Archive/File: holocaust/germany/nuremberg west.002 Last-Modified: 1994/12/04 "The French also had a tale to tell of the horrors of forced labour which would only be surpassed in nastiness by that of the Russians. In occupied western Europe men and women were drafted into designated industires. Many of them were forced to work, contrary to all international regulations, on military projects - 248,000 labourers were constructing the Atlantic Wall by March 1943. Worse than forced labour at home was deportation to work in Germany - 1,293,000 people were taken from the West by April 1943. In Germany, they worked on average eleven hours a day (twelve hours in one Krupp factory); for this they received the same daily wage as German workers. They were heavily taxed, they were fined for minor breaches of discipline, they might be deprived of ration cards for up to four weeks as a punishment. The worst fate of all was deportation to concentration camps. Such was the scale, such was the official secrecy on the whereabouts of those seized that the prosecution could still provide no exact figures for those sent to the camps. It was guessed that 6,000 Luxembourgers, 5,200 Danes, 5,400 Norwegians, 12,000 Dutch, 37,000 Belgians had been sent. Of the 250,000 French deported, only 35,000 returned home; sometimes up to 25 per cent would die in the brutal transports on the way. The French brought witnesses to testify to the conditions in those camps. Maurice Lampe described Allied airmen worked and beaten to death at Mauthausen; 400 other prisoners there had been killed because the camp was becoming overcrowded. The defendants could not bear to hear this evidence; several of them removed their headphones.<36> Madame Vaillant Couturier gave details of her experiences at Auschwitz and Ravensbrueck. Her revolting story tumbled out so quickly that the interpreters could not keep up with her. Biddle could only note: 'It is hard to give the impression of the long monotony of horror.' <37> Dr. Duport told of medical experiments at Buchenwald, so did Dr. Balachovsky. Hans Cappeler described the tortures by the Gestapo, how his legs had been inserted into screws, how the flesh had loosened from his bones. On and on went the stories. Listeners could hear no more. The trial is 'being surfeited by the most murderous and revolting record of all time,' said 'The Times.'" (Tusa, 193-4) <36> New York Herald Tribune, 25 January <37> Biddle in Notes on Evidence Vol. III Work Cited Tusa, Ann & John. The Nuremberg Trial. Birmingham, Alabama: The Notable Trials Library, Division of Gryphon Editions, Inc., 1990
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