A No.
QDo you know the aims of German trade unions?
AYes, I do.
QWere they economic or political?
AThe aims of German trade unions were such, as I learned of them as a worker; they were political aims and there was a number of various trade unions that were differently adjusted politically. I consider that as a great misfortune. I, myself, have experienced it in a workshop as a worker, partly from arguments and discussions amongst trade unions, arguments between the Christian Socialist trade unions and the red trade unions, between the Anarchist trade unions and the Communistic trade unions.
QBut in your Gau, trade unions were dissolved; were the leaders arrested at the time?
ANo.
QDid you order or did you approve of having trade unions dissolved?
AThe dissolving of these trade unions at that time was pending. This question was discussed in the Party for a long time because one was by no means united about the purposes and suitability of trade unions but a solution had to be found because trade unions, such as the Fuehrer or Dr. Ley were dissolving, were directed differently, politically speaking. Beginning with that time, however, there was only one party in Germany and it was necessary to define the actual tasks of trade unions -- the necessary tasks which existed for every profession and were indispensible to every worker and these necessities I recognized in full, and they were to be brought to one definite solution.
QWasn't it the purpose, in that, when trade unions were removed, that anything should be removed which might stand in the way of an aggressive war?
AI, with my full conscience, can say that during these years not a single one of us did in any way have the thought of a war. We had to do away with such frightful need that we could only be happy if German economic life would grow in peaceful days and the German worker who was the suffering party during that frightful depression she and once more have work and food.
QDid members of trade union suffer any damage through the solution?
AIn no way. My own father-in-law was a member of a trade union and is still a member of a trade union today and whom I asked again and again, whom I never persuaded to join the Party, he being a Social Democrat, and didn't join the Party at any time but he confirmed it, even when he was getting old and couldn't work any mere, that the German worker's front was carrying out all the duties which he as an old trade union member -- and on the strength of his long membership of the trade union -- knew that they carried it out and that he had the full benefit of it.
On the other hand, the German State, since there was an old age insurance, accident insurance and health insurance in Germany which was paid and organized by the State, the National Socialist State would guarantee all these rights and pay up.
QWere all Communist leaders arrested in your Gau after the Party came to power?
ANo. In my Gau, and as far as I know, only Communists were arrested who had actively worked against the State.
QAnd what happened to them?
AThe State Police arrested them, interrogated them and in accordance to the findings, they were either detained or released.
QDid you have a Kreisleiter in your Gau who had been a member of an opponent party, an opposition party?
AThe activity of the Party was a recruiting activity. Our most intensive propaganda was the recruiting of political opponents. I am very proud that there were many workers in my Gau, numerous former Communists and Social Democrats, in face, local group loaders and party functionaries who joined the Party and who could be won over by us.
QBut weren't there two Kreisleiters who came from the extreme political loft and whom you employed?
AThere was one Kreisleiter from the extreme left who was employed just as a part from a number of other loaders -- there was in the Gau a trustee of The German laborers front, who was a member of a very leftish party for a long time.
QHow did you treat your political opponents, you, yourself?
AThose political opponents who weren't working against the State, as far as my Gau was concerned, were neither bothered nor hindered.
Q Do you know of a Socialist Deputy Froehlich?
AThe Socialist Deputy august Froehlich was my strongest and most consequent opponent. Ho was the leader of the Socialist Democrat Party in Thuringia of long standing. I respected him as an opponent a great deal. He was an honorable man and just; and on the 20th of July 1944, through my own personal initiative, he was released from detention. I had him released because he stood on the list of the conspirators of the 20th of July. I had so much respect for him personally that, nevertheless, I asked to have him released, something which I did actually achieve.
Q. Did you treat other opponents similarly?
A.A politician of the Central Party from my home town, Schweinfurt, was also released from detention on my initiative.
Q.The concentration camp of Buchenwald was in your Gua. Did you install it ?
A.This Camp Buchenwald was installed in the following manner. Because of the theater at Weimar, the Fuehrer had come to that twon quite often, and he suggested that a battalion of Leibstandarte should be stationed at Weimar. Since the Leibstandarte were considered an elite regiment, I was not only agreeable to this, but very pleased, because, in a town like Weimar one is very happy if a garrison is established there.
Then the County administration and Government of Thuringia, by request of the Fuehrer, chose a site in the Eckersdorf Forest, north of the town in the hills. Himmler informed me, however, that he could not bring a battalion of Leibstandarte to Weimar, since he could not divide that regiment, but that it would be a new Death Head Unit, and Himmler said that that was the same.
Again, some time later on, Himmler stated -- at a time when the site had already been placed at the disposal of the Reich -- that he would now have to establish on this very suitable site some sort of a concentration camp which would have to be accommodated together with this Death Head unit.
First of all, I resented that because I was altogether against a concentration camp for the town of Weimar and its traditions. Himmler, nevertheless, refused to have any discussion about it with reference to his position. Therefore, neither to the pleasure of myself nor the population of Weimar, they created that camp.
Q.Did you have anything to do with the administration of that camp later on?
A.I never had anything to do with the administration of that camp. At that time the Thuringian Government tried to influence the constructions plans in such a manner that the building police in Thuringia would lay down the plans for the hygiene arrangements in that camp. Himmler -- because of the fact that he had a construction bureau of his own -- refused that request. He stated that the site was now a site of the Reich.
Q. Did you yourself visit the camp at any time?
A.As far as I can remember, I visited the camp on one single occasion. It was either the end of 1937 or the beginning of 1938. I visited the camp with an Italian commission, when we inspected it.
Q.Did you find any deficiencies there?
A.I did not. I inspected the accommodations; I myself had been a prisoner for five years, and therefore I was interested in that. I must confess that at that time there was no cause for any complaints as such. The accommodations had been divided into day and night accommodations. The beds had blue and white sheets; the kitchens, laundry facilities, latrines, and so forth, were perfect. The Italian officers who were present during that inspection said that in Italy the would not accommodate their own soldiers any better.
QLater on, did you hoar about the events in that camp which have been mentioned here,
AThese events, such as they have been mentioned here, did not come to my knowledge.
QDid you have anything to do with the clearing the camp at the end of the war, before the American Army approached?
AWhen the Mayor of Weimar informed me that the intention existed to evacuate the camp at Buchenwald and to use the guards of that camp in the fight against the American troops, I refused that quite strictly, since I had no authority to give orders to anyone in that come. Then for several reasons of another character I had had considerable differences with Himmler--I telephoned the Fuehrer's apartment in Berlin and stated that an evacuation or a march-back of prisoners into the territory cast of the Saale was impossible, nonsensical, that it could not be carried out from the point of view of feeding, and I demanded that that camp should be handed over to the American occupation troops in an orderly manner.
I received the answer that the Fuehrer would give instructions to Himmler to comply with that request of nine. I briefly reported that to some of my officials and the Mayor, and then I left Weimar.
QThe witness Dr. Blaha has stated that you had also been to the concentration camp at Dachau on the occasion of an inspection.
AI have not been to Dachau concentration camp and, according to my recollection, I did not participate in the Gauleiter visit to Dachau in 1935 either. Under no circumstances did I participate in an inspection in Dachau such as Dr. Blaha has described here; and, furthermore I did not inspect any workshops or anything like that.
QDid you not as Gauleiter, receive official reports regarding the events in the concentration camp? That is to say, didn't orders go through the Gauleiter office, both on their way up and on their way down to the camp?
ANo. I neither received the authority to give instructions to the camp, nor did I receive reports. It wasn't only my personal attitude, but it was the attitude of experienced old Gauleiters, that it was the greatest misfortune, administratively speaking, when Himmler, as early as 1934-1935 was proceeding to transfer the executive powers away from the general administration of the Interior. There were countless complaints from every Gauleiter and the county administrations in Germany. They were unsuccessful, however, because, at the end, Himmler even subordinated the local fire brigade to his polices.
QDid you have personal connections at Weimar with the Police and the SS?
AI had no personal connections with the SS and the Police. I had official connections insofar as the state police and the municipal police of small municipalities came under the interior administration of the County of Thuringia.
QBut did the police have their headquarters near you at Weimar?
ANo. you see, that was the nonsensical part of that development at the time. I had once explained to the Fuehrer that there was a Party staff and a county staff, which was changed over to a resort staff. Ministries in the Reich had developed considerably. They had moved apart and the various departments in the administration did not in any way cooperate.
They did rut tally either. Until 1934 Thuringia and its Ministry of the Interior had a police administration independently, of its own.
At the beginning, at that time, the headquarters of the SS and the Police Fuehrer went to Cassel so that Himmler, contrary to the customary organization of the state and organization of the Party. would once more find now fields for his police. That was something which expressed itself in Central Germany because of the fact that the Higher SS and Police Leader for Weimar and the County of Thuringia was stationed in Cassel, whereas the Prussian part of the Gau of Thuringia--that is to say the town of erfurt, which is 20 kilometers away from Cassel--was looked after by a Higher SS and Police Leader who was stationed at Magdesburg.
That such a development did not in any way appeal to us, and that this would create a great deal of disgust amongst the experienced administrators is something which must be quite clear.
QBut the question is this: Did you cooperate with these sources, and did you have a great deal of friendly contact with the officials in question? Did you have to know, therefore, what was going on in Buchenwald?
ATo the contrary. There was a continuous battle; there was a neutral sealing off in the various organizations. During such a time in the development of this world that was most unfortunate and quite unforgivable, and most impossible for any administration.
QWas there persecution of the Jews in your Gau?
ANo.
QWhat about the Jewish laws and their carrying through?
AThese Jewish laws were announced in Nurnberg. There were actually very few Jews in Thuringia.
QWeren't there any perpetrations in connection with the well-konwn events which have repeatedly become the subject of this trial? I am thinking of the murder of the Ambassador in Paris.
AI cannot recollect in detail now the events or the episodes in Thurin gia. As I told you, there were only a few Jews in Thuringia. The Gauleiters were in Munich at that time. They had no influence on that development because, as I say, that happened during the night when all the Gauleiters were in Munich.
QMy question is this. What happened in your Gau of Thuringia, and what instructions did you give?
AThere may have been a few places in Thuringia where a window was smas* I can't tell you that in detail.
I can't even tell you where or whether there were synagogues in Thuringia.
QNow one question regarding your own personal property.
On the occasion of your 50th birthday the Fuehrer gave you a present. How much was it?
AIn October of 1945, on the occasion of my 50th birthday, I was surprise when an adjutant of the Fuchrer delivered a letter from the Fuehrer.
In that letter there was a check amounting to 250.000 marks. I told the adjutant that I could not possibly accept that. Of course, I was very much surprised. The Fuehr 's adjutant -- and that was the little Bormann, the old Bormann, and not Reichs loiter Bormann--told me that the Fuehrer knew quite well that I had neither more nor any real estate property and that this was a sort of bank account for my children. He told me not to hurt the Fuehrer's feelings.
After that adjutant had quickly departed, I talked to one of my officials, a friend of mine, the President of the State Bank of Thuringia. I asked him to come and see me, but, unfortunately he has been refused as a witness.
THE PRESIDENT:Can he not tell us whether he ultimately accepted it or no BY DR. SERVATIUS:
QLet us drop that question. What happened to the money?
A That money was placed in a special account in the State Bank of Thuringia through this bank president whom I was mentioning.
QWhat other income did you have from your official positions?
AOnly the income of the salary of the Reich's town governor.
QHow much was that?
AThe salary of the Reich minister, I can't tell you for certain. I, as a sailor, have never concerned myself with it. I think it was something like thirty thousand marks.
QAnd what property do you have today apart front 'that donation in that bank account?
AI have not saved anything and I have not owned anything.
DR. SERVATIUS: That, Mr. President, brings me to the end of those general questions and I am now coming to the special questions relating to labor THE PRESIDENT:
We will adjourn.
(A short recess was taken.)
DR. SERVATIUS: To aid the Court I have prepared a plan on the direction of the Arbeitseinsatz, Neibor Committment, which is to give an understanding about how the individual authorities cooperated and how the Einsatz was put into operation. I will concern myself primarily with the problem of obtaining the necessary workers, that is the question of how the workers were obtained. As for the use made of the workers, that is the needs of industry, I will concern myself only slightly. This is more a matter of Speer's defense which does not quite agree with my point of view. They are small matters about which I made mistakes because I did not understand these matters completely when I prepared the plan; but there are no basic differences.
If I may explain the plan briefly, at the top the "Fuehrer" in red; under him the "Four-Year Plan"; under him as part of the Four-Year Plan -
THE PRESIDENT:Wait a minute.
DR. SERVATIUS:At the top the "Fuehrer" in red; under hint the "Four-Year Plan"; then the Sauckel agency, the department generally for the labor committment, directly under the Four-Year Plan. He gets his orders from the Fuehrer through the Four-Year Plan, or directly, according to the nature of the Fuehrer.
Sauckel's Agency is the Reich Ministry. It is below to the loft, below the Sauckel agency which is in brown.
It is the big area edged in yellow. Sauckel was only incorporated into the Reich Labor Ministry and a few officers were put at his disposal. There remained the Reich Labor Minister and the whole Labor Ministry. In the course of time Sauckel's position become somewhat stronger. Individual departments were incorporated into his field and he obtained personal powers in part, but the Reich Labor Ministry remained until the end.
I should now like to explain how the Arbeitseinsatz was put into operation. Through a committment in the cast, the bit losses in the winter, there arose a need for two million soldiers. The Wehrmacht, marked in green at the top next to "The Fuehrer", "OKW" demands soldiers from the factories. It is marked here in the green field below the "OKW". The line leads, at the bottom to the left, to the concerns marked with thirty million workers . The Wehrmacht withdraws two million workers but can do that only after new workers arc there. That was the moment when Sauckel was put into office in order to obtain those workers. The number of men needed at the change in the high offices by the people marked at the top in yellow, those are the supreme officers: Armament of Production Ministry, Air Ministry, Ships, Traffic, and so forth. They report their demands to the Fuehrer and he decides what is needed Sauckel's task is followed, out as follows: Let us go back to the brown box. In the field to the right where the boxes are rimmed in blue are the highest authorities in the occupied territories, Reichsminister for the Eastern Territories, Rosenberg; then the military authorities; and since it was handled a little differently in each country, the various countries, Belgium, France, Holland, and so forth, are marked here.
These agencies received orders to make workers available each in their own machinery further below down to the local labor offices which are under the local authorities, and other workers are assigned to the factories from here.
That is the reservoir of foreigners. Then these are two more sources of labor, the reservoir of German workers, which is marked in blue to the left at the bottom, and the reservoir of prisoners of war. With these three agencies Sauckel had to deal. I will now ask, put the corresponding questions to the witness. This is only to refresh the memory and control the exposition. I will submit other charts later. It shows the positions of the individual in the agency and later a chart on the inspection and controls which were set up.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Servatius, you will no doubt be asking the witness whether he is familiar with the chart and whether it is correct. BY DR. SERVATIUS:
QWitness, you have seen this chart. Is it correct? Do you acknowledge it?
AAccording to my conviction and my memory it is correct, and I acknowledge it.
QOn the 21st of March 1942 you were made Plenipotentiary General for Labor Commitment. Why were you chosen for this office?
AThe reason why I was chosen for this office I never learned and I do not know it. On the basis of my engineering studies I concerned myself with problems of labor systems but I do not know whether that was the reason.
QWas your appointment not made at Speer's suggestion.
AReichsleiter Bormann has said so in his decree, as the preamble.
QI refer to Sauckel's document 7 in document book 1, page 5.
AI should like to say that this task was a complete surprise to me, that I did not try to get it in any way, that I never to obtain any of my offices.
THE PRESIDENT: What number are you giving to this document?
DR. SERVATIUS: Document Number 7.
THE PRESIDENT: I mean the chart. What number are you giving to the chart?
DR. SERVATIUS: Document 1.
THE PRESIDENT: Number 7, page 5.
DR. SERVATIUS: Yes. This document is a preamble to the decree issued by the Reichsleiter Bormann -- added to the decree by Reichsleiter Bormann. It shows that it was Speer who suggested Sauckel for this position. BY DR. SERVATIUS:
QWas this a completely new office which you took up?
ANo. "Arbeitseinsatz" existed before my appointment -was directed by the Four-Year Plan. "Ministerialdirektor" Dr. Mansfeld was occupied with this office at that tine. Before me this office was characterized as that of Plenipotentiary General, but I learned that only here.
QOn taking up your office did you talk to Dr. Mansfeld, your predecessor?
AI did not see Dr. Mansfeld, and did not speak to him. I received no instructions from him.
QTo what extent was your agency different from that of the previous Plenipotentiary General?
AMy office was different to this extent: The departments in the Four-Year Plan were dissolved and were no longer used by me. I used departments of the Reich Labor Ministry because they had exports; used them more and more in this work.
QWhat was the reason for this re-formation of the agency?
AThe reason was the many conflicting interests which until the third year of war had exerted their influence; political, state, internal administration offices, party agencies and economic agencies opposed the transfer of workers which had become urgent.
QWitness, will you please try to make somewhat shorter sentences.
I believe the interpreters would be grateful to you.
What task did you have, what field of work?
AMy main field of work was to direct and lead the be freed from the economy because of drafting into the Wermacht, I was to replace them. Moreover, I also had to obtain new workers for new war industries which had been set up in the field as food industry as well as armament industry, of course, arms production.
QWas your assignment definitely defined?
AThe assignment was at first in no way definitely defined. There were about 23 or 24 million workers present in the Reich which were not entirely in war industry.
QHow did you understand your assignment, as permanent one?
ANo. I could not consider this a permanent assignment.
QWhy not?
AThe Reich Labor Minister and his secretaries were in office and the whole Labor Ministry.
QWhat sources did you have to obtain these workers?
AFirst I had the workers in the Reich. The various occupations were not yet in war industry, not yet completely, in the way necessary for the commander.
QAt first, if I understood you correctly, a real distribution, thrifty management of German labor?
THE PRESIDENT: Defendant, I do not understand the German language but it appears to me that if you would not make pauses between each word and would make your sentences shorter and then pause at the end of the sentence, it would be much more convenient for the interpreter. I do not know whether I am right in that. That is what it looks like. You are pausing between each word and therefore it is difficult, I imagine, to get the sense of the sentence.
THE WITNESS: I beg your pardon, Your Lordship.
BY DR. SERVATIUS:
QWhat did you do to fulfill your assingment?
AI will repeat. First, since I had no direct specific instructions I understood my assignment to mean that through economic management I should fill up the gaps and lacks.
QHow many people were you to obtain?
AThis question is very difficult to answer. I received the demands only in the course of the war. Labor and economy are a fluid matter, difficult to grasp. I received the assignment in the course of the war in the German labor sector to supply replacements for the Wermacht, with soldiers for the peace potential.
Q You set up a program. What was provided for in the program?
AI set up two programs. At first, when I took up my office, I set up a program which dealt with a levee en masse, so called, of German women and German young people, and, as I already said, economic labor techniques and the full utilization of labor.
QWas the program accepted?
AThis program was rejected by the Fuehrer, when I submitted it to the Fuehrer, as was my duty, and to the agencies interested in the commitment of labor.
QWhy?
AThe Fuehrer called me to him at that time and explained the German war production and economic situation to me. He said that he had nothing against my program, and that he had planned, in view of the situation, that he could not wait for the training of such German women. Ten million German women were employed who at that time had never done indistrial or mechanical work. Furthermore, he could not permit management, as I have said, a mixture of German and foreign workers.
QOne moment. The interpreters cannot translate your long sentences. You must make short sentences; otherwise, no one can understand you, and your defense suffers.
AIn answer to my suggestion, the Fuehrer said that he did not have time for the management of labor.
QAnd what did he suggest?
AI asked to be allowed to present this decision of the Fuehrer. He described the situation at that time after the end of the winter of 1941-42. Many hundreds of German locomotives, almost all the mechanical arms, tanks, planes, and mechanical weapons had become useless as a result of the catastrophes during an abnormally hard winter. Hundreds of thousands of German soldier had suffered greatly from the cold; many divisions had lost their arms and supplier The Fuehrer explained to me that if the race with the enemy in rearmament was not won, the Soviets would be at the Channel during the next winter.
He told me that, referring to my sense of duty and the employment of all my ability, he was giving me the assignment to obtain new workers for commitment in German war industry.
Q Did you have no scruples that this was against international law?
AIn regard to this question, the Fuehrer spoke to me in great detail. He explained the necessity so much as a matter of course that after one suggestion which he made himself was rejected, I had no scruples as regards international law against this commitment of foreign workers.
QYou negotiated with other agencies? There were workers within the Reich already? What was told you there?
ANo high agency, military or civilian, expressed any misgivings. I may mention some references which the Fuehrer gave me. On the whole, the Fuehrer was very friendly to me; on this question, he was very strict, and said that he had left half the French army free and at home, most of the Belgian army, and the whole Dutch Army had been released from captivity.
He told me that he might have to recall these prisoners of war for military reasons, in the interests of all of Europe and the Occident, as he expressed himself; only a uniform Europe devoted to work could resist Bolshevism.
QDid you know the terms of the Hague Land Warfare regulations?
ADuring the first world war, I was a captured seaman. I knew the necessities for and the chances of, any sort of treatment and shelter for prisoners of war and other prisoners.
QDid foreign agencies - - I am thinking of the French - - every say that what you planned with your Arbeitseinsatz was against the Hague Land Warfare regulations?
ANo. In France, I discussed questions of the Arbeitseinsatz only with the French Government, through the military commander and through the German ambassador in Paris. As far as labor commitments in France were concerned, I intended to conclude agreements with an orderly French Government. I negotiated with the general secretary in Belgium.
QA large part - - about a third - - of the foreign workers were so-called Eastern workers. What were you told about them?
AWith regard to the commitment of Eastern workers, I was told that Russia did not join the Geneva Convention, and so Germany for her part was not bound to it. And I was told further that Soviet Russia, in the Balkan countries and other areas, had planned taking workers from those populations, and that about 3,000,000 Chinese were working in Soviet Russia, Williams
QAnd what about Poland?
AAs regards Poland, I have been told, just as it existed in other countries, that this was a case of total capitulation, and that Germany on the basis of this capitulation was justified in introducing German regulations.
QDid you consider the commitment of foreign workers permissible from the German point of view?
AI considered the commitment of foreign workers according to the principles which I represented in my field of work and I adhered to. I was a German.
QYou must make shorter sentences.
You considered that permissible, then, in view of the principles which you wanted to apply, and, as you say, which you carried out in your field?
AYes.
QDid you also think of the hardship imposed on the workers and their families through this commitment?
AI know from my own life that even if one goes to foreign countries voluntarily, a separation is something very difficult, that it is very difficult for relatives to be separated from family members. But I also thought of the German families, of the German Soldiers, and of the many, many hundreds of thousands of German workers who also had to go away from home.
Q Was the suggestion made that the work could have been done in the occupied territories and that it would not have been necessary to remove the workers?
Why was that not done?
AThis is an interesting suggestion. If it had been possible, I would have carried cut the suggestion which was made by Funk and other authorities and later even by Speer. It would have made my work much easier. On the other hand, there were big departments in these institutions which had to administer branches of the German economy and fulfill assignments. As the G.B.A. (Plenipotentiary General for Labor Commitment), I could not have them transferred to foreign territories. The authorities demanded from me replacement of agricultural workers and industrial workers. Labor replacements in agriculture and industry were needed because the men had been called to the colors.
QYou said before that the manner in which you had planned the commitment of workers could have been defended, What were the loading principles of your labor commitment in carrying it out?
AWhen the Fuehrer, in that drastic presentation of the situation, charged me with bringing foreign workers to Germany, I clearly recognized the difficulties of this task and I asked him to recognize the only way in which I could consider it possible.
QWas not the principal consideration the economic exploitation of these foreign workers?
ALabor commitment has nothing to do with exploitation. Labor commitment is an economic process and is the obtaining of workers.
QDid you repeatedly in your speeches and on other occasions state that the best possible economic utilization of these workers was important and speak of a machine which must be treated properly? Did you want to express thereby the thought of economic utilization?
AAt all times a regime, no matter what nature, can be successful, in the production of goods only if it commits labor economically -- not too many and not too few. I consider that economical.
QA document which was submitted here, RF 22, a government report, and other government reports say that one of the aims was the biological destruction of other countries. What do you have to say about that?
A I can say with certainty that biological destruction was never mentioned to me.
I was happy when I had workers. I felt that the war would last longer than was expected, and the demands upon my agency were so urgent and so big that I was happy when people were alive.
QWhat was the general attitude toward the question of foreign workers before you took over? What did you find when you took office?
AThere was a controversy when I took office. About two million foreign workers were to be brought from neutral and allied states and occupied territories of the East and the West. They had been brought to the Reich in a disorderly manner. Many concerns avoided using the labor authorities or found them bureaucratic. The conflict of interests, as I said before, was very great. The police point of view was predominant at that time.
QAnd what was the propaganda in regard to Eastern workers, for example ?
AThe propaganda was adapted to the war in the East. I may point cut -- you interrupted me before when I was speaking of my assignment by the Fuehrer -- the Fuehrer demanded that workers working in Germany should not be treated as enemies. I demanded this from the Fuehrer and tried to influence the propaganda to that effect.
QWhat else did you do in regard to this situation which confronted you?
AI finally received permission from the Fuehrer for my second program. This program is here as a document. I must and will bear responsibility for t his program.
DR. SERVATIUS:It has already been submitted. It is a document 16-Sauckel. It is a law for labor commitment of 20 April 1942, US Exhibit 168.
THE PRESIDENT:Where shall we find it. BY DR. SERVATIS:
QThis program contains basicstatements. I will hand it to you. Please comment on the general questions only, not on the individual points.
Q On the last part, there is a section added, "Prisoners of War and Foreign Workers."
Have you found the paragraph? "Prisoners of War and Foreign Workers." In the third paragraph will you please look and see what you wanted to explain.
AI should like to point out that I set up this program independently and worked on it independently. In 1942, after this hard assignment which I was given by the Fuehrer, it was absolutely clear to me under what conditions foreign workers could be employed in Germany. I wrote down these sentences at that time. This program went to all German agencies which dealt with this matter:
"All of these people must be so fed, housed, and treated that with the most trifling commitments imagineable" -- I mean here the economic commitments -- "They can do the greatest possible amount of work. It is a matter of course to all Germans that toward the conquered enemy, even if he was our most bitter enemy, we must avoid all atrocities and all pettiness. We must treat him correctly and humanely even when we expect useful work from him." The word "even" should be "if".
QWill you put the document aside now, please.
What powers did you have to carry out your assignment?
ATo carry out my assignment I had the power, from the Four Year Plan, to issue instructions. I had at my disposal -- not under me, but at my disposal -- Sections 3 and 5 of the Reich Labor Ministry.
QWhat department was that?
AThe Department of Labor Commitment and Wages.
QCould you issue directives and orders?
AI could issue directives and orders of a business nature to these agencies.
QCould you carry on independently negotiations with foreign countries?
AI could carry on negotiations with foreign countries only through the Foreign Office or after approval of the corresponding ambassador or minister.
QCould you give your order independently or was approval necessary consultation?