Eighteenth Day:
Wednesday, 12th December, 1945
Now, this agreement further provided in Paragraph 12 on Page
2 of the English text, and Page 3, Paragraph 14 of the
German text, as follows:-
The Fuehrer agrees to my proposal that the numerous
factories set up outside towns for A.R.P. reasons should
release their workers for supplementing the second shift
in town factories, and should in return be supplied with
labour from the concentration camps - also two shifts.
I pointed out to the Fuehrer the difficulties which I
expected to encounter if Reichsfuehrer S.S. Himmler
should be able, as he requests, to
[Page 336]
The Fuehrer, however, agrees that Reichsfuehrer S.S.
Himmler should draw advantages from making his prisoners
available; he should get equipment for his division.
I suggest giving him a share in kind (war equipment) in
ratio to the working hours done by his prisoners. A 3 to
5 per cent. share is suggested, the equipment also being
calculated according to working hours. The Fuehrer would
agree to such a solution.
The Fuehrer is prepared to order the additional delivery
of this equipment and weapons to the S. S., according to
a list submitted to him."
THE PRESIDENT: Did you not read that this morning?
MR. DODD: Yes, I did, your Honour. I was reading it again
with particular reference to this feature of the proof.
For example, for "reasons of war necessity" Himmler ordered
that at least 35,000 prisoners qualified for work should be
transferred to concentration camps. I now offer in evidence
Document 1063-PS D, which is Exhibit USA 219. This document
is a Himmler order dated the 17th December, 1942. The order
provides, and I quote in part, beginning with the first
paragraph of that document:-
(1) Up to this date (so far until 1st February, 1943)
all Eastern workers or such foreign workers who have
been fugitives, or who have broken contracts, and who do
not belong to allied, friendly or neutral States are to
be brought by the quickest means to the nearest
concentration camps.
(2) The commanders and the commandants of the Security
Police and the Security Service, and the chiefs of the
State Police Headquarters will check immediately on the
basis of a close and strict ruling:
[Page 337]
Every single labourer counts!"
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, do you understand the last document
you read, 1063-PS to refer to prisoners of war or prisoners
in ordinary prisons or what?
MR. DODD: We understood it to refer to prisoners in ordinary
prisons. In view of the Tribunal's ruling this morning, I
think I should state that, with respect to this
interrogation of defendant Speer, we had provided the
defendants' counsel with the entire text in German. It
happens to be a brief interrogation, and so we were able to
complete that translation, and it has been placed in their
Information Centre.
DR. FLAECHSNER (Counsel for defendant Speer): In reference
to the transcript of the interrogation the reading of which
the prosecutor has just announced, I should like to say the
following:-
MR. DODD: About four days ago, your Honour.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, is there any certification by the
interrogator as to the English translation?
MR. DODD: There is, your Honour. There is a certification at
the end of the interrogation by the interrogator and by the
interpreter, and by the reporter as well. There are three
certifications.
THE PRESIDENT : I think the best course will be in these
circumstances to receive the interrogation now. You will
have an opportunity, by calling the defendant, to show in
what way he alleges, or you allege, that the interrogation
is inaccurately translated.
DR. FLAECHSNER: Thank you, sir.
[Page 338]
THE PRESIDENT: Which page do you refer to?
MR. DODD: I refer to the page bearing the number 16 of the
English text of the transcript of the interrogation and Page
21 of the German text. The answer quoted is:-
MR. DODD: Defendant Goering endorsed this use of
concentration camp labour and asked for more. We refer to
our Document 1584-PS, Part I, which is Exhibit USA 221. This
document is a teletype message from Goering to Himmler dated
14th February, 1944. I quote from the document beginning
with the second sentence:-
Speer recorded his conferences with Hitler on 6th April and
7th April, 1944, in Document R-124, which is Exhibit USA
179, already in evidence. I quote from Page 36 of the
English text, Page 29 of the German text as follows:-
[Page 339]
Their food consisted generally of about one-half of a
pound of black bread per day and a bowl of watery soup
at noon and night, and not always that. Owing to the
great numbers crowded into a small space and to the lack
of adequate sustenance, lice and vermin multiplied,
disease became rampant, and those who did not soon die
of disease or torture began the long, slow process of
starvation. Notwithstanding the deliberate starvation
programme inflicted upon these prisoners by lack of
adequate food, we found no evidence that the people of
Germany, as a whole, were suffering from any lack of
sufficient food or clothing. The contrast was so
striking that the only conclusion which we could reach
was that the starvation of the inmates of these camps
was deliberate.
Upon entrance into these camps, newcomers were forced to
work either at an adjoining war factory or were placed
'in commando' on various jobs in the vicinity, being
returned each night to their stall in the barracks.
Generally a German criminal was placed in charge of each
'block' or shed in which the prisoners slept.
Periodically he would choose the one prisoner of his
block who seemed the most alert or intelligent or showed
most leadership qualities. These would report to the
guards' room and would never be heard of again. The
generally accepted belief of the prisoners was that
these were shot or gassed or hanged and then cremated. A
refusal to work or an infraction of the rules usually
meant flogging and other types of torture, such as
having the fingernails pulled out, and in each case
usually ended in death after extensive suffering. The
policies described constituted a calculated programme of
planned torture and extermination on the part of those
who were in control of the German Government ..." [Page 340]
The policy underlying this programme, the manner in which it
was executed, and the responsibility of the conspirators in
connection with it has been dwelt upon at length. Therefore,
we should like, at this point, to discuss the special
responsibility of the defendant Sauckel.
The defendant Sauckel's appointment as Plenipotentiary
General for Manpower is explained probably first of all by
his having been an old and trusted Nazi. He certified in
Document 2974-PS, dated 17th November, 1945, which is
already in evidence before this Tribunal as Exhibit USA 15,
that he held the following positions:
Starting with his membership in the N.S.D.A.P., he was
thereafter a member of the Reichstag; he was Gauleiter of
Thuringia; he was a member of the Thuringian Legislature; he
was Minister of Interior and head of the Thuringian State
Ministry; he was Reichsstatthalter for Thuringia; he was an
S.A. Obergruppenfuehrer, S. S. Obergruppenfuehrer; he was
Administrator for the Berlin-Suhler Waffen and Fahrzeugwerke
in 1935. He was head of the Gustloff Werke
Nationalsozialistische Industrie-Stiftung, 1936, and the
Honorary Head of the Foundation. And from 21st March, 1942,
until 1945, he was the General Plenipotentiary for Labour
Allocation.
Sauckel's official responsibilities are borne out by
evidence. His appointment as Plenipotentiary General for
Manpower was effected by a decree of 21st March, 1942, which
we have read and which was signed by Hitler, Lammers, and
the defendant Keitel. By that decree Sauckel was given
authority as well as responsibility subordinate only to that
of Hitler, and Goering, who was the head of the Four Year
Plan, subordinate only to those two for all matters relating
to recruitment, allocation, and handling of foreign and
domestic manpower.
The defendant Goering, to whom Sauckel was directly
responsible, abolished the recruitment and allocation
agencies of his Four Year Plan and delegated their powers to
the defendant Sauckel, and placed his far-reaching authority
as deputy for the Four Year Plan at Sauckel's disposal.
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(Part 8 of 9)
[MR. DODD continuies]
"14. It is agreed that, in consideration of the intended
aims of the Government for the clearing up of the
Eastern problems, in future Jews, Poles, Gypsies,
Russians and Ukrainians are no longer to be tried by the
ordinary courts, so far as punishable offences are
concerned, but are to be dealt with by the Reichsfuehrer
S.S. This does not apply to civil lawsuits, nor to Poles
whose names are announced or entered in the German
Racial Lists."
Now, in September, 1942, the defendant Speer made
arrangements to bring this new source of labour within his
jurisdiction. Speer convinced Hitler that significant
production could be obtained only if the concentration camp
prisoners were employed in factories under the technical
control of the Speer Ministry instead of the control in the
camps. In fact, without defendant Speer's co-operation, we
say it would have been most difficult to utilise the
prisoners on any large scale for war production, since he
would not allocate to Himmler the machine tools and other
necessary equipment. Accordingly, it was agreed that the
prisoners were to be exploited in factories under the
defendant Speer's control. To compensate Himmler for
surrendering this jurisdiction to Speer, the defendant Speer
proposed, and Hitler agreed, that Himmler would receive a
share of the armaments' output, fixed in relation to the man
hours contributed by his prisoners. In the minutes of the
defendant Speer's conference with Hitler on 20th, 21st, and
the 22nd September, 1942, Document R-124, which is Exhibit
USA 179, I wish to refer particularly to Page 34 of the
English text. These are the defendant Speer's minutes on
this conference. I am quoting from Page 34, Paragraph 36,
beginning at the middle of the page, and it is at the top of
Page 26 in the German text:-
"I pointed out to the Fuehrer that, apart from an
insignificant amount of work, no possibility exists of
organising armament production in the concentration
camps, because: (1) the machine tools required are
missing; (2) there are no suitable premises. Both these
assets would be available in the armament industry, if
use could be made of them by a second shift.
After a demand for concentration camp labour had been
created, and after a mechanism had been set up by the
defendant Speer for exploiting this labour in armament
factories, measures were evolved for increasing the supply
of victims for extermination through work. A steady flow was
assured by an agreement between Himmler and the Minister of
Justice mentioned above, which was implemented by such
programmes as the following, and I refer to Document L-61,
Exhibit USA 177, and I wish to quote from Paragraph 3. That
document, the Tribunal will recall, is the defendant
Sauckel's letter dated 26th November, 1942, to the
Presidents of the Landes Employment
Offices, and I wish to quote from Paragraph 3 of that
letter.
"The Poles who are to be evacuated as a result of this
measure will be put into concentration camps and put to
work whether they are criminal or asocial elements."
General measures were supplemented by special drives for
persons who would not otherwise have been sent to
concentration camps.
"For reasons of war necessity not to be discussed
further here, the Reichsfuehrer S.S. and Chief of the
German Police on 14th December, 1942, has ordered that
until the end of January, 1943, at least 35,000
prisoners qualified for work, are to be sent to the
concentration camps. In order to reach this number, the
following measures are required:
Measures were also adopted to ensure that this extermination
through work was practised with maximum efficiency.
Subsidiary concentration camps were established near
important war plants. The defendant Speer has admitted that
he personally toured Upper Austria and selected sites for
concentration camps near various munitions factories in the
area. I am about to refer to the transcript of an
interrogation under oath of the defendant Albert Speer.
(a) the prisons,
(b) the labour reformatory camps." It is true that we have received the German transcript of
the English protocol, if one may call it a protocol. A
comparison of the English text with the German transcript
shows that there are, both in the English text and in the
German transcript, mistakes which change the meaning and
which I believe are to be attributed to misunderstandings on
the part of the certifying interpreter. I believe,
therefore, that the so-called protocol, as well as the
English text, does not actually give the contents of what
defendant Speer tried to express during the interrogation.
It would, therefore, not further the establishment of the
truth should this protocol ever be used."
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, when was the German translation
given to counsel for the defendant?
"The fact that we were anxious to use workers from
concentration camps in factories and to establish small
concentration camps near factories in order to use the
manpower that was then available there was a general
one, but it did not come up only in connection with this
trip." - Exhibit USA 270, i.e. Speer's trip to Austria.
THE PRESIDENT: I think I ought to say to defendant's counsel
that if he had waited until he heard that piece of evidence
read, he would have seen that it was quite unnecessary to
make any objection.
"At the same time I ask you to put at my disposal as
great a number of concentration-camp-(K.Z.) convicts as
possible for air armament, as this kind of manpower
proved to be very useful according to previous
experience. The situation of the air war makes
subterranean transfer of industry necessary. For work of
this kind concentration-camp-(K.Z.) convicts can be
especially well concentrated at work and in the camp."
Defendant Speer subsequently assumed responsibility for this
programme and Hitler promised Speer that if the necessary
labour for the programme could not be obtained, 100,000
Hungarian Jews would be brought in by the S.S.
"Suggested to the Fuehrer that, due to lack of builders
and equipment, the second big building project should
not be set up in German territory, but in close vicinity
to the border on suitable soil (preferably on gravel
base and with transport facilities) on French, Belgian
or Dutch territory. The Fuehrer agrees to this
suggestion if the works could be set up behind a
fortified zone. For the suggestion of setting up works
in French territory speaks mainly the fact that it would
be much easier to procure the necessary workers.
Nevertheless, the Fuehrer asks that an attempt be made
to set up the second works in a safer area, namely, in
the Protectorate. If it should prove impossible there,
too, to get hold of the necessary workers, the Fuehrer
himself will contact the Reichsfuehrer S.S. and will
give an order that the required 100,000 men are to be
made available by bringing in Jews from Hungary.
Stressing the fact that the building organisation was a
failure, the Fuehrer demands that these works must be
built by the O.T. exclusively and that the workers
should be made available by the Reichsfuehrer S.S. He
wants to hold a meeting shortly in order to discuss
details with all the men concerned."
"The treatment accorded to these prisoners in the
concentration camps was generally as follows: They were
herded together in some wooden barracks not large enough
for one-tenth of their number. They were forced to sleep
on wooden frames covered with wooden boards in tiers of
two, three and even four, sometimes with no covering,
sometimes with a bundle of dirty rags serving both as
pallet and coverlet.
I quote next from Page 11 of the English text beginning with
the second sentence of Paragraph 2, a description of Camp
Dora at Nordhausen; Page 12, Paragraph 1 of the German text,
quoting as follows:-
"On the whole, we found this camp to have been operated
and administered much in the same manner as Buchenwald
had been operated and managed. When the efficiency of
the workers decreased as a result of the conditions
under which they were required to live, their rations
were decreased as punishment. This brought about a
vicious circle in which the weak became weaker and were
ultimately exterminated."