SAUCKEL: Sperrbetriebe were factories which worked for Speer in France,
which had been agreed to by the French Minister Bichelonne, and they
were blocked as far as labor recruitment was concerned.
M. HERZOG: Did you not exert strong pressure on the Defendant Speer to
get him to abandon the practice of blocking industries?
SAUCKEL: I asked him and I urged him, but I could not succeed in putting
an end to the blocking of these factories.
M. HERZOG: Did you ever bring up the matter with Hitler and insist that
Speer should give up his position?
SAUCKEL: Yes, I was very insistent with Hitler about it, but I had no
success.
M. HERZOG: In this connection did you not ask the Führer to increase
your powers at the expense of the Defendant Speer?
SAUCKEL: I did not ask for a general extension of my powers, but I asked
that conditions should be allowed to remain as they had been previously,
for—I ask to be permitted to explain this to the Tribunal—my task was
to bring workers from France to Germany—may I make this statement:
The departments under Speer demanded skilled workers from me. There were
skilled workers already in the factories which Speer had blocked.
Similar industries in Germany would, of course, be worse off if instead
of having skilled French workers they were supplied with unskilled
French workers, or men without experience in that particular trade. I
had to procure workers in any case, but I considered it wiser for German
economy to procure for it the right kind of workers and not workers who
were unskilled.
M. HERZOG: I beg the Tribunal to turn back to Document Number 3819-PS,
the second part of 3819-PS. It consists of two letters, each addressed
to the Führer, by the Defendant Sauckel and by the Defendant Speer, on
this subject of the blocking of industries.
First of all, I will read to the Tribunal some extracts from Sauckel’s
letter, which happens to be the second.
THE PRESIDENT: Have these not both been read already?
M. HERZOG: I think they have already been read, Mr. President; I cannot
affirm it, but believe so. Document Number 3819-PS has already been
submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number GB-306. If the Tribunal
wishes, I can limit myself to very short extracts.
THE PRESIDENT: You need not read them for the purpose of your question
of the defendant.
M. HERZOG: [_Turning to the defendant._] In this letter, on Page 27, you
asked whether you could obtain in a general manner a free hand for the
rational utilization of labor.
Do you admit that you asked the Führer for this free hand?
SAUCKEL: I have not found the place. I could never have asked for a free
hand, but I did ask to be permitted to recruit as before. I cannot find
the place that you are quoting.