Fritz Sauckel

"...further blows to Goering's authority. His control of manpower resources was given to Fritz Sauckel, a short, stolid man with a bald head and a minimal toothbrush mustache, who had been Gauleiter of Thüringia since 1926. Speer had wanted Karl Hanke, the man who had given him his first architectural commision for the party in Berlin and who was now Gauleiter of Lower Silesia, to get the job, but this had been blocked by Bormann. Showing his muscle as party boss, he said Hanke had not been a Gauleiter long enough. Hanke's old love affair with Magda Goebbels may have counted against him, but the real reason for his rejection was undoubtedly that he was Speer's friend, and his loyalty would have been to him rather than to Bormann and the party organization. To make doubly sure that Sauckel would not be in Speer's pocket, Bormann persuaded Hitler to make the new commissioner responsible for finding and deploying labor - chiefly from the Ukraine and the Eastern territories - not simply for armaments production but for the whole of German industry. For the sake of appearences and Goering's battered pride, Sauckel was given the title General Plenipotentiary for the Mobilization of Labor within the Four Year Plan, but he was no more answerable to Goering than was Speer: he was directly and only responsible to Hitler, through Bormann. Accepting the situation, Goering wound up his own labor deployment section, for once voluntarily shedding part of his power - though his decision may have been prompted by forseeing nothing but trouble ahead. Speer had hardly been confirmed in his new post (Armaments Minister) before Keital demanded the immediate release for front-line duties of a quarter of a million army troops who had been made available for munitions production. 'That was the begining of the struggle for manpower, a struggle that was never to end,' Keital recalled." -From 'The Devil's Disciples' by Anthony Read.

April 6, 1942: From an order by Sauckel: "Order Number 1 Concerning Appointment of Gauleiter as Commissioners for the Allocation of Labor in the Gaue. I hereby appoint the Gauleiter of the NSDAP my commissioners for allocation of labor in the Gaue administered by them. A. Their tasks are: 1) The achievement of smooth co-operation between all offices set up by the State, the Party, the Wehrmacht, and the economic authorities to deal with questions of manpower; and by means of this, the regulation of different interpretations and claims in such a way as to utilize manpower to the best possible effect...4) Investigation of the results obtained by utilizing the labor of all foreign male and female workers. Special regulations will be issued with regard to these. 5) Investigation of the correct feeding, housing, and treatment of all foreign workers and prisoners of war engaged in work..."

April 20, 1942: Sauckel to Rosenberg: "The aim of this new, gigantic labor mobilization is to use all the rich and tremendous sources, conquered and secured for us by our fighting Armed Forces under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, for the armament of the Armed Forces and also for the nutrition of the homeland. The raw materials as well as the fertility of the conquered territories and their human labor power are to be used completely and conscientiously to the profit of Germany and her allies."

July 9, 1942: From a decree issued by Fritz Sauckel ordering improved conditions for the slave-laborers; Die Beschaftigung von auslandischen Arbeitshraftenin Deutschland: "According to reports of transportation commanders (Transportleiter) presented to me, the special trains provided by the German railway have frequently been in a really broken down condition. Numerous windowpanes have been missing in the coaches. Old French coaches without lavatories have been partly employed so that the workers had to fit up an emptied compartment as a lavatory. In other cases, the coaches were not heated in winter so that the lavatories quickly became unusable because the water system was frozen and the flushing apparatus was therefore without water."

August 6, 1942: From a conference chaired by Goering: Goering: "I have to say one thing to this. I do not wish to praise the Gauleiter Sauckel; he does not need it. But what he has done in such a short time to collect workers so quickly from the whole of Europe and supply them to our undertakings is a unique achievement. I must tell that to all these gentlemen; if each of them used in their sphere of activity a tenth of the energy used by Gauleiter Sauckel, the tasks laid upon them would indeed easily be carried out. This is my sincere conviction and in no way fine words."

August 18, 1942: From a discussion between the Sauckel and Frank at Krakow: Frank: "...I am pleased to report to you officially, Party Comrade Sauckel, that we have up to now supplied 800,000 workers for the Reich...Recently you have requested us to supply a further 140,000. I have pleasure in informing you officially that in accordance with our agreement of yesterday, 60 percent of the newly requested workers will be supplied to the Reich by the end of October and the balance of 40 percent by the end of the year. Beyond the present figure of 140,000 you can, however, next year reckon upon a higher number of workers from the Government General, for we shall employ the Police to conscript them."

August 22, 1942: Decree Number 10 of the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, Sauckel: "In order to mobilize the labor force of the occupied territories under the new organization for the Allocation of Labor within the European area, this force must be subjected to a rigid and uniform control. The maximum production, as well as the useful and rational distribution of this force, must be assured in order to satisfy the labor requirements of the Reich and the occupied territories. By virtue of the full powers which are conferred upon me, I order: I) By virtue of the decree of the Fuehrer, under date of 21 March 1942, concerning the Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor and by virtue of the ordinance of the Delegate for the Four Year Plan, under date of 27 March 1942, concerning the application of this decree, I likewise am competent to employ, as may be necessary, the labor of occupied territories, as well as to take all the measures necessary to augment its efficiency. Those German offices competent for the tasks of the Arbeitseinsatz and for the policy of wages, or my commissioners, will carry out this Allocation of Labor and take all measures necessary to increase efficiency, according to my instructions. 2) This decree extends to all the territories occupied during the war by the Wehrmacht, as far as they are under German administration. 3) The labor available in the occupied territories must be utilized in the first place to satisfy the primary war needs of Germany herself. This labor must be utilized in the occupied territories in the following order: a) For the needs of the army, the occupation services, and the civilian services; b) for the needs of German armament; c) for the tasks of food supply and agriculture; d) for industrial needs other than those of armament, in which Germany is interested; e) for the industrial needs concerning the population of the territory in question."

September 8, 1942: Churchill addresses the House: "...those who are guilty of the Nazi crimes will have to stand up before tribunals in every land where their atrocities have been committed in order that an indelible warning may be given to future ages and that successive generations of men may say, "So perish all who do the like again..."

September 8, 1942: From a decree by Sauckel: "The Führer and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht; General Headquarters of the Fuehrer. The extensive coastal fortifications which I have ordered to be erected in the area of Army Group West necessitate in the occupied territory the utilization of all available workers to the fullest extent and to their utmost capacity. The assignment of indigenous workers, made up to now, is insufficient. In order to increase it, I order the introduction of compulsory labor and the prohibition of changing the place of employment without permission of the authorities in the occupied territories. Furthermore, in future, the distribution of food and clothing ration cards to those subject to compulsory labor shall depend on the possession of a certificate of employment. Refusal to accept an assigned job, as well as leaving the place of work without the consent of the authorities in charge, will result in the withdrawal of the food and clothing ration cards. "The GBA (the office of Sauckel) in agreement with the military commanders or the Reich Commissioners, will issue the appropriate directives."

September 14, 1942: From notes of a conversation between Goebbels and Thierack: "Concerning the extermination of asocial elements, Doctor Goebbels is of the opinion that the following groups must be exterminated: All Jews and gypsies; Poles who have to serve 3 or 4 years penal servitude; Czechoslovakians and Germans who have been condemned to death or hard labor for life or placed in protective custody. The idea of extermination by work is best."

September 30, 1942: Hitler speaks in Berlin: "...It is very witty, when, for example, a President says: 'We wish in the future that everyone should have the right not to suffer from want,' or something similar. To this one can only say: It probably would have been much more simple, if this President, instead of plunging into a war, had used the whole working strength of his country to build up useful production and to care for his own people, so that want and misery might not reign and 13,000,000 people might not be unemployed in a region which has only 10 people per square kilometer to support. These men could have accomplished all these things. When they now appear and suddenly represent themselves to the world as saviors, and declare, 'In the future we will see to it that there shall be no want, as in the past; that there will be no more unemployment, that every man will own a home' -these owners of world empire should have been able to do that in their own countries long ago..."

October 5, 1942: Letter from Fritz Sauckel to Rosenberg: "The Führer has worked out new and most urgent plans for armament which require the quick mobilization of two million more foreign workers. The Führer therefore has granted me, for the execution of his decree of 21 March 1942, new powers for my new duties, and has especially authored me to take whatever measures I think are necessary in the Reich, the Protectorate, the Government General, as well as in the occupied territories, in order to assure, at all costs an orderly mobilization of labor for the German armament industry. The additional required labor forces will have to be drafted, for the most part, from the recently occupied Eastern Territories, especially from the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Therefore, the Reichskommissariat Ukraine must furnish 225,000 workers by 31 December 1842 and 225,000 more by 1 May 1942. I ask you to inform Reich Commissioner, Gauleiter, Party Member Koch at once about the new situation and requirements and especially to see that he supports personally in every possible way the execution of this new order. I intend to visit Party Member Koch shortly and I would be grateful if he could inform me as to where and when I could meet him for a personal discussion. Just now though, I ask that the recruiting be taken up at once with all energy and the use of every factor, especially the experts of the labor offices. All directives which temporarily limited the procurement of Eastern Workers are annulled. The Reich procurement for the next months must be given priority over all other measures. I do not ignore the difficulties which exist for the execution of this new order, but I am convinced that with the ruthless use of all resources and with the full co-operation of an concerned the execution of the new demands can be accomplished by the date fixed. I have already communicated the new demands directly to the ReichCommissioner for the Ukraine by teletype. In reference to our phone-call of today, I will send you the text of the Führer's decree at the beginning of next week."

November 26, 1942: From a letter from Sauckel to the presidents of the land labor offices: "...In agreement with the Chief of the Security Police and the SD, these Jews who are still in employment are also, from now on, to be evacuated from the territory of the Reich and are to be replaced by Poles, who are being evacuated from the Government General...The Poles who are to be evacuated as a result of this measure will be put into concentration camps and put to work, insofar as they are criminal or asocial elements. The remaining Poles, so far as they are suitable for labor, will be transported-without family-into the Reich, particularly to Berlin, where they win be put at the disposal of the labor allocation offices to work in armament factories instead of the Jews who are to be replaced."

December 17, 1942: United Nations Statement: "...those responsible for these crimes shall not escape retribution..."

January 5, 1943: From a Sauckel circular: "On 4 January 1943, at 8 o'clock in the evening, Minister Speer telephoned from the general headquarters of the Führer giving the information that, by virtue of a decision of the Führer it was no longer necessary, when recruiting skilled and unskilled labor in France, to have any particular regard for the French. Recruitment could be carried on there with pressure and more severe measures."

February 5-6, 1943: Sauckel speaks at the Congress of Gauleiter and Reichsleiter held at Posen: "The remarkable violence of the war forces me to mobilize, in the name of the Fuehrer, many millions of foreigners for labor for the entire German war economy and to urge them to effect the maximum production. The purpose of this utilization is to assure in the field of labor the war material necessary in the struggle for the preservation of the life and liberty, in the first place, of our own people, and also for the preservation of our Western culture for those peoples who, in contrast to the parasitical Jews and plutocrats, possess the honest will and strength to shape their life by their own work and effort. This is the vast difference between the work which was exacted through the Treaty of Versailles and the Dawes and Young Plans at one time-which took the form of slavery and tribute to the might and supremacy of Jewry-and the use of labor which I, as a National Socialist, have the honor to prepare and to carry out as a contribution by Germany in the fight for her liberty and for that of her allies."

February 12, 1943: From a meeting of the Military Commanders and all responsible officials of the Reich labor service: "Gauleiter Sauckel likewise thanks the various services for the successful carrying out of the first action. Immediately after the beginning of the new year, he is obliged to announce further severe measures. There is a great new need of labor for the front as well as for the Reich armament industry...The situation at the front calls for 700,000 soldiers fit for front-line service. The armament industry would have to lose 200,000 key workers by the middle of March. I have received an order from the Fuehrer to find 200,000 foreign skilled workers as replacements and I shall need for this purpose 150,000 French skilled workmen, while the other 50,000 can be drawn from Holland, Belgium, and other occupied countries. In addition, 100,000 unskilled French workers are necessary for the Reich. The second action of recruitment in France makes it necessary that by the middle of March 150,000 skilled workers and 100,000 unskilled workmen and women be transferred to Germany."

February 24, 1943: A letter from Sauckel to Hitler: "Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, to the Führer general headquarters of the Fuehrer. My Führer, I beg herewith to take leave of you before my intended journey to France. The purpose of my journey is: 1) To put at the disposal of the Reich, within the given time, skilled labor to replace German key workers being drafted into the Wehrmacht. May I add that Field Marshal Keitel and General Von Unruh received a communication from me yesterday to the effect that half of these replacements for key men, that is 125,000 French qualified skilled men, have already arrived in the Reich on I January 1943 and that a corresponding number of soldiers can be called to the colors. I shall now make sure in France that the second half shall arrive in the Reich by the end of March, or earlier if possible. The first French program was executed by the end of December. 2) To assure the necessary labor for the French dockyards for the carrying out of the programs drawn up by Grand Admiral Doenitz and Gauleiter Kaufmann. 3) To assure the necessary labor for the programs of the Luftwaffe. 4) To assure the necessary labor for the other German armament programs which are in progress in France. 5) To make available supplementary labor in agreement with State Secretary Backe, with a view to intensifying French agricultural production. 6) To have discussions, if necessary, with the French Government on the subject of the carrying out of the labor service, the calling up of age-groups, and so forth, with a view to activating the recruitment of labor for the benefit of the German war economy."

March 10, 1943: When German field commanders on the Eastern Front attempt to resist or restrain Sauckel's demands (because forced recruitment is swelling the ranks of the partisans and making the Army's task more difficult) Sauckel sends this telegram to Hitler (an excerpt): "...Therefore, my Führer, I ask you to abolish all orders which oppose the obligation of foreign workers for labor and kindly to report to me whether my conception of the mission presented here is all right....If the obligation for labor and the forced recruiting of workers in the East is not possible any more, then the German war industries and agriculture cannot fulfill their tasks to the full extent....I myself have the opinion that our Army leaders should not give credence, under any circumstances, to the atrocity and defamatory propaganda campaign of the partisans. The generals themselves are greatly interested that the support for the troops is made possible in time. I should like to point out that hundreds of thousands of excellent workers going into the field as soldiers now cannot possibly be replaced by German women not used to work, even if they are trying to do their best. Therefore, I have to use the people of the Eastern Territories. I myself report to you that the workers belonging to all foreign nations are treated humanely, and correctly, and cleanly; are fed and housed well and are even clothed. On the basis of my own services with foreign nations I go as far as to state that never before in the world were foreign workers treated as correctly as they are now, in the hardest of all wars, by the German people."

March 11, 1943: From the record of a telephone conversation of the Chief of the Economic Staff East of the German Army: "The Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, Gauleiter Sauckel, points out to me in an urgent teletype that the allocation of labor in German agriculture, as well as all the most urgent armament programs ordered by the Fuehrer, make the most rapid procurement of approximately 1 million women and men from the newly occupied Eastern Territories within the next 4 months an imperative necessity. For this purpose, Gauleiter Sauckel demands the shipment of 5,000 workers daily beginning 15 March; 10,000 workers, male and female, beginning 1 April, from the newly occupied Eastern Territories...In consideration of the extraordinary losses of workers which occurred in German war industry because of the developments of the past months, it is now necessary that the recruiting of workers be taken up again everywhere with all vigor. The tendency momentarily noticeable in that territory, to limit and/or entirely stop the Reich recruiting program, is absolutely not bearable in view of this state of affairs. Gauleiter Sauckel, who is informed about these events, because of this applied directly to General Field Marshal Keitel on 10 March 1943, in a teletype, and emphasized on this occasion that, as in all other occupied territories, where all other methods fail a certain pressure must be used, by order of the Fuehrer."

March 17, 1943: Sauckel to Rosenberg: "After a protracted illness, my deputy for labor allocation in the Occupied Eastern Territories, State Councilor Peuckert, is going there to regulate the allocation of labor both for Germany and the territories themselves. I ask you sincerely, dear Party Member Rosenberg, to assist him to your utmost on account of the pressing urgency of Peuckert's mission. I may thank you already at this moment for the good reception accorded to Peuckert up to this time. He himself has been charged by me to co-operate fully and unreservedly with all bureaus of the EasternTerritories. Especially the labor allocation for German agriculture and likewise the most urgent armament production programs ordered by the Fuehrer, make the fastest importation of approximately 1 million men and women from the Eastern Territories within the next 4 months, a necessity. Starting 15 March the daily shipment must reach 5,000 female or male workers, while from the beginning of April this number has to be stepped up to 10,000, if the most urgent programs and the spring tillage and other agricultural tasks are not to suffer to the detriment of the food and of the Armed Forces. I have provided for the allotment of the draft quotas for the individual territories, in agreement with your experts for labor supply, as follows: Daily quota starting 15 March 1943: From General Kommissariat, WhiteRuthenia - 500 people: Economic Inspection, Center - 500 people; Reichskommissariat, Ukraine - 3,000 people; Economic Inspection, South - 1,000 people; total - 5,000 people. Starting 1 April 1943, the daily quota is to be doubled corresponding to the doubling of the entire quota. I hope to visit personally the Eastern Territories towards the end of the month, and ask you once more for your kind support."

May 17, 1943: Sauckel to Hitler: "In addition to the labor allotted to the total German economy by the Arbeitseinsatz since I took office, the Organization Todt was supplied with new labor continually.... Thus the Arbeitseinsatz has done everything to help make possible the completion of the Atlantic Wall."

1943: Sauckel writes the foreward for the Nazi book 'Europe at Work in Germany: Sauckel Mobilizes the Labor Reserves': "...The party, the German Labor Front, the state and the economy have worked together as National Socialists to create labor conditions that have never before in history been matched in their cleanliness, correctness, care, and justice. I know this better than anyone, because during the World War I was a prisoner of war myself. The correct and exemplary treatment explains the good results even of those workers from former Soviet territories, who for decades heard only hate-filled propaganda about National Socialist Germany. The fact that millions of citizens of enemy states are now working satisfactorily in Germany is the sharpest criticism of the criminal conduct of the so-called statesman who drove these people to war against the German people. These foreign workers now repair some of the damage that their irresponsible leaders caused for Europe's peoples. These foreign workers are proof that their peoples were victims of the lies of the worst, base, and corrupt criminals of Jewish plutocracy and Bolshevist hangmen. Now they have seen the true Germany with their own eyes and experienced social and medical services that no one even dreams of in Soviet Russia. They have seen how developed Germany is in all areas, and have found a culture so advanced that they are not only astonished, but also realize how misled they were..."

June 27, 1943: Sauckel to Hitler: "My Fuehrer: Herewith I beg to report my return from my official trip to France. Inasmuch as the free labor reserves in the territories occupied by the German Armed Forces have been, numerically, absorbed to saturation point, I am now carefully examining the possibilities of mobilizing additional labor reserves in the Reich and the occupied territories to work on German war production. In my reports of 20 April I was allowed to point out that intensive and careful utilization must be made of European labor forces in territories submitted to direct German influence. It was the purpose of my recent stay in Paris to investigate the possibilities still existing in France for the recruitment of labor by extensive conferences and my own personal inspection. On the basis of a carefully established balance sheet I have come to the following decision: 1. Assuming that war economy measures are carried out in France which would at least prove partially effective or approximately approach, in efficacy, the measures carried out in Germany, a further million workers, both men and women, could be assigned to the French war and armament industries up to December 1943 for work on German orders and assignments. In this case additional German orders might be placed in France. 2. In consideration of these measures and given a careful study of the subject together with the co-operation of our German armament services and the German labor recruiting offices, it should be possible to transfer a further 500,000 workers, both men and women, from France to the Reich between now and the end of the year. The prerequisites for the realization of this program, drafted by me are as follows: 1. Closest collaboration between all German offices especially in dealing with the French services. 2. A constant check on French economy by joint commissions, as already agreed upon by the Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production Party Member Speer, and myself. 3. Constant, skillful, and successful propaganda against the cliques of De Gaulle and Giraud. 4. The guarantee of adequate food supplies to the French population working for Germany. 5. An emphatic insistence on this urgency before the French Government, in particular before Marshal Petain, who still represents the main obstacle to the further recruiting of French women for compulsory labor. 6. A pronounced increase in the program which I have already introduced in France, for retraining workers to trades essential to war production...I therefore beg you, my Fuehrer to approve my suggestion of making available I million French men and women for German war production in France proper in the second half of 1943 and, in addition, of transferring 500,000 French men and women to the Reich before the end of the current year. Yours faithfully and obediently, Fritz Sauckel."

November 1, 1943 Moscow Declaration: "...Let those who have hitherto not imbrued their hands with innocent blood beware lest they join the ranks of the guilty, for most assuredly the three Allied powers will pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth and will deliver them to their accusors in order that justice may be done. The above declaration is without prejudice to the case of German criminals whose offenses have no particular geographical localization and who will be punished by joint decision of the government of the Allies..."

November 8, 1943: Hitler speaks in Munich: "...The battle in the East is the most difficult which the German People have ever had to bear. Our enemy's achievements pale by comparison with what our men are enduring here. Here, too, not only will their ultimate goal, to cause the collapse of the German front, not be achieved, but as always in world history only the final battle will decide the final outcome. This battle will, however, be won by the People which with the greatest innate worth, with the greatest persistence and with the greatest fanaticism take advantage of the decisive moment. Hence what I am demanding of the German soldier is enormous. The task of those at the front is to accomplish the seemingly impossible. The task of those at home is to support and strengthen those at the front line in their struggle to achieve what seems impossible, or what may seem impossible to bear, so that those at the front recognize clearly that the fate of our entire People, of our women and children and of our entire future depends on the mobilization of our total strength to force a decision in our favour; that every sacrifice which we make today is nothing compared to the sacrifices which we would be forced to make if we were not to win the war; that therefore our only thought must be to conduct the war ruthlessly with the unalterable goal of achieving victory, no matter what the situation and where we have to fight..."

June 12, 1944: From a top-secret memorandum prepared for the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories and approved by Rosenberg: "The Army group center has the intention to apprehend 40,000-50,000 youths at the ages of 10 to 14 who are in the Army territory and to transport them to the Reich...It is intended to allot these juveniles primarily to the German trades as apprentices to be used as skilled workers after 2 years' training. This is to be arranged through the Organization Todt which is especially equipped for such a task by means of its technical and other set-ups. This action is being greatly welcomed by the German trade since it represents a decisive measure for the alleviation of the shortage of apprentices...This action is aimed not only at preventing a direct reinforcement of the enemy's military strength but also at a reduction of his biological potentialities as viewed from the perspective of the future. These ideas have been voiced not only by the Reichsfuehrer SS but also by the Fuehrer. Corresponding orders were given during last year's withdrawals in the southern sector....Obergruppenfuehrer Berger has received another memorandum on June 14, according to which the Reich Minister now has approved the action."

April 30, 1945: An announcement on the German wireless: "It has been reported from the Führer's headquarters that our Führer Adolf Hitler has died this afternoon..."

May 2, 1945: Executive Order of US President Truman: "...Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson is hereby designated to act as the Representative of the United States and as its Chief of Counsel in preparing and prosecuting charges of atrocities and war crimes against such of the leaders of the European Axis powers and their principal agents and accessories as the United States may agree with any of the United Nations to bring to trial before an international tribunal..."

May 7-8, 1945 VE Day: The Allies formally accept the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.

1945: Sauckel is captured in a Thüringian cavern called the Drachenhöhle (dragon's lair) on a tip from a German-American gymnastics teacher unfortunate enough to have been stuck in Germany by the war.

June 7, 1945: Justice Jackson sends off a progress report to President Truman: "...Over a month ago the United States proposed to the United Kingdom, Soviet Russia and France a specific plan, in writing, that these four powers join in a protocol establishing an International Military Tribunal, defining the jurisdiction and powers of the tribunal, naming the categories of acts declared to be crimes, and describing those individuals and organizations to be placed on trial. Negotiation of such an agreement between the four powers is not yet completed. In view of the immensity of our task, it did not seem wise to await consummation of international arrangements before proceeding with preparation of the American case. Accordingly, I went to Paris, to American Army Headquarters at Frankfort and Wiesbaden, and to London, for the purpose of assembling, organizing, and instructing personnel from the existing services and agencies and getting the different organizations coordinated and at work on the evidence. I uniformly met with eager cooperation. The custody and treatment of war criminals and suspects appeared to require immediate attention. I asked the War Department to deny those prisoners who are suspected war criminals the privileges which would appertain to their rank if they were merely prisoners of war; to assemble them at convenient and secure locations for interrogation by our staff; to deny them access to the press; and to hold them in close confinement..."

July 16, 1945: Since May, the Allies have been collecting Nazis and tossing the high-ranking ones into a former hotel in Mondorf, Luxemburg, affectionately reffered to as 'Ashcan.' On this day, Ashcan's commander, Colonel Burton C. Andrus, takes representatives of the world's Press on a tour of the facility to squash rumors that the prisoners are living the high-life. "We stand for no mollycoddling here," Andrus proclaims. "We have certain rules and the rules are obeyed... ...they roll their own cigarettes."  (Tusa)

June 21, 1945: During a joint US-UK conference, Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe presents a list of ten defendants for consideration. Chosen mainly because their names are well known to the public, they are assumed to be criminals; little effort has yet to be made to determine the actual evidence that will be available against them. The initial ten: Göring, Hess (though the British warned that he was possibly insane), Ribbentrop, Ley (see October 25, 1945, below), Keital, Streicher, Kalenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank and Frick. (Taylor)

July 17, 1945 International Conference on Military Trials: From the minutes of this days Four Power conference session: "...Niktchenko: It would not be necessary to write down in the charter anything about the rights of the defendant not giving answer, because, if he refuses to give answer to the prosecution and to the counsel and to the Tribunal, nothing is to be done, and therefore we do not think it would be necessary to point it out in the charter. But as regards the rights of the prosecutor to interrogate, that is very important. If we do write anything about the defendant's right not to answer, then it would look as if we were preparing the ground for him to do so, and, if he knows about it, he will take advantage of it and refuse to answer. Therefore it is not necessary to mention it..."

July 25, 1945 International Conference on Military Trials: During this days Four Power conference session: "Justice Jackson: ...I think that every one of the top prisoners that we have is guilty..."

July 31, 1945 From the letters of Thomas Dodd, Executive Trial Counsel for the Prosecution at Nuremberg: ...Much gossip is abroad about friction between the US, Great Britain, France and Russia over these trials. The truth is there is no trouble between US, Britain and France - but the Russians are just holding up the whole proceeding. They are impossible, in my opinion. I do not know the details but I do know they are not cooperative on this problem so far. I believe they want to put on another Russian farce for a trial. If that happens, I go home, and promptly! The English appointed their chief counsel 21 days after the US appointed Jackson (who was the first to be appointed). The French followed soon after. Thus far no one has been appointed for Russia. Our people meet with certain Russian representatives but nothing happens. When representatives of the United Nations went to Nuremberg to look it over as a possible site for the trial only the Russians failed to make the trip..."

August 1, 1945 Potsdam Conference: At the Twelfth Plenary Session, the subject of trying Nazi war criminals is raised: "...Truman: You are aware that we have appointed Justice Jackson as our representative on the London Commission. He is an outstanding judge and a very experienced jurist. He has a good knowledge of legal procedure. Jackson is opposed to any names  of war criminals being mentioned and says that this will hamper their work. He assures us that the trial will be ready within thirty days and that their should be no doubt concerning our view of these men. Stalin: Perhaps we could name fewer persons, say three. Bevin: Our jurists take the same view as the Americans. Stalin: And ours take the opposite view. But perhaps we shall agree that the first list of war criminals to be brought to trial should be published not later than in one month..."

August 8, 1945: The London Agreement is signed.

August 12, 1945: Colonel Andrus and his 15 Ashcan prisoners are loaded onto a US C-47 transport plane bound for Nuremberg. As they fly above Germany, Goering continually points out various geographical features below, such as the Rhine, telling Ribbentrop to take one last look as he is unlikely to ever get the opportunity again. Streicher becomes air-sick. (Tusa)

August 12, 1945: Justice Jackson releases a statement to the American press: "...The representatives of the United Kingdom have been headed by the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney General. The Soviet Republic has been represented by the Vice President of its Supreme Court and by one of the leading scholars of Soviet jurisprudence. The Provisional Government of France has sent a judge of its highest court and a professor most competent in its jurisprudence. It would not be a happy forecast for the future harmony of the world if I could not agree with such representatives of the world's leading systems of administering justice on a common procedure for trial of war criminals..."

August 25, 1945: Representatives of the Big Four (Jackson, Fyfe, Gros, and Nikitchenko), agree on a list of 22 defendants (from the original list of 122), 21 of which are in custody. The 22nd, Martin Bormann, is presumed to be in Soviet custody, but Nikitchenko cannot confirm it. The list is scheduled to be released to the press on October 28. (Conot)

August 28, 1945: Just in time to stop the release of the names of the 22, Nikitchenko informs the other three Allied representatives that, unfortunately, Bormann is not in Soviet custody. However, he announces that the valient Red Army has captured two vile Nazis, Erich Raeder, and Hans Fritzsche, and offers them up for trial. Though neither man was on anyone's list of possible defendants, it emerges that their inclusion has become a matter of Soviet pride; Raeder and Fritzsche being the only two ranking Nazis unlucky enough to have been caught in the grasp of the advancing Russian bear. (Conot)

August 29, 1945: The final list of defendants is released to the press. Bormann, though not in custody, is still listed; Raeder and Fritzsche are now included, though there is no longer a Krupp represented. (Conot)

August 29, 1945: The 'Manchester Guardian' reacts to the release of the list of defendants: "Grave precedents are being set. For the first time the leaders of a state are being tried for starting a war and breaking treaties. We may expect after this that at the end of any future war the victors - whether they have justice on their side or not, as this time we firmly believe we have - will try the vanquished."

August 30, 1945: The 'Glasgow Herald' reacts to the release of the list of defendants: "Scanning this list, one cannot but be struck by the completeness of the Nazi catastrophe. Of all these men, who but a year ago enjoyed wide influence or supreme power, not one could find a refuge in a continent united in hate against them."

September 1, 1945 From the letters of Thomas Dodd: "...This Saterday, I continued with Field Marshal Keital. We discussed the killing of hostages: men, women and children in Poland and Russia and Italy. He admitted that he gave such orders but only after terrible attacks had been made on German soldiers. He even verified the wording of his order as calling for 'the most brutal measures even against women and children.' Whole towns were slaughtered and burned. Some few able bodied (people) were shipped back to Germany as slave labor. It is a degrading business for these once proud Prussians to admit these orders. Yet Keital is adamant. He said, 'I would do it all over again if the situation presented itself as it did then.'..."

September 4, 1945: Fritz Sauckel is interogated by two American officers: Sauckel: "I have been a convinced National Socialist since 1921 and agreed 100 percent with the program of Adolf Hitler. I worked actively to that end, and during the period from 1921 until the assumption of power I made about 500 speeches, the sense and contents of which represented the National Socialist standpoint. It was for me a particular satisfaction to have raised the Gau of Thuringia to a predominant position with regard to its National Socialist views and convictions. Until the collapse I never doubted Adolf Hitler, but obeyed his orders blindly..."

September 17, 1945 From the letters of Thomas Dodd: "Yesterday, Jackson told the press that the US would be ready to start the trial on November 1. By the way, the Russian representative (Nikitchenko) had been suddenly withdrawn. No explanations - mere notice that he will no longer represent Russia in this matter. After weeks of negotiating, weeks of work with him as chief counsel for Russia, he simply goes home and does not come back. These Russians are impossible. What effect this will have on the trial or the trial; date no one knows, but you can imagine the confusion that may arise out of it."

October 5, 1945: From the interrogation of Sauckel: "Q: Was it necessary, in order to accomplish the completion of the quotas given, to have liaison with the OKW? A: I remember that the Fuehrer had given directives to Marshal Keitel, telling him that my task was a very important one; and I, too, have often conferred with Keitel after such discussions with the Fuehrer, when I asked him for his support. Q: It was his task to supervise the proper performance of the military commanders in the occupied countries in carrying out their assigned mission, was it not? A: Yes, the Fuehrer had told me that he would inform the Chief of the OKW and the Chief of the Reich Chancellery as to these matters. The same applies to the Foreign Minister....Q: For a moment, I want to turn our attention to Holland. It is my understanding that the quotas for the workers from Holland were agreed upon, and then the numbers given to the Reich Commissioner Seyss-Inquart to fulfill, is that correct? A: Yes, that is correct. Q: After the quota was given to Seyss-Inquart, it was his mission to fulfill it with the aid of your representatives; was it not? A: Yes. This was the only possible thing for me to do and the same applied to other countries... ...Q: Was the same procedure substantially followed of allocating quotas in the Government General of Poland? A: Yes. I have principally to repeat that the only possibility I had in carrying through these missions was to get in touch with the highest German military authority in the respective country and to transfer to them the orders of the Fuehrer and ask them very urgently, as I have always done, to fulfill these orders. Q: Such discussions in Poland, of course, were with the Governor General Frank? A: Yes. I spent a morning and an afternoon in Krakow twice or three times and I personally spoke to Governor General Frank. Naturally, there was also present Secretary Dr. Goebbels...Q: Except for Speer, they would give the requirements in general for the whole field; but in Speer's work you would get them allocated by industry, and so on-is that right? A: The others only got whatever was left. Because Speer told me once in the presence of the Fuehrer that I am here to work for Speer and that, mainly, I am his man."

October 6, 1945: From an interrogation of the Defendant Rosenberg: "Q: 'Isn't it a fact that Sauckel would allocate to the various areas under your jurisdiction the number of persons to be obtained for labor purposes? A: Yes. Q: 'And that thereafter your agents would obtain that labor in order to meet the quota which had been given. Is that right? A: Sauckel, normally, had very far-reaching desires, which one could not fulfil unless one looked very closely into the matter. Q: Never mind about Sauckel's desires being far-reaching or not being far-reaching. That has nothing to do with it. You were given quotas for the areas over which you had jurisdiction, and it was up to you to meet that quota? A.: Yes. It was the responsibility of the administrative officials to receive this quota and to distribute the allotments over the districts in such a way, according to number and according to the age groups, that they would be most reasonably met. Q: 'These administrative officials were part of your organization, isn't that right? A: 'They were functionaries or officials of the Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine; but, as such, they were placed in their office by the Ministry for the Eastern Occupied Territories. Q: 'You recognized, did you not, that the quotas set by Sauckel could not be filled by voluntary labor; and you did not disapprove of the impressment of forced labor. Isn't that right? A: if regretted that the demands of Sauckel were so urgent that they could not be met by a continuation of voluntary recruitments, and thus I submitted to the necessity of forced impressment...Q: 'The letters that we have already seen between you and Sauckel do not indicate, do they, any disagreement on your part with the principle of recruiting workers against their will? They indicate, as I remember, that you were opposed to the treatment that was later accorded these workers, but you did not oppose their initial impressment... ...Q: 'Did you ever argue with Sauckel that perhaps in view of the fact that the quotas could not be met by voluntary labor, the labor recruiting program be abandoned, except for what recruits could be voluntarily enrolled? A: I could not do that because the numbers or allotments that Sauckel had received from the Three to meet were absolutely binding for him, and I couldn't do anything about that...In those matters I mostly discussed the possibility of finding the least harsh methods of handling the matter, whereas in no way did I place myself in opposition to the orders that he was carrying out for the Fuehrer."

October 19, 1945: British Major Airey Neave presents each defendant in turn with a copy of the indictment.

"...it was plain that Sauckel was much bigger than he looked and much abler than one might conclude on finding his name near the bottom of Dr. Gilberts IQ test. He gave hundreds of public speeches and published articles and a couple of books.. He was both the Party and the governmental leader of Thuringia. The eminent Berlin journalist Louis Lochner regarded him as 'one of the toughest of the Old Guard Nazis.' Still, Sauckel was a regional potentate, and if he had remained only the boss of Thuringia there would have been little likelihood of finding him in the dock at Nuremberg. Sauckel was charged on all four ounts of the Indictment, but he had virtually no military or diplomatic connections, and there was literally no basis for conviction under Counts One and Two...Accordingly, the Sauckel case involved exclusively the conduct of his office as Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor...As a last question, Servatius asked his client 'whether today you consider your activity justified or not.' Sauckel answered: 'From the point of view of the war situation and of German economy, and as I saw and tried to carry out my allocation of labor, I consider it justified.' It was a frank answer, but not likely to promote an acquittal." -From 'The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials' by Telford Taylor.

May 29, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 141, Sauckel testifies on his own behalf: Sauckel: "...During these conferences at the German Embassy these associations (associations among the French population which advocated collaboration with Germany) stated that in their opinion official recruitment in France had become very difficult. They said that they would like to take charge of that and would like to provide recruiting agents from their own ranks and also provide people from among their members who would go to Germany voluntarily. Recruitment was not to take place through official agencies but in cafes. In these cafes, of course, certain expenses would be necessary which would have to be met; and the recruiting agents would have to be paid a bonus, or be compensated by a glass of wine or some gin. That way of doing things, naturally, did not appeal to me personally; but I was in such difficulties in view of the demands put to me that I agreed, without intending, of course, that the idea of "shanghai" with its overseas suggestions and so forth should be seriously considered..."

"Sauckel was a short, pudgy man, bald and with a little Hitler moustache. A journalist noticed that he walked 'on the balls of his feet like a referee at a wrestling match.' Fellow defendants who were aristocrats or just plain snobs mocked his plebeian accent. His style of giving testimont was long-winded, irrelevant and personal - like Shirach's, but more so. It took an excessively long time before he could be weaned away from talking about his father's life as a postman, his mother's heart trouble, his own adventures as a seaman on a sailing ship going to Australia in 1914 and his happy life with his devoted wife and ten children. No wonder that when he began to explain his reasons for joining the Nazi Party, Lawrence (The President of the Tribunal) snapped: 'It seems to me that we are having it inflicted on us by nearly every one of the defendants.'...He claimed never to have heard of 'extermination by labor,' never to have seen letters with his typed signature, not to remember meetings he attended. All this took up three and a half days. The correspondent of the Daily Telegraph found it was 'difficult to write objectively of such a performance...of the injured innocence, sanctimonious self-justification and flat contradiction by Sauckel (of) remarks he is shown by several minutes to have made at a series of conferences but now is anxious to disclaim.' Sauckel's evasions were soon exposed, however, by an effective cross-examination by the French counsel, Herzog..." - From 'The Nuremberg Trial' by Ann and John Tusa).

May 30, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 142, Sauckel undergoes tough cross-examination by French counsel: "...M. Herzog: I would ask you then, Defendant Sauckel, if you confirm the statements which were made under oath, voluntarily and without any duress, on 4 September 1945 (above), and which contradict those that you made yesterday and which you have just made to me. Sauckel: I confirm that my signature is appended to this document. I ask the Tribunal's permission to state how that signature came about. This document was presented to me in its finished form. I asked to be allowed to read and study this document in my cell in Oberursel and decide whether I could sign it. That was denied me. During the conversation an officer was consulted who, I was told, belonged to the Polish or Russian army; and it was made clear to me that if I hesitated too long in signing this document I would be handed over to the Russian authorities. Then this Polish or Russian officer entered and asked, "Where is Sauckel's family? We know Sauckel, of course we will take him with us; but his family will have to be taken into Russian territory as well" I am the father of 10 children. I did not stop to consider; and thinking of my family, I signed this document. When I returned to my cell, I sent a written message to the commandant of the camp and asked permission to talk with him alone on this matter. But that was not possible, because shortly afterwards I was brought to Nuremberg. M. Herzog: Is not your signature at the end of this document in which you declared that you "made the above declarations voluntarily and without any duress"? Sauckel: That is correct, but in this situation... M. Herzog: I think your explanation is sufficient..."

May 31, 1946 From the letters of Thomas Dodd: "...We didn't get very far with Sauckel - the French and Russians cross-examined him at great length. I put a very few questions to him, then Biddle wanted to show off and in a most unjudicious manner proceeded to go over a lot of ground that was quite adequately covered. He is impossible! What an ass of a man he is..."

May 31, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 143, Sauckel undergoes very tough cross-examination indeed, some of the deftest of the trial: "...The Tribunal (Mr. Biddle): Now, I take it when you used the word shanghai, which you referred to and explained, that simply means private recruiting with force. That is all it means, is it not? (There was no response from the defendant) That is all it means, is it not? Private recruiting with force? Sauckel: No... The Tribunal (Mr. Biddle): Now, wait a minute. Can you shanghai a man without using force? You do not mean that you shanghaied them by persuasion? Did you? Sauckel: Yes, for I wanted to recruit these French associations in just this voluntary, friendly way, over a glass of beer or wine in a cafe, and not in the official offices. I don't mean shanghai in the bad sense as I recall its being used from my sailor days. This was a rather drastic expression, but not a concrete representation of the actual procedure. Never, Your Honor, in France or anywhere else, did I order men to be shanghaied, but rather... The Tribunal (Mr. Biddle): Oh, I know you did not order it. That was not my question. You mean that "shanghai" just meant that you had a friendly glass of wine with a workman and then he joined up? Was that what you meant? Sauckel: I understood it in that way..."

"Sauckel's attorney, Robert Servatius, had applied for some thirty witnesses and affidavits, but received almost no response, for everyone summoned was afraid of being prosecuted later. 'I may have to consider withdrawing my motion altogether because I have to admit that the amount of material reaching me is very small,' Servatius chagrinedly told the court. Those witnesses for Sauckel that were brought to Nuremberg through the medium of the tribunal's secretariat more often than not turned out to be the subject of erroneous identification. 'Yesterday the witness Hildebrandt arrived, but it was again the wrong Hildebrandt,' Servatius complained. 'This is the third witness who has appeared here in this comedy of errors. It was the wrong one for Mende, the wrong for Stothfang, and the wrong one for Hildebrandt.' The bald-headed Sauckel provided, with his Hitler mustache, an unpleasant reminder of the Nazi era. He had difficulty uttering his thoughts coherently, and, as unlikely as it might seem, was even less comprehensible than Ribbentrop or Rosenberg. Time and again Servatius, who had studied in London and Moscow and spoke English, French, and Russian warned him: 'The interpreters cannot translate your long sentences properly. You must make short sentences and divide your phrases, otherwise no one can understand you and your defense will suffer a great deal...Herr Sauckel, you must formulate your sentences differently, the interpreters cannot translate them. You must not insert one sentence into another.' Servatius's exhortations were, to a large extent, futile. Sauckel's intertwined verbiage was compounded by his apparent evasiveness; seldom did he provide a direct answer. In his proletarian heart, Sauckel had wished that all workers, foreign as well as German, should be treated humanely; and Speer had spoken in his favor at Dustbin: 'I must emphasis that Sauckel always did his best to secure decent treatment and food for the foreign workers in Germany. He worked on this with all his energy.' But in his Nazi soul Sauckel had subordinated his humanitarian instincts to the ruthless exploitation of men, women, and children." -From 'Justice at Nuremberg' by Robert E. Conot.

May 31, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: Sauckel's defense calls Max Timm of the Reich Labor Ministry to the stand: "...Dr Servatius: What was the impression you had of your new superior when Sauckel took over the office? Timm: When Sauckel assumed office, I had the impression of a very energetic, hard-working man, who was inclined to get excited at times, even angry no doubt, and who demanded much of his co-workers, but also made great demands on himself. Dr Servatius: How was he in carrying out his measures? Timm: When he assumed office there was a good deal of confusion in the field of labor allocation. Everybody had something to do with labor allocation. Dr Servatius: Was that the reason why that office was created? Timm: The previous chiefs had not had enough force to push their program through against the opposition of various offices; and Sauckel was the strong man, and particularly the strong political figure, who was to put things in order..."

May 31, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: Charles Malcolmson, a member of the American delegation, dies of a heart attack. Funeral services are held at the Church of the Resurrection in Nuremberg. Among the pallbearers are journalists Richard L. Stokes and Walter Cronkite. (Maser)

June 1, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 144, Sauckel's witness, Max Timm, undergoes cross-examination: "...The Tribunal (Mr. Biddle): ...they were taking people out of industry also who were not needed for the Army, weren't they? I mean Jews. They were taking Jewish people out of industry, were they not? Sauckel said yesterday that Jewish people were being taken out of industry. You admit that, don't you? Timm: Yes. Jews were eliminated from industry. The Tribunal: All right; and I suppose the Central Planning Board was given the number of Jewish people that were taken out of industry, were they not? Timm: I do not know that. In the conferences at which I was present... The Tribunal: Do you not assume that that must have been the case, if they had to find the number of replacements. It must have been so, mustn't it? Timm: I cannot judge as to that because I learned only the total number of men to be drafted, independently of the Jewish question. I will not venture an opinion; I do not know. The Tribunal: Do you not know that Himmler and the SS told the Central Planning Board the number of Jews that were being taken out of industry for whom replacements were needed? You know that as a fact, don't you? Timm: No. The Tribunal: You do not? Timm: No. I know only that we received certain statements from the Reichsfuehrer SS that people were being taken out of industry, and owing to the objections of the Plenipotentiary General, who had to supply the replacements - I remember that this measure was partly withdrawn. The Tribunal: And you do know that one of the duties of the Reichsfuehrer SS was to withdraw Jews from industry? You know that? Timm: I know from statements in reports that Jews were to be withdrawn from industry..."

June 1, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: Sauckel's defense calls Walter Stothfang to the stand: "...Dr Servatius: Was Sauckel accused by other offices of looking after the workmen too well? And was there not, in some cases, even envy of the situation of certain foreign workers? Stothfang: Yes. Such accusations came from three places. First, from the two offices I mentioned before, which offered general objections and resistance to the far-reaching demands of the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor. Then Bormann's office, and Himmler's office. It went so far that the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor was even suspected of being pro-Bolshevik..."

June 3, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 145, Sauckel's defense calls Dr. Wilhelm Jager to the stand: "...Dr Servatius: ...Does that mean that the foreign workers received bad meat? Jager: One must define the expression "Freibankfleisch." That was meat which was not released for general consumption by the veterinary but which, after being treated in a certain way, wes quite fit for human food. Even in times of peace and afterwards, the German population bought this meat. During the war the German population received in return for their coupons a double quantity of Freibankfleisch. Dr Servatius: Then the veterinary allowed it for consumption? Jager: Meat which had been condemned at first was released for human consumption after it had been treated in a certain manner and was then not harmful. Dr Servatius: Then the expression "condemned by the veterinary" means that it was first condemned and then allowed? Jager: Yes, then allowed..."

June 19, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 158, Speer testifies on his own behalf: "...Dr Flachsner: Your Codefendant Sauckel testified to the effect that with the carrying out of the recruiting of workers for the industries, his task was finished. Is that correct in your opinion? Speer: Yes, certainly, as far as the placing of workers is concerned, for one of the subjects of dissension between Sauckel and me was that the appropriate employment of workers in industry itself had to be a matter of the works manager and that this could not be influenced by the labor office. It applied however only to labor recruitment and not to the observance of labor conditions. In this connection, the office of Sauckel was partly responsible as supervising authority. Dr Flachsner: To what extent could the works manager conform with the decrees of Sauckel as to labor conditions and so on? Speer: The decrees issued by Sauckel were unobjectionable..."

June 20, 1946 From the diary of the British Alternate Judge, Mr. Justice Birkett: "When Flachsner (Speer's counsel) succeeded Kubuschok (Papen's counsel) at the microphone, it became clear that there were lower depths of advocacy to be reached, unbelievable as it sounds..."

June 20, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 159, Speer testifies on his own behalf: "...Dr Flachsner: ...Herr Speer, you stated in your testimony of 18 October 1945 first, that you categorically demanded new laborers from Sauckel; secondly, that you knew that among these laborers there would be foreigners; thirdly, that you had known that some of these foreign workers were working in Germany against their will. Please comment on this statement. Speer: This voluntary statement is quite correct. During the war I was very grateful to Sauckel for every laborer whom I got through him. Many a time I held him responsible for the fact that through lack of manpower the armament industry did not achieve the results it might have, but I always emphasized the merits which accrued to him because of his activity on behalf of armaments. Dr Flachsner: Now, when in your testimony of 18 October 1945, and at present again, you refer to manpower, do you mean all manpower in general, including German workers, foreigners from occupied countries, and foreigners from friendly or annexed states, and also prisoners of war? Speer: Yes. Beginning with the middle of 1943, I was at odds with Sauckel over questions of production and about the insufficient availability of reserves of German labor. But that has nothing to do with my fundamental attitude toward Sauckel's work..."

June 20, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: In his cell later, Goering reacts to Speers testimony: "This was a bad day. Damn that stupid fool Speer! Did you see how he disgraced himself in court today? Gott im himmel! Donnerwetter nochamal! How could he stoop so low as to do such a rotten thing to save his lousy neck! I nearly died with shame! To think that Germans will be so rotten to prolong this filthy life - to put it bluntly - to piss in front and crap behind a little longer! Herr Gott, Donnerwetter! Do you think I give that much of a damn about this lousy life? For myself, I don't give a damn if I get executed, or drown, or crash in a plane, or drink myself to death! But there is still a matter of honor in this damn life! Assasination attempt on Hitler! Ugh! Gott im Himmel! I could have sunk through the floor."

June 21, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 160, Speer undergoes cross-examination: "...Speer: The workers were brought to Germany largely against their will, and I had no objection to their being brought to Germany against their will. On the contrary, during the first period, until the autumn of 1942, I certainly also took some pains to see that as many workers as possible should be brought to Germany in this manner. Mr Justice Jackson: You had some participation in the distribution of this labor, did you not, as among different plants, different industries, that were competing for labor? Speer: No. That would have to be explained in more detail-I do not quite understand it like that. Mr Justice Jackson: Well, you finally entered into an agreement with Sauckel, did you not, in reference to the distribution of the labor after it reached the Reich? Speer: That was arranged according to the so called priority grades. I had to tell Sauckel, of course..."

June 21, 1946 From the diary of the British Alternate Judge, Mr. Justice Birkett: "Oscar Wilde began 'De Profundis' by asserting that 'suffering is one long moment' and the truth of that decison cannot be better exemplified than in this aweful cross-examination, which the Tribunal is compelled to suffer and endure."

July 18, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 181, Dr Servatius delivers his final speech in Sauckel's defense: Dr Servatius: "...He admits having negotiated "compulsory labor" in the form of obligatory labor which, as stated before, has been termed "slave labor" in general. He denies, however, having demanded "slave labor," which might be looked upon as inhuman labor, in other words, enslavement. A different standard applies, just as for deportation, to these two categories; "obligatory labor" is only a war crime and must be judged according to the rules of war; crimes against humanity, as I already stated above in connection with deportation as a crime against humanity, bear the additional characteristics of being connected with war crimes or crimes against peace. If it can be proven that the mobilization of manpower as ordered by the Defendant Sauckel was permitted by the rules of war, then the same act cannot be held to be a crime against humanity..."

July 22, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 187, US Justice Jackson details Prosecutions closing arguments against Sauckel: Justice Jackson: "...The Defendant Sauckel, Plenipotentiary General for the Utilization of Labor, is authority for the statement that "out of 5,000,000 foreign workers who arrived in Germany, not even 200,000 came voluntarily". It was officially reported to Defendant Rosenberg that in his territory "recruiting methods were used which probably have their origin in the blackest period of the slave trade." Sauckel himself reported that male and female agents went hunting for men, got them drunk, and "shanghaied" them to Germany. These captives were shipped in trains without heat, food, or sanitary facilities. The dead were thrown out at stations, and the newborn were thrown out the windows of moving trains...Sauckel ordered that "all the men must be fed, sheltered, and treated in such a way as to exploit them to the highest possible extent at the lowest conceivable degree of expenditure." About two million of these were employed directly in the manufacture of armaments and munitions..Hitler, in announcing his plan to attack Poland, had already foreshadowed the slave-labor program as one of its corollaries when he cryptically pointed out to the Defendants Goering, Raeder, Keitel, and others that the Polish population "will be available as a source of labor." This was part of the plan made good by Frank, who as Governor General notified Goering that he would supply "at least one million male and female agricultural and industrial workers to the Reich", and by Sauckel, whose impressments throughout occupied territory aggregated numbers equal to the total population of some of the smaller nations of Europe...Sauckel, the greatest and cruelest slaver since the Pharaohs of Egypt, produced desperately needed manpower by driving foreign peoples into the land of bondage on a scale unknown even in the ancient days of tyranny in the kingdom of the Nile."

August 30, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On day 216 of deliberations, the defendants make their final statements. Final Statement of Fritz Sauckel: "Gentlemen of the Tribunal: I have been shaken to the very depths of my soul by the atrocities revealed in this Trial. In all humility and reverence, I bow before the victims and the fallen of all nations, and before the misfortune and suffering of my own people, with whom alone I must measure my fate. I come from a social level completely different from that of my comrades accused with me. In my nature and thinking I remained a sailor and a worker. After the first World War, the course of my life was determined through my own experience of the sorrows and needs of the masses of my people who were struggling for their existence. Inner conflicts forced me into politics. I could be nothing else but a Socialist. But I could not embrace the Communist manifesto. I was never antireligious or even irreligious, but quite the contrary. I fought a hard struggle with myself before I turned to politics. And so I finally dedicated myself to socialist love and justice toward those whose only wealth is their labor and, at the same time, to the destiny of my nation. In this I saw the only possible connection between socialist thinking and true love of one's country. This belief alone determined my life and my actions. I saw here no contradiction to the laws of humanity. I recognized no arbitrary dictatorship or tyranny in the principle of leaders and loyal followers. My error was perhaps the excess of my feelings and my confidence in, as well as my great veneration of, Hitler. I knew him only as the champion of the German poeple's rights to existence and saw him as the man who was kind to workers, women, and children, and who promoted the vital interests of Germany. The Hitler of this Trial I could not recognize. Perhaps my loneliness and submersion in the world of my imagination and my work was a further defect. I hardly ever had social contact with the occupants of high positions in the Reich; what little spare time I had belonged to my family. I was and am happy that my wife is the daughter of a worker, who himself was and remained a Social Democrat. In this, my last word, I solemnly assure you that I was completely surprised by all foreign political events and the beginning of all military actions. Under no circumstances would I have cooperated as a German worker--and for German workers--to help plan the madness of unleashing a war of aggression. I only became a National Socialist because I condemned class struggle, expropriation, and civil war, and because I firmly believed in Hitler's absolute desire for peace and understanding with the rest of the world, and in his work of reconstruction. Because I was a worker, I always did everything possible in my own field of activity to prevent excesses, arbitrary acts, and brutality of any kind. I was sufficiently naive, against the opposition of Himmler and Goebbels, to put through my manifesto and many other decrees for the employment of labor, which prescribed humane and correct treatment of foreign workers as compulsory for all offices. I never would have been able to bear the knowledge of these terrible secrets and crimes without protest, nor, with such knowledge, would I have been able to face my people or my 10 innocent children. I had no part in any conspiracy against peace or against humanity, nor did I tolerate murders or mistreatment. During the war itself I had to do my duty. I received the position of Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor in 1942, at a time of grave military crisis, and it came as a complete surprise to me. I was bound by the existing labor laws, the orders of the Fuehrer, and the decrees of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich. I do not know why it was just I who received this task. In my own Gau I had particularly gained the confidence of the workers, farmers, and artisans, and even before 1933, that is, before Hitler assumed power, I had been elected by a large majority in free parliamentary elections as the chief of the state government there. I believe that Providence endowed me with a good talent for organization and practical work, as well as with a capacity for enthusiasm. Perhaps that was the reason why I received my task. It was a heavy burden for me. The soil of Berlin was completely alien to me. Because I am a worker, I never thought of making slaves of foreign human beings. My requirement that people be managed economically does not in any way mean their inhuman exploitation, but rather their economic, rational, and correct employment in labor. It was never my intention to commit crimes against international law, the laws of war, or the laws of humanity. Not for a single moment did I doubt the legality and admissibility of my task, for I thought it completely out of the question that the German Government would break :international law. If, however, you tell me that, in spite of that, German labor laws could not be applied in the occupied territories, then I beg to reply that even high-ranking Frenchmen, Belgians, Poles, and also Russians have told me that they were supporting Germany with labor in order to protect Europe against a threatening Communist system, and in order to prevent unemployment and mass suffering during the war. However, not only did I work for the fulfilment of my task with the greatest zeal, but at the same time I tried with all my might and with all possible means, immediately upon assuming office, to eliminate the critical conditions in the organization and care of foreign laborers, which had developed through the winter catastrophe of 1941 to 1942, and to do away with all shortcomings and abuses. I also believed, as my documents prove, that we could win the foreign workers over to our German cause by giving them the proper treatment I demanded. Perhaps in the eyes of Himmler and Goebbels I was a hopeless Utopian--they were my foes. But I honestly fought to have the foreign workers receive the same rights and conditions as the German workers. This is also attested, to by the numerous documents of my defense counsel and has been confirmed by all the statements of the witnesses before this Tribunal. If my work was incomplete nobody can regret it more deeply and painfully than myself. Unfortunately that was only partly in my power, as my counsel has proved. The evidence has shown that things happened in the occupied territories on which I and the labor employment office, which was civilian-controlled, could exercise no influence whatsoever. However, all German enterprises and agencies requiring labor complained to me that I was always delivering too few workers for the war effort, and that it would be my fault if the war economy and food economy were threatened by dangerous crises. These heavy responsibilities and worries dominated me so much that I found and had no time at all for other developments. This I regret. I assume responsibility for my decrees and for my employees. I never saw the records of the Central Planning Board before this Trial; otherwise I would have corrected false or unclear passages, as, for instance, the passage with reference to the impossible figure of only 200,000 volunteer workers. This also applies to a number of other statements which were incorrectly taken down by third parties and never actually put into practice. Because I am a worker and have personally served on foreign ships, I am grateful to the foreign workers who were in Germany, for they helped us greatly and they worked well. This, perhaps, is proof of the fact that on the whole they were treated decently and humanely. I myself often visited them. Because I was a working man, I spent the Christmas celebrations of 1943 and 1944 with foreign workers in order to show my attitude towards them. My own children worked among foreign workers, under the same working conditions. Could I, or German workers and the German people, consider that as slavery? The necessity for this was our emergency. The German people and the German workers would never have tolerated conditions comparable to slavery around them. My defense counsel has presented the complete truth about my case with extreme objectivity. I thank him for this from the bottom of my heart. For his own part, he was strict and correct in investigating my case. My intentions and conscience are clean. The shortcomings and the necessities of the war, the frightful conditions it produced, have touched my heart deeply. I myself am prepared to meet any fate which Providence has in store for me, just like my son, who was killed in the war. The Gauleiter whom I employed as plenipotentiaries for the allocation of labor had the sole task of providing for the proper treatment and care of the German and foreign workers. God protect my people, whom I love above all else, and may the Lord God again bless the labor of German workers, to whom my entire life and effort were devoted, and may He give peace to the world."

September 2, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: As the defendants await the courts judgement, Colonel Andrus somewhat relaxes the conditions of confinement and allows the prisoners limited visitation.

September 30, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On the penultimate day of this historic trial, the final judgements are read in open court: "Sauckel is indicted under all four Counts. Sauckel joined the Nazi Party in 1923, and became Gauleiter of Thuringia in 1927. He was a member of the Thuringian legislature from 1927 to 1933, was appointed Reichsstatthalter for Thuringia in 1932, and Thuringian Minister of the Interior and head of the Thuringian State Ministry in May 1933. He became a member of the Reichstag in 1933. He held the formal rank of Obergruppenfuehrer in both the SA and the SS. Crimes against Peace: The evidence has not satisfied the Tribunal that Sauckel was sufficiently connected with the common plan to wage aggressive 'war or sufficiently involved in the planning or waging of the aggressive wars to allow the Tribunal to convict him on Counts One or Two. War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity: On 21 March 1942, Hitler appointed Sauckel Plenipotentiary General for the 'Utilization of Labor, with authority to put under uniform control "the utilization of all available manpower, including that of workers recruited abroad and of prisoners of war." Sauckel was instructed to operate within the fabric of the Four Year Plan, and on 27 March 1942, Goering issued 'a decree as Delegate for the Four Year Plan transferring his manpower sections to Sauckel. On 30 September 1942, Hitler gave Sauckel authority to appoint commissioners in the various occupied territories and "to take all necessary measures for the enforcement" of the decree of 21 March 1942. Under the authority which he obtained by these decrees, Sauckel set up a program for the mobilization of the labor resources available to the Reich. One of the important parts of this mobilization was the systematic exploitation, by force, of the labor resources of the occupied territories. Shortly after Sauckel had taken office, he had the governing authorities in the various occupied territories issue decrees establishing compulsory labor service in Germany. Under the authority of these decrees Sauckel's commissioners, backed up by the police authorities of the occupied territories, obtained and sent to Germany the laborers which were necessary to fill the quotas given them by Sauckel. He described so-called "voluntary" recruiting by "a whole batch of male and female agents just as was done in the olden times for shanghaiing." That real voluntary recruiting was the exception rather than the rule is shown by Sauckel's statement on I March 1944, that "out of five million foreign workers who arrived in Germany not even 200,000 came voluntarily." Although he now claims that the statement is not true, the circumstances under which it was made, as well as the evidence presented before the Tribunal, leave no doubt that it was substantially accurate. The manner in which the unfortunate slave laborers were collected and transported to Germany, and what happened to them after they arrived, has already been described. Sauckel argues that he is not responsible for these excesses in the administration of the program. He says that the total number of workers to be obtained was set by the demands from agriculture and from industry; that obtaining the workers was the responsibility of the occupation authorities, transporting them to Germany that of the German railways, and taking care of them in Germany that of the Ministries of Labor and Agriculture, the German Labor Front, and the various industries involved. He testifies that insofar as he had any authority he was constantly urging humane treatment. There is no doubt, however, that Sauckel had over-all responsibility for the slave labor program. At the time of the events in question he did not fail to assert control over the fields which he now claims were the sole responsibility of others. His regulations provided that his commissioners should have authority for obtaining labor, and he was constantly in the field supervising the steps which were being taken. He was aware of ruthless methods being taken to obtain laborers and vigorously supported them on the ground that they were necessary to fill the quotas. Sauckel's regulations also provided that he had responsibility for transporting the laborers to Germany, allocating them to employers and taking care of them, and that the other agencies involved in these processes were subordinate to him. He was informed of the bad conditions which existed. It does not appear that he advocated brutality for its own sake, or was an advocate of any program such as Himmler's plan for extermination through work. His attitude was thus expressed in a regulation: "All the men must be fed, sheltered, and treated in such a way as to exploit them to the highest possible extent at the lowest conceivable degree of expenditure." The evidence shows that Sauckel was in charge of a program which involved deportation for slave labor of more than 5,000,000 human beings, many of them under terrible conditions of cruelty and suffering. Conclusion: The Tribunal finds that Sauckel is not guilty on Counts One and Two. He is guilty under Counts Three and Four."

October 1, 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: On the 218th and last day of the trial, sentences are handed down: "Defendant Fritz Sauckel, on the Counts of the Indictment on which you have been convicted, the Tribunal sentences you to death by hanging."

"Sauckel found it more difficult than the other prisoners to accept the death sentence. He pestered the barber, the doctor, and the psychologist with the idea that the verdict of the Court must have been due to an error in translation. He was firmly convinced that the mistake would still be discovered and the verdict revised. The story of his doubts quickly went around the prison, and eventually it was Seyss-Inquart, himself sentenced to death, who wrote a letter of condolence to Sauckel. Dr Ludwig Pflücker, the German prison doctor, brought it to the one-time leader of slave-labor." -From 'The Nuremberg Trial' by Joe J. Heydecker and Johannes Leeb.

October 13, 1946: From 'Spandau Diary' by Albert Speer: "A guard goes from cell to cell. He asks whether we want to make use of our right to a daily walk on the ground floor. The yard is still barred to us. I have to get out; the cell is begining to feel unbearably oppresive. So I ask to go. But I shudder at the prospect of seeing the men on death row (Note: The 11 condemned men are housed in cells on the ground floor; the 7 sentenced to prison time are being kept in an upper tier of cells). The guard holds out the chrome handcuffs. Linked together, we have some difficulty descending the winding staircase. In the silence, every step on the iron stairs sounds like a thunderclap. On the ground floor I see eleven soldiers staring attentively into eleven cells. The men inside are eleven of the surviving leaders of the Third Reich...Then there is Fritz Sauckel, a sailor who rose to be one of Hitler's Gauleiter's and who was overtaxed intellectually and morally, by the wartime assignment to provide Germany with slave laborers from the occupied territories...As the rules prescribe, most of them are lying on their backs, hands on the blanket, heads turned toward the inside of the cell. A ghostly sight, all of them in their immobility; it looks as though they have already been laid on their biers. Only Frank is up, sitting at his table and writing away. He has wound a damp towel around his neck; he used to tell Dr Pfluecker he did that to keep his mind alert. Syss-Inquart looks out through the doorway; he smiles at me each time I pass, and each time that smile gives me the chills. I cannot stand it for long. Back in my cell, I decide not to go back down again." (Speer II) Note: German author Werner Maser, in 'Nuremberg: A Nation on Trial,' comments critically on the above passage by Speer: "These and the comments immediately following are typical of Speer's usual fanciful descriptions. Since he was handcuffed to a guard, he could not have seen what was going on in the cells. His remarks on his fellow-defendants speak for themselves."

October 13, 1946: Colonel Andrus informs the prisoners that all appeals have been turned down. In his appeal to reduce Sauckel's sentence Dr Servatius, realizing that Speer had 'unburdened a considerable part of his culpability onto Sauckel,' had told the Allied Control Commision: 'Sauckel had nothing to do with concentration camp labor - this was a secret enterprise of Himmler who collaborated directly with Speer. One cannot fail to contrast the personalities of Speer and Sauckel. Sauckel was a tireless worker, and carried out his task with a strict sense of duty without looking to the right or left. As a workingman he remained a stranger among the leaders. Speer was a close friend of Hitler.'  (Conot)

October 14, 1946: The condemned men, most of whom have become convinced that the executions will be carried out on the 15th, spend this day as if it were their last.

October 16, 1946: From 'Spandau Diary' by Albert Speer: "At some hour of the night I woke up. I could hear footsteps and indistinguishable words in the lower hall. Then silence, broken by a name being called out: 'Ribbentrop!' A cell door is opened; then scraps of phrases, scraping of boots, and reverberating footsteps slowly fading away. Scarcly able to breathe, I sit upright on my cot, hearing my heart beat loudly, at the same time aware that my hands are icy. Soon the footsteps come back and I hear the next name: 'Keitel!' Once more a cell door opens, once more noises and the reverberation of footsteps. Name after name is called. To some of these men I was linked with common work and mutual respect; others were remote to me and scarcely crossed my path. Those I feared, primarily Bormann, then Himmler, are missing; likewise Goebbels and Goering. Some I despised. More footsteps. 'Streicher!' A loud, excited exclamation follows. From our floor comes a shout: 'Bravo, Streicher! To judge by the voice, that is Hess. Below, the calling of the names goes on..." (Speer II)

October 16, 1946: Sauckel's last words: "I pay my respect to the American officers and soldiers but not to American justice." ... "I'm dying innocently, my sentence is not just. God protect Germany!" (Ich sterbe unschuldig, mein Urteil ist ungerecht. Gott beschütze Deutschland!)

October 16, 1946: After the executions, the former defendants' cells are cleaned thoroughly. Colonel Andrus is unpleasantly surprised by the amount of contraband articles subsequently discovered, and what that says about his security regime. Nearly all the prisoners had squirrelled away something in anticipation of eventual desperation. Sauckel had obtained a broken-off, sharp-edged spoon. (Heydecker)

October 16, 1946: From 'The Devil's Disciples' by Anthony Read: "...they were photographed, wrapped in matress covers, sealed in coffins then driven off in army trucks with a military escort to a crematorium in Munich, which had been told to expect the bodies of fourteen American soldiers. The coffins were opened for inspection by American, British, French and Soviet officials, before being loaded in the cremation ovens. That same evening, a container holding all the ashes was driven away into the Bavarian countryside, in the rain. It stopped in a quiet lane about an hour later, and the ashes were poured into a muddy ditch..."