and all of the section heads were agreed that the matter was contrary to the letter and spirit of international law.

c. Admiral Canaris informed his section heads in September 1941 that general rules for the handling of Russian prisoners of war were to be issued, wherein it was set forth, among other things, that these Russian prisoners of war were not to be considered as the usual prisoners of war, and that more severe measures were to be taken against them than was permitted by international law, particularly the Geneva and Hague Conventions. I know the contents of Document 1519-PS, dated 30 September 1941, as the matter to which Admiral Canaris referred.

8. I recall that in September of 1942, while at dinner in Paris with Admiral Canaris and another officer whose name I cannot now remember, Colonel von Lahousen arrived by plane from Berlin and joined us at the table. (I remember the incident because 1 made very few trips during the war and I had asked Admiral Canaris to accompany him on this particular trip.) Colonel von Lahousen, immediately upon joining us at dinner, said, in effect, to Admiral Canaris, in my presence, that a very awkward situation had arisen. Colonel von Lahousen had been asked by Field Marshal Keitel what the situation was regarding the execution of the order transmitted to him by Keitel to do away with the French General Giraud. That was the first I had heard of such an order. Admiral Canaris appeared to think over Colonel von Lahousen's words and then said, in effect, that the matter had been in order for some time and that he would report to Field Marshal Keitel that he had told Heydrich that he (Heydrich) should deal with it. At that time, Heydrich, former head of the RSHA, was dead. It is my opinion that Admiral Canaris concocted the story (that the matter of executing General Giraud had been turned over to Heydrich) because Admiral Canaris knew that Heydrich was dead and that this would be a means of avoiding the carrying out of the order, to which Admiral Canaris was opposed on principle.

9. I further recall that toward the end of 1940 at one of the regular morning meetings between Admiral Canaris and the section heads, Admiral Canaris stated that an oral order had been transmitted to him by Field Marshal Keitel to do away with the French General Weygand, and that Colonel von Lahousen would assume the carrying out of the order. All the persons present expressed abhorrence about this order, and I recall a statement of, I believe, Colonel von Lahousen's to the effect that they were not murderers but soldiers, and that the execution of such an order was out of the question. Admiral Canaris was then asked

by, I believe, Colonel Pieckenbrock, to go downstairs to Field Marshal Keitel and tell him that we are not a murder organization, we are soldiers. I am convinced that Admiral Canaris found a means to avoid executing the order.

10. I believe that some of the opinions' which were requested by Admiral Canaris of my international law subsection, for example, that relating to the shackling of British prisoners of war, were originally requested by Field Marshal Keitel, Colonel General Jodl or the Operational Staff of OKW in order that they would have material at their disposal with which to counteract orders which were inspired by Hitler or the Nazi Party and that were in contravention of international law, particularly the Geneva and Hague Conventions.

I declare herewith that the above statements are given under oath and are true to the best of my knowledge and belief, and that they have been made voluntarily and without coercion.

[signed] Leopold Buerkner LEOPOLD BUERKNER

Sworn to and signed before me on 22 January 1946 in Nurnberg, Germany.

[signed] Smith W. Brookhart, Jr.

SMITH W. BROOKHART, JR.,

Lt Colonel, IGD

TRANSLATION OF AFFIDAVIT J

AFFIDAVIT

Erhard Milch, being first duly sworn according to law, do lepose and say:

On 19 July 1940 I was commissioned General Field Marshal nd since March 1933 I was State Secretary in charge of the Air Ministry. From November 1941 I had the technical supervision of the production and the testing of aircraft. In addition to my luties as State Secretary in the Air Ministry and the Inspector General, I also was, since the death of Udet, General Luftzeugneister.

In 1942 I was a member of the Central Planning Commission. This commission was an organization appointed by Hitler to disribute raw materials such as steel, copper, coal, etc. among the everal industries producing war materials and civilian conumer goods. Its principal function was the allocation of raw naterials to the Air Force, the Army and the Navy.

The Commission was not within the framework of the FourYear Plan although one of the members, Koerner, was deputy to

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Goering in the Four-Year Plan and acted for him on the Commission. The other members of the Commission were Albert Speer and myself and later Minister Funk. The initiative for the formation of the Central Planning Commission came from Speer so far as I know, and Speer told me that he had made representations to the Fuehrer that it would be impossible to carry out his task as Minister of War Production unless such a commission was created.

The normal activity of the Commission in allocating raw materials to industry was to evaluate requests received from the various representatives of the armed forces and to determine which were essential and which had priority. A similar concept was followed for fertilizer and all technical requirements for agriculture and civilian consumer goods. There was no review of the decisions of the Central Planning Commission except Hitler himself. If a person was dissatisfied with its determination as to allocation and he was able to take the matter up with Hitler, then Speer and occasionally I or both of us would be called before Hitler to explain the decision and then Hitler would decide whether the complaining person or the Commission was correct.

Sauckel was appointed by Hitler as Plenipotentiary for Labor Allocation. (RGBL IS 179). The Commission was created by the Fuehrer on 2 April 1942. The relation between the Commission and Sauckel concerning the allocation of labor was never altogether clear. We, of course, were only interested in labor for armament production. Sauckel felt, that by reason of the authority given him by the Fuehrer as Plenipotentiary for Labor Allocation, he had complete control, both of obtaining workers necessary for all production in Germany, and of allocating laborers as between the armament industry, agriculture, and civilian production even down to the smallest factory. Despite the compulsory labor law in Germany and the compulsory labor service in the occupied countries under which foreign workers were removed to Germany, all the demands for workers could not be met. So far as I know, Sauckel had the overall coordination of manpower requirements for production in Germany.

The fact that laborers came from the occupied countries and were transported into Germany for work was a matter of common knowledge and certainly was well known to the Central Planning Commission. When the several industries engaged in war production presented their labor requirements, the Commission would consider the reasonableness of the request, its priority, and if the requirement could not be met informally by agreement or from personnel already employed in other war industries, a de

mand would be made on Sauckel for the desired number of workers.

In the framework of the Armament Ministry a Labor Allocation Section was maintained for the sole purpose, so far as I know, to keep statistics concerning the requirements of the inIdividual industries for labor. It is my opinion that, this section controlled the requirements of the industries under Speer's ministry and was the channel through which requests for workers passed from the industries themselves to the Planning Commission and approved requests from the Commission to Sauckel.

So far as I know, Sauckel had complete authority over the supply of labor both from Germany itself and from the occupied countries. The methods which were employed to fill quotas and the assignment of quotas to the several occupied countries fell within the responsibility of Sauckel. Speer demanded workers from Sauckel and Sauckel supplied them insofar as possible. I do not know the details of how the quotas were filled once they were assigned by Sauckel but I believe it was the result of arrangements which he made with the civil and military authorities in the respective countries.

-Sauckel from time to time complained to us in the Commission of the increasing difficulty in meeting the demands for more workers and emphasized that the task became more difficult as the war progressed.

Once the workers arrived in Germany and were allocated to an industrial establishment, their welfare and care was under the control of the individual factory and the DAF. Foreign workers as well as German workers were employed in all factories in accordance with their respective skills.

Speer as chief of the Armament Ministry not only had control over the industries producing material for the armed forces but had also the Organization Todt. All of these industries had to use foreign workers as did the OT. Speer was given by the Fuehrer the mission of maintaining the necessary production of war materials and to carry out that task it was necessary for him to obtain sufficient workers to maintain that production.

Speer, the Central Planning Commission, and Sauckel all were concerned with obtaining workers who were able to work. The Commission, although it was not its responsibility, obtained from the Minister of Agriculture additional food for foreign workers. Sauckel reported to the Planning Commission that there were persons in the occupied countries who were subjected to conscription by the French Government for labor in Germany, and who attempted to avoid it. In order to carry out the program, it was

necessary to fulfill as nearly as possible the quotas of laborers which were demanded by the industries.

I have no direct knowledge of any particular incidents in which workers were rounded up by force by representatives of local labor offices in the occupied countries.

[In Milch's handwriting] I understand written English as set forth above.

[signed] MILCH Subscribed and sworn to before me this 23rd day of January 1946.

[signed] Smith W. Brookhart, Jr.