The document bears the initials of the defendant, that is, his very distinctive "M.I.".
In the reference, 295, the part which I shell read is from the opening address of the defendant in which he describes the background and the formation of the Jaegerstab and the jurisdiction of its personnel. This is on Page 14, Document Book 4; page 15 of the German Document Book.
"We of the Luftwaffe armaments have been asking for over a year already that a strong home defense in the air be set up. We have made efforts to establish the prerequisites necessary for this, namely the providing of sufficient planes to serve as day and night fighters. Since July of last year, when we exceeded the figure one thousand, we have made no further progress. The average production during the succeeding months always hovered around 1,000 planes, sometimes less, sometimes a little more; once in December 700--that was due to the weather and the bad conditions for testing planes--and in January, on the other hand, 1300. It always balances and what was produced was brought in from the evacuation areas, while the main works were more likely to be put out of commission. There is not a single one of our fighter plane factories, accessory factories, which has not been hit at least three times; they were hit by the Americans during the daylight raids, not to mention the scattered raids (Streuangriffe) by the English, which unfortunately are lucky enough on occasion to hit one of the most important production plants (Fertigung). That is what happened two nights ago at Frankfurt on the Main, where a main production plant for propeller blades of the VDM was completely destroyed. Being fully aware that the strength of the Luftwaffe alone is insufficient both as regards quotas and with respect to the workers, etc., to bring about an extensive change in the field of air armaments, we applied to Minister Speer and his colleagues to undertake a common special effort in this field. The establishment of a Ruhr staff served as an example for us; it was established at the time when the industry in the Ruhr area seemed to be entirely put out of commission by the continuous raids. At that time the Ruhr staff was set up and the necessary quotas, buildings, etc., were put at its disposal.
Thereby the entire situation was changed. Minister Speer and his colleagues, fully aware that without air armaments and without air defense the rest of the armament industry would very soon be destroyed and become useless, agreed to this plan enthusiastically and with iniative."
Thus it came about that a definite proposal was made to the Reich Marshal, the Fuehrer; the Fighter Staff was created. The order of the Fuehrer provides clearly that the fighter plan planes program which the Fighters Staff is starting has priority over all other fields of armaments, which means, to be sure, that other important armaments are not to be infringed upon by it. And that is not necessary either. Our Additional needs, which seem very large within the possibilities available to the Luftwaffe, are a relatively simple and modest matter when considered within the framework of the entire armament industry; they can, to be sure, not to be made up for by a few additions, as perhaps existing reserves, but have, it is true, to be met at the expense of other parts of the armament industry. And if we advance our cause at the expense of others, then we are doubly obligated to eliminate as far as possible, every infringement of decisively important matters in this field, from the very beginning. Thus it would be madness if, in order to produce more planes, we should considerably reduce the number of tanks produced; for these tanks are, beside the air war, today in the East and naturally also in Italy of decisive significance. The same holds true for the munitions used by the infantry, which were anyhow available in far too small quantities. It holds true also for several other things; I do not want to enumerate them in detail. However, there is, of course, still the possibility in the armament industry to reduce something that is not so important numerically, or to postpone something, and thus to create a new reserve and a new basis, which will enable us to increase the production of fighter planes.
"Simultaneously, there is bound up with the increase in production an extraordinary effort to undertake a further evacuation in such a way as is dictated by the enemy, and, on the other hand, not to carry out the evacuation as before, in the year and a half, by dispersal above ground, but by concentration underground. For this purpose large scale construction work is under way. Altogether some 100,000 workers who have been taken of other jobs are being employed in that undertaking.
"According to the plans we have here, I believe that we shall have our production to a considerable extent safely under ground by four months from now, and that six months from now we shall have a large part of our production under ground. Eight months from now we hope to have the bulk of our armament industry entirely protected. Previously there was not the faintest sign of a possibility for the execution of such plans; for none of the requests for workers, construction workers, building machinery quotas, etc., which were constantly made could be filled.
"The Jaegerstab is made up as follows: The direction is in the hands of Reichminister Speer and myself. Deputy for both of us, and at the same time our chief of staff, is Hauptdienstleiter Graduate Ing.(Engineer) Saur, who is sitting on my left. Saur is the man who carried out the large scale armament program for the Army and the Navy in the Speer Ministry in recent years in an exemplary manner. Saur again and again during the past 1 1/2 years succeeded in raising the production figures in all important fields and sometimes even in multiplying them.
"Further, I name only the leaders of the Haegerstab. We have put the question of over-all planning in the hands of Dr. Wegener. Construction matters will be directed by Graduate Engineer Schlempp. The evacuation underground will be in the hands of SS Gruppenfuehrer Kammler. The supply, that is one of the most essential factos, and everything in the way of semi-manufactured material that comes to our factories for completion, will be taken care of by Director Schaaf, Deputy to Staatsrat Dr. Schieber, the Director of the Armament Supply Office in Speer's Ministry. Dr. Schmelter will take care of labor commitment, sites suitable for dispersal confiscation, etc., will be in the hands of Ministerialrat Speh of the Armaments Supply Office. Gruppenfuehrer Nagel of the Organization Speer will be in charge of transportation. The supply of power will be in the hands of General Director Fischer. Engineer Lange will be in charge of machinery, Mr. Nobel of repairs. Reich Railroad questions will be in the hands of the President of the Reich Railroad, Pueckel; Post Office, Oberpostrat Dr. Zerbel. Health matters, Dr. Poschmann. Social Welfare, Dr. Birkenholz.
Special problems for Mo 262 and steel powder units, Captain Dr. Krome. Raw materials and quota system, Dr. Stoffragen. Questions of technical simplification, etc., Oberstabsing, Klinker. Office manager, Petri." I read that list of names to Your Honors, because these are names you will find mentioned over and over again in the discussion of the Jaegerstab.
I now call to the Tribunal's attention a chart of the Jaegerstab drawn by Carl R. Saur, Chief of Staff of the Jaegerstab, which shows the personnel of the Jaegerstab, and their activities as members of the Jaegerstab Ministry from which they are drawn. This chart is Prosecution's Exhibit No. 70, and is Document No. NOKW-262, found on page 1 of Your Honors' Document Book, that is, Document book No. 4, and at page one of the German's. For the benefit of the Tribunal we have reproduced this chart on the wall, showing the members of the Jaegerstab at the bottom there in yellow and orange, and the ministries from which they are drawn, together with their functions as members of the Jaegerstab. As I say this is a replica of the chart as drawn by Saur, the man that the defendant Milch named as Chief of Staff of the Jaegerstab.
I call Your Honors' attention to some of the members of the Jaegerstab besides that of Milch, Speer and Saur. I call your attention to Schlemp who was deputy in the Jaegerstab for Xavier Dorsch of the notorious Todt; Fritz Schmelter, Labor boss of the Jaegerstab; SS Gruppenfuehrer Hans Kammler, in charge of the subterranean construction of the Jaegerstab. Those drawn from the airforce were Frytag, Chief of the Jaegerstab Main Board of the air plants; Werner, Chief of the main board for motors; Heyne, Chief of the Jaegerstab for aircraft equipment; and Schnauder who was in charge of the air raid production for the Jaegerstab.
With the labor, as was seen from the document which I have read, the primary consideration behind the formation is inevitably that the Jaegerstab should become involved in the question of labor commitment and recruitment, as well as the policy around which the treatment of slave labor production centers. 308 I should like to point out it is evident from Milch's speech, which I have read, that the Jaegerstab was assigned top priority in all matters, including the commitment of new manpower.
As was indicated by Prosecution's Exhibit No. 54 -- in that connection I shall correct the exhibit number of Milch's speech to the airforce engineers, 25 March, 1944. I am told that is Exhibit No. 54. As was indicated by that exhibit, and the Exhibit No. 69, the purpose of the Jaegerstab was the increase of fighter production. This was partially accomplished by the transfer of the aircraft industry to underground installations.
The next series of documents which the Prosecution will present will show that the Jaegerstab participating in the recruitment allotment, and the employment of slave labor for this program. Our proof will show that workers employed in this program were derived from three sources, that is, labor obtained through the Speer Ministry, of manpower directly recruited by the Jaegerstab in the occupied countries, the concentration camp inmates, and Hungarian Jews, obtained from the SS; this is labor employed in the underground construction program of the Jaegerstab.
The first document of this series which the Prosecution would like to offer is the Teletype from Geering to Reichsfuehrer of the SS Himmler. This is Document No. 1584-PS, and it is part of Prosecution Exhibit No. 71. This is at page 60 of tho English Document 4, at page 56, German Document Book 4. This letter shows that even before tho formation of the Jaegerstab by Geering, who was the superior officer in the Luftwaffe, and who had foreseen the need for the construction of the underground factories. It showed that the aircraft industry had requested necessary labor from Himmler. This letter is addressed to Reichsminister Himmler, Berlin, it states:
"Reference: Letter 168 No. 72/44 Subject:
Creation of the 7th Air Echelon Z.B.V.7 Dear Himmler:
Your request to set up another Echelon of the 7th Air Squadron Z.B.V 7 has been received and I have ordered the operational staff of the 309-A Luftwaffe to make an examination.
At the same tine I request that you place another number of concentration camp inmates, as large as possible, at my disposal for the armament of the Luftwaffe since the experience acquired so far proves these workers to be very useful. The war situation in the air makes the shifting of industry underground necessary. Especially here the concentration camp inmates lend themselves particularly well to organization both from the point of view of work and accommodation. These measures are necessary in order to secure the production of ultramodern aircraft, the development of which is completed. During his last visit at Insteburg, the Fuehrer attached decisive importance to these aircraft. There have already been intermediary consultations between your offices and mine. I would be particularly grateful to you for your assistance in carrying out this task.
"HEIL HITLER - Yours Geering, Reich Marshal of the Greater German Reich."
Himmler in his letter of Feb, 18th replied in full on March 9, 1944. This reply is on pages 61 and 62 in Your Honors' Document Book No. 4; pages 57 and 58 of the German. Attached thereto is a chart showing the employment of concentration camp labor in the aircraft industry. This chart is at pages 63 to 7 in the English Document Book, on pages 59 to 63 of the German. The details by individual plans of the use of this labor. I shall not read the chart in detail, but I call Your Honors' attention to it, and in connection with the defendant's responsibility for the employment of this labor, I then call your Honors' attention to Document No. NOKW-017, Prosecution's Exhibit 54, at page 21 of the English Document Book, page 22 of the German. That is Document Book 4, where the defendant stated that it was he who was responsible for the Army and the Luftwaffe, and, I should also like to call the Tribunal's attention to the document presented previously in this case by Mr. Denny, showing that as General Luftzengmoister of the Air Force the defendant was responsible for the requisition and commitment of labor in the aircraft industry.
The letter from Himmler, that is the letter of March 9, 1944, opened with a reference summarizing the use of concentration camp personnel and air armament, which I shall read, this is the first two paragraphs on page 61 of the English Document Book:
"Following my teletype letter of the 18 February, I herewith transmit a survey on the employment of prisoners in the aviation industry. This survey indicates that at the present time about 36,000 prisoners are employed for the purposes of the air force. An increase to a total of 90,000 prisoners is contemplated."
Then dropping down to the end of the letter, next to the last paragraph where Himmler states about the assignment of concentration camp labor, and the underground construction program of tho Jaegerstab were already under way. Then I'll read the next paragraph starting with "The Movement:"
"The movement of manufacturing plants of the aviation industry, subterranean locations requires further employment of about 100,000 prisoners. The plans for this employment on the basis of your letter of 14 February 1944 are already well under way. I shall keep you, most honored Reichsmarshal, currently informed on this subject.
Heil Hitler (Initialed) HH."
DR. BERGOLD: May it please the Tribunal, if I understood the representative of the prosecution correctly, he has explained to us after reading the letter written by Goering, that the receipt of this letter was acknowledged by Himmler. I would appreciate it if the prosecution would tell us in what way this acknowledgement took place because I can see no such confirmation amongst the documents presented to me.
MR. KING: If Your Honor please, in that connection I call your attention to the opening statement in this letter of March 9th referring to a teletyped letter of February 18th, 1944, that is the confirmation that I was referring to.
DR. BERGOLD: However, this teletype letter of the 18th of February has not been introduced yet. Willit be introduced? Although, of course, I do not doubt the declaration of the prosecution, officially I cannot accept such a statement.
MR. KING: We don't have a copy of that letter. We only take the reference in the Himmler letter for what it is worth. We are not formally introducing that letter. We are only making reference to it as description of the succeeding document.
DR. BERGOLD: Yes. However, I would like to draw the attention of the prosecution to the fact that in this letter of the 9th of March Himmler refers to a teletype letter of tho Reichmarshal of the 14th of February; whereas the letter from the Reichmarshal submitted to the Tribunal was written on the 15th of February, that is one day later. From the 15th to the 14th of February do not go together.
THE PRESIDENT: I think, Mr. King, if you will look at the document on Page 60, Exhibit 71; it bears the numbers 14/2, which would indicate tho 14th of February.
MR. KING: That is right.
THE PRESIDENT: And then the next page says, "Teletype of 14th February."
MR. KING: I would like to draw Your Honor's attention to the distinction between the date that the letter was apparently written and the date that it was apparently received. This date up 312-A on the left hand corner is apparently the date it was received; that is the 15th--or rather, the date that it was transmitted.
DR. BERGOLD: In any case, it is not quite clear.
TEE PRESIDENT: All of it is clear by reason of the fact that the date up in the left hand corner refers to April, not February; the 15th day of the 4th month. It plainly is a mistake.
MR. KING: If Your Honor please, we will withdraw the reference of this letter as a reply to the Goering letter of February 14th and treat it as a reply to a letter of February 14, 1944; that is, we will only withdraw the reference of the Himmler letter as a reply to a Goering letter of February 15, 1944.
The next document which I should like to read is from our 124 and shows further steps of the development of the Jaegerstab underground construction program. This is Prosecution Exhibit No. 48-F and is on Page 88 of the English Document Book--that is Document Book 4--Page 90 of the German. The excerpt which I shall read from this document is on Page 90 and it's part of the summary of the results of the 55th Meeting of the Central Planning Board which was held on March 23, 1944. I might add that the list of those present does not include Speer; the defendant Milch is the only member of the Board present. This excerpt shows that at this time the Jaegerstab was receiving an allocation of steel for its building program. And this is on Page 90, Page 93 of the German, the paragraph starting with: "The Planning Office."
"The Planning Office is authorized to divert from the return flow of iron permits orders of sheet metal handed back by those Kontingentstraeger (that is quota recipients) who had specially big sheet metal orders, a part of this return flow in favor of the Fuehrer Reserve up to 50,000 tons per month. Out of this return flow, a reserve must be formed once only of up to 30,000 tons for the immediate requirements of the Jaegerstab; the administration of this quantity must rest with the Planning Office."
This shows that at this time plans wore being made for the setting aside of steel for the construction program of the Jaegerstab.
THE PRESIDENT: The Court will recess for 15 minutes, Mr. King.
(A recess was taken.)
THE MARSHAL: All persons in the Courtroom will arise. The Tribunal is again in session.
MR. KING: If Your Honor please, I would like to correct that last exhibit number, that is, the result of the 55th meeting of the Central Planning Board. That will be Exhibit 48C. That is for the purpose of the record. I now call your Honors' attention to a second excerpt from the general document book R-124 which is Prosecution's Exhibit No. 48G and of that page 95 of the English document book four and page 98 of the German. This is from the result of the 56th meeting of the Central Planning Board which was held on April 4, 1944. It appears from the list of those in attendance that Speer again was not there. The topic at this meeting was building allocations for 1944. As your Honors will see from the excerpt which I shall read, the Jaegerstab received the allocation of 550 million Reichsmarks to carry out the building program. This excerpt is at page 95 of the English and 98 of the German, starting with the paragraph "The Fighter Staff." That's translated.
"The Fighter Staff is to get a quota of 550 million including 150 million definitely pledged from the reserve and the Air Administration is to have a quota of 200 million; both are to be checked up against each other. Regarding the Air Administration quota precise details such as specific amounts, numbers of workers required, quantities of materials are to be submitted, building projects for the supplying industry are to be transferred to the Office of Armament Supplies, trial projects are to be discussed between the Commissioner of Building and Air H. C., the remaining demands are to be cleared between the Air Chief Administration and the Chief of the General Staff."
I also call your Honor's attention to the last paragraph on Page 96 of the English Document Book 4 and page 99 of the German. This is the paragraph starting with:
"The quota recipients will be informed of their respective quotas as of guiding figures within the limits of which the Commissioner of Building may give assignments. The quota recipients themselves are, on the basis of these guiding figures, to re-plan their projects by concen trating on priority issues and to report which of their building projects will have to fall out, including the resulting figures.
Fieldmarshal Milch will report to the Fuehrer on the total situation of building. Reports on the quotas Air Ministry, Navy, Army and Reichsbahn are to be sent to Fieldmarshal Milch forthwith.
"Demands of labor, building materials, etc. as resulting from the quota allocations are to be discussed with the Planning Office by the quota recipients taking into account such amounts of the quota as were already used up for building purposes since January 1, 1944. Signed Steffler."
And the list of those present includes General Fieldmarshal Milch, Reichsminister Funk and General Secretary Koerner.
A few days later, on April 6th and 7th, 1944, the results of the 56 meeting of the Central Planning Board were reported to Hitler by Milch and Sauer. The minutes of this conference, which I shall read, are also part of the R-124, and are located on pages 74 and -5 of Your Honor's Document Book, pages 72 and -3 of the German. This document is Prosecution Exhibit 48 E. The minutes of this conference were compiled and signed by Sauer and there are references to letters from Speer in these minutes which indicate that Speer was not among those present. The minutes show that Milch and Sauer at this time stressed the achievements of he Jagerstab which had already taken place and discussed the turns to the construction of the underground factory for the Jaegerstab, plans of the Jaegerstab for the construction project were submitted to the Feuhrer. Hitler proposed that 100,000 Hungarian Jews be made available by the SS for a part of the construction project, and the part which I wish to read is paragraph number 16 of the numbered paragraphs, 74 and 75 of the English Document Book 4; "Reports made to the Fuehrer by myself (this is Sauer speaking) and General Field Marshal Milch, based on tables and drawings, as to the achievements of the Jaegerstab stressing the satisfactory cooperation of the new organization with all offices and works. Reported in detail that plans have been made for the best part of transfers, and that, as a first installment, the decentralisation above ground will be completed by August, and as the second installment, the most vulnerable works will be underground by the end of the year."
THE PRESIDENT: That will be 1944?
MR. KING: That will be 1944. Further: "General Field Marshal Milch reported on the result of a meeting on the building subject by the Central "Planning" according to which the most important building projects only could materialize due to agreat tension in general conditions. In spite of this, the Fuehrer demands that the two huge buildings of 600,000 sq. m. each should be erected with a,ll speed. He agrees to it that one of these buildings is not to be made from concrete, but according to our suggestion will be set up as an extension of, and in close vicinity of, the Middle 317-A Works as a so-called Middle-building, and that this work will be placed under the direction of the JUNKERS-WERKE.
Plans have to be made without delay to secure production in bottleneck items of the JUNKERS Works, production of ME 262 at 1,000 per month, and fighters at 2,000 per month.
"Suggested to the Fuehrer that, due to lack of builders and equipment, the second big building project should not be set up in German territory, but in close vicinity to the border on sitable soil (preferably on gravel base and with transport facilities) on French, Belgian or Dutch territory. The Fuehrer agrees to this suggestion if the works could be set up behind a fortified zone. For the suggestion of setting this plant up in French territory speaks mainly the fact that it would be much easier to procure the necessary workers. Nevertheless, the Fuehrer asks that an attempt be made to set up the second works in a safer area, namely in the Protectorate. If it should prove impossible there too to get hold of the necessary workers the Fuehrer himself will contact the REICHSFUEHRER 'SS' and will give an order that oho required 100,000 men are t o be made available by bringing in Jews from Hungary. Stressing the fact that the building organization of the INDUSTRIEGEMEINSCHAFT SCHLESIEN - SILESIA was a failure, the Fuehrer demands that these works must be built by the O.T.- exclusively and that the workers should be made available by the REICHSFUEHRER 'SS'. He wants to hold a meeting shortly in order to discuss details with all the concerned men."
By written letter, written in the name of Speer, and dated April 17, 1944, all interested parties were formally notified of the decision reached at the Hitler conference. This latter is included in 1584-PS, and is part of Prosecution Exhibit No. 71. This is at pages 68 and 69 of the English Document Book and pages 64 and 65 of the German. This is Document Book 4, In connection with this, I might call Your Honor's attention to 3720-PS, which was introduced previously by Mr. Denney as Prosecution's Exhibit No. 68, and in which Speer states that this letter was written by Sauer. That is, the letter of April 17, 1944, and this is at page 119 of the English Document Book and 118 of the German.
That is the reference in The Speer interrogation, 3730-PS. I also call Your Honor's attention to page 118 of the Document Book 4, in which Speer states that he was ill between February and May of 1944. This is at page 117 in the German. This it letter, and/is the Speer letter, is addressed to Jaegerstab, care of Milch and Sauer, copies to Reichsfuehrer of the SS, Chief of the German Police, Himmler, Chief of the Armament Office, Generalleutnant Waeger, the GBA Construction Director, Stobbedetleffsen. In this letter, reference is again made to the procurement of the Hungarian Jews. This letter is at page 68 and 69 of the English Document Book; 64 and 65 of the German.
"By means of tables and drawings, I have, together with Field Marshal Milch, reported to the Fuehrer on the work of the Jaegerstab with due reference to the extremely gratifying and successful cooperation of the newly formed organism, with all offices and plants. He has duly noted that the best part of the transfer has been determined according to plan and, that as a first phase decentralization from above ground can be concluded by about August and that the second phase will be concluded by the end of the year by a total securing underground of the most vulnerable plants. As a result of the construction conference of the Central Planning, Field Marshal Milch has reported to the Fuehrer that, of the required amount of construction work, only the most important structure can be effected in view of the extreme stress of the situation as a whole. The Fuehrer insists that the two major plants he asks for, covering at least 600,000 M. each, should nevertheless be erected with the greatest energy. He agrees that one of these plants will not be built in concrete, but will, in accordance with the proposal, form an extension and be in the immediate vicinity of the present Central plant, under the name of Central Building, and be under the management of the Junkers Plant. In view of the lack of building labor and installations the suggestion to erect the second proposed large building not on German territory but on suitable sites, involving primarily gravel foundations for transport facilities in the immediate vicinity of the frontier, on French, Belgian or Dutch territory, has been approved by the Fuehrer, so long as the structure is erected behind a fortified zone.
