I now turn to Exhibit No. 15, page 125 of the German Document Book, Document No. 2241*PS, dated 20 July 1942. An order from Sauckel on the 10 August 1942, published in Sauckel's section of instructions, page 64 in the English Document Book. This document contains first of all a decree regarding the newly occupied eastern territories, and then follows the decree to which I am now going to refer, I should like only to read the beginning of it:
"Decree of the Plenipotentiary General for Manpower on the execution of the transportation of workers, in this case, damage to and soiling of passenger coaches of the German Railways and their fittings."
The Prosecution incidentally has submitted an exhibit in order to show that condition were not orderly. In reality we are here concerned with an attempt to prevent such individual disorderly conditions, to do away with them. There are mistakes made in every country in the world, but when the competent authorities take action to remove these conditions, one cannot hold that against them.
I shall now turn to Exhibit No. 16, which is document No. 654-PS dated September 18, 1942, notes made by Dirak about a conference with Himmler about the surrendering of Jews to Himmler for extermination through labor. It is on page 67 of the English Document Book. Your Honors as proof of the fact that Milch had nothing to do with it, I shall read the introduction as follows:
"Discussion with Reich Fuehrer of SS Himmler on 18.9.42, in his Field Headquarters in the presence of State secretary Dr. Rothenberger, SS Gruppenfuehrer Streckenbach, and SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Bender.
607 (a) We are here concerned with the internal agreement made between the Administry of Justice and Himmler.
Then I turn to Exhibit No. 21, that is document No. 1063-PS, dated 17 December 1942. It is an order from Mueller regarding the workers capable of work to be taken from the concentration camp. It is page 100 of the translation. Have you found it? I shall read the introduction:
"The Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service." Then comes the reference number, followed by the statement "Secret" and then by "Secret to: All commanders of the security police and the security service.
All inspectors of the security police and the security service.
All commandants of the security police and the security service.
All chiefs of the State police headquarters.
For the information of: The chief of the SS economic and administration headquarters, SS Lt. Gen.
POHL.
All higher SS and police chiefs.
The inspectors of the concentration camps."
It was a secret document, and no agency is mentioned therein which in any way is connected with the defendant Milch. I shall read the first paragraph:
"For reasons of war necessity not to be discussed further here, the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German police on 14 December 1942, has ordered that until the end of January 1943, at least 35,000 prisoners qualified for work, are to be sent to the concentration camps."
Later on I shall prove just why this order was issued, because Himmler for his Waffen-SS was beginning to start armament terms of his own.
I now turn to document No. 22, the number is )18-PS, dated 21 December 1942. It is a letter from Rosenberg to Sauckel dealing with the question of workers in the East. Page 102 of the English document Book.
The prosecution has presented the documents in order to show that they were inhumane acts. Its real significance becomes apparent from the second paragraph of this document on the first page, which I shall now read.
"If there is now complete agreement between your and my conception of the matter, I nevertheless find it necessary on the grounds of several occurrences during the last months, to point out with reference to the enclosure, the methods applied by your agencies and collaborators. I thereby do not disregard the fact that considering the scope and urgency of the task to be accomplished, difficulties and hardships, yes, even false measures by the executing branches, can in the long run not be avoided. But it seems necessary to me, to follow up these occurrences insofar as they touch the conduct of war and the interests of the Reich."
Then on the following page, there is the third last long paragraph, and it begins by saying, "Even if I do not close my eyes to the necessity..." Have you found it? It is on page 102, the third last line from the bottom.
"Even if I do not close my eyes to the necessity that the numbers demanded by the Reichsminister for Armament and ammunition as well as by the agricultural economy justify unusual and hard measures I have to ask, due to the responsibility for the occupied Eastern territories which lies upon me, that in the accomplishments of ordered tasks, such measures be excluded, the toleration and prosecution of which will some day be hold against me and my collaborators. In order to achieve this, and to bring into agreement the requirements given by the peculiar political situation of the Eastern territories with the measures of the commissions and the staffs of your agencies, I have empowered the Reichs commissioner for the Ukraine insofar as neccessary to make use of his right, and to see to it that methods which run contrary to the interest of the conduct of the war and war economy in the occupied East be abolished.
"It appears strange to me that in numerous cases which should have been discussed with the civil authorities, we only receive information through the police and other agencies."
And I shall now read the last sentence of the paragraph: "With consultation of our mutual wishes, which you personally will certainly understand, it is 609 (a) unfortunately impossible for me to accept a co-responsibility for the consequences which result from the recounted state of affairs."
That ends the reading from Document 1-A. I shall now turn to Document Book 1-B. The first is Exhibit No. 28. The index, incidentally, is still in the first book, Your Honors. We are here concerned with Exhibit No. 28, Document No. 3012-PS, dated 19 March 1943; an order signed by one, Christianson, to all group leaders of the SD and the minutes of a telephone call "signed Stapf". This is on page 131 of the English Document Book; in the German Document Book, at the beginning of the Document 3012-PS, a decree is reprinted from which I shall road. Page 224 of the German Document Book.
"Decree Regarding Labor Service and Labor Employment in Operational Zones of Newly Occupied Eastern Territories." It's an order from the Chief of the General Stiff of the Army. "For the security of military and economical necessity in operational territories, the following order is published in agreement with the Economic Staff East.
"Chapter I, Labor Service, paragraph 1. All inhabitants of the operational zone between 14 and 65 years of age are subject to labor service, depending on their ability to work. After having been called up, they will have to report to the local labor authorities or any other official agency responsible in order to he registered. This labor service mag consist of work outside their normal place of residence or outside the operational zone."
After this decree follows a telephone conversation with the Chief of the Economic Staff East, and I shall read the last sentence on the German page. That is in English: "therefore order ..." It's the fourth paragraph and it's on page 131 in the English.
"I therefore order that in the individual territories, quotas are set up which are to be fulfilled with the consent of the native administrative agencies and in the rural areas with the competent 1-A leaders pursuant to the service obligation, As far as the quotas cannot be filled by voluntary enlistments, they are to be filled by conscription.
For the realization of the service obligation, in the individual case, compulsion may be used if necessary. However, it is not permitted, that the workers are procured by collective measures of 610 (a) coercion."
That is signed "Stapf." apparently, only in individual cases, in cases of extreme obstinacy, coercion can be applied, whereas collective measures of coercion are prohibited.
Under the same document number, there follows, after this telephone conversation, a file note which I shall pass by -- a secret letter from the Commander of the Security Police-- and then follows a letter from a Special Commander, called 4-A, most of which the prosecution has already presented, without, however, reading the heading of the letter into the record, as far as I can remember. The heading states, "Special Commando 4-A, dated 19 March 1943, Secret. To all Commando Leaders, Personally, of SD outside Commandos." And therefore defendant Milch could not possibly know of the secret orders of the SD. He was no agency of the SD.
Under the same document number, there follows, after this letter, a File Note. It's two sheets further on -- File Note regarding a conference on the 10th of March. This is still Document 3012. There follows a new part. Have you got it in German? It is on Page 236 in German.
"File Notice regarding the conference on the 10th of March 1943 with the KV Chief, State Councillor, Poulkert in Rowno.
"Present: Major General Nagel, Wi in the South; secondly, Lt. General Bruch, Rue in the Ukraine; thirdly, KV Chief State Councillor Pouckert, Wi Staff East, Chief Group Labor and Plenipotentiary of the GBA, fourth, Oberregierungsrat Meincke, Deputy to the Plenipotentiary of the GBA at Rowno; fifth, Chief administrative Councillor Bong-Schmidt, Wi in the South, Group Chief, La in Rowno; sixth, KV Chief, Dr. Ackerman, Economic Staff South, Wi in the South, Group Chief in Rowno, temporary.
"State Councillor Peuckert stated in his introduction that labor employment in the German agriculture and the armament programs ordered by the Fuehrer demanded the quickest obtaining of another one million laborers from Eastern territories urgently."
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Bergold, we do not have any part of this. This is Document PS-3012 611-A
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Bergold, we do not have any part of this. This is Document PS-3012.
DR. BERGOLD: Yes, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: The part that you are reading isn't in our document books at all.
DR. BERGOLD: But the prosecution handed it to me in my document book. The original document book is in my hands now, the one used by the prosecution. This document 3012-PS consists of a number oi individual documents, and it's the last document in this series which I am referring to.
MR. DENNEY: It may be in Dr. Bergold's book, but it still doesn't put it in mine.
DR. BERGOLD: Naturally, Mr. President, I had assumed that in the document book which the prosecution handed to me, everything would be contained which would also be contained in the English Document book; otherwise I would have had it copied and then would have submitted it to you in its English translation.
Mr. Denney: Dr. Bergold certainly knows from the first few days of the t trial that that isn't so. We shall be glad to get the translation of this and give it to Your Honors. I don't have a copy of it here in English.
THE PRESIDENT: This document in the Court's document book consists of four pages. The last is merely the certificate of translation. Other than that, there are just three pages. The material that you are reading does not appear in those pages.
MR. DENNEY: Our books are the same as your Honors.
DR. BERGOLD: I've got 17 pages.
THE PRESIDENT: Of this document?
DR. BERGOLD: Yes. Far be it from me to accuse the Prosecution of anything. I myself realize the tremendous amount of work one has to do on this sort of thing and that errors will keep in. I was merely trying to apologize to you, trying to state that I am sorry that I didn't have it copied and translated. I merely want to say that this is not my fault, but, of course, it is not the fault of the Prosecution either. There is just too much work.
THE PRESIDENT: Regardless of whose fault it is, all I am interested in is eventually getting a copy of what you are now putting into the record. I don't care whether it comes from you or the Prosecution, but we do want it in our document book, which we shall need for reference later.
DR. BERGOLD: Very well, Mr. President, in that case I shall have it copied and translated into English and later on hand it over to the Tribunal, but may I perhaps continue to read from the report today so that I shall not have to repeat it afterward?
THE PRESIDENT: Exactly. Please do.
DR. BERGOLD: In that case, I shall start again:
"State Councillor Peuckert stated in his introduction that labor employment in the German agricultural and armament program ordered by the Fuehrer demanded the speedy supply of a further 1,000,000 workers from Eastern territories urgently, German agriculture alone was in need of another 800,000 laborers, of whom up to now only 30,000 have arrived."
I shall skip one sentence:
"Apart from this, the Fuehrer had ordered that to begin with the capacity of the German armament industry in the Reich itself should be exploited to the highest possible degree before such armament industries situated near tho front should be made to turn with full revolutions. It had been planned that laborers from the East, particularly for agriculture and in tho food supplies, and workers from the West, particularly experts such as are needed by Minister Speer, should be transferred to the armament industry."
Then I skip one paragraph and continue:
"He -- State Councillor Pouker -- was fully aware of the difficulties in the way of the fulfillment of these quotas. In spite of this, it was his view that in principle in the future voluntary methods should be employed as before. In order to assure the greatest possible success for voluntary recruitment, an intensive and systematic propaganda action would have to be started. Welfare for Eastern workers in the Reich, after initial difficulties had been overcome, could now be described as perfectly satisfactory -- something of which he had convinced himself completely in two districts. This was corroborated by the fact that the sickness figures among Eastern workers had now dropped below two percent. Apart from this, Eastern workers' badges, for instance, had been deprived of their inferior significance, since every foreign worker now working in the Reich was compelled to wear a badge of nationality.
I shall now turn to Exhibit No. 29, Document 2220--PS, dated April 12, 1943, a report from Lammers to Himmler regarding the situation in the Government General. I shall read the introduction of the document.
"The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellory, Berlin. April 17, 1913. Secret."
It is Page 133 of the English document book. There are a number of remarks, and then the address, to the Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police, Herr Himmler. The reference is, "The situation in the Government General.
"Dear Hr. Reichleader:
"We had agreed at our conference on March 27th of this year that written texts should be worked out about the situation in the Government 614-a General on which our intended mutual report to the Fuehrer could be based.
"The material gathered for this purpose by SS-* Lieutenant General Krueger was submitted to you immediately. Based on this material, I have had a sketch prepared which sums up the most important points of this material and subdivides them in a way quickly to grasp and finally points out the kind of measures to be taken.
"The memorandum was chocked together with SS Lieutenant General Krueger, who agrees with it in full. Part of it I herewith submit to you. A further conference does not appear to be necessary unless you and Reichsleiter Bormann have some general objections to the contents, and I should like to have your immediate reply as to whether you agree to this or not. (signed) Dr. Lammers."
Now, we turn to the following page:
"Secret. Reference: Situation in the Government General."
This is still on Page 133. Then under B, Roman Numeral II, Figure 3, which is Page 52 in the German and Page 136 in the English, there is a paragraph, "Treatment of the Native Population." Page 136, Number 3.
"The treatment of the native population can only be led into the right channels based on a foundation of a clearcut and well-organized administration and management. Only such a foundation permits that the native population may be handled strictly if necessary, even severely; on the other hand, it can be dealt with in a big-hearted manner and may be granted certain liberties, especially in cultural respects, causing a certain amount of contentment on the part of the population."
Then I shall continue with "D". First of all there follows 4-C, and then "D"; "Measures for Improvement of Conditions," is the heading of the paragraph.
THE PRESIDENT: Our document book stops with the portion that you have just read, "The Treatment of the Native Population".
DR. BERGOLD: I see. In that case, once again, I shall see to it that the passage in question is supplied later. I shall read this, because this passage is particularly interesting and important.
"The hope entertained by the Governor General following certain revelations made to him sometime ago in connection with the Lasch case, namely, that they might load to an altered course on the part 615 - a of the Governor General and an eventual improvement in the situation in the Government General, did not materialize.
No doubt may remain, therefore, that the first and most important prerequisite for a recovery of conditions in the Government General would be the replacing of the Governor General himself with a suitable and energetic personality who has the necessary political form" You can see that during the supervision of the matters again proposed, one even went as far as that.
In 1943 it was even suggested that Governor General Dr. Frank should be removed from his position.
Now I turn to Exhibit No. 30, Document No. 407, Roman Numeral 5, PS, dated 15 April 1943, a letter from Sauckel to Hitler dealing with labor q questions, Page 137 in the English. I shall read the third paragraph, figure 1.
"After having been active as plenipotentiary for the Arbeitseinsatz for one year, I have the honor to report to you that 5,638,056 new foreign workers have been added, to the German war economy between April 1st of the Iasi year and March 31st of this year."
Here, in the original record, of the Tribunal, the session of January 3rd I mean, in the afternoon, a mistake has crept in, because the figure then was 6,630,056. Such a number is not contained in that document. It must be a mistake because, under figure 2, the number of workers is incorrectly stated as being 3,638,056 workers, so that there is a mistake in the record which I beg to rectify.
THE PRESIDENT: The prosecution made that correction when it read the document, Dr. Bergold.
DR. BERGOLD: But then, apparently that hasn't found its proper expressio in the German record, probably by mistake.
THE PRESIDENT: In the Court's Document Book, it is three million.
DR. BERGOLD: Very well. Thank you very much. In that case, I should like to come to number three of the same document, and point out that the result of the registration, for men and women, until the 7th of April has been the following:
"As a result of the ordinance of January 27th, 1943, 3,249,743 men and women registered."
This, gentlemen of the Tribunal, says German workers. This ordinance dea with German workers, whereas the other figure of 3,600,000 workers refers to foreigners. Finally, at the end of the document, may I draw your attention to the fact that a copy of this letter was only dispatched to the following persons: the late Reicnsmarschall Goering, Reichsleiter Bormann, Reichcminister Dr. Lammers, and Reichsminister Dr. Goebbels.
Now I turn to Document 38-A, document No. 1913-PS, an agreement between the plenipotentiary for Labor and the German Labor Front, regarding the taking care of foreign workers.
THE PRESIDENT: Exhibit 38-A?
DR. BERGOLD: 38-A, yes; Document 1913-PS. From this document, Page 238, I should like to read, Dr. Beisiegel, page 159; thank you. I'm beginning after the words "Fritz Sauckel". "For the carrying out of this agreement I order the following:" This is on page 160.
"1. The supervision of all welfare measures in the realm of the employment of foreign workers is the sole responsibility of the central inspection for the care of foreign workers. Complains about bad quarters, food, deficient provision of free time activities and cultural and propagandistic care will in the future be directed by me to the central inspectorate for investigation and elimination of possible deficiencies. The labor offices and Gau-labor offices must direct complaints and protests coming to them to the locally competent office of the German Labor Front.
"The central inspection will inform the Plenipotentiary General for Arbeitseinsatz regarding its decisions and the measures instituted by it and their completion.
"2. The employment of foreign workers, their identification, equalization between the plants, transfers, supervision of practical and vocationally correc employment in the plant, the promotion of instructional measures to increase production, as well as drafting of the labor-contract regulations, the carrying out of pay regulation measures, and the supervision of the orderly paying of foreign workers, remain as formerly the task of the competent offices of the administration of the Arbeitseinsatz and Reich trusteeship."
This means that foreigners, at all times, could turn to the agencies concerned regarding any possible deficiency, and, as before, everything remained in Sauckel's hadns. I shall now turn to Exhibit No. 41, Document No. 254-PS, 7th of June 1943, a letter regarding the burning of houses in the Wassilkow district, page 175 of the English Document Book. I shall read the beginning.
"Paul Raab, leader, 7th of June 1944, Secret. To the Reichsminister for the occupied Eastern territories. Berlin W 35, Xurfurstendamm 134. Concerning: Letter from June 2nd 1944", and it states.
"According to a charge by the supreme command of the armed forces that I burned down a few houses in the territory of Wassilkow, Ukraine, belonging to insubordinate people ordered for work-duty.
This occupation is true."
I shall now turn to the second part after that:
"During the year of 1942 the conscription of workers was accomplished by way of propaganda. Only very rarely was force necessary." I shall omit the rest of this paragraph, and continue in the second paragraph from there.
"That time I decided to take measures to show the increasingly rebellious Ukranian youth that our orders have to be followed. I ordered the burning down of the houses of the fugitives. The result was, that in the future peopled obeyed willingly, orders concerning labor obligations. However, the measure of burning houses has not become known, for the first time by my actions, but was suggested in a secret letter from the commissioner for the committment of labor as a forced measure, in case other measures should fail."