That should suffice if all would do it.
"Schmelter: I prepared already for the conference on the chiefs of the various offices, the suggestion that working hours in civilian production plants working only 48 hours.
"Field Marshal Milch: Then one Can equalize and we need not work all the time for 72 hours."
Milch wanted to prove the contrary. He wanted to read that not all the workers had to work for less than 72 hours; in other words, it was not an inhumane proposition, but a humane one, and it induced him to do the contrary which was done by the fact that the Prosecution omitted this latter part.
I shall now proceed to the following exhibit number. It is NOKW-359, which will become Exhibit No. 24, concerning the Fighter Staff of the 27th of June 1944, and it is on page 77 of Your Honors' Document Book, the following page after the one I just read. This refers to an exhibit number of the prosecution where it is mentioned if the Anglo-American terror fliers should not be put to work and Schmelter wanted that. However, I wish to mention the fact that Milch was not present at that particular conference so that he had nothing to do with it. However, I will tell you why the general attitude of Milch is important for the German Government. I shall now read the last part of this page.
"Schmelter: There is one little point I have still to mention. Once I pointed out that we have a considerable number of English and American terror aviators in Luftwaffe camps who are not to be employed."
Your Honors, in Germany Englishmen and Americans were not used for work. They were absolutely unemployed in German camps. In other words, it is not true that Milch and all the other defendants wanted slave laborers at any price; they differentiated between the two, and I shall prove during the examination of Milch that among the Englishmen and the Americans and the French and the Russians there were exceptions, and I shall prove why they had differences among the four. In short, we had no contact with the Russians. The French were released prisoners of war who had been released only on the condition that they would work.
I shall now proceed to a now exhibit number. This is a report of General George C. Marshall, concerning the warfare of the United states of America from 1 June 1943 to 1945. This will become Exhibit Number 25. This report which is in the hands of the American Government. I would like to have judicial notice taken of this. The report is on Page 11 of my document book. On page 11 we have the title page of this report, "Diennial Report of General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, July 1, 1943 to June 30 1945, to tho Secretary of Mar."
"The country had bonefitted from the utilization of the labor of these prisoners of war. Our critical manpower shortage had been relieved by 62,075 prisoner working days; the U.S. Treasury had been enriched by 35,196,800 paid by private contractors for this labor. In addition, their use on military installations had an estimated value of $108,825,469."
Your Honors, I am proving with that that even the United States used prisoners of war on military installations.
I shall now proceed to the following exhibit number. This is the house rules for the prisoners detained in the the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.
This will become Exhibit No. 26. It is on Page 13 of Your Honors' Document Book. I would like to introduce this exhibit because a statement made by Milch in the Jaegerstab was introduced by the Prosecution wherein 587A Milch explained that where Italians try to escape from the transports they should be shot at without 587B warning.
These Italians were military internees. That is, they were the sort of soldiers who were captured by the German army who had turned against the German Wehrmacht and against the Fascist regime, and, therefore, as in all States, were considered PW's and were made PW's. The order to shoot without warning was mentioned a.s being very ruthless. I shall read the rule concerning prisoners detained in this house:
"House Rules for Prisoners:
"A. Internees: The term 'internee' in those house rules means every person who is held in prison here and from whom no personal work or other service is demanded.
"B. Prisoners: The term 'prisoner' includes all persons detained here.
"C. Prisoners of War: The term 'prisoner of war' includes all doctors, clergymen and working personnel detained here for the operation of the prison."
That is to say, even in this particular prison the prisoners have to work, and the internees do not have to work.
I shall continue. I shall skip over the other rules, and I shall appreciate it if you would read Number 4 on the following page:
THE PRESIDENT: Just a moment.
DR. BERGOLD: Number 4: "No internee shall make an attempt to escape. In case of an attempt to escape, they will be knocked down or shot down. The guard will call 'stop' if time permits."
I merely want to show you that it is absolutely clear and naturral that one has to shoot after prisoners of war and that sometimes one does not even say "Stop" because there is no time for that. When, in the course of a military transport in the Alps, certain prisoners tried to escape, then, of course, they shot after them. That is not an inhumane act.
I shall proceed now to the following exhibit, which is an Extract from the Numberger Nachrichter of the 15 January 1947. This is Exhibit No. 27. It is a newspaper that appears here in Nuremberg. This is an article on a report of the Associated Press, "Where do German Prisoners of War Work in France?" That is on Page 16 of the German original, page 15 of Your Honors' document book:
"Extract from the Nurnberger Nachrichter, Newspaper for North Bavaria, 3rd Year/ No. 4 15 January 1947.
"Where do German Prisoners of War work in France?
"A survey of the French Ministry of Population from October 1946 showed the distribution of the German prisoners of war and the different branches of French economy as follows:"
I shall now refer to the second number, "coal mines, other mines and quarries, 62,000." the Prosecution introduced a number of exhibits concerning the employment of prisoners of war in coal mines. Their introduction can only mean to me that in their opinion.
This was inhuman; slave work. That, of course, is a mistake of the Prosecution. Prisoners of war may be employed in cool minus. This can be clearly seen from this special report of the French Government that German prisoners of war were used in the coal mines of France.
I shall, furthermore, refer to the sixth lino: "Mine clearing work, 30,200 people". These, of course, are very dangerous things because in those particular areas there are lots of mines, and it is a very dangerous task to remove those mines.
May it please the Tribunal, I have now finished my own document book. However, there is one more document in her which I would like to introduce later on, in the next few days, if I got another document back in the next few days which was not ready because I only got the necessary evidence from your government a few days ago; that is, Saturday. I would like to take the liberty no. -- or if the Tri bunal wishes to take a short recess -
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will take its customary short recess.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal will recess for fifteen minutes.
(A recess was taken)
MARSHAL: All persons in the Court, please find your seats. Tribunal Number II is again in session.
DR. BERGOLD: Your Honors, I should, first of all, like to make a request. Because of a heart difficulty, since early years, I have not been in a physical condition that permits me to stand for a long time. I become faint under those circumstances. Would the Tribunal permit me to sit down while continuing my case?
THE PRESIDENT: Of course, Dr. Bergold.
DR. BERGOLD: Thank you very much.
Your Honors, I shall read now from the document books submitted by the prosecution. The prosecution read none that do not appear to me important for my case. I do not know the page numbers for the English Document Book; consequently, I shall refer to the exhibit number of the prosecution, and I hope that this will expedite the work of the Court. First, I should like to read from Exhibit No. 3 of the prosecution. I shall read from that, a few passages -- from Document Book 1-A, yes. This is the so-called "Schmundt Protocol" of the 23rd of May, 1939, the first item in Book 1-A. I shall read from page 10 of the German Document Book that I received. It is the paragraph in which Hitler concerns himself with the conducting of the war and lists a number of statistics. I should like to read number four. I'm going to begin with number four, which concerns a matter of cooperation between the army and the air force. Number four, the paragraphs of the underlined words, "Conduct of the War - The Waging of the War", page 6 of the English book, top of the page. The paragraph reads, number four, page 6 of the English original:
"Once the army, in cooperation with the air force and navy, has taken the most important positions, industrial production will cease to flow into the bottomlesspits of the army's battles and can be diverted to benefit the air force and navy."
Six or seven paragraphs later, on the next page, I should like to read another small paragraph. It begins with the words: -- six paragraphs later.
Yes, immediately subsequent to the underlined sentence in the middle of the page "The Plan Demands."
1. A correct estimate of weapons and their effectiveness, e.g., (a) Battleship or aircraft carrier, which is the more effective?
Individually or considered as a whole? The aircraft carrier is the better protection for a convoy.
(b) Is air attack more important on a factory than on a battleship? Where are bottlenecks in production located?"
DR. BERGOLD: I continue. Over to the next page, to the last page of the document, beginning with the word "Secrecy", at the top of page 7, the second full paragraph:
"Secrecy is the decisive requirement for success. Our subject must be kept secret even from Italy or Japan. The breakthrough to the Maginot line is still a possibility for Italy and must be studied. The Fuehrer considers that such a breakthrough is possible."
Then, on the same page, the last paragraph, "Working principles":
"Working principles:
1. No one must be admitted who is not concerned.
2. No one may know more than it is necessary for him to know.
3. When must the person concerned know, at latest? No one may know of a matter earlier than is necessary for him to know of it.
At the request of Field Marshal Goering, the Fuehrer decrees that:
(a) The various services shall decide what construction is to be undertaken.
(b) There shall be no alterations in the shipbuilding program.
(c) The armaments programs are to be considered with regards to 1943 or 19-4."
DR. BERGOLD: Your Honor, I shall later attempt to prove that this statement on the part of Hitler was not made at all by Hitler. And that, in other words, the Schmundt Protocol is a sort of fortification.
I come now to Exhibit No. 7. 3005 PS is the document number; 26 August 1941; in the English Document Book; It is addressed "To the Presidents of Regional Labor Exchange Offices, concerning the use of Russian PW's. I shall read from page 23 with reference to this letter of 14 August 1941 and I shall read only the part at the very beginning of this letter from The Reich Minister of Labor, Berlin, addressed to the Presidents of Regional Labor Exchange Offices (including Nuernberg Branch Office). It will be seen from this letter that these regulations were not known to Milch and could not be known by him because they were not addressed to him.
They were internally, internalintra-office matter of the Reich Ministry.
I go now to Exhibit 8, Document No. EC 194, 31 October 1941, Secret memorandum of decree concerning use of prisoners of war in war industry.
From this document, which is a decree to title, I will read from the last page of the document, the so-called "Distribution"; that is, the indication of all those -- the indication of all the offices that received this secret decree. It reads: "Distribution: Ob.d. H/ Org. Abt." - the OKW Organizational Department, Quartermaster General No. 2, with the"Skl", abbreviation before it; then, high command of the Luftwaffe Quartermaster General. That means that Milch did not receive this at that time since he was not Quartermaster General. From a document read today you saw that he said subsequently, "I am not a quartermaster-general, and I have no authority there.
" I read further:
"Reichsarbeitsministerium Att: Staatssekretaer Syrup; Reichminister fuer Bewaffnung and Munition, Att: Ob. Reg. Baurat Behrens; Reichswirtschaftsministerium: Att: Min. Rat. Quacke; Reichministerium fuer Ernaehrung and Landwirtschaft. Att: Reichminister for Food and Agriculture; Min. Rat. Dr. Dietrich; OFW; and the Intelligence; and the Wi Rue Amt,---Department; " Ausl/abw; AWA (3 x); W.H.; Abt. Ausl; WEST Abt. L (Chef L I H? IK? IL? IV? II, " -
DR. BERGOLD: And the abbreviation: "ntb)". This "Distribution" proves that Milch did not receive this; rather, it was a secret order; and according to the decree of the Fuehrer I read to you, it is apparent that since it was secret it could not be brought to his attention but only to the attention of the offices named therein.
I go now to Exhibit 9, Document No. 1206 here, page 27, of the 7th of November 1941. Notes of Goering, remarks made at the Air Ministry, concerning employment of labor in war industry. From this document I shall read again the last page; again, the "Distribution"; page 29,: "Distribution" "Chief Ru" (Reading) that is the OKW; "Section/ROE would be the second copy that is again a department of the OKW. "Ru II" would be the 3rd, copy; Ru IIIa would be the 4th copy; RuVI-IIIa would be the fifth copy; that is also a work department of the OKW. "Draft Ru IVd" would he the sixth copy. Then there follows the draft of the persons who had received the particular document. This notation -- or, rather this document -- did not come to "Mich's attention; also, it was only a draft, but it was called "top secret military" and it did remain secret, and came to the attention of only those to whom it was distributed.
Howeover, at that time, Milch was not at that time LuftwaffeQuartermaster-General, but only Inspector-General, and inspected only troops.
I come now to Exhibit No. 10, Document NO 3040-PS; page 30, 20 February 1942; secret order of the Reich Fuehrer SS concerning commitment of manpower from the east. I shall read the too of page 32 in the English document book, the first line, Roman numeral II, 4b. I quote; "b. The instructions for the plant protection and guard personnel. The guards must keep strictly away from the Soviet-Russian manpower and must not speak with them except in line of duty. They have to treat the camp inhabitants strictly but must not commit any injustices against them. c. The conduct of the guards is to be checked constantly. Violations against discipline by men of the plant protection and the protective personnel are to be punished by the State Police." This page shows clearly that there were instructions for the guards to behave decently and justly.
I read the next page, Roman numeral III, heading, combatting violations against discipline; the same page, page 32. 1. "According to the equal status of the manpower from the original Soviet-Russian prisoners of war, a strict discipline must be exercised in the quarters and at the place of work. Violations against discipline, including work refusal and leafing at work, will be fought exclusively by the Secret State Police. The smaller cases will be settled by the leaders of the guard according to instructions of the State Police Administration Office, with measures provided for in the enclosure. To break acute resistance, the guards shall be permitted also to use physical power against the manpower but that may be done only for a cogent reason. The manpower should always be informed about the fact that they will be treated decently when conducting themselves with discipline and accomplishing good work. This therefore proves, in contradiction to the assumption by the prosecution, that only in particularly serious cases was physical force permitted, only in combatting acute resistance."
I now skip Roman numeral VI, Roman numeral VII and IX. I come to Roman numeral II which is a numeral following Roman numeral VII on the top of page 34, German activities. Just a moment, my error, I want to read Roman numeral III, fighting against the breach of the work contract.
I quote: '1. The fighting against the breach of the work contract of this manpower is principally the duty of the Secret State Police.
2. This does 596a not mean, of course, any interference in the activity of the Reich arbitrator for work, with the means at his disposal in the regulation and settlement of industrial difficulties as long as no active intervention is necessary.
If more stringent measures are necessary, the arbitrator will transfer the proceedings to the Secret Police. 3. In every case, however, it is the task of the State Police Administrative Office to check whether the violation of the work duty by this manpower is not caused by the plant, by breach of contract, as well as general bad treatment. If the conduct of the concerned manpower appears justified through the faults or on the part of the plant, the State Police is not to interfere since this is free manpower. These were Poles."
I proceed to the next exhibit, Exhibit No. 11, Document NO 1435 PS, of 25 February 1942, page 37 of the English document, Speer's speech at the Gauleiter meeting, if the Tribunal will permit me to read this document slowly. It begins, "They have, we find, one advantage over us, in respect to punishments in the interest of the State. We, too, in the armament industries must proceed far more strictly, far more stringently. The Fuehrer has decreed, on my suggestion, that those plant directors and employees and also those officials and officers who attempt by false statements to request materials or manpower are to be punished either with death or with a long prison sentence."
Your Honors, these last two documents prove that the leadership wanted to do everything in its power to treat their workers decently and that, if there were any offenses, it should first be examined whether or not the German plants were the guilty part, and if the foreigners who worked there should be left at liberty.
I shall now continue to proceed to Exhibit No. 12, Document NO-D316, of 14 March 1942, a memorandum to Dr. Hupe, page 39, concerning the employment of Russians. This document is inserted in my document book. I shall read slowly because I believe the interpreters haven't got it. I shall read only the introduction. The heading is Friedrich Krupp A.G., ESSEN, the Machine Building Workshop 8 through Mr. Koch to Mr. Hupe, 1942, regarding employment of Russians.
I have read this, Your Honors, in order to show that this had nothing whatever to do with the defendant Milch. The Krupp works were not a plant of aircraft armament, but of the Army. Erhard Milch was interested in the aircraft armament, and know nothing of this.
I come now to Document NO 13 -- Exhibit No. 13 -- Document NO 016-PS, page 39, of 20 April 1242, labor mobilization program. I shall read from page 2 of the German copy under large B: "All orders of the Fuehrer, Reichs Field Marshal of the Greater Reich, and the 'Minister' for ammunition and armament are to be carried out as quickly as possible. Labor supply necessary for that purpose must be freed and made available either in Germany or an the occupied territories." This proves that the Central Planning is not mentioned here although it was at that time already in existence. It had, therefore, no direct right to requisition.
From the same document, under VII, I will read: "The problems and their solution" and there you must look under Bb, number 3;in the German book it is page 87. I read:
DR. BERGOLD: I read No. 3: "The Armament and Nutrition tasks make it vitally necessary not only to include the entire German labor power but also to call on foreign labor." This proves that foreign workers were not used in accordance with a program for slave labor that existed from the time back at the beginning, but used them only as an emergency war measure. I read further: No. 7, Arabic number seven; that's on page )46. I read the last paragraph, the top of page 47: "The severest measures must be used against leafers, as - we can not allow these parasites to shirk their duties in this fateful struggle of our people at the cost of the decent and industrious ones."
This passage proves that the loafers he mentioned are oven in Sauckel's case German markers. This is a report on German workers and you can see that from the first sentence of this No. 7 which I am now reading, I quote: "a last, but also important reserve consists in the possibility of the personal increased production of each German worker."
I read further; several; pages further in the section that begins: "Prisoners of War and Foreign Workers. " That's page 93. I read the second paragraph of the section: "all of the men must be fed, sheltered and treated in such a way as to exploit them to the highest possible degree at the lowest conceivable degree of expenditures."
Your Honor, this passage, when it was read by the prosecution, was the cause of discussion between me and the prosecution, because I was of the opinion that the word 'einsatz" was incorrectly translated with the word "expenditure." In my opening speech, your Honor, on page 6, I myself used the German word "einsatz " and said that" in connection of "Einsatz der Arbeitenden" . Through the official translation of this work, this word "einsatz " was translated as "assignment". Moreover, it has also been translated with the word "Employment" just now and I also heard of it being translated as 'consignment of labor". Four honor, I believe, "therefore, that my objection to this translation "expenditures" was correct and that the word "einsatz" should not be translated as "expenditure," but as either "assignment" or "consignment" or 'employment". I come now to the last page of this document, page 5l, or rather page 50, the passage immediately before number 1: "Therefore, in closing I would ask you to observe the following principles carefully:
1. All technical and administrative natters for the mobilization come exclusively under the authority and responsibility of the General Plenipo 599a tentiary for Labor Mobilization, the National Labor Offices and the Labor Offices.
No. 2. All questions and tasks concerning propagandas, orientation, or political consequences and care, come under the jurisdiction of (a) the party, if outside of the plant (b) the German Labor Front if inside of the manufacturing plant, (c) the Bureau for Farm Politics for agricultural enterprises, 3.) The issue of food and clothing ration cards, financial indemnities and relief come exclusively under the jurisdiction of the competent authorities or institutions of the economy."
This demonstrates that the Plenipotentiary General was exclusively competent for questions of propaganda as such. Milch had no influence whatsoever in this department. I go now to Exhibit No. 14-a, document number 3044 PS and page 56 of the document book. On the 7 May 1942 Sauckel Order No. 5 was published in District Regulations and Announcements. From this collection Regulation No. 4 of the Plenipotentiary General. No. 4, on Page 106 of the German document I believe its page 60, bottom of the page. Have you the got it? I shall read it slowly. "Regulation No. 4 of the Plenipotentiary General for the mobilization of labor regarding the recruitment, care, housing, feeding and treatment of foreign workers, male and female, of May 7 1942. In this tremendous and fateful fight of all Europe the Greater German Reich must, in order to assure its armament and food, employ an enormous number of non-German and foreign male and female workers in the Reich. All of these workers, including the prisoners of war, will be treated in accordance with the oldest traditions of the German people and race, correctly, decently and humanely. The recruitment of foreign labor will be done on one fundamental basis of volunteering."
This is, your Honor, on page 56. The third paragraph;