instructions of the German State, Councillor for the Maribor District, of August 12, 1944. This circular deals with the question of enlisting various categories of population in the occupied Province of "Donja Stajerska" into the armed forces and labor service, and it calls not only upon all the inhabitants of this occupied area, but also on the Dutchmen, Danes, Swedes, Luxembourgers, Norvegians, and Belgians, who may find themselves living there, to join up for labor service. USSR Exhibit No. 93. organizing deportations of the Polish population for slave labor to Germany.
I shall read into the record several excerpts from the so-called Frank's Diary submitted to the Tribunal as exhibit USSR-223. meeting of the section chiefs which took place in Cracow, 12 April, 1940: Page twenty-six of the document file, reverse side. I quote:
"Under the pressure of the Reich it has now been ordered that "This compulsion implies the possibility of arresting Poles, both men and women.
In the course of this practice a certain amount of unrest has occurred which, according to some reports, is very wide spread, and which may lead to difficulties in all direction. the necessity of deporting to Germany a million workers. Only 160,000 have been delivered up to date. an ever increasing nervousness of the Pole. capable of work is taken off the streets. The best way would be to arrange a radi and it is absolutely legal to stop a Pole in the street and to ask him what he is doing, where he is working, etc."
dant Frank stated:
"I am glad to be able to tell you officially that so far through "Recently you have requested us to obtain 140,000 more workers.
agreement of yesterday 60% of these newly requested Poles will be sent to the Reich before the end of October and the remaining 40% before the end of this year."
Government-General, 14 December 1942, Frank stated the following in his address "You know that we have given to the Reich more than 940,000 Polish workers.
Accordingly the Government-General is at the head of all European countries, both absolutely and relatively.
This performance is collossal; it was recognized as such also by Gauleiter Sauckel" ment of the Polish Republic which is entitled "Deportation of the Civilian Population for Forced Labor."
a) As early as on October 2nd, 1939, a decree was issued by Frank concerning the introduction of forced labor for the Polish civilian population within the Government General. By virtue of the said decree Polish civilians were under the obligation to work in agricultural establishments, on the maintenance of public buildings, road construction, regulation of river, highways, and railways.
b) A further decree of December 12th, 1939, extended the groups of those liable to forced labor to children from the age of 14 years. And a decree of May 13th, 1942, gave the authorities the right to use forced labor even outside the Government General.
c) The practice which developed on the basis of those decrees turned into a mass deportation of civilians from Poland and Germany. continually inviting Poles to go "voluntarily" to work in Germany. At the same time however every town and village was told how many workers they were to supply.
As a result of that the German authorities named the people to go or arranged round-ups in streets, restaurants, and other places and those caught were sent straight to Germany. There was a particular hunt for young workers of both sexes. The families of those deported received no news from them for months and only after some time postcards arrived describing the poor conditions in which they were forced to live. Often, after several months, the workers used to return home in a state of spiritual depression and complete physical exhaustion. of men were sterilized while young girls were forced into brothels.
d) These laborers were either sent to live with German farmers, working on their land, to work in factories, or special work, while confined to forced labor camps. The conditions in these camps were abhorrent.
e) According to provisional estimates, in 1940 alone, several hundred thousand women and men were sent to Germany as laborers.
f) To this great army of slave workers thousands of Poles deported from the incorporated territories have to be added and also 200,000 Polish prisoners of-war who, by a decree issued by Hitler in August 1940, were "released" from camps, but only to be sent to forced labor into various parts of Germany.
g) These deportations continued throughout the years of war. The total number of those workers reached at a certain point a figure of two millions. Exact figures are obviously not available. But if one considers that in spite of the very high death rate among those people, there are now about 895,000 Polish citizens registered in Western Germany, the estimate appears correct. very condensed form. Behind these few lines lies the history of hundreds of thousands of Polish families destroyed, tragedy, death and sorrow. The history of each of these laborers was a continuous tragedy: Fathers leaving their families without means, husbands their wives with no possibility of maintaining them, with no protection and little hope of return.
volving, at the least, 10% of the total population of Poland. This was a terrible crime, a crime terrible enough in itself, but especially so with respect to all these victims. warfare. Exhibit USSR-369, states the following:
"As in all the other occupied territories, the Germans pursued two main objectives in their occupational policy in Greece: the maximum exploitation of the country's resources in the inter sts of the German military economy, and the enslavement of the population by means of systematic terror and general repression."
In following up their universal policy of plunder and revenge, the Germans as usual broke all the commonly accepted laws of behavior. In part of the report of the Greek Government which is entitled, "Recruitment of Manpower" there are two paragraphs which I intend to read into the record.
"One of the many problems confronting the German administration was that ofrecruiting labor.
"All males between sixteen and fifty years of age were liable to labor conscription. Strikes were declared illegal, andsevere penalties enforced for resort thereto. Persons who organized and directed a strike were liable to the death penalty. Strikers were tried by military courts.
"At first, the Germans by propaganda and various forms of indirect pressure, tried to recruit Greek labor to work within Germany. They promised high wages and better conditions of life. As this kind of voluntary recruitment failed to produce the expected results they abandoned it and confronted the workers with the dilemma either of being taken as hostages or else of being sent to Germany to work." applied by the fascists in Czechoslovakia. But the deportation by the fascist criminals of peaceful populations into slave labor reaches its widest application inthe territories of the Soviet Union, which they had temporarily occupied. I would like now to deal briefly on preparations which the Germans set up for utilization of forced labor in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union. Even before their attack on the Soviet Union, in a document which is known to the Tribunal as "Green Folder", USSR Exhibit 10, a whole chapter is dedicated to the problem of organizing compulsory Labor on these Soviet territories, which the fascist war criminals intended to seize. The chapter is entitled "The Utilization of the manpower of the Local Population".
This chapter (pages 17 and 18 of the "Green Folder", page 83 of the Document Folder , which is submitted to the Tribunal) lays down the principal of forced labor for the peaceful Soviet population.
Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the sub-section "a" in the second part of that chapter, entitled "Recruitment of the Local Population" point out that:
"The workers in public utilities, in oil production works, manufacturing installations and warehouses, etc. will be forced to continue their work, under threat of punishment if necessary."
And several lines above that:
"In case of necessity, the workers will be organized into labor gangs." provided for already as early as the date of Goering's "Green Folder". The question of payment was reduced to the question of providing the workers with food. The fascist slave owners were only interested in maintaining the working potential of the people and nothing more.
Page 18 of the Russian text of Defendant Goering's "Green Folder" mentions at least three times, food as the only payment allowed. of this document, but will proceed with my presentation. of the Soviet Union -- for how else could we refer to this document continued to organize slave labor in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union. deals with this phase of Goering's activity. These two documents are the minutes of the conference of 7 November 1941, on the subject of "Utilising the Russians", in which Goering participated, and a covering letter. to the 14 addresses which Your Honors will find on page 5 of the Russian text at the end of the covering letter. signature of the Chief of the Military Department of the Economic Staff of the East, Dr. Rachner. The minutes of the conference in question appear to have been written by Von Norman who was evidently an official of the same organization.
parts of these minutes. I quote page 6 of the Russian text of the document which corresponds to page ninety-five 5 and ninety-six in the document book:
"The conference of the 7th of November 1941, on the utilization of the Russians -
THE PRESIDENT: Has this been ad before?
GENERAL ZORYA: According to the information this wasn't read before. This is a document of the Soviet prosecution which was considerably publicized in May 1943 in the note of Foreign commissar Molotov.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if it havn't been read you may go on. utilising Russian manpower:
1. The presence of great manpower reserves in the Fatherland is a decisive factor for the outcome of the war. The labor capabilities of the Russian workers were proved during the construction of the gigantic Russian industry. Therefore this capability must be utilised for the good of the Reich. there may be must be delegated to the background. must be reduced to the minimum and must become primarily the concern of the intelligence agencies and the security police.
2. Russians in the Zone of operations. Here the Russians should be used primarily in the construction of roads and railroads, for clearing work, clearing out minefields, and in the construction of airfields. A considerable portion of the German construction battalions should, in consequence, be disbanded, German skilled workmen should be sent to war industry. To dig and break stones should not be their work, but Russians exist for it.
3. Russians in territories under the Jurisdiction of Reich Commissars and in the Government - General. The provisions under 2 above apply. Besides that, the Russians should also be used for farm work. In the absence of machines, human hands can fulfil the demands imposed by the Reich on the rural economy of the Eastern are Further an adequate supply of local manpower should be assigned to the maximum exploitation of the Russian coal deposits.
4. Russians in the Territory of the Reich including the protectorate. In the utilization of manpower demand should determine supply. In considering the needs of manpower, two facts must be kept in mind. First, that the foreign workers who eat much but produce little are to be deported from the confines of the Reich. And secondly, that in the future the German woman must not be used as extensively in the field of labor as hitherto. Together with the Russian prisoners of war we must also utilize the manpower of the Russian civilian population".
I shall now omit a page and will ask your Honors to refer to p. 8 of the same exhibit. In the middle of the page there is section "b", entitled "Free Russian Workers." That is page 97 of the document book.
My colleague, Col. Pokrovski, already mentioned the fact that the Hitlerites placed the civilian population in the category of the prisoners of war. the number of the captured Re** my soldiers in their reports on military operations, on the one hand, where simultaneously utilizing the civilian population as a source of manpower, on the other hand.
The section to which I just referred begins as follows:
"The use and the treatment of laborers should in actuality be the same as toward the Russian prisoners of war." following statement by Goering: (Yon will find this excerpt on page 98 of the document file.)
"The mobilization of manpower and the use of the prisoners of war constitute one enterprise and should be organizationally coordinated."
On p. 7 of the minutes we come acrossthe following statement by Goerin on the subject of labor conditions for Russian workers and particularlythei wages:
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now.
(A recess was taken.) able to finish this afternoon?
GENERAL ZORYA: My intention is to finish my statement this evening, in any case.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
GENERAL ZORYA: I would like to read a statement of Goering's which concerns the condition of work of the Russian workers. As far as concerns thelabor of Russians, Goering said the following:
"The worker may receive a little pocket money."
"Since this labor costs but little to his employer, the taxation of the employer should be given special attention."
To elucidate the foregoing **ther, Defendant Goering makes the following suggestion:
"The utilization of the Russiansin no case should lead to the disregard of the wage principle applied to the Eastern areas."
All the financial measures here undertaken must be based on the Fuehrer's categorical instructions which consider the payment of the minimum post wages in the East, a prerequisite of Germany being able to meet both its military expenses and its debts after the termination of the war.
Any violation of these instructions should be strictly punished." indictment of Defendant Goering for introducing the system of forced labor.
Having expressed himself so categorically against the "violation of the wage principle in the Eastern territories", Goering stated at this meeting as follows:
"The same naturally applies to every encouragement of the social tendencies on the Russian colonial territory." basically do not add to the facts already presented to the Tribunal. I shall, therefore, not quote it. as evidence, on page 37 of the Document Book, a decree of the defendant Goering, dated 10 January 1942. I will quote only the first eighteen lines of this decree, which are on page 100 of the Document Book:
"In the next few months the utilization of manpower will acquire still greater importance. On the one hand, the military situation necessitates drafting all young men so as to enable the army to accomplish its task. On the other hand the war industries, as well as the other phases of the war economic, and agriculture must be accorded sufficient manpower, sorely needed by them.
"The utilisation of the prisoners-of-war will play an important part in the solution of this problem. Only unified leadership can insure the success of whatever measures are to be applied in this field, and I shall use every means to attain this.
"For that reason, I granted the members of my Manpower Unit, who dealt with the question of the maximum utilization of manpower in the field of all measures referring to the utilization of labour.
.." extending the system of forced labour later acquired such magnitude that on March 21, 1942,there was issued by Hitler a decree creating a special department to be headed by the Defendant Sauckel, who greatly developed these activities. already been covered by our American, English and French colleagues. especially apparent in the role which was played in this field both by the Fascist party itself and by the entire Government machine of the Fascist state. this. I present to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR-365 a printed edition entitled "The Report on the Four-Year Plan", by the "General Plenipotentiary for the Utilization of Manpower." This document is on page 101 of the Document Book. This document is dated 1 May 1941.
The first page of the report contains Hitler's decree of March 21, 1942, appointing Sauckel to the post of General Plenipotentiary for the Utilization of Manpower. On the second page there is an order of the Defendant Goering dated 27 March 1942, explaining the duties of the General Plenipotentiary for the Utilization of Manpower within the framework of the Four Year Plan organizational structure. Finally, on the third page of the report there is a program prepared by Sauckel for the Fuehrer's birthday in 1942. by the American prosecution and we do not wish to dwell on them, but wish to draw your attention to page 17 of the Russian translation of this document. There is a new document, in which is contained an order of the Defendant Sauckel, dated the 6th of April, 19** order No.1. This order is entitled "Concerning Appointment of Gauleiters as Plenipotentiaries for Labor Mobilization in the Gaus under them." I quote page 118 of the document book:
"I hereby appoint the Gauleiters of the NSDAP as my plenipotentiaries for labor mobilization in the Gau districts under them.
"Their duties are:
"1. To bring about collaboration without friction of all agencies of the State, party, armed forces and economics which are connected with the question of labor mobilization and thereby effect a balance between the varied conceptions and requirements for the purpose of procuring the fullest exploitation in the field of labor mobilization.
"4. Examination of the results of the employment of all workers, male and female, from other countries.
"Special regulations will be issued concerning this.
"5. Examination of authorized feeding, housing and treatment of all labor from foreign countries and prisoners of war employed in labor." already pointed out -- by the Defendant Sauckel for Hitler's birthday in 1942, the Defendant wrote -- page 4 of the German text:
"4. The General Plenipotentiary for Labor Mobilization will therefore use with the help of a personal staff of assistants the existing party, State and economic institutions and accure the quickest success to the program, through the cooperation and goodwill of all concerned.
"5. The General Plenipotentiary for Labor Mobilization has therefore, with the consent of the Fuehrer and the knowledge of the Reichsmarshal of Greater Germany and the Director of the Party Chancellory appoint all the district Chiefs as his plenipotentiaries in the German Districts of the National Socialist Party.
"6. The Plenipotentiaries for Labor Mobilization are using the offices of the Party in their Districts. The chiefs of the highest offices will assist and advise the District Chiefs in all matters concerning the Labor Mobilization.
"The most important for that purpose would be the following:
"The President of the Land-Labor Choice.
"The Trustee for Labor "The Leader of the Peasants.
"The Economic Adviser of the District.
"The District Superintendent of the German Labor Front.
"The Leader of the Womanhood of the District.
"The Leader of the Hitler Youth of the Region.
"The highest representative of the interior and general administration, and of the office for Agriculture." in their districts taking part in the measures for the utilization of manpower. him all help. I would like to draw your Honors' attention to one of Sauckel's assertions as mentioned in this document. He mentions the decision of Hitler to send to the Reich in order to help the German peasant women, four hundred to five hundred thousand selected healthy and strong girls from the Eastern territories, to relieve German women and girls from labor duty. Sauckel wrote:
"Please believe me as an old Political National Socialist Gauleiter that ultimately there could not have been a different decision." of compulsory slave labor and the extent of thoroughness to which it went into the matter, is shown by the following document which I am submitting to the Tribunal in evidence as USSR Exhibit 383. This document is a letter of the Defendant Sauckel dated September 8, 1942, and is entitled "Extraordinary Measures of the General Plenipotentiaries for the Utilization of Manpower in connection with Deportation of Eastern Women workers to Relieve Housewives with Large Families in Towns and Villages." to this document. In the meantime I wish to draw your attention to the passage which has direct bearing on the role of the Fascist Party in introducing this measure. On Page 3 of the Russian text of the document which I hereby submit to the Tribunal, there is a passage entitled "Organization of the Selection of Households." I am q uoting text of this passage:
"Applications made on the attached form for obtaining an Eastern woman worker for household duties -
THE PRESIDENT: Does it matter whether these women were brought into a house where they ought not to have been brought, and whether a particular German housewife was entitled to a woman worker or not? The whole point, it would seem, is whether they were deported -- and forcibly deported.
GENERAL ZORYA: Mr. President, I had just in view to summarize this part of my statement which you just mentioned. However, I would like to show the part which the Fascist Party played in organizing slave labor inside Germany and namely in the distribution of those Soviet citizens which were transported to Germany. All this is contained in the documents which I meant to submit to the Tribunal. All the rest which concerns the region which has already been described by the American and British prosecutions I will not dwell upon. says that application for obtaining Eastern woman workers for household duties are to be examined by the Labor Department as to the extent of the need of the household in question and are then to be forwarded for approval to the corresponding leader of NSDAP.
"Should the district leader object to granting a woman worker to the household, the Labor Department declines to send an Eastern woman worker to the applicant, or consequently declines the permission for the employment of such, the refusal need not be motivated and the decision is final."
There is an enclosure which is on page 129 of the document book. The labor direction upon receiving an application for slave workers turned to the corresponding instance of the Fascist Party with statement that it intended utilizing an Eastern worker in a household and they handed in an application form. This form also contains a statement or not it recommendes use of a woman worker in the household. is an appendix and is entitled, "Memo or Housewives Regarding Employment of Eastern Woman workers in Urban and Rural Households." I am not dwelling upon it in detail, but only draw the attention of the Tribunal to the sub-title of this memo, which is on page 133 of the document book. for the Utilization of Manpower in agreement with the leader of the Party Chancellery and other corresponding authorities. Thus we know that millions of foreign slaves languished in Germany. But now we know that any German could become a slave-owner with the sanction and under the supervision of the Fascist Party. Apparently this also constituted one of the elements of the "new" Fascist order in Europe. Goering, dated 27 March 1942. This order concerns the execution of the Fuehrer's decree regarding the office of the General Plenipotentiary for Labor Mobilization. I do not submit this document, as it is already at the disposal of the Tribunal, being presented by the American prosecution.
"The General Plenipotentiary for Labor Mobilization is hereby authorized, for the purpose of carrying out his tasks, to exercise the power which the Fuehrer has delegated to him to issue directives to the highest Reich authorities and their subordinate officers, to Party authorities and to Party subdivisions and associated organizations." part of the fascist Party in the execution of the compulsory labor system, but also emphasizes the extraordinary powers of Defendant Sauckel in this field. for the Soviet Prosecution in their statement that the fascist party was the center of all measures for the organization of compulsory slave labor.
organization of compulsory labor and deportation into slavery of Soviet people. I submit to the Tribunal, therefore, as USSR Exhibit 367, an OKH document regarding (I am using the terminology of the document itself) the "Mobilization of Russian manpower for the Reich." I beg the Tribunal to refer to page 178 of the document book. emanates. In the upper left-hand corner of the first page you will find "High Command of the Land Army, General Staff of the Land Army, Chief of Supply and Administration, Section of Military Administration (economic)." In the upper right-hand corner: "Headquarters of the High Command of the Land Army, 10 May 1942," and again the stamp "secret". Then, following the title quoted above:
"Authority: Order of the High Command of the Land Army, No. P-2877/42, Secret, dated April 25, 1942.
P-3158, 1942, secret, May 6, 1942." and is based on previously issued orders of the OKH. At the end of this document there is a list of addresses. I will not quote the document in full. This list includes the commander of the Armies in the East, and also the Plenipotentiary for the Utilization of Manpower and Armament Administration, etc. This list of addresses leaves no doubt as to who were the executors of the orders contained in the submitted document. The real executors were the military authorities.
Let us now turn to the contents of this document. First of all, what was the purpose of the OKH when it issued this letter? The reply to this question is contained in the first paragraph of the document, which I shall now read into the record. I summarize this quotation: by the Fuehrer, Gauleiter Sauckel, in connection with the growing requirements of the Reich in military technique and armaments, and in order to satisfy the requirements of the German war industry and of the entire war economy, is ordered to speed up the mobilization and importation of Russian manpower into the Reich, as well as to increase considerably the number of laborers thus mobilized.
carried out in all the occupied eastern territories, including the real front and army districts, special measures have to be introduced by officers in charge of the utilization of manpower and mobilization commissions. These mobilization measures are not to be limited to city regions. It is also imperative to embrace on a large scale the city population which migrated to villages, as well as local village population.
I am quoting page 139 of the document book, where it is stated:
"The immediate necessities of the army must be satisfied in the first place. The scale of the necessities of the army must be determined by the staffs of the army commanders of the troops in these districts. However, one must take into consideration the acute lack of manpower in the Reich, and therefore must verify accurately the needs -
THE PRESIDENT: Isn't it sufficient to say that this document provides for the speeding up of the mobilization of manpower and slave labor for the proposes of the necessities of the Reich? Does it do anything more than that?
GENERAL ZORYA: Yes, youare quite right. One must add that this document contains orders not only to satisfy the needs of the army, but also to extract the personal intervention of the army to thus organize a corresponding apparatus, in order to regulate this manpower supply. Tribunal --page 23 of my statement. general character. In July 1941, the Defendant Keitel learned that the subdepartments of the Organization Todt in the Lvov Region paid the local workers wages of 24 rubles. Keitel was indignant. Todt immediately received a respective reprimand. And so we come to the next document, which I present to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 366.
The Reichsminister Todt referred to the fact that General Fieldmarshal Keitel expressed his displeasure that the subdepartments of the Organization Todt in the Lvov District pay wages to the local workers up to the amount of 25 rubles, and Todt explains that he had explained in detail to all members of the staff that the rules for the utilization of manpower in Russian territory were different from those in Western Europe.
of wages to inhabitants who are mobilized for labor, and he concludes this document in the following terms:
"No compensation shall be given to the firms for wages not in conformity with the above regulations.
"This order is brought to the attention of all the executive centers and to all firms concerned. Signed: Todt." of peaceful Soviet for tasks which endangered life. This was said by Goering at a conference. on the 8th of September, 1942. This directive concerns the utilization of slave labor for the erection of fortifications in the eastern theater of operations. This document comes from the German archives captured by the Allied Armies in the West. In an annex to this document it is stated that this document is top secret and should be returned to the top of the Army and destroyed after reading. 8th of September, 1942:
"There heavy defensive battles in the area of Army Groups Centre and North cause me to make known my views on certain fundamental essentials of defense." not interest us. On page 148 of the document book is the following extract:
"The enemy indulges in the construction of positions to a far greater extent than do our own troops. I know that it will be contested that the enemy disposes more labor than we do for construction of such positions. It is therefore an absolute necessity that we should make use, with all possible energy, of all prisoners of war and local labor for these tasks.
Only in this respect and by this means can the German soldier be spared all labor on defensive work behind the front lines, in order that he may be left for his own duties and kept fresh to perform them.
Frequently sufficient ruthlessness is not being employed in this direction, nor is the ruthlessness of a type demanded by the present battle for survival.
In every way it is far more humane to drive the Russian population to work by employing every means than to sacrifice our most precious possession, the blood of our own people. authorities, which referred to an order of the defendant Keitel on forced labor in combat zones. This document is submitted as USSR Exhibit 407. I would like to quote a few excerpts. First, page 149 of the document book:
"Order.
"Referring to an order of the front commanders regarding compulsory labor service in the newly occupied Eastern Territories, end dated the 6th of November, 1943, all women born in 1924 and 1925 are hereby mobilized for labor in Germany." selves on the given dates shall be considered as saboteurs and will be held responsible in accordance with military law. took a personal part in the execution of this system of slave labor, and for that objective they adopted, on a large scale, all the war mechanisms of Germany. presenting as USSR Exhibit 381.
THE PRESIDENT: Was that last order that you gave out Keitel's order? It apparently is the Chief of the General Staff of the Military Command.
GENERAL ZORYA: This is not an order of Keitel. This document which was submitted as USSR Exhibit 381 is entitled, "Instructions to Economic Organizations for the Utilization of manpower in the East."
THE PRESIDENT: I thought you said that was by Keitel.
GENERAL ZORYA: These instructions emanated from Sauckel's administration.
THE PRESIDENT: Go on.
GENERAL ZORYA: The preceding document which I submitted was an order of Keitel.