Eighteenth Day:
Wednesday, 12th December, 1945
[Page 330]
Milch: We have made a request for an order that a
certain percentage of men in the anti-aircraft artillery
must be Russians. 50,000 will be taken altogether,
30,000 are already employed as gunners. This is an
amusing thing that Russians must work the guns." [Page 331]
The Fuehrer has now ordered that even the working power
of the Russian prisoners of war should be utilised to a
large extent by large scale assignments for the
requirements of the war industry. The prerequisite for
production is adequate nourishment. Also very small
wages are to be planned for the most modest supply, with
a few consumers' goods for everyday life as eventual
rewards for production."
(b) Suitable armament factories which have to be
selected in such a way that their personnel should
consist in the majority of prisoners of war under
guidance and supervision (eventually after withdrawal
and other employment of the German workers). [Page 332]
(b) Transportation (construction of locomotives and
cars, repair shops). Railroad repair and industry
workers are to be sought out from the prisoners of
war. Railroad is most important means of
transportation in the East.
(c) Armament Industries. Preferably factories of
armour and guns. Possibly also construction of parts
for aeroplane engines. Suitable complete sections of
factories to be manned exclusively by Russians. For
the remainder, employment in columns. Use in factories
of tool machinery, production of farm tractors,
generators, etc. In emergency, erect in individual
places barracks for occasional workers who are used as
unloading details and for similar purposes. (Reich
Minister of the Interior through communal
authorities.)
No employment where danger to men or their supply
exists, that is, factories exposed to explosives,
waterworks, powerworks, etc. No contact with German
population, especially no 'solidarity'. German worker as
a rule is foreman of Russians.
Food is a matter of the Four Year Plan. Supply their own
food (cats, horses, etc.)
Clothes, billeting, messing somewhat better than at home
where part of the people live in caverns.
Supply of shoes for Russians as a rule wooden shoes; if
necessary install Russian shoe repair shops.
Examination of physical fitness in order to avoid
importation of diseases.
Clearing of mines as a rule by Russians; if possible by
selected Russian engineers." [Page 333]
In the spring of 1942 these conspirators turned to the
concentration camps as a further source of slave labour for
the armament industry. I refer to a new Document R-129,
being Exhibit USA 217. This document is a letter to Himmler,
the Reichsfuehrer S. S., dated the 30th April, 1942, from
one of his subordinates, an individual named Pohl, S.S.
Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen S.S.; and I
wish to quote directly from the first page of that document.
[Page 334]
2. From this knowledge some necessary measures result
with the aim of transforming the concentration camps
into organisations more suitable for the economic tasks,
whilst they were formerly merely politically interested.
3. For this reason I gathered together all the leaders of
the former inspectorate of concentration camps, all camp
commanders, and all managers and supervisors of work on
23rd and 24th April, 1942; I explained personally to
them this new development. I compiled in the order
attached the main essentials, which have to be brought
into effect with the utmost urgency if the commencement
of work for the purposes of the armament industry is not
to be delayed."
5. There is no limit to working hours. Their duration
depends on the kind of working establishments in the
camps and the kind of work to be done. They are fixed by
the camp commanders alone.
6 .Any circumstances which may result in a shortening of
working hours (e.g. meals, roll-calls) have therefore to
be restricted to the minimum which cannot be condensed
any more. It is forbidden to allow long walks to work,
and noon intervals are only for eating purposes."
THE PRESIDENT: Do you think it will be convenient to break
off now for a few minutes?
MR. DODD: Very well.
(A recess was taken.)
MR. DODD: At the recess time I had made reference to
Document 654-PS which is Exhibit USA 218. This document is a
memorandum of an agreement between Himmler, Reichsfuehrer
S.S., and the Minister of Justice,
[Page 335] [
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(Part 7 of 9)
[MR. DODD continuies]
"In addition to the labour allotted to the total German
economy by the Arbeitseinsatz since I took office, the
Organisation Todt was supplied with new labour
continually ". Thus: "The Arbeitseinsatz has done
everything to help make possible the completion of the
Atlantic Wall."
Similarly, Russian civilians were forced into labour
battalions and compelled to build fortifications to be used
against their own countrymen. In Document 031-PS, in
evidence as Exhibit USA 171, which is a memorandum of the
Rosenberg Ministry, it is stated in Paragraph 1 at Page 1 of
that document:-
"The men and women in the theatres of operations have
been-and will be conscripted into labour battalions to
be used in the construction of fortifications."
In addition, the conspirators compelled prisoners of war to
engage in operations of war against their own country and
its allies. At a meeting of the Central Planning Board,
again held on 19th February, 1943, attended by the defendant
Speer and the defendant Sauckel and Field Marshal Milch, the
following conversation occurred and is recorded in out
Document R-124, at Page 32, Paragraph 5, of the English
text. It is Page 20, the last paragraph, of the German text,
and I quote it, the defendant Sauckel speaking:-
"Sauckel: If any prisoners are taken there, they will be
needed.
We refer now to Documents 3027 and 3028. They are
respectively Exhibits USA 211 and 212. They will be found at
the very back, I believe, of the document book, in a
separate manila folder. They are official German Army
photographs, and if your Honours will examine Document 3027-
PS the caption states that Russian prisoners of war are
acting as ammunition bearers during the attack upon
Tschedowe. Document 3028-PS consists of a series of official
German Army photographs taken in July and August, 1941,
showing Russian prisoners of war in Latvia and the Ukraine
being compelled to load and unload ammunition trains and
trucks, and being required to stack ammunition, all, we say,
in flagrant disregard of the rules of International Law,
particularly Article 6 of the regulations annexed to The
Hague Convention, No. IV of 1907, which provides that the
tasks of prisoners of war shall have no connection with the
operations of war. The use of prisoners of war in the German
armament industry was as widespread and as extensive almost
as in the use of the forced foreign civilian labour. We
refer to Document 3005-PS, which is Exhibit USA 213. This
document is a secret letter from the Reich Minister of
Labour to the presidents of the Regional Labour Exchange
Offices, which refers to an order of the defendant Goering
to the effect that - I quote now from Paragraph 1 of that
document - I am quoting it directly:-
"Upon personal order of the Reich Marshal 100,000 men
are to be taken from among the French prisoners of war
not yet employed in
A similar policy was followed with respect to Russian,
prisoners of war. The defendant Keitel directed the
execution of Hitler's order to use prisoners of war in the
German war economy, and I now make reference to our Document
EC-194, which is Exhibit USA 24. This document is also a
secret memorandum, according to its label, issued from
Hitler's Headquarters on the 31st October, 1941, and I read
from Page 1, Paragraphs 1 and 2, quoting it directly as
follows:-
"The lack of workers is becoming an increasingly
dangerous hindrance for the future German war and
armament industry. The expected relief through
discharges from the Armed Forces is uncertain as to the
extent and date; however, even its greatest possible
extent will by no means correspond to expectations and
requirements in view of the great demand.
And quoting now from the same document, Paragraph 2, II and
III - I am quoting directly:-
"II. Construction and Armament Industry.
The defendant Goering, at a conference at the Air Ministry
on the 7th November, 1941, also discussed the use of
prisoners of war in the armament industry. We refer now to
our Document 1206-PS, which becomes
(a) Work units for construction of all kinds,
particularly for the fortification of coastal
defences (concrete workers unloading units for
essential war plants.)
III. Other War Industries.
(a) Mining as under 11 (b).
(b) Railroad construction units for building tracks,
etc.
(c) Agriculture and forestry in closed units. The
utilisation of Russian prisoners of war is to be
regulated on the basis of the above examples by:
To I. The Armed Forces.
To II. The Reich Minister for Armament and
Munitions and the Inspector General for the German
Road System in agreement with the Reich Minister
for Labour and Supreme Commander of the Armed
Forces. Deputies of the Reich Minister for
Armament and Munitions are to be admitted to the
prisoner of war camps to assist in the selection
of skilled workers." "The Fuehrer's point of view as to employment of
prisoners of war in war industries has changed
basically. So far a total Of 5,000,000 prisoners of war-
employed so far 2,000,000."
And on Page 2:-
"In the Interior and the Protectorate it would be ideal
if entire factories could be manned by Russian prisoners
of war except the employees necessary for direction. For
employment in the Interior and the Protectorate the
following are to have priority:-
The defendant Goering was not the only one of these
defendants who sponsored and applied the policy for using
prisoners of war in the armament industry. The defendant
Speer also sponsored and applied this same policy of using
prisoners of war in the armament industry. And we refer to
Document 1435-PS, which is Exhibit USA 20. This document is
a
(a) At the top, coal mining industry. Order by the
Fuehrer to investigate all mines as to suitability
for employment of Russians, at times manning the
entire plant with Russian labourers.
O.K.W./ A.W.A. is competent for transporting Russian
prisoners of war employment through 'Planning Board for
Employment of all prisoners of war.' If necessary,
offices of Reich Commissariats.
"I therefore proposed to the Fi1hrer at the end of
December, that all my labour force, including
specialists, be released for mass employment in the
East. Subsequently the remaining prisoners of war, about
10,000, were put at the disposal of the armament
industry by me."
He also reported at the 36th meeting of the Central Planning
Board, held on 22nd April, 1943, that only 30 per cent. of
the Russian prisoners of war were engaged in the armament
industry. This the defendant Speer found unsatisfactory.
Referring again to Document R-124, the minutes of the
Central Planning Board, and particularly to Page 17 of that
document, and to Paragraph 10 of the English text, and Page
14, Paragraph 7 of the German text, we find this statement
by the defendant Speer: quoting directly:-
"There is a specified statement showing in what sectors
the Russian prisoners of war have been distributed, and
this statement is quite interesting. It shows that the
armaments industry only received 30 per cent. I always
complained about this."
At Page 20 of the same Document, R-124, Paragraph 11 on Page
20 of the English text, and Page 14, the last paragraph of
the German text, the defendant Speer stated, and I quote
from that paragraph directly:-
"The 90,000 Russian prisoners of war employed in the
whole of the armament industry are for the greatest part
skilled men."
The defendant Sauckel, who was appointed Plenipotentiary
General for the utilisation of labour for the express
purpose, among others, of integrating prisoners of war into
the German war industry, made it plain that prisoners of war
were to be compelled to serve the German armament industry.
His labour mobilisation programme, which is Document 016-PS,
already marked Exhibit USA 168, contains this statement on
Page 6, Paragraph 10 of the English text, and Page 9,
Paragraph 1 of the German text:-
"All prisoners of war, from the territories of the West
as well as of the East, actually in Germany, must be
completely incorporated into the German armament and
nutrition industries. Their production must be brought
to the highest possible level."
I wish to turn now from the exploitation of foreign labour
in general to a rather special Nazi programme which appears
to us to have combined the brutality and the purposes of the
slave labour programme with those of the concentration camp.
The Nazis placed all Allied nationals in concentration camps
and forced them, along with the other inmates of the
concentration camps, to work under conditions which were set
actually to exterminate them. This was what we call the Nazi
programme of "extermination through work".
"Today I report about the present situation of the
concentration camps and about measures I have taken to
carry out your order of 3rd March, 1942."
"1. The war has brought about a marked change in the
structure of the concentration camps and has changed
their duties with regard to the employment of the
prisoners. The custody of prisoners for the sole reasons
of security, education, or prevention is no longer the
main consideration. The mobilisation of all prisoners
who are fit for work for purposes of the war now, and
for purposes of construction in the forthcoming peace,
comes to the foreground more and more.
Now, the order referred to in that third paragraph set the
framework for a programme of relentless exploitation,
providing in part as follows; and I now refer to the
enclosure appended to the quoted letter which is also a part
of Document R-129, found at Page 3, Paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of
the English text, and Page 3 of the German text:-
"4. The camp commander alone is responsible for the
employment of the labour available. This employment must
be, in the true meaning of the word, exhaustive, in
order to obtain the greatest measure of performance.
Work is allotted by the Chief of the Department D
centrally and alone. The camp commanders themselves may
not accept, on their own initiative, work offered by
third parties, and may not negotiate about it.
The armament production programme we have just described was
not merely a scheme for mobilising the manpower potential of
the camps. It actually was integrated directly into the
larger Nazi programme of extermination; and I wish to refer
at this point to our Document 654-PS, being Exhibit USA 218.
"2. The transfer of anti-social elements from prison to
the Reichsfuehrer for extermination through work.
Persons under protective arrest, Jews, Gypsies, Russians
and Ukrainians, Poles with more than three-year
sentences, Czechs and Germans with more than eight-year
sentences, according to the decision of the Reich
Minister for justice. First of all the worst anti-social
elements amongst those just mentioned are to be handed
over. I shall inform the Fuehrer of this through
Reichsleiter Bormann."