A. We did that in one sense, that for certain factories we simply had to have skilled workers, which we asked for, but never did we ask, “Give us foreigners; give us prisoners of war”, and so forth. Our wishes were to the effect to have Germans, but it was quite clear to us that there weren’t enough German workers to fulfill the demands. Had they been available, one needn’t have used prisoners of war or recruited foreign workers or sent the prisoners of war to work unless they volunteered for it.
[March 14]
Judge Phillips: The Tribunal understands you to say that Polish prisoners of war were changed into civilian workers and that you no longer considered them to be prisoners of war. How were they changed into civilian workers from prisoners of war?
A. Personally I cannot give you many details about this because that happened as early as 1939, and at that time I was not connected with the armament question. How it was worked I do not know. All I can imagine is that there was no longer a Polish Government and that the Governor General gave the order; whether any Polish office was asked, I don’t know; it is only in the files here that I found something about some Polish regional authority. I cannot give you any more clear details.
Dr. Bergold: May it please the Tribunal, perhaps I can clarify the matter.
Presiding Judge Toms: Let’s let the witness clarify it. Witness, you are an old soldier. You have been a soldier for many years. How do you transfer a prisoner of war into a civilian, by discharging him?
A. Yes, he must be released from being a prisoner of war, and then there are various possibilities. One possibility would be—and this was resorted to by Germany—to make him a free worker and tell him that “You are being released, but you must do some work. That is the conditions which we put to you. You are being paid properly, and otherwise you live as a free man.”
There is also another possibility, which was the way chosen by the Americans, by which a prisoner of war is released and then regarded as an internee. I think that that procedure is not quite so favorable for the man concerned.
Q. You just transposed them from prisoners of war to civilian prisoners, then?