12 Dec.
45
escaping from the collecting camp in Kiev
or while in transit. Before the second arrest, the fathers of both of
the workers were taken into custody as hostages to be released only
when their sons appeared. When, after the second escape, the re-arrest
of both the young men and the fathers was ordered, the police patrols
detailed to do this, found the houses empty."
Passing to Paragraph 4, it is stated, and I quote directly:
"At that time I decided at last to
take measures to show the increasingly rebellious Ukrainian youth that
our orders have to be followed. I ordered the burning of the houses of
the two fugitives."
Would
Your Honor like to have the rest of that paragraph?
THE PRESIDENT: I think you should read the next few lines.
MR. DODD:
"The result was that in the future
people obeyed, willingly, orders concerning labor obligations.
However, the practice of burning houses has not become known for the
first time by my actions, but was suggested in a secret letter from
the Reich Commissioner for Allocation of Labor specifically as a
coercive measure in case other measures should fail. This harsh
punishment was acceptable to the local population..."
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): The Commissioner for Labor, Mr. Dodd —
you just said, "an order from the Commissioner of Labor." Who
was that?
MR. DODD: Well, we have discussed this matter previously to our
appearance here today. The document does not identify him by name. We
are not sure. The Defendant Sauckel was called Plenipotentiary General
for Labor, and we think we can't go much further, and say we don't know.
It just does not appear.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Thank you.
MR. DODD: Reading that last sentence again:
"This harsh punishment was acceptable
to the local population because previous to this step both families
had ridiculed on every hand the duty-conscious people who sent their
children partly voluntarily to the labor allocation."
Turning to Paragraph 2 on Page 2, beginning about two-thirds of the way
through the paragraph, I wish to read as follows — in the German
text it appears at Page 3, Paragraph 1:
"After initial successes, a passive
resistance of the population started, which finally forced me to turn
again to arrests, confiscations, and transfers to labor camps. After a
whole transport of conscripted laborers overcame the police at the