. NMT05-T1008
Volume V · Page 1008
| knowing of the slave labor program, he helped administer it in an active and responsible fashion. His connection with the program was not remote or intangible; it was direct and vital. The fact that he knew that prisoners of war were also being enslaved and compelled to perform labor on war munitions in violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions, only adds to his guilt. As an old veteran of World War I, he more than others, should have realized that there are certain rules of warfare which should be observed by all civilized nations and that one of the foremost of these rules was being violated under his very nose and with his help and connivance. |
| SUPPLY OF FOOD AND CLOTHING
TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS |
| The first duty which a slave owner owes to
his serfs is to feed, shelter, and clothe them properly. His own self-interest
in maintaining their working capacity would seem to dictate no less. The story
of the starvation and suffering of the concentration camp inmates, of their
being beaten and abused and worked to death, is an old one and it would be idle
to repeat it here. That they were under-fed and ill-clothed has been repeatedly
proved before these Tribunals. The immediate question confronting this Tribunal
is whether or not Loerner was responsible for these appalling conditions. It is
to be observed that the supplying of concentration camp inmates was not his
only duty. In addition he was required to supply the garrisons, guards, and
other stationary units of the Waffen SS. It is obvious, we think, that no one
had the right to provide for one group at the expense of the other, especially
when such deprivation was carried to the extent of freezing and starvation. The
Tribunal is well aware of the fact that the blockade of Germany and the
military reverses which followed the surrender of Stalingrad made the problem
of procurement of food and clothing an increasingly acute one, but we are also
aware that even before Stalingrad it was the policy of the Reich to feed and
clothe concentration camp inmates only to an extent which would permit them to
keep on working. WVHA was the top agency for the administration of the concentration camps and the task of administration was a comprehensive one. If WVHA was concerned with the last details of prisoners' wages, production and allocation, it was also concerned with furnishing food and clothing for prisoners, and this obligation carried down to the final step of distribution — actually seeing to it that the prisoners got the necessary supplies. The duty of administration goes that far. Clothing which is ordered or requisi- […sitioned] |
