dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
M. HERZOG: "The accompanying note furnishes some examples of the guard services which have thus been imposed upon Frenchmen, services which before this were assumed by the German Army and which normally fall to the latter, since it is a question of participating in watches or of preserving the German Army from risks arising from the state of war existing between Germany and Great Britain." The occupying authorities, in the face of the resistance which they encountered, were anxious that their orders regarding the requisition of labor should be obeyed. The measures which they took to this end are just as illegal as the measures taken for the requisition itself. The National Socialist authorities in occupied France proceeded by way of legislation. They promulgated ordinances by which sentence of death could be pronounced against persons disobeying requisition orders. I submit two of these ordinances to the Tribunal as evidence. The first was given in the early months of the occupation, 10 October 1940. It was published in the Verordnungsblatt for the occupied territory of France on 17 October 1940, Page 108. 1 submit it to the Tribunal under Document Number RF-24, and I read it: "Ordinance concerning protection against acts of sabotage, 10 October 1940. "By virtue of the powers which have been conferred upon me by the Fuehrer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, I decree the following: "I. Whoever intentionally does not fulfill or fulfills inadequately the tasks of surveillance which are imposed upon him by the Chief of the Military Administration in France, or by an authority designated by the latter, shall be condemned to death." I skip Paragraph 2 and read Paragraph 3: "In less serious cases concerning infractions of Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the present ordinance, and in case of negligence, punishment by solitary confinement with hard labor or imprisonment may be imposed." The second ordinance of the Military Commander in France to which I refer is dated 31 January 1942.
M. HERZOG: It was published in the Verordnungsblatt of France of 3 February 1942, Page 338. 1 submit it to the Tribunal under Document Number RF-25 and I read: "Ordinance of 31 January 1942 concerning the requisition of service and goods. "By virtue of the plenary powers which have been conferred on me by the Fuehrer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, I decree the following: "1. Whoever fails to comply with these requisitions of service or goods which are imposed upon him by the Military Commander in France, or an authority designated by him, or who performs them in such a manner as to imperil or make fail the purpose of the services or requisitions, shall be punished by penal servitude, imprisonment, or fine. A fine may be imposed in addition to penal servitude or imprisonment. "2. In serious cases the penalty of death may be inflicted." These ordinances were protested against by the French authorities. General Doyen protested on several occasions against the first of these without his protest having any effect. I refer again to his letter of 25 May 1941, which I have just submitted to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number RF-23 (Document Number F-283), and I read on Page 3 of the French text, Page 4 of the German translation: "I am instructed to lodge a formal protest with you against such practices and to beg you to intervene so that an immediate end may be put to this. "On 16 November, in letter Number 7,843/A.E, I already protested against the ordinance that was decreed on 10 October 1940, by the Chief of the Military Administration in France, which provided the death penalty for any person failing to carry out or carrying out inadequately the tasks of surveillance imposed by the occupation authorities. I protested then that this demand, as well as the penalty, was contrary to the spirit of the Armistice Convention, the object of which was to relieve the French population from any participation in the hostilities.
M. HERZOG: "I had limited myself to this protest in principle because at the time no concrete case in which such a task of surveillance might have been imposed had been called to my attention. But it was not possible to accept as justification of the ordinance in question the arguments which you gave me in your letter Number 1361 of 6 March. "You did indeed point out there that Article 43 of the Hague Convention gave the occupying power the authority to legislate, but the power to which you refer in the said article is subject to two qualifications: There can be legislation only to establish and secure public order and life as far as it is possible. On the other hand, the ordinances decreed must..."
THE PRESIDENT: Isn't it enough to show that General Doyen protested? It is not necessary to read all the argument which was put forward on the one side or the other.
M. HERZOG: I shall then stop this quotation, Mr. President. The German ordinances which I have just read to the Tribunal thus contained formal violations of the general principles of international criminal legislation; they were decreed in contradiction to Article 52 of the Annex to the fourth convention of The Hague and also in contradiction to Article 43 , on which they were supposed to be based. They were, therefore, illegal and they were criminal, since they provided death sentences which no international law or domestic law justifies. The system of the requisition of service furnishes the first example of the criminal character of the methods pursued by the defendants in the execution of their plan of recruitment of foreign labor. The National Socialist authorities then had recourse to a second procedure to give an appearance of legality to the recruiting of foreign workers. They called upon workers who were so-called volunteers. From 1940 on, the occupation authorities opened recruiting offices in all the large cities of the occupied territories. These offices were placed under the control of a special service instituted for this purpose within the general staff of the commanders-in-chief of occupation zones. The Tribunal knows that these services from 1940 to 1942 functioned under the control of the generals. From 1942 on, and more precisely, from the day when the Defendant Sauckel became the Plenipotentiary for Allocation. of Labor, they received their orders directly from the latter. General Von Falkenhausen, Commander-in-Chief in Belgium and in the north of France, declared in the testimony which I have just read to the Tribunal that from the summer of 1942 he had become the simple intermediary charged with transmitting the instructions given by Sauckel to the Arbeitseinsatz. Thus, the policy of the German employment offices set up in the occupied areas was carried out from 1942 under the sole responsibility of the Defendant Sauckel and his direct chief, the Delegate for the Four Year Plan, the Defendant Goering I ask the Tribunal to take note of this.
M. HERZOG: The task of the employment offices was to organize the recruiting of workers for the factories and workshops set up in Europe by the Todt Organization and by the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe and other German organizations. It was also their task to procure for the German munition factories the amount of foreign labor needed. Workers recruited in this way signed a labor contract; thus they had, theoretically, the status of free workers and were apparently volunteers. The occupation authorities always made a point of the voluntary nature of the recruiting carried out by the employment offices, but the line followed by their propaganda systematically ignored what they were actually doing. In fact, the voluntary character of this recruiting was entirely fictitious; the workers of the occupied areas who agreed to sign German labor contracts were subject to physical and moral pressure. This pressure took several forms. It was sometimes collective and sometimes individual. In an its forms it was heavy enough to deprive the workers, who were its victims, of their freedom of choice. The nullity of contracts entered into under the sway of violence is a fundamental principle of law common to all civilized nations. It is found just as expressly stated in German law as in the laws of the powers represented in the Court, or the states occupied by Germany. The German employment offices forced on the foreign workers labor contracts which had no legal significance because they were obtained with violence. I assert this and I will try to provide the Court with proof of my assertion. First of all, I will show proof of premeditation by the Germans. The pressure under which the foreign workers suffered was not the result of sporadic action on the part of subordinate authorities. It came from the deliberate intent which the National Socialist leaders of Germany formulated into precise instructions. I submit to the Tribunal Document 1183-PS, which is Exhibit Number RF-26. This is a circular dated 29 January 1942, dealing with the recruitment of foreign workers.
M. HERZOG: This directive comes from a section of the Arbeitseinsatz; of the Delegate for the Four Year Plan. It bears the signature of the section chief, Dr. Mansfeld, but it places the executive responsibility directly on the Defendant Goering Delegate for the Four Year Plan. I read this circular: "Berlin (SW 11), 29 January 1942, Saarlandstrasse 96. "Subject: Increased mobilization of labor for the German Reich from the occupied territories and preparations for mobilization by force. "The labor shortage, aggravated on the one hand by drafts for the Wehrmacht and on the other hand by the increased amount of work for armaments in the Reich, renders it necessary for labor for service in the Reich to be recruited from the occupied territories to a much greater extent than heretofore, in order to relieve the shortage. "Therefore, any and all methods must be adopted which make it possible to transport, without exception and at once, for employment in the Reich, manpower in the occupied territories which is unemployed or which can be released... for use in Germany after most careful screening." I read further on Page 2 of the German text: "In the first place, this mobilization shall be carried out on a voluntary basis as hitherto. For this reason recruitment for employment in the German Reich must be intensified considerably. If, however, satisfactory results are to be obtained, the German authorities who are operating in the occupied territories must be able to exert any pressure necessary to support the voluntary recruitment of labor for employment in Germany. "Accordingly, as far as may be necessary, the regulations in force in the occupied territories with regard to changing the place of employment or... those refusing work, must be tightened. Supplementary regulations concerning distribution of labor must, above all, insure that older persons who are exempt will be used to replace younger persons so that the latter may be made available for the Reich.
M. HERZOG: A far-reaching reduction in the amount of relief granted by public welfare must also be effected in order to induce laborers to accept employment in the Reich. Unemployment relief must be set so low that the amount, in comparison with the average wages in the Reich and the possibilities there for sending remittances home, may serve as an inducement to the workers to accept employment in Germany. When refusal to accept work in the Reich is not justified, relief must be reduced to an amount barely sufficient for subsistence or even cancelled. In this case partial withdrawal of ration cards and an assignment to particularly heavy compulsory work may be considered." I here end the quotation and I call to the Tribunal's attention that this circular is addressed to all the services responsible for labor in the occupied areas. Its distribution in Western Europe was: The Reich Commissioner for the occupied Norwegian territories, the Reich Commissioner for the occupied Dutch territories, the Chief of the Military Administration of Belgium and Northern France, the Chief of the Military Administration of France, the Chief of the Civil Administration of Luxembourg, the Chief of the Civil Administration at Metz, and the Chief of the Civil Administration at Strasbourg. It is thus proved that a general common plan existed with a view to compelling the workers of the occupied territories to work for Germany. I have now to show how this plan was put into practice in the different occupation zones. The machinery of pressure which the National Socialist authorities exerted on the foreign workers can be analyzed in the following manner: German labor offices organized intense propaganda in favor of the recruitment of foreign workers. This propaganda was intended to deceive the workers of the occupied areas with regard to the material advantages offered them by the German employment offices. It was carried out by the press, the radio, and by every possible means of publicity.
M. HERZOG: This propaganda was also carried on as a side-line to official administrative duties by secret organizations which had been given the task of enticing foreign workers and subjecting them to a veritable impressment. These measures proved to be insufficient. The occupation authorities then intervened in the social life of the occupied countries. They strove to produce artificial unemployment there and at the same time they devoted their energies to making living conditions worse for the workers and the unemployed. In spite of unemployment and the poverty with which they were threatened, the foreign workers showed themselves unmoved by German propaganda. This is why the German authorities finally resorted to direct methods of pressure. They exercised pressure on the political authorities of the occupied countries to make them give support to the recruiting campaign. They compelled employers, especially the organizational committees in France, to induce their workers to accept the labor contracts of the German employment offices. Finally, they took action by way of direct pressure on the workers and gradually passed from so-called voluntary recruitment to conscription by force. The fiction of voluntary enrollment was dispelled by the sight of the individual arrests and collective raids of which the workers of the occupied areas rapidly became the victims. There are innumerable documents providing proof of the facts which I relate. I shall submit the most important of these to the Tribunal. The documents which show proof of the publicity campaigns made in France by the German administration will be submitted to the Tribunal by M. Edgar Faure in the course of his brief concerning Germanization and Nazification. By way of example I wish to make use of a document which in the French classification bears the Document Number F-516, which I submit under Exhibit Number RF-27.
M. HERZOG: This is a report of the Prefect of the Department of the North to the Delegate of the Minister of the Interior in the General Delegation of the French Government in the Occupied Territories. This report points out that a German publicity car circulated through the community of Lille in order to induce French workers to go to Germany. I quote the report: "Lille, 25 March 1942. Prefect of the Region of the North, Prefect of the Lille Region, to the Prefect, Delegate of the Minister of the Interior with the General Delegation of the French Government in the Occupied Territories. "Subject: German publicity car. "I have the honor to inform you that for some days a publicity car covered with posters inviting French workers to enroll for work in Germany has been circulating in the vicinity of Lille, while a loud-speaker plays a whole repertoire of records of French music, among which are featured the 'Marche Lorraine and the hymn Marechal Here We Are.'
THE PRESIDENT: I think we will adjourn until 2 o'clock. [The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours.] Afternoon Session
M. HERZOG: Mr. President, Your Honors. I showed you this morning what the official propaganda was which was conducted by the German offices in France to persuade workers to enroll for work in Germany. The effect of this official propaganda was reinforced by the clandestine recruitment bureaus. Real dens for clandestine recruiting were organized by the occupation authorities apart from the administrative services whose activities they completed. These recruitment bureaus were directed by German agents who often succeeded in securing local accomplices. In France these bureaus extended their ramifications to the non-occupied zone as well as the occupied zone. Several documents prove their existence. The first among them is a report transmitted on 7 March 1942 by the Vice President of the Council of Ministers of the de facto Government of Vichy, to the Delegate General for Franco-German Economic Relations. It is Document F-654 of the French archives. This report is drawn up under the seal of Vice President of the Council, Darlan. It bears the signature of an officer of the latter's General Staff, Commander Fontaine. I submit this report under Exhibit Number RF-28 (Document F-654) and I read it: "Vichy, 7 March 1942. Your Honor, the Delegate General, I have the honor of transmitting to you in this letter, for your. information, a report on the organization of recruitment in France of workers for German industry." I now go to Page 2. "26 of February 1942. Secret. Note on the organization of the recruitment in France of workers for German industry. Source: excellent. "I. Organization of the recruitment of workers in France. "One of the main organizations for the recruitment of workers in France for Germany is to be Societe de Mecanique de la Seine, whose head office is in Puteaux, Seine, at 8 Quai National, and which is also known as A. M. S. "This society is to operate under the secret control of the Kommandantur, and of three engineers, one of which is to have the rank of chief engineer and the other two are to be M. Meyer and M. Schronner.
M. HERZOG: "In addition to the work which it has to carry out, this society is particularly entrusted with the re-education of workers recruited in France and sent to Germany at the request of German industrial firms on payment of premiums. "The A. M. S. is assisted in these operations in the Occupied Zone by three centers of recruiting which operate in Paris and are the Porte de Vincennes Center, the Courbevoie Center (200 Boulevard St. Denis), and the Avenue des Tournelles Center. These centers are also charged with co-ordinating the operations of recruitment in the non-occupied zone. For this zone, the two principal centers are in Marseilles and Toulouse. A third center is to be at Tarbes. "a) The center at Marseilles is in charge of the recruitment in the Mediterranean zone, under the direction of Mr. Meyer who is mentioned above. The address of this engineer is not known, but one can obtain information about him at 24 Avenue Kleber, Paris, at the Military Commander's. "In Marseilles the A.M. S. office is situated at 83 Rue de Sylvabelle. In his task Mr. Meyer is assisted by M. Ringo, who lives in Madrague-Ville, 5 bis Boulevard Bernabo, near the slaughter house." I stop this quotation here to submit to the Tribunal the correspondence exchanged between the months of December 1941 and January 1942, between the Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes and the authorities of the Vichy Government. This is Document F-518 which I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number RF-29. This correspondence emphasizes the activity of the German agents in clandestine recruiting, and particularly that of Mr. Meyer, to whom the report of Commander Fontaine, which I have just read, applies. I quote first the letter of 10 December 1941, in which the Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes confirmed the reports which he had previously made on this question. It is the letter which is on the sixth page of the French text and the seventh page of the German text: "Nice, 10 December 1941.
M. HERZOG: The State Counsellor, Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, to His Honor, the State Secretary of the Interior, Secretariat General of the Police, Directorate for Home and Foreign Police. "Subject: The activity of foreign agents, aimed at enticing away skilled workers. "Reference: Your telegrams 12,402 and 12,426 of 28 November 1941; my reports 955 and 986 of 24 November 1941 and 6 December 1941. "In my reports referred to I pointed out to you the activity of recruiting agents who attempted to entice skilled workers on behalf of Germany. "I have the honor of giving you below some additional information gathered on this subject. "The German engineer Meyer and the French subject Bentz stopped on I December 1941 at the Hotel Splendid in Nice, coming from Marseilles." Now, I go on to the third paragraph before the end: "I permit myself to draw your attention particularly to the fact that in Paris they enrolled French workers for Germany." Here I end the quotation. These documents attest to the activity which the clandestine recruiting offices developed. But I am not satisfied merely to point out their existence; I wish to show that these offices operated under the initiative of official administrations and of the German office for labor. The proof is furnished by a statement which the Defendant Sauckel made on 1 March 1944, during the 54th conference of the Central Office for the Four Year Plan. The stenographic report of these conferences has been found. It forms Document R-124, to which my American colleagues have already referred. I submit it again to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number RF-30 and I shall read- from an extract of the minutes of the session of 1 March 1944. This is in Exhibit Number RF-30, in the French text, Page 2, second paragraph; in the German text, Pages 1770 and 1771. 1 quote the page numbers which are at the bottom and on the right of the German original.
M. HERZOG: I read the declaration made by the Defendant Sauckel: "The most abominable point against which I have to fight is the claim that there is no organization in these districts properly to recruit Frenchmen, Belgians, and Italians and to dispatch them to work. So I have even proceeded to employ and train a whole staff of French and Italian agents of both sexes who for good pay, just as was done in olden times for 'shanghaiing,' go hunting for men and dupe them, using liquor as well as persuasion..." The propaganda of the official services and that of the clandestine recruiting offices proved to be inefficacious. The National Socialist authorities then had to resort to methods of economic pressure. They tried to give to the workers who were to go to Germany the hope of material advantages. I cite in respect to this an ordinance of the Military Commander in Belgium and the North of France, which I submit to the Tribunal. It is an ordinance of 20 July 1942 which appeared in the Verordnungsblatt of Belgium. It exempts from tax Belgian workers who work in German factories. I submit it to the Tribunal under Document Number RF-31. On the other hand, the occupation authorities sought to lower the living standard of workers who remained in the occupied territories. I said that they had made poverty a factor in their recruiting policy. I am going to prove it by showing how they went about creating artificial unemployment in the occupied zones and aggravating the material situation of the unemployed. I remark as a reminder that the German authorities also practiced for this purpose a policy of freezing salaries. This measure aided the recruiting campaign for labor for Germany and had also an economic bearing, and I would like to refer the Tribunal to the explanations which will be given on this point by M. Gerthoffer. Unemployment was produced by two complementary measures: The first is the regulating of the legal working hours; the second, the concentration and, if need be, the closing of industrial enterprises.