Grand Total II. Difficulties of recruitment and putting to work. 338,801 1,639,794 The large scale putting to work of such enormous numbers of workers necessarily taking place within the shortest possible time, was only possible after overcoming countless difficulties. These could only be mastered thanks to the support of all party, military and civil authorities concerned. The result was achieved mainly through the increased employment of Eastern workers, and it was therefore particularly in connection with them that all difficulties had to be mastered. The transportation of several hundred thousand Eastern workers per month was only possible after I had ordered that the transport to be provided was to be tripled and after the transport chief and the Reich Minister of Communications had made the corresponding transport space available. This space was made use of for the transportation both of civilian workers and of Ps.W. The question of feeding and guarding these transports had to be settled with the authorities concerned in the shortest possible time. The danger of infection, particularly through spotted fexer gave rise to particular difficulties. Far reaching sanitary preventive measures had therefore to be taken. Thus I ordered a threefold disinfection in the recruiting area, on crossing the 744400-47-26 frontier in the Government General and in the collecting camps of the provincial labour offices. For this purpose hundreds of installations-collecting camps, disinfection installations, examination offices etc-had to be prepared or newly constructed with great speed. In this particularly the Wehrmacht with its installations and medical officers readily supported me. The problem of billeting the labourers in the factories also had to be solved very quickly. The construction of approximately 300,000 new dwellings is in full swing. For the transitional period, I have ordered the procurement of emergency billets through the labour offices, in sheds, factories and halls with the assistance of the Reich Minister for Ordnance, the Reich Labour leader, the Reich Minister of the Interior and the German Labour Front. The assuring of food supplies (storage of winter supplies), clothing and the fitting out of the camps, the procuring of fuel, etc., have been begun. The conditions for the employment of Eastern Workers have been examined and, on the basis of experience, in the decree of the council of Ministers of the 30.6.1942, have been improved. In this, apart from an improvement in wages, with special regard to the principle of performance, arrangements for savings books and savings stamps for the Eastern Workers have been made. As for regulating food, I started from the assumption that this must be sufficient for ensuring a useful output of work. In negotiations with party member Backe, an improvement in rationing scale has already been achieved. The general principles with regard to police and counter-intelligence treatment and welfare have been created on a practical basis in negotiations with the Party Chancellery, the Reichsfuehrer SS, the OKW, the Propagandá Ministry, the Ministry for the East and the German Labour Front. Extensive measures have also been taken as regards propaganda. Apart from a proclamation to the Eastern workers which is being distributed to the extent of more than 2 million copies as leaflets and posters, the memorandum No. 1. for factory managers is to begin with being distributed in 200,000 copies to all factory managers, and 2 million copies of the memorandum No. 1 for Eastern Workers to all Eastern Workers. Further, three newspapers for Eastern Workers (Ukrainian, Russian and White Ruthenian) are being distributed in all camps, and wireless and films are also being brought in according to a plan. Particular difficulties were caused by the seizure and recruiting at short notice of hundreds of thousands of such workers in the former Soviet territories. Not only spotted fever, difficulties re sulting from frost and the cold and from the period of mud and the defective state' of communications made the recruitment extremely difficult, but also the difficulties arising from the passive and open resistance, the mistrust of the population, contaminated by communism, and the counter-propoganda which was carried out according to a plan. The difficulties were particularly increased by the ever growing guerrilla activity. Finally many difficulties had to be overcome which resulted from the fact that, in the occupied Eastern territories the local needs for tasks of importance to the war had to be increasingly safeguarded, apart from the recruitment for the Reich. Last but not least, let me mention the extraordinary performance which had to be done by all the offices of the administration for the employment of labour up to the labour offices, in cooperation with the offices concerned, especially also with the party offices, to ensure that the result of the recruiting was carried out. I have also sent special recruiting commissions to the East from the personnel of the Reich German Labour Offices. These 700 men or so have done their duty fearlessly and tirelessly in cooperation with the local offices, especially with the labour authorities in the East, in spite of all difficulties and often under enemy fire. In this connection it must be particularly stressed that the people concerned were skilled workers, who, because of the calling up of the younger classes to the armed forces, were in the majority of an advanced age, most of them being already over 50. Experiences in the employment of Eastern Workers have, on the whole, been satisfactory, both as regards their behavior and their output. As, owing to the economic structure of the Eastern area, there is a preponderance of workers from the country, I have introduced planned measures for training them for work in armament factories. The recruitment of Eastern workers will be further continued by me in so far as it is at all possible. The recruitment of domestic servants for lightening the burden especially of large families, will also be commenced now. III. The employment of Soviet-Russian Ps.W. Apart from the employment of civilian workers, I have increased the employment of Soviet Russian Ps.W. in conjunction with the OKW department for Ps.W., as planned. In this, I have particularly worked for sufficient food and a speeding up of transportation. The transports coming from the front are examined in the Ps.W. base camps of the Government General by my special commissioners to determine their professions and are then sent on to the Reich for Employment. Amongst the Ps.W. captured this year there are relatively many skilled workers and workers suitable for employment in the mining industry. I therefore attach particular importance to the further increased and speeded up transport of the largest possible numbers of Ps.W. from the. front to employment in the Reich. IV. Employment of other foreign workers. Although the centre of gravity of my activity lay in the field of the employment of Eastern workers, the endeavours to obtain workers from other recruiting areas (Warthegau, Government General. Protectorate, occupied areas and friendly and neutral countries) were continued with emphasis. Through increasing the recruiting, 338,801 foreign workers were enlisted since the 1.4.1942 apart from the Eastern workers, and were conveyed into Reich territory. V. Total review of the foreign workers and Ps.W. employed in Germany at the present moment. In conclusion, I give the following total review of the foreign workers and Ps.W. at present put to work in the Reich. (a) Newly occupied Eastern territories. 1,148,000 2,400,000 1,576,000 altogether.. 5,124,000 [signed] Fritz Sauckel. TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1321-PS COPY High Command of the Army Az 66 b 9919 Wi Rue Amt /RU Vb/Ro Im Nr. 5064/40 g Subject: Directives for the shipping of raw materials and tool machines from the occupied territories. Raw materials, half finished and finished manufactured goods, which are not, in the possession, or property of the army of the enemy, but which are to be made available to the industry of the Reich because they are needed, are to be considered seized goods. A receipt is to be given to the owner or respectively the possessor about the kind and quantity of the seized goods, at the time of the shipping of the seized goods. The release of the military administration is necessary for the moving of seized goods. Requests are to be addressed to the Chief of the Military Administration, France, Economic Dept. (Raw Material Dept.) DBA II/1 Hg/Bt. SECRET Paris, 13 January 1943. Br. B.N: 28/43 g [in pencil] MEMORANDUM concerning the second Sauckel action, Meeting at the Military Commandant's in presence of Gauleiter Sauckel, 11 January 1943, 16.00 Present among others: Military Administrative Bureau Chief [KVCh] Dr. Michel, Superior Military Administrative Councillor [OKVR] Dr. Kohl from the Military Commandant's Office, Gauleiter Sauckel, President Ritter, Dr. List, from the Office of the Commissioner-General for Labor Commitment, Major General [Lt. Gen.] Barckhausen, Lt. Col. Dr. Becker, Dr. Boesebeck, from the office of the Chief of the Armament Staff, Major General [Lt. Gen.] Weigand, Colonel Gerhard, Lt. Col. Dr. Doescher, from the armament industry, Major Ahlborn, Major Henning, from the DBA. Colonel Keller, Central Armament Command and gentlemen from the Armament Commands East and West. Military Administrative Bureau Chief [KVCh] Dr. Michel welcomes the persons who are present and states that the first Sauckel project has been fulfilled in its essential parts; not at the set time, though, but by the end of 1942. He promises active cooperation for 1943, too. Gauleiter Sauckel: He, too, thanks everybody for the successful carrying out of the first project. He states that he has to announce further serious measures already now, right after the beginning of the new year. There is a new, large need for more men both for the "front" and for the armament industry in the Reich. Several sectors on the Eastern front would have to be replaced by German divisions or would have to be bolted off; their Allies. did not lack bravery, but were not sufficiently well armed and helpless against the Russian heavy tanks. The new divisions would have to be armed first, and that with more and more strong tank-penetrating weapons. For that reason, in addition to the labor conscription of all childless women and eventually possibly all women with one child, it had been considered to draft all 15-year-old boys and 17-year-old girls for the signal corps and antiaircraft units. The situation on the fronts requires the calling to the colors of 700,000 soldiers fit for front-line service; for this purpose, the armament industry would have to drop. 200,000 key workers by the middle of March. He declared to be |