I think it will promote clarification if I read into the record certain parts of these minutes. I quote Page 6 of the Russian text of the document which corresponds to Pages 95 and 96 of the document book:
“Conference of 7 November 1941 on the allocation of Russian manpower. The Reich Marshal gave the following directives for the utilization of Russian manpower:
“I. Russian labor has demonstrated its capacity for production in building up the gigantic industry of Russia. It must now be successfully allocated in the Reich. In the face of such an order of the Führer, objections are of secondary importance. The disadvantages that may result from the employment of Russian labor must be reduced to a minimum, and this is primarily the concern of the counterintelligence service (Abwehr) and the Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei).
“II. Russians in the operational zone. The Russians are to be used primarily in the construction of roads and railroads, for clearing work, clearing out mine fields, and in the construction of air fields. The German construction battalions are largely to be dissolved (for example in the Air Force). German skilled workmen belong in war industry. Digging and stone breaking is not their work. The Russian is there for that.
“III. Russians in the territories of the Reich commissioners and of the Government General. Here the same principle applies as in the second paragraph. In addition, increased use in agriculture; if machines are lacking, manpower must produce what the Reich will have to demand in the agrarian sector from the Eastern territories. Further local manpower should be made available for the ruthless exploitation of the Russian coal deposits.
“IV. Russians in the territory of the Reich, including the Protectorate. The number to be employed is to be determined by the need. Need is to be decided from the standpoint that foreign workers who eat much and produce little are to be sent away from the Reich and that in the future the German woman is not to be used as extensively in the field of labor as hitherto. Along with Russian prisoners of war, free Russian manpower is also to be utilized.”
I shall now omit one page of this document and refer to Page 7. In the middle of the page there is Section B, entitled “The Free Russian Worker.”
My colleague, Colonel Pokrovsky, already mentioned the fact that the Hitlerites considered the civilian population as prisoners of war. This gave them the opportunity to increase for propaganda purposes the number of the allegedly captured Red Army soldiers in their reports on military operations, on the one hand, and to draw on them for manpower, on the other hand.
The section to which I just referred begins as follows, “Employment and treatment is not actually to be other than that given to Russian prisoners of war.” It should here be noted that the minutes of the conference end with the following statement by Göring—you will find this excerpt on Page 98 of the document book:
“Enlistment of workers and the utilization of prisoners of war are to be carried on in a uniform manner, and they must be organizationally combined.”