The National Socialists have always considered that the obligation to work applied as much to war prisoners as to the civilian workers of the occupied territories. They have on many occasions expressed such a belief.
I refer the Tribunal especially to two documents. The first is the decree of the appointment of the accused Sauckel which I have filed with the Tribunal at the beginning of my explanatory remarks. The second document to which I wish to draw the attention of the Tribunal is the first decree of Sauckel, which I submitted sometime ago under No. 17, This decree formulates the principle of the obligation to work, and applies to war prisoners according to the terms of its Article 8. war were to be subject to work in the same degree as civilian workers. This is found in the letter which he wrote to the defendant Rosenberg on April 24, 1942, some days after his appointment to explain his project to him. This is Document 016-PS, which my American Colleague, Mr. Dodd, has already submitted to the Tribunal. I present it as Document No. 45, but I shall not read from it. I find beginning on page 11 of the German Text that the problem of compulsory labor is treated in the general heading entitled, Prisoners of War and foreign Workers." These documents bring a double proof to theTribunal, first of all, they reveal the will of the National Socialists to force prisoners to work in behalf of the German war economy, within the general frame of their recruiting policy. prisoners of war was not due alone to military authorities; this utilization was ordered and systematized by a civilian organization, that of the Arbeitseinsatz. As well as the responsibility of the defendant Keitel it entails also that of the German leaders who conducted the labor policy; the defendant Sauckel, the defendant Speer, and the defendant Goering. which prisoners of war may be forced to work. The Hague Conventions formulated rules which were clarified by the Geneva Convention in Articles 27, 31 and 32.
"ARTICLE 27:- Belligerents may use as workers healthy war prisoners according to their rank and their attitudes with the exception of officers and assimilated officers. Nevertheless, if officers, or those of assimilated rank ask for suitable work it will be procured for them as far as possible. The non-commissioned officers who are war prisoners can only be forced to work as supervisors unless they expressly request a remunerative occupation.
"ARTICLE 31:- the work furnished by the prisoners of war ---"
THE PRESIDENT: I think we will take judicial notice of these Articles.
M. HERTZOG: These rules of positive international law, rather calculated international law determine the legal powers of the Power and Custody of prisoners of war. It is legal to force prisoners of war to work during the duration of their captivity, but this includes three legal limits:
1. It is forbidden to require non-commissioned who are prisoners to 2. War prisoners must not be used for work which is dangerous.
3. Prisoners must not be associated with the enemy war effort. The National Socialist authorities systematically neglected these imperative provisions; they have exercised violent constraint on non-commissioned officers held in captivity, to force them to join labor crews; they have integrated war prisoners as workers in their factories, and in the work yards, without considering the nature of the work imposed upon them. The utilization of war prisoners by National Socialist Germany took place under illegal and criminal conditions. This I declare, and I wish to prove this to the Tribunal.
M. HERZOG: Mr. President, Your Honors. officers to force them to engage in productive work for the Reich war economy. This pressure, after the failure of propaganda methods, took the form of reprisals. Abstaining non-commissioned officers were the object of ill treatment; they were sent to special camps, where they were subject to a disciplinery regime. Some incurred penal sentences because of their refusal to work.
and Refugees of the French Government, Document UK 1782, which is, in my document book, number 46. The document is in a white file. I shall read from page 18 of the French original, page 10 of the German translation.
Page 18, at the bottom of the page:
"Work of the Non-Commissioned Officers.
"On this subject the Geneva Convention was formal and absolute. Noncommissioned officers who were war prisoners cannot be subjected to surveying work except on express request, with a remuneration. In conformity with this article, a certain number of non-commissioned officers refused to work from the beginning of their captivity.
"The force of the imprisoned non-commissioned officers was, at the end of 1940, about 130,000 and represented later a very important source of labor for the Reich. The German authorities tried, therefore, by every means, to induce the greatest number of refractories possible, during the last months of 1941 to this effect: The non-commissioned officers who did not volunteer for the work were, in most camps, subjected to alternate regimes. For a few days they were subjected to punishments like diminution of food rations, obligation to undergo physical exercises for several days; during another period they were promised work in conformity with their wishes, and other material advantages, for example, special regulations on insurance, extra letter provisions, and wages.
"These methods led a certain number of non-commissioned officers to accept work. The non-commissioned officers who persisted in their refusal to work were subjected to a disciplinary regime, a very severe disciplinary regime, and of painful physical exercise." of war for dangerous work. The French, British, Belgian and Dutch prisoners were used to transport munitions, to load bombs on planes, for the reconstruction of aviation camps, and for the construction of trenches. tions and for the loading of bombs on planes is furnished by the affidavit of repatriated French prisoners of war. These affidavits have been assembled in the report of the Ministry of Prisoners, which I have just quoted, and which I shall quote anew. translation. It is the same document as that which I have just quoted, Document 46.
Page 27, (b):
"The requisition of prisoners for the construction of fortifications for the transport of munitions is very often in the close vicinity of the line of fire. 1944, at being employed on Sundays in the construction of anti-tank trenche "On 2 February, 1945, the prisoners of Stalag 2-D, evacuated before the advance of the Russian Army, worked, as soon as they arrived at Statzlitz, at fortification works, anti-tank works in particular, around the city.
"At the moment, falling back from Stalag 3-B, the war prisoners were engaged, to the end of April, in doing ditch work, digging trenches, and in transporting aviation bombs.
"Kommando 553 at Label was obliged to carry out work in the front lines under the fire of Russian artillery.
"Numerous comrades, drawn back at Firchtenwald, were employed in loading bombs on German bombadiers.
"In spite of their protests to the International Committee of the Red Cross of Geneva and to the colonel commanding Stalag 3-B, very bad hygiene, insufficient food, the latter answered that he was obeying superior orders of the OKW to dig trenches, ordering the prisoners to dig trenches." used French and British prisoners of war for military work on airdromes exposed to allied bombardment. I offer in proof two memoranda, the first by the OKH to the War Prisoners Section of the Wehrmacht, and the second by the Wilhelmstrasse to the German representative at the Wiesbaden Armistice Commission. 549. I lodge it with the Tribunal under Number 47, the French documentation and I read it in full:
"The protest of the French Delegation shall be considered as unfounded. The lodging of war prisoners in camps situated in the vicinity of aviation fields is not in contradiction with the rules of the rights of peoples.
"According to Articles 9 and 4 of the Convention on the treatment of war prisoners - of 27 July, 1929 - no prisoner of war must be exposed to the fire of the combat zone in the sense of this regulation. It must be understood as the space or area in which normally a battle between two armies is carried on, or a depth of about 20 kilometers starting from the advance line.
"On the other hand, it is possible that the areas exposed to aerial attacks do not belong to combat zones. At this period of air war there no longer exists any sure shelter.
"The fact of using war prisoners for the construction of a camp and for the placing of camps in destroyed spots does not seem to lend itself to any controversy. According to Article 31 of the Convention quoted here above, war prisoners must not be used in works directly related to war activity. The construction of shelters, houses, and camps is not directly a war act. It is recognized that war prisoners may be employed in the construction of roads.
"According to this, by this example, their utilization for the reconstruction of aviation camps that have been destroyed is permissible. On the roads pass trucks, tanks, ammunition cars, and on the aviation fields there are planes. There is no difference, consequently, between them.
"On the other hand, it would be illegal to use war prisoners in loading bombs, munitions, etc., on bombers. Here a work directly related to war activity would be involved.
"By reason of the juridical situation expounded here above, the OKH has rejected the idea of the suggestion of withdrawing French prisoners of war employed in work in the aviation camps." I draw the attention of the Tribunal to this document. It emphasizes the ill faith of the leaders of National Socialist Germany, which was two-fold. recognizes that it is illegal, that the loading of bombs is forbidden by the Convention. character of the work effectuated on the aviation fields. Now, the note of the Wilhelmstrasse to which I shall now refer, and which I submit to the Tribunal under Number 48 - this note recognizes, on the contrary, that prisoners submitted to work on an aviation field incur grave danger because of the military purpose of this work.
note dated February 14, 1941, Document 48, in the French Documentation Book:
"Article 87 of the Convention of 1920, Prisoners of War, provides that in case of difference of opinion on the subject of the interpretation of the Convention, the protecting powers shall offer their services to settle the dispute. To accomplish this, any protecting power may propose a meeting of representatives of the belligerent powers. France assumes, by herself, the responsibilities of protective powers in questions on prisoners of war."
I shall pass on from this quotation to page 2 of the same document:
"As to the point in dispute, it is well to call attention to the following:
"The French conception, according to which prisoners of war may not be quartered near air fields and may not be employed in repairing plane runways, cannot be based on the textual content of Articles 9 and 31; but on the other hand, it is certain that French prisoners of war quartered and employed under these conditions are in a particularly dangerous situation because the air fields in occupied territories are used exclusively for military purposes and thus constitute a special objective for enemy aerial attacks.
"The American Embassy in Berlin has likewise made a protest against a similar use of British prisoners of war in Germany. Thus far no answer has been made to it because a rejection of this protest might result in German prisoners being employed in military work." substantiated by Document 828-PS, which I file with the Tribunal under number 49 in the French documentation. It is a letter of September 29, 1944, addressed by the Chief of the First Army Corps to the OKW to give an accounting of the work accomplished by 80 Belgian prisoners of war. I quote:
"In conformity with the teletype quoted, by way of reference, it is pointed out that in the territory of Stalag 1-A, Stablack, Einsatzbereich 2-213, Loten, Bei Ragnit, there are 140 Belgian prisoners of war; in Lindbach, Bei Neusiedel, 40 prisoners of war who were also Belgians were employed in fortification labor."
in Reich armament factories were associated with the enemy war effort. To this end I first offer Document 1206-PS. This document is a memorandum dated November 11, 1941. It is a resume of a report made November 7, 1941, to the Aviation Minister by the Reichsmarshal. The document, consequently, establishes the direct responsibility of the Defendant Goering. It regulates, in a general way, the use of Russian war prisoners, but in relation to this work it deals also with prisoners from Western countries. documentation, and I read:
"Berlin, November 11, 1941.
"Notes on outlines laid down by the Reichsmarshal in a meeting of 7 November, 1941, in the Reich Ministry for the Air.
"Subject: Employment of laborers in war industries."
THE PRESIDENT: Has that already been put in by the United States?
M. HERZOG: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Then perhaps you could summarize it.
M. HERZOG: I think, Mre. President, that it waspresented by the United States Prosecution. I shall, therefore, simply quote an extract, the fifth and sixth paragraphs of the first page, concerning the employment of French and Belgian war prisoners in individual employment in the economy of armament. to a common plan. It has the effect of a systematic policy. The administrative offices for labor have deliberately assigned to armament factories all war prisoners who seem capable of carrying, out a specialized work.
I quote, in this connection, Document 3005-PS. It is a directive addressed, in 1941, by the Ministry of Labor to the Directors of Personnel Procurement concerning the respective use of French and Russian prisoners of war. The document has been submitted and commented upon by my colleague, Mr. Dodd, I shall, therefore, not read it. I simply point out that this circular deals with the employment of all French war prisoners in the armament factories of the Reich.
the hands of the Germans -- they were not called prisoners of war, but rather, persons under military jurisdiction -- were forced to work. of September 28, 1943, Document 657-PS, which I submit to the Tribunal under number 52.
The Italian military internees were placed in three categories; some ask to continue the struggle beside the German army; others desire to keep a neutral attitude; others have turned in their arms against their former allies. The military internees of the second and third categories must, in the terms of the circular, be forced to work. I read:
"Circular No. 5543 G.R.S. Secret State document concerning the treatment and the recruiting of Italian military internees.
"The OKW, in connection with the general directive for the utilization of labor, has regulated the treatment and the putting to work of Italian military internees. The chief directives of the ordinances of the OKW are the following." Page 2 of the French translation:
"The Italian internees, who, at the investigation, do not declare themselves ready to continue the struggle under the German command, are put at the disposal of the General Plenipotentiary for the Utilization of Labor, who has already given the necessary instructions for forced labor to the Chiefs of the Regional Recruiting Offices.
"It is to be noted that Italian military internees must not be utilized together with the British and American prisoners of war."
German force. The National Socialist authorites intervened time and again to attempt to increase their output.
I refer to document 233-PS, which I file with the Tribunal under No. 53.
It is a directive of the OKW of October 17, 1944.
The purpose is to increasing the productivity of the prisoners.
I read from the "Subject:
Treatment of War Prisoners--Increase in Production.
The measures taken until now concerning the treatment not given the results that had been hoped for.
The officers of productivity of the labor of all the war prisoners.
The present and the State as concerns the prisoners of war.
Instructions in and their annexes.
First of all: collaboration with the leaders of the NSDAP.
The cooperation of all officers in charge of war acquainted with all questions concerning prisoners of war.
This camp commander, all questions concerning prisoners of war.
This bringing these matters to the knowledge of the public.
The aim of this collaboration is:
"(a) To increase the productivity of the work of war "(b) To solve all difficulties quickly and on the spot "(c) To organize the employment of war prisoners in the "The Chancellery of the Party for its part will give orders "Second, treatment of the prisoners of war.
The manner in prisoners of war.
The control of productivity is among the proper means of augmenting the latter.
Means of repression which lazy and the rebellious."
I shall stop my quotation here.
Bureaus to use a subterfuge to force them to work. I refer to workers to whom a labor contract was offered.
The operation was trips to Paris on April 9, 1943.
For Germany it offered the the decrease of the surveillance to which they were subject.
In was in no way changed.
Their housing conditions and the quality of their rations remained unchanged.
Moreover, this operation material status.
The prisoners of war were not fooled; in the Labor, under No. 22, gives in this connection the following information.
I quote it, page 70 of the French text, page 70 of the German translation.
I shall read the second paragraph.
"The transformation of prisoners into 'free' workers, which of a voyage to Paris on April 9, 1943.
It was to involve, after not return.
In the month of August following, out of 8000, 2000 August 17 without result.
There is no third experiment, and the diplomatic protection of prisoners of war.
The forced utilization labor problem of the war economy.
That is why they applied territories.
The National Socialist authorities systemized their Compulsory Labor in the different occupied territories.
From the of civilian workers.
They decreed a veritable civilian mobilization, Dr. Mansfeld under authorization of the Defendant Goering.
I remind number 26.
I read from the document which I read this morning, "However, any suspicion must cease before the necessity of industry.
To this end the forced mobilization of workers in occupied territories must not be neglected.
In case the voluntary by force will in many cases make recruiting easier.
Therefore, I on a voluntary basis.
I herewith request you to prepare for result.
This is by way of relieving the man-power shortage in the Reich."
Compulsory Labor. It was necessary that a central authority be workers.
The terms of the exposition of the motives of the decree of appointment are explicit.
The mission of the plenipotentiary utilization of war prisoners.
The decree of Sauckel's, dated August 22nd, 1942, which I have filed with the Tribunal under No. 17, deliberate vidation of international conventions.
The deportation of workers is forbidden by several contractual regulations which have the value of positive law. I shall quote, first of all, Article 52 of the Annex to to the Fourth Convention of theHague. I have already given the commentary on it to the Tribunal to demonstrate that the requisitioning of labor effected by the authorities of the occupation was illegal. by Article 52. Obligatory labor was imposed upon foreign workers in the interest of the war economy of Germany. It was carried out in armament factories of National Socialist Germany. It deprived the occupied territories of labor necessary for the rational exploitationof their wealth. It therefore comes out of the framework of legitimate labor requisition, which Article 52 of the Hague Convention regulates. international convention. It is a question of the Convention of the 25th of September, 1926 on slavery, of which Germany is a signatory. This treaty assimilates forced labor to slavery in its Article 5. I ask the Tribunal to refer to it. flagrant violation of international law and of all engagements subscribed to by Germany. The National Socialist authorities transgressed positive international law. They likewise violated the rights of people. The latter guarantees individual liberty, to which the principle of forced recruitment is a characteristic attack. The violation of treaties and contemp contempt of the rights of individuals are the norms of National Socialist doc doctrine. That is why the defendants have not only proceeded to the mobilization of foreign workers; they proclaimed the necessity and the legitimacy of forced labor. certain declarations made by the defendants which have the strength of confessions. I shall thereupon indicate how the occupation authorities introduced the service of obligatory work in the different occupied territories.
I shall demonstrate finally that the Germans took measures of coercion, of violent coercion, to attempt to assure the execution of civilian mobilization which had been decreed. on the 10,11, and 12 of August, 1942, Document R-124, No 30 of our documentation. I shall not read it. This has already been read to the Tribunal. I recall that the document to which I refer indicates that the Fuerhrer was in agreement to effect all the necessary constraint in the East as well as in the West, if the question of recruiting foreign laborers could not be regulated on a voluntary basis. in identical terms by certain of the defendants. I shall not stress the numerous statements of the accused Saukel to which I have already drawn the attention of the Tribunal. The exposition of the motives of his decree of August 22, 1942, the policy included in his letter of April 24, 1942, and the policy specified in his speech at Posen in Febuary, 1942 transalate faithfully the determination of the defendant to justify the principle of forced recruiting.
I shall not revert to this. Jodl. This extract is drawn from a long speech uttered by Jodl November 7, 1943 at Munich before an audience of Gauleiters. This speech forms document L-172. I offer it in evidence to the Tribunal under Number 54. I shall read page two of the French translation, second paragraph; page 38-39 of the German original:
"This dilemma of manpower shortage has led to the idea of making more thorough use of the manpower reserves in the territories occupied by us. Here right thinking and wrong thinking are mixed up together. I believe that, insofar as concerns labor, everything has been done that could be done, but where this has not yet been achieved, it appears preferable from the political point of view not to have recourse to measures of compulsion. It is better to exchange for these order and economic aid. In my opinion, however, the time has now come to take steps with remorseless vigor and resolution in Denmark, Holland, France and Belgium, and also to compel thousands of wasters to carry out the fortification work, which is more important than any other work. The necessary orders for this have already been given. to decree the mobilization of civilian foreign workers. I am going to show the Tribunal how the Bureau of Compulsory Labor was established and organized in France, in Norway, in Belgium, and in Holland. any legal regulation for forced labor, and that forced labor was carried out as a simple de facto measure. was introduced in a special form in Luxembourg, and in the French departments of Alsace and Lorraine. The occupation authorities incorporated the citi zens of Luxembourg and the French citizens in the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Moselle in the Labor Service of the Reich. This incorporation was carried out by ordinances of Gauleiter Simon and Gauleiter Wagner. The ordinances constitute an integral part of the Germanization plan for territories of Luxembourg, Alsace and Lorraine.
Their consequences surpass those of the measures of forced enrollment which were taken in other occupied territories. That is why I refer this Tribunal for this point to the explanation which will be given in the prosecution brief of M. Edgar Faure. the legislation on forced labor in the occupied territories of Western Europe. have drawn the attention of the Tribunal on several occasions. This decree prescribes the mobilization of all civilian workers in the service of the war economy. Article 2 prescribes that this decree is applicable to occupied territories. This decree of August 22 thus constitutes the legal charter of the civilian mobilization of foreign workers. This mobilization was confirmed by an order of the Fuehrer of September 8, 1942. It is document 556-PS-2, which I file with the Tribunal and from which I shall read:
"The Fuehrer and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht. General Headquarters of the Fuehrer, September 8, 1942.
"The extensive coastal fortification which I have ordered to be erected in the area of Army Group West make it necessary that in the occupied territory all available workers should be committed to give the fullest extent of their productive capacity. The previous allotment of domestic workers is insufficient. The work is definitely insufficient. In order to increase it, I order the introduction of compulsory labor and the prohibition of changing the place of employment without permission of the authorities in the occupied territories.
"Furthermore, in the future the distribution of food and clothing ration cards to those subject to labor draft shall depend on the possession of a certificate of employment. Refusal to accept an assigned job, as well as abandoning the place of work without the consent of the authorities in charge will result in the withdrawal of the food and clothing ration cards.
"The GBA, that is, the Deputy General for Sauckel, in agreement with the military commander as well as the Reichscommissar will issue the corresponding decrees for execution."
measures to which the order of August 8, 1942, refers. I am speaking of the freezing of labor. public services exercise strict control over their use in the industrial enterprises of occupied territories. This control had a double purpose. It was to facilitate the census of workers suitable for work in Germany; it was to prevent workers from avoiding the German requisition by alleging a real or fictitious employment. the liberty of hiring and of discharging which they submitted to the authorities of the Labor Bureaux. September 4, 1942. I shall shortly relate to the Tribunal the conditions under which this law was formulated. I shall for the moment simply supply it to the Tribunal under No.56, and ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. the command of the 6th of October, 1942. I submit to the Tribunal Document No.57, of which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice. early in 1941, an ordinance of the Reichskommissar dated February 8, 1941,-which I offer to the Tribunal under No.58 -- organized the freezing of labor. in all countries. In reality it constituted a preliminary measure for the mobilization of workers which the National Socialist authorities immediately proceeded to carry out.