[_Turning to the defendant._] I ask you whether you recognize that this
document establishes the fact that you requested troop units?
SAUCKEL: As far as this question is concerned I cannot answer precisely,
for I personally did not receive this letter. Instead it was sent to
Paris, to the office there. This letter is not initialed by me. But in
order to clarify my position, I should like to emphasize specifically
that I did not demand troops in order to recruit workers. I asked for
troops when in certain areas the administrative procedure could not be
carried through because of resistance activities, _et cetera_. In that
connection there is an error in this letter of Field Marshal Von
Rundstedt. But I did not receive this reply myself. It is initialed by
the office of the military commander in Paris.
M. HERZOG: I submit Document F-824, which I hand to the Tribunal as
Exhibit RF-1515. This Document F-824 is a letter from the Commander of
the West, from his headquarters, dated 25 July 1944. I quote:
“One can conclude from this that on the order of the Führer, and
after the abrogation of all contrary decrees, the desires of the
Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor...”
This Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor is you
yourself; is that not so?
“...and of Reich Minister Speer must in principle be carried
out. Following my telegraphic communication, on the basis of the
conference of ministers of 11 July in the Reich Chancellery,
concerning which the Commander of the West will be informed by
the military commander, the following directives are in force
from now on:
“Without taking into account justified misgivings concerning
security and order within the country, recruiting must start
everywhere where the possibilities referred to in my telegram
present themselves. As an only exception the Führer has decided
that in the actual fighting zone no methods of coercion will be
used against the population as long as the latter are helpful to
the Wehrmacht. On the other hand, the recruiting of volunteers
among refugees from the combat zones is to be handled
energetically. Moreover, all means will be considered justified,
in order to recruit as much labor as possible from elsewhere by
means at the disposal of the Wehrmacht.”
Do you again deny that at your request, and at that of Reich Minister
Speer, troop units carried out the recruiting of labor?
SAUCKEL: I should like to remark in this connection that I do not
dispute what has just been described. At that time the
commander-in-chief was under the stress of battle and the evacuation of
the population. But I can testify that after the date of 25 July 1944
these things did not apply any longer, for the withdrawal of German
troops was much too rapid; so that this decree, which had been issued by
the Führer, was no longer in effect.
M. HERZOG: Do you remember the conference, the ministers’ conference of
11 July 1944, to which the document I have just read refers?
SAUCKEL: Yes, I recall it.