12 Dec.
45
of the authority he received from the Führer and
by order of the Delegate for the Four Year Plan, had the right to give
him instructions; that he (the Defendant Rosenberg) nevertheless
demanded that recruiting of labor be conducted on a voluntary basis;
that this was in fact carried out; and that Sauckel agreed, provided
that the quota could be met. Rosenberg further stated that on several
occasions in the course of joint discussions his Ministry demanded that
the quota be reduced and that in part it was, in fact, reduced.
This document which is now going to be presented does not mention all
these statements, it only contains fragments of them. In order to make
it possible both for the Tribunal and the Defense to obtain a complete
picture, I ask the Tribunal that the Prosecution be requested to present
the entire records of the statements and, before submitting the document
officially, to discuss the retranslation with the Defense so as to avoid
misunderstandings.
THE PRESIDENT: I am not sure that I understand your objection. You say,
as I understood it, that Sauckel had authority from Hitler. Is that
right?
DR. THOMA: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: And that Rosenberg was carrying out that authority.
DR. THOMA: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: But all that counsel for the Prosecution is attempting
to do at the moment is to put in evidence an interrogation of Rosenberg.
With reference to that, you ask that he should put in the whole
interrogation?
DR. THOMA: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we don't know yet whether he intends to put in the
whole interrogation or a part of it.
DR. THOMA: I know only one thing: I already have in my hand the
document which the Prosecution wishes to submit and I can see from it
that it contains only fragments of the whole interrogation. What in
particular it does not contain is the fact that Rosenberg always
insisted on voluntary recruiting only and that he continually demanded a
reduction of the quota. That is not contained in the document to be
submitted.
THE PRESIDENT: If counsel for the Prosecution reads a part of the
interrogation, and you wish to refer to another part of the
interrogation in order that the part he has read should not be
misleading, you will be at liberty to do so when he has read his part of
the interrogation. Is that clear?
DR. THOMA: Yes. But then I request the Tribunal to ask counsel for the
Prosecution if the document which he intends to submit contains the
whole of Rosenberg's statement.