EXTRACTS FROM MEMORANDUM OF A CONFERENCE, 18 FEBRUARY 1944, CONCERNING THE RELEASE OF INDIGENOUS LABOR FOR PURPOSES OF THE REICH
The City Commissioner in Kaunas.
Kaunas, 18 February 1944.
PROCUREMENT OF INDIGENOUS WORKERS FOR
PURPOSES OF THE REICH
Numerous drives for the purpose of recruiting indigenous workers for the Reich have taken place since the entry of German armed forces into the general district [Generalbezirk] Lithuania in June 1941. A few weeks after the entry of the German troops, thousands of Lithuanian male and female farm workers were recruited at the instigation of the military administration, to work for 6 months on large estates in the Gau East Prussia. Unfortunately, the promises made then were not kept. These farm workers were not released after 6 months nor after 12 months; their families remaining behind were left without any support for months; they were for a long time refused a short vacation in Lithuania, and now it is even considered to transfer these farm workers, recruited in 1941 for 6 months, to the armament industry in the Reich.
The second major drive was started by the armed forces in the spring of 1942 and concerned the collecting of approximately 7,000 male workers as so-called transport helpers. The action, which was rushed into without sufficient propaganda preparation, was greatly handicapped by unwise measures on the part of the nervous armed forces command. Thus for instance, the Lithuanians, ordered to the official agencies “only for registration”, were not allowed to return home and were taken away under military escort to the local barracks, leaving them no way of either saying good-by to their families or putting in order their most important personal affairs. No wonder that the enemy propaganda exploited this “blemish” with avidity comparing the procedure with the deportation methods used barely a year ago by the Soviets.
Until most recent times, numerous additional drives have been undertaken for the purpose of obtaining volunteers for the armed forces, the police and the Reich Labor Service, or for obtaining workers for the armament industry in the Reich. * * *
Finally it must be recalled that the indigenous administration in its present form and since its inception has completely failed in the question of procuring workers for the Reich. * * *