On the other hand, the occupation authorities sought to lower the living standard of workers who remained in the occupied territories. I said that they had made poverty a factor in their recruiting policy. I am going to prove it by showing how they went about creating artificial unemployment in the occupied zones and aggravating the material situation of the unemployed.
I remark as a reminder that the German authorities also practiced for this purpose a policy of freezing salaries. This measure aided the recruiting campaign for labor for Germany and had also an economic bearing, and I would like to refer the Tribunal to the explanations which will be given on this point by M. Gerthoffer.
Unemployment was produced by two complementary measures: The first is the regulating of the legal working hours; the second, the concentration and, if need be, the closing of industrial enterprises.
From 1940 the local field commandants were concerned with increasing the duration of work in their administrative zones. In France steps taken by the local authorities brought about reactions. The problem became general and was solved on a national scale. Long negotiations were imposed on the representatives of the pseudo-government of Vichy.
Finally an ordinance of 22 April 1942, from the Military Command in France, reserved for the occupation authorities the right of fixing the duration of work in industrial enterprises. This ordinance appeared in their Verordnungsblatt Frankreich, 1942. I submit it to the Tribunal under Document Number RF-32 and I quote the first paragraph:
“Paragraph I: For establishments and enterprises of all kinds a minimum of working hours may be imposed. This minimum of working hours will be decreed for an entire economic region, for specified economic branches, or for individual enterprises.”
In Belgium working hours were fixed by a decree and by an implementing order of 6 October 1942, which appeared in the Verordnungsblatt of Belgium. I submit this ordinance to the Tribunal under Document Number RF-33.
The regulating of working hours did not release a sufficient number of workers for the German factories; that is why the National Socialist authorities used a second method. Under the pretext of rationalizing production they brought about a concentration of industrial and commercial enterprises, certain of which were closed at their instigation. I cite in this relation the provisions which were made or imposed by the Germans in France, in Belgium, and in Holland.
In France I would like to refer to two texts. The first is the ordinance of the Vichy Government of 17 December 1941, published in the Journal Officiel de L’État Français, which I submit to the Tribunal under Document Number RF-34. The second text to which I wish to draw the attention of the Tribunal is the ordinance of 25 February 1942, issued by the Military Commandant in France. This ordinance appeared in the Verordnungsblatt des Militärbefehlshabers in Frankreich. I shall read it to the Tribunal because it seems particularly important, as the principle for the compulsory closing of certain French enterprises is laid down by a decree by the occupying power. I shall read the first and second paragraphs of Document Number RF-35:
“Paragraph I: If the economic situation, especially as regards the use of raw materials and industrial appliances, requires it, establishments and economic enterprises may be partly or completely closed.