13 Dec.
45
interrogation of the Defendant Speer of the 18th of
October 1945. It bears the Exhibit Number USA-220. We have already read
from it; and I particularly refer to the bottom of Page 12 and the top
of Page 13 of the English text:
"Q: But is it clear to you, Mr.
Speer, that in 1942 when the decisions were being made concerning the
use of forced foreign labor, that you participated in the discussions
yourself?
"A: Yes.
"Q: So that I take it that the execution of the program of
bringing foreign workers into Germany by compulsion under Sauckel was
based on earlier decisions that had been made with your agreement?
"A: Yes, but I must point out that only a very small part of the
manpower that Sauckel brought into Germany was made available to me; a
far larger part of it was allocated to other departments that demanded
them."
This admission is
confirmed by the minutes of Speer's conferences with Hitler on 10, 11,
and 12 August 1942 in Document R-124, which has been offered here and
from which excerpts have been read. Page 34 of that document, Paragraph
1 of the English text, has already been quoted, and those excerpts have
been read before the Tribunal yesterday. The Tribunal will recall that
the Defendant Speer related the outcome of his negotiations concerning
the forcible recruitment of I million Russian laborers for the German
armaments industry; and this use of force was again discussed by Hitler
and Defendant Speer on the 4th of January 1943 as shown by the excerpts
read from the Document 556(13)-PS, where it was decided that stronger
measures were to be used to accelerate the conscription of French
civilian workers.
We say the Defendant Speer demanded foreign workers for the industries
under his control and used those workers with the knowledge that they
had been deported by force and were being compelled to work. Speer has
stated under oath in his interrogation of 18 October 1945, Page 5,
Paragraph 9, of the English text, quoting it directly:
"I do not wish to give the impression
that I want to deny the fact that I demanded manpower and foreign
labor from Sauckel very energetically."
He has admitted that he knew he was obtaining foreign labor, a large
part of which was forced labor; and referring again to that same
interrogation of the 18th of October 1945, and to Pages 8 and 9 of the
English text and Page 10 of the German text:
"Q: So that during the period when
you were asking for labor, it seems clear, does it not, that you knew
you were