Moreover, according to tabulations of Speer’s Ministry, as of 31 December 1944 approximately two million civilian foreign workers were employed directly in the manufacture of armaments and munitions (end products or components). (2520-PS)
Sauckel, Speer, and Keitel also succeeded in forcing foreign labor to construct military fortifications. Thus, citizens of France, Holland, and Belgium were compelled against their will to engage in the construction of the “Atlantic Wall”. Hitler, in an order dated 8 September 1942, initialed by Keitel, decreed that:
“The extensive coastal fortifications which I have ordered to be erected in the area of Army Group West make it necessary that in the occupied territory all available workers should be committed and should give the fullest extent of their productive capacities. The previous allotment of domestic workers is insufficient. In order to increase it, I order the introduction of compulsory labor and the prohibition of changing the place of employment without permission of the authorities in the occupied territories. Furthermore, the distribution of food and clothing ration cards to those subject to labor draft should in the future depend on the possession of a certificate of employment. Refusal to accept an assigned job, as well as abandoning the place of work without the consent of the authorities in charge, will result in the withdrawal of the food and clothing ration cards. The GBA (Deputy General for Arbeitseinsatz) in agreement with the military commander as well as the Reich Commissar, will issue the corresponding decrees for execution.” (556-2-PS)
Sauckel boasted to Hitler concerning the contribution of the forced labor program to the construction of the Atlantic Wall by Speer’s Organization Todt (OT). In a letter to Hitler dated 17 May 1943, Sauckel wrote:
“* * * In addition to the labor allotted to the total German economy by the Arbeitseinsatz since I took office, the Organization Todt was supplied with new labor continually. * * *
“Thus, the Arbeitseinsatz has done everything to help make possible the completion of the Atlantic Wall.” (407-VIII-PS)
Similarly, Russian civilians were forced into labor battalions and compelled to build fortifications to be used against their own countrymen. A memorandum of the Rosenberg Ministry states that:
“* * * men and women in the theaters of operations have been and will be conscripted into labor battalions to be used in the construction of fortifications * * *.” (031-PS)
In addition, the Nazi conspirators compelled Prisoners of War to engage in operations of war against their own country and its Allies. At a meeting of the Central Planning Board held on February 19, 1943, attended by Speer, Sauckel, and Field Marshal Milch, the following conversation occurred:
“Sauckel: If any prisoners are taken, there, they will be needed.