I would appreciate it if your Honor had that in mind when you confer with the other judges this afternoon.
THE PRESIDENT: What you say is true of any exhibit. The probative value is for judicial determination. You think the exhibit should be received and if worthless disregard it, but nevertheless receive it?
MR. DENNEY: Yes, sir.
We come now to the part of the proof which places the defendant in the very center of the Slave Labor Program.
We have shown that from the outset of the war and prior thereto, he was thoroughly informed in the Nazi plan for total War, which contemplated fall use of all human and material resources within the homeland, and within the countries that were to be conquered. We will show he was active in the project which carried out this master plan. We will show the board exercised jurisdiction in the matter of procurement, allocation and use. He carried out the master plan for requisition, allocation and use of human raw material for the human war machine. These are words we will have occasion to repeat as we introduce the documents, - requisition, allocation and use.
Our evidence will show that Milch, a member of the Central Planning Board, belonged to an organization which requisitioned, allocated, directed the supply of Slave Labor,--and here again we have another important word "Delong". He was one of two most essential men in the Planning Board that guided the decisions of that organization.
We will present to the Court excerpts from the minutes of some 12 meetings, and everyone of which Milch was present, starting with the first held in April 1942 and ending with the fifty-eighth held in May, 1944. Actually, he was at all but eight meetings, and we use the figure "eight" advisably. We are not sure, he may have been in some of those. There is no question that he was in everyone of these meetings which we introduce here. On occasions when Speer was not present Milch presided. We will show that he actively participated when the Central Planning Board was arriving at decisions with respect to the request, allocation and use of this labor.
161a We will show he was active in the formulation of the announcement of decisions of the Central Planning Board.
We will show the Board exercised jurisdiction in the matter of procurement, allocation and use of labor. Some of the labor in which it dealt was enforced in the occupied countries, some of them were prisoners of war and were allocated to occupations directly connected with the German War effort. Requisition, allocation, use, dominating voice, decisive influence, active participation, forced labor, illegal occupation, those are the words with which we are concerned, and these are the things with which he concerned himself.
In presenting this part of the case we decided a chronological presentation would be best suited for the Court. As I indicated earlier this morning the reason the exhibits are not in chronological order in the book is a matter of mechanics, when we were able to get some of them and when we were able to get some of them translated, plus the face the first 47 pages were all used in the first case, and it was found impossible to have them retyped, restenciled and rebound. Our proof and some of our remarks will be repetitive, but in this very repetition comes an accumulation which shows the extent of this defendant's involvement in the activities of this Board.
Now, if your Honor, please we would like to offer all of Book 3-A and 3-B, as Document R 124, and we will refer to the various meetings and reports of meetings, Hitler's conferences, and so forth, by their pages as we go through them. There is nothing in these two books safe a Schieber letter with Statutes of the Central Planning Board, which appears on pages 1, 2 and 3 of Book B, which are other than meetings of the Central Planning Board, reports of meetings and Hitler conferences.
The Hitler conferences, are notes, there are some five of them.
THE PRESIDENT: This then is Exhibit 48?
MR. DENNEY: Yes, Your Honor, please. This is offered as Prosecution Exhibit No. 48. We respectfully suggest that we refer to them as 48-A and 48-B, if your Honor approves. 48-A being for No. 3-A, and 48-B for No. 3-B.
I first direct your Honors' attention to Page 1 of book B, which is a letter by one Walter Schieber, dated Berlin, October 20, 1942. The Court's 162a attention is respectfully directed to the distribution which appears at the bottom of the page, "The highest Reich authorities, The Reich protector The Governor General, The Executive authorities in the occupied territories". The Reich protector, of course, refers to Bohemia, Moravia and the Governor General Poland, and "d" takes in everyone else that is acting in a capacity of an executive in an occupied territory.
"Enclosed I send for your information, statues of the Central Planning Board with the request to support the office of the "Central Planning Board" in every possible way in its work, and to direct, more particularly, your section chiefs and reporters to forward all information requested orally or by writing, in the shortest possible time. By this collaboration of your section chiefs and reporters, the building up of a larger machinery in the framework of the 'Central Planning Board' is to be avoided."
Turning then to page 2, "STATUTES OF THE CENTRAL PLANNING BOARD." "The Central Planning Board created by the Fuehrer and the Reichs Marschall in order to unify armament and war economy deals only with the decision of basic questions. Professional questions remain the task of the competent departments which in their fields remain responsible within the framework of the decisions made by the Central Planning Board.
"In order to have the conferences properly prepared and to have the execution of the decisions supervised, the Central Planning Board appoints an office. This office consists of the deputies appointed by each of three members of the Central Planning Board; one of these three deputies shall be appointed chief of the office.
"In accordance with the attached distribution of work the office appoints reporters. These reporters are at the disposal of all members of the Central Planning Board. The office appoints one reporter to keep the record.
"Office and reporters have to see to it, above all, and to draw the attention of the Central Planning Board, if necessary to the required measures, that:
"All decisive tasks of war economy are achieved quickly, without red-tape, and ruthlessly, by mutual adapting of all composing branches.
"All such work as is obviously without importance for winning the war, be discontinued.
"The office prepares the meetings of the Central Planning Board in such a manner that the members of the Central Planning Board have the agenda and the material of discussian 24 hours in advance. For this purpose the office conducts preliminary talks with the competent department, etc..
"On the strength of the record made by the reporter, the office sees to the execution of the decisions of the Central Planning Board by the competent agencies, and sees to it that the deadlines fixed are complied with.
"The members of the office keep the members of the Central Planning Board informed between the sessions.
164a "The distribution of work, dealing with incoming mail, etc.
is arranged by the office itself. The members of the office sign "By order" of the Central Planning Board.
"Reporters have to keep in constant touch with the departments, with regard to the sectors of work they are in charge of. In the regular sittings of the office they report on the progress made and on the measures which are required for the carrying on of the war economy, especially for the increase in production, for other improvements in the supply with raw materials, and for necessary changes in distribution. They do the preliminary work for the meetings of the board (see also 5A) and in their working sector they are primarily responsible for the execution, within the established time limits, of the decisions of the Central Planning Board.
"Berlin, 20 October 1942.
/s/ M i l c h (Typewritten) /s/ S p e e r (Typewritten) /s/ D o e r n e r (Typewritten)" That should be "Koerner (typewritten)". We then turn to page 21 in Document Book 3-B. This is a first conference of the Central Planning Board; it's headed "Berlin, 27 April 1942". Page 3105 of the German original; what page in your document book I don't know.
If Your Honor please, while the interpreters are locking for this, I might add that all of these originals are not available at this time to hand the Secretary, Judge Dixon, the reason being that some of them are bound up and some of them will have to be taken from the record in Case I. However, before we are through, we will deposit the originals or photostatic copies of them with Judge Dixon, and, if that's agreeable to the Court and Dr. Bergold, we can proceed on that basis. Dr. Bergold has copies of everything that we have, both in English and German, and Your Honors have a complete copy.
"Present: The three members: Speer, Milch, and Koerner. Furthermore: State Secretary Dr. Schulz-Fielitz, Munitions Ministry and Minister von Bormann, from the Four Year Plan.
"The Central Planning in the Four Years Plan (Decree of the Reich Marshal of Greater Germany of 22 April 1942) is a task for leaders. It encompasses only principles and executive matters. It makes unequivocal decisions and supervises the execution of its directives. The Central Planning does not rely on anonymous institutions, difficult to control, but always on individually and fully responsible persons who are free in the selection of their working methods and their collaborators, as far as there are no directives issued by the Central Planning." And then they go on to discuss the iron situation. I don't think that that needs to be read into the record. The next meeting with which we are concerned is the 11th meeting, which appears in "B" at pages 16 to 20 in the form of notes and in "A" at 41 and 42 in the form of a report.
Dr. Bergold, do you have, in Bock 3, notes on the 11th conference, Berlin, 24 July 1942?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, sir.
MR. DENNEY: Reading, if Your Honor please, from the part in Book B, the notes - the meeting was held on the 22nd, the notes were prepared on the 24th. Noted present in the beginning were Speer, Milch, and Koerner. The five people present, including Director von Bohlen, were Roechling, Rohland, Dr. Langen, and Bergass. Also present were Gauleiter Sauckel, Plenipotentiary General for Labor, and then the last eight, members from the Reich Ministry of Armaments and Munitions.
Turning over to page 14, the last paragraph on the page, it appears at 3060 in the German original, the page directly following the page from which we were just reading, page 17. "Securing of food. A net influx of one million foreign workers is counted on." If Your Honor please, there was some typing on the exhibit which was in Dr. Bergold's book, which was made at the time the notes were originally translated into English, which have no part of the exhibit at all, and he was questioning as to whether or not they should be in English. They don't appear in the English: they have nothing to do with the case. They were just made for the convenience of the lawyers and translators using them at any prior date. 166 "Securing of food.
A net influx of one million foreign workers is counted on. This number was not reached in the past months. Even with an influx of more than one million in the coming months, the one million peak will actually not be surpassed in view of current departures of workers. Food for this one million is secured.
"To what extent an improvement of the food situation, through a sharper hold on the production outside of Germany, could be accomplished."
DR. BERGOLD: All the rest is missing in my document book, sir.
MR. DENNEY: Isn't it on the next page?
DR. BERGOLD: No, sir, it isn't.
MR. DENNEY: Well, we'll have to pass this at this time and --
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Denney, page 3061 is the original document also missing from our copies.
MR. DENNEY: Yes, sir, they're just excerpts that we've taken here. These minutes are many pages long and we're just taking the parts that we think are pertinent to the Court. They do go from 3060 to 3062. We've omitted 3061.
be THE PRESIDENT: Well, then the next page should/read at this time -
MR. DENNEY: Yes, Your Honor.
Well, we shall pass the eleventh meeting until such time as we can get Dr. Bergold the proper copy. We will turn to that at a later time.
Now the next item to which we would like to direct Your Honors' attention is on page 37 of Book A, a Hitler conference, a memorandum by Speer dated 19 August 1942, a record of a conference with the Fuehrer on 10, 11, and 12 August 1942:
"Gauleiter Sauckel promises to make Russian labor available for the fulfillment of the iron and coal program and reports that, if required, he can supply a further million Russian laborers for the German armament industry up to and including October 1942. So far he has already supplied one million for the industry and 700,000 for agriculture. In this connection the Fuehrer states that the problem of providing labor can be solved in all cases and to any extent; he authorizes Gauleiter Sauckel to take all measures required.
"He would agree to any necessary compulsion in the East as well as in the West if this question could not be solved on a voluntary basis."
On the same page just below what has been read is another Fuehrer conference dated 29 September 1942, a memorandum prepared by Speer. The conference was held on September 20, 21, 22, 1942. Still on page 37 of Document Book 3-A which is Prosecution's Exhibit 48-A.
"I pointed out to the Fuehrer that, apart from an insignificant amount of work, no possibility exists of organizing armament production in the concentration camps because the machine tools required are missing; there are no suitable premises. Both these assets would be available in the armament industry if use would be made of them by a second shift.
"The Fuehrer agrees to my proposal that the numerous factories set up outside towns for ARP reasons should release their workers for supplementing the second shift in town factories and should in return be supplied with labor from the concentration camps - also two shifts.
"I pointed out to the Fuehrer the difficulties which I expect to encounter if Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler should be able, as he requests, to exercise authoritative influence over these factories. The Fuehrer, too, does not consider such an influence necessary.
"The Fuehrer, however, agrees that Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler should draw advantages from making his prisoners available; he should get equipment for his division.
"I suggest to give him a share in kind (war equipment) in ratio to the working hours done by his prisoners. A 3-5% share is discussed, the equipment also being calculated according to working hours. The Fuehrer would agree to such a solution.
"The Fuehrer is prepared to order the additional delivery of this equipment and weapons to the SS, according to a list submitted to him."
And then going to the sixteenth meeting of the Central Planning Board which appears in Document Book B, pages 32 to 36.
DR. BERGOLD: I ask the Tribunal to ask the representative of the prosecution to clarify which persons were present during that Fuehrer conference. I can't see that and I would appreciate it very much if I could possibly be told in what way these minutes pertain to the defendant.
MR. DENNEY: Your Honor please, so far as I know, we, too, have been unable to find out who was present at this conference, and the first ones mentioned according to Speer's notes are conferences which he had with Hitler.
Speer was a member of the Board. Speer talked to the Fuehrer, and Speer sat with Milch when the Board met. There was one later conference of which we do have a note showing that Milch was present. We offer these for such value as the Court sees fit to give them again to case a light on the whole program.
Turning now to page 32 in Document Book B, the sixteenth meeting that appears in Your Honors' book on page 31 as the eighteenth meeting, that should be the sixteenth. Page 31 which is just a face page. It says "18". It should say "16".
THE PRESIDENT: It has been corrected.
MR. DENNEY: Thank you, sir. This was held on the 23rd of October 1942 in the Reich Ministry for Armament and Munitions. We start in the middle of a speech at page 32 by one Fischer. Speer is present and Milch is present.
"For if I lack 68,400 men in the Ruhr mining district alone, and if 140 skilled workers are taken away from me, as happened in the Dutch national mines, although I had definitely enjoined Bruch, do not let any skilled workers be taken away from the pits, and if the Organization Todt and the Wehrmacht simply take my men out of the Campino mines, out of the mines in Belgium, for the airports --" and then Speer interjects, "When did that happen?" The reply: "Last year."
"SPEER: These are the same old stories which we have already heard often enough. That does not do any good now. You will have to bring up something new. Were any of the workers you received through the new drive of Sauckel taken away from you? We must be informed of it.
"FISCHER: That is the case in Holland now. 140 have already been taken away and another 60 are to be taken away."
I call Your Honor's attention to the fact that these men concern themselves with figures that are astronomical and even with numbers like "60".
"SPEER: Who took them away?
"PLEIGER: The Sauckel Labor Commitment.
"SPEER: Where did they go to?
"PLEIGER: To Cologne, Deutz, Humboldt.
"SPEER: What are they doing there?
"PLEIGER: They are supposed to be used in mining there. To this I replied that it was nonsense to take my men away from mining itself.
"SPEER: Today I gave several other like cases to Sauckel and said: if we do not insist on having everyone of these cases referred back to the Labor Office and in this way give them the work to do, we will not bring them to their senses. That is why pressure must be applied here, too, and we shall also order at Sauckel's that these 150 men return to you, man for man, and I should like to ask you to let us know in three to four weeks whether you have received all of them back. We shall make that clear directly ourselves.
"PLEIGER: That is not the only thing. For instance, 420 men in Upper Silesia, too. A transport of Russians started from Nikolojewsk to Rumania. We were simply told that a military order could not be opposed.
"MILCH: All I need is the case with names and documentary evidence."
Milch taking care of the Army situation.
"SPEER: No. But you may include the Eastern workers, after all, so that you do not receive only prisoners of war. Before we take German workers from the sector of the rest of the economy, the planning must first be finished so that one may know what results it will have on industry. I believe, however, that the German workers in mining industry would turn out to be a failure if they would come from the textile industry, for instance, or from elsewhere.
"(Interjection: Quarry men.)"
DR. BERGOLD: My copy here is missing. The Milch statement.
MR. DENNEY: If Your Honor please, in the German copy Dr. Bergold has, the original statement of Field Marshal Milch is missing, but here is a photostatic copy of the original which we showed him with the statement in it.
"SPEER: No. But you may include the Eastern workers, after all, so that you do not receive only prisoners of war. Before we take German workers from the sector of the rest of the economy, the planning must first be finished so that one may know what results it will have on industry. I believe, however, that the German workers in mining industry would turn out to be a failure if they would come from the textile industry, for instance, or from elsewhere.
"(Interjection: Quarry men.)
"Yes, it is true that at one time many men went over to the stone industry from the mining industry. Could not a list be made sometime of the workers who used to be in mining industry? Could not a list be made sometime of the workers who used to be in mining industry and who now gad about elsewhere?
"PLEIGER: Such lists can be made only with a total figure only but not itemized. It would already help us if we could get only a few hundred.
"SPEER: From the quarries you can get all of them.
"(Interjection: Only old men are left there.)
Pleiger continues:
"Three-quarters of a year ago I made available all quarrymen for any use the labor commitment might choose. They are still working in Himmler's concentration camp Mauthausen. Pleiger, maybe you can have it established sometime how many men there are in the quarry of Mauthausen.
"PLEIGER: I have already looked them over. I cannot use them for hard coal mining; I cannot work them there. I had made an agreement with Himmler that he would take over one pit but it cannot be done. It is too dangerous with those people. It would have a psychologically negative effect if we would start with prisoners there. Even with civilian prisoners the situation is difficult.
The next meeting is the 17th which appears at A-42 through 45 and B-7 is the facing page, and 8 and 9. Dr. Bergold has pages 42, 43, 44 and 45 of Book A and there are 7,8 and 9 of Book B. Now on Page 44 of Book A, Hildebrand is talking again there, speaking of requirements for the increase of coal production:
"Our promises were made on the basis of the 150,000 prisoners of war whom Field Marshal Keitel had promised us for this purpose. Of these, 60,000 are still missing. Several departments are passing the buck in this matter. General Wagner, the chief of supply, called on me and told me they could not supply them now and wanted time until January. They are now promised for the beginning of December.
"As for the quality of the new incoming transports, apparently a weeding out takes place already in the East. The good workers among the prisoners of war are kept back and only those of inferior quality are passed on so that I cannot estimate the value of these 60,000 as high. I think we shall be able to use hardly 60% in mining.
"There are, furthermore, 15,000 men in the prisoner of war camps in the General Government. They are all right and will come as soon as the 30,000 have been expedited. Gauleiter Sauckel promised Mr. Pleigel for the coal industry, 10,000 civilian Russians who would be freed by redirections of labor in agriculture. This was discussed yesterday with Dr. Fischer. Their 10,000 men, we think, will be at the disposal of the coal industry in about a fortnight. The total will, therefore, be 115,000. We have, however, to allow for certain reductions according to the physical conditions of the men.
"The recruiting of suitable civilian workers over there is very much hampered because we were repeatedly told that our recruiting personnel should give up the whole department Staline or the DonDonetz area because the men there were all needed. Then a small number of workers from the East would remain" -- Is that as far as your book goes, Dr. Bergold?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, sir. One page is missing, 1234.
MR. DENNEY: We don't have 1234 in it. We have 1232, 1233 and 1235.
174 a However, we shall leave that out at this time and direct the Court's attention to Page 42 and 43 which is a summary of the results of the 17th meeting of the Central Planning prepared on the 30 October 1942, on the meeting of the 28th; and the distribution which appears on Page 43, the second name which appears is Generalfieldmarshall Milch.
And then turning to that part of the 17th meeting which appears in Document Book B at page 9, which is another part of the stenographic transcript of these minutes. On page 1265 of the German original, I believe, a man named Winkhaus, W-I-N-K-H-A-U-S, speaking at the top of the page -- It should be on page 9, on page 111 of the German transcript, I am told, a man named Winkhaus, speaking at the top:
"The issue at stake here is not in our dealings with labor offices and building contractors, but rather we touch with our feeder industry many districts, where there is no mining industry and in such places it has not become known yet that the mining industry is an essential part of the armament industry. This should, on some occasion, be brought to the attention of all competent offices." And then Speer goes on to say:
"I am doing that any way. The Central Planning is issuing equal worded directives to all armament inspections, regional labor and economy offices which say in effect: the shoe pinches mostly here at the time and now especially in the mining industry."
The next meeting is the 21st Meeting. It appears at Pages 45 through 47 of the Book A and pages 23 to 27 of Book B. Directing our attention for the moment to the section in Book B which starts on page 23, Your Honors can see from the entry on Page 47 of Book A that General Field Marshall Milch is listed as having been present at the meeting which was held on 30 October 1942, at the Reich Ministry for Armament and Munitions. It's on Page 125 of the German Translation. Sauckel is speaking:
"There is but one possibility, and that is that the moment the Wehrmacht takes prisoners in operational territory, they are to be immediately turned over to us.
We will move them away much faster then the Wehrmacht." Here, of 175 a course, Sauckel is making an improper proposal -- the taking over of all prisoners of war by his Plenipotentiary General for Labor -something that clearly violates the laws of war.