used because we didn’t capture any more. So far as I know, British and
American prisoners of war were not used in armament factories.
Repeatedly, proposals in this direction were made also in the case of
noncoms and officers. In the case of officers—it was Polish officers,
if I recall, no change in the regulations was made, so far as I recall.
Instructions were transmitted to the OKW, but I do not know if anything
came of them.

Q. I come now to your two sworn affidavits of 19 November 1946;
Prosecution Exhibit 76 is a sworn affidavit of yours of that date.
NOKW-266, dated 19 November, * * *.

Q. Did you know that in 1944, in order to protect the aircraft industry,
underground and protected factories were built?

A. Yes.

Q. You know who gave the original order for this?

A. So far as I know, the order for this relocation of industries in
subterranean plants was given by the Jaegerstab itself. I was not
competent in this matter, but naturally I took part in the discussion of
the Jaegerstab and heard it there. I heard that it was decided that a
bombed-out factory should be relocated to a different place which the
Jaegerstab would determine.

Q. That’s no answer to my question. Witness, I asked: Who gave the
original order for the construction of these subterranean factories? Do
you know that?

A. If I may repeat; you want to know who ordered in the first place that
these plants should be transferred to subterranean factories? That I do
not know.

Q. Do you know Herr Kammler?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you know from whom he received the order to construct these
special subterranean factories?

A. Here again I do not know precisely who gave him the original order.
In any event, at the first beginning of the Jaegerstab, Kammler became a
member and was commissioned to undertake the construction of
subterranean buildings for Jaegerstab protection. The Jaegerstab pointed
out to him individual objectives and he reported from time to time how
many square meters were now ready. But who first originally gave these
orders to Kammler, whether it was Himmler or Hitler or some agreement or
something like that, I don’t know.

Q. Was Kammler commissioned into the Jaegerstab because of an order of
Himmler or because of some special order elsewhere?

A. I am not able to say. I assume that Himmler also gave him an order.
The individual orders, what he was to build, he received from the
Jaegerstab.

Q. Did Kammler, within the Jaegerstab, represent Himmler?

A. I do not know his powers or his functions and I cannot say. He was in
the construction sector. That I know, but Himmler had charge of more
things than construction.

PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: Will you try to answer these questions as simply
and briefly as you can? Were Russian prisoners of war used in the
armament industry?

WITNESS SCHMELTER: In the armaments plant Russian prisoners of war were
also employed. At what they were employed, I do not know, since they
were already there when I came and I did not myself inspect the plants.

Q. Did you ever see Russian prisoners of war either manufacturing or
transporting munitions of war?

A. In plants and in transports? No. Neither in plants nor in transports
did I see Russian prisoners of war.

Q. That question is perfectly clear and you understand it?

A. I shall repeat it. I was asked whether these prisoners of war
worked—whether I saw them in plants or in transport.

Q. That’s right.

A. And I answered in the negative.

Q. Were Russian prisoners of war used in the decentralization of the
Luftwaffe after the heavy bombings?

A. Not that I know of. So far as I know, after the heavy bombings
Russian prisoners of war were no longer available. They had already been
assigned elsewhere. I do know that after the heavy bombings, that is, in
the year 1944, new Russian prisoners of war were not used in armaments
or in the bombed out factories. It is, of course, possible that the
local labor offices used Russian prisoners of war for this purpose, but
we in the central offices knew nothing of this.

Q. Will you answer the same questions as to Polish prisoners of war?

A. So far as I know, Polish prisoners of war consisted solely of
officers. Only officers were available. The others had been freed. The
officers, however, in contradiction to many wishes that were expressed,
were not used. At least if they were, I know nothing of it.

Q. Will you answer the same questions as to Hungarian Jews?

A. Hungarian Jews, among other things, were used in the construction of
fighters—fighter planes. Female Hungarian Jews were also used in the
actual construction of fighter planes.

Q. Were they voluntary workers?

A. No. Those were inmates of concentration camps, prisoners at the
disposal of the SS.

Q. So the Hungarian Jews who were employed in the manufacture of fighter
planes were forced to work in that connection?

A. The Hungarian Jews, so far as I recall, were offered by the SS to be
employed in armament production. At first there were 1,000 of them or
500 who were employed. Then a number of plants said that they wanted
such workers and they were then allotted by the SS to these plants and
there they were obliged to work.

Q. Then the SS, which was one branch of the German military
establishment simply dealt out the Hungarian Jews to anybody who needed
them?

A. No. The Hungarian Jews, like all concentration camp inmates, were
housed in camps that were either in or near the plants and which were
constructed by the SS. They were then taken to work every day, and after
the work they were again brought back by the SS to the camps. Also, the
supervision of the work, for security reasons, was carried out by the
SS. So far as the technical side of it was concerned, it was carried out
by the representatives of the plant.

Q. Of course you don’t claim they were paid for their work?

A. That I do not know. I only know the general regulations concerning
concentration camp prisoners, and I know them in part. I know that these
prisoners, at least toward the end, also received some sort of wages.
What the payment was, I do not know. I do know that the plant had to
give the SS a certain amount for each prisoner, but what the prisoner
himself received, I do not know.

Q. Do you know whether these Hungarian Jews worked through any contract
with a foreign government, as was the case in France?

A. Let me repeat the question whether Hungarian Jews worked on the basis
of an agreement with a foreign power—foreign government. Was that the
question?

Q. Yes.

A. Not that I know of.

Q. I have no other questions. One more question please. You said that
you know that Russian prisoners of war were working in the armament
factories but you didn’t know what kind of work they were doing.

A. Yes.

Q. Did you ever see them in any of the factories?

A. No.

Q. What do you think they were doing?

A. I guess some of them were engaged in construction. So far as skilled
workers were concerned they were certainly working at tasks that they
were qualified to do. So far as they were unskilled workers they might
have been doing almost anything.

Q. If they were working in munitions factories they were doing something
to manufacture munitions, were they not?

A. If they worked in munitions factories then they must, of course, have
had something to do with manufacturing munitions. Even if they only
worked in the courtyard, or something like that, they still had
something to do with the manufacture of munitions.

JUDGE PHILLIPS: Witness, did you ever know of any prisoners of war,
especially Russians, being used to man antiaircraft guns?

A. In the construction or in the use of the antiaircraft?

Q. In the use of antiaircraft.

A. Yes, I have heard of that. I heard that Russian prisoners of war were
used to man antiaircraft guns of that sort.

Q. Do you have any idea how many were used for that purpose?

A. No, I don’t.

Q. Did you ever see them being used for that purpose?

A. No.

Q. On what fronts were they used?

A. I believe they were used on the home front, not on the actual battle
front, but that is simply my opinion.

Q. Against American planes, British planes, and Russian planes?

A. They shot at whatever planes were over Germany.

DR. BERGOLD: Witness, you spoke of female Jews. When were these female
Jews employed?

A. I do not know the precise date. It was the summer of 1944. In my
estimation, it must have been May.

Q. Let me show you Document NOKW-359, Prosecution Exhibit 75. It is the
next to the last document of the prosecution, Stenographic Minutes of
the Jaegerstab Meeting of 27 June 1944. You said: “I have a few more
points. Up until now 12,000 female concentration camp internees,
Jewesses, have been demanded. The matter is now in order. The SS has
agreed to deliver these Hungarian Jewesses in batches of 500. Thus the
smaller firms, too, will be in a better position to employ these
concentration camp Jewesses. I request that these people should be
ordered in batches of 500.”

Is this the point from when onward these females were used?

A. Yes. It must have been about this time. The difficulty was the
following: The SS demanded that the females should be delivered in
batches of thousands only. Most factories could not use such a large
number of females. Consequently, the SS was asked if it could not
deliver them in smaller groups. That is the reason.

Q. Witness, is there a difference between the concept of
“Ruestungsfabrik”, which means armament factory, and “Munitionsfabrik”,
which means a munitions factory? Is there a difference in Germany?

A. “Ruestungsfabrik” took care of all sorts of armament production,
materials, finishing up the deliveries and so on and so forth.
“Munitionsfabrik” is the narrower concept and contents itself with the
manufacture of munitions only.

Q. Did the “Munitionsfabrik” belong inside the concept of
“Luftruestung”, air armament?

A. So far as the “Luftruestung” is concerned, they did, yes. The
limitation of these concepts was not, however, uniform. Unfortunately,
we had very few uniform concepts. They were often misused.

Q. Were factories that made sheet metal and so on, armament factories?
Did they fall under the concept of armaments?

A. They did, yes.

DR. BERGOLD: Thank you.

_CROSS-EXAMINATION_

MR. DENNEY: In one of these interrogations, on 30 December 1946, you
were asked what the Jaegerstab did to bring workers from Hungary into
Germany; do you recall that?

A. Yes.

Q. And do you recall that you made reference to certain trips of the
Jaegerstab to Hungary?

A. Yes.

Q. You made this statement: “The Jaegerstab, during its existence, made
at least a total of 10 to 12 trips”?

A. Yes.

Q. All right. You were asked this question: “Who was in charge of these
trips?” And your answer was: “So far as I remember, it was Milch. Milch
participated in most trips of the Jaegerstab.”

A. In most of them, yes.

Q. In the same interrogation on 30 December, the record indicates that
you made this statement: “I know about 100,000 workers from Hungary;
however, these were Jews who were allocated to construction. I know
nothing about 8,000 workers who evidently were skilled workers, intended
for the fighter production program.”

A. Yes.

Q. You were then asked: “Is it known to you that these 100,000 Jews were
used by Todt in the interests of the Jaegerstab?” and you made the
following answer: “Yes, that is known to me.”

A. Yes.

Q. You were interrogated on 24 January and asked this question: “Do you
know whether the Luftwaffe, in the Luftwaffe industry, used
concentration camp prisoners, not in the building program, but for
production?” and your answer was: “I don’t know. I don’t think so,
except for women. The SS once offered us a lot of women. The difficulty
was that, at first, at least 1,000 and later 500 were to be employed.
Various firms got women after that, and I think that Heinkel, in
Oranienburg, used concentration camp prisoners, not only women, but all
the inmates.”

A. Yes.

Q. The answer was yes, if your Honor please. And Heinkel was an airplane
factory, was it not, producing the Heinkel plane?

A. Yes.

Q. On November 15, of last year, you were asked if you knew that Himmler
used concentration camp inmates for the underground buildings of the
Jaegerstab, and your answer: “Yes. You mean the finished buildings, do
you not?” And then you were asked: “The underground ones, the completion
of the existing caverns or tunnels, or the like, where concentration
camp inmates were employed?” and your answer: “Yes.”

A. Yes.

Q. And you were also asked: “Were these constructions built in the
interest of the Luftwaffe?” Your answer: “These new constructions? Yes.”

A. Yes.

Q. The next question: “Exclusively in the interest of the Luftwaffe? And
did the orders for the new constructions come from the Jaegerstab?”
Answer: “Whether other constructions were also built there? Probably,
yes.” Question: “I am only interested in the Luftwaffe.” Answer: “Also
for the Luftwaffe. I do not know whether for others. I would not like to
pin myself down.”

A. Yes.

Q. Later you were asked: “Do you know that prisoners of war were at all
employed in air armament?” and you stated: “Yes, I should like to say,
the armament plants. The air armament also employed prisoners of war in
its plants.”

A. Yes.

Q. In reply to a question: “What was Field Marshal Milch’s position in
the Jaegerstab?” you stated, “There were two chairmen in the Jaegerstab,
Speer and Milch. In the first session, or rather in most of the
sessions, Milch participated personally; Speer did not. Speer was
present only in exceptional cases. In his position, Saur, who was at the
same time manager, initiated the contact with the rest of the armament
industry. Milch was Chief of the Jaegerstab, besides Speer.”

A. Yes.

Q. In the same interrogation of 15 November you made the following
statement: “Assignment of labor was involved in every question including
every question of production.”

A. Yes.

Q. On 26 November you made the following statement when you were
interrogated: “Mobilization of manpower as a matter which is closely
connected with production was very much discussed. Everybody had a word
to say, had a request for something and they suggested or said I could
do better, etc.”

A. Yes.

_REDIRECT EXAMINATION_

DR. BERGOLD: Witness, as to the trip to Hungary, were you present when
the committee went to Hungary?

A. No, I traveled only as far as Prague and returned.

Q. Do you know the purpose of this trip to Hungary?

A. Not precisely. I know that there was a question of production to take
place in Hungary, but precise information I do not have.

Q. Do you know that there was a definite contract with Hungary?

A. I heard about that subsequently.

Q. Did you then hear that this trip had the purpose of bringing
Hungarian Jews to Germany?

A. No.

Q. Thank you. The prosecutor spoke to you of 100,000 Jews. Did you know
that these were to be used by Mr. Dorsch?

A. Yes.

Q. And, as far as the tasks that he had, mainly for the construction of
bombproof factories?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you know whether the Jaegerstab ordered these 100,000 Jews or
whether somebody else did?

A. The employment of these 100,000 Jews in this construction
organization took place on Hitler’s orders. I, myself, was not present
at this discussion. Dorsch, however, was present and told me that Hitler
had ordered—had said Himmler had 100,000 Jews for bombproof factories
and was to make them available.

Q. Do you know whether and in what number and when these Jews arrived to
carry out this construction work?

A. I do not know precisely the dates. It was in the summer of 1944. Nor
do I know whether all of them arrived. Once I concerned myself with the
question regarding the guarding of these people. At that time the SS did
not have enough guard personnel and Hitler ordered Keitel to provide
10,000 soldiers which were to be withdrawn from the eastern front and to
make them available to the SS so that they, the SS, would have the
necessary guard personnel. Thereafter, I heard nothing further about the
matter and assumed that the Jews for the most part were employed. I
deduced this from the fact that I otherwise should have heard of it
probably.

Q. I discussed just yesterday with you whether these buildings were
ordered by the Jaegerstab. I do not need to return to that question.
Were these constructions used exclusively by the Jaegerstab or for other
advantages, such as armored cars?

A. Originally they were exclusively planned for fighter construction but
I do recall that, as time went on, there were also discussions of using
them for other manufacture, for instance, tanks, and this construction
was to take place in these buildings. Since, however, I had nothing to
do with this professionally, I can only report on this from hearsay. In
other words, I know nothing precisely.

Q. The prosecutor quoted to you a statement of yours from an
interrogation; I shall ask you now did you make the statement in the
interrogation that Milch was responsible in air armament to seek out
workers individually?

A. I don’t know how I should understand the word “seek out”; if you mean
that he went to foreign countries and searched for them personally, then
of course that is wrong. I did state in that interrogation that during
my activity in the Jaegerstab in March 1944 no individual actions in
foreign countries were carried out by Milch or the Jaegerstab. The
manpower was provided by Sauckel exclusively, or to the extent that they
were prisoners by the SS, or prisoners of war by the Wehrmacht.

Q. And then they were transferred, as you said yesterday, to other
sectors?

A. Yes.

Q. You also said in this interrogation that in most of the meetings
Milch was present.

A. At the beginning, I said.

DR. BERGOLD: I have no further questions.

       EXTRACTS OF TESTIMONY OF DEFENSE WITNESS XAVER DORSCH[133]

_DIRECT EXAMINATION_

[Tr. p. 1361-1379]

DR. BERGOLD: Please state to the Court your first and last name?

WITNESS DORSCH: Xaver Dorsch.

Q. When were you born?

A. 28 December 1899.

Q. What was your last position in the German Reich?

A. I was Deputy Chief of the Todt Organization, in the Speer Ministry.

Q. On the 28th of December 1946 you signed an affidavit?

A. Yes, sir.

DR. BERGOLD: Your Honor, this is Document NOKW-447, Prosecution Exhibit
74.

Q. Witness, you made the following statement:

“As deputy of Minister Speer in his capacity as Chief of the Todt
Organization, I received from Hitler, at the end of April 1944, an order
to construct with the Todt Organization six bombproof fighter factories,
of which two should have priority.” Can you tell me about the history of
this construction?

A. Yes, but I must go into detail.

Q. Proceed.

A. Approximately eight months before this date, I made a suggestion to
Minister Speer about how bombproof fighter factories above ground could
be built, in this way, not only to secure manufacture, but also so that
they would be more secure against bomb damage while being built.

The source was that the Todt Organization in France was doing a similar
construction job as a launching site for V-2 bombs. Speer told me that I
should take the plans with me on my next visit to the Fuehrer’s
Headquarters, and two weeks later I was with Speer, visiting Hitler, and
after other matters had been discussed, and before going, Speer
mentioned this matter and Hitler said: “We must absolutely achieve
bombproof aircraft factories because there is danger that transportation
might be attacked, and then we cannot make up the time we have lost.”
Hitler wanted large-size, big scale units, in which planes and fighters
could be protected from the beginning to the end, because he saw a
danger in the fact that transportation could be attacked and
interrupted, and then the different parts, if they were made in various
factories, could not be assembled.

He said that he imagined the matter roughly as follows: In narrow
mountain valleys in Saxonian Switzerland, for example, caves could be
dug which would provide these bombproof factory installations. Then
Speer said, “Dorsch or the Todt Organization has another suggestion.”
Speer said that, and I then submitted to him my plans for the special
Todt Organization construction, which, as I said, had already been built
in France, and I also pointed out to him that such factories, even as
they were being built, were relatively safe against bomb attack.

This was roughly eight months before this date in April on which this
commission of which I spoke in my affidavit was given to me. Hitler said
to me that it was a matter of indifference to him according to what
system these things were built, but that it was important to him that
something really serious should be done.

On the next day there was a discussion on the same theme with Goering.
Speer’s representative Dethleffsen, as Plenipotentiary for construction
matters, and the leader of the main committee for construction,
Gaertner, were present. I had to explain again the thought behind this
special construction which I was proposing. Goering was enthusiastic and
said that that was the solution and that the Todt Organization should
begin immediately with that construction. Thereupon Speer said, “The
Todt Organization cannot build these factories because it builds only
outside the Reich, with the exception of the Ruhr district, and in the
Reich itself the Main Committee for Construction should carry out the
construction,” and for that reason, he had called the two gentlemen I
mentioned above. Goering also said that it was indifferent to him who
built the factories, that the important thing was that they should be
built soon.

In April of 1944, I was visiting Speer near Meran when a call came that
I should immediately go to Hitler. Speer asked me if I had any idea what
was afoot, but I did not. I immediately went to Berchtesgaden. There
Hitler asked me, “What has become of your fighter production?” I told
him that I did not know precisely, because in the Reich the Todt
Organization did not do the constructing but another organization. He
was greatly excited and said roughly, that he had heard enough about
this other organization, that he did not want it, and he demanded that
the Todt Organization should take over that construction immediately.

Then the plans were fetched overnight from Berlin. I explained the whole
system to him once more. I told him that I could only carry out this
construction if it were given priority above all other construction as
far as workers, machines, building materials, trucks, and so
on—whatever is needed in construction—were concerned. I was given
assurances that that priority would be given me, and I then took over
this construction project.

I was able to assure myself that the Hauptausschuss Bau—the Main
Committee for Construction—which had been in charge before I took over
had begun constructions at three locations. On one of these we
immediately stopped work, because both architecturally and, as the
Jaegerstab told me, technically the factory was no good.

Q. Witness, you then said that the wish to build these bombproof fighter
factories by the Todt Organization was communicated to you by the
Jaegerstab. What do you know about that personally?

A. I know the following: The Jaegerstab, as far as the entire work of
the Plenipotentiary for construction was concerned, was not satisfied
with the work. Saur complained continuously about how work dragged on
and asked me repeatedly to step in and do something. He called me to his
meetings in the Jaegerstab and asked me to develop further plans. I was
called up continuously by other gentlemen. I remember Major Dr. Krohmer,
who also asked me to step in, and again and again I had to say that that
would not do because, I said the Todt Organization did not carry out
construction in the Reich. I was pressed continuously by the Jaegerstab,
because it was the organization that would benefit from these
constructions.

Q. Do you know whether Milch went in that direction too, or only Saur?

A. That I cannot say. I did not speak about that to him myself. I did
speak with Saur and a few other gentlemen—I believe with Schlempp who
was later representative of the Todt Organization in the Jaegerstab.

Q. When was that first pressure on the part of Saur? Was that before
March of 1944?

A. Yes. That was even earlier, but I cannot say precisely. It might have
been in February even.

Q. Do you know whether Saur visited the Fuehrer on this matter?

A. I was not present, but I assumed that it must have been so. I cannot
prove it, however.

Q. So. This afternoon you told me what you thought Milch’s function was
in the Jaegerstab. You used a rather striking expression. Would you like
to repeat it here?

A. I called him “the breakfast director”. I ask the defendant to pardon
the expression. He shouldn’t hold it against me.

Q. What do you mean by this “breakfast director”?

A. Well, it is sort of difficult for me to tell that.

Q. Milch won’t be angry.

A. Well, I only saw him at a Jaegerstab meeting once, when he invited me
and when he asked for the support of the Todt Organization. He explained
to me the general situation. He told me what his worries and troubles
were, but the real work, the whole functioning of the thing, I don’t
believe he concerned himself with. That is why I used the expression
“breakfast director,” but perhaps that was a little exaggerated.

Q. I quite understand. After the end of April 1944, when you were
commissioned with these construction matters, what did you do?

A. As I told Hitler very exactly, I took Todt Organization units from
France and from the Atlantic Wall.

Q. How many were there?

A. 2,000 or 3,000—I cannot remember.

Q. Your affidavit says 10,000.

A. No, that is incorrect. That cannot have been the number in France.
The second time that I went to the Plenipotentiary General for
chemistry, Prof. Krauch, and told him of the serious situation, and I
finally brought him to the point of giving me 15,000 workers from his
department.

Q. What workers were those?

A. First of all, in the Baltic States—that was a Todt Organization
itself—I took away most of the German workers, and took some elsewhere
as additional workers, engineers, experts of one sort or another,
machinists. Then came the attack on Leuna on the 10th or 12th of May
1944. That was on the occasion of the first attack on Leuna. I had a
talk with Hitler at that time. He said, “This cannot be tolerated—that,
at the very moment when we are so in need of oil, workers are taken away
from Leuna”.

I then answered him that, first of all, I had undertaken this measure
before the air attack, and secondly, it was not a question of cutting
down on oil production, but of oil capacity. Hitler took over and said,
“No, that cannot be”. Then Speer said, “If we don’t get the workers, we
can’t do the building”. Hitler said, “Quiet down, you will get 50,000
Italians,” and then I said, “I don’t believe that”, and I said that for
the following reasons: We, the Todt Organization, had such workers from
Italy for the construction program Riese in Silesia, but we did not do
this via Sauckel but by applying to Italian firms to take over
construction commissions in Germany, and then they automatically brought
their workers, their directors and architects, and so on, with them
particularly after we had assured them that we with our
organization—that is to say, with the Todt Organization in Italy—would
take care of paying wages, paying for the hospitalization fees,
insurance, and so on, but at the moment when workers were fetched by
Sauckel, I understood clearly that workers such as we needed would not
be provided in any considerable numbers. At any rate, I told Hitler, “I
do not believe in these Italian workers, and I won’t believe in them
until they have crossed the Brenner Pass.” He then said to me, “You can
believe in them because tomorrow Mussolini is signing an agreement that
1,000,000 workers will come to Germany.”

* * * If I may mention it, it is also worthy of mention, that in
January, the beginning of January, I was at a conference with Hitler, or
rather, I did not take part in it, but I knew of it. There, a new worker
contingent was demanded, and in this conference Hitler himself named the
number of 250,000 workers for the construction; for aircraft
construction. In other words, it wasn’t Speer but Hitler who demanded
those workers, especially, and it is possible—that, at any rate, is the
way I construe it now—that he was thinking of these fighter plants.
Then I asked Hitler to permit me to use 10,000 Todt Organization workers
from Southern Russia. I must mention that here, because I did that as
Speer’s representative with Hitler. I could not have said to Speer that
he should give me these 10,000 workers. I had to do that through Hitler,
because the commanders in chief, in this case the commander in chief of
the army group in Southern Russia, were in charge of these people and
they had to be released by them. Thereupon these 10,000 workers got
under way toward Germany. However, they unfortunately arrived very
slowly and some of them never got to the fighter plant, but were taken
over by Speer to make ball bearings in Wellen, in Thuringia, and then,
when no workers came, the plants were to be built by Hungarian Jews. I
do not know precisely when it was, but I do remember an armaments
conference in Linz—I guess it was about the middle of June or maybe
later, but I can’t say for sure—and it was then that the first ones
began to arrive.

Q. Were they approved by Hitler?

A. Yes.

Q. Witness, when you of the Todt Organization fetched Italians on your
own initiative, were they volunteers or were they more or less forced
labor?

A. Precisely in Italy, we had a remarkable achievement because as a
matter of principle we turned to Italian firms, gave them commissions
and they provided the workers. I believe I can say that the Todt
Organization was known for taking model care of its workers. For
instance, in Norway and Holland, the Dutch or Norwegian Todt worker
received higher wages than the German Todt worker who was working right
beside him. I could make extensive statements on that if I wanted to, or
if I were given the opportunity.

Q. But that is not an answer to my question, whether they were
volunteers or forced labor?

A. They were not forced. They were brought by their firms.

Q. Through the Italian firms?

A. Yes, that was the intention from the very beginning, so that the
Italian firms could provide their trained and expert personnel to us,
and, in this way, they were simply volunteers; they did much better work
than if they were forced.

DR. BERGOLD: No further questions.

_CROSS-EXAMINATION_

MR. KING: Witness, you stated that Milch was only present at a few of
the early meetings of the Jaegerstab. May I ask you—

A. What I said refers only to those meetings of the Jaegerstab at which
I was present and that was perhaps four or five.

Q. Now, you said, in your affidavit, which has been submitted as a
prosecution exhibit referred to by Dr. Bergold, that you received an
order for the construction of fighter factories at the end of April
1944?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you recall being present at a conference at Berchtesgaden with
Goering, among others, on the 19th of April 1944?

A. I cannot say whether that was the precise date, but I did take part
in some such conference.

Q. Do you recall who was present at that conference?

A. Yes. Goering was there, Milch was there, the others I’m not sure
about. Saur—I’m not sure he was there. I knew for sure that Milch and
Goering were present, but as to the others I no longer recall.

Q. Do you recall what was discussed at this conference?

A. The construction of fighter plants was discussed then, and, if I
remember, Goering pointed out that the Todt Organization was to receive
all sorts of support but I do not remember the details at the moment.

Q. And a few days later, on 21 April 1944, you received the order from
Hitler to build the six fighter plants?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you recall that possible sources of labor were discussed at this
meeting? That is, labor for the construction of the fighter factories?

A. I should like to assume that, but I do not remember precisely.
Probably all sorts of conditions and possibilities were discussed, but I
cannot answer this precisely.

Q. You were discussing a large-scale construction; you must have known
where this labor was to come from. Can you tell me what possible sources
were discussed at that meeting?

A. I do not know whether or not that question was discussed at this
conference. I assume that it was, but that was such a long time ago that
it is impossible for me to recall these details. But I was clear in my
own mind about that fact. That we needed so and so many workers was of
course obvious. I did make the demand that this construction program
should receive top priority and I stated previously that I wanted
primarily German workers, which was then done, and in the sector of the
Plenipotentiary General for chemistry I wanted to take some workers;
that was the way in Germany that you got workers. Later, when we of the
Todt Organization took over the construction program in Germany, we saw
that a large number of construction offices had so little manpower that
they had to stop production and there again we found workers. The whole
situation was somewhat unclear because when we took over building these
fighter factories, the entire construction was turned over to the Todt
Organization, and no one could take the responsibility for such
important constructions unless he could control the direction of the
whole construction program, but, with the best will in the world, I
can’t recall the details. There were so many conferences, one followed
the other so rapidly, I do not any longer recall.

Q. Who was your representative at meetings of the Jaegerstab?

A. Schlempp, first of all; even before I was commissioned with this
task, he was the technical adviser or expert on construction. Saur asked
me at that time to regard him as the liaison man between the Todt
Organization and the Jaegerstab. Then, about the middle of June,
Schlempp became group leader of the unit in Prague, for which reason I
provided one of my best men, namely, Knipping and I used him in what had
previously been Schlempp’s capacity.

Q. Do you recall that Schlempp, and later Knipping, reported on the
progress of it to the Jaegerstab?

A. I am convinced that they did, because that was their job.

Q. Now can you give me percentagewise the breakdown of this labor by
groups, that is, prisoners of war labor, foreign labor, concentration
camp labor, German labor?

A. That I could only do with the most general estimate, with vagueness.
In the case of Kaufering, there were perhaps sixty percent from the
concentration camps; however, prisoners of war, as far as I know, were
not there at all. The rest must have been Germans. In Muehldorf, where
the second factory was, the breakdown was roughly the same, but I really
cannot say. I visited each one of these factories only twice. Because of
the transportation situation of the Rhine bridges and the hydrogenation
plant situation, I did not have the time to visit them.

Q. Now did you obtain any of this labor for the construction project? Do
you recall obtaining any of this from Schmelter?

A. I take it that Hitler himself had approved these workers. Our request
went to Schmelter, and he was working his own men in that Todt
Organization, and in the Jaegerstab, and it was his job to settle the
details when they should come, and what they should be paid, and such
matters. That was Schmelter’s job, and Schmelter was told that this is a
technical staff, and he knew that Hitler had approved the workers, and
so it was his job to take care of the details, and to inform the
Einsatzgruppe what it should do. I did not carry much of these things in
detail after that.

Q. Now do you recall how large a construction was at Kaufering? I am
speaking both at Kaufering I and Kaufering II?

A. You mean the technical construction?

Q. Yes.

A. There was one main hall in Kaufering I, three hundred meters long,
ninety meters wide, with six stories. Kaufering II conducted production
later, but everything was concentrated in Kaufering I.

Q. Do you recall how much of this construction was completed?

A. I should think three-fourths. At the last time I visited this
construction shortly before the collapse, the machines were being set in
on one side of the building, and that is as far as it went.

Q. And to whom was this plant allocated?

A. That I cannot say. In my opinion the Messerschmitt, but I must be
careful in what I say here, because in the last week before the collapse
there were negotiations with the armament staff. I cannot remember what
that situation was in Kaufering, but in Muehldorf there was constant
talk of putting Buna in there. That changed continuously, dependent on
the war situation. Once Speer wanted to set up a steel foundry in the
fighter factory in the Rhineland, which was later changed.

Q. Please answer the question. Now in these inspections at Kaufering, do
you recall any Luftwaffe representatives who inspected these
construction sites?

A. That I don’t know. I cannot say. A colonel of the Luftwaffe was there
but in his capacity as representative of the armament commando or of an
armament office.

Q. Now getting back to this meeting of 19 April 1944, do you recall that
Speer was present there?

A. No.

Q. How were your relations with Speer at that time?

A. They were tense. Speer did not regard the Todt Organization as a sort
of construction organization. To make a statement, I should have to go
into great detail on this subject.

Q. I think that suffices. Now with regard to the recruitment of these
fifty thousand Italians, which you discussed with Dr. Bergold, do you
recall who was to handle the recruitment of those Italians for work in
the Reich?

A. To be sure that I do not make any false statement, is it your concern
who recruited the fifty thousand Italians that Hitler approved of?

Q. My concern is through what channel were these Italians that were
promised Hitler by Mussolini, through what channels were they recruited?

A. That was to be taken care of by Sauckel, but through the Todt
Organization, who had their office in Italy apply to Italian firms
ultimately, and that was done through the Todt Organization office in
Italy.

Q. Now with regard to these Italians, do you know what provision was
made for the guarding of those that were to arrive, that is, en route?

A. Of that I know nothing, because they did not arrive. They were not
watched, or guarded at all. They were free workers, there was no reason
to guard them.

Q. Now, Witness, outside of Kaufering, can you tell me where and under
what names these other fighter factories were to be located?

A. In Muehldorf, and then there was a factory in Vaihingen.

Q. Just a minute. Now with regard to Muehldorf, can you tell me what
that was to be used for, who was it to be used by?

A. First it was thought of as a fighter factory, and then, a few weeks
before the collapse, there was a conference of the armament gentlemen in
Munich, at which it was agreed that it could be used for the manufacture
of Buna; in other words, they changed their minds.

Q. What time did that conference at Munich take place?

A. That must have been about the end of March 1945.

Q. Now, with regard to Muehldorf, can you tell me where, primarily this
labor was coming from?

A. These were Hungarian Jews. There were Germans there. Where they came
from, that I don’t know.

Q. Well, now, with regard to these Hungarian Jews, can you tell me
whether that was a result of a special action in Hungary?

A. I don’t believe so, but I don’t know. We were only told that we were
going to receive Hungarian Jews. They were already in Germany, if I
remember, but where they came from I don’t know because I didn’t concern
myself with it.

Q. But you do recall that Hungarian Jews were used on that site?

A. Yes.

Q. Now, with regard to these other factories, we have covered Kaufering
and Muehldorf, can you tell me the location of the others?

A. Vaihingen—that was a factory that was already under construction
before the Todt Organization stepped in.

Q. Witness, where was that located?

A. V-a-i-h-i-n-g-e-n, and it is in Wuerttemberg.

Q. And how large was that construction?

A. It was a building about 100 meters by 60, four, five stories high.

Q. And do you recall what type of workers was used in that construction?

A. Concentration camp inmates, but I don’t know the number.

Q. And that was in Thuringia?

A. No, in Wuerttemberg.

Q. Now do you recall that any of these factories was to be located in
the Protectorate?

A. One was to be erected there, yes, in the neighborhood of Prague but
so far as I know they never got around to it. Perhaps the ground work
was carried out and the machines were shipped there, but the factory
itself was not actually built. Then there was to be another one in the
Rhineland. I have already mentioned that.

Q. Witness, with regard to this factory in the Protectorate, can you
give me the code name for that factory?

A. No, I don’t know it. It was about 50 kilometers north of Prague.

Q. And that was to be used by what company?

A. I can’t say, I don’t know.

Q. Can you give me any indication of the size of that factory?

A. The one north of Prague? Yes. That would have been about the same
size as Kaufering, roughly, but, as I say, I really don’t know whether
they got construction under way there.

Q. But you were to construct it?

A. Yes, it would have been done under my supervision, or under my
direction. I was Speer’s representative and chief of the Todt
Organization.

Q. But you don’t know how far along or whether construction was
initiated there?

A. I cannot say for sure. I suppose that they started the construction,
but so far as I know they really did not actually get this factory
built.

Q. Now, with regard to this factory in the Rhineland, can you tell me
where that was to be located?

A. I can’t remember the name any more. I was there once, and I can
perhaps locate it on the map. It was west of the Rhine, 70 or 80
kilometers, but I can’t remember the name any longer. It was under
construction, and then the construction was interrupted by military
events, that is, about the time when the Americans entered the Rhineland
on the Ruhr. Nor do I know whether concentration camp inmates were used
there.

Q. Do you recall whether foreign labor was used?

A. In this factory? That I cannot say.

Q. You don’t recall constructing any factories for Wiener-Neustadt?

A. No.

Q. Or for the automobile works at Steyr, in Austria?

A. No.

Q. Focke-Wulf, in Bremen?

A. No, in Bremen we only built a U-boat factory.

Q. Do you recall constructing any factories for Heinkel?

A. That I don’t know. I wasn’t really interested in such questions,
because I received the data from the Jaegerstab, and the Jaegerstab did
the actual construction. The engineer of the Todt Organization built the
house, and then the Jaegerstab took care of the rest. There were no
discussions on my part with construction firms. Moreover, I didn’t even
have time to carry out such things.

Q. But you got your labor through Schmelter, who was a member of the
Jaegerstab?

A. Yes, he was a member of the Jaegerstab, and I have already said that
he was also the leader of labor allocation in the Todt Organization. He
was in charge. At first he was entirely within the Todt Organization,
and then later he was what you might call the leader for the allocation
of labor in Speer’s Ministry, and was in charge later of the allocation
of labor in the Todt Organization. At the same time, he performed the
same function in the Jaegerstab, so that automatically there was a
connection between the Todt Organization and the Jaegerstab.

MR. KING: I have no further questions, your Honor.

_REDIRECT EXAMINATION_

DR. BERGOLD: Witness, I have one more question. When did these Hungarian
Jews arrive at Muehldorf?

A. I do not know about Muehldorf, but I can recall that at Kaufering the
first ones came—and here I must guess—at the end or the beginning of
June 1944.

DR. BERGOLD: Thank you, I have no further questions.

MR. KING: I have one further question, if your Honor pleases.

DR. BERGOLD: I have just heard that the interpreter was inaccurate. The
witness spoke of the end and the middle of June, and the interpreter
said “the beginning of June”.

THE INTERPRETER: “The middle or the end of June” is what the witness
said, but he is not sure about it.

_RE-CROSS-EXAMINATION_

MR. KING: Now, Witness, with respect to this construction at Kaufering,
can you tell me when that was initiated?

A. In May of 1944 it must have begun, the beginning of May.

Q. And that was also true of the other fighter factories that you were
to construct under the Hitler order?

A. Perhaps two weeks later the construction in Muehldorf began; the
construction in Vaihingen that I mentioned before was already under way,
and I took it over. The construction in the Rhineland started
considerably later, it could have been perhaps at the end of June;
Prague came along much later.

Q. Now, you say that you were at Kaufering on two separate occasions.
Did you have any opportunity to—

A. (Interposing) I was in Kaufering three times. Do you want to know
when? In May 1944; at the beginning of January 1945; and then once more
just before the capitulation, perhaps two or three weeks before the
capitulation.

Q. Do you recall anything about the conditions at Kaufering; that is,
the conditions of labor?

A. I only saw the construction site. When I was in Munich, Niebermann,
who was responsible for construction, told me that the Hungarian Jews
were poorly clothed and poorly fed in part. I then told the competent SS
man, whose name I no longer recall—but he was there in Munich, in
Niebermann’s office—and I pointed out to him that this was the
responsibility of the SS and he should see to it that these men were
decently clothed.

Q. Witness, do you recall any reports of deaths of Hungarian Jews on the
project?

A. Roughly, in October, our physicians told us that the fatalities in
Kaufering were higher than normal. I then commissioned that physician to
take up negotiations with the SS to improve conditions.

I should like to say explicitly that the Todt Organization was forbidden
to enter the camps. The physician tried to send medicines to the camp,
and was successful. I can remember a date, namely, one on which I was
operated on—that is why I remember it—in November, at which time the
physician told me that he had succeeded in bringing these bad hygienic
conditions to an end after considerable effort. I remember the date
because it coincided with a sickness of my own.

-----

[109] A group of experts, drawn from various phases of German industry
and supplemented by representatives of the various ministries.

[110] Tr. pp. 300-1.

[111] Survey is published as part of document in Nazi Conspiracy and
Aggression, vol. IV, pp. 120-126, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, 1946.

[112] Defendant in case of U.S. _vs._ Oswald Pohl, et al. See Vol. V.

[113] Portions of this document were introduced by the defense as
Defense Exhibit 12. See pp. 561-62.

[114] Other portions of this document were introduced by the defense as
Defense Exhibit 13. See pp. 562-63.

[115] Portions of this document were introduced by the defense as Defend
Exhibit 16. See pp. 564-65.

[116] Another portion of this document was introduced by the defense as
Defense Exhibit 21. See pp. 565-66.

[117] Other portions of this document were introduced by the defense as
Defense Exhibit 23. See pp. 566-67.

[118] Kammler was one of the leading officials of the Economic
Administrative Main Office of the SS
[Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt—WVHA]. See case of _United States_ vs.
_Oswald Pohl, et al._, (_Vol. V_), concerning the WVHA which
administered the utilization of concentration camp labor.

[119] Document was Speer Exhibit 34 in Trial before International
Military Tribunal. See Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. XVI, p.
589, Nuremberg, 1947.

[120] Defense Counsel, Dr. Bergold, explained (_Tr. p. 580_): “This
proves that the Fuehrer himself ordered these large construction works,
the execution of which is charged to the defendant.

Although I mentioned before that the Jaegerstab was of the opinion that
it could only build one factory, the order was given by Hitler to build
six. That was an impossible number. He delegated this duty to Mr.
Dorsch. That man had his orders from the Fuehrer and not from the
Jaegerstab, which, of course, was no longer responsible for his
activities.”

[121] Portions of this document were introduced by the prosecution as
Prosecution Exhibit 75. See pp. 544-45.

[122] DR. BERGOLD stated (_Tr. p. 567_): “I introduce this in order to
show that the Jaegerstab meetings not always prove who was there at a
certain given time and those meetings changed so that as far as the
defendant Milch is mentioned, this does not prove he was there all of
the time.”

[123] DR. BERGOLD explained (_Tr. p. 568_): “There was introduced by the
prosecution and also presented an exhibit from this Jaegerstab
conference where the term ‘construction company’ was mentioned in such a
way. Those were companies of concentration camp inmates. This explains
the term ‘construction company’ clearly.”

[124] Other portions of this document were introduced by the prosecution
as Prosecution Exhibit 75. See pp. 545-46.

[125] Chief of the Construction Department in the Speer Ministry.

[126] Ibid.

[127] DR. BERGOLD stated (_Tr. p. 751_): “The prosecution has alleged
that these great plants were made by slave labor, and I want to show
that this plant in which, according to the allegations of the
prosecution, Hungarian Jews were used, was not built by the Jaegerstab
and that therefore the prosecution has not proved altogether that the
Jaegerstab used Hungarian Jews.

The passage will show in a very short time that concentration camp
inmates were not used. * * *”

[128] Portions of this document were introduced by the prosecution as
Prosecution Exhibit 75. See pp. 550-52.

[129] Another portion of this document was introduced by the prosecution
as Prosecution Exhibit 75. See pp. 554-55.

[130] DR. BERGOLD stated (_Tr. p. 584_): “Your Honors, in all civilized
countries, also in Germany, penal prisoners have to work. If
concentration camp inmates were put to work in Germany, this was done
within the frame of the law which existed in Germany for the employment
of criminal prisoners. This was nothing special. This work of
concentration camp inmates cannot be considered slave work.”

[131] Other portions of this document were introduced by the prosecution
as Prosecution Exhibit 75. See pp. 555-57.

[132] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 6, 7
Feb. 47, pp. 717-759.

[133] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 24 Feb.
47, pp. 1361-1379.

                     4. GENERALLUFTZEUGMEISTER[134]

                                Evidence

                        _Prosecution Documents_

    Doc. No.     Pros. Ex. No.       Description of Document         Page
 NOKW-311        62              Extract from interrogation of        597
                                   Hermann Goering on 6
                                   September 1946, regarding
                                   Milch’s position as
                                   Generalluftzeugmeister (GL).

 NOKW-418        136             Extracts from stenographic           598
                                   minutes of GL-Conference, 5
                                   May 1942.

 NOKW-407        137             Extracts from stenographic           599
                                   minutes of GL-Conference, 27
                                   May 1942.

 NOKW-406        138             Extracts from stenographic           599
                                   minutes of the GL-Conference,
                                   7 July 1942.

 NOKW-408        139             Extracts from stenographic           600
                                   minutes of GL-Conference, 28
                                   July 1942.

 NOKW-409        140             Extracts from stenographic           601
                                   minutes of GL-Conference, 4
                                   August 1942.

 NOKW-412        141             Extracts from stenographic           602
                                   minutes of GL-Conference, 18
                                   August 1942.

 NOKW-416        142             Extracts from stenographic           602
                                   minutes of GL-Conference, 26
                                   August 1942.

 NOKW-286        144             Extracts from stenographic           605
                                   minutes of GL-Conference, 1
                                   September 1942.

 NOKW-245        157             Extracts from stenographic           606
                                   minutes of conference with
                                   Goering, 22 February 1943,
                                   regarding plans for airplane
                                   construction.

 NOKW-449        148             Extracts from stenographic           607
                                   minutes of GL-Conference, 2
                                   March 1943.

 NOKW-195        143             Extracts from stenographic           608
                                   minutes of conference with
                                   Goering, 28 October 1943.

 NOKW-180        155             Extracts from stenographic           613
                                   notes on the conference at
                                   the Reich Marshal’s on
                                   Thursday, 4 November 1943, 11
                                   o’clock at the Junkers Plant
                                   in Dessau.

                               _Testimony_

 Extracts from testimony of defense witness Max Koenig                615

                                PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-311
                                PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 62

           EXTRACT FROM INTERROGATION OF HERMANN GOERING ON 6
              SEPTEMBER 1946, REGARDING MILCH’S POSITION AS
                       GENERALLUFTZEUGMEISTER (GL)

INTERROGATOR: Now to the Milch case: Who was commissioned after 1941
with the labor allocation in the Ministry for Air?

GOERING: What am I to understand by “labor allocation”?

Q. Labor allocation consisted of the drawing in of foreign workers or
German workers, especially of concentration camp inmates, in order to
free them for air force production.

A. This matter went through Udet, the Chief of Supply for the Air Force,
until Udet’s death, and then it went through Milch.

Q. In what manner did the Reich Air Ministry submit its requests to
Sauckel and the approximate figure for its requirements, the number of
workers, etc.? And if Sauckel received such a request from the Reich Air
Ministry, how did he undertake the distribution?

A. The requests were made by Milch, it was he who said how many workers
the air force needed, and these were forwarded to Speer. Speer then
asked Sauckel for the workers for the entire armaments branch, almost
for the entire industrial branch, and he then made the distribution. It
was he in the end who made the final decision as to how many workers
went to the air force for instance, how many to the army, etc. As far as
I know, Sauckel had actually nothing to do with the distribution of
labor. The contingent was put at the disposal of the authorities.
Terrific pressure was continually brought to bear on Sauckel. If the
requested number was not brought, he was given hell. I personally
presided over a meeting where there were differences between Sauckel and
Speer. He wanted to have more, etc. There was a mix-up and that’s how I
know it; but the needs of the air force were put forward by Milch, that
is the Chief of Supply for the Air Force. When difficulties arose and
they did not get the people, and the program threatened to break down,
then they came to me and I supported their demands.

                                PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-418
                                PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 136

          EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF GL-CONFERENCE,
                               5 MAY 1942

[Two handwritten marginal notes at top of document:] Mi.      10.
                                 Secret

              _SHORTHAND TRANSCRIPT ON THE GL-CONFERENCE_
             _PRESIDED OVER BY THE STATE SECRETARY, FIELD_
                _MARSHAL MILCH, ON TUESDAY, 5 MAY 1942,_
                  _10 A.M. IN THE REICH AIR MINISTRY_

ALPERS: The reason given is shortage of labor. And in fact there are
2,000 men lacking at Heinkel-Oranienburg.

MILCH: As far as the French are concerned, 60,000 of the ones that we
had been promised are still missing.

    (Comment: 40,000 are missing.)

If we get those men I would assign 2,000 to Heinkel-Oranienburg.

FRYDAG: The French become worse and worse; I threw out 80 of them who
will be sent to concentration camps in Russia. They refused to work. The
French say at 4 o’clock: “I won’t work another hour,” and you cannot
make them work another hour. This happened four weeks ago all of a
sudden, when the first bombing attack on Paris took place, while before
that the French were the best people.

MILCH: We were told in Oranienburg that they were good as long as they
didn’t get spoiled by our German people.

FRYDAG: It happened here after we got the French from Messerschmitt;
according to the French they got a warm meal twice a day there and had
their laundry done. We cannot do either. We don’t have a warm meal twice
a day either. At Messerschmitt the living conditions were better.

MILCH: Gablenz, I want you to get in touch with Reinecke concerning
these French. I demand that if the people refuse to work they
immediately be placed against the wall and shot before all the other
workers. I ask you to get in touch with the Reich Leader SS and to ask
him to discuss the matter with the Fuehrer. Now is the right time;
unless we do something effective now, the others will become bothersome.
I ask that their being sent to concentration camps be taken into
consideration too. I’ll tell you afterwards how you should act in such a
matter.

So I do not agree. You should make another proposal. At the beginning
you cannot expect more.

                                PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-407
                                PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 137

    EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF GL-CONFERENCE, 27 MAY 1942

[Three handwritten marginal notes at top of document:] To my

files      Mi.      14

Vossen/Dr. Reynitz/Ca.

                                 Secret

              _SHORTHAND TRANSCRIPT OF THE GL-CONFERENCE_
             _PRESIDED OVER BY THE STATE SECRETARY, FIELD_
               _MARSHAL MILCH ON WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY 1942,_
                   _9 A.M. IN THE REICH AIR MINISTRY_

VON GABLENZ: Yesterday, the first[135] has exploded in France, at the
Arade plant, an explosive, a float, but no damage has been done.

FIELD MARSHAL MILCH: What measures have been taken in consequence?—I
want to have a report on what has been done. How many people have been
shot and how many hanged? If that guy cannot be found today, fifty men
should be selected and if I were you I would hang three or four of them
whether they are guilty or not. It is the only way!

(Mahnke hands another letter to the Field Marshal.)

What do you think of that man?

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-406
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 138

        EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF THE GL-CONFERENCE,
                               7 JULY 1942

[Two handwritten marginal notes at top of document:]  St/R  21

                                 Secret

              _SHORTHAND TRANSCRIPT OF THE GL-CONFERENCE_
               _PRESIDED OVER BY FIELD MARSHAL MILCH ON_
            _7 JULY 1942, 10 A.M. IN THE REICH AIR MINISTRY_

FIELD MARSHAL MILCH: I do not like the engine. I have inspected it and
for the time being anyhow, I shall not take the 177 plane as a traveling
plane.

With regard to the output of Prague I want to say this: Of course, one
must recognize good output, even of a foreigner. On the other hand, as
far as the French are concerned, something must be done now. Gablenz,
ring up Toennes and tell him that this is a crazy situation [tolle
Schweinerei]. However, we would still try first to arrange it in a
friendly way through Toennes. If that does not succeed, then I intend to
fill the new Heinkel plant in the east entirely with Frenchmen brought
down there by force. If they don’t work in France, they may work as
prisoners in Poland. After all we have to remember that it is we, and
not the French, who have won the war.

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-408
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 139

          EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF GL-CONFERENCE,
                              28 JULY 1942

[Two handwritten marginal notes at top of document:]  St/R  24

Vossen/Dr. Jonuschat/C

                                 Secret

              _SHORTHAND TRANSCRIPT ON THE GL-CONFERENCE_
                _PRESIDED OVER BY STATE SECRETARY FIELD_
               _MARSHAL MILCH ON TUESDAY, 28 JULY 1942,_
                  _10 A.M. IN THE REICH AIR MINISTRY_

ALPERS: We have discussed whether a stronger pressure should not be put
upon French firms by both our liaison office and by us here. I have
talked with the French works managers myself. Actually they are all of
the same mind; they are willing to exert pressure, but then the workers
will leave them. In France there is no law that binds a worker to his
place of employment.

MILCH: As far as we are concerned, that is very difficult. But at the
very moment when the deadline is passed for me, I shall say: Now there
is no more French production. The workers are sent on leave or taken
away immediately for other work. The French always want the proportion
1:5, but they only reach 1:2.3. In reality they have very much more, as
we have received only old French junk. If we consider the actual output
that we have received, then the proportion is not even 1:0.2, but
exactly the contrary: 5:1 in favor of the French! At the present time we
receive 8 to 9 planes from the French. I could well imagine that they
get out 45 for themselves. I shall shut the shop with a single stroke
and have the workers and the machines come to Germany. If it does not
work on a voluntary basis, then we do it by compulsory contracts.
Perhaps I shall first give them a week to think it over.

    (ALPERS: Amio himself is behind. For him the surfaces and tail
    unit factories are situated just right.)

—It is a fact that, on the whole, these people work in silent
opposition. One cannot blame them for it either, it is true, but they
should not have started the war.

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-409
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 140

          EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF GL-CONFERENCE,
                              4 AUGUST 1942

[Handwritten marginal notes] To my files, personally  St/R 25

                                 Secret

              _SHORTHAND TRANSCRIPT ON THE GL-CONFERENCE_
                 _PRESIDED OVER BY FIELD MARSHAL MILCH_
                _TUESDAY, 4 AUGUST 1942, 10 A.M. IN THE_
                          _REICH AIR MINISTRY_

GEYER: In the west there is a danger of the French going on strike in
the event of a British attack. In that case, the whole of the engine
supply would be severely handicapped.

MILCH: In such a case I would ask to be appointed military commander
myself. I would band the workers together and have 50 percent of them
shot; I would then publish this fact and compel the other 50 percent to
work, by beatings if necessary. If they don’t work, then they too will
be shot. I would get the necessary replacement somehow. But I hope the
military commander will do his duty. I’m not worried about it. The word
“strike” must never be used. For us there is only “living or dying”, but
not “striking”. That goes for the educated man as well as for the
worker, for the German [Inlaender] as well as for the foreigner. The
word “strike” means death for the man who uses it.

GABLENZ: Sauckel also made an effort but he does not have a completely
free hand. Lt. Col. Nickolai and Stending are still standing in between.

MILCH: In spite of all, he has brought in quite a tidy number. Sauckel
has brought over 1.6 million people to Germany, 1.3 million from the
east and the rest from other countries.

GABLENZ: We should not be sorry if Sauckel not only took care of getting
the workers, but also of distributing them. That way we would fare
better.

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-412
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 141

          EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF GL-CONFERENCE,
                             18 AUGUST 1942

[page 1874 of original]

[Handwritten marginal notes on attendance list]    St/R 27

[page 1932 of original]

FIELD MARSHAL MILCH: As soon as the figures for August are ready I
request an exact account for my report to the Reich Marshal and also for
the conferences which I want to hold with Sauckel and Speer beforehand.
This account is to show how the labor question has developed, how great
the fluctuation is and which nationalities it involves, what real
requests we now have to make in the different sectors in order to cover
the needs for specialists and for skilled and unskilled labor, how many
of them can be foreigners, etc.? What happens to those who leave the
industry? Are they being compelled to work elsewhere? Are they, as I
proposed, under control in the camps supervised by the SS and considered
as being in mild concentration camps, or are these gentlemen allowed to
remain outside and do as they please?

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-416
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 142

          EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF GL-CONFERENCE,
                             26 AUGUST 1942

[Handwritten marginal notes]                                    St/R 29
                                 Secret

              _SHORTHAND TRANSCRIPT OF THE CONFERENCE OF_
              _THE DIRECTOR OF SUPPLIES PRESIDED OVER BY_
                 _FIELD MARSHAL MILCH ON WEDNESDAY, 26_
                  _AUGUST 1942, 11 A.M. IN THE REICH_
                             _AIR MINISTRY_

MILCH: Is Quartermaster General 6 here?

(Comment: Yes!)

Do you know anything about it?

(Comment: No!)

Ask about it and inform Colonel Brueckner!

FRYDAG: Another important consideration is the letter, which you
yourself have signed, Field Marshal, dealing with the expiration of the
labor contracts of the foreign workers. * * *

MILCH: The Reich Marshal [Goering] wanted to bind these people by law at
one time, that was one idea. The Fuehrer’s plan would be more favorable.
He wishes that the workers be gradually all replaced by Russians for
whom there is no longer such a thing as expiration of contracts.

(Comment: But there is a certain transition period!)

BRUECKNER: You, Field Marshal, have yourself put your signature to this
matter. The contracts are to be extended till 1 October 1943. I hope
that it will be done.

MILCH: On the other hand, a number of these people have been drafted
into the armed forces. But if I consider the others, I arrive all the
same at a monthly total of about 30,000 who loaf around and fluctuate
from job to job. According to the suggestions of the Reich Marshal,
these people are to come under the care of Himmler and are to be handled
severely there. What has been done, so far, in this regard? Brueckner,
you know about this matter, don’t you?

    (BRUECKNER: Yes!)

You do not seem to be informed quite correctly. Sometime ago we were
quite irritated about the fact that so many workers move about from one
factory to another, most of them antisocial elements who do not like to
work and whom the firms are possibly glad to get rid of because they do
nothing but complain and grumble, do no proper work, are constantly
late, shirk work where they can, pretend to be sick, etc. These people
were supposed to be handled more severely, and about a year ago the
Reich Marshal issued an order and gave the Ministry of Labor the job of
dealing with this matter firmly. Then the Ministry of Labor issued an
explanatory order which was nothing but a sabotage of the order and the
desire expressed by the Reich Marshal. I reported to the Reich
Marshal—in the very words which I have just used—that in this case his
will was clearly being sabotaged by some lawyers or other poor fellows
and that I asked him to take measures against it. He told me that he
would talk the matter over with Himmler. That is, I had suggested to him
that this matter could only be settled with the help of Himmler’s
organization. The armed forces are not in a position to do it. The
suggestion had been made that the armed forces should take care of these
people in camps but these workers are not ready for that. They have not
been condemned and in no way violate the existing laws, but act only
against their country which certainly does not yet come within the
sphere of the old legal nonsense. That is why Himmler should get these
people into his clutches because he can treat them outside the law. My
suggestion was that the people should be put into camps or, in part,
just get numbers. The person involved would have a passport in which it
is entered that he is a German of this or that category, and that his
number is so and so. Then there are subsequent entries: At this or that
time he did not work, at this or that time he was late, etc. If he
“loses” this passport—because he doesn’t want to have it anymore—off
he goes to the concentration camp immediately; the same thing happens if
he does not show it when ordered to do so. Once every month the pass is
checked by the local SD. If it shows that the man has been ill, or late
thirty times in one month, then the SD takes him along and gives him a
job in which he has to work 14 hours a day and where he is treated in
the way he deserves if he is not willing. The Reich Marshal has approved
this suggestion. Nevertheless I have not yet seen anything of the kind
being carried out.

BRUECKNER: I know that such labor camps have been established.

MILCH: In that case I want you to tell me exactly during the next
conference, where these camps have been established, who is in charge of
them, and how do we get these honorable gentlemen who do not want to
work into them? * * * It is a simple matter to have these people taken
care of somehow by the SD. It has only got to be taken in hand. I want
to have a report on it as soon as possible. Otherwise I will talk to
Himmler about it myself and see that this matter is taken very firmly in
hand. I see in these people the greatest danger for the home front.

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-286
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 144

          EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF GL-CONFERENCE,
                            1 SEPTEMBER 1942

[Handwritten marginal notes]                        St/R 31  To my files
                                 Secret

              _SHORTHAND TRANSCRIPT OF THE GL-CONFERENCE_
                _PRESIDED OVER BY STATE SECRETARY FIELD_
               _MARSHAL MILCH ON WEDNESDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER_
                      _1942, 10 A.M. IN THE REICH_
                             _AIR MINISTRY_

DEUTSCHMANN: Reports have come in from front repair workshops that up to
40 percent of the people simply do not come to work. Because of the
difficulties in the food supply they simply go out into the country in
order to have something to eat. At the plant Mechanical Workshops
[Mechanische Werkstaetten] I have found out that the Poles have not come
because Russian pilots had dropped propaganda material. In one case, I
have seen that about 50 percent of the workers failed to come.

MILCH: What do you do against that?

    (DEUTSCHMANN: For the time being, I did not do anything.)

And where was that?—In Warsaw? In such a case, orders have to be given
that these workers get a good beating. And Russian prisoners of war are
used to give it to them.

DEUTSCHMANN: Just at the time when the Russians attacked I was planning
to have 200 Poles transported to western Germany in order to fill a gap
in the hoop production there. The conditions of procurement in Warsaw
were such that I could afford it; therefore, I had no special reason to
take measures.

MILCH: If those workers stay away from work just as they please then
they need a good beating and this punishment is to be administered by
Russians. Contact the SD; tell them that these workers had failed to
come to work and that I demand that they be punished and not by having
their food taken away from them but by the slightly milder punishment of
50 strokes each on their behind.

DEUTSCHMANN: Various unfortunate occurrences have happened together.

MILCH: I don’t care, these occurrences are none of my business. The
unfortunate occurrence for the person involved is when he gets his good
beating. And he should not fail to get it.

    (DEUTSCHMANN: We have already drawn the attention of the Reich
    Leader SS to it; something is going to be done about it.)

Such occurrences must not remain unpunished, they must not happen. If
those people mutiny and do not work, then I demand that some shooting is
done at those occasions. We do the same in Poland as the British do in
India, with the only difference that the British deal with their own
subjects, whereas we deal with the enemy. I want none of our people ever
to show lack of action. I make every section chief responsible to take
measures to that effect immediately. He is not to administer the
beatings himself but to go to the SD and demand that this or that is
done. What kind of measures they take we will leave to the SD, but I
want to have a report on what has been done in such cases! What do you
think would happen to a worker in Germany if he went on strike?

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-245
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 157

            EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF CONFERENCE
             WITH GOERING, 22 FEBRUARY 1943, REGARDING PLANS
                        FOR AIRPLANE CONSTRUCTION

MILCH: * * * Just now things are not going well. Sauckel has agreed with
Speer and myself that von der Heyde is to go to Paris to ascertain on
the very spot what may be taken away. If we want to maintain the program
we require an additional 80,000 workmen over there. Sauckel said he
recognized that and promised to deliver them. If the promise is kept all
will be all right.

REICH MARSHAL: What sense does it make to leave the workers there?

MILCH: There is no good will in France, and you can really not expect it
from these fellows. But we will force them to work by not feeding them.

REICH MARSHAL: I can do this here much better.

MILCH: That’ll get us nowhere. We shall then have to shut down the
plants in France.

REICH MARSHAL: The fault is this: Sauckel should have said: Milch, there
are too many skilled workers in that plant; take so-and-so many out for
your German plants; I am going to replace those skilled workers from our
French workers pool. Otherwise there is no sense in his taking them
away.

MILCH: Until six months ago we piloted the whole French industry by way
of the government, but since then we changed and took sponsor-firms. * *
*

REICH MARSHAL: I’ll tell Sauckel not to touch our industry at all. But
we must do it ourselves.

MILCH: I told Sauckel that we will cooperate on all matters on the very
spot, that we will get the thing done but not smash up anything that is
producing for us or is going to produce. He admitted that his men had
acted wrongly. * * * Speer and myself are of the opinion that he must be
incorporated somehow in the Central Planning in order to secure manpower
for us as well as the material. Now we got the first workers in
November; prior to that date none at all. Of course, by taking into
account the many fluctuations he arrives at fantastic figures. We try to
diminish the fluctuations with the aid of Himmler and Ley. The military
physicians are put in to examine the men. I have proposed that a man who
leaves his working place more than three times a year, should be put
into a detention camp and be released only when he stays on the very
spot. * * *

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-449
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 148

          EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF GL-CONFERENCE,
                              2 MARCH 1943

[Handwritten marginal notes] To my files                                Mi

                                 Secret

              _SHORTHAND TRANSCRIPT OF THE GL-CONFERENCE_
              _PRESIDED OVER BY THE STATE SECRETARY FIELD_
               _MARSHAL MILCH ON TUESDAY, 2 MARCH 1943,_
                  _10 A.M. IN THE REICH AIR MINISTRY_

MILCH: Another question! All the reports from France show that the
French have got their heads full of political thoughts and ideas. On the
basis of the news they tell themselves: They are retreating on the
eastern front and the English and Americans are gradually getting afraid
that the Russians alone will be victorious. The French go on to say: If
the promises made to us by the Americans are really kept, our fortunes
are made. That has already led to our foreign workers slowly becoming
hostile. On principle I have to be informed of every case of
swinishness. I do not understand at all why Germany should put up with
it when Poles and Frenchmen explain to the people: Today indeed you are
still sitting in this work, but later we shall be the owners and if you
treat us properly we shall see to it then that you are shot dead
immediately and not tortured first. In all these matters energetic
interference must be made. I am of the opinion that there should be only
two types of punishment in such cases: firstly, a concentration camp for
foreigners, and secondly, capital punishment. If a certain number of
such hostile elements are removed and the others are informed, they will
then work better. Their love for us certainly won’t become any greater,
but neither will their hate, for it is already strong enough. In this
respect, too, energetic interference must be made and in no case must
the workers put up with it. The best method is to give the person
concerned one with a sledge-hammer and I shall treat with distinction
every man who does something like that whenever he hears such stupid
nonsense. We are living in a total war and the workers must be told that
they don’t have to put up with anything. Now the question is whether or
not the gentlemen believe on the whole that we achieve something worth
mentioning with our production in France. For then we must consider that
the establishments there will be besieged. Then the French would have to
be forced to come to Germany. There I must reflect on whether the
available means of compulsion are sufficient. That does not depend on
me. But, in the abstract, I see no difficulties in the way of getting
100,000 or 200,000 French workers to Germany, nor do I see any
difficulties in the way of keeping them in order. If a case of sabotage
occurs in one area, every tenth man in that area will be shot. Then such
acts of sabotage would cease of themselves. The western peoples are very
much afraid of death, while it is a quite different matter with the
Russians.

                                PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-195
                                PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 143

   EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF CONFERENCE WITH GOERING, 28
                              OCTOBER 1943

         [Handwritten]  Notes for Discussion No 116/43/KD st.  4th copy
                                                     [Signature]  MILCH

            _STENOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPT OF THE DISCUSSION WITH_
                _THE REICH MARSHAL ON 28 OCTOBER 1943,_
                       _12 O’CLOCK AT KARINHALL_

Subject: Allocation of Labor.
         Effects of the Drafting of Laborers.

Participants:
  Reich Marshal
  Reich Minister Speer
  Field Marshal Milch
  Gauleiter Sauckel
  General von der Heyde
  Staatsrat Gritzbach
  Ministerialrat Dr. Groennert
  Ministerialdirektor Hildebrand
  Landrat Berg
  Lt. Colonel Biesing, GSC
  Lt. Colonel von Brauchitsch, GSC
  Director Frydag
  Dr. Janicke/Dr. Eggeling/Bs

                                                        25 October 1943

MILCH: Interesting are the figures on the decrease of prisoners of war
where one had believed they would remain stable. Between January and
August the figure went down for the Russians from 22,000 to 19,000; for
the others, from 48,000 to 28,000. In the summer the prisoners of war
decreased from 70,000 to 48,000.

REICH MARSHAL: But here you report to me and to the Fuehrer: From 1
January to 30 September a total of 2,200,000 in manpower could be made
available for armament production,

(Comment by SAUCKEL: But not for the first time.)

among whom there are 770,000 prisoners of war. Through allocation
300,000 of these who had been drafted for armament and the armed
services, and those who left for other reasons, were replaced, and labor
for the most important armament industries was increased by 650,000,
from 5.3 million to 5.9 million.

(Reading continued.)

FRYDAG: Those are the total allocations.

(REICH MARSHAL: I took that to be net allocation.)

No, gross.

MILCH: The Luftwaffe has increased by 150,000 men; the army by 240,000;
the navy by 50,000; military administration has remained stable. For the
Wehrmacht armament alone, there has been an increase of 400,000 men.
Then other industries, including state railway [Reichsbahn], postal
service, experts basic materials industry, make a total increase of 5.29
million, i.e., an actual addition of 500,000 men in this whole area
within half a year.

REICH MARSHAL: Then there is one more question which again belongs here
and which in all seriousness must be discussed. Suppose that, in the
central sector of Holland, between Arnhem, Utrecht, and Dortrecht, I
place at your disposal for three days 15,000 young German
soldiers—recruits who have been there eight days, together with their
respective officers’ corps for handling the executive—to catch the
young Dutchmen (this would have to be carefully prepared, of
course)—would you expect good results? It goes without saying that
everything must be well organized in advance, transport to move them
out, camps to receive them here, far away from the Dutch frontier.

SAUCKEL: Considering the Dutch population figure that amounts to
something. However, the same should be done in Poland and France.

REICH MARSHAL: Naturally, after that has been done once, one has to
modify the system for the second blow. Then the Dutch people will no
longer be out in the streets on Sundays for pleasure promenades.

SPEER: Care should be taken though, not to affect the protected
industries which we have established there. Their workers are also out
for walks on Sundays.

REICH MARSHAL: First, all of the people must be brought together in a
pen [Pferch]; then they will be asked individually who works where, and
then the men will be selected accordingly.

SAUCKEL: We should like to set an example. However, I do not like to
rely on this alone for the next year; but I should like to ask that one
have the confidence in us that, reasonably speaking we are doing things
in the right way. The factories which Speer barred to us * * *.

REICH MARSHAL: Really I am not imposing. But when I constantly hear: I
could do very much if I only had the executive power, then I am ready to
assist you, not permanently, but then, for five days or one week, by
putting my men at your disposal. In France also we have training
regiments, and the army, too, could arrange to make certain units
available so as to make a big push.

SAUCKEL: If I may be permitted to speak quite frankly, the conditions
are as follows: All of our Military Commanders, and also our
Commissioners General—with the exception of Koch—also the general
governors, take the stand that in all of their regions the supreme law
is tranquility and order. Also during the present era of war these
German people still feel—after all that is typically German—the
inherent obligation of maintaining order in their country and of somehow
protecting the local population.

    (REICH MARSHAL: They do not see Germany, but Seyss-Inquart sees
    Holland only.)

That is the greatest difficulty which we face, and in spite of the
obduracy which is there I am of the opinion that we really have more
friends in these countries than we imagine. I shall place my reports at
your disposal, among them a detailed report of a Flemish man, an
economist who lives with his wife in Weimar, works there, and who at the
same time looks after the Flemish people in my district. The matter is
as follows: Our highest political authorities in these countries
cultivate to some extent social contacts with the local high society;
thus in Belgium, bluntly stated, with elite circles, the high financial
circles, and leaders of industry. They show to the German commanders in
chief a certain demeanor of courteousness and of conventionality and
thereby satisfy our gentlemen to a great extent. Under this mask,
however, they permit their nearest subordinate organizations to
persecute and harass everybody who is in any way friendly to Germany.
Unwillingly and without being suspected by our gentlemen [Herren] we
have in this manner placed the Germans who were there under pressure.
They all have become fearful, and they bar their minds against Germany,
and those who really did something for Germany resign.

REICH MARSHAL: * * * Our method of procedure in the expansion of the
large air fields, Sauckel, would then be that, we try, first of all, to
get a hold of the available labor in the vicinity of the harbors in
France, Belgium, and Holland which so far has not been recruited in any
manner by Speer or by the Luftwaffe, or by you—just as the Russians do,
and as the British now also are doing in Southern Italy and Sicily.
There is a scarcity of water there and he who loafs is not permitted to
come near the water tap. They are very strict on this point. Now, in the
fifth year of the war, we too must be just as strict. And over and above
this I still need workers who will be fetched from regions farther away
if those from the immediate vicinity are not sufficient. And then come
specialists, whom Speer makes available from his organization, the
engine operators and so forth. If I am to rearm the Luftwaffe with
everything that is conceivable now, I do need a considerable reserve
stock of laborers. Technical workers must be included. This is in
addition to the number necessary for fulfilling needs arising from
actual fluctuation and departure of workers. Now that would have to be
considered in detail.

SAUCKEL: May I call attention to the following: That which makes things
very difficult for me at the moment is the question of our currency. It
is a fact that prices in France, and in the entire west, are very much
out of proportion. If we bring the workers to Germany and, according to
German standards, we pay them just as well as the German workers, that
does not help them at all because their families living in the occupied
territories cannot buy anything with the money that the people transfer.
I should like to ask you, Herr Reich Marshal, to talk with Reich
Minister Funk and the other competent officials so that under all
circumstances and with all possible means the German mark will preserve
its purchasing power against the French franc, just as it was done on
the other side, during the World War.

REICH MARSHAL: All we need to do is to fix the rate of exchange, just as
was done at that time with the dollar, i.e., today the German mark
equals 20 francs, tomorrow 23, then 27, then 40, etc., etc., up to one
million, or one billion. We have had all that. The same holds true for
the guilder. One cigarette now costs in Holland 1.50 guilders; formerly
it cost 10 cents. I merely have to say: 1.50 guilders equal to 10
pfennigs, or one mark equals 15 guilders.

SAUCKEL: That would solve a big problem in the wage question.

REICH MARSHAL: The same is done in Belgium. I shall schedule a
discussion on that with Mr. Funk. With friendly nations it is more
difficult; nevertheless, there, too, we have to do it.

SAUCKEL: There is still something I should like to say. If this
large-scale recruiting is carried into effect, even with coercion, it is
nothing but compliance with laws which were promulgated there by their
own governments, except that the governments declare they lack the
executive power.

REICH MARSHAL: That is always the excuse; I simply shall give them the
executive power.

Well, let me summarize it once more. We undoubtedly are agreed on the
fact that what Sauckel brings to us here, and that which to us appears
as stocking up, has been subject to a natural compromise and actually a
greater number of people was necessary, to make up for the losses. If it
had been impossible to obtain more labor there would, of necessity, have
been a decrease, merely by reason of the draft, the increased rate of
disease during the war, deaths, etc. The decrease in prisoners of war
should really be insignificant unless there are modifications; on the
contrary, I should like to see that the prisoners of war who had been
released, Norwegians, and so forth, be taken again. Insofar as officers
are concerned this has been done to a certain extent. It was the
greatest nonsense ever committed by us and for which nobody thanks us.
We have made prisoners of entire armies and we let them go again. We do
not get anything from Norway?

SAUCKEL: No. Even Russians are being taken there, also French
specialists.

    (REICH MARSHAL: Why?)

The tasks there are much bigger than the population could cope with.

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-180
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 155

         EXTRACTS FROM STENOGRAPHIC NOTES ON THE CONFERENCE AT
            THE REICH MARSHAL’S ON THURSDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 1943,
                11 O’CLOCK AT THE JUNKERS PLANT IN DESSAU

THE REICH MARSHAL: Give the prisoner-of-war camp [Stalag] commander my
greetings and tell him I said the Stalag is the biggest racket in
Germany and merely a camp where get-aways are being organized wholesale.
The men do not even have to bother to dig a tunnel, since they can walk
out freely in broad daylight. The Italians get beaten up when they do
not work. * * * It is absolutely useless to take the Italians as
soldiers, for they report for duty, it is true, but then they bolt
again. We need them here, however, as workers for the 100,000 men
operation. In the second place, why do we not get the machines? If I
want to have them, I just have to occupy a factory by surprise.

MILCH: There are no transportation facilities to make this possible. We
have to let certain plants go on working in Italy, such as ball
bearings, steel castings, and others, and we cannot take the people from
there. The same applies to the technical sphere. The people there are
working for us. All depends on our policy toward the Italians. I have
ordered that they can be beaten up if they do not work. I have also
given permission that Italians caught sabotaging be sentenced to death.
If this measure is not desired by the higher authorities, which seems to
be the case, we are powerless; then the Italians in the Reich will not
be of any use to us, and they will not do anything down there either.
Now the Italian has found the way out, he goes into the militia and,
once he is over there, he bolts. There is one other way to make him
work; if we do not provide the Italian with food and tell him: only
those who fight and work for us will get food.

(THE REICH MARSHAL: That is what the Americans do!)

Why do we not do it? In my opinion we should try to get the machines by
force. We can manufacture 1,000 pursuit planes in Italy and the engines
for them. The engines will go only through Junkers, the other parts only
through Messerschmitt. I should like to have the 109 and the 605 in
Italy while they are still working, so that we can modernize our
factories. We have the further advantage that the enemy drops his bombs
not only on Germany, but also on Italy. We can disperse industry there
in small valleys and we need not use the big Milan plants. The situation
there is rather favorable.

THE REICH MARSHAL: Above all, this question must be discussed at once
with the Fuehrer.

    (End of the conference at 11:45 p.m.)

St
149-43 III gK  [Stamp]

                               Top Secret

The Reich Marshal of the Greater German Reich
Adjutant’s office
Adj. 2019-43 top secret

[Pencil note]  For my files

                                            Berlin W 8 Leipziger Str. #3
                                                       Telephone: 120044
                                              Headquarters, 12 Nov. 1943

                                                      2 copies, 1st copy

                                                 [initialed]  Mi 15 Nov.

To the State Secretary for Aviation and Inspector General of the Air
Force, Field Marshal Milch.

Reich Air Ministry

Forwarded herewith for your attention and further handling are the
uncorrected stenographic notes on the conference at the Reich Marshal’s
[Office] on 28 October 1943.

Inclosure:

Notes on conference No. 116-13

Top Secret—4th copy.

                                             [signature]  BRAUCHITSCH
                             Lieutenant Colonel, GSC and Chief Adjutant

       EXTRACTS FROM TESTIMONY OF DEFENSE WITNESS MAX KOENIG[136]

_DIRECT EXAMINATION_

DR. BERGOLD: Will you please give the Court your first name and second
name?

WITNESS KOENIG: Max Koenig.

Q. When were you born?

A. 19 August 1897.

Q. What was your last position in the war with the Wehrmacht?

A. Lieutenant colonel in the reserve.

Q. And where were you?

A. With the commander of the Luftwaffe in Rechlin in charge of the
testing station.

Q. Is it known to you, Witness, whether and what sort of orders, if at
all, Milch gave with reference to the treatment of so-called terror
pilots?

A. My department was subordinate to the GL, and therefore received
orders from that office concerning the treatment of pilots who had made
emergency landings, and such orders were to the effect to inform the
Buergermeister [mayors] and the councillors that the prisoners who had
made emergency landings should be sent to Oberursel at once.

Q. Then were these orders given or were they repeated in certain cases?

A. I myself went there in 1942 to that office and I remember very well
that the first orders in this respect were given in 1943 and then in
1944.

Q. Have these orders provided for the taking of prisoners of all pilots
by the Luftwaffe and taking them to Oberursel?

A. The GL ordered, followed by the threatening of heavy punishment if
the orders were not followed, that all pilots who bailed out or made
emergency landings should be taken at once in the quickest way possible
to Oberursel.

Q. Did you transmit these orders to the mayors and councillors of your
district?

A. These orders were passed on by the commander of the testing station
to the ground organization of the base, passed on to all Buergermeister
and the city councillors.

Q. Can you confirm that these orders came from Milch?

A. They came from the GL. It was even ordered how we should proceed. As
far as I can recall we were ordered, among other things, that the
contents of their pockets should be taken away from the pilots and sent
to Oberursel with an accompanying letter.

Q. Did you know at that time that the Party wanted the pilots to be
treated in a different manner?

A. I did not know that for we in Rechlin had hardly any contact with the
Party.

Q. Therefore, you never corrected orders from the Party? Or would you
have done this?

A. No. We were subordinate to the GL, and, therefore, we could only take
orders from that superior office.

Q. Witness, what do you know within your office as to how concentration
camp inmates were treated?

A. I should say this: When labor was requested for the building of a
pillbox, we were given a detachment from Oranienburg. These prisoners
were housed by the evacuating of our testing station, that means our
German soldiers, in Laerz, and prisoners from the concentration camp at
Oranienburg were moved into the billets of the German soldiers. There
were about a thousand of these.

Q. Were the barracks in good condition?

A. They were not barracks in the bad sense of the word. They were the
best billets which we had at our disposal in Laerz. They were new
buildings and contained, apart from the living rooms, a theater room,
and a big kitchen with, I believe, four stoves. I know the camp because
I visited it repeatedly.

Q. Witness, what orders did you receive for treating of those people by
the GL?

A. I remember two orders that were to the effect that all those who
actually worked, whether foreigners or concentration camp inmates,
should be treated well in order to save their good health and in order
to increase their production.

Q. What has been done for that purpose?

A. As far as their health was concerned, under this order, I repeatedly
saw to it that I obtained medical supplies from the hospital [Revier] of
Rechlin.

Q. What you call the Revier is the hospital ward?

A. “Revier” is the sickroom which, considering the bigness of the
agency, is approximately the equivalent to a hospital * * *.

Q. Let us go back to concentration camp inmates. What has been done in
health matters?

A. Near Rechlin, there was an estate called Boek. This estate consisted
of several thousand acres and apart from potatoes and turnips also
produced wheat. On orders from the GL we received from that estate for
the commando in Laerz and for the concentration camp and for the foreign
workers large quantities of goods produced there.

Q. These concentration camp inmates; were they exploited unfairly?

A. I can say this—I myself was in the hall east from there up to the
building of the commander, which was about a kilometer and a half. The
foreign workers and concentration camp inmates lived in smaller and
bigger groups and worked in such groups, but I could always observe them
when I walked along the lanes. It seemed that when the civilian and
other employees there were still working, the concentration camp groups
had already stopped working because they had to be in their camp at a
certain time. The time they needed to march to and fro was part of their
working hours.

Q. Were they told to work particularly fast, or particularly heavy?

A. I can say this that I could really judge them because after all I saw
them almost daily. Their work was not particularly slow, it wasn’t
particularly fast. And one couldn’t say they were driven on.

Q. Were these people happy or did you hear complaints?

A. Should complaints have occurred I would have been the first to hear
about them for it would have been my job to hear them, because I headed
the particular office for food and treatment which was the liaison
office between ourselves and the Stalags. I even listened at times to
outbursts of joy. And from the liaison office we bought everything,
beginning from cigarettes and other small gifts, foodstuffs, etc. This
was used both in the camps and foreign workers, and the foreign workers
were always running about freely there.

Q. Did your office ask for concentration camp inmates or were they sent
to you by labor exchange on the basis of assignment of labor?

A. We had to use two ways, we had to use two channels here—one through
labor exchanges and the other through the GL who ordered labor for us
and on the basis of our application with the labor exchanges and the GL,
this special commando and attachment came, whether on the basis of our
application I really don’t know.

Q. Did you request concentration camp inmates or simply workers?

A. I may say quite frankly here I asked for German workers and I
expected they would turn up but as we were under orders to maintain
secrecy, neither did I think of foreign workers nor concentration camp
inmates.

_CROSS-EXAMINATION_

MR. DENNEY: Just what was your job in Rechlin?

A. I was I B or I Bertha—that means an organization, and my job was
looking after the army.

Q. Well, in your position having to do with figures you possibly were
concerned with labor in Rechlin?

A. From Rechlin we were ordered to build a shelter in Laerz, and to
carry this out we had to ask for labor.

Q. Didn’t they consolidate requests for labor and give them to you and
you would send them up?

A. Requests were sent on to the labor offices on the one hand, and on
the other hand to the GL.

Q. And they were sent by you?

A. They were sent by the commanding officer of the testing station, that
is, to say, my superior officer.

Q. But you got them up and gave them to him to send them on?

A. I worked on them and passed them on to my commanding officer.

Q. You said that you had concentration camp workers—you also had
foreign workers didn’t you?

A. There were about 1,000 concentration inmates and a certain number of
foreign workers—Russians, French, and Italians.

Q. Did you have any prisoners of war?

A. Yes. We had some prisoners of war.

Q. How many people were employed there altogether?

A. In Rechlin, prisoners of war and foreign workers, Germans, altogether
there were 4 to 5 thousand.

Q. Well, now we have got 1,000 concentration camp workers. So that
leaves 3 to 4 thousand. How were those broken down among prisoners of
war, foreign workers, and Germans?

A. Prisoners of war, roughly 500. There were about 300 foreigners, and
the rest were German civilians and German military personnel.

Q. Now, these concentration camp workers, were they guarded?

A. They were guarded in their own camps and in some cases on trucks were
taken to their places of work on the east Boek airstrip.

Q. And the foreigners, were they guarded?

A. I think they were at first a little guarded or, let us say, not at
all.

Q. How about the prisoners of war?

A. The prisoners of war were under a similar condition as there were not
very many guards at our disposal—guards were very few.

Q. You talked about the concentration camp people marching back and
forth. Were they marching under guard?

A. Yes. They marched under guard.

Q. In the stockade?

A. They were in large camps or huts under stockade and under guard.

Q. Was there barbed wire around it?

A. Yes. There was barbed wire.

Q. And guards walking around?

A. And guards, yes.

A. Armed guards?

A. Yes. They were armed.

Q. Now, you told about passing on these orders about the terror fliers
to the Buergermeister [mayor]. The order that you spoke of that you got
from the defendant?

A. From the GL.

Q. The GL was Field Marshal Milch?

A. That was Herr Milch.

Q. And you gave those orders on to the Buergermeister about the
so-called “terror fliers”?

A. The Buergermeister and county councillors.

Q. And then one day you heard about four fliers who had parachuted or
made a forced landing—anyway they came down—and you sent your soldiers
over there and you were told that they were not available?

A. No. The officer came back and said that the police had arrested the
four pilots who had made a forced landing, contrary to our order and
contrary to the regulations where the telephone number of our airfield
had to be passed on to the Buergermeister. The report to the
Buergermeister had the purpose to inform the airfield as quickly as
possible so that from there a truck could pick up the pilots.

Q. Which police had taken these four fliers?

A. Unfortunately, I do not know. The officer of the airfield came back
and reported that the police had fetched them. He didn’t see the police.
He merely was informed by the Buergermeister of this.

Q. And then what did you do? Did you call the Buergermeister up?

A. No. We passed this on to the airfield and the airfield reported this
to the Luftgau. The Luftgau is the next superior office above the
airfield.

Q. Did they ever get these four fliers back?

A. No.

Q. They never got them back?

A. I do not know where they were taken to.

Q. You were the second man at Rechlin. You know that these orders were
passed on to the Buergermeister that you received through your immediate
superior from the Generalluftzeugmeister?

A. I was not the second man. I was E commander—commander of that
office. I was purely an expert in I B. I was concerned in this because
Colonel Petersen of the SD commando ordered the airfield should make
investigations because of the Milch order to the effect that every pilot
should be at once taken to Oberursel.

Q. At any rate, you didn’t do anything about this after you heard it?

A. Oh, yes. The report was immediately sent to the Luftgau that the
pilots had been taken away.

Q. Did you send the report?

A. No. The report had to be sent by the competent office of the ground
organization—namely, the airfield.

Q. You never made any effort to find out what happened to these four
Allied fliers?

A. Oh, yes, that was passed on at once and the airfield having received
it sent it on to the Luftgau and continued to work on this matter. What
happened at the end I could not possibly find out because the Luftgau,
the next highest office, had to report on it through those channels of
command.

Q. You never tried to find out, did you? Did you ever call up anybody
over at the Luftgau and ask them what happened to these four fliers?

A. No. I could hardly do that because I belonged to the testing station
and there was a certain amount of dualism. It was rather like air
activity on the one hand and the ground organization on the other.

Q. You knew what the Hitler order was about terror fliers, didn’t you?

A. Yes. I learned about this much, much later after this emergency
landing in 1944. I heard about this in 1945 when I was interrogated in
Munich by the Reich Marshal Special Court.

Q. What nationality were these pilots?

A. I could not say that. I assumed they were Americans, but I could not
say that with certainty because we never saw the insignia of the
aircraft nor even the pilots themselves as we did not take them
prisoners.

Q. Were there any SD units around where you were?

A. In Rechlin itself, no, but my chief, Petersen, and I myself learned
later on that we were supervised by the SD service.

Q. You say that in your position you would have heard complaints from
any of the workers, of whom you had four to five thousand of whom
approximately two-thousand were made up of concentration camp workers,
prisoners of war, and foreign workers. You never got a single complaint
from any of those people, is that right?

A. No. I can only confirm that repeatedly the foreign workers gave
expressions of their gratitude for having this liaison office, which
consisted of a sergeant, and for the additional supplies which they thus
got from the Stalag. Strictly speaking, we would have been forbidden to
enter the concentration camp compound because it was part of
Oranienburg, and Oranienburg was an SS agency.

Q. So you never were inside, were you, in the concentration camp?

A. I went repeatedly there. I myself attended the hospital hours. That
is to say, I looked at the ill people before they saw the doctor and I
asked the doctor afterwards if he needed anything, and thereupon I got
the medical supplies from the airfield and for that purpose I was able
to do this because I was supported by the order of the GL.

Q. The Generalluftzeugmeister was able to arrange it so you could go
into the camp and look around?

A. On the basis of the order where it was my duty to look after the
people that they should be well-treated and well-looked after and,
therefore, I was admitted into their compound.

Q. And the compound was under the jurisdiction of the SS who had
jurisdiction over * * *.

A. (Interrupting) Yes. That was under the jurisdiction of the SS.

Q. And they had jurisdiction over all of the concentration camps?

A. I didn’t know that but all I know is that they came from Oranienburg
and that the regulations concerning that compound came from Oranienburg.

Q. You knew that Himmler was head of the SS?

A. I heard about that in 1945.

Q. In 1945 you found out that Himmler was the Reich Leader SS?

A. Yes.

Q. I have no more questions.

JUDGE MUSMANNO: Witness, you mean you did not know, before 1945, of the
power Himmler had in the SS?

A. No, your Honor. Particularly in the testing station we did not
discuss that nor did we receive many reports there. The attitude of my
chief—I may perhaps say here, of the GL himself—it was known what
their attitude was towards the Party. We ourselves were under the
Gauleiter of Mecklenburg who supervised us. Therefore, we went to no
trouble to look into other matters.

PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: This testing station was in Germany, wasn’t it?

A. Yes. Rechlin is roughly 120 kilometers northeast of Berlin on the
Muelef Lake [northwest of Berlin on Lake Mueritz].

Q. And an officer of the German army, 120 kilometers from Berlin, didn’t
know who Himmler was until 1945?

A. Of course, I knew that Himmler was a Party member but that Himmler
had all the concentration camps under him I really didn’t know until
very much later.

Q. But you knew he was head of the SS?

A. I knew that he was an SS commander. I did not know until then that he
was the head of the SS.

JUDGE PHILLIPS: How many concentration camp victims did you hear were
killed up to 1945, starved to death and killed?

A. I did not know that and I only learned it from press notices which
came out in connection with the Nuernberg trials.

Q. How many concentration camp workers were killed in your camp?

A. Nobody was tortured or killed in our camp; not even one man.

Q. Did any of them die a natural death while you were there?

A. Nobody died; I can confirm to the Court that both the health and the
individuals’ happiness was such that there was neither case of death nor
complaint.

PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: The name of this concentration camp I must know.
What was it?

A. The camp was near Rechlin and was an agency attached to Oranienburg.

Q. That was Oranienburg you were talking about?

A. It must have been a branch of Oranienburg. Up to my resignation on 31
January 1945, neither a torture nor a fatality occurred there. I said
that before, your Honor, and I should like to repeat it.

Q. Don’t repeat it.

JUDGE MUSMANNO: How many inmates were there in this camp; what was the
population of this camp?

A. The camp was roughly about 1,000 people strong.

Q. And how long were you there?

A. From October 1942 until 31 January 1945.

Q. And you say that in approximately three years’ time there was not one
death in this camp?

A. Your Honor, the camp was not founded in 1942; as far as I can
remember, it only came at the end of 1943 or early in 1944. I cannot
give you the exact figure of the arrivals. I think it must have been at
the end of 1943 or the beginning of 1944.

Q. And in all that time there was not one single death in the entire
camp?

A. Your Honor, I had not heard of one single case of death. Should one
case of death have occurred, it is possible that the SS in Oranienburg
would have been told. We ourselves had not heard of one case of death in
that camp, but during the day we assigned SS men in various groups.

Q. Do you mean this camp was functioning as a health resort?

A. On that, I can say, your Honor, that after the end of the war, I
heard that before the end of the war when people left, they left very
reluctantly, because there they were given food just as much as was
corresponding to their performance and, in turn, they were actually able
to work there.

-----

[134] Generalluftzeugmeister was translated as: Aircraft Master General,
Air Ordnance Master General, Chief of Supply for the Air Forces, Chief
of Air Forces Special Supply and Procurement Service, Director of
Supplies, and Director General of Air Force Equipment.

[135] Word is missing in German original document.

[136] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 17 Feb.
47, pp. 1189-1204.

                         B. Medical Experiments

                            a. Introduction

The defendant Milch was charged with participation in criminal medical
experiments. On this charge he was acquitted. Both the judgment and the
concurring opinions deal extensively with this topic; also Volume I of
this series, and the first part of the present volume, contains
considerable documentation from Case I (the Medical Case) on the same
medical experiments for participation in which the defendant Milch was
indicted. Hence, only a small portion of the evidence on medical
experiments offered in the Milch Case has been included in the present
volume. Some of the prosecution documents which were directly related to
the defendant Milch have been included here as well as the testimony of
the defense witness SS General Wolff. Documents NO-285, NO-289, NO-224,
343-A-PS, and 343-B-PS, published as part of the Medical Case, were also
introduced in the Milch Case. Further defense testimony on this topic
may be found by consulting the official record.

The following defendants in Case I (the Medical Case) testified as
witnesses for the defendant Milch: Hans Wolfgang Romberg, Wolfram
Sievers, Hermann Becker-Freyseng, Georg August Weltz, and Rudolf Brandt.
In addition, six other defense witnesses testified regarding the medical
experiments: Erich Hippke, Walter Neff, Dr. Leo Alexander, Siegfried
Ruff, Karl Wolff, and Gerhard Engel. See list of witnesses for dates and
transcript page references on pages 889-90.

                              b. Evidence

                         PROSECUTION DOCUMENTS

    Doc. No.     Pros. Ex. No.       Description of Document         Page
 NOKW-041        113             Sworn statement by Hermann           626
                                   Goering, 27 September 1946,
                                   concerning Milch’s position
                                   as Inspector General of the
                                   Luftwaffe.

 NO-219          83              Letter from Dr. Rudolf Brandt        626
                                   to Dr. Rascher, 27 April
                                   1942, concerning medical
                                   experiment report for Himmler
                                   and Milch.

 NO-261          89              Letter from Milch to Dr.             626
                                   Hippke, 4 June 1942,
                                   concerning availability of
                                   low-pressure air chamber for
                                   experiments.

 1607-B-PS       115             Letter from Dr. Rascher to Dr.       627
                                   Brandt, 20 July 1942,
                                   concerning report on
                                   high-altitude experiments.

 1607-A-PS       115             Letter from Himmler to Milch,        628
                                   25 August 1942, concerning
                                   Dr. Rascher’s report on
                                   high-altitude experiments.

 1617-PS         111             Letter from Himmler to Milch,        629
                                   13 November 1942, concerning
                                   Rascher’s transfer to the
                                   Waffen SS.

 NO-262          119             Letter from Dr. Hippke to SS         631
                                   Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff, 6
                                   March 1943, concerning
                                   Rascher’s transfer to the
                                   Waffen SS.

                                        TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-041
                                        PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 113

         SWORN STATEMENT BY HERMANN GOERING, 27 SEPTEMBER 1946,
            CONCERNING MILCH’S POSITION AS INSPECTOR GENERAL
                            OF THE LUFTWAFFE

I, Hermann Goering, swear, depose, and state:

That I am the former Reich Marshal of the German Reich and the former
Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe, that I have personal knowledge of
all the facts stated here, and that I know these facts because of the
position and responsibility which I had in the German Reich.

That in approximately 1939 the former Field Marshal Erhard Milch was
appointed Inspector General [Generalinspekteur] of the Luftwaffe and
that as such he was directly responsible to me for the performance of
his duties.

That the Inspector General of the Luftwaffe was in charge of all tasks
and responsibilities, with the exception of those which were concerned
with tactical operations (the latter were handled by my Chief of Staff).
The supervision of the inspections, as well as the affairs of the health
and medical inspections, was included in the tasks of the Office of the
Inspector General. Special questions, however, such as the number of
hospitals to be put at the disposal of the individual air fleets, fell
within the province of my Chief of Staff.

That Generaloberstabsarzt [Lt. Gen., Medical Service] Dr. Erich Hippke
was Chief of the Medical Service [Sanitaetswesen] of the Luftwaffe
during the years 1941 till 1944 inclusive; that the Office of the Chief
of the Medical Service was directly responsible for the execution of all
medical research and experiments; that the Office of the Chief of the
Medical Service, i.e., Hippke’s office, was directly subordinated to the
Inspector General, the former Field Marshal Milch.

I have read the foregoing deposition consisting of two pages, in the
German language, and declare that it is the full truth to the best of my
knowledge and belief. I have had the opportunity to make changes and
corrections in the above statement. I made this declaration voluntarily
without any promise of reward, and I was not subjected to any duress or
threat whatsoever. Nuernberg, 27 September 1946.

                                            [Signed]  HERMANN GOERING

                                          TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-219
                                          PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 83

LETTER FROM DR. RUDOLF BRANDT TO DR. RASCHER, 27 APRIL 1942, CONCERNING
            MEDICAL EXPERIMENT REPORT FOR HIMMLER AND MILCH

                               Top Secret

                                                                 XI a-59

                                     Fuehrer Headquarters, 27 April 1942

1198/42
Bra-N

To SS Untersturmfuehrer Dr. Sigmund Rascher

Munich

56 Troger Street

Dear Comrade Dr. Rascher:

The Reich Leader [Himmler] has seen your letter of 16 April 1942. He has
shown the same interest in this report as in the one you sent recently.
He would like you to make up for him an over-all report on the
experiments carried out to date, which he would like to present
personally to Field Marshal Milch.

Kind regards to your wife and yourself,

                                                       Heil Hitler!
                                                                Yours

                                      [initialed] R. Br.
                                                  SS Obersturmbannfuehrer

                                          TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-261
                                          PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 89

        LETTER FROM MILCH TO DR. HIPPKE, 4 JUNE 1942, CONCERNING
        AVAILABILITY OF LOW-PRESSURE AIR CHAMBER FOR EXPERIMENTS

The State Secretary for Aviation and Inspector General of the
Luftwaffe

                            Berlin W 8, Leipziger Street 7, 4 June 1942
                                                     Telephone 12 00 47
Dear Herr Hippke!

According to the agreement with the Reich Leader SS the low-pressure air
chamber for experiments in the neighborhood of Munich is still to be
available for two further months.

Moreover, Stabsarzt Dr. Rascher is, in addition to his tests in the
Luftwaffe, to be on duty for the present for the purposes of the Reich
Leader SS.

                                                       Heil Hitler!
                                                                Yours

Generaloberstabsarzt Professor Dr. Hippke

Berlin-Tempelhof.

                                  Copy

SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen SS Wolff

Berlin SW 11.

                                                       Heil Hitler!
                                                    and kind regards,
                                                               Yours,
                                                     [signature]  MILCH

                               PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1607-B-PS
                               PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 115

 LETTER FROM DR. RASCHER TO DR. BRANDT, 20 JULY 1942, CONCERNING REPORT
                      ON HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS

Stabsarzt Dr. Rascher

Ahnenerbe RF-SS

                                                   Munich, 20 July 1942
                               Top Secret

SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. R. Brandt

Berlin, RF-SS.

Very esteemed Dr. Brandt,

Enclosed please find a copy of the work of myself and Romberg,
“Experiments for Rescue from High Altitudes”.

On 14 July 1942, I was ordered by the Reich Leader SS to send you the
above-mentioned report. The Reich Leader wants that report to be
forwarded to Field Marshal Milch, accompanied by a letter from him,
asking Milch to receive Romberg and me for a lecture. I believe to have
understood correctly that the Reich Leader thought you would submit to
him a letter to that effect for his signature.

I was very glad to hear that the Reich Leader was satisfied with the
result of the work at Dachau and with the film, and that he ordered an
intensive continuation of the work in that field.

I recommended Romberg for the War Merit Cross 2d Class
[“Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse”] on the request of SS
Obersturmbannfuehrer Sievers. SS Standartenfuehrer Dr. Wuest ordered me
to notify you hereof.

The Reich Leader furthermore decided on 14 July 1942 that the prisoner
Sobota and the two prisoners who work in the dissection room in Dachau
should be released and transferred to the group “Dirlewanger.” The exact
names are in possession of SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Sievers. The Reich
Leader has also issued an order to that effect to Major Suchaneck.

I thank you cordially for everything and remain

                                                       Heil Hitler!
                                [handwritten]  Very faithfully yours,
                                               [Signed]  DR. S. RASCHER

                                       TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1607-A-PS
                                       PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 115[137]

        LETTER FROM HIMMLER TO MILCH, 25 AUGUST 1942, CONCERNING
            DR. RASCHER’S REPORT ON HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS

                                     Field Headquarters, 25 August 1942

Field Marshal Milch

                                 Secret
Dear Milch:

Enclosed please find a report about experiments for rescue from high
altitudes, which have been carried out by Stabsarzt Dr. S. Rascher and
Dr. med. H. W. Romberg. I saw a film[138] produced by Dr. Rascher.

I consider the results of those experiments as so important for the air
force, that I beg you to receive Dr. Rascher and Dr. Romberg

I consider the results of those experiments as so important for the air
force, that I beg you to receive Dr. Rascher and Dr. Romberg that, after
having seen the film, you will also refer the matter to the Reich
Marshal because of its importance.

I would be obliged if you could let me know your opinion in time.

      Friendly greetings and
                                                       Heil Hitler!
                                         H. H.  [initials of Himmler]
                                                          27 August 1942
                                                    [initial illegible]

1 Enclosure

                                         TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1617-PS
                                         PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 111

  LETTER FROM HIMMLER TO MILCH, 13 NOVEMBER 1942, CONCERNING RASCHER’S
                       TRANSFER TO THE WAFFEN SS

The Reich Leader SS

Berlin, SW 11, 8 Prinz Albrecht Street

Field Command Post

                                                       13 November 1942
                                 Secret

Dear Comrade Milch:

You will recall that through General Wolff I particularly recommended
for your consideration the work of a certain SS Fuehrer Dr. Rascher, who
is a medical officer of the air force reserve [Arzt des
Beurlaubtenstandes der Luftwaffe].

These researches which deal with the behavior of the human organism at
great heights, as well as with manifestations caused by prolonged
cooling of the human body in cold water and similar problems which are
of vital importance to the air force in particular, can be performed by
us with particular efficiency because I personally assumed the
responsibility for supplying asocial individuals and criminals, who
deserve only to die [todeswuerdig], from concentration camps for these
experiments.

Unfortunately, you had no time recently when Dr. Rascher wanted to
report on the experiments at the Ministry of Aviation. I had put great
hopes in that report, because I believed that in this way the
difficulties, based mainly on religious objections to Dr. Rascher’s
experiments—for which I assumed responsibility—could be eliminated.

The difficulties are still the same now as before. In these Christian
medical circles the standpoint is being taken that it goes without
saying that a young German aviator should be allowed to risk his life
but that the life of a criminal—who is not drafted into military
service—is too sacred for this purpose and one should not stain oneself
with this guilt; at the same time it is interesting to note that credit
is taken for the results of the experiments while excluding the
scientist who performed them.

I personally have inspected the experiments, and have—I can say this
without exaggeration—participated in every phase of this scientific
work in a helpful and inspiring manner.

We two should not get angry about these difficulties. It will take at
least another ten years until we can get such narrow-mindedness out of
our people. But this should not affect the research work which is