Archive/File: imt/ tgmwc/judgment/j-defendants-sauckel
Last-Modified: 1997/09/22

                          Judgment
                           of the
               International Military Tribunal
                           For The
             Trial of German Major War Criminals

                           London
               His Majesty's Stationery Office
                            1951
                                                            
                                                  [Page 114]

Mr. Biddle:

                           SAUCKEL
                              
Sauckel is indicted under all four Counts. Sauckel joined
the Nazi Party in 1923, and became Gauleiter of Thuringia in
1927. He was a member of the Thuringian legislature from
1927 to 1933, was appointed Reichsstatthalter for Thuringia
in 1932, and Thuringian Minister of the Interior and head of
the Thuringian State Ministry in May, 1933. He became a
member of the Reichstag in 1933. He held the formal rank of
Obergruppenfuehrer in both the SA and the SS.

Crimes against Peace

The evidence has not satisfied the Tribunal that Sauckel was
sufficiently connected with the common plan to wage
aggressive war or sufficiently

                                                  [Page 115]

involved in the planning or waging of the aggressive wars to
allow the Tribunal to convict him on Counts One or Two.

War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity

On 21st March, 1942, Hitler appointed Sauckel
Plenipotentiary General for the Utilization of Labor, with
authority to put under uniform control "the utilization of
all available manpower including that of workers recruited
abroad and of prisoners of war. Sauckel was instructed to
operate within the fabric of the Four Year Plan and on 27th
March, 1942 Goering issued a decree as Commissioner for the
Four Year Plan transferring his manpower sections to
Sauckel. On 30th September, 1942 Hitler gave Sauckel
authority to appoint Commissioners in the various occupied
territories, and "to take all necessary measures for the
enforcement" of the Decree of 21 March

Under the authority which he obtained by these decrees.
Sauckel set up a program for the mobilization of the labor
resources available to the Reich. One of the important parts
of this mobilization was the systematic exploitation, by
force, of the labor resources of the occupied territories.
Shortly after Sauckel had taken office, he had the governing
authorities in the various occupied territories issue
decrees, establishing compulsory labor service in Germany.
Under the authority of these decrees Sauckel's
commissioners, backed up by the police authorities of the
occupied territories, obtained and sent to Germany the
laborers which were necessary to fill the quotas given them
by Sauckel. He described so-called "voluntary" recruiting by
a whole batch of male and female agents just as was done in
the olden times for shanghaiing". That real voluntary
recruiting was the exception rather than the rule is shown
by Sauckel's statement on 1st March, 1944, that "out of five
million foreign workers who arrived in Germany not even
200,000 came voluntarily". Although he now claims that the
statement is not true, the circumstances under which it was
made, as well as the evidence presented before the Tribunal,
leave no doubt that it was substantially accurate.

The manner in which the unfortunate slave laborers were
collected and transported to Germany, and what happened to
them after they arrived, has already been described. Sauckel
argues that he is not responsible for these excesses in the
administration of the program. He says that the total number
of workers to be obtained was set by the demands from
agriculture and from industry; that obtaining the workers
was the responsibility of the occupation authorities.
transporting them to Germany that of the German railways,
and taking care of them in Germany that of the Ministries of
Labor and Agriculture, the German Labor Front, and the
various industries involved. He testifies that insofar as he
had any authority he was constantly urging humane treatment.

There is no doubt, however, that Sauckel had over-all
responsibility for the slave labor program. At the time of
the events in question he did not fail to assert control
over the fields which he now claims were the sole
responsibility of others. His regulations provided that his
commissioners should have authority for obtaining labor, and
he was constantly in the field supervising the steps which
were being taken. He was aware of ruthless methods being
taken to obtain laborers, and vigorously supported them on
the ground that they were necessary to fill the quotas.

Sauckel's regulations also provided that he had
responsibility for transporting the laborers to Germany,
allocating them to employers and taking care of them, and
that the other agencies involved in these processes were

                                                  [Page 116]

subordinate to him. He was informed of the bad conditions
which existed. It does not appear that he advocated
brutality for its own sake, or was an advocate of any
program such as Himmler's plan for extermination through
work. His attitude was thus expressed in a regulation:

     "All the men must be fed, sheltered and treated in
     such a way as to exploit them to the highest
     possible extent at the lowest conceivable degree
     of expenditure."

The evidence shows that Sauckel was in charge of a program
which involved deportation for slave labor of more than
5,000,000 human beings, many of them under terrible
conditions of cruelty and suffering.

Conclusion: The Tribunal finds that Sauckel is not guilty on
Counts One and Two. He is guilty under Counts Three and
Four.

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