Now I wish to speak of this order. I beg you to pay attention to the date on which the instructions were issued, the 26th of January, 1942.
that: "The hopes which the Reichsmarshal places in the department for the utilization of labor should be justified at all costs. The task of the economic organization and the departments for the utilization of manpower in the East consists of bridging, during the coming months, the gap in national economy -- which arose owing to the departure into the army of men of younger conscription age -- by means of the universal recruitment of Russian labor.
"This is of decisive importance in the war and must therefore be achieved. If the number of volunteers does not come up to expectations, then, according to orders, most severe measures should be taken during the recruitment." Soviet prosecution, USSR Exhibit 151. I do not wish to quote this document again, but only consider necessary -
DR. NELTE (counsel for defendant Keitel): Mr. President, you have just now asked about the document, and the prosecutor has presented a document by Keitel. If it is a question of the same document, then it would be USSR 407, and that is signed by a local commander and by a chief of the Labor Office.
Is this document the same which has been presented to you as USSR 407?
THE PRESIDENT: I have already pointed out, have I not, that it was not by Keitel?
DR. NELTE: I beg your pardon?
THE PRESIDENT: I have pointed out that it was not by Keitel.
DR. NELTE: Yes, sir, but the prosecutor has repeatedly said that this document 407 represents an order by Keitel. That is why I wanted to verify it.
GENERAL ZORYA: Perhaps the Tribunal will allow me to clarify this subject. Apparently a misunderstanding arose from the translation. an order of the German occupational authorities which referred to an order of Keitel regarding forced labor in front areas. This order begins, "According to an order of the Chief of the General Staff of the Military Command regarding compulsory labor service, dated the 6th of November, 1943", and so forth.
I beg the Tribunal to refer again to a document which I submitted previously, the document of the High Command of the Land Forces.
This order referred to corresponding orders of the Supreme Command of the German Army regarding questions of mobilization of labor in the East. Exhibit 407, refers to one of these orders. It is quite clearly stated that it is according to orders of the Chief of the General Staff. That is why I submitted this document.
THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid I really don't understand you. What I have got in the translation before me is this:
"The units of the Red Army captured a copy of the German decree which mentions Keitel's order on the forced labor in the combat zone.
"This document is submitted as Exhibit USSR something or other.
"It may be useful to read a few excerpts of it.
"By order of the Chief of the General Staff of the Military Command of 6/11/43, concerning the compulsory labor service in the combat zone"--and then it goes on to deal with persons who don't present themselves being considered saboteurs. the Military Command was Keitel. He was the Chief of the OKW. Are you still saying that he was the Chief of the Military Command?
GENERAL ZORYA: I quote only that which is in the document: "By order of the Chief of the General Staff of the Military Command concerning compulsory labor." That is in the document, and I do not wish to add anything.
THE PRESIDENT: I don't think it is worth taking any more time over it.
GENERAL ZORYA: I will now go back to that document which was submitted to the Tribunal by the American prosecution, and which was entitled, "Directive for the Treatment of Foreign Labor on Reich Territory." I will not quote this document in detail; I would only like to stress that it established a special regime for the foreign workers.
It created a strict region for the Eastern workers. Thus, the Eastern workers were forbidden to visit churches; they were forbidden to visit public buildings; and they were obliged to wear special insignia, which was of blue color, with the word "ost" in white letters. workers in rural households it was stated that: "Every alien, according to the personal conduct and political convictions of every German, judges our national moral standard. The alien workers must see in the housewife and the members of her family worthy representatives of the German people."
I proceed further:
"If, in certain circumstances, German and Eastern female domestic workers are employed in the same household, the German domestic workers must be given mainly tasks of serving the family and must also be given the supervision of the Eastern woman worker." position.
Eastern workers. General conditions of work did not extend to the Eastern workers.
Their labor was not regulated in any way. This was expressed in Paragraph 4 of the same memorandum.
"Eastern women workers employed in households in the Reich are subject to specific working conditions. German regulations about working conditions and regulations about working conditions and rules for the safeguarding of labor refer to them only in so far as special instructions are given on this point." Section "B", of the memorandum:
"No right for leisure is given to Eastern women workers. Eastern women workers have not the right to leave the household, except when on duty connected with the needs of the household. Visits to restaurants, cinemas, theatres and all public institutions are prohibited."
In Paragraph 10 of the memorandum it is pointed out:
"Eastern women workers employed in households are mobilized for an indefinite period."
Paragraph 12 of the memorandum states that:
"The Germans must not share a room with the Eastern woman workers."
Paragraph 14 states that:
"Clothing as a rule is not supplied to Eastern female workers." treatment of foreign workers and the memorandum on the employment of Eastern female workers - reflect the inhuman conditions of work for the forcibly mobilized Soviet persons. evidence of persons, who themselves experienced the terror of Fascist slavery, and reading of all of these documents would take too much time. the war against Fascist Germany, many proofs of the crimes of the Fascist conspirators in this field. of the People, Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Molotov, dated 16 January 1942, which was presented to the Tribunal by the Soviet Prosecution as USSR Exhibit 51(2), and this note stated that:
"The civilian population was forcibly deported for compulsory labor, who were proclaimed 'prisoners of war' and treated as such.
They were interned in camps, and the actual employees of these camps where peaceful citizens were subjected to intolerable privation were named. Among these internees were old men, women, and children. The food was completely inadequate, and twenty-five to thirty people died every day."
In the same note we read that:
"After the occupation of Kiev, the Germans drove into slave labor all the civilian population from eleven to sixteen years old, irrespective of their profession, their sex, state of health or nationality. People who were too ill to stand on their feet were fined fifty rubles by the Germans for every day of work they missed.
"In Kharkov the German invaders decided to subject the local Ukrainian intellectuals to particular indignities. On the 5th of November, 1941, all actors were ordered to appear at the Schevchenko Theatre for registration. When they had gathered, they were surrounded by German soldiers to harness them to carts and go along the most frequented streets to the river for water." Molotov's note, dated the 27th of April, 1942. This note is submitted to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 51 (3). Section 3 of this note is entitled;
"The establishment of a regime of slavery and serfdom in the occupied districts of the USSR and the abduction of civilians as 'prisoners'".
This note states that:
"In the Ukraine and Byelorussia the Germans introduced a sixteen hour workday. In many cases without any retribution and in some cases with absolutely very low wages."
In the secret instructions entitled "On the Current Tasks in the Eastern Regions", captured by Red Army troops at the beginning of March, 1942, the chief of the "Military Economic Inspectorate of the Central Front", Lieutenant General Weigang, admits that:
"It has proved impossible to maintain industrial production with the labor of semi-starved and semi-clad people", that "the devaluation of money and the commodity crisis coincide with a dangerous lack of confidence in the German authorities on the part of the local population"; and that this is "fraught with danger to tranquillity in the occupied regions, wholly impermissible in the rear of the combatant troops." The German general points out in this document to call these occupied regions "our new Eastern colonial possessions." the occupied districts has led to mass unemployment, the German General Weigang issued the following orders for speeding up the forcible dispatch of the Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian and other local workers to Germany:
"Only the dispatch to Germany of several million picked Russian workers out of the inexhaustible reserve of able-bodied, healthy and strong people in the occupied Eastern territories can solve the urgent problem of meeting the unparalleled demand for labor power, thereby coping with the catastrophic insufficiency of labor in Germany." Tank Troops was ordered to mobilize the entire civilian population of the occupied districts, and it was stated that this forced labor was to be gratuitous.
"By this unpaid labor the population would redeem the acts of sabotage it has already committed as well as the acts of sabotage which may be committed by them in the future." a signature of the German Commandant, Major Portazius, which states:
"1. Citizens working slothfully or not working the designated number of hours will be subject to a monetary fine. In the event of non-payment, delinquents will be subjected to corporal punishment.
"2. Citizens assigned to a job and not reporting for work will be subjected to corporal punishment and will not receive food rations.
"3. Citizens evading work in general will, in addition, be expelled from Kaluga. Citizens afraid of work will be attached to labor detachments and columns, and billetted in barracks; they will be put to heavy labor."
This note expressed that:
"With regard to the farmers of the occupied regions, the system of forced labor coincided with the seizure of land and the transfer of the collective farms and the land of the individual farms to the German proprietors. This was established by a Land Law which was promulgated at the end of February, 1942, by the Hitlerite leader of the occupied territories in the East, Reichsleiter Resenberg." Molotov, which is on page 39 of my statement, which was published a year after the notice I just mentioned.
On the 11th of May, 1943, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Molotov, sent to all Ambassadors and Plenipotentiaries of the countries with which the USSR had at the time diplomatic relations, a note "Concerning the Wholesale Forcible Transportation of Soviet Civilians to German Fascist Slavery and Concerning the Responsibility Borne for this Crime by the Germn Authorities." This note is submitted to the Tribunal as evidence under No. USSR 51(4).
I consider it necessary to read a few quotations from this note. On page 165 of the document book there is a reference to a declaration of Goering of 1941, which has already been mentioned by me. I will not *--* repeat all that Goering said at that conference. I will only stress that Molotov's note points out that Goering issued an order not to spare for the people but for Germany and to handle them in the most cruel manner.
"The main principle must be swiftness and severity. Only the following punitive measures can be adopted: Deprivation of food and the death penalty by the decision of the Military Tribunal."
It is stated in Molotov's note that the administration of Defendant Sauckel is adopting a very large mobilization of the utilization of labor.
population in the occupied districts of the USSR. The citizens thus registered were ordered "voluntarily" to go to work for Germany. As there were hardly any volunteers found, the Germans ordered measures of compulsion to be adopted. subordinates:
"The recruiting, for which you are responsible, must be speeded up by every available means, including the stern application of the principle of forced labor." Chief of the Political Police and Security Service under the Chief of the SS in Kharkov, headed "The situation in the City of Kharkov from July 23 to September 9, 1942."
"The recruiting of labor power," states this document, "is causing the competent bodies disquietude, for the population is displaying extreme reluctance to go to work in Germany. The situation at present is that everybody does his unmost to evade enlistment. There can be no longer any question of voluntary departure for Germany." potentiary for the Utilization of Labor, actively pursued criminal activity, as is pointed out in Commissar Molotov's note. On the 31st of March 1942, Sauckel went to his subordinates a telegraphic order regarding the utilization of Russians. I submit this telegram as evidence, USSR Exhibit 382. In this telegram Sauckel writes:
"The rate of mobilization must be increased immediately and under all circumstances in order that in the shortest possible time, that is to say, by April, a three-fold increase in the number of workers sent off should be insured.
Sauckel's efforts were appreciated by the Defendant Goering at the time when he was Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan. I refer now to the conference which Goering held on the 6th of August 1942. This Document has been submitted to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 170. I beg you to refer to Pages 12 and 13 of the document file. Goering stated -
THE PRESIDENT: (Interposing) All this was read the other day. The actual words were read the other day.
GENERAL ZORYA: You are quite right, Mr. President. My colleague, Mr. Sheinin, who read into the record this document, did not read into the record this particular passage.
THE PRESIDENT: We think that he read the passage which you have got set out in your document: "I do not wish to praise Gauleiter Sauckel; he does not need it." He certainly referred to the passage which you have just summarized, about Lohse.
GENERAL ZORYA: I do not wish to argue, Mr. President. I believe he did not read this part into the record, but if you like, we will not read it.
THE PRESIDENT: Maybe you are right. I don't know.
GENERAL ZORYA: I will quote this very briefly:
"I do not wish to praise Gauleiter Sauckel; he does not need it. But what he has done in a short time to collect workers quickly from the whole of Europe and supply them to our undertakings is a unique achievement of its kind.
"I must say to all you gentlemen that if each of you used in your sphere of activity a tenth of the energy used by Gauleiter Sauckel, the tasks laid upon you would indeed be easily carried out. This is my conviction and in no way fine words." Molotov, dated the 11th of May 1943. This note quotes data concerning the number of Soviet persons who were deported to Germany. slavery was accompanied nearly everywhere by repressive measures. In Poltava, for instance, the Germans shot 65, and in many other towns these executions and shootings and hangings were adopted on various scales.
THE PRESIDENT: I understood from you at the beginning of your speech this afternoon that you were going to finish this afternoon. It is now five minutes past 5:00. Is there any chance of your finishing?
GENERAL ZORYA: If I had not been interrupted by defense counsel for ten minutes I would not have needed more than ten minutes to finish the statement.
THE PRESIDENT: How long do you anticipate you will take now?
GENERAL ZORYA: A maximum of ten minutes.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
GENERAL ZORYA: This note states that the Soviet citizens deported from the territories occupied by the Germans offered armed resistance to their slave-drivers, and that in the Baltic, Ukraine, the Byelo-Russian districts many reports came in regarding the mass flight of inhabitants of partisan troops. The increase on the part of the movement as relative to these measures was pressed with anguish by many German commandos. had escaped German slavery. I will only quote one of these.
Varvara Bakhtina of the village of Nikolayevka, stated:
"In Kursk we were driven into a cattle truck. We were not allowed to leave. The German sentinels beat us ceaselessly. In the town were subjected to a medical examination. The soldiers forced us to undress. The nearer we came to Germany the emptier became our train. At every station we had to throw out ill or dyingpeople. In Germany we were shut up into a camp with Soviet prisoners of war. There was a clearing in the wood which was surrounded by barbed wire. Four days later we were detailed. I, together with the other girls, were sent to a war factory." that of the Soviet workers in German slavery. This part of the statement also mentions the statement of Goering. Goering states that the Soviet person is not very spoiled and therefore it is easy to feed him and to satisfy his needs. It also mentioned a number of letters sent to Soviet soldiers at the front. I will quote only one of these letters. On the body of Wilhelm Bock, a dead Soviet soldier, we find a letter to his mother:
"Many Russian women and girls are working at the 'Astra Werke' factories. They are compelled to work 14 and more hours a day. Of course they receive no pay whatever They go to and from the factory under escort. The Russians are so exhausted that they literally drop to the ground. The guards of ten whip them. They have no right to complain about the bad food or ill treatment.
The other day my neighbor obtained a servant. She paid some money at the office. She was given opportunity to choose any woman she pleased froma number who had recently been driven here from Russia." states that it places responsibility for atrocities in this domain on the leading Hitlerite officials and the High Command of the German Army.
"The Soviet Government also considers res ponsible for these crimes all Hitlerite officials who are engaged in recruiting, abducting, maintaining in camps, selling into slavery, and inhuman exploiting of Soviet civilians who have been forcibly transported from their native land to Germany. Inview of the above, the Soviet Government holds that stern responsibility, equalto that of the chiefs of Hitlerite Germany, should be borne by such already exposed criminals as the General Plenipotentiary for the Utilizationof Manpower, Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel, as well as the principal inspirer of the Nazi slave driving, Alfred Rosenberg, who is Reichsminister for the Eastern Occupied Territory.
"The Soviet Government expresses the conviction that all the governments concerned are unanimous on the point that the Hitler government and its agents must bear full responsibility and receive stern punishment for the monstrous crimes they have committed, for the privation and suffering they have inflicted upon millions of civilians who have been forcibly transported to German Fascist slavery."
This is the end of Commissar Molotov's note, and allow me to close my statement with these words.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will now adjourn.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 23 February, 1946, at 1000 hours.)
THE PRESIDENT: Before we deal with the applications, I am going to read the Tribunal's Order upon Dr. Stahmer's motion of 4 February 1946 and the Prosecution's motion of the 11th of February 1946. This is the Order: Prosecution's motion as to the evidence of the Defendant, dated the 11th of February 1946.
With regard to paragraphs 2 and 7 of Dr. Stahmer's memorandum on the procedure, dated the 4th of February, 1946, the Tribunal makes the following Order:
1. The Defendants' cases will be heard in the order in which the Defendants' names appear in the Indictment.
2. (a) During the presentation of a Defendant's case, Defendant's Counsel will read documents, will question witnesses, and will make such brief comments on the evidence as are necessary to insure a proper understanding of it.
(b) The Defendant's Counsel may be assisted in the courtroom by his associate counsel or by another Defendant's counsel. Such other counsel may help the Defendant's counsel in handling documents, etc., but shall not address the Tribunal or examine witnesses.
3. Documentary Evidence. (a) Defendants' Counsel will hand to the General Secretary the original of any document which he offers in evidence if the original is in his possession. If the original is in the possession of the Prosecution Counsel will request the Prosecution to make the original of the document available for introduction into evidence. If the Prosecution declines to make the original available, the matter shall be referred to the Tribunal.
(b) Should the original of any such document be in the possession of the Tribunal, Defendants' Counsel will hand to the General Secretary a copy of the whole or relevant part of such document, together with a statement of the document number and the date upon which it was received in evidence.
(c) Should counsel wish to offer in evidence a document, the original of which is not in his possession or otherwise available to the Tribunal, he will hand to the General Secretary a copy of the whole or relevant part of such document, together with an explanation as to where and in whose possession the original is located and the reason why it cannot be produced. Such copy shall be certified as being correct by an appropriate certificate.
4. Each Defendant's Counsel will compile copies of the documents or parts of documents which he intends to offer in evidence into a document book, and six copies of such document book will be submitted to the General Secretary two weeks, if possible, before the date on which the presentation of the Defendant's case is likely to begin. The General Secretary will arrange for the translation of the document book into the English, French, and Russian languages, and the Defendant's Counsel will be entitled to receive one copy of each of these translations.
5. (a) Defendants' Counsel will request the General Secretary to have the witnesses named by him and approved by the Tribunal available in Nurnberg, such request being made, if possible, at least three weeks before the date on which the presentation of a Defendant's case is likely to begin. The General Secretary will, as far as possible, have the witnesses brought to Nurnberg one week before this date.
(b) Defendants' Counsel will notify the General not later than noon on the day before he wishes to call each witness.
6.(a) A Defendant why does not wish to testify cannot be compelled to do so, but may be interrogated by the Tribunal at any time under Article 17B and 24F of the Charter.
(b) A Defendant can only testify once.
(c) A Defendant who wishes to testify on his own behalf shall do so during the presentation of his own defense. The right of Defense Counsel and of the Prosecution under Article 24G of the Charter, to interrogate and cross examine a Defendant who gives testimony, shall be exercised at that time (d) A Defendant who does not wish to testify on his own behalf but who is willing to testify on behalf of a co-defendant may do so during the presentation of the case of the co-defendant.
Counsel for other co-defendants and for the Prosecution shall examine and cross examine him when he has concluded his testimony on behalf of the co-defendant.
(e) Subparagraphs (a), (b), (c), and (d) do not limit the power of the Tribunal to allow a Defendant to be recalled for further testimony in exceptional cases, if in the opinion of the Tribunal the interest of justice so requires.
7. In addition to the addresses of each Defendant's Counsel under Article 24H, one counsel representing all the Defendant will be permitted to address the Tribunal on legal issues arising out of the Indictment and the Charter which are common to all Defendants, but im making such address he will be held to strict compliance with Article 3 of the Charter. This address will take place at the conclusion of the presentation of all the evidence on behalf of the Defendants, but must not last more than half a day. If possible, a copy of the written text of the address shall be delivered to the General Secretary in time to eanble him to have translations made in the English, French, and Russian languages.
8. In exercising his right to make a statement to the Tribunal under Article 24J, a Defendant may rot repeat matters which already have been the subject of evidence or have already been dealt with by his counsel when addressing the Court under Article 24H, but will be limited to dealing with such additional matters as he may consider necessary before the judgment of the Tribunal is delivered and sentence pronounced.
9. The procedure prescribed by this Order may be altered by the Tribunal at any time if it appears to the Tribunal necessary in the interest of justice. ments on behalf of the Defendant Goering, and the procedure which the Tribunal proposes to adopt is to ask Counsel for the Defendant whose case is being dealt with to deal, in the first instance, with his first witness, and then to ask Counsel for the Prosecution to reply upon that witness. Then, when that has been done, to ask Defendant's Counsel to deal with his second application for a witness, and then for the Prosecution Counsel to deal with that witness; that is to say, to hear the Defendant's Counsel and the Prosecution Counsel upon each witness in turn.
to deal with documents. Probably it will be more convenient for Defendant's Counsel to deal with the documents together and prosecuting counsel to deal in answer to the documents together. But, so far as the witnesses are concerned, each will be taken in turn.
I call upon Dr. Stahmer.
DR. HORN (Counsel for Defendant Ribbentrop): Before we go into detail, I ask to be informed why the Court has the intention to treat the Defense different that the Prosecution. In principle, Article 24 of the Charter says that the Tribunal may ask the Defense and the Prosecution what means of proof they will submit to the Tribunal. This decision has so far, from the part of the Tribunal, not been used with the Prosecution. Today the Defense has received the possibility to submit to the trial a list of documents and witnesses, which it was difficult so far to aquire.
it necessary to call witnesses and present documents. I ask the Court, however, on the basis of past practice, not to ask the Prosecution to judge whether a document should be considered essential and relevant or not. As Defendant's Counsel I am convinced that that would mean a sort of precensorship by the Prosecution which would impair the presentation of my entire proof. I may, therefore, point out that currently the protests of the Defense have been rebuffed with the remark that the Defense at a later date would be heard about these points. If today, however, here, the pre selection of proof, of evidence, on the basis of protests of the Prosecution will be made, that brings with it the danger that such protests which have not been accepted before could not be treated later. proceed likewise, without giving the right to the Prosecution to protest about the admission of matter of proof.
THE PRESIDENT: Will counsel for Ribbentrop come back to the rostrum?
DR. HORN: I make the motion that the prosecution whould not, at this stage of the trial, receive any possibility to decide about the calling of witnesses or the relevancy of documents.
Mr. President, I want to make it more precise. I want to say that as to the final decision, the prosecution right now should not have anything to say about the question of the admission or non-admission of a matter of proof.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal considers that your motion cannot be granted, for this reason. It is true that the defense are being asked to apply for witnesses and documents now, in accordance with Article 24-D. One principal reason for that is that the Tribunal has got to bring all your witnesses here. The Tribunal has been, for many weeks, attempting to find your witnesses and to produce them here, and to produce the documents which you want. The relevance of these witnesses and of those documents has got to be decided by the Tribunal; but it is obvious that counsel for the prosecution must be allowed to argue upon the question of relevancy, just as counsel or the defendants have been allowed to argue upon the relevance of every witness and every document which has been introduced by the prosecution. been adopted for the prosecution, with the sole exception that the defendants are being asked to make applications for the witnesses and documents to deal with the matter at one time, rather than to deal with it as each witness or document is produced. The reason for that is that the Tribunal, as I have stated, have got to find and bring the witnesses here for the defendants, and also to produce the documents. decide on the calling of witnesses. The prosecution, of course, will not decide upon it; the Tribunal will decide upon it. The prosecution must have the right to argue upon its to argue that the evidence of a certain witness is irrelevant or cumulative, and to argue that any document is not relevant. for the purposes of the Tribunal.
DR. HORN: Mr. President, many of the defendants' counsel, myself included, have, so far, not been able to question decisive witnesses for reasons of information. We know, therefore, that in decisive points we cannot even say what a witness will be able to proce. how far it is desirable to fight for a witness, we are in a much worse situation that the prosecution, which, after all, whenever the defendants' counsel made not protests, knew exactly for what the witness or the evidence was essential. am of the opinion that this fact will become even worse if here, besides the Tribunal, the prosecution also, at this Stage of the trial, can make protests against the material of evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: It is true that it is impossible to decide finally upon the admissibility of any piece of Evidence until the actual question is asked; and for that reason the Tribunal has already, in deciding provisionally upon the application for witnesses, acted in the most liberal way. If it appears that there is any possible relevancy in the evidence to be given by a witness, they have allowed that witness to be alerted. Therefore, if there is any witness whose evidence appears to be, by any possibility, relevant, the Tribunal will allow that witness, subject, of course, to the directions of the Charter to hold the trial expeditiously. called whose evidence appears to be possibly relevant, That is all the Tribunal can do because, as I have already stated, it is the Tribunal who has to undertake the difficult task of securing these witnesses for the defendants, who can't secure them themselves.
DR. HORN: Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, Dr. Stahmer.
DR. STAHMER: Mr. President, I would not like to repeat, but I believe that the objection of Dr. Horn has not been understood.
Dr. Horn wanted only to complain about the fact that the defense in no case has been asked previously whether a matter of proof that the prosecution has presented was a relevant or not, but we have always been surprised when a witness was brought in and we had no possibility to say anything or make any factual objections.