Once the transportation of workers got under way it was not always certain that they would all arrive. Aside from the unsanitary conditions under which they travelled, frequently without food and in the wintertime without heat, many in desperation escaped. To offset these defections en route, Milch recommended—
“If a transport has left a town and has not arrived, 500 to 600 persons from this place must be arrested and sent to Germany as prisoners of war.” (T-294.)
The defense has asserted many times that the foreign workers were not all treated as badly as the prosecution’s evidence might indicate. It is unquestionably true that not all foreign workers were starved and tortured, because if this were so they could not have worked at all, and the German war machine would have ground to a stop long before the spring of 1945. Thus, there is no reason to disbelieve the statement made at one of the Central Planning Board meetings—
“The performance of the Soviet Russians so employed is to be raised by a premium system. For this purpose, the ban on pay restrictions is to be lifted and the manager be allowed to distribute among the workmen, according to his duty and discretion, RM 1 per head per day as premium for particular services rendered. Furthermore, care will be taken, that workmen can exchange these premiums, which will be paid out in camp money for goods. It is intended to put at their disposal various provisions—beer, tobacco, cigarettes and cigars, small items for daily use, etc.” (T-219.)
If the defendant has much to explain in this case it is principally because of declarations made by himself. On 16 February 1944 at a meeting of the Central Planning Board, he announced that the armament industry employed foreign workmen to the extent of 40 percent, and that in maximum production the foreign workers prevailed to the extent of 95 percent and higher. He said further that the Germans’ best new engine was made 88 percent by Russian prisoners of war and the other 12 percent by German men and women. “Only 6 to 8 German men are working on this machine. The rest are Ukrainian women who have beaten all the records of trained workers.” And yet, despite this apparently creditable performance on the part of foreign workers, he complains bitterly—
“The list of the shirkers should be entrusted to Himmler’s trustworthy hands who will make them work all right. This is very important for educating people and has also a deterrent effect on such others who would likewise feel inclined to shirk.” (T-223.)
When Milch recommends entrusting anyone to Himmler’s “trustworthy hands”, the world well knows how bloody and homicidal those hands were.
The charges of maltreatment of foreign workers leveled against Milch could be taken almost literally from his own words—
“It is, therefore, not possible to exploit fully all the foreigners unless we compel them by piece work or we have the possibility of taking measures against foreigners who are not doing their bit. But, if the foreman lays hands on a prisoner of war or smacks him there is at once a terrible row, the man is put into prison, etc. There are sufficient officials in Germany who think it their most important duty to stand up for human rights instead of war production. I am also for human rights. But if a Frenchman says, ‘You fellows will all be hanged and the chief of the factory will be beheaded first,’ and if then the chief says, ‘I am going to hit him’, then he is in a mess. He is not protected. I have told my engineers, ‘I am going to punish you if you don’t hit such a man; the more you do in this respect the more I shall praise you. I shall see to it that nothing happens to you.’ This is not yet sufficiently known. I cannot talk to all factory leaders. I should like to see the man who stays my arm because I can settle accounts with everybody who stays my arm. If the little factory leader does that he is put into a concentration camp and runs the risk of losing the prisoners of war. In one case two Russian officers took off with an airplane but crashed. I ordered that these two men be hanged at once. They were hanged or shot yesterday. I left that to the SS. I expressed the wish to leave them hanged in the factory for the others to see.” (T-223-224.)
On the stand Milch denied that he had anything to do with the fate of the two Russian prisoners of war mentioned above. He further claimed that his reference to this episode was made at another meeting (a GL meeting), and that possibly the two stenographers got their notes confused. The defense also introduced affidavits to the effect that Milch was in no way implicated in this happening and that if the two Russians were executed, the execution was performed by shooting and not by hanging. It is probably true that Milch did not order the hanging of these men, but did author the remarks attributed to him because they are in keeping with his many other admitted and proved statements.