[Page 791]
G. KRUPP AS HEAD OF THE KRUPP CONCERN, IN FURTHERANCE OF THE COMMON PLAN TO EXPLOIT THE PEOPLE OF OCCUPIED COUNTRIES AND PRISONERS OF WAR, WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPELLING PERSONS FORCIBLY DEPORTED FROM OCCUPIED COUNTRIES AND PRISONERS OF WAR TO WORK AGAINST THEIR WILL AND WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMS AND MUNITIONS. THESE ACTS AND PRACTICES WERE CONTRARY TO ARTICLES 6 AND 52 OF THE HAGUE REGULATIONS, 1907, TO ARTICLE 31 OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR CONVENTION (GENEVA 1929), THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR, AND TO ARTICLES '6(b) AND 6(c) OF THE CHARTER.
(1) Charts marked "secret" have been found which show the number and nationalities of prisoners of war and foreign workers employed in each of the workshops in the Fried. Krupp Cast Steel Works at Essen, for the period from December 1940 to February 1945. These charts, when read in conjunction with an affidavit by a Krupp official concerning the materials produced in the various Essen workshops, reveal that French and Russian prisoners of war and slave laborers from virtually every country occupied by Germany were used in the production of arms
[Page 792]
and munitions. Thus, they were compelled to work in departments engaged in the construction of turrets for tanks and carriages for heavy Army and Navy guns; the assembling of marine gun turrets, 10.5 cm. marine guns, and 15 cm. torpedo-boat guns; the manufacture of crankshafts for S- boats and aeroplanes, etc. (Charts and affidavit relating to production in the workshops of Fried. Krupp Cast Steel Works by prisoners of war and foreign workers, not here reproduced.) Affidavits of workers in the Krupp workshops afford added proof that prisoners of war and foreign laborers were used by Krupp in the manufacture of arms and munitions (see D-253, D-265, D-279).
(2) The prisoners of war and foreign workers at the Krupp factories did not voluntarily engage in the manufacture of arms and munitions; they were forced to do so. This fact is clearly shown by the following:
(a) Workers were brought to Essen from Poland and Russia in grossly overcrowded, unheated, and unsanitary cattle cars and upon debarking, were beaten, kicked, and otherwise inhumanely treated. An employee of the Reich Railway at Essen has described these conditions as follows:
"*** In the middle of 1941 the first workers arrived from Poland, Galicia and Polish Ukraine. They came to Essen in goods wagons in which potatoes, building materials and also cattle have been transported; they were brought to perform work at Krupp. The cars were jammed full with people. *** The people were squashed closely together and they had no room for free movement. The Krupp overseers laid special value on the speed the slave workers got in and out of the train. *** the people were beaten and kicked and generally maltreated in a brutal manner. *** I could see with my own eyes that sick people who could scarcely walk *** were taken to work. One could see that it was sometimes difficult for them to move themselves. The same can be said for the Eastern workers and PWs who came to Essen in the middle of 1942." (D-321; D-367).
(b) Foreign workers were compelled to go to work under guard and were closely watched. In a memorandum dated 7 April 1942, entitled "employment of foreign workers", from the Ignitor workshop of the Krupp Essen plant, it is stated:
"In the course of last week, due to the fact that the foreign workers, especially Poles, could not be relied upon to appear[Page 793]
at work, there was an extraordinary decrease in production; loss of money and fines did not obtain the desired results.
"Especially during short (bank) holidays we were not able to find a responsible person in the camp Seumannstrasse, to whom we could have referred. We ourselves are short of guards to fetch the Poles from their camp, and to guard them overnight." (D-270; re compulsion exerted by guards in marching foreign workers to work, see also D-253).
(c) After working hours, foreign workers were confined in camps under barbed wire enclosures and were carefully guarded. Dr. Jaeger, senior camp doctor in Krupp's workers' camps, has stated in an affidavit:
"The eastern workers and Poles who laboured in the Krupp works at Essen were kept at camps at Seumannstrasse, Spenlestrasse, Grieperstrasse, Heegstrasse, Germaniastrasse, Kapitan-Lehmannstrasse, Dechenschule, and Kramerplatz. *** All these camps were surrounded by barbed wire and were closely guarded." (D- 288)
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