Speer is also guilty of compelling Allied nationals and prisoners of war to engage not only in the production of armaments and munitions, but also in direct military operations, against their own country and its actively resisting allies. Speer, as Chief of the Organization Todt, is accountable for its policies which were in direct conflict with the laws of war. The Organization Todt, in violation of the laws of war, impressed allied nationals into its service. Proof of its activity is furnished by an International Labor Office Study of Exploitation of Foreign Labor by Germany: "The methods used for the recruitment of foreign workers Similar violations of the laws of warfare are disclosed in (407-VIII-PS). As Chief of German war production, Speer sponsored and approved the use of prisoners of war in the production of armaments and munitions which were used against their own country and its actively resisting allies. This fact has been demonstrated by the evidence already discussed. To recapitulate: 1. After Speer assumed responsibility for armament production, his primary concern in his discussions with his co-conspirators was to secure a larger allocation of prisoners of war for his armament factories. In a meeting of the Central Planning Board on 22 April 1943, Speer complained that only 30% of the Russian prisoners of war were engaged in the armament industry. (R-124) 2. In an earlier speech, Speer stated that 10,000 prisoners of war were put at the disposal of the armaments industry upon his orders. (1435-PS) 3. Finally, Speer advocated returning escaped prisoners of war to factories as convicts. He said, at a meeting of the Central Planning Board: "We have to come to an arrangement with the Reichsfuehrer SS as soon as possible so that prisoners of war he picks up are made available for our purposes. The Reichsfuehrer SS gets from 30 to 40,000 men per month. First of all they have to be divided up. From what classes do these people come, anyhow? There certainly is a certain percentage of miners among these people who are picked up. These few thousand men have to go to the mines automatically. Certainly, some educational work has to be done. The men should be put into the factories as convicts. But they have to return to the factories where they were before (R-124) Speer is also guilty of having approved and sponsored the program for using concentration camp labor in Nazi armament factories, which was part of the larger program of extermination through work. The proof of this activity may be summarized and supplemented as follows: 1. Speer proposed measures for the exploitation of the concentration camp labor in armament factories under his jurisdiction. At a meeting with Hitler Speer proposed and Hitler agreed that armament production should not be established within concentration camps but that concentration camp labor should be made available to established armament factories. (R-124) 2. Speer, by arranging for the use of concentration camp laborers in factories under his control, created an increasing demand for such labor. This demand was filled in part by placing in concentration camps persons who would not ordinarily have been sent there. (1063-D-PS) 3. Speer participated in the exploitation of the victims of the Nazi program of extermination through work. He personally selected sites for subsidiary concentration camps which were established near factories in Upper Austria, and knew and approved of the general practice of locating concentration camps. near industrial plants which they supplied with labor (Speer's interrogation under oath on 18 October 1945. (3720-PS) Speer visited the concentration camp Mauthaussen and factories such as those of Krupp, where concentration camp labor was exploited under barbarous conditions. Despite personal and first-hand knowledge of these conditions, Speer continued to direct the use of concentration camp labor in factories under his jurisdiction. In Speer's interrogation under oath on 18 October 1945, he stated: "Q. But, in general, the use of concentration camp labor was known to you and approved by you as a source of labor? "A. Yes. "Q. And you knew also, I take it, that among the inmates. of the concentration camps there were both Germans and foreigners? "A. I didn't think about it at that time. "Q. As a matter of fact you visited the Austrian concentration camp personally, did you not?" "A. I didn't-well I was in Mauthaussen once but at that time I was not told just to what categories the inmates of the concentration camps belonged. "Q. But in general everybody knew, did they not, that foreigners who were taken away by the Gestapo, or arrested by the Gestapo, as well as Germans, found their way into the concentration camps? "A. Of course, yes. I didn't mean to imply anything like that." "Q. Did you ever discuss, by the way, the requirements of Krupp for foreign labor? "A. It is certain that it was reported to me what Krupp had in foreign workers. "Q. Did you ever discuss it with any of the members of the Krupp first? "A. I cannot say that exactly, but during the time of my activities I visited the Krupp factory more than once and it is certain that this was discussed, that is, the lack of manpower." (3720-PS) LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE SLAVE LABOR PROGRAM, THE ILLEGAL USE OF PRISONERS OF WAR, AND THE SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF SAUCKEL AND SPEER *031-PS *054-PS *084-PS *204-PS *254-PS *265-PS *290-PS *294-PS of workers from the East. (USA Report to Reich Ministry for Oc- Memorandum of conference, 18 Letter from Rosenberg Ministry, Top secret memorandum signed |