It is addressed to: “The highest Reich authorities, the Reich Protector, the Governor General and the executive authorities in the occupied countries.” The letter of transmittal stated in part:
“Enclosed I send you for your information the statutes of the Central Planning Board with the request to support the office of the Central Planning Board in every possible way in its work, and to direct, more particularly, your section chiefs and reporters to forward all information requested orally, or by writing, in the shortest possible time. By this collaboration by your section chiefs and reporters, the building up of larger machinery in the framework of the Central Planning Board is to be avoided.”
The International Military Tribunal found that the Central Planning Board “had supreme authority for the scheduling of German production and the allocation and development of raw material”.
It needs no emphasis that the effective performance of these functions necessarily involved the Board in the requisitioning and distribution of labor, and the records of the Board, which have been submitted, leave no doubt that the Board exercised the authority conferred upon it in the field of labor. The International Military Tribunal in its opinion found that the Board requisitioned labor from Sauckel with full knowledge that the demands could be supplied only by foreign forced labor, and that the Board determined the basic allocation of this labor within the German war economy.
In assessing the guilt of the defendant Funk, the Court said:[[144]]
“In the fall of 1943, Funk was a member of the Central Planning Board which determined the total number of laborers needed for German industry, and required Sauckel to produce them, usually by deportation from occupied territories. Funk did not appear to be particularly interested in this aspect of the forced labor program, and usually sent a deputy to attend the meetings, often SS General Ohlendorf, the former Chief of the SD inside of Germany and the former Commander of Einsatzgruppe D. But Funk was aware that the Board of which he was a member was demanding the importation of slave laborers, and allocating them to the various industries under its control.”
Bearing in mind the fact that Funk was a minor member of the Board, how much greater is the responsibility of the defendant who was a dominant figure on the Board throughout its existence.
There is no need to review in historical detail the defendant’s personal participation in the criminal activities of the Board. A few references to the pattern for 1944 will suffice. The Tribunal will recall that Albert Speer, the other dominant member of the Board, was ill during most of this period.
On 4 January 1944, demands were made at a Hitler conference that Sauckel produce four million new workers from the occupied countries. The defendant was present at the conference, and at this meeting, Sauckel, in pledging himself to perform his recruitment tasks, indicated that the demands could be met only by Himmler, and the promise of assistance was forthcoming from the Reich Leader SS.
The allocation of this labor to the various sectors of the German economy was determined by the Board at its 53d meeting. The defendant was the presiding officer at this meeting. The chart compiled by Milch and found in his files shows his personal knowledge of the sources of the labor being allocated.