The action carried out by the defendants to impose this exceptional legislation is substantiated by numerous documents. I particularly draw the attention of the Tribunal to four of these, which permit us to retrace the activities of the Defendant Sauckel during the months of January and February 1943. On 5 January 1943 Sauckel transmitted to the different departments of his administration an order of the Führer, which the Defendant Speer had communicated to him. This is Document 556(13)-PS, which I submit to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number RF-62. I shall read its first paragraph:
“On 4 January 1943, at 8 o’clock in the evening, Minister Speer telephoned from the general headquarters of the Führer giving the information that, by virtue of a decision of the Führer, it was no longer necessary, when recruiting skilled and unskilled labor in France, to have any particular regard for the French. Recruitment could be carried on there with pressure and more severe measures.”
On 11 January 1943 the Defendant Sauckel was in Paris. He attended a meeting which brought together at the Military Commander’s all responsible officials of the labor service. He announced to them that new measures of compulsion were to be taken in France. I refer you to the minutes of the meeting which constitute Document 1342-PS, which I submit to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number RF-63. I shall read from Page 2 of the French translation; Page 1, fourth line, of the second paragraph of the German original:
“Gauleiter Sauckel likewise thanks the various services for the successful carrying out of the first action. Immediately after the beginning of the new year, he is obliged to announce further severe measures. There is a great new need of labor for the front as well as for the Reich armament industry.”
I skip to the end of the paragraph. I shall read from the next paragraph:
“The situation at the front calls for 700,000 soldiers fit for front-line service. The armament industry would have to lose 200,000 key workers by the middle of March. I have received an order from the Führer to find 200,000 foreign skilled workers as replacements and I shall need for this purpose 150,000 French skilled workmen, while the other 50,000 can be drawn from Holland, Belgium, and other occupied countries. In addition, 100,000 unskilled French workers are necessary for the Reich. The second action of recruitment in France makes it necessary that by the middle of March 150,000 skilled workers and 100,000 unskilled workmen and women be transferred to Germany.”
The Defendant Sauckel went back to Germany a few days later. On 16 February he was in Berlin at the meeting of the Central Planning Board. He gave a commentary on the law which was to appear that very day and revealed that he was the instigator of it. I refer once more to the minutes of the conferences of the Four Year Plan, included under Document Number R-124, which I submitted this morning to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number RF-30. I shall read an extract from this document, which my American colleagues have not mentioned. It is Page 7 of the French translation of the document, Page 2284 of the German original; this is the situation in France:
“My collaborators and I having succeeded, after difficult discussions, in persuading Laval to introduce the law of compulsory labor in France, this law has now been so successfully extended, thanks to our pressure, that by yesterday three French age-groups had already been called up. So we are now legally qualified to recruit in France, with the assistance of the French Government, workers of three age-groups whom we shall be able to employ henceforth in French factories, but among whom we shall also be able to choose some for our own needs in the Reich and send them to Germany.”
The Defendant Sauckel returned to France on 24 February. I offer in evidence to the Tribunal the letter which he addressed to Hitler before his departure, to inform him of his journey. It proves the continuity of the action of Sauckel. The letter constitutes Document 556(25)-PS, which I submit to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number RF-64, and I shall read it:
“Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, to the Führer; general headquarters of the Führer.