Eighteenth Day:
Wednesday, 12th December, 1945
[Page 313] [Page 314]
At the top of the first page there are tables setting forth
the nationality and then the numbers of the various nations,
and other groupings of prisoners of war and politicals, so-
called. The workers alone total, according to Mr. Duess, who
is an expert in this field, the 4,795,000 figure to which I
have just referred. In the second paragraph of this
statement of Duess, I should like to read for the record and
quote directly:-
[Page 315]
Now, these conditions of deportation are vividly described
in Document 054-PS, which is a report made to the defendant
Rosenberg, concerning the treatment of Ukrainian labour. I
wish to refer to Document 054-PS, which is Exhibit USA 198.
Before quoting from it directly, according to this report
the plight of these hapless victims was aggravated because
many were dragged off without opportunity to collect their
possessions. Indeed, men and women were snatched from bed
and lodged in cellars, pending deportation. Some arrived in
night clothing. Brutal guards beat them. They were locked in
railroad cars for long periods without any toilet facilities
at all, without food, without water, without heat. The women
were subjected to physical and moral indignities and
indecencies during medical examinations.
I refer now specifically to this Document 054-PS, which
consists of a covering letter to the defendant Rosenberg,
first of all, and is signed by one Theurer - a Lieutenant in
the Wehrmacht-to which is attached a copy of a report by the
Commandant of the Collecting Centre for Ukrainian
Specialists at Charkow, and it also consists of a letter
written by one of the specialists, in the Rosenberg office -
no, by one of the workers, not in the Rosenberg office, but
one of the specialists they were recruiting, by the name of
Grigori. I wish to quote from the report at Page 2, starting
at Paragraph 4 of the English text, and in the German text
it appears at Page 3, Paragraph 4. Quoting directly from
that page of the English text:-
[Page 316]
I quote from Page 3, Paragraph 3 of Document 054-PS. In the
German text it appears at Page 2, Paragraph 3. Quoting
directly:-
[Page 317]
I refer to Document 984-PS, which is Exhibit USA 199. This
document is an inter-departmental report, prepared by Dr.
Gutkelch, in the defendant Rosenberg's Ministry and it is
dated 30th September, 1942. I wish to quote from Page 10 of
the English text, starting with the fourth line from the top
of the page. In the German text it appears at Page 22,
Paragraph 1. Quoting directly from that paragraph:-
[Page 318]
Once within Germany, slave labourers were subjected to
almost unbelievable brutality and degradation by their
captors; and the character of this treatment was in part
made plain by the conspirators' own statements, as in
Document 016-PS, which is in evidence as Exhibit USA 168,
and I refer to Page 12, Paragraph 2 of the English text; in
the German text it appears at Page 17, Paragraph 4. Quoting
directly:-
"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."
MR. DODD: No, your Honour; Page 26, Paragraph 2. The Page 17
was of the German text; in the English text it is at Page
26.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
MR. DODD: Milch made particular reference to foreign workers
- again in this Document R-124, at Page 26, Paragraph 3; in
the German text it appears at Page 18, Paragraph 3 - when he
said, and I am quoting him directly:-
[Page 319]
An example of this mistreatment is found in the conditions
which prevailed in the Krupp factories. Foreign labourers at
the Krupp works were given insufficient food to enable them
to perform the work required of them.
[
Previous |
Index |
Next ]
Home ·
Site Map ·
What's New? ·
Search
Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.
As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.
(Part 4 of 9)
[MR. DODD continuies]
"There had been some difficulties with the
Arbeitseinsatz, that is, during the man-catching action,
which became very noticeable because
I might say to the Tribunal, that the hordes of people
displaced in Germany today indicate, to a very considerable
extent, the length to which the conspirators' labour
programme proceeded. The best available Allied and German
data reveal that by January, 1945, approximately 4,795,000
foreign civilian workers had been put to work for the German
war effort in the Old Reich, and among them were forced
labourers of more than 14 different nationalities. I now
refer to Document 2520-PS, Exhibit USA 197, which is an
affidavit executed by Edward L. Duess, an economic analyst.
"I, Edward, L. Duess, for three years employed by the
Foreign Economic Administration, Washington, as an
economic analyst in London, Paris and Germany,
specialising in labour and population problems of
Germany during the war, do hereby certify that the
figures of foreign labour employed in the Old Reich have
been compiled on the basis of the best available
material from German and Allied sources. The
accompanying table represents a combination of German
official estimates of foreigners working in Germany in
January, 1945, and of American, British and French
figures of the number of foreigners, actually discovered
in the Old Reich since 10th May, 1945."
Only a very small proportion of these imported labourers
came to Germany on a voluntary basis. At the 1st March,
1944, meeting of this same Central Planning Board, to which
we have made reference before, the defendant Sauckel made
clear himself the vast scale on which free men had been
forced into this labour slavery. He made the statement, and
I quote from Document R-124, which is in evidence as Exhibit
USA 179, and from which I have quoted earlier this morning.
I wish to refer to Page 11 of that document, the middle
paragraph, Paragraph 3. In the German text it appears at
Page 4, Paragraph 2 (the defendant Sauckel speaking), and I
quote directly from that document:-
"Out of five million foreign workers who arrived in
Germany, not even two hundred
thousand came voluntarily."
The Nazi conspirators were not satisfied just to tear five
million odd persons from their children, from their homes,
from their native lands, but in addition, these defendants,
who sit today in this Court room, insisted that this vast
number of wretched human beings, who were in the so-called
Old Reich as forced labourers, must be starved, given less
than sufficient to eat, often
"The starosts, that is the village elders, are
frequently corruptible, they continue to have the
skilled workers, whom they drafted, dragged from their
beds at night to be locked up in cellars until they are
shipped. Since the male and female workers often are not
given any time to pick up their luggage, and so forth,
many arrive at the Collecting Centre for Skilled Workers
with entirely insufficient equipment (without shoes,
only two dresses, no eating and drinking utensils, no
blankets, etc.). In particularly extreme cases, new
arrivals therefore have to be sent back again
immediately to get the things most necessary for them.
If people do not come along at once, threatening and
beating of skilled workers by the above-mentioned
militia is a daily occurrence and is reported from most
of the communities. In some cases women were beaten
until they could no longer march. One bad case in
particular was reported by me to the commander of the
civil police here (Colonel Samek) for severe punishment
(place Sozokinkow, district Dergatschni). The
encroachments of the starosts; and the militia are of a
particularly grave nature because they usually justify
themselves by claiming that all this is done in the name
of the German Armed Forces. In reality, the latter have
conducted themselves throughout in a highly
understanding manner toward the skilled workers and the
Ukrainian population. The same, however, cannot be said
of some of the administrative agencies. To illustrate
this, be it mentioned that a woman once arrived dressed
in little more than a shirt."
Passing now to Page 4 of this same document, starting with
the tenth line of the third paragraph and in the German text
it appears at Page 5, Paragraph 2. Quoting directly again:-
"On the basis of reported incidents, attention must be
called to the fact that it is irresponsible to keep
workers locked in the cars for many hours so that they
cannot even take care of the calls of nature. It is
evident that the people of a transport must be given an
opportunity from time to time, to get drinking water, to
wash, and to relieve themselves. Cars have been shown in
which people had made holes so that they could take care
of the calls of nature. Persons should, if possible,
relieve themselves well before reaching the larger
stations."
Turning to Page 5 of the same document, Paragraph 12, in the
German text it appears at Page 6, Paragraph 1:-
"The following abuses were reported from the delousing
stations: In the women's and girls' shower rooms,
services were partly performed by men, or men would join
in or even help with the soaping and, on the other hand,
there were female personnel in the men's shower rooms;
men also for some time were taking photographs in the
women's shower rooms. Since mainly Ukrainian peasants
were transported in the last months, as far as the
female portion of these are concerned, they were mostly
of a high moral standard and used to strict decency, and
they must have considered such a treatment as a national
degradation. The above-mentioned abuses have been,
according to our knowledge, settled by the intervention
of the transport commanders. The reports of the
photographing were made from Halle; the reports about
the other incidents were made from Kiewerce. Such
incidents, in complete disregard of honour and respect
of the Greater German Reich, may still occur again here
or there."
Sick and infirm people of the occupied countries were taken
indiscriminately with the rest. Those who managed to survive
the trip into Germany, but who arrived too sick to work,
were returned like cattle together with those who fell ill
at work, because they were of no further use to the Germans.
The return trip took place under the same terrible
conditions as the initial journey, and without any kind of
medical supervision. Death came to many and their corpses
were unceremoniously dumped out of the cars, with no
provision for burial.
"Very depressing for the morale of the skilled workers
and the population is the effect of those persons
shipped back from Germany for having become disabled or
not having been fit for labour commitment from the very
beginning. Several times already transports of skilled
workers on their way to Germany have crossed returning
transports of such disabled persons, and have stood on
the tracks alongside of each other for a long time.
These returning transports are insufficiently cared for.
Sick, injured or weak people, mostly 56 to 60 in a car,
are usually escorted by only three to four men. There is
neither sufficient care nor enough food. Those returning
frequently made unfavourable - but surely exaggerated -
statements about their treatment in Germany and on the
way. As a result of all this and of what the people
could see with their own eyes, a psychosis of fear was
evoked among the specialist workers, that is, about the
whole transport to Germany. Several transport leaders of
the 62nd and 63rd in particular reported thereto in
detail. In one case the leader of the transport of
skilled workers
Incredible as it may seem, mothers in the throes of
childbirth shared cars with those infected with tuberculosis
or venereal diseases. Babies, when born, were hurled out of
these car windows and dying persons lay on the bare floors
of freight cars without even the small comfort of straw.
"How necessary this interference was is shown by the
fact that this train with returning labourers had
stopped at the same place where a train with newly
recruited Eastern labourers had stopped. Because of the
corpses in the trainload of returning labourers, a
catastrophe might have been precipitated had it not been
for the mediation of Mrs. Miller. In this train women
gave birth to babies who were thrown out of the windows
during the journey, people having tuberculosis and
venereal diseases rode in the same car, dying people lay
in freight cars without straw, and one of the dead was
thrown on the railway embankment. The same must have
occurred in other returning transports."
Some aspects of the Nazi transport were described by the
defendant Sauckel himself in a decree which he issued on
20th July, 1942; and I refer specifically to Document 2241-
PS 3, which is Exhibit USA 200. I ask that the Tribunal take
judicial notice of the original decree, which is published
in Section B 1 a, at Page 48 e, of a book entitled Die
Beschaeftigung von Auslaendischen Arbeitskraeften in
Deutschland. I quote from Page 1, Paragraph 2, of the
English text, and I am quoting directly:-
"According to reports of transportation commanders
(Transportleiter) presented to me, the special trains
provided for this purpose have frequently been in a really
deficient condition. Numerous window panes have been missing
in the coaches. Old French coaches without lavatories have
been partly employed so that the workers had to fit up an
emptied compartment as a lavatory. In other cases, the
coaches were not heated in winter so that the lavatories
quickly became unusable because the water system was frozen
and the flushing apparatus was therefore without water."
The Tribunal will unquestionably have noticed, or observed,
that a number of the documents which we have referred to -
and which we have offered - consist of complaints by
functionaries of the defendant Rosenberg's Ministry,
"We must also discuss the slackers. Ley has ascertained
that the sick-list decreased to one-fourth or one-fifth
in factories where there are doctors on the staff to
examine the sick men. There is nothing to be said
against S.S. and police taking drastic steps and putting
those known as slackers into concentration camps. There
is no alternative. Let it happen several times and the
news will soon go around."
At a later meeting of the Central Planning Board, Field
Marshal Milch agreed that so far as workers were concerned-
and again I refer to Document R-124, and to Page 26,
Paragraph 2 in the English text; and in the German text at
Page 17, Paragraph 1. Field Marshal Milch, speaking at a
meeting of the Central Planning Board when the defendant
Speer was present, stated - and I am quoting directly:-
"The list of the shirkers should be entrusted to
Himmler's trustworthy hands."
THE PRESIDENT: Page 17?
"It is therefore not possible to exploit fully all the
foreigners unless we put them on piece-work rates, or
are authorised to take measures against those who are
not doing their utmost."