A. I thank you.
Judge Musmanno: Do you have any questions, Dr. Bergold?
DIRECT EXAMINATION
Dr. Bergold: Yes, sir, I have. Witness, his Honor has asked you how it would be if a factory, for instance, would need and would request 50,000 workers, which way and in which channel would take this request up to the point in foreign territories where 50,000 foreigners would have been gathered and taken to Germany for that purpose. Isn’t it correct that such a proposal of bringing 50,000 workers to this factory did not mean that 50,000 foreign workers would be brought but meant only that 50,000 workers altogether were brought? That meant German workers as well as foreign workers which were actually already in Germany and employed there and also new recruits? That included all that, did it not?
Speer: I was deflected from my answer in that particular case and I did not really give an answer to the question. If 50,000 workers were requested for a certain branch in our industry the request gave a figure which did not show how many of them were Germans and how many of them were foreign workers. The bigger part of the workers which were supplied came from what was called fluctuation. Fluctuation meant the transfer of workers from one plant to another. It’s quite clear that production is in a constant development. One always follows the other and in some cases one orders particular workers and then it loses that importance for military reasons. The plan is that some workers available are constantly released and sent on to different plants or industries. A second source was the newly mobilized German workers, I mean the women workers, and a third source was the sending of foreign workers already in Germany, and a fourth source the prisoners of war who were also sent on from one branch to the next, and the fifth source consisted of some that came in from foreign countries. How these various workers from these various sources were distributed among branches, neither my offices nor the factories who had requested workers could find out. That was a matter which had to be decided by the labor exchanges because it took an enormous amount of work to find the proper workers for the proper branches. * * *
Q. Thank you. Witness, do you know that when the French Government, which at that time existed in Paris, had issued an order for the calling up of labor did that mean compulsory labor?
A. These details became known to me during the trial. My tasks were enormous and at that time I did not bother much about details. I cannot say anything about this from my knowledge.
Q. Witness, you must know this; at the time when you had discussions with Mr. Bichelonne, French Minister, I should think that the existence of compulsory labor service in France should have been discussed at that time.
A. Perhaps I misunderstood you. I said quite clearly last time that I knew about the fact that in occupied territories workers were taken to Germany against their free will. The various districts, etc., are not known to me.
Q. No. I mean if such a decree had been issued at all. That’s what I am speaking of.