The prisoners of war offered passive resistance to the German force.
The National Socialist authorites intervened time and again to attempt to increase their output.
I refer to document 233-PS, which I file with the Tribunal under No. 53.
It is a directive of the OKW of October 17, 1944.
The purpose is to point out to the war prisoner bureaus measures susceptible of increasing the productivity of the prisoners.
I read from the document.
"Subject: Treatment of War Prisoners--Increase in Production.
The measures taken until now concerning the treatment of war prisoners and the increasing of their productivity have not given the results that had been hoped for.
The officers of the Party and those of Economy continually complain of the poor productivity of the labor of all the war prisoners.
The present circular has as its object to make known the directive arrived at together in combination with the interested services of the Party and the State as concerns the prisoners of war.
Instructions in consequence must be given to all the units charged with guards and their annexes.
First of all: collaboration with the leaders of the NSDAP.
The cooperation of all officers in charge of war prisoners with the chiefs of the Party must become even more close.
To this end the commanders of the war-prisoners camps shall immediately detach for all the Kreise of their command and the quality of the liaison officer with the Kreisleiter, an officer acquainted with all questions concerning prisoners of war.
This officer shall have as his duty to treat in close collaboration with the Kreisleiter, in conformity with the instructions of the camp commander, all questions concerning prisoners of war.
This officer shall have as his duty to treat in close collaboration with the Kreisleiter, in conformity with the instructions of the camp commander, all questions concerning prisoners and capable of bringing these matters to the knowledge of the public.
The aim of this collaboration is:
"(a) To increase the productivity of the work of war prisoners "(b) To solve all difficulties quickly and on the spot "(c) To organize the employment of war prisoners in the Kreise in such a way that they may fulfil the political, military and economic requirements.
"The Chancellery of the Party for its part will give orders to the gauleiters and the kreisleiters.
"Second, treatment of the prisoners of war. The manner in which prisoners of war are to be treated shall be dictated within limits compatible with security by the sole and only pre-occupation of increasing as much as possible the productivity of their labor.
In addition to a just treatment and an appropriate diet in conformity with instructions of the feeding and keeping of prisoners of war.
The control of productivity is among the proper means of augmenting the latter.
Means of repression which are available must be employed with extreme rigor with regard to the lazy and the rebellious."
I shall stop my quotation here.
The resistance of war prisoners caused the German Labor Bureaus to use a subterfuge to force them to work.
I refer to the operation called the transformation of war prisoners into free workers to whom a labor contract was offered.
The operation was perfected by the Defendant Sauckel in the course of one of his trips to Paris on April 9, 1943.
For Germany it offered the advantage of permitting the use of transformed prisoners in armament factories without directly violating the Geneva Convention.
For the prisoners it presented only a seeming advantage, the decrease of the surveillance to which they were subject.
In reality the length and the nature of the work imposed upon them was in no way changed.
Their housing conditions and the quality of their rations remained unchanged.
Moreover, this operation presented by German propaganda as a measure favorable to war prisoners, brought about a deterioration of their juridical and material status.
The prisoners of war were not fooled; in the great majority they refused to cooperate with this German manoeuvre.
Some agreed to do it, but a number of these took advantage of the first leave granted them because of their change in status and fled.
The report of the Institute of Market Analysis on Forced Labor, under No. 22, gives in this connection the following information.
I quote it, page 70 of the French text, page 70 of the German translation.
I shall read the second paragraph.
"The transformation of prisoners into 'free' workers, which was realized or carried out as the second Sauckel act, and which by this fact must be counted in the present list as dating from the 25th of April, 1942, was decided by him, by Sauckel, in the course of a voyage to Paris on April 9, 1943.
It was to involve, after the initial signature by the prisoner, his contract as a laborer and as a permit to go to France--a permit continued by the return of the men who had gone, who had received this permit before him.
The 24th of April, 1943, out of 1000 permits forty-three did not return.
In the month of August following, out of 8000, 2000 did not return.
A last appeal destined to them was published in the press of August 17 without result.
There is no third experiment, and the transformation in practice limited itself to the suppression of sentinels and of camp guards, but changed neither the nature nor the duration of the work, nor the housing conditions, nor the rations.
On the other hand, it entailed privation of rights to receive packages from the International Red Cross and renunciation of diplomatic protection of prisoners of war.
The forced utilization of war prisoners did not permit the German authorities to solve the labor problem of the war economy.
That is why they applied their policy of force upon the civilian populations of the occupied territories.
The National Socialist authorities systemized their policy of force from 1942 on by establishing the Bureau of Compulsory Labor in the different occupied territories.
From the end of 1941 it has been verified that neither the recruiting of voluntary workers nor the utilization of prisoners permitted a solution of the problem of labor required for the war economy.
The Germans then decided to proceed to the forced enrolment of civilian workers.
They decreed a veritable civilian mobilization, the execution of which characterizes their criminal activity.
I refer to a directive of January 29, 1942, addressed by Dr. Mansfeld under authorization of the Defendant Goering.
I remind the Tribunal that I have filed this document already under the number 26.
I read from the document which I read this morning, page 2, last paragraph of the French translation.
"However, any suspicion must cease before the necessity of supplementing the deficit in labor caused by the important calls to the armed forces in order to avoid a detriment to the war industry.
To this end the forced mobilization of workers in occupied territories must not be neglected.
In case the voluntary recruitment is unsuccessful, the mere possibility of mobilization by force will in many cases make recruiting easier.
Therefore, I ask you to take immediate measures in your district, any measures which will promote the employment of workers in the German Reich on a voluntary basis.
I herewith request you to prepare for publication regulations applying to forced mobilization of labor from your territory for Germany so that they may be decreed at once in case recruiting on a voluntary basis will not have the desired result.
This is by way of relieving the man-power shortage in the Reich."
The appointment of the Defendant Sauckel may be considered as a preparatory measure for the establishment of the Bureau of Compulsory Labor.
It was necessary that a central authority be set up in order to co-ordinate the activity of the different labor departments and in order to proceed to the mobilization of civilian workers.
The terms of the exposition of the motives of the decree of appointment are explicit.
The mission of the plenipotentiary for labor consists in satisfying the labor needs of the German economy through the recruiting of foreign workers and the utilization of war prisoners.
The decree of Sauckel's, dated August 22nd, 1942, which I have filed with the Tribunal under No. 17, expresses moreover the will of the Defendant to go about recruiting by means of coercion.
The institution of the Sevices of Obligatory Labor represents deliberate vidation of international conventions.
The deportation of workers is forbidden by several contractual regulations which have the value of positive law. I shall quote, first of all, Article 52 of the Annex to to the Fourth Convention of theHague. I have already given the commentary on it to the Tribunal to demonstrate that the requisitioning of labor effected by the authorities of the occupation was illegal.
All the more, the institution of obligatory labor was prohibited by Article 52. Obligatory labor was imposed upon foreign workers in the interest of the war economy of Germany. It was carried out in armament factories of National Socialist Germany. It deprived the occupied territories of labor necessary for the rational exploitationof their wealth. It therefore comes out of the framework of legitimate labor requisition, which Article 52 of the Hague Convention regulates.
The prohibition of forced labor is, moreover, affirmed by another international convention. It is a question of the Convention of the 25th of September, 1926 on slavery, of which Germany is a signatory. This treaty assimilates forced labor to slavery in its Article 5. I ask the Tribunal to refer to it.
Forced labor in German war factories was, therefore, instituted in flagrant violation of international law and of all engagements subscribed to by Germany. The National Socialist authorities transgressed positive international law. They likewise violated the rights of people. The latter guarantees individual liberty, to which the principle of forced recruitment is a characteristic attack. The violation of treaties and contemp contempt of the rights of individuals are the norms of National Socialist doc doctrine. That is why the defendants have not only proceeded to the mobilization of foreign workers; they proclaimed the necessity and the legitimacy of forced labor.
I shall, first of all, give to the Tribunal the indication of certain declarations made by the defendants which have the strength of confessions. I shall thereupon indicate how the occupation authorities introduced the service of obligatory work in the different occupied territories.
I shall demonstrate finally that the Germans took measures of coercion, of violent coercion, to attempt to assure the execution of civilian mobilization which had been decreed.
The proof of this can be found in the report of the Four Year Plan on the 10,11, and 12 of August, 1942, Document R-124, No 30 of our documentation. I shall not read it. This has already been read to the Tribunal. I recall that the document to which I refer indicates that the Fuerhrer was in agreement to effect all the necessary constraint in the East as well as in the West, if the question of recruiting foreign laborers could not be regulated on a voluntary basis.
The necessity of the utilization of obligatory labor was expressed in identical terms by certain of the defendants. I shall not stress the numerous statements of the accused Saukel to which I have already drawn the attention of the Tribunal. The exposition of the motives of his decree of August 22, 1942, the policy included in his letter of April 24, 1942, and the policy specified in his speech at Posen in Febuary, 1942 transalate faithfully the determination of the defendant to justify the principle of forced recruiting.
I shall not revert to this.
I wish to present to the Tribunal the declaration of the defendant Jodl. This extract is drawn from a long speech uttered by Jodl November 7, 1943 at Munich before an audience of Gauleiters. This speech forms document L-172. I offer it in evidence to the Tribunal under Number 54. I shall read page two of the French translation, second paragraph; page 38-39 of the German original:
"This dilemma of manpower shortage has led to the idea of making more thorough use of the manpower reserves in the territories occupied by us. Here right thinking and wrong thinking are mixed up together. I believe that, insofar as concerns labor, everything has been done that could be done, but where this has not yet been achieved, it appears preferable from the political point of view not to have recourse to measures of compulsion. It is better to exchange for these order and economic aid. In my opinion, however, the time has now come to take steps with remorseless vigor and resolution in Denmark, Holland, France and Belgium, and also to compel thousands of wasters to carry out the fortification work, which is more important than any other work. The necessary orders for this have already been given.
The German Labor Service had not waited for the appeal of General Jodl to decree the mobilization of civilian foreign workers. I am going to show the Tribunal how the Bureau of Compulsory Labor was established and organized in France, in Norway, in Belgium, and in Holland.
I should like to remind the Tribunal that in Denmark there was never any legal regulation for forced labor, and that forced labor was carried out as a simple de facto measure.
I also wish to remind the Tribunal that the Bureau of Forced Labor was introduced in a special form in Luxembourg, and in the French departments of Alsace and Lorraine. The occupation authorities incorporated the citi zens of Luxembourg and the French citizens in the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Moselle in the Labor Service of the Reich. This incorporation was carried out by ordinances of Gauleiter Simon and Gauleiter Wagner. The ordinances constitute an integral part of the Germanization plan for territories of Luxembourg, Alsace and Lorraine.
Their consequences surpass those of the measures of forced enrollment which were taken in other occupied territories.
That is why I refer this Tribunal for this point to the explanation which will be given in the prosecution brief of M. Edgar Faure.
Two German regulations of a general nature serve as a foundation for the legislation on forced labor in the occupied territories of Western Europe.
The first is the decree of Sauckel of August 22, 1942, to which I have drawn the attention of the Tribunal on several occasions. This decree prescribes the mobilization of all civilian workers in the service of the war economy. Article 2 prescribes that this decree is applicable to occupied territories. This decree of August 22 thus constitutes the legal charter of the civilian mobilization of foreign workers. This mobilization was confirmed by an order of the Fuehrer of September 8, 1942. It is document 556-PS-2, which I file with the Tribunal and from which I shall read:
"The Fuehrer and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht. General Headquarters of the Fuehrer, September 8, 1942.
"The extensive coastal fortification which I have ordered to be erected in the area of Army Group West make it necessary that in the occupied territory all available workers should be committed to give the fullest extent of their productive capacity. The previous allotment of domestic workers is insufficient. The work is definitely insufficient. In order to increase it, I order the introduction of compulsory labor and the prohibition of changing the place of employment without permission of the authorities in the occupied territories.
"Furthermore, in the future the distribution of food and clothing ration cards to those subject to labor draft shall depend on the possession of a certificate of employment. Refusal to accept an assigned job, as well as abandoning the place of work without the consent of the authorities in charge will result in the withdrawal of the food and clothing ration cards.
"The GBA, that is, the Deputy General for Sauckel, in agreement with the military commander as well as the Reichscommissar will issue the corresponding decrees for execution."
The forced enrollment of foreign workers was preceded by preliminary measures to which the order of August 8, 1942, refers. I am speaking of the freezing of labor.
To carry out the mobilization of workers it was necessary that the public services exercise strict control over their use in the industrial enterprises of occupied territories. This control had a double purpose. It was to facilitate the census of workers suitable for work in Germany; it was to prevent workers from avoiding the German requisition by alleging a real or fictitious employment.
The National Socialist authorities exercised this control by restraining the liberty of hiring and of discharging which they submitted to the authorities of the Labor Bureaux.
In France the freezing of labor was brought about by the law of September 4, 1942. I shall shortly relate to the Tribunal the conditions under which this law was formulated. I shall for the moment simply supply it to the Tribunal under No.56, and ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it.
In Belgium the freezing of labor was carried out by the ordinance of the command of the 6th of October, 1942. I submit to the Tribunal Document No.57, of which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice.
Finally, in Holland where the Bureau of Compulsory Labor was established early in 1941, an ordinance of the Reichskommissar dated February 8, 1941,-which I offer to the Tribunal under No.58 -- organized the freezing of labor.
The immobilization of labor was brought about under an economic pretext in all countries. In reality it constituted a preliminary measure for the mobilization of workers which the National Socialist authorities immediately proceeded to carry out.
In France the Bureau of Compulsory Labor was established by the legislation of the pseudo-government of Vichy, but this legislation was imposed upon the French authorities by the defendants, and especially by the defendant Sauckel.
The action which Sauckel brought against the government of Vichy to force it to favor the deportation of workers into Germany was exercised in four periods. I shall briefly review for the Tribunal the history of these four Sauckel actions.
The first Sauckel action was initiated in the spring of 1942, soon after the appointment of the defendant as Plenipotentiary for labor. The German armament industry had an urgent need of workers. The service of the Arbeitseinsatz had decided to recruit 150,000 specialists in France. Sauckel came to Paris in the month of Juno 1942. He had several conversations with French ministers. Otto Abetz, German ambassador in Paris, presided over these meetings. They brought about the following results: faced with the repugnance of French authorities to establish forced labor, it was decided that the recruiting of the 150,000 specialists would be carried out by a pseudo-voluntary enrollment. This wasthe beginning of the so-called exchange operation to which I have already drawn the attention of the Tribunal.
But the Tribunal knows that the exchange operation was a failure, and that despite an intensification of German propaganda, the number of voluntary enrollments remained at a minimum. The German authorities then put the Vichy Government in a position to proceed to forced enrollment.
I offer in evidence the threatening letter of August 26, 1942, addressed by the German Dr. Michel, Chief of the Administrative Section of the Gernal Staff, to the General Delegate for Franco-German economic relations. This is French Document 530, which I shall submit to the Tribunal as 45, French Exhibit 59:
"The President promised Gauleiter Sauckel, Secretary General in charge of the Department of Labor, to make every effort to send to Germany by way of reinforcing the German war economy, the German armament economy, 350,000 workers of whom 150,000 should be metal workers. The French Government proposed originally to solve this problem by recruitment, in particular by special offers.
This method has been abandoned and that of voluntary enrollment has been attempted with a view to the liberation of prisoners.
The months which have passed have demonstrated that the end in viewcannot be achieved by means of voluntary recruiting. In France, German armament orders have increased in volume and assumed a more marked and urgent character. Besides, the accomplishment of special tasks has been asked, which can be successfully carried out only by having recourse to a very considerable number of workers. In order to assure the realization of the tasks for which France is responsible in the domain of labor supply, the French Government must be asked henceforth to put into execution the following measures: First of all, the publication of a decree relative to the change of place of work. By virtue of this decree, the place of work cannot be abandoned and labor cannot be hired without the approval of certain specified services. Second, the institution of the obligatory dedaration of all persons out of work, as well as those who do not work during the whole working day or in a permanent manner. This obligatory statement will make it possible to determine as fully as possible the reserves that are still available. Third, the publication of a decree for the mobilization of workers for important tasks relating tothe policy of State. This decree is to furnish (a) the necessary labor for Germany; (b) the workers necessary in France for the carrying out of orders which have been transferred here for special tasks. Fourth, publication of a decree safeguarding the formation of young specialists. This decree must impose upon French enterprise, French factories and industry the obligation of forming by means of apprenticeship and systematic professional education, young workers possessing adequate special qualifications for the military commander. Signed: Dr. Michel."
Dr. Michel's letter forms the basis for the law relative to the utilization and the orientation of labor. It is the law of September 4, 1942, which I have just filed with the Tribunal.
In application of the law of September 4, all Frenchmen between 18 and 50 who did not have employment susceptible of occupying them more than 30 hours a week were forced to state this at the city hall where they resided.
A decree of September 19, 1942, and an enabling directive of September 22 provided regulations for the different phases of the statement.
Sauckel's first action was achieved on a legislative plane. The defendant only had to dip into the labor resources which were established by it. But the resistance of the French workers caused his recruiting plan to fail. This is why Sauckel undertook his section action beginning in January, 1943.
The second Sauckel action is marked by the setting up of the Bureau of Compulsory Labor, properly speaking. Until then, workers had been the only victims of the policy of force of the defendants. The latter understood the demagogic argument which they could derive from this de facto situation. They explained that it was inadmissible that the working classes of the occupied territory be the only ones to participate in the German war effort. They required that the basis of forced labor be enlarged by the establishment of the Bureau of Compulsory Labor.
This was established by two measures. A directive of February 2, 1943, prescribed a general census of all French of masculine sex born between the 1st of January 1912 and the 1st of January 1921. The census took place between the 15th and 23rd of February. It had just entered in force when the law and decree of February 16, 1943 appeared. These regulations established the Bureau of Compulsory Labor for all young men born between the 1st of January 1920 and 31st of December 1922. I file it with the Tribunal under French No's 60 and 61, and I ask the Court to take judicial notice of it.
The action carried out by the Defendant to impose this legislation, which was not in the domain of common law, is substantiated by numerous documents. I particularly draw the attention of the Tribunal to four of these which permit us to retrace the activities of the Defendant Sauckel during the months of January and February 1943.
On January 5,1943, Sauckel transmitted to the different departments of his administration an order of the Fuehrer which the Defendant Speer had communicated to him.
This is Document 556-PS-13, which I file with the Tribunal under No. 62. I shall read its first paragraph. First of all:
"1. On January 4, 1943, at 8:00 o'clock in the evening THE PRESIDENT:
What number?
M.HERZOG: 62, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.
M.HERZOG: "January 4, 1943, at 8:00 o'clock in the evening, Minister Speer telephones from the General Headquarters of the Fuehrer to give the information that according to a decision of the Fuehrer it is no longer necessary in the future, when the taking on of specialists and auxiliaries in France is to be made, to have any particular regard for the French when they likewise in the said country exercise pressure and use more severe measures to the end of procuring the necessary labor."
On January 11, 1943, the Defendant Sauckel was in Paris. He attended a meeting which brought together at the Military Commander's all responsible officials of the Labor Bureau. He announced that new measures of constraint were to be taken in France. I refer you to the transcript of the meeting which constitutes Document 1342-PS, which I file with the Tribunal under No. 63. I shall read from page 2 of the French translation, page 1, fourth line of the second paragraph of the German original:
"Gauleiter Sauckel thanks everybody for the successful carrying out of the first project. Already now, from the beginning of the new year, he considers himself obliged to announce new severe measures, a great need of labor making itself felt for France as well as for the Reich armament industry."
I skip to the end of the paragraph. I shall read from the next paragraph:
"The situation on the front calls for 700,000 soldiers fit for frontline service. For this purpose, the armament industry would have to drop to 200,000 key workers by the end of March, I have received an order from the Fuehrer to find new workers in replace these very fine skilled workers for unskilled, I shall need for this 150,000 French specialists, while the other 50,000 can be drawn from Holland, Belgium, and other occupied countries. In addition, 100,000 unskilled French workers are necessary for the Reich. By the second action of recruitment in France it would be necessary that by the middle of March 150,000 skilled workers and 100,000 unskilled workers and women be transferred to Germany."
The Defendant Sauckel went back to Germany a few days later. On February 16 he was in Berlin at the meeting of the Central Office of the Four Year Plan.
He gave a commentary of the law which was to appear that very day, in France, and revealed that he was the instigator of it.
I refer once more to the minutes of the conference of the Four Year Plan, included under No. R-124, which I submitted this morning to the Tribunal under No. 30. I shall read an extract from this document which my American colleagues have not read. It is page 7 of the French translation of the document, page 2,284-5 of the German original.
"This is the situation in France. After my collaborators and myself have succeeded, after difficult discussions, in convincing Laval to establish the service of compulsory labor, this obligation to labor has been extended, thanks to our pressure, so successfully that since yesterday -- even yesterday -three French classes have been called. This is why we are now legally qualified to recruit in France, with the assistance of the French Government, workers of the three classes whom we shall be able to employ henceforth in French factories, but among whom we shall be able to choose some for our own needs in Germany and send them to Germany."
In fact, the Defendant Sauckel returned to France on February 24. I offer in evidence to the Tribunal the letter which he addressed to Hitler before his departure to inform him of his trip. It proves the continuity of the action of Sauckel. The letter constitutes Document 556-PS-25, which I lodge with the Tribunal under No. 64, and I shall read it:
"Director General of the Labor Service to the Fuehrer. General Headquarters of the Fuehrer. "My Fuehrer:
"I allow myself herewith to take leave of you before undertaking my voyage of service which has been already arranged for France.
The objective of my travel is, first of all, to put at the disposal of the Reich, as soon as possible, workers capable of replacing German workers to the benefit of the Wehrmacht. May I add that the Marshal Keitel and General von Unruh have received a communication from me to the effect that half of these workers intended to replace German workers in the key industries, that is, 125 French qualified specialists, had arrived already in the Reich on January 1, 1943, that a corresponding mobilization for the benefit of the Wehrmacht might take place.
I shall now assure myself in France that the second half shall arrive in the Reich by the end of March, or earlier if possible.
The first French program was executed by the end of December.
"The second object of my visit is to assure the necessary labor for the French workshops in order to permit the carrying out of the programs provided for France, of Grand Admiral Doenitz and Gauleiter Kauffmann.
"Third, to assure the labor necessary for the other German armament programs which are in process in France.
"Fifth, to prepare supplementary labor in agreement with Secretary of State Backe, in view of intensifying French agricultural production.
"Sixth, to have the much needed conversations with the French Government on the subject of labor service, the call of classes, and so forth, in view of activating the recruitment of labor for the benefit of the German war economy."
THE PRESIDENT:I think that is a good time to break off.
(Whereupon at 1700 hours the hearing of the Tribunal adjourned to re convene at 1000 hours, January 19, 1946.)
Official transcript of the International Military Tribunal, in the matter of The United States of America, the French Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, against Hermann Wilhelm Goering, et al, Defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 19 January, 1946, 10.
05 - 13.00, Lord Justice Lawrence presiding.
M. HERZOG:Mr. President, your Honors.
At the end of yesterday's session I was expounding to the Tribunal the conditions under which obligatory labor services were progressively imposed in France.
I reached the second action of the Defendant Sauckel--to the actions of February 1943.
The second action of Sauckel precipitated the enforced enrolment of Frenchmen during the months of February and March 1943.
Several tens of thousands of young men, who were of the military conscription class of 1940 and 1942, were deported to Germany by the application of the law of February 16.
The rhythm of these deportations slowed down in the month of April, but the Arbeitz seinsatz formulated immediately new requirements.
April 9, 1943, the Defendant Sauckel asked the French authorities to furnish him 120,000 workers during the month of May; 100,000 during the month of June.
In June he made it known that he wished to bring about the transfer of 500,000 workers up to December 31.
Sauckel's third action was going to begin. It was to be marked, on June 5, 1943, by the total mobilization of the Frenchmen of the military conscription class of 1942.
All exemptions established by the law of February 16 and subsequent measures were withdrawn, and the young men of the 1942 military conscription class were sought in all of France.
In reality Sauckel's third action was especially manifested by a violent pressure of the Defendant, tending to obtain a wholesale deportation by means of forced recruiting.
I offer in evidence three documents, which testify to the action brought about by Sauckel during the summer of 1943.
The first document is a letter from Sauckel to Hitler, dated 27 June, 1943.
Drafted by the Defendant, upon his return from a trip to France, it contains the outlines of a plan for the recruiting of French workers for the second half of 1943.
It concerns the securing, on the one hand, that one million workers be assigned in France to French armament factories and, on the other hand, that 500,000 French workers be deported to Germany.
This letter, document 556-PS-39, I submit to the Tribunal, and hereby read it.
It is French document 65.
"Weimar, 27 June, 1943.
"My Fuehrer:
"I allow myself herewith to inform you of my return from France, where I have been to take care of matters as to the services.
"Inasmuch as the reserves of workers in the territories occupied by the Wehrmacht are numerically, to a large extent, engaged, I am at the present moment deeply studying the possibility of mobilizing other reserves of workers for the Reich or the occupied territories for the German war economy.
"In my report of April 4, I pointed out it was at present necessary to effect an intensive co-ordination of the European labor forces in the territories submitted to the direct influence of the Reich.
"The object of my visit, which I have just made to Paris, was precisely to study the possibilities, after discussions, interviews and personal studies, to engage still other workers.
After having made a serious study I have come to the following decision.
"1. Since, in France, the measures concerning the war economy are comparable to those existing in Germany only to an approximate degree, it is possible to add until the 31 of December, 1943, up to that time that is, another million workers, men and women, to French war industry and armament industry, charged with the execution of German orders.
In this case it will be possible to place further orders in France.
"2. While taking account of those measures, it is possible, after a detailed study and with the co-operation of our German armament services and obligatory labor, to transfer between now and the end of the year another 500,000 workers, men and women, from France to the Reich.
"The necessary conditions for the carrying out of this program established by myself are the following.
"1. A close collaboration of all the German services, especially with regard to the French services.
"2. A constant study of the French economy and by means of combined commissions, as they have been provided for by Mr. Speer, Minister of the Reich of Armaments and Munitions and by myself.
"3. Constant, skillful propaganda producing its effect against the cliques of De Gaulle and Giraud.
"4. The providing of an adequate food supply for the French population working for Germany.
"5. An energetic demonstration of these necessities before the French Government, in particular Marshal Petain, who still constitutes the chief obstacle to obligatory work of French women.
"6. A perceptible development of the program which I have already introduced in France, consisting in teaching the population trades useful to the war economy."
I skip the next paragraph and I read the last paragraph.
"I beg you in consequence, my Fuehrer, please to be good enough to grant me a million Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, for the German war economy in France, and this in the course of the second half of 1943, and in addition 500,000 Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, to be transferred to the Reich before the end of the year.
"Yours faithfully and obediently, Fritz Sauckel."
The document to which I would now like to draw the Tribunal's attention proves that the Fuehrer gave his approval to Sauckel's program.