Virtually all of them had no overcoats and were compelled, therefore, to use their blankets as coats in cold and rainy weather. In view of the shortage of shoes many workers were forced to go to work in their bare feet, even in the winter. Wooden shoes were given to some of the workers, but their quality was such as to give the workers sore feet. Many workers preferred to go to work in their bare feet rather than endure the suffering caused by the wooden shoes. Apart from the wooden shoes, no clothing of any kind was issued to some of them. To my knowledge, this represented the sole issue of clothing to the workers from the time of their arrival until the American forces entered Essen. Satinary conditions were exceedingly bad. At Kramerplatz, where approximately 1,200 Eastern workers were crowded into the rooms of an old school, the sanitary conditions were atrocious in the extreme. Only 10 childrens' toilets were available for the 1,200 inhabitants. At Dechenschule, 15 childrens' toilets were available for the 400 to 500 Eastern workers. Excretion contaminated the entire floors of these lavatories. There were also few facilities for washing. The supply of bandages, medicine, surgical instruments, and other medical supplies at these camps was likewise altogether insufficient. As a consequence, only the very worse cases were treated. The percentage of Eastern workers who were ill was twice as great as among the Germans. Tuberculosis was particularly widespread among the Eastern workers. The TB rate among them was 4 times the normal rate, Eastern workers 2%, Germans 5/10-1%. At Dechenschule approximately 2.5% of the workers suffered from open TB. These were all active TB cases. The Tartars and Kirghis suffered most; as soon as they were overcome by this disease they collapsed like flies.
The cause was bad housing, the poor quality and insufficient quantity of food, overwork and insufficient rest. These workers were likewise afflicted with spotted fever. Lice, the carrier of this disease, together with countless fleas, bugs and other vermin tortured the inhabitants of these camps. As a result of the filthy conditions of the camps nearly all Eastern workers were afflicted with skin diseases. The shortage of food also caused many cases of Hunher-Oedem, Nephritis and Shighakruse.
103 a It was the general rule that workers were compelled to go to work unless a Camp Doctor has prescribed that they were unfit for work.
At Seumannstrasse, Grieperstrasse, Germaniastrasse, Kapitan-Lehmannstrasse, and Dechenschule, there was no daily sick call. At these camps, the doctors did not appear for two or three days. As a consequence, workers were forced to go to work despite illnesses.
Then skipping the next paragraph and coming down to the one commencing:
"With the onset of heavy air raids in March 1943, conditions in the camps greatly deteriorated. The problem of housing, feeding, and medical attention became more acute than ever. The workers lived in the ruins of their former barracks. Medical supplies which were used up, lost, or destroyed, were difficult to replace. At times, the water supply at the camp was completely shut off for a period of 8 to 10 days. We installed a few emergent toilets in the camps, but there were far too few of them to cope with the situation.
During the period immediately following the March 1943 raids many foreign workers were made to sleep at the Krupp factories in the same rooms in which they worked. The day workers slept there at nights, and the night workers slept there during the day despite the noise which constantly prevailed. I believe that this condition continued until the entrance of American troops into Essen.
Then going over to page 222, which is on page 5 of the German document book starting out:
"The French prisoner-of-war camp -
THE PRESIDENT: What page, Mr. Denney, please?
MR. DENNEY; Page 224, sir, I am sorry.
THE PRESIDENT: Twenty-four.
MR. DENNEY: Page 234. Yes, sir. Excuse me. At the top of the page. It's worthy of note that on the bottom of the preceding page he said that he was getting a thousand aspirin tablets to care for over 3,000 prisoners of war following the raid in 1943.
MR. PRESIDENT: You understand, Mr. Denney. It's a hundred aspirins.
MR. DENNEY: I am sorry, sir. Yes, sir, a hundred aspirin tablets. I thank you, your Honor.
"The French Prisoner-of-War camp in Nogerratstrasse had been destroyed in an air raid attack and its inhabitants were kept for nearly half a year in dog kennels, urinals, and in old baking house. The dog kennels were three feet high, nine feet long, and six feet wide. Five men slept in each of them. The prisoners had to crawl into these kennels on all fours. The camp contained no tables, chairs of cupboards. The supply of blankets was inadequate. There was no water in the camp. That treatment was extended was given in the open. Mary of those conditions were reported to me in a report by Dr. Stinnesbeck dated 12 June 1944, in which he said:
'315 prisoners are still accommodated in the camp. 170 of these are no longer in barracks but in the tunnel in Grunerstrasse under the Essen-Mulheim railway line. This tunnel is damp and is not suitable for continued accommodation of human beings. The rest of the prisoners are accommodated in 10 different factories in Krupps works. The first medical attention is given by a French Military Doctor who takes great pains with his fellow countrymen. Sick people from Krupp factories must be brought to the sick parade. This parade is held in the lavatory of a burned out public house outside the camp. The sleeping accommodation of the 4 French Ordlies is in what was the men's room. In the sick bay there is a double tier wooden bed. In general, the treatment takes place in the open. In rainy weather it is held in the above-mentioned small room. These are insufferable conditions: There are no chairs, tables, cupboards, or water. The keeping of a register of sick people is impossible. Bandages and medical supplies are very scarce, although badly hurt in the works are very often brought here for first aid and have to be bandaged here before being transported to hospital. There are many loud and lively complaints about food which the guard personnel confirms as being correct. Illness and loss of man power must be reckoned with under these conditions."
"In my report to my superiors at Krupps dated 2 September 1944, I stated:
"The P.W. Camp at Noeggerathstrasse was in most deplorable condition. The people live in ashcans, doghouse, old baking stoves and self-made huts. The food was just scarcely enough. For food and lodging Krupp is responsible. The supply of medicines and bandages was so extremely bad, that a systematic medical treatment was absolutely impossible. "Camp Humboldstresse has been inhabited by Italian prisoners of war. After it had been destroyed by an air raid, the Italians were removed and 600 Jewish families from Buchenwald Concentration Camp were brought in to work at the Krupp factories. Upon my first visit at Camp Humboldstrasse, I found these females suffering from festering wounds and other diseases. I was the first doctor they had seen for at least a fortnight. There was no doctor in attendance at the camp. There was no medical supplies in the camp. They had no shoes and went about in their bare feet. The sole clothing of each consisted of a sack with holes for their arms and head. Their hair was shorn. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire and closely guarded by SS guards."
"The amount of food in the camp was extremely meager and of a very poor quality. The houses in which they lived consisted of the ruins of former barracks and they afforded no shelter against rain and other weather conditions. I reported to my superiors that the guards lived and slept outside their barracks as one could not enter them without being attacked by 10. 20 and up to 50 fleas. One Camp Doctor employed by me refused to enter the camp again after he had been bitten very badly. I visited this camp with Mr. Greene on two occasions and both times we left the camp badly bitten. We had great difficulty in getting rid of the fleas and insects which had attacked us. As a result of this attack by insects of this camp, I got large boils on my arms and the rest of my body.
I asked my superiors at the Krupp works to undertake the necessary steps to delouse the camp so as to put an end to this unbearable, vermin-infested condition. Despite this report, I did not find any improvement in sanitary conditions at the camp on my second visit a fortnight later.
"When foreign workers finally became too sick to work or were completely disabled they were returned to the Labor Exchange in Essen and from there, they were sent to a camp art Friedrichsfeld. Among persons who were returned over to the Labor Exchange were aggravated cases of tuberculosis, malaria, neurosis, career which could not be treated by operation, old age, and general feebleness. I know nothing about conditions at this camp because I have never visited it. I only know that it was a place to which workers who no longer of any use to Krupp were sent.
My colleagues and I reported all of the foregoing matters to Mr. Ihn, Director of Friedrich Krupp A. G., Dr. Wiels, Personal Physician of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach, Senior Camp Leader Kupke and at all times to the Health Department. Moreover, I know that these gentlemen personally visited the camps."
The next document is NO. 2520-PS. It is an affidavit of Edward L. Deuss, the Economist for the Foreign Economic Administration, Washington, who served as an economic analyst in London, Paris and Germany, specializing in Labor and population problems in Germany during the war, dated November 1, 1945 and contains statements giving the approximate numbers of foreigners put to work for the German war-effort by nationalities and also indicating how many of them were prisoners-ofwar. It will be Exhibit No. 43. The note which he has made after his figures which show? that 4,795,000 workers of various nationalities. The highest being 1,900,000 Russians and the lowest being 2,000 Bulgarians and 1,873,000 prisoners-of-war, Russians, French, Poles, Italians and Belgians is as follows:
"Of the estimated 6,691,000 approximately 2,000,000 civilian foreigners and 245,000 prisoners-of-war were employed directly in the manufacture of armaments and munitions and aproducts or components on the 31 December 1944, according to Speer Ministry tabulations. The highest number of prisoners-of-war so employed was 400,000 in June 1944, the decrease to December 1944 being accounted for in part by a change in status from prisoners to civilian workers. A figure of 2,070,000 Russians uncovered in the American, British and French zones, given in "Displaced Persons Report No. 43", of the Combined Displaced Persons' Executive, c/o G-5 Division, USFET, 30 September 1945, was increased by 430,000 to allow for Russians estimated to have been found on German territory conquered by the Red Army."
At this time, if your Honor please, we would like to pass those documents L-NO-159 and in view of the fact that we have not served another document book on Dr, Bergold I respectfully request that we be allowed to adjourn and perhaps Dr. Bergold and I can take up some of these questions which he has raised today.
MR. PRESIDENT: Very well. The Tribunal will recess until Monday morning at 9:30.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal will arise. The Tribunal will recess until 0930 hours Monday, 6 January 1947.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 6 January 1947 at 0930 hours)
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 6 January 1947, 0935, Justice Toms, presiding.
THE MARSHALL: Military Tribunal No. 2 is now in session. God Save the United States of America and this Honorable Tribunal. There will be order in the Court.
MR. DENNEY: If Your Honors please, the document books which we will not touch for a moment, but which have been delivered to you this morning are No. 2-A, B and C, and No. 3-A and B. I regret that in spite of my promise the index still appears in the first volume, in one case a series of three and in the second case a series of 2. I believe this is the last time we will have to submit document books in series. Hereafter I hope they will be separate, and I shall do my bost to got the index, as I told Your Honors I would.
First, if Your Honors would turn to Document Book 1-A, there were some documents which we omitted on Friday for a variety of reasons, and at this time if we could go back and pick those up, so to speak, the record will be complete. I believe the first document which was passed was No. 2233-PS-A which appears on Page 12 of the English Book, and I believe in the interpreter's book it comes just after 1375-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney, have you designated Book 1 as 1-A and 1-B?
MR DENNEY: Well, I guess that is the way they are designated, Your Honor. I know it's considered as one book, but I just said 1-A because of the fact that they are broken up in two parts so that it will help Your Honors.
THE PRESIDENT: In order to follow the same number of plans as you have in your leader document books, shall we call these books 1-A and 1-B?
MR DENNEY: One-A and 1-B, Yes Sir.
Dr. Bergold, do you have copies now of 2233-PS-A, B, is that right?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes.
MR. DENNEY: The first document being 2233-PS-A which we offer as Exhibit 4-A. There is an entry from the Diary of Frank for 10 May 1940, speaking of the Governor General of Poland, he says:
"The Governor General deals with the problems of the Compulsory Labor Service of the Poles. Upon the demands from the Reich, it has now been decreed that compulsion may be exercised in view of the fact that sufficient manpower was not voluntarily available for service inside the German Reich. This compulsion means the possible arrest of male and female Poles. Because of these measures, a certain disquietude had developed which, according to the individual reports was spreading very much, and which might produce difficulties everywhere. General Field Marshall Goering some time ago pointed out in a long speech, the necessity to deport into the Reich a million workers. The supply so far was 160,000. However, great difficulties had to be overcome. Therefore, it would be advisable to consult the district and town chiefs in the execution of the compulsion, so that one could be sure from the start that this action would be reasonably successful. The arrest of young Poles when leaving church service or the cinema would bring about an increasing nervousness of the Poles. Generally speaking, he had no objections at all if the rubbish, capable of work yet often loitering about, would be snatched from the streets. The best method for this, however, would be the organization of a raid, and it would be absolutely justifiable to stop a Pole in the street and to question him what he was doing, where he was working, and so forth."
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney, just to make it clear, will you identify the Governor General and also Frank as to who they were.
MR. DENNEY: If Your Honor please, I believe that the Governor General of Poland at that time was Frank himself. I shall check to make sure, but it is my understanding -
JUDGE MUSMANNO: That would appear to be correct because the document is entitled "Frank's Diary," and I presume we can take judicial.
notice of the fact that he was a defendant before the First Trial in the International Military Tribunal, and has since been executed.
MR. DENNEY: Yes, Your Honor.
MR. DENNEY: The next document is 2233-PS-B which we offer as Prosecution Exhibit 4-B (for Baker) is another excerpt from Frank's Diary.
"Saturday, March 16, 1940 The Governor General remarks that he had long negotiations in Berlin with the representative of the Reichministry for Finance and the Reichministry for Food.
One has made the urgent demand there that Polish farm workers should be sent to the Reich in greater numbers. He has made the statement in Berlin and he, if it is demanded from him, could naturally exercise force in such a manner, that he has the police surround a village and get the men and women, in question, out by force, and then send them to Germany. But one can also work differently, besides these police measures, by retaining the unemployment compensation of these workers in question."
1352, if your Honors please, was offered as Exhibit 3 and then withdrawn because Dr. Bergold did not have a complete copy. I believe now, Dr. Bergold, you do have a complete copy of 1352-PS. Is that correct?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes.
Mr. DENNEY: This is offered now as Prosecution Exhibit No. 5, it having been assigned that number prior to the time it was withdrawn, It appears on page 14 of your Honors' document book.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney, we have just been handed by the Page another document which is a partial translation of document No. 1352-PS.
MR. DENNEY: Yes, your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: It is not identical with the one in the bound document volume.
MR. DENNEY: These are additional pages which should have come with the document when it was first bound which were left out of your Honors' document books, also this one, and of Dr. Bergold's.
MR. PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney, so we wont get the papers confused will you tell us at what point this additional part of Exhibit 3 is to be inserted?
MR. DENNEY: Just after page 13, if your Honors please. I believe your Honors have in the book prior to what we have given you pages 14, 15, 16, 17.
112 a and 18 which are headed Confidential Report and signed on the fourth page by one, Kusche.
Then there are additional pages. Dr. Bergold, will you check yours and make sure you have than. One, report of two pages, headed Kattowitz, May 22, 1940. Do you have that Dr. Bergold?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes.
MR. DENNEY: Signed again by Kusche. And a report of three pages, headed Berlin , Friedr. Str., May 29, 1940. Do you have that, Dr. Bergold?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: We do not have that second throe page document. We do have the two page document, dated May 22 from Kattowitz.
MR. DENNEY: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Subject on the details of confiscation in the Bielitz country.
MR. DENNEY: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: But we do not have the second three-page document you refer to.
MR. DENNEY: If your Honors please, we will pass this again. I am sorry this has happened. I hope it will be cleared up. Perhaps we can offer as Exhibit 5 the pages 15 to 18 of your Honors' document book and the secret report signed by Kusche which is dated Kattowitz, May 22, 1940 - Dr. Bergold has the additional one - at a later time when we can serve your Honors with copies of this we can then offer that as annex to Exhibit 5.
THE PRESIDENT: All right. We will mark these two pages, pages 17-a and b, and they will follow page 17.
MR. DENNEY: Very well, sir. Then, with your Honors' permission, we will read into the record parts of Exhibit 5 when we have the exhibit complete. Turning now to page 22 in your Honors' document book to 3044-PSB which we now offer as Prosecution Exhibit 6-A. These are instructions concerning Eastern household workers.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney, did you not intend to read Exhibit 5 into the records?
MR. DENNEY: If your Honors please, I would appreciate it if I could wait until we get the other three pages and then read it in at that time.
This concerns free time for domestic workers.
"Free time.
"There is no claim for free time.
Female domestic workers from the East may, on principle, leave the household only to take care of domestic tasks. As a reward for good work, however, they may be given the opportunity to stay outside the home without work for 3 hours once a week. This leave must end with the onset of darkness, at the latest at 2000 hours. It is prohibited to enter restaurants, movies, or other theaters and similar establishments provided for Germans or foreign workers. Attending church is also prohibited. Special events may be arranged for Eastern domestics in urban homes by the German Workers Front, for Eastern domestics in rural homes by the Reich Food Administration with the German Woman's League.
Outside the home, the Eastern domestic must always carry her work card as a personal pass.
Vacations, Return to homes.
Vacations are not granted as yet.
The recruiting of Eastern domestics is for an indefinite period."
If your Honors please, the next document is on page 38 which is document D-316. It was assigned the Exhibit No. 12 and then withdrawn. At this time we wish to renew the offer of D-316 as Exhibit No. 12. Dr. Bergold, do you have as the first page of that exhibit a letter to Mr. Huper having to do with allocation of Russians, dated 14 March 1942, from Krupp Works at Essen?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes.
MR. DENNEY: This provides in part: "During the last few days we have established that the food for the Russians employed here is so miserable that the people are getting weaker from day to day.
Investigations showed that single Russians are not able to place a piece of metal for turning into position, for instance, because of lack of physical strength.
The same conditions exist at all places of work where Russians are employed.
If it cannot be seen to, that the feeding is changed in such a way that a normal output can be demanded from these people, then the employment of these people; with the necessary expense connected thereto, has been in vain; I do not think it is worth while employing any more Russians, from whom I cannot expect any results in production, although they are sent to me as productive workers.
I expect that the same conditions prevail inside all the other works. It would only be right if you via the firm take steps to clear up this matter."
The next document appears on page 56 of your Honors'document book, being 3044-PS, which we now offer as Prosecution Exhibit 14-A.
This is rather a long document, and apparently there are some indications in at that Sauckel is seeking to have better working conditions. However, there are one or two things which I should like to point out to Your Honors specifically.
First, on page 56. Do your Honors have a page 56,57, 58,59,60, up to 63 of this?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. To 63, inclusive.
MR. DENNEY: Do you have it, Dr. Bergold?
DR. BERGOLD: In German: That is not a page number, is it?
MR. DENNEY: No, it is not a page. Do you have document 3044--PS?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes.
MR. DENNEY: You do? The first page, starting in the second paragraph:
"In the tremendous struggle of fate of Europe, the Greater German Reich is constrained to import a tremendous number of nonGerman (foreign) workers of both sexes into the Reich to secure its armament and food supply. All of these working people, prisoners of war included, will be treated according to the oldest traditions of the German people and, of course, correctly, decently, and humanely.
"The recruitment of foreign labor will be done on the fundamental basis of volunteering. There, however, in the occupied territories the appeal for volunteers does not suffice, obligatory service and drafting must be under all circumstances resorted to.
This is an indisputable requirement of our labor situation.
"Recruitment must be made to benefit the prestige of the Greater German Reich and the will of the Fuehrer. Irresponsible promises regarding pay, contracts, housing, free time, etc., must not be made. Living conditions in Germany itself, which are better than anywhere else in Europe, can and should be emphasized, without exaggeration being necessary. Jewish methods of catching people, such as are customary in the democratic states of the capitalistic age, are unworthy of the Greater German Reich. with the above principles as a basis, I order the following: __" And then it goes on.
However, there are a few things I would like to point out to Your Honors. On Page 60 -- Of course, Your Honors are aware of the other documents that have been put in. Under (5):
"Ethnic Germans, as far as possible, will be separated from the foreign members of the transport."
Continuing on the last page, we find again the words "Special Treatment," which have been identified as meaning hanging. Roman Numeral V:
"Special treatment of individual foreign workers groups: The special regulations concerning the treatment of individual groups of foreign workers will remain unchanged."
The next document is at page 66, which is 3044-PS-A. Do you have that, Dr. Bergold?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, sir.
MR. DENNEY: This is offered by the Prosecution as Exhibit 15-A. This is a portion of a Sauckel order, dated 22 August 1942:
"The resources of manpower that are available in the occupied territories are to be employed primarily to satisfy the requirements of importance for the war in Germany itself. In allocating the said labor resources in the Occupied Territories, the following order of priority will be observed:
(a) Labor required for the troops, the occupation authorities, and the civil authorities;
(b) Labor required for the German armaments;
(c) Labor required for food and agriculture;
(d) labor required for industrial work other than armaments, which is in the interest of Germany;
(c) Labor required for industrial work in the interests of the population of the territory in question."
The next document appears on page 70, which is 084-PS. Do you have that, Dr. Berghold?
DR. BERGHOID: Yes, sir.
MR. DENNEY: Thank you. This is a report by one Dr. Gutkelch, dated 30 September, Berlin. It is believed to be a report of 1942. The year does not appear. We offer this as Exhibit No. 16A. On page 71, which is page 2 of the report, after number (1):
"The concept of workers in the occupied territories of the USSR was narrowed down to the labor and social legal term 'Eastern laborer'. The labor condition among foreigners was hereby created and segregated employment under special conditions which had to be looked upon by those affected as degrading.
"The drafting of Eastern workers and women workers often occurred without the necessary examination of the capabilities of those concerned, so that five to ten out of a hundred, sick and children, were transported along. On the other hand, in those places where no volunteers were obtained, instead of using the lawful employment obligations, coercive measures were used by the police: imprisonment, penal expeditions, and similar measures.
3. "The employment in businesses was not undertaken by considering the occupation and previous training but according to the chance assignment of the individual to the respective transports or transient camps.
"The billeting did not follow the policies according to which the other foreigners are governed but just was for civilian prisoners in camps which were fenced in by barbed wire and heavily guarded and from which no exit was permitted.
"The treatment by the guards was on the average without intelligence and cruel, so that the Russian and Ukrainian workers in enterprises with foreign labor of different nationalities were exposed to the scorn of the Poles and Czechs, among other things. The food and care was so bad and insufficient in the camps for the Eastern laborers being employed in industry and in the mines that the good average capability of the camp members dropped down shortly and many sicknesses and deaths took place."
And then, "Payment":
"Payment was carried out in the form of a ruling in which the industrial worker would keep on the average 2 or 3 RM each week and the farm laborers even less, so that the transfer of pay to their homes became illusory, not to mention the fact that there had been no satisfactory procedure developed for this.
"The postal service with their families was not feasible for months because cf the lack of a precautionary ruling, so that instead of factual reports, wild rumors arrived in their countries, among other means by means of emigration.
"The promises which had been made time and time again in the areas of enlistment stood in contradiction with those facts mentioned under Paragraph 3-8."
And then on page 72, which is page 3 in the English and is the last part of the third full paragraph from where we have just concluded in German:
"There are some numbers in a series cf documents which have been found with the staffs of destroyed German units there is a directive to the order of the High Command under No. 2974/41 of 6 December 1942 which directs that all grown men are to be deported from occupied populated points into prisoner of war camps.
From the order to the 37th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Division of 2 December 1941 under the heading "About the deportation of 119a the civilian population" it can be deduced that for the period from the 4th to the 12th of December the capture and forceful deportation of the total population of seven villages to the German rear areas was planned, for which a carefully worked out plan was proposed.