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with considerable freedom and opportunity for initiative on the part
of Farben officials connected therewith. The evidence does not show that the
choice of the Auschwitz site and the erection of a buna and fuels plant thereon
were matters of compulsion, although favored by the Reich authorities, who were
anxious that a fourth buna plant be put into operation. The site was chosen
after a survey of many factors, including the availability of
concentration-camp labor for construction work. As an adjunct of Auschwitz, the
controlling interest in the Fuerstengrube and Janina mines was acquired under
circumstances that impute knowledge of the fact that they could not be operated
successfully by voluntary labor. Involuntary labor was used: first, Poles and
prisoners of war and, later, concentration-camp inmates. The use of prisoners
of war in coal mines in the manner and under the conditions disclosed by this
record, we find to be a violation of the regulations of the Geneva Convention
and, therefore, a war crime. The use of concentration-camp labor and forced
foreign workers at Auschwitz with the initiative displayed by the officials of
Farben in the procurement and utilization of such labor, is a crime against
humanity and, to the extent that non-German nationals were involved, also a war
crime, to which the slave-labor program of the Reich will not warrant the
defense of necessity. It also appears that the employment of concentration-camp
labor was had with knowledge, of the abuse and inhumane treatment meted out to
the inmates by the SS, and that the employment of these inmates on the
Auschwitz site aggravated the misery of these unfortunates and contributed to
their distress.
Our consideration of Auschwitz and Fuerstengrube has
impressed upon us the direct responsibility of the defendants Duerrfeld,
Ambros, and Buetefisch. It will be unnecessary to discuss these defendants
further in this connection, as the events for which they are responsible
establish their guilt under count three beyond a reasonable doubt. These
defendants are not the only ones connected with the Auschwitz project. The
connection of others will be considered when we approach their respective
cases.
Krauch: As we further appraise the responsibility of the
respective defendants, we find that Krauch, as Plenipotentiary General for
Special Questions of Chemical Production, dealt with the distribution of labor
that had been allocated to the chemical sector by Sauckel. It was Krauch’s
responsibility to pass upon the applications for workers made by the individual
plants of the chemical industry and, in so doing, he took into account the
demands that military service had made upon the plants as well as the labor
requirements that resulted from expansion. It seems that Krauch is inextricably
involved in the allocation of labor to Auschwitz in a manner that negatives his
lack of knowledge of the employment of concentration-camp inmates and
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