The Commissioner for the Four Year Plan.
The Plenipotentiary General for Manpower.
Berlin W 8, 29th July, 1942.
Mohrenstr. 65.
To the Reich Minister and Head of the Reich Chancellery,
Party member Lammers,
Berlin W 8.
Dear Reifch Minister,
I am taking the liberty of sending you the enclosed copy of a report to the Fuehrer and to the Reich Marshal of the Greater German Reich for your information.
' Heil Hitler.
Yours faithfully, [Signed] Fritz Sauckel.
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1296—PS
1296—PS
The Plenipotentiary General for Manpower.
Berlin, 27th July, 1942
Strictly confidential.
G.Z Va 5780/1644
Employment of Foreign Labour in Germany POSITION AS AT 27. 7. 1942
I was commissioned as Plenipotentiary General for Manpower on the 21.3.1942. I immediately drew up the program for carrying out this commission. As, in the negotiations with all the authorities concerned, the necessity for putting to work some
1,600,000 workers to cover the urgent requirements of the armament and food industries was shown, I made the putting to work of this number of labourers within the shortest possible time my target, as being an essential point of my program. On the 24.7.1942, this figure of 1,600,000, which was demanded of me at the commencement of my task, was exceeded. I therefore give below a short review of the numerical development of this putting to work process and the difficulties overcome in the course of it.
I. Numerical review of the putting to work of foreign labourers since 1.4.1942.
Since I received my special commission, a total of 1,639,794 foreign workers have been obtained for employment in the armaments and food industries in the Reich. These numbers are made up as follows:
(a) From the newly occupied Eastern Territories:
April May June July . Total
Eastern Workers. . 110,149 273,128 324,066 264,489 971,832
Labourers from the Galician District 20,525 17,496 9,013 61,118 108,152
Soviet Russian Ps.W 43,074 53,600 38,335 86,000 221,009
Total 173,748 344,224 371,414 411,607 1,300,993
The figure for July contains approximately 147,000 workers who have already been despatched to the Reich and are currently being put to work.
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(b) Other foreign workers.
April May June July Total
Protectorate 6,000 4,000 4,900 8,800 23,700
Gouvernment
General 27,402 20,265 8,907 7,596 64,170
Warth eland 12,305 11,195 7,558 1,107 32,165
Belgium 8,000 8,000 6,200 7,900 30,100
France 7,000 7,000 5,500 11,800* 31,300
Italy 14,250 28,534 8,842 4,100 55,726
Holland 5,905 12,895 8,100 4,400 31,300
Serbia 3,769 1,724' 929 1,008 7,430
Croatia 1,057 2,045 4,093 4,400 11,595
Slovakia 13,324 335 1,406 200 15,265
Other Territories. 13,409 7,084 9,000 6,557 36,050
Total 112,421 103,077 65,435 57,868 338,801.
Total of (a). (b).
Grand Total
1,300,993
338,801
1,639,794
II. Difficulties of recruitment and putting to work.
The large scale putting to work of such enormous numbers of workers necessarily taking place within the shortest possible time, was only possible after overcoming countless difficulties. These could only be mastered thanks to the support of all party, military and civil authorities concerned. The result was achieved mainly through the increased employment of Eastern workers, and it was therefore particularly in connection with them that all difficulties had to be mastered.
The transportation of several hundred thousand Eastern workers per month was only possible after I had ordered that the transport to be provided was to be tripled and after the transport chief and the Reich Minister of Communications had made the corresponding transport space available. This space was made use of for the transportation both of civilian workers and of Ps.W. The question of feeding and guarding these transports had to be settled with the authorities concerned in the Shortest possible time.
The danger of infection, particularly through spotted fexer gave rise to particular difficulties. Far reaching sanitary preventive measures had therefore to be taken. Thus I ordered a threefold disinfection—in the recruiting area, on crossing the
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frontier in the Government General and in the collecting camps of the provincial labour offices. For this purpose hundreds of installations—collecting camps, disinfection installations, examination offices etc—had to be prepared or newly constructed with great speed. In this particularly the Wehrmacht with its installations and medical officers readily supported me.
The problem of billeting the labourers in the factories also had to be solved very quickly. The construction of approximately
300,000 new dwellings is in full swing. For the transitional period, I liave ordered the procurement of emergency billets through the labour offices, in sheds, factories and halls with the assistance of the Reich Minister for Ordnance, the Reich Labour leader, the Reich Minister of the Interior and the German Labour Front. The assuring of food supplies (storage of winter supplies), clothing and the fitting out of the camps, the procuring of fuel, etc., have been begun.
The conditions for the employment of Eastern Workers have been examined and, on the basis of experience, in the decree of the council of Ministers of the 30.6.1942, have been improved. In this, apart from an improvement in wages, with special regard to the principle of performance, arrangements for savings books and savings stamps for the Eastern Workers have been made.
As for regulating food, I started from the assumption that this must be sufficient for ensuring a useful output of work. In negotiations with party member Backe, an improvement in rationing scale has already been achieved.
The general principles with regard to police and counter-intelligence treatment and welfare have been created on a practical basis in negotiations with the Party Chancellery, the Reichs-fuehrer SS, the OKW, the Propaganda Ministry, the Ministry for the East and the German Labour Front.
Extensive measures have also been taken as regards propaganda. Apart from a proclamation to the Eastern workers which is being distributed to the extent of more than 2 million copies as leaflets and posters, the memorandum No. 1. for factory managers is to begin with being distributed in 200,000 copies to all factory managers, and 2 million copies of the memorandum No. 1 for Eastern Workers to all Eastern Workers. Further, three newspapers for Eastern Workers (Ukrainian, Russian and White Ruthenian) are being distributed in all camps, and wireless and films are also being brought in according to a plan.
Particular difficulties were caused by the seizure and recruiting at short notice of hundreds of thousands of such workers in the former Soviet territories. Not only spotted fever, difficulties re-I296-PS
suiting from frost.and the cold and from the period of mud and the defective state of communications made the recruitment extremely difficult, but also the difficulties arising from the passive and open resistance, the mistrust of the population, contaminated by communism, and the counter-propoganda which was carried out according to a plan. The difficulties were particularly increased by the ever growing guerrilla activity. Finally many difficulties had to be overcome which resulted from the fact that, in the occupied Eastern territories the local needs for tasks of importance to the war had to be increasingly safeguarded, apart from the recruitment for the Reich.
Last but not least, let me mention the extraordinary performance which had to be done by all the offices of the administration for the employment of labour up to the labour offices, in cooperation with the offices concerned, especially also with the party offices, to ensure that the result of the recruiting was carried out. I have also sent special recruiting commissions to the East from the personnel of the Reich German Labour Offices. These 700 men or so have done their duty fearlessly and tirelessly in cooperation with the local offices, especially with the labour authorities in the East, in spite of all difficulties and often under enemy fire. In this connection it must be particularly stressed that the people concerned were skilled workers, who, because of the calling up of the younger classes to the armed forces, were in the majority of an advanced age, most of them being already over 50.
Experiences in the employment of Eastern Workers have, on; the whole, been satisfactory, both as regards their behavior and their output. As, owing to the economic structure of the Eastern area, there is a preponderance of workers from the country, I have introduced planned measures for training them for work in armament factories.
The recruitment of Eastern workers will be further continued by me in so far as it is at all possible. The recruitment of domestic servants for lightening the burden especially of large families, will also be commenced now.
III. The employment of Soviet-Russian Ps.W.
Apart from the employment of civilian workers, I have increased the employment of Soviet Russian Ps.W. in conjunction with the OKW department for Ps.W., as planned. In this, I have particularly worked for sufficient food and a speeding up of transportation. The transports coming from the front are examined in the Ps.W. base camps of the Government General by my special commissioners to determine their professions and are then sent on to the Reich for Employment. Amongst the Ps.W. captured
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this year there are relatively many skilled workers and workers suitable for employment in the mining industry.
I therefore attach particular importance to the further increased and speeded up transport of the largest possible numbers of Ps.W. from the front to employment in the Reich.
IV. Employment of other foreign workers.
Although the centre of gravity of my activity lay in the field of the employment of Eastern workers, the endeavours to obtain workers from other recruiting areas (Warthegau, Government General. Protectorate, occupied areas and friendly and neutral countries) were continued with emphasis. Through increasing the recruiting, 338,801 foreign workers were enlisted since the 1.4.1942 apart from the Eastern workers, and were conveyed into Reich territory.
V. Total review of the foreign workers and Ps.W. employed in Germany at the present moment.
In conclusion, I give the following total review of the foreign workers and Ps.W. at present put to work in the Reich.
(a) Newly occupied Eastern territories................ 1,148,000
(b) Other recruiting areas............................ 2,400,000
(c) Ps.W............................................... 1,576,000
altogether. . 5,124,000 [signed] Fritz Sauckel.
Cover letter (to Lammers) and a report (to Goering and Hitler) on the mobilization of foreign workers in Germany, including Soviet POWs
Authors
Fritz Sauckel (Plenipotentiary for Labor Mobilization)
Fritz Sauckel
German Nazi politician and convicted war criminal (1894-1946)
- Born: 1894-10-27 (Haßfurt) (located in the administrative territorial entity: Bavaria)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg Court Prison Nuremberg) (reason for deprecated rank: item/value with less precision and/or accuracy; reason for preferred rank: most precise value)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Member of: Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund; Schutzstaffel
- Participant in: International Military Tribunal (date: 1946-09-23; role: affiant, defendant)
- Military rank: Obergruppenführer
Date: 29 July 1942
Literal Title: [second page:] Employment of Foreign Labour in Germany.
Defendant: Fritz Sauckel
Total Pages: 5
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-1296
HLSL Item No.: 452106
Notes:At the end Sauckel stated a total of 5.1 million foreign workers then in Germany, including 1.5 million POWs.
Trial Issues
Prisoners of war, abuse, forced labor, or killing of (IMT, NMT 2, 5, 12) Forced labor and mistreatment of workers in war economy (IMT, NMT 2)
Document Summary
PS-1296: Sauckel's report on use of foreign labor in Germany with letter of transmittal to Lammers
PS-1296: Strictly confidential report from Sauckel to Hitler and Goring, 27 July 1942, on the employment of foreign workers and prisoners of war in Germany as of 27 July 1942, and covering letter from Sauckel to Lammers, 29 July 1942
PS-1296: Sauckel report with letter of transmittal to LAMMERS, 27 and 29 July 1942:
transport problem and the part the Army, the Ministry of Armament, Labor, Interior and the German Labor Front had in this slave transportation.