The official figures which the Defendant Sauckel made public in his speech in Posen in February 1943 (see Document 1739-PS) proved that already in 1939, at the beginning of the second World War, more than twice as many women were being employed than at the end of the first World War and that their number at the end of the second World War had increased by another 2 million to a total of over 10 million. This figure exceeds the entire number of male and female workers in the armament industry at the end of the first World War. Yet in spite of that there was a shortage of labor. This has been confirmed by the witness Rohland for Codefendant Speer in Document Speer-56, according to which Speer also declared that foreign labor was needed under all circumstances.
The crux of the matter did not concern the problem of female labor, where by introducing additional home labor the limit was attained, but that of procuring specialists and men for heavy labor. Among the 10 million German women who were at work, there were also the wives of front-line officers and others from similar classes of society.
The notion that in Britain the women were conscripted for work in a higher degree than in Germany is wrong. In Germany the women had to work up to 45 and later 50 years of age, and they actually worked in factories and did not have fake jobs of a social kind. Even schoolchildren beginning with the age of 10 were required to work, and from 16 years onward they were switched to regular labor or occupied in other services. Families were disrupted; schools and universities were closed; pupils and students worked in the armament industry, and even the wounded could not continue their studies. A grim fight was waged over every person capable of work. Speer’s reserve of workers did not exist. What efforts were made in this sector is shown among others by Enclosure 2 of the Wartburg Document RF-810.
Another point of view illustrating the necessity of employing additional labor is the fact that the powers in possession of colonies brought labor from their colonies; France (see Document RF-22, Page 17), for instance, took in about 50,000 workers from North Africa and Indo-China, which were under the command and supervision of officers and noncommissioned officers. Since Germany, having been refused colonies and on account of the blockade, was unable to draw upon such reserves, she was entitled to some means, in her fight for existence, of procuring labor where it could be found inactive in occupied territories.
This is in outline the basis, with regard to international law, for judging the regulated mobilization of labor as a war crime. One may, with regard to certain points, differ in opinion; and it will generally be found that in international law a uniform interpretation will not be readily arrived at. The interests of individual members in the community of international law play an important part and are not always identical; legal principles are often not recognized because some state does not wish to place itself officially in contradiction with its former actions, or because it prefers to remain unbound for the future.
As counsel for the Defense, I am in a position to present my interpretation of law without such inhibitions. The significance of my statement for the Defense, apart from the objective side, lies in the fact that the Defendant Sauckel, subjectively, was for good reasons entitled to believe in the lawfulness of a regulated mobilization of labor and that to him his actions were not discernible as being in contradiction with international law. This was supported by the impression which the Defendant Sauckel could not but gain of the permissibility of a regulated mobilization of labor, as shown by the attitude of other superior offices. When Sauckel entered upon his office, foreign workers had already been enlisted by individual action; and he could take it for granted that the State would equally proceed in a legal manner. None of the highest offices has ever raised legal objections before Sauckel. These offices, both the competent Foreign Office and the highest civil and military offices in the occupied territories, accepted his orders as a matter of course; and no questions of doubt on international law were raised.
For the opinion of the Defendant Sauckel the attitude of the foreign agencies concerned was necessarily of special importance, notably the consent of the French and the Belgians, who came to Berlin personally for discussions. From this resulted the good co-operation with the local authorities in the occupied territories, as was the case before enemy propaganda intervened.
Whether cognizance of breaking a law is indispensable when committing a crime against international law may be a moot point; but to establish guilt leading to a conviction, cognizance of the realization of all the criminal facts is essential. This includes cognizance of the fact that the action performed was contrary to international law. The subjective aspect of the facts, involving criminal guilt of the Defendant Sauckel, cannot be proved in respect to application of the regulated mobilization of labor. It would be impossible to commit the Defendant Sauckel for yet another legal reason, even if the regulated mobilization of manpower really were a violation of international law. According to the Hague Convention on Land Warfare, no individual responsibility exists. The Hague Convention on Land Warfare differentiates between two kinds of war crimes; those which can be committed by an individual, such as murder and ill-treatment, and those which can be committed only by parties in a war. The regulated utilization of manpower is a proceeding which can only be initiated by the state. While the individual action is punished according to the penal code of the different states, a special regulation was laid down for offenses committed by parties in a war in Article 3 of the introductory agreement to the Hague Convention on Land Warfare. This specifies only a liability for damages on the part of the state. This passage of the Hague Convention on Land Warfare still applies today, since it cannot be rescinded by agreement among the Allies alone. The Charter, which specifies the immediate criminal responsibility of the state organs or its executors, is void insofar as it is contradictory to the Hague Convention on Land Warfare.
I do not have to refer to the fact that Germany, as one of the parties to the agreement, would have had to agree to the suspension of Article 3; there are other reasons which speak for a continuation of this stipulation. A modification of the Hague Convention on Land Warfare in the sense of the Charter might have resulted from the law of usage or general custom due to changing legal conceptions. The presupposition for this assumption would be, however, that the contracting powers relinquish their sovereignty, since only then would the punishment of the state organs be possible. However, such a renunciation of the rights of sovereignty has not, as far as I am aware, taken place to such an extent as would generally render such punishment permissible. With regard to this point, I refer to the general statements made by Professor Jahrreiss before the Tribunal.
I shall now deal with the utilization of manpower as a crime against humanity. If a regulated utilization of manpower appears permissible according to international law, there remains the problem of the method of its execution, namely, the question of up to what point this utilization of manpower can still be regarded as in order and when it will exceed the permissible limit.