Without the Central Planning Board the slave labor program could not have functioned.
THE JAEGERSTAB.
Here we have the defendant in immediate contact with the slave labor program at its peak. By the testimony of the defendant, it was he who conceived and instigated the formation of the Jaegerstab. Speer and the defendant constituted its leadership. Speer’s participation was nominal and it was the defendant who directed its activities and acted as its chairman. Speer was ill during part of the Jaegerstab’s existence and has stated to the Court that he did not preside at a meeting.
The Jaegerstab assumed control over fighter production when the exploitation of foreign forced labor in air armament had already reached unparalleled heights. On 16 February 1944, the defendant had told his colleagues in the Central Planning Board that “our best new engine is made 88 percent by Russian prisoners of war.” On 25 March, he told his engineers that soon the percentage of foreign personnel in the aircraft industry would reach 90 percent. Reich Leader SS Himmler, reporting to Goering on 9 March 1944 on the employment of concentration camp personnel in the aircraft industry, stated that nearly 36,000 prisoners were employed and that an increase to 90,000 was expected. The formation of the Jaegerstab is partly explainable in terms of the battle to increase the manpower resources available for fighter production.
The Jaegerstab was assigned top priority. Projects for the recruitment and commitment of manpower were discussed by the Jaegerstab. The evidence presented before the Tribunal has shown that questions of manpower were time and time again referred to the defendant. We have seen him agreeing to use his prestige and influence upon Sauckel in efforts to obtain new workers for aircraft production. When manpower in sufficient numbers was not forthcoming through normal channels, the Jaegerstab did not shrink from other methods of obtaining its labor. When necessary the Jaegerstab recruited its own labor, either directly or by engineering “snatching” expeditions for the seizure of manpower arriving on transports from the East.
The defendant’s frank admission to his subordinates that “international law cannot be observed here” characterizes best his own participation in the activities of the Jaegerstab. Where, as was the case with France, transfers of production facilities were concerned, the defendant advocated the stripping of the country and the deportation of its people as prisoners of war. When the discussion turned to PW’s, the defendant was quick to suggest their transfer to places under air attack. When the transportation of Italian civilian conscripts directly recruited by the Jaegerstab for service in Germany was in question, it was the defendant who advocated the shooting of those who attempted to escape.
The Jaegerstab was no mere discussion group. As an agency with absolute authority over fighter production, the Jaegerstab acted by orders and directives. The Jaegerstab fixed hours of labor and conditions of work. It was the Jaegerstab, for example, which established the 72-hour work week in the aircraft industry.
In addition to its jurisdiction over fighter production, the Jaegerstab was charged with the program for the decentralization of the German aircraft industry, both to above ground bombproof installations and to subterranean locations. Much of the labor employed in both phases of the project was concentration camp labor. The defendant must have known this fact.
One phase, the transfer to new installations underground, was under the immediate supervision of SS Gruppenfuehrer Heinz Kammler. Kammler was a member of the Jaegerstab. Where, as was the case in some instances, labor was not forthcoming in sufficient quantity, Kammler informed the Jaegerstab of his intention to take large numbers of persons into protective custody for use on his projects. Members of the Jaegerstab knew that manpower shortages on the construction projects were at least in part due to the high death rate. The conditions of employment on the projects have not been substantially disputed. The Jaegerstab was well informed of these conditions. While on trips with the Jaegerstab, Kammler visited these projects and his fellow members of the Jaegerstab were well advised as to the manner in which workers employed on them were treated. Where it was necessary to hang thirty people merely as an example to others, Kammler reported this fact to the Jaegerstab.
A second phase of the program, the transfer of fighter production to bombproof factories above ground, was carried out for the Jaegerstab by Stobbe-Dethleffsen and later Xaver Dorsch. While Stobbe-Dethleffsen and Dorsch were immediately in charge, it was the Jaegerstab which received the funds and raw materials necessary for the carrying out of this project. When sufficient progress had not been made under Stobbe-Dethleffsen, the Jaegerstab demanded that Dorsch carry out this program. The defendant was a leader in the planning which preceded Dorsch’s appointment.