Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-07/tgmwc-07-65.05
Last-Modified: 1999/11/19

In the report of the Yugoslav Republic it is stated that the
Gestapo and the special commission used pressure and force.
This went so far that these "volunteer" workers were hunted
through the streets, collected in units and herded into
Germany by force.

  "Apart from these so-called 'volunteer' workers, the
  Germans sent for forced labour in Germany a large number
  of prisoners from various camps, as well as politically
  'suspicious' persons" - suspicious from their point of
  view - "who had to perform the most difficult kinds of
  work and under the worst living and working conditions.
  As early as 1942 many innocent victims of the Banjica,
  Sajmishte and other camps, were sent into Germany.
  
  The first transport of them left on 24 April, 1942, and
  these transports continued without interruption until 26
  September, 1944. Old and young, men and women,  farmers,
  workers, intellectuals and others were sent to Germany.
  However, they were not taken only to Germany, but to
  other countries under German occupation, as well.
  According to the log books of the Banjica camp, which
  give far from an exact picture, over ten thousand
  prisoners were sent for forced labour from this camp
  alone.
  
  The German authorities in Serbia issued a series of
  orders, aiming at ever greater exploitation of manpower.
  Among the first measures the following two orders were
  passed: The Order for Compulsory Work and Restriction of
  the Freedom of Employment of 14 December, 1941, and the
  Order for the National Service Work for the
  Reconstruction of Serbia, of 5 November, 1941. According
  to the first order all persons between 17 and 45 years of
  age could be called up for compulsory labour in certain
  industrial undertakings and branches of economy.
  According to the second order, such persons could be
  called up for civilian service in the 'National
  Reconstruction', which in fact meant that they had to
  work for the strengthening of the German economic and war
  effort.
  
  The persons recruited in accordance with these two laws
  admittedly remained in the country itself, but in fact
  they worked exclusively for the aims and benefit of the
  Germans' economic exploitation. They were primarily used
  for work in the mines (Bor, Kostolac, etc.), for road
  building and railway line repairs, for irrigation, and so
  on.
  
  On 26 March, 1943, the German Commandant of Serbia
  (Befehlshaber Serbiens) in a special order, introduced
  the so-called war economy measures of the Reich in the
  occupied territory of Serbia, and by this act imposed the
  general mobilisation of the manpower in Serbia.
  
  By this order, therefore, the entire population of
  occupied Serbia was mobilised into the German war
  economy. The Germans exploited the Serbian manpower to
  the greatest possible extent.
  
  The situation was in no way different in the other
  occupied areas of Yugoslavia. Without entering into
  numerous details of this planned exploitation,
  
                                                  [Page 228]
  
  we shall quote here only one example from occupied
  Slovenia. According to an official 'Announcement' of the
  German Farmers' Union in Koruska (Landesbauemschaft
  Karnten) of 10 August, 1944, issued in Celovec
  (Klagenfurt), every case of pregnancy of non-German women
  was to be reported, and in all such cases hospital
  facilities were to be placed at the disposal of such
  women for the purpose of committing abortions. The
  'Announcement' itself explains that in cases when non-
  German women give birth to their children, this 'creates
  difficulties for their use in work', and besides, also 'a
  danger for the population policy'. Furthermore, this
  'Announcement ' states that it will be the duty of the
  Office of Work Service to influence these women to commit
  abortions.
  
  As another proof of the exploitation of manpower, we
  quote the circular instructions of the German State
  Councillor for the Maribor District (Der Landrat des
  Kreises Marburg) of 12 August, 1944. This circular deals
  with the question of enlisting various categories of the
  population in the occupied Province of 'Donja Stajerska'
  into the armed forces and labour service, and it calls
  not only upon all the inhabitants of this occupied  area,
  but also on the Dutchmen, Danes, Swedes, Luxembourgers,
  Norwegians, and Belgians, who may find themselves living
  there, to join up for labour service."

I shall pass on now to the report of the Polish Government
which was presented to the Tribunal by the Soviet
Prosecution as Exhibit USSR 93.

First we should note the special role of the defendant Frank
in organising deportations of the Polish population for
slave labour to Germany.

I shall read into the record several excerpts from a
document known under the title "Frank's Diary" which is at
the disposal of the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 223.

Frank described his attitude toward the Poles at the meeting
of the section chiefs which took place in Cracow, 12 April,
1940, as follows: I shall quote an excerpt on Page 62 of the
document book, to be exact, on the reverse side of the page.
I quote:-

  "Under pressure from the Reich, it had now been decreed
  that, since sufficient labour did not present itself
  voluntarily for service in the German Reich, compulsion
  could be used. This compulsion meant the possibility of
  arresting male and female Poles. A certain amount of
  unrest had been caused by this, which, according to
  isolated reports, had spread very widely and which could
  lead to difficulties in all spheres. Field Marshal
  Goering had once pointed out, in his big speech, the
  necessity for sending a million workers to the Reich.
  160,000 had been delivered to date. To arrest young Poles
  as they left church or the cinema would lead to ever
  increasing nervousness among the Poles. Fundamentally
  Frank had no objections to removing people capable of
  work who were lounging about on the streets. But the best
  way would be to organise a round-up, and one was
  absolutely justified in stopping a Pole in the street and
  asking him what work he did, where he was employed, etc."

During his conversation with defendant Sauckel, 18 August,
1942, the defendant Frank stated - I quote the part which is
on Page 67 of the document book:
  
  "I am pleased to be able to inform you officially that we
  have now supplied more than 800,000 workers for the
  Reich. . . . You recently requested the supply of a
  further 140,000 workers. I am pleased to be able to
  inform you that, in accordance with our agreement of
  yesterday's date, we shall deliver sixty per cent. of
  these newly requested workers to the Reich by the end of
  October and the remaining forty per cent. by the end of
  the year.
  
  Over and above the present figure of 140,000, you can,
  however, count on a further number of workers from the
  Government General next year, as we are going to use the
  Police to get hold of them."

Frank fulfilled his promise given to the defendant Sauckel.

                                                  [Page 229]

At the conference of the Polish leaders of the Labour Front
in the Government General, 14 December, 1942, Frank stated
in his address - this is on the same page of the document
book:

  "You know that we have delivered over 940,000 Polish
  workers to the Reich. The Government General thereby
  stands absolutely and relatively at the head of all
  European countries. This achievement is enormous, and has
  also been recognised as such by Gauleiter Sauckel".

Will you kindly permit me to quote that section of the
Report of the Government of the Polish Republic which is
entitled "Deportation of the Civilian Population for Forced
Labour". This document is on Pages 72 and 73 of the document
book:

  "(a) As early as 2 October, 1939, a decree was issued by
  Frank concerning the introduction of forced labour for
  the Polish civilian population within the Government
  General. By virtue of the said decree Polish civilians
  were under the obligation to work in agricultural
  establishments, on the maintenance of public buildings,
  road construction, regulation of rivers, highways, and
  railways.
  
  (b) A further decree of 12 December, 1939, extended the
  groups of those liable to forced labour to children from
  the age of fourteen years. And a decree of 13 May, 1942,
  gave the authorities the right to use forced labour even
  outside the Government General.
  
  (c) The practice which developed on the basis of those
  decrees turned into mass deportation of civilians from
  Poland to Germany.
  
  Throughout the Government General, in towns and villages,
  posters were continually inviting Poles to go
  'voluntarily' to work in Germany. At the same time,
  however, every town and village was told how many workers
  they were to supply.
  
  The result of the 'voluntary' recruitment was usually
  very disappointing. As a result of that the German
  authorities named the people to go or arranged round-ups
  in streets, restaurants, and other places and those
  caught were sent straight to Germany. There was a
  particular hunt for young workers of both sexes. The
  families of those deported received no news from them for
  months and only after some time postcards arrived
  describing the poor conditions in which they were forced
  to live. Often, after several months, the workers used to
  return home in a state of spiritual depression and
  complete physical exhaustion.
  
  There is substantial evidence that while on that forced
  labour thousands of men were sterilised while young girls
  were forced into brothels.
  
  (d) These labourers were either sent to live with German
  farmers, working on their land, or to work in factories,
  or to special work, while confined to forced labour
  camps. The conditions in those camps were abhorrent.
  
  (e) According to provisional estimates, in 1940 alone,
  several hundred thousand women and men were sent to
  Germany as labourers.
  
  (f) To this great army of slave workers thousands of
  Poles deported from the incorporated territories have to
  be added and also 200,000 Polish prisoners of war who, by
  a decree issued by Hitler in August 1940, were 'released'
  from camps, but only to be sent to forced labour in
  various parts of Germany.
  
  (g) These deportations continued throughout the years of
  war. The total number of these workers reached at a
  certain point a figure of two millions.
  
  Exact figures are obviously not available. But if one
  considers that in spite of the very high death rate among
  those people, there are now about 895,000 Polish citizens
  registered in Western Germany, the estimate appears
  correct....
  
  (h) The whole chapter concerning the deportations to
  forced labour is presented here in a very condensed form.
  Behind these few lines lies the history of hundreds of
  thousands of Polish families destroyed, of tragedy,
  death,
  
                                                  [Page 230]
  
  and sorrow. The history of each of these labourers was a
  continuous tragedy fathers leaving their families without
  means, husbands their wives with no possibility of
  maintaining them, with no protection and little hope of
  return. The quoted number of two million conceals an
  ocean of broken lives, involving, at the least, ten per
  cent. of the total population of Poland.
  
  This was a terrible crime.... Deportation and forced
  labour were a flagrant violation of the laws and customs
  of war."

The Greek Report on the German Atrocities, submitted to the
Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 369, states the following (I beg
you to refer to Page 74 of the document book):

  "As in all the other occupied territories, the Germans
  pursued two main objectives in their occupational policy
  in Greece: the maximum exploitation of the country's
  resources in the interests of the German military
  economy, and the enslavement of the population by means
  of systematic terrorism and general repression. The
  Germans pursued their two-sided policy of plunder and
  revenge ... violating all commonly accepted laws."

The section of the Report of the Greek Government entitled
"Recruitment of Manpower" contains two paragraphs which I
intend to read into the record:

  "One of the many problems confronting the German
  administration was that of recruiting labour.
  All males between 16 and 50 years of age were liable to
  labour conscription. Strikes were declared illegal, and
  severe penalties enforced for resort thereto. Persons who
  organised and directed a strike were liable to the death
  penalty. Strikers were tried by military courts.
  
  At first, the Germans by propaganda and various forms of
  indirect pressure, tried to recruit Greek labour to work
  within Germany. They promised high wages and better
  conditions of life. As this kind of voluntary recruitment
  failed to produce the expected results they abandoned it
  and confronted the workers with the dilemma either of
  being taken as hostages or else of being sent to Germany
  to work."

Similar measures for the deportation of manpower to Germany
were applied by the fascists also in Czechoslovakia.

But the deportation by the fascist criminals of the peaceful
populations into slave labour reached its climax in the
temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union.

I would like now to dwell briefly on the preliminary
measures taken by the Germans for the utilisation of forced
labour in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet
Union.

Even before their attack on the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, in a document which is known to the Tribunal as
the "Green Folder" of the defendant Goering (Document of the
Soviet Prosecution, Exhibit USSR 10,) a whole chapter was
dedicated to the problem of organising compulsory labour on
the Soviet territories, which the war criminals intended to
seize; the chapter was even called "The Utilisation of and
Exploitation of Manpower, Local Population".

This chapter (pages 17 and 18 of the Russian text of the
"Green Folder which is on page 83 of the document book) lays
down the principle of forced labour for the peaceful Soviet
population.

Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the sub-section "a" in the second part
of that chapter, entitled "Recruitment of the Local
Population", point out that:-

  "The workers in public utilities - oil, water,
  electricity, oil drilling and any vital industry - will
  be forced to continue their work, under threat and
  punishment if necessary".

.And several lines above that:-

"In case of necessity, the workers will be organised into
labour gangs."

The non-payment of wages for the compulsory labour of Soviet
citizens had already been provided for in Goering's so-
called "Green Folder". It was supposed beforehand that the
problem of payment was no more than the question

                                                  [Page 231]
of providing the workers with food. The fascist slave owners
were only interested in maintaining the working potential of
the people and nothing more - Page 18 of the Russian text of
the "Green Folder". This is the back of Page 3 of the
document book . . .

THE PRESIDENT: This document has already been read into the
record.

GENERAL ZORYA: I think that this particular part of the
document has not been read into the record. This is a
document of the Soviet Prosecution, which was published
completely for the first time in the Note of the People's
Commissar for Foreign Affairs, V. M Molotov, in May, 1942.

THE PRESIDENT: If as you say, it has not yet been read into
the record, please go on.

GENERAL ZORYA: On Page 18 of the Russian text of the
defendant Goering's "Green Folder" it is mentioned at least
three times that food was to be the only payment allowed.

I do not wish to take more of the time of the Tribunal with
this document, but will proceed with my presentation.

Defendant Goering, who signed this directive for the plunder
of the Soviet Union - for how else could we refer to the
above-mentioned document? - continued to organise forced
labour in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet
Union.

As evidence I present to the Tribunal Exhibit USSR 386, a
document which discloses this phase of the defendant
Goering's activity. This document, or to be precise, these
two documents, are the record of the conference of 7
November, 1941, on the subject "Regarding Utilisation of
Russians", in which Goering participated, and a covering
letter to this record.

One hundred copies of the document were originally prepared
and posted to the fourteen addresses which are listed, as
your Honours may see, on Page 5 of the Russian text of the
document, at the end of the covering letter.

The covering letter attached to the record bears the
signature of the Chief of the Military Department of the
Economic Staff of the East, Dr. Rachner. The minutes of the
conference in question have been written by von Normann, who
was evidently an official of the same organisation.

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor