3 ants, never learned anything regarding the international situation. Q. Except from the newspapers? A. Yes. Q. And you as a subordinate of Funk's were willing on the basis of the newspapers and no other information to address a memorandum to the Fuehrer which, in effect, said that the course the Fuehrer was taking was wrong? A. We discussed the international situation very often when we, in our capacities as civil servants, were by ourselves, and we considered it necessary to warn the Fuehrer. Q. What people did you mean when you said "we"? What were their names? A. With my colleagues and the members of my staff. Q. How big staff did you have? A. Twenty or thirty members-all professional people. Q. You were still in the Plenipotentiary's office after the war broke out, were you not? A. I was removed immediately after the war broke out-August or September. Q. And who was responsible for your removal? A. It was Goering who disbanded the institution of the Chief Q. Why were you not transferred to the Ministry of Econom- A. I maintained my position as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economics and held that position until the capitulation. But before the war, I was only Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economics, and after the war broke out I was only the second secretary of state, without functions, and a first secretary was appointed. Q. Who? A. First Brinkmann and then Landfried. Q. You say that you had no functions whatsoever? A. No only in the year 1941 when I was appointed Reichskommissar of the Unilever Company. Q. Where were your offices then? A. In Unilever House, Berlin. Q. Unilever was an English/Dutch company? A. Yes. Q. Are you familiar with the economic policies which were laid down for the occupied territories? A. No. Q. So until 1941 you were in the ministry of Economics and, in time of war, you had no function whatsoever? A. Yes, I was Chairman of the board of Directors in some joint-stock companies in which the shares were owned by the Reich. Q. But you had no Ministerial functions yourself? A. No. Q. Are you familiar with what persons in the Ministry of Economics were responsible for determining the economic policies for occupied territories? A. I knew the Secretary of State; my colleague Landfried. Q. He was, was he not, involved in the setting of policy for the occupied territory? A. No, it was not Landfried, but the Minister Funk. Q. Do you know that Funk did lay down these policies? A. Funk could not do it on his own-the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture, etc., were also involved. Q. How did Funk run his Ministry, did he have a tight hold on it, or did he delegate the work to his State Secretaries and Chief Assistants and allow them to carry it on? A. I only gave my private views, because at that time I was not enough concerned with the business in the Ministry of Economics. Q. Surely you were in the Ministry and you talked to your colleagues you must know how the Ministry was run? We are interested in your views, whether private or otherwise, so long as they are the truth. A. Funk only dealt with important matters because there was too much work for him. Apart from his position as Minister of Economics, he was also President of the Reichsbank. PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 3914-PS [Page 1] SECRET NOTES ON THE REICH DEFENSE COMMITTEE SESSION OF 17 SEPTEMBER 1940 Reichsleiter von Schirach opens the session with words of welcome to the persons present, declaring in his introductory words that nobody should think that one could expect an early end of the war under any circumstances, but one must on the contrary be prepared for a protracted war in any case, in order to avoid dis appointments. He expressed his intention to call in the Reich Defense Committee more frequently in the future than had been done lately. It must be said in regard to armaments that there was such masses of machinery and raw materials from the occupied areas at our disposal, that in case of a protracted war there would be a bottleneck even in the Ostmark only in the lack of manpower. One should therefore: 1. Prevent any further removal of manpower from the Ostmark in the way of Reich adjustment. This would not always be fully feasible, particularly in case of sudden demands for special occasions, but should be limited as much as possible. 2. Efforts should be intensified to have foreign manpower and prisoners of war transferred to the Ostmark, for which preparations have already been made by the Armament Inspectorate. 3. Building activities should be restricted in order to save manpower, even in the armament industry itself; the Armament Inspectorate should exert its authority to this end. 4. Industrial managers should act with greatest conscientiousness when requesting manpower. It should be mentioned in this connection that Reich Minister Todt has even threatened with a prison term the industrial managers failing in this duty. 5. Trained forces should be won by protracted furloughs. [Page 1] SECRET ON THE SESSION OF THE REICH DEFENSE COMMITTEE OF 26 NOVEMBER 1940. Committee members on the enclosed list are present. The chairman; Reichsleiter von Schirach, opens the session with words of welcome. He greets his new representative, Regierungspraesident Dr. Dellbrugge, and thanks Ministerial Counsellor Habermann for his work achieved hitherto in the capacity of his representative. He transmits the gratitude of the hitherto deputy commanding general, Infantry General von Stulpnagel. Then he greets Infantry General Streccius. [Page 14] The president of the provincial labor office Proksch speaks about labor commitment and social conditions in military district [Wehrkreis] XVII. Labor commitment continues to be under great tension. The situation in the textile industry is critical. The number of persons employed was reduced to 60%. Available workers are no longer fully employable. Production of civilian goods has been greatly restricted and remains questionable. Furloughs from the army for labor purposes have now reached the number of 160,000 men. In October 500,000 recruits were inducted. There will be a repetition in February. The state of unemployment is showing a backward trend. With 6,740 unemployed (5,216 in Vienna), military district XVII stands third in the entire Reich. It should be mentioned, however, that among the unemployed, particularly in Vienna, many Jews are to be found. The Jewish question will be decisively grappled with at an early date. Oberdonau [Upper Danube] has declared itself willing to take over 1,500 unemployed Jews. Service obligations reached 2,578 in October. Thanks to the cooperation of all agencies concerned, the military district was able on the whole to free itself from service obligations. The service duty men who are employed number 7,861, in Vienna 4,649. Prisoners of war assigned to work in October have reached the number of 6,755, in Vienna 1,311. All in all 35,875 prisoners of war are occupied. A regrouping has been undertaken among the PW's. The agricultural PW's have been inducted into industrial economy. Of course in the spring these PW's will be returned to agriculture. [Page 1] 21 April 1941. The Reich Defense Commissioner for Military District XVII SECRET ON THE SESSION OF THE REICH DEFENSE COMMITTEE OF 5 APRIL 1941 Committee members on enclosed list are present. After cordial words of welcome by the Reich Defense Commissioner, Reichsleiter B. von Schirach, he gives the floor to the head of the Gau office, Mayerzedt for his report on food questions. * * * * [Page 6] The Reichsleiter remarks in this connection that the still missing 5,000 workmen for Niederdonau [Lower Danube] and Oberdonau [Upper Danube] must be somehow obtained. Only a part can be found among PW's. The other part must be obtained from authorities and agencies that can do agricultural work. Schools may also have to be closed and the children sent to the country. Gauleiter Eigruber proposes to draw manpower from large concerns for about two weeks. General Streccius declares that he can provide 2,400 PW's. But that is the highest number. A greater number could be reached if it were possible to circumvent the Geneva Convention. Among the PW's are 10,000's of noncommissioned officers, who refuse to work and cannot be forced to do so. If our side uses force there probably would be countermeasures against our own PW's. Only through enlightenment could anything be achieved. [Page 1] SECRET ON THE SESSION OF THE REICH DEFENSE COMMITTEE OF 14 OCTOBER 1941, 11:00 O'CLOCK UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF REICHSLEITER AND REICH GOVERNOR BALDUR VON SCHIRACH The Reischleiter opens the session and thanks the gentlemen for their presence. General Streccius speaks about the employment of PW's, giving their number at 101,000. Of these, 5,200 are Belgian, 63,000 French, 23,000 Yugoslavian, 3,000 Polish, and 7,000 Russian. Employed in industry are 28,700, in agriculture 41,400, with Luftwaffe and Navy 11,400. To that should be added the Ostmark airplane motor works [Flugzeugmotorenwerk Ostmark] with 3,200, which will obtain an additional 2,000. 5,000 Russian PW's are on their way, 2,000 have already arrived. 20,000 additional PW's are to come, whom it will be our obligation to feed. Thus, 30,000 Russians have reached Military District XVII. 2,000 Russians are employed at airfields, and further employment of 5,000 Russians is anticipated in order to relieve the French PW's. All reports up to the present indicate that the Russian PW's are extremely willing to work, but |