The Defendant Sauckel, therefore, is not directly responsible for the conscription of manpower. Indirectly, however, responsibility can be charged to him in that although he was aware of these unsatisfactory conditions and knew that they could not be stopped, he nevertheless demanded more workers.
It must be added that in the Defendant Rosenberg’s letter of 21 December 1942, Document 018-PS, the Defendant Sauckel learned for the first time of the recruiting methods which were described as mass deportation. At the meeting which followed in the beginning of January 1943, the Defendant Rosenberg declared that he was opposed to this and that he would not tolerate such procedures. This is also confirmed by his previous letter of 14 December 1942 addressed to Koch, Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine, Document 194-PS, in which he clearly calls the latter’s attention to his obligations to proceed legally.
Koch’s memorandum of 16 March 1943, Document Rosenberg-13, of which the Defendant Sauckel learned only here at the Trial, explains that these incidents are exaggerated individual cases, their justification being based on the necessity of carrying out measures for the restoration of the prestige of the occupation authority. It is expressly declared in this that the recruitment of workers was undertaken by legal means and that steps were being taken in the event of arbitrary measures, Document Number Rosenberg-13, Pages 11 and 12.
It was not altogether impossible that it might have been a matter of tricky propaganda exaggerations, as Koch specifically points out. In wartime such a possibility exists, and the propaganda tendency of the Molotov reports (Document USSR-151) goes to emphasize this.
The Defendant Sauckel was also supported in this idea by the result of an investigation into the details of a “manhunt” which was reported to him at Minsk by Field Marshal Kluge; it turned out to be a round-up of workers employed by a private firm at the time of the retreat.
The Katyn case shows how difficult it is to determine the truth of such events when they are made use of as effective weapons of propaganda. As the witnesses from the Defendant Sauckel’s office have confirmed, no other incidents involving such abuses have become known. The cases reported are to a certain extent obviously repetitions of the same happenings as communicated from various sources.
None of these reports, however, displays any desire to approve of such things; they are a sort of house alarm for the purpose of remedying and improving conditions.
Now, can one believe the Defendant Sauckel when he declares that he did not know about the conditions alleged by the Prosecution? What reached him through official channels is insufficient as proof of cognizance, and the witnesses confirm that the so-called “methods” were unknown. On the other hand we find here documents of the authorities of the occupied countries from which it appears that the Reich Commissioner in the Ukraine ordered the burning down of houses in retaliation for resisting the administration, and there are decrees providing for such measures. Reports made to the Eastern Ministry regarding such events do not lead to penal prosecution but to suspension of the proceedings, such as the Raab case (Document 254-PS) and the Müller case (Document 290-PS).
Any doubt must be countered with the following: The measures employed were not approved by the highest instances, and were only surreptitiously applied by the lower offices who therefore had every reason not to let them become known. From the files on the preliminary proceedings of the cases of Raab and Müller it definitely appears that the existing regulations were unknown at the ministry.
The Defendant Sauckel did travel through the Ukraine, but it is unlikely that his attention should have been called to matters which might have got the local offices into trouble. The views of the Defendant Sauckel were well known, while on the other hand there existed a violent quarrel between the offices of Reich Commissioner Koch and Reich Minister Rosenberg. When the documents from both offices such as have been submitted are read carefully, it can be seen from the file notes that in this struggle both sides were collecting arguments and that neither wished to commit itself. Since the Defendant Sauckel himself had no direct authority, it is understandable that actual conditions should have remained unknown to him. Still another point of view must be considered: various documents mention that a certain pressure would have to be applied in the procurement of workers, since the workers were to be obtained “under all circumstances.” Does this sanction all methods? It remains to be seen what was actually done in pursuance of these statements.