I. INDICTMENT
The United States of America, by the undersigned Telford Taylor, Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, duly appointed to represent said Government in the prosecution of war criminals, charges the defendant Erhard Milch with the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined in Control Council Law No. 10,[[62]] duly enacted by the Allied Control Council on 20 December 1945. The defendant Milch between 1939 and 1945 was State Secretary in the [Reich] Air Ministry (Staatssekretaer im Reichsluftfahrt ministerium), Inspector General of the Air Force (Generalinspekteur der Luftwaffe), Deputy to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force (Stellvertreter des Oberbefehlshabers der Luftwaffe), and Member of the Nazi Party (Mitglied der NSDAP). The defendant Milch was also Field Marshal in the Luftwaffe (Generalfeldmarschall in der Luftwaffe) 1940-45, Aircraft Master General (Generalluftzeugmeister) 1941-44, Member of the Central Planning Board (Mitglied der “Zentralen Planung”) 1942-1945, and Chief of the Jaegerstab 1944-1945. The war crimes and crimes against humanity charged herein against the defendant Milch include deportation, enslavement and mistreatment of millions of persons, participation in criminal medical experiments upon human beings, and murders, brutalities, cruelties, tortures, atrocities, and other inhumane acts.
COUNT ONE
1. Between September 1939 and May 1945 the defendant Milch unlawfully, wilfully, and knowingly committed war crimes as defined by Article II of Control Council Law No. 10, in that he was a principal in, accessory to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and was connected with plans and enterprises involving slave labor and deportation to slave labor of the civilian populations of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Hungary, and other countries and territories occupied by the German Armed Forces, in the course of which millions of persons were enslaved, deported, ill-treated, terrorized, tortured, and murdered.
2. Between September 1939 and May 1945 the defendant Milch unlawfully, wilfully, and knowingly committed war crimes as defined by Article II of Control Council Law No. 10, in that he was a principal in, accessory to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and was connected with plans and enterprises involving the use of prisoners of war in war operations and work having a direct relation with war operations, including the manufacture and transportation of arms and munitions, in the course of which murders, cruelties, ill-treatment, and other inhumane acts were committed against members of the armed forces of nations then at war with the German Reich and who were in custody of the German Reich in the exercise of belligerent control.
3. In the execution of the plans and enterprises charged in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this count, millions of persons were unlawfully subjected to forced labor under cruel and inhumane conditions which resulted in widespread suffering. At least 5,000,000 workers were deported to Germany. The conscription of labor was accomplished in many cases by drastic and violent methods. Workers destined for the Reich were sent under guard to Germany, often packed in trains without adequate heat, food, clothing, or sanitary facilities; other inhabitants of occupied countries were conscripted and compelled to work in their own countries to assist the German war economy and on fortifications and military installations. The resources and needs of the occupied countries were completely disregarded in the execution of the said plans and enterprises. Prisoners of war were assigned to work directly related to war operations, including work in munitions factories, loading bombers, carrying ammunition, and manning antiaircraft guns. The treatment of slave laborers and prisoners of war was based on the principle that they should be fed, sheltered, and treated in such a way as to exploit them to the greatest possible extent at the lowest expenditure.
4. The defendant Milch from 1942 to 1945 was a member of the Central Planning Board which had supreme authority for the scheduling of production and the allocation and development of raw materials in the German war economy. The Central Planning Board determined the labor requirements of industry, agriculture, and all other phases of German war economy, and made requisitions for and allocations of such labor. The defendant Milch had full knowledge of the illegal manner in which foreign laborers were conscripted and prisoners of war utilized to meet such requisitions, and of the unlawful and inhumane conditions under which they were exploited. He attended the meetings of the Central Planning Board, participated in its decisions and in the formulation of basic policies with reference to the exploitation of such labor, advocated the increased use of forced labor and prisoners of war to expand war production, and urged that cruel and repressive measures be utilized to procure and exploit such labor.
5. During the years 1939-1945 the defendant Milch, as State Secretary in the Air Ministry, Inspector General of the Air Force, Deputy to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force, Field Marshal in the Luftwaffe, Aircraft Master General, and Chief of the Jaegerstab, had responsibility for the development and production of arms and munitions for the German Air Force. The defendant Milch exploited foreign laborers and prisoners of war in the arms, aircraft, and munitions factories under his control, made requisitions for and allocations of such labor within the aircraft industry, and personally directed that cruel and repressive measures be adopted towards such labor.
6. Pursuant to the order of the defendant Milch, prisoners of war who had attempted escape were murdered on or about 15 February 1944.