12 Dec.
45
MR. DODD: The next document is rather lengthy, and I
wonder what the Tribunal's pleasure is. Do I understand that I may
proceed with the interrogation?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. DODD: I wish to refer to the Defendant Alfred Rosenberg, the Reich
Minister for Eastern Occupied Territories, as one who also collaborated
with the Defendant Sauckel, and specifically, to refer to a transcript
of an interrogation under oath of the Defendant Rosenberg, on the
afternoon of the 6th of October 1945 (Exhibit USA-187). That record may
be found about the third from the last of the interrogation records in
the document book, and I wish to read from Page 1 of the transcript:
"Q: 'Isn't it a fact that Sauckel
would allocate to the various areas under your jurisdiction the number
of persons to be obtained for labor purposes? '
"A: 'Yes.'
"Q: 'And that thereafter your agents would obtain that labor in
order to meet the quota which had been given. Is that right?'
"A: 'Sauckel, normally, had very far-reaching desires, which one
could not fulfil unless one looked very closely into the matter.'
"Q: 'Never mind about Sauckel's desires being far-reaching or
not being far-reaching. That has nothing to do with it. You were given
quotas for the areas over which you had jurisdiction, and it was up to
you to meet that quota?'
"A: 'Yes. It was the responsibility of the administrative
officials to receive this quota and to distribute the allotments over
the districts in such a way, according to number and according to the
age groups, that they would be most reasonably met.'
"Q: 'These administrative officials were part of your
organization, isn't that right?'
"A: 'They were functionaries or officials of the Reich
Commissioner for the Ukraine; but, as such, they were placed in their
office by the Ministry for the Eastern Occupied Territories.'
"Q: 'You recognized, did you not, that the quotas set by Sauckel
could not be filled by voluntary labor; and you did not disapprove of
the impressment of forced labor. Isn't that right?'
"A: 'I regretted that the demands of Sauckel were so urgent that
they could not be met by a continuation of voluntary