A. I know that after the First War, the question of deportation of Belgium workers had been examined by a committee of the German Reichstag. I know that this parliamentary committee examined people like Hindenburg, Ludendorff, I think also Mackensen and others; and that many questions were discussed, including that of Belgian civilian workers. As far as I can recall, that committee was presided over by a man who had been given the Nobel Prize, Professor Schuecking; I think that was his name. However, I was very interested in it, and closely followed it because Hindenburg whom I worshipped, was put before a court; and as far as I can recall, no sentence was passed upon that score; and nobody was reproached that international law had been violated. At that time the Hague Convention existed and the first Geneva Conference had taken place. I am not very well informed, but I think that was so.
Q. Witness, I shall now come to the 54th meeting, concerning two points there. Witness, during that meeting[[142]] Sauckel mentioned that only a very small percentage of those sent to Germany came on a voluntary basis. This statement has been mentioned repeatedly in this trial and I want you to say something about that.
A. I might say that I do not remember having heard these words from Sauckel. It is possible that I was not there at the moment when he said that. However, it is possible that I overheard that remark, because during those long meetings, we had discussions among each other. We were also interested in other questions. During those long meetings there was at least one meeting, probably more, during which our concentration was not quite what it should have been. Had I heard it, I would have believed Sauckel just as little as I believed all the figures he gave us, because Sauckel had stated the contrary not long before. I know exactly it was not so long before that he had declared how well his system functioned and how he brought all these laborers on a voluntary basis.
Q. Witness, I shall now leave the meetings of the Central Planning Board and come to single questions in that connection. What do you know about the use of British and American prisoners of war?
A. According to my opinion and as far as I know, they went into the respective camps and they were not used for labor. I never saw such a prisoner of war any place.
Q. * * * What orders did you have toward the middle of January 1943? What orders did you receive from Hitler?
A. On 15 January 1943, in the evening I was called up and summoned to go to Hitler’s Headquarters the next day for a special mission. As far as I know, I believe that it was General Bodenschatz who called me to the Fuehrer’s Headquarters. The following morning I reported to Goering, who happened to be in Berlin at that time. Goering knew that the question of food for Stalingrad was involved. Stalingrad had been encircled for months, and the whole Sixth German Army was in it. On the 16th, in the morning, I flew to Hitler’s Headquarters in East Prussia; and then Hitler either in the afternoon or in the evening gave me the information that I should proceed to Czechoslovakia immediately by air in order to supervise Stalingrad’s food supplies from there.
Q. Witness, make it a little more brief, please.