271a This appears at page 51 of the German Book 2A page 40I beg your pardon, at page 32 to 39.
actually this is a Decree of October 29, 1943 concerning the dividing of tasks in tic War Economy. It is a Speer Decree and generally outlines what that pertains to. I have already offered the Decree establishing the Board. This particular Decree establishes the so-called Planning Board within the Central Planning Board --- the Planning Office and your Honors have had some material on that before this time. This is this complete document. The document immediately before that in Book 2A, which is NOKW269 which is an outline of the defendant's life which he has prepared maybe in Book B in your Honor's book. I am not sure. There was some trouble in the binding. In my copy it appears at page 29 and 30 in Book 2A. NOKW 269 at the top.
THE PRESIDENT: It is on page 29.
MR. DENNEY: In tho German it nay be in Book A.
DR. BERGOLD: No. Book B.
MR. DENNEY: This is an English translation. Actually this was prepared by tho defendant in English. I believe that is correct, is it not true, Dr. Bergold? This was prepared by the defendant in English?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it Exhibit No. 59, Mr. Denney?
MR. DENNEY: Exhibit 59, yes, if your Honors please. I think that document speaks for itself and there is no reason to road any part of it in tho record. Then there is another document 1666-PS which appears at page 48 of your Honors Document Book 2 3 which is at page 85 to 87 of tho German book.
THE PRESIDENT: The number again , please, Mr. Denney?
MR. DENNEY: No. 1666-PS, if your Honors please. We offer this as exhibit 60 -1666-PS.
It is on page 48 of Document Book 2 3, page 85 to 87 of the German Book. Page 48 and 49 of your honor's Book. It is Hitler's order to Sauckel giving authority to get out an Ordinance implement and is signed by Scoring as Reichsmarshal.
272(a) The order is dated 21 Larch 1942, and the order implementing i signed "by Goering is dated 27 Larch 1942.
How, at page 99 Document Book 3 C, which is -
THE PRESIDENT: 2 C, Mr. Denney, you mean?
MR. DENNEY: 2 C, yes, sir, at page 174 of the German Book. Document NONA 247 which we offer as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 61.
Exhibit 61, which is Document NONW, No. 247 is a Goering Directive from Berlin - June - There is no date after -- on the copy which I have. I think it can be presumed that it is 1944 in view of the contents of the document, entitled "Authorization". As your Honors will recall, it was in June that the first landings were effected across the English Channel on territory then held by the German Army.
"The war situation calls for the utmost intensification of the armament capacity of the German Air Force within the shortest time. The goal of the measures to be taken has to be the fourfold of the present production in all branches of Air Force Armament. I commission the State Secretary of the Aivation Ministry, General Field Marshal Milch with the speediest execution of this intensification of armament ordered by the Fuehrer. To secure the attainment of the end at which we aim I confer herewith the most extensive power of authority on General Fieldmarshal Milch within the spheres defined a s follows:
Shutting-down and seizure of factories, decisions about expropriations and forced leases, seizure and expropriation of construction material in agreement with the GB-Construction, erection of auxiliary buildings exempted from restricting provisions of the building police, of the office for the supervision of industry, of Air Raid Protection, social institutions etc.
as far as these provisions arc incompatible with the fast completion of the building projects.
Confiscation, expropriation and renting of machinery of all kinds and its distribution to the armament factories of the Luftwaffe. Forced transfer of workers who are unemployed or employed in industry of any kind whatsoever, this not only for the erection of buildings but also for allocation to Luftwaffe Armament factories.
Confiscation of raw materials is absolutely essential for the Luftwaffe program; only superfluous raw materials may then be distributed in the manner as now. This refers especially to light metals and gasoline.
Removal and transfer of key personnel of the entire armament industry irrespective of existing contracts under private law, cancellations of, or changes in, existing powers of authorization, and issue of now powers, creation of industrial associations, patent associations, merger of companies, creation of now companies, separation of uneconomically working firms and their co-ordination or subordination to better managed firms.
Deviation from existing regulations about the financing of the war and premiums in cases whore the utmost intensification of output con not be achieved otherwise. In this connection due consideration has to be given to the economical situation and to the financial capacity of the firms involved.
All decisions of, and all measures taken by my plenipotentiary on the basis of this authorization have to be regarded as if they wore ordered by me.
Those decrees and measures have priority in respect to all other official directions and decrees as far as these arc not compatible with the speediest execution of the intensification of the production capacity."
DR. BERGOLD: If you please I should like to ask Mr. Denney to find out whether this order - this decree was signed as there is no signature on the German copy.
274 a
THE PRESIDENT: Did you got that, Mr. Denney?
MR. DENNEY: I think what he asked is whether this was signed because there is no signature shown on the German copy.
INTERPRETER: He wanted to know whether the signature was on the German original. It is not on the German copy.
MR. DENNEY: If Your Honors please, I believe the copy which we have was not signed.
DR. BERGOLD: Thank you.
MR. DENNEY: If Your Honors please, at this time I would respectfully request that we adjourn. There arc some of these papers which I would like to re-arrange slightly.
This in substance presents all except an interrogation and some excepts of the transcript from the initial case and an affidavit or two. We now have all of tho documents except these which appear in Book 2, A, 3 and C in evidence. We have worked this morning until four o'clock endeavoring to ct the next document book ready. It isn't as yet ready. It has to do with the Jaogerstab which, roughly takes in the activities of the defendant from the period of March until approximately August of 1944. We hope to got this ready for tonight and I don't knew whether or jot Dr. Bergold is willing to waive the 24 hour service on it. If he is we may be able to finish it tonight and probably proceed in the morning. Dr. Bergold has told me that he has to be a witness in court in an automobile accident case to which he was a witness. I believe the court is in Furth and tomorrow morning he is going to request that the defendant's brother again be allowed to act as counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: That permission, of course, will be granted. We might ask Dr. Bergold now. If you do not receive the next document back until tomorrow morning will you raise the objection that you have not had the required 24 hour notice or will you be willing to proceed?
MR. DENNEY: I might state for Dr. Bergold's information that this book contains principally items having to do with meetings or the Jaogerstab; if that's any help to you.
DR. BERGOLD: The Tribunal: It is far from no to cause any kind of difficulties and I know myself that when my turn comes I also often have to ask for the cooperation and kindness of the prosecution and naturally I am ready to continue negotiations without keeping to the 24 hour period I merely beg to take the liberty of being absent tomorrow during the first half as I have boon summoned to court and according to German law must follow this summons.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it's understood, Dr. Bergold, that you are excused from attending the Tribunal tomorrow as long as you arc required to be a witness in the other Court.
DR. BERGOLD: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: I take it also then that you will not object to proceeding tomorrow naming with a now document bock.
DR. BERGOLD: No, that's agreeable to no.
THE PRESIDENT: Let no take this opportunity also to advise both counsel that the members cf this Tribunal have been asked to go to Berlin on Thursday se that tomorrow will be the last sessions cf the court this week. No will return in time to resume sessions on Monday at the usual hour but both counsel will have Thursday Friday, Saturday and Sunday in which to adjust themselves and perhaps get a little sleep. No will recess now until 9:30 tomorrow morning.
MR. DENNEY: Thank you, your Honor.
THE MARSHAL: All persons will arise. The Tribunal will recess until 0930 tomorrow.
Official Transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the Matter of the United. States of America against Erhard Milch, defendant, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on g January 1947, 1945 hours, Justice Toms presiding.
THE MARSHALL: Military Tribunal Number 2 is now in session. God save the United States of America and this Honorable Tribunal. There will be order in the Court.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney.
MR. DENNEY: If Your Honor please, in introducing Document No. 1510-PS, which is Exhibit 58, and appears in Document Boon 2-A, starting at Page 32, there is one short excerpt at the bottom of Page 38 which I should like to read. It appears in the German translation three paragraphs before the end, and it follows Arabic Numeral 4. It starts out, "The planning office --" It appears on Page 49 of the German, and it is the paragraph in the middle of the page after Number 4. - It is on Page 50, paragraph number 4, second paragraph on the page.
"The Planning Office will have to submit to Central Planning for decision the proposed assignment of manpower to the individual big sectors of employment (trade economy on war work, traffic, foodstuffs, etc.). It also has to evaluate statistically the carrying through of the assignments."
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney, we have not found the place.
MR. DENNEY: I'm sorry, sir. It is at the bottom of Page 38.
THE PRESIDENT: All right.
MR. DENNEY: Just one short paragraph at the bottom. Sorry. The next exhibit which we offer is NOKW 311, Prosecution Exhibit Number 62. It appears at the first page of document book 2-B, page 44 of Document Book 2. This is a partial excerpt from an interrogation conducted on 6 September 1946 of Hermann Goering:
"Q. Now, to the Milch case. Who was commissioned after 1941 with the labor employment in the ministry for Air?
"A. What am I to understand by 'labor employment'?
"Q. Labor employment consisted of the drawing in of foreign workers or German workers, especially of concentration camp inmates, in order to free them for air force production.
"A. This matter wont through Udet, the Chief of Supply for tho Air Force until Udet's death, and then it went through Milch.
"Q. In what manner did the Reich Ministry for Air submit its requests to Sauckel and the approximate figure for its requirements, tho number of workers, etc? And if Sauckel received such a request from the Reich Ministry for Air, how did he undertake the distribution?
"A". The requests were made by Milch; it was he who said how many workers the air force needed, and these were forwarded to Speer. Speer then asked Sauckel for the workers for the entire armaments branch, almost for the entire industrial branch, and he then made the distribution. It was he in tho end who trade the final decision as to how many workers went to tho air force, for instance, how many for the Army, etc. As far as I know, Sauckel had actually nothing to do with the distribution of labor. The contingent was put at tho disposal of the authorities. Terrific pressure was continually brought to bear on Sauckel. If the requested number was not brought, he was given hell. I personally presided over a meeting where there were differences between Sauckel and Speer. He wanted to have more, etc. There was a mix-up, and that is how I know it; but the needs of the air force wore put forward by Milch, that is, tho Chief of the Supply for the Air Force. When difficulties arose and they did not get tho people and the program threatened to break down, then they came to me, and I supported their demands."
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney, this was an extra judiciary interrogation wasn't it? This was not testimony but it was a statement?
MR. DENNEY: Not testimony, no sir. It is an interrogation conducted on the late Hermann Goering, after the conclusion of the trial, and prior to the time that the judgment was announced.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Milch is speaking through the microphone.
DR. MILCH: May it please the Tribunal, I would request Your Honors not to take this interrogation, as a basis, the contentscare incorrect, the witness Goering is dead, and can no longer be cross examined, thus it is impossible to prove the falsehood of the minutes in this manner.
MR. DENNEY: Your Honor, please.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal is ready to rule, Mr. Denney. This raises the same objection as was proposed in the previous case. I will repeat because counsel for the defense was not listening. This objection is the same one as was urged by Dr. Bergold day before yesterday on which the court ruled. Consistent with that ruling, and under the broad powers relating to evidence in the Charter in the Ordnance, this exhibit will be admitted. Its credibility, of course, and weight to which it is entitled being reserved for the consideration of the Tribunal.
MR. DENNEY: The next document which becomes Exhibit No.63, is found at page 51 in Your Honors' Document Book 2-B, the one which Your Honors have just been looking at, and it appears at page 91 in the German translation. It is Document No. NI-1098, an affidavit of fritz Sauckel made 23 September 1946. The Prosecution offers this as Exhibit No. 63.
Directing Your Honors' attention to page 54, the third paragraph of that page, it is on page 3 of the original affidavit, and. it is a paragraph which is No. L-l, L (love) 1:
"The Central Planning Board (Zentral Planung) intervened in the problem of foreign workers only the extent of determining priorities and as in representing and demanding the requirements of the economic branches consolidated in the Central Planning Board. It also represented these demands to the Fuehrer. The competent gentlemen of the Central Planning Board at the same time of course represented their Ministries as Vorstand.
Thus I am not in a position today to whether Speer, for instance, spoke in any particular capacity in connection with any special matter. At any rate the Central Planning Board determined the total labor requirements.
In practice I only obtained labor for them.
"I attended sessions of the Central Planning Board only when questions concerning the mobilization of labor were involved. Sometimes only my representatives, Dr. Timm, Landrat Berck, Stothfang, or Dr. Hildebrandt attended.
"The competent gentlemen from Speer's Ministry also attended. Speer had a labor mobilization department where the requirements of industry were collected and confirmed.
"Milch producted the figures for aviation. The same was done by Spoor in his sphere of activity. Spoor and Milch, however, also exerted influence on the allocation of workers. How far this came within their capacity as members of the Central Planning Beard I cannot say; in any case they did this in their ministerial capacity."
The next Document is No-1177, which immediately follows this one is on page 58 of your Honors' Document Book and appears at page 100 of the German translation. That is, Exhibit No.64 is Document No. No-1177, which is a parti 1 excerpt of the transcript of the trial before the International Military Tribunal. The witness is Max Timm, Deputy to Sauckel of the General Plenipotentiary for Labor. He is being examined on direct examination by Dr. Servatius, this is page 10839 of the original transcript referred to before.
Q. What was the position of the Central Planning Board towards Sauckel?
A. The Central Planning Board was an agency of the Four-Year Plan. Its task was, as far as the G.B.A. (that is General Plenipotentiary for Labor) was concerned, to collect the demands for workers of the big users of labor and at regular sessions to adjust these demands.
Since the Plenipotentiary General for Labor commitment could not judge the information of the commitment of the workers for the various sources, this question was decided in the Central Planning Board. An attempt was made, for various periods of time, for as long a time as possible to work out a balance of the workers--".
Your Honors will recall that the name "Timm" appeared frequently in the minutes which went into yesterday and the day before.
The next exhibit is No. NO-1174, which appears at page 46 of the document book in which Your Honor is presently reading. It is at page 83 of the German original. This will be Exhibit No. 65, the Document No. NO-1174. It is an excerpt from the judgment of the International Military Tribunal commenting with reference to Walter Funk: "In the fall of 1943--"
DR. MILCH: What page is that, please?
MR. DENNEY: Dr. Milch, it is at page 83 of the German original.
DR. MILCH: Proceed, sir.
MR. DENNEY: The exhibit number is No. 65. This is page 17015 of the original transcript, being part of the judgment of the International Military Tribunal in the case of United states in the case against Hermann Goering and. other's.
"In the fall of 1943, Funk was a member of the Central Planning Board which determined the total number of laborers needed for German industry, and required Sauckel to produce them, usually by deportation from occupied territories. Funk did not appear to be particularly interested in this aspect of the forced labor program me, and. usually sent a deputy to attend the meetings, often SS General Ohlendorf, the former Chief of the SD inside of Germany, and the former Commander of Einsatzgruppe D. But Funk was aware that the Board of which he was a member was demanding the importation of slave laborers, and. allocating them to the various industries under its control."
The next document is No. NO-1180, which appears in Document Book 2-A at page 40, and which is at page 51 of the German origin, and the Prosecution offers this as Exhibit No. 66, at page 40 in the Document Book 2-A, it being 282-A Document No. NO-1180, and it appears at page 51 in the German translation.
It is an excerpt from the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, pages 17098 to 17161, starting at the second paragraph on page 40 in Your Honors' book; that will be the second paragraph in the German translation. It starts out with the words, "As Reich Minister for Armaments."
"As Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions and General Plenipotentiary for Armaments under the Four Year Plan, Speer had extensive authority over production. His original authority was over construction and production of arms for the OKH. This was progressively expanded to include naval armaments, civilian production and finally, on August 1, 1944, air armament. As the dominant member of the Central Planning Board, which had supreme authority for the scheduling of German production, and the allocation and development of raw materials, Speer took the position that the Board had authority to instruct Sauckel to provide laborers for industries under its control and succeeded in sustaining this position over the objection of Sauckel. The practice was developed where Speer transmitted to Sauckel an estimate of the total number of workmen needed, Sauckel obtained the labor and allocated it to the various industries in accordance with the instruction supplied by Speer."
I should like to call Your Honors' attention to the date, August 1 1944 on which Spoor took over Air Armament, which was prior to that date that the defendant was in charge of the Air Armament.
Then turning to page 41, its the paragraph beginning with "Sauckel continually informed." That is two paragraphs later: "Sauckel continually informed Speer and his representatives that foreign laborers were being obtained by force. At a meeting of March 1, 1944, Speer's Deputy questioned Sauckel very closely about his failure to live up to the obligation to supply four million workers from occupied territories. I might interpolate at this point, Your Honors' will recall the meeting of March 1st 1944, Speer was not present, Milch was presiding. The deputy referred to here was Milch. In some eases Speer demanded laborers from specific foreign countries. Thus, at the conference of August 10-12, 1942, Sauckel was instructed to supply Speer with "A further million Russian laborers for the German armament industry up to and including October 1942." At a meeting of the Central Planning Board an April 22, 1943, Speer discussed plans to obtain Russian laborers for use in the coal mines, and flatly vetoed the suggestion that this labor deficit should be made up by German labor."
There is one more excerpt which I'd like to put in. I don't seem to have it at the moment -- if Your Honors would bear with me. The next document is No. 1176, N-O-1176, which we offer as prosecution Exhibit No. 67. It appears on Page 85 of Your Honors' Document Bock and page 138 of the German translation. It's in Document Book 2-C, page 85. It's offered as Prosecution Exhibit No. 67. It's an excerpt from the decision of the International Military Tribunal.
"One of the important parts of this mobilization was the systematic exploitation, by force, of the labor resources of the occupied territories. Shortly after Sauckel had taken office, he had the governing authorities in the various occupied territories issue decrees establishing compulsory labor service in Germany. Under the authority of these decrees Sauckel's Commissioners, backed up by the police authorities of the occupied territories, obtained and sent to Germany the laborers which were necessary to fill the quotas given them by Sauckel. He described so-called 'voluntary' recruiting by Janates 'a whole batch of male and female agents just as was done in the olden times for shanghaiing'. That real voluntary recruiting was the exception rather than the rule is shown by Sauckel's statement on March 1, 1944, that 'out of the five million foreign workers who arrived in Germany, not even 200,000 came voluntarily'. Although he now claims that the statement is not true, the circumstances under which it was made, as well as the evidence presented before the Tribunal, leave no doubt that it was substantially accurate."
If Your Honors please, that concludes the exhibits which the Prosecution wishes to offer at this time. On this question the next phase of the case under which we wish to go is that of the Jaegerstab, and I am sorry to inform your Honors that we don't have another Document Book and will not have one today. We realize that Your Honors will not sit tomorrow or Friday and we certainly hope to be ready to proceed at 9:30 on Monday.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you explain what the next phase in the case will involve, Mr. Denney, so that we may think about it ahead.
MR. DENNEY: That next, phase of the case, if Your Honor please, involves the Jaegerstab, a force which --or rather a Board-- which was set up by Speer at Milch's request early in 1944 to take care of the increase of fighter aircraft production in Germany.
The German aircraft industry had suffered greatly as a result of the Allied bombings, particularly by strategic Air Forces, and their problems were briefly these:
1) The quick repair of airplane factories which had been damaged by bombing or strafing operations;
2) The dispersal of aircraft production and the going underground of aircraft production insofar as it was possible, particularly for fighter planes; and, of course,
3) The ever-present problem of raising the German fightercraft production so that they would be able successfully to cope with the Allied armadas in the air.
THE PRESIDENT: To what part of the indictment is this proof directed?
MR. DENNEY: This has to do again with the employment of slave labor, if Your Honor please.
THE PRESIDENT: We are still in that same category?
MR. DENNEY: Yes, sir. We do not go into the medical experiments at all in the Jaegerstab.
THE PRESIDENT: That explains it.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: As we understand it, at this time you have not rested your case on the slave labor feature of the case.
MR. DENNEY: No.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: This is just one phase of it?
MR. DENNEY: Yes, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well, the Tribunal will be in recess until next Monday then at nine thirty.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal will recess until 0930 hours, next Monday morning, 13 January 1947.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 13 January 1947, at 0930 hours.)