STENOGRAPHIC MINUTES OF THE 36TH CONFERENCE
OF THE CENTRAL PLANNING BOARD
Concerning 1943-44 coal economy plan. Held on Thursday, 22 April 1943, 1550 hours at the Festival Hall at the Zoo, Jebenstr.
Speer: Throughout the winter we have seen that in the last instance it is coal which provides the basis for all plans we wish to execute in other respects, and most of you are also aware of our intention to increase the manufacture of iron. Here also it will again be coal which in the last instance will tip the scales, whether or not we shall be able to accomplish this increase of iron production. Seen from the Central Planning Board, we are of the opinion that the demand for coal as well as the demand for iron ought to be coordinated in a separate plan, and that this plan ought to receive about the same degree of urgency as the Krauch plan, and that with regard to labor, the conditions required for the execution of that plan must be established. Perhaps Mr. Timm will be able to state how he expects the question of the miners to be developed; unfortunately the miners cannot be taken from the German reservoir, in their place we shall have to use very strong foreigners.
Timm: At the moment, 69,000 men are needed for hauling that coal. We want to cover this by finding within the Reich 23,000 men, viz., healthy prisoners of war, etc., who are especially suitable for mining—and by dispatching 50,000 Poles from the General Government. Out of these about 30,000 men have been supplied up to 24 April, so that about 39,000 men are still outstanding for January to April. The demand for May has been reported to us at 35,700. The difficulties existed especially with regard to recruitment in the General Government, since in every district surrounding Germany there is an extraordinary resistance to recruitment. In all countries we have to change over more or less to registering the men by age groups and to conscripting them in age groups. They do appear for registration as such, but as soon as transport is available, they do not come back so that the dispatch of the men has become more or less a question for the police.
Especially in Poland the situation at the moment is extraordinarily serious. It is well known that vehement battles occurred just because of these actions. The resistance against the administration established by us is very strong. Quite a number of our men have been exposed to increased dangers, and it was just in the last two or three weeks that some of them were shot dead, e.g., the head of the labor office in Warsaw who was shot in his office, and yesterday another man again. This is how matters stand presently, and the recruiting itself even if done with the best will remain extremely difficult unless police reinforcements are at hand.
Speer: These [women] we can use in the Reich. There are a great number of Russian PW’s and laborers who are employed at places where they need not be employed. There can be an exchange. The only thing is to do this with unskilled workers, and not to take the workers from the industry where they were trained with difficulty.
Kehrl: Where we are late in completion of a task, or where we lose an opportunity, we can make up for it. But any coal which we cannot haul at once is definitely lost for use in this war. This is why we cannot do enough to force the allotment to the pits.
Speer: But not by forcible actions in smashing what we toilsomely built.