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Volume II · Page 522
this year, because by the middle of the year we shall have increased 25 percent of the power supply in France by water power, the necessary constructions for which will be finished by them, and by the end of 1944 hydroelectric stations will be ready and they will be equal to 50 percent of the present French power production.
The idea in fact is this: to carry out there the work which up to now has been done here and to release thereby German labor. There is yet another reason for this. It has been pointed out by you time after time, Gauleiter, that in these sections of industry, it is not easy to change the workers. According to the Field Marshal's description of the situation, there is especially a lack of managers and supervising personnel in the works and only German workmen can be considered for such, and every worker, even if technically he is not so suitable, will serve for purposes of management supervision and will lend some backbone to the plant.
As regards the question of the S-plants, Minister Speer put the following question to Minister Bichelonne: Are you in a position to provide the labor for such an extensive shifting program, which involves a certain risk? To which Bichelonne, from his standpoint quite rightly replied: If the people are not running away into the woods for fear of being deported to Germany I shall get them to work in French plants. From this discussion there resulted the idea of protected plants which, as you said, were supposed to represent a protection against Sauckel. Whoever is there is working for Germany and may not be deported to Germany. You said that these plants worked like a suction pump. That is just what they were meant to do. Labor was to be drawn in with a suction process so that the plants were full to capacity and could work for us. The existence of the S-plants cannot and may not be undermined. It is backed by the German promise which was given in all solemnity and which was supported by the signature of my Minister.
SAUCKEL: May I again draw attention to the matter of volunteers and to the entire process of the allocation of French labor. There was never any program carried out in France on a voluntary basis, but the programs have been carried out for the Todt Organization the building of fortresses in France, on the one hand, and for the assignment in France to the plants working for Germany and also to the plants working for transferred industries according to concrete agreements which I made with the French government, on the other hand. The French government
