I offer in evidence under Exhibit Number RF-1521 the certificate
establishing the origin of this album.
In October of 1945 you were interrogated on the expulsion of Jews from
industry. You said this:
“I never had anything to do with it. I had nothing to do with
the question of the eviction of Jews from industry. I had no
influence in this matter. It was an enigma to me.”
Can you confirm this declaration?
SAUCKEL: That is perfectly correct. I did not say the eviction of the
Jews from industry was a secret to me; I said that, to the best of my
recollection, I had nothing to do with it.
M. HERZOG: Your counsel gave you a document yesterday, Document Number
L-61, which you thought you had to contest.
SAUCKEL: Yes.
M. HERZOG: The point that you raised against this document was that it
was dated 1942, and that it dealt with questions prior to your
appointment. Did I understand you correctly yesterday?
SAUCKEL: The enclosures to the document deal with questions that had
already been started before I was appointed.
M. HERZOG: I offer in evidence Document Number L-156, which becomes
Exhibit Number RF-1522. It is a letter written under the authority of
the Delegate for the Four Year Plan, the Plenipotentiary General for the
Allocation of Labor, which is you. It is dated 26 March 1943. It is
addressed to the chiefs of the regional labor offices, and it deals with
the question of the eviction of Jews. It begins thus:
“In agreement with me and the Reich Minister for Armaments and
Munitions, the Reichsführer SS, for reasons of state security,
removed from their place of work at the end of February such
Jews as were not living in camps and who were working as free
workers.
“They have been formed into working units or assembled for
deportation. In order not to endanger the efficacy of this
measure, I have avoided issuing any notification beforehand, and
I have notified only those regional labor offices in whose
districts free Jewish manpower was employed in large numbers.
“So as to have a general view of the effect of those measures on
the manpower position, I ask you to let me have, as from 31
March 1943, returns showing how many Jews were removed from
their work, and how many it has been found necessary to replace
by other workers.
“When giving the numbers of the factories and of the Jews
employed by them, one should take into account the situation
which existed before the evacuation. The enclosed form should be
used for making reports, _et cetera_.”
Do you still say that you had no part in the matter of the eviction of
Jews and their replacement by foreign workers?
SAUCKEL: Here again I must state emphatically that this letter was never
put before me. It has no signature, and here again it comes from a
subdivision in the Reich Ministry of Labor at 96 Saarlandstrasse. Some
official dealt with it there. I myself have absolutely no recollection
of having ever had knowledge of this letter. I did not write it, it does
not come from my office, it has been written “by order,” and the
signature is not mine.