied territories a conflict of feelings which was the undoing of many. The Defendant Sauckel could with good reason refer to the results of the counterpropaganda and of the deteriorating war situation as necessitating coercion; he could not, however, on the basis of the information at his disposal become convinced that the exhaustion of the countries was so great that nothing more could be extracted from them without the use of inhuman methods. The Defendant Sauckel believed he could obtain his object by creating special working conditions rather than by using violence. As an example I refer to the promise which Sauckel himself gave on 3 May 1943 in Riga, Document 2228-PS. Apart from all this there is one more field of labor procurement which must be put in a different category. That is the liberation of prisoners of war on condition that labor forces be made available for Germany by "releve" or "transformation." The French Government Report RF-22 declares both methods of procuring labor forces to be inadmissible.
DR. SERVATIUS: It is pointed out in the report that the exchange on the basis of "releve" amounted to the enslavement of a roughly threefold number of French workers. Against this it must be stated that the replacement workers came only for 6 months for voluntary work and in succession. At the end of 18 months all workers were free, while the prisoner was liberated immediately. Coercion for the execution of the "releve" did not exist. From a legal point of view it was not assailable. Captivity can be terminated at any time; release may be made subject to a condition. The French report unduly stresses its moral indignation in quoting a phrase of the president of a news agency of the United States; this phrase speaks of the "abominable choice of either to work for the hereditary enemy or to deprive a son of one's own country of a chance of release from captivity." To refute this, I refer to the healthy sentiment according to which in the older Russian literature such a change was applauded as a patriotic and magnanimous deed during the Nordic War. Neither the King of Sweden nor Peter the Great seems to have considered exchange as equal to replacement by a substitute slave. The "transformation" ("Erleichtertes Statut") is contained in Document Number Sauckel-101. This is the release of a Frenchman from captivity if he accepts other work, or under condition that an additional French worker should come to Germany according to the "releve" regulations. No prisoner of war was forced in this manner to change his legal status, but whole camps volunteered for it. If a prisoner made use of the possibility offered, he forfeited thereby the special legal protection of the Geneva Convention with regard to work; but this was done in agreement with his government, and thus does not constitute a violation of international law. The home furlough connected with the change-over was discontinued because the men granted these furloughs did not return, even in the case of the first convoys.