War Crimes and Crimes against
Humanity
The record is filled with Göring's
admissions of his complicity in the use of slave labor.
"We did use this labor for
security reasons so that they would not be active in their own
country and would not work against us. On the other hand, they served
to help in the economic war."
And again:
"Workers were forced to come to
the Reich. That is something I have not denied."
The man who spoke these words was Plenipotentiary for
the Four Year Plan charged with the recruitment and allocation of
manpower. As Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief he demanded from Himmler
more slave laborers for his underground aircraft factories:
"That I requested inmates of concentration camps for the
armament of the Luftwaffe is correct and it is to be taken as a
matter of course."
As Plenipotentiary, Göring signed a directive concerning the
treatment of Polish workers in Germany and implemented it by
regulations of the SD, including "special treatment." He
issued directives to use Soviet and French prisoners of war in the
armament industry; he spoke of seizing Poles and Dutch and making
them prisoners of war if necessary, and using them for work. He
agrees Russian prisoners of war were used to man anti-aircraft
batteries.
As Plenipotentiary, Göring was the active authority in the
spoliation of conquered territory. He made plans for the spoliation
of Soviet territory long before the war on the Soviet Union. Two
months prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union, Hitler gave
Göring the over-all direction for the economic administration in
the territory. Göring set up an economic staff for this
function. As Reichsmarshal of the Greater German Reich, "the
orders of the Reich Marshal cover all economic fields, including
nutrition and agriculture." His so-called "Green"
folder, printed by the Wehrmacht, set up an "Economic Executive
Staff, East." This directive contemplated plundering and
abandonment of all industry in the food deficit regions and, from the
food surplus regions, a diversion of food to German needs.
Göring claims its purposes have been misunderstood but admits
"that as a matter of course and a matter of duty we would have
used Russia for our purposes," when conquered.
And he participated in the conference of 16 July
1941 when Hitler said the National Socialists had no intention of
ever leaving the occupied countries, and that "all necessary
measures — shooting, desettling, etc." should be taken.