“Paragraph II: The closing of these enterprises will be announced by field headquarters by means of a written notification addressed to the establishment or to the industrial enterprise.”
In Belgium I refer to the ordinances of the Military Commandant, 30 March and 3 October 1942, which appeared in the Verordnungsblatt in Belgium. I submit to the Tribunal the ordinance of 30 March under Document Number RF-36.
In Holland the regulating provisions of the occupying authorities were more stringent than elsewhere. I present an ordinance of the Reich Commissioner for the territory of occupied Holland, 15 March 1943. I submit it to the Tribunal under Document Number RF-37.
This ordinance presents a double interest. First, it offers precise information which emphasizes the method with which the German services executed their recruiting plan. It constitutes, on the other hand, the first document I shall submit to the Tribunal accusing the Defendant Seyss-Inquart. The policy of Sauckel was carried out in Holland with the collaboration of Reich Commissioner Seyss-Inquart. The ordinances regarding compulsory labor in Holland were all issued on the responsibility of Seyss-Inquart, whether they bear his actual signature or not. I ask the Tribunal to note this.
The increase of the legal working hours and the closing of industrial enterprises deprived thousands of workers of their jobs. The defendants did not hesitate to use material constraint to incite the unemployed to work for Germany. They threatened the unemployed that they would do away with their unemployment compensation. This threat was made on several occasions by the local field commandants in occupied France. I find proof in the protest made by the French authorities to the German Armistice Commission. The French document is F-282, which I submit to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number RF-38. I read the first page, third paragraph of the letter:
“Moreover, the occupation authorities stipulate that the workers who refuse the work offered to them will forfeit their right to unemployment compensation and may be prosecuted by the war tribunal for sabotage of Franco-German collaboration.”
Far from disavowing the initiative of their local authorities, the Central Office for Labor gave them instructions to continue this policy. The proof is furnished by the circular of Dr. Mansfeld, dated 29 January 1942, which I have just submitted to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number RF-26 (Document Number 1183-PS) in which instructions were given that the stopping of unemployment compensation should be utilized as a means of pressure on workers from foreign countries. The circular of Dr. Mansfeld shows that the blackmail of the National Socialist leaders was practiced not only in the granting of unemployment compensation, but also in the issuing of ration cards.
Moreover, the defendants tried to force the inhabitants of the occupied territories to leave for Germany by increasing their food difficulties. The proof of this intention is given in the report of the session of 1 March 1944 of the Conference of the Four Year Plan. This document I referred to a short time ago as Exhibit Number RF-30 (Document R-124). This is a passage which has not yet been read, which the Tribunal will please permit me to read. It is on Page 5 of the French translation, Pages 1814 and 1815 of the German text. The page numbers are at the bottom and on the right. I read on the top of Page 5 of the French text:
“Milch: ‘Wouldn’t the following method be better than . . . to protect the “S” factories, German administration should take over the feeding of the Italians and say to them, “No one shall receive food unless he works in a protected factory (S-Betrieb) or leaves for Germany?’ ”