. NMT05-T1007
Volume V · Page 1007
| conference to the
extent of pointing out that it might be advisable to inquire whether these
rates could be paid by the individual plants without loss and suggested that
the plant cost sheets be checked. That Loerner was not regarded as insignificant by Pohl is evidenced by Pohl's letter (NO-1048, Pros. Ex. 404) directing that all matters of importance concerning DWB should go to Loerner for his comment and signature before being sent to Pohl and directing Loerner to keep informed on all important developments in the DWB industries. The fact that this order was rescinded a short time later is of no consequence. The exhibit indicates that when Pohl wrote it he considered Loerner a responsible person of considerable consequence in the WVHA organization, especially with reference to the W enterprises. In view of all this proof, Loerner's claim that he was a mere figurehead in the field of the concentration camps and the enterprises which were dependent upon them, falls fiat. Whether or not he knew of the mistreatment and extermination of the prisoners has not been conclusively proved, although there is substantial ground for suspecting that he could not have avoided knowing it. It is undoubtedly true that he knew of the Reich policy of furnishing slave labor from the concentration camps to the vast area of industrial enterprises which were, at least in part, under Loerner's supervision. When Burger, of office D IV, reported to Loerner on 15 August 1944 (NO-1000, Pros. Ex. 73), that there were then over 500,000 prisoners in concentration camps and that over 600,000 more were expected immediately, Loerner must have known, and the Tribunal finds that he did know, that these inmates were slaves who had been snatched from their homelands and herded into concentration camps to further the German war effort. Loerner must have gleaned some knowledge from the list of expected new arrivals which Burger furnished him, as follows: |
||
| "1. From the Hungary Program (Jewish campaign). | 90,000 | |
| "2. From Lodz (Police prison and ghetto) | 60,000 | |
| "3. Poles from the General Government | 15,000 | |
| "4. Convicts from the Eastern territories | 10,000 | |
| "5. Former Polish officers | 17,000 | |
| "6. From Warsaw (Poles) | 400,000 | |
| "7. Current arrivals from France approximately | 15,000 - 20,000 | |
| ________ | ||
| 612,000" | ||
| Assuming that mere knowledge is not sufficient to inculpate Loerner, it nevertheless appears conclusively that, in addition to | ||
