I submit to the Tribunal Document Number F-827, under Exhibit Number
RF-1518. These are instructions of the Defendant Sauckel for the
formation of these special police forces. The document consists of
several sets of instructions. On Page 6, there is an order of 25 January
1944 by the Defendant Sauckel.
THE PRESIDENT: Where is it?
M. HERZOG: On Page 6, immediately after Document 1292 in my document
book, you will find the instructions of the Defendant Sauckel. I read:
“Berlin, 25 January 1944. Secret.
“Subject: Formation of a protection corps for the execution of
the tasks of the Allocation Of Labor in France and in Belgium
during the year 1944.
“1) To the Military Commander in France, Paris.
To the Military Commander for Belgium and Northern France,
Brussels.
“In order to secure the carrying out of the necessary tasks of
the Allocation of Labor in Belgium and France, especially the
assignments for Germany, and to strengthen the executive, a
protective corps, the Committee for Social Peace, is to be
created in France and Belgium. This protective corps is to
consist of indigenous forces with a nucleus of German police who
will act as leaders. This protective corps will consist of
approximately 5,000 men in France, and approximately 1,000 men
in Belgium. I give the following provisional instructions for
the formation of this protective corps and the accomplishment of
its tasks:
“I. Selection of members of the Protective Corps.
“The selection shall be made in close agreement with the
competent Police and SD offices, which shall approve the
candidates, especially from the point of view of their loyalty.
The selection shall be made especially among the members of
political movements favorably disposed to collaboration with
Germany.
“II. Organization of the Protective Corps.
“The Protective Corps will be directed from central offices to
be set up in Paris and Brussels. The heads of these offices
shall be designated by me.”—That is to say, by you, Defendant
Sauckel.—“They shall take orders from my delegates in France.
In purely police questions, the Protective Corps shall be
directed by the Higher SS and Police Leader. The regional groups
of the Protective Corps shall take orders from the commanders of
German police forces, and the latter will receive technical
directions from the Feldkommandantur and from the recruiting
offices as to their participation in tasks concerning the
Allocation of Labor. The German Police and the services of the
SD will deal with instruction in police matters; technical
training, as far as the Allocation of Labor is concerned, will
be given insofar as is necessary by the experts of the
Feldkommandantur and the recruiting offices.
“The members of the Protective Corps will not wear uniform; they
will however, carry firearms.
“III. Execution of orders.
“The members of the Protective Corps assigned to the recruiting
offices or to the Feldkommandantur shall be employed in such a
way as to insure maximum efficiency in the execution of measures
ordered. For example, they must be informed immediately if
Frenchmen who have been summoned by German offices do not
appear. They must find out the domiciles of these persons and
bring them to report in accordance with instructions from the
German police leader in collaboration with the French and German
police. Furthermore, they must track down immediately all those
who have refused to appear when summoned, and those who have
broken their contracts. In the interests of an effective
executive, it is expedient that they receive regularly lists of
persons summoned and persons liable for service, to enable them
to act immediately in cases where German directives have not
been complied with.
“It is to be presumed that these quick methods, coupled with
fitting punishment and immediate publication of the punishments,
will have a more deterrent effect than that achieved by tracking
down the men afterwards, as has been done up to now.
Furthermore, members of the Protective Corps are to keep the
German offices informed of any particular difficulties in
recruitment....”
And all that, Defendant, is signed “Sauckel.” Do you still claim that
you did not form a special police corps in France and Belgium?
SAUCKEL: I already told my attorney yesterday that in agreement with
French organizations such a protective corps was set up, so that on the
one hand people who wanted to work could be protected, and on the other
hand administrative measures could be carried out. Since the Frenchmen
themselves declared that they were ready and willing to collaborate, I
did not see anything unfavorable in this or anything that was in any way
out of order.
It was to alleviate the conditions of the indigenous people themselves.
M. HERZOG: I ask you to answer my question “yes” or “no.” Do you admit
that you set up this special police service?
SAUCKEL: I admit that I suggested this Protective Corps, and that it was
set up, but only on a small scale.
M. HERZOG: Is it true that you issued instructions, or imposed measures
of constraint against those who evaded the compulsory labor service?
SAUCKEL: I did not issue them myself, but rather the French Government
did. That is correct; for in every occupied territory—and that is true
the whole world over—the authority of the occupying power must be
respected.
M. HERZOG: Is it true that you demanded that the death penalty should be
applied to officials who, for instance, hindered your action?
SAUCKEL: It is true that at a conference with the French Premier Laval,
I demanded, by way of negotiations, the death penalty in cases of very
serious obstruction.
M. HERZOG: Then you admit that you demanded the application of the death
penalty in the case of these officials?
SAUCKEL: Yes, if a serious case of sabotage was in question—according
to martial law.
M. HERZOG: Is it true that your task was to procure for the German war
industry the labor it required?
SAUCKEL: That was one of my tasks.
M. HERZOG: In this respect were you responsible to the Defendant Speer,
Minister for Armaments and Munitions, for the carrying out of your task?
SAUCKEL: I was responsible to the Four Year Plan and to the Führer, and
I had instructions from the Führer to meet the requirements of Reich
Minister Speer as far as it was possible for me to do so.
M. HERZOG: Did the Defendant Speer approve of all the steps which you
took in recruiting foreign labor?
SAUCKEL: At all events he agreed, or he demanded, that workers should be
put at his disposal. Sometimes, however, we did not entirely agree as to
how it should be done; for instance, we did not agree about the
protected factories in France.
M. HERZOG: We will come to that later. I ask you to tell me whether you
always succeeded in satisfying the demands for workers which were made
to you by the different sections of German industry?
SAUCKEL: No, I was not always successful.
M. HERZOG: And when you failed, did the orders that were sent to you by
Defendant Speer have to have priority over all others?
SAUCKEL: Yes, they had to have priority.
M. HERZOG: Were there not incidents in this respect? For instance, did
it not happen that some transports of workers were diverted from their
original destination on instructions from Defendant Speer?
SAUCKEL: It did happen that, contrary to my instructions, labor
transports were stopped, or transferred to other regions or to other
factories. But whether the order always emanated from Herr Speer, or
from an armament commission, or from another office, I do not know. It
was not always from the same quarter.
M. HERZOG: In your interrogatory you declared, however, that the
original destination of these transports was sometimes changed in order
to satisfy the demands of Speer’s offices. Do you confirm this?
SAUCKEL: Yes; but I meant by that something rather different. In that
case I was informed about it. There were two kinds of changes, or
deviations: those which I did not know about, and those which were
agreed upon.
M. HERZOG: Will you tell the Tribunal what was understood by the “red
ticket” system?
SAUCKEL: The red ticket system was applied when there was a demand for
workers, mostly specialized or skilled workers, which had to take
priority over all other demands because the work was necessary.
M. HERZOG: The system of the red ticket was applied to the armament
industry, was it not?
SAUCKEL: The red ticket system was applied to the armament industry...
M. HERZOG: And it was established by agreement between the Defendant
Speer and yourself?
SAUCKEL: That was a system which, in my opinion, was always intended to
meet emergencies; there were variations, such as lists or red tickets.
Originally, there were only lists, and the red ticket was added by
decree.
M. HERZOG: You therefore admit that by these various systems you share
with the Defendant Speer the responsibility of having compelled workers
to work in German factories for the needs of the war which Germany was
fighting against their own native lands?
SAUCKEL: I should like to emphasize particularly that this red ticket
system did not apply only to foreign workers; it applied especially to
German workers too—German skilled workers.