Basic order No. 24, dated 5 March 1941, signed by Keitel, regarding German collaboration with Japan. (C-75)
B. WAR CRIMES.
(1) Forced Labor, Deportation, and Enslavement of Residents of Occupied Territories.
The slave labor program of the Nazi conspirators had two criminal purposes. The first was to satisfy the labor requirements of the Nazi war machine by forcing residents of occupied countries to work in Germany, often directly in the German armament industry, and the second was to destroy or weaken the peoples of the occupied territories. Millions of foreign workers were taken to Germany, for the most part under pressure and generally by physical force. These workers were forced to labor under conditions of undescribable brutality and degredation, and often they were used in factories and industries devoted exclusively to the production of munitions of war. (See Chapter X on The Slave Labor Program.)
Goering was at all times implicated in the slave labor program. Recruitment and allocation of manpower and determination of working conditions were included in his jurisdiction as Plenipotentiary for the Four-Year Plan, and from its beginning a part of the Four-Year Plan Office was devoted to such work. (1862-PS; 2827-PS.)
The defendant Goering was present at a meeting in Hitler’s study on 23 May 1939 at which Hitler, after declaring his intention to attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity, said:
“If fate brings us into conflict with the West, the possession of extensive areas in the East will be advantageous. * * * The population of non-German areas will perform no military service and will be available as a source of labor.” (L-79)
Soon after the fall of Poland, Goering as Plenipotentiary for the Four-Year Plan, began the enslavement of large numbers of Poles. On 25 January 1940, the defendant Frank, then Governor General of Poland, reported to Goering as follows:
“For the execution of the task of systematically placing the economic strength of the Generalgouvernement, within the framework of the Four-Year Plan, in the service of the German defense industry, I give the following
DIRECTIVES