Agreements which are reached in periods between the armistice and the peace treaty are subject to the same conditions. This also applies to the agreement with France with respect to the utilization of manpower. Thus, if—contrary to the statement of the Defendant Sauckel—negotiations about the utilization of manpower were conducted in the form of an ultimatum, there could from the point of view of international law still be no reason for an objection. Besides, Sauckel’s influence surely cannot have been so great that he could have exerted an excessive amount of pressure.
The validity of such agreements is open to doubt only under very special conditions, such as would mean that excessive obligations were to be assumed which obviously violate principles of humanity; for instance, if the agreements contain a clause stating that work must be performed under slave-like conditions.
The motive for these agreements was, however, to offer, especially to the French workers, favorable working conditions and salaries for their obligatory labor in Germany, thus to attract the workers.
Military reasons too can command the evacuation of an occupied territory by part of the population and thereby cause a displacement of manpower. This may happen when the population participates in partisan warfare or is active in resistance groups and thus endangers security instead of behaving obediently and peacefully. It even suffices for the population in the so-called partisan territories to be drawn upon even against its will for the support of the partisans. That such conditions were organized by Germany’s enemies as combat measures in an increasing degree, first in the East and later in the West, is today looked upon as a patriotic achievement. In view of this one must not forget that the resulting displacement of workers was precisely the consequence of their activities and that such action was permitted by international law. Evacuation had to be carried out in the interest of security, and assignment of labor elsewhere was necessary if only to maintain order. It is the privilege of the occupying power to utilize this labor within a regulated state economy in the manner deemed most appropriate under the prevailing conditions. Similar measures might also be imposed in areas of retreat after it had been ascertained that the male population illegally took part in hostilities during the retreat, as it had been called upon to do by the enemy, sometimes even being supplied with weapons.
Evacuation measures for the security of combat troops are equally permissible under international law. To engage persons evacuated from the combat zone in new work is not only legal but is actually the duty of the occupation administration. The state which calls upon its subjects to fight and thereby intensifies combat, bears the guilt for such evacuation. The necessary retaliatory measures therefore must be legal.
Whenever such evacuations become necessary, they must be carried out without undue suffering for the population. For this preparatory measures, which alone can avoid unnecessary hardships, are necessary. That is the duty of administration as laid down in Article 43 of the Hague Convention on Land Warfare. Thereto appertain the proposals made by Sauckel for the evacuation of territories of retreat in France in the event of invasion (Document 1289-PS). These proposals did not materialize and cannot therefore incriminate the Defendant Sauckel.
This administrative duty may also call for a displacement of labor in order to avoid unemployment and famine. This, for example, occurred when the industrial areas of the Soviet Union were occupied, where there were no more working possibilities after the population became unemployed following the scorched earth policy adopted by the Soviet Union, and supplies failed to arrive because of transport difficulties.
These military and administrative points of view of international law can invalidate a number of reproaches; but they do not answer the basic question, namely, whether the enlistment of workers is also permitted outside the Hague Convention on Land Warfare for the very purpose of intensified labor to enable the state to carry on the war through increase of production and to allow it to release its own workers for service at the front.
A purely military emergency would provide no excuse for disregarding international law. Victory jeopardized must not be sought by breaking the law when in distress, because the laws of warfare are intended to govern that very combat, which is of necessity connected with distress. International law inclines differently where it is a case of a measure to be taken to safeguard the existence of the state. That is a law of self-preservation which every state is entitled to because higher institutions are lacking which could protect it from destruction.
It has repeatedly been stressed by all concerned that in this war our existence was at stake. This became evident for Germany after the fatal battles on the Eastern Front in the winter 1941-42. Whereas up to that time no wholesale employment of foreign labor had been necessary, new equipment now had to be produced immediately. The German labor reserves, were depleted due to the drafting of 2 million workers for service at the front. The employment of unskilled women and young people could not immediately relieve the situation. During the later stages of the war, especially through aerial warfare, armament demands increased to such an extent that, in spite of the increased employment of women and young people, the level could no longer be maintained. The means were exhausted.