The primary purpose of the slave labor program was to compel the people of the occupied countries to work for the German war economy. The decree appointing Sauckel Plenipotentiary-General for Manpower declares the purpose of the appointment to be to facilitate acquisition of the manpower required for German war industries, and in particular the armaments industry, by centralizing under Sauckel responsibility for the recruitment and allocation of foreign labor and prisoners of war in these industries (1666-PS). This decree, signed by Hitler, Lammers and Keitel, and dated 21 March 1942, provides:
“In order to secure the manpower requisite for the war industries as a whole, and particularly for armaments, it is necessary that the utilization of all available manpower, including that of workers recruited (angeworbenen) abroad and of prisoners of war, should be subject to a uniform control, directed in a manner appropriate to the requirements of war industry, and further that all still incompletely utilized manpower in the Greater German Reich, including the Protectorate, and in the General Government and in the occupied territories should be mobilized.
“Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel will carry out this task within the framework of the Four Year Plan, as Plenipotentiary General, for the utilization of labor. In that capacity he will be directly responsible to the Commissioner for the Four Year Plan.
“Section III (Wages) and Section V (Utilization of labor) of the Reich Labor Ministry, together with their subordinate authorities, will be placed at the disposal of the Plenipotentiary General for the accomplishment of his task.” (1666-PS)
Sauckel’s success can be gauged from a letter he wrote to Hitler on 15 April 1943, containing a report on one year’s activities:
“1. After one year’s activity as Plenipotentiary for the Direction of Labor, I can report that 3,638,056 new foreign workers were given to the German war economy from 1 April of last year to 31 March this year.
“2. The 3,638,056 are distributed amongst the following branches of the German war economy
Armament—1,568,801.” (407-VI-PS)
Further evidence of this use of enslaved foreign labor is found in a report of a meeting of the Central Planning Board on 16 February 1944, during which Field Marshal Milch stated:
“The armament industry employs foreign workmen to a large extent; according to the latest figures—40 percent.” (R-124)