"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (226 page)

21.
Decree on the Provision of Manpower Requirements for Tasks of Particular National Importance (
Dienstverpflichtungsverordnung
[conscription for essential service]) of May 13, 1942 (
VBl.GG
[1942]: 255). Decree on Conscription for Essential Service for German Citizens in the General Government, December 15, 1942 (
VBl.GG
[1942]: 761).

22.
Cf. sec. 1, par. 2, of Decree on Compulsory Labor for the Polish Population of October 26, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]:5): “Special regulations are being issued for Jews.”

23.
Decree on the Introduction of Forced Labor for the Jewish Population of the General Government, October 26, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 6; reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:560 ff.). According to the guidelines issued by the head of the Labor Department in the office of the governor general of July 5, 1940 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:568 ff.), Jews were inducted for forced labor from the age of twelve years. Decree issued by the Labor Department in the office of the governor general to the district chiefs (Labor Dept.) and the heads of the Labor Department, July 23, 1940 (ZS, Polen 257, 22 f.). Guidelines of the Labor Department in the office of the governor general of July 5, 1940 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:568 ff.; original in the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw; copy in ZS, Ordner 103, 161 ff.).

24.
Decree issued by the Labor Department in the office of the governor general to the district chiefs, July 23, 1940 (ZS, Polen 257, 22 f.).

25.
Cf. monthly report,
Kreishauptmann
of Neumarkt (Nowy Targ) and Dunajec, for August 1940; because Jews achieved only 40–50% of the usual performance in road construction work, a so-called
Zeitakkord
(piece-work schedule) was introduced, according to which every Jew was allocated a stretch of road, and the time required to complete it was left up to him (ZS, Polen 347, Bl. 124 f.). Only single Jews could be recruited for work in the Reich, to avoid making their dependents a burden on state welfare (monthly report,
Kreishauptmann
Seza-Starachowice, Radom District, for August 1940, with objections about the recruitment of married Jews by the Labor Office, Bl. 182 f.; also IfZ, Ma-158/2, Bl. 16); monthly report,
Kreishauptmann
Reichshof (Rzeszów), Kraków District, for January 1941, with report on “idleness in the performance of work” by Jews clearing snow and the demand for harsher measures—where necessary, the hanging of Jews (ZS, Polen 347, Bl. 274 ff.).

26.
Reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:568 ff. (original in Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw; copy in ZS, Ordner 103, 161 ff.).

27.
Implementing order issued on December 15, 1941 (
VBl.GG
[1942]: 3), to the Decree on Working Conditions of October 31, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 13).

28.
Decree issued by the government of the General Government, October 5, 1940 (ZS, Polen 257, 37).

29.
Decree issued by the government of the General Government, Central Department of Internal Administration (Population Affairs and Welfare) to the district governors, Department of Internal Administration, March 9, 1942, which stipulated that training and specialist education in handicrafts and farming was to be given to Jews and that the existing courses run by the Jewish Councils were no longer to be approved (ZS, Polen 257, 67; 316, 8, 194).

Because of the authorization to issue implementing orders to the Decree on Forced Labor for Jews of October 26, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 6), the HSSPF demanded the authority for both registration and oversight of Jewish forced labor; the Labor Administration, for its part, also claimed authority. In the guidelines of the Labor Department in the office of the governor general, issued to subordinate offices on July 5, 1940 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:568 ff.; original in the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw; copy in ZS, Ordner 103, 161 ff.), the head of the department stated that, by agreement with the HSSPF, responsibility for implementation of the Decree on Forced Labor for the Jewish Population had now been “transferred to the Labor Department.” They also stipulated that the registration of Jews was still fundamentally the responsibility of the police, whereas the deployment of Jews should be determined by the Labor Department in consultation with the police.

Cf. monthly report,
Kreishauptmann
Siedlce, Warsaw District, for February 1942; according to this, Jews were happy to get work at all; they were very poorly provided for; many were dying of malnutrition, and it would be opportune to increase provisions for Jews working in German interests. Polish farmers demanded Jewish workers because they cost less and worked harder (ZS, Polen 348, 813 ff.).

30.
Decree on the Provision of Unemployment Benefits of November 9, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 329 ff.).

31.
Circular from the Central Department of Labor to the District Labor Departments, June 25, 1941 (ZS, Polen Film 64, 167).

32.
Cf. report, dating from 1942 (ZS, Akten Auerswald 365 d), of a former employee of the
Lagerschutz
(lit.camp warders) of a labor camp, describing the inadequate food and clothing provided for inmates and the beatings and use of firearms by the
Wachmannschaften
(SS guard units). See, for example, a note in the files of the head of the SS Economic and Administrative Office of September 7, 1943 (ZS, Polen 347/964 f.), to the effect that the ten labor camps in the Lublin District were reclassified as “branch camps” of the concentration camp Lublin, making the inmates concentration camp prisoners. The Jews barracked in labor camps received no pay (the wages were paid by the enterprise employing them to the district SS and police commanders) but were employed as R, W, or Z workers (the initials stood for
Rüstungs-Wirtschafts-Zubringerarbeiter
—armaments/industry/auxiliary workers), with insignia identifying them as such, and worked under the maxim “Rapid removal from the production process and replacement with Polish manpower, then straight to the extermination camps” (agreement between HSSPF Kraków and the
Wehrkreisbefehlshaber
[commander of the Military District] in the General Government, October 15, 1942; Nuremberg doc., NOKW-134, notified by letter from HSSPF Kraków to all authorities on November 27, 1942; ZS, Ordner 104, 480 ff.).

33.
Information given by Frauendorfer, head of the Labor Department, on September 20, 1941, “Diensttagebuch,” quoted from Seeber,
Zwangsarbeiter in der faschistischen Kriegswirtschaft
, 124.

34.
According to information given in a cabinet meeting on December 16, 1941 (quoted from Seeber,
Zwangsarbeiter in der faschistischen Kriegswirtschaft
, 125).

35.
Note in the files,
Ministerialdirektor
Kritzinger/Reich Chancellery, February 24, 1943 (Nuremberg doc., NG-1428, S. 1); it states that the obstacles to recruitment of volunteers in the General Government were undernourishment and poor health, the commitment of large numbers of workers to farmwork, the anxiety caused by the “resettlement of Poles” being undertaken by the RKF, and the “defamation of Polish workers in the Reich.”

Minutes of a meeting of representatives of the Labor Department in the office of the governor general on March 7, 1940, which discussed the demand by the Reich for a million workers (“Diensttagebuch”); the same source tells us that, up to March 7, 1940, 81,477 Polish civilian workers had already been sent to the Reich; a total of 130,000 Polish workers were working in the Reich. It was planned to send 225,000 to the Reich by April 23, 1940, with approx. 8,000 being transported every day; cf. also Frauendorfer, “Arbeits- und Sozialpolitik im General Government” (University Library, Warsaw, Sign. 011248), according to which, by November 1941, 500,000 workers had been sent to the Reich and a total of 1.25 million persons had been recruited through the Labor Offices of the General Government. In a letter dated August 18, 1942, to Sauckel, the commissioner general for
Arbeitseinsatz,
Himmler complained about the poor organization of the Labor Offices; Galicia had sent 265,000 workers but could provide another 100,000 if it were better organized (Nuremberg doc., NO-3194). The
Arbeitseinsatz
report for December 1943 from the Central Department of Labor provides a good overview with figures (BA R 52 IV, 13 c, 93 ff.): in 1942 approx. 400,000, and in 1943 approx. 175,000 Polish workers were sent to the Reich: since 1939 a total of 1.1 million (7.67% of the population). The drop in the figures for 1943 is explained by the fact that Jews were no longer being recruited and that recruitment by force was virtually the only way. According to a list in
Doc. Occ.
6:282, which is a compilation of figures give in the governor general’s diary, in July 1944 (the last date for which there are statistics) there were 1,214,000 Poles from the General Government working in the Reich (for details, see
Doc. Occ.
6:282 nn. 30–66).

Cf. the material reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:326 ff. and the introduction by K. M. Pospieszalski (281 ff.); for more details, see letter from Central Department of Labor to BdO Kraków, January 24, 1941, requesting police assistance to recruit Polish farmworkers for the Reich (BA R 70 Polen/180; copy in ZS, Polen 238, 636–44), and decree circulated by BdO Kraków, February 7, 1941, concerning police assistance of this kind (BA R 70 Polen/180). Although attempts were made after 1940 to recruit volunteers through disguised private agencies, with some occasional success (report of the armaments inspector for the General Government for November 1941, December 13, 1941, IfZ, Bestand MiG, Ma-682, 0059), the longer the war continued, the more police raids were used as the only way of securing the supply of labor—report by HSSPF Eastern Territories (Kraków) to the
Reichsführer
-SS on January 14, 1943, on labor supplies for the Reich (Nuremberg doc., NO-3208).

36.
Frank and his officials initially resisted the use of coercive police powers and insisted on voluntary recruitment (cf., e.g., discussion on March 7, 1940, with representatives of the Labor Department, “Diensttagebuch,” 1940, 1:176 ff., excerpts in
Doc. Occ.
6:326 ff.). But the Labor Administration, backed by the HSSPF, saw this as the only possibility of ensuring the supply of labor, since the recruiting campaign was having little success. The chief executive of the Central Department of Labor, Frauendorfer, at 32 the youngest head of a main department, wanted to make all 16- to 25-year-olds subject to drafting (meeting of April 23, 1940, in Kraków) (“Diensttagebuch,” 1940, 1:273, 295 f.; excerpts,
Doc. Occ.
6:328 ff.). However, because of the lack of volunteers and under pressure from the Reich, police round-ups of workers began as early as mid-1940; cf. meeting of departmental heads on May 10, 1940 (“Diensttagebuch,” 1940, 1:273, 295 f.), at which Frank announced that “under pressure from the Reich,” coercion was to be used. In a report compiled after 1945 on the administration of labor in the General Government (July 20, 1961), Frauendorfer laid the blame for the nonfulfillment of recruitment quotas at the door of Frank. According to Frauendorfer, Frank had tried to place most of the blame on the inadequacies of the police (BA Ostdok. 13 GG IV b/3); Frauendorfer volunteered for the Wehrmacht at the end of 1942.

37.
In a series of “counteractions,” Labor Administration documents were destroyed, transports to Germany held up, “numerous Poles” who worked for outstations of the Labor Administration shot, and remote suboffices destroyed (report of the chairman of the Armaments Commission in the General Government to the Reich minister for armament and munition, May 24, 1943, IfZ, Ma-1017, 0668); cf. the subsequent monthly reports of the
Kreishauptleute
, which describe all the above-mentioned difficulties and the brutality of the police:
Kreishauptmann
Seza-Starachowice (Radom District) for August 1940 (ZS, Polen 347, Bl. 182 f.);
Kreishauptmann
Busko for May 1940 (Polen 348, Bl. 587 ff.);
Kreishauptmann
Neumarkt (Nowy Targ) (Kraków District) for May 1940 (Bl. 555);
Kreishauptmann
Puławy (Kraków District) for May 1940 (Bl. 583);
Kreishauptmann
Jasło (Kraków District) for June 1940 (Bl. 677 ff.) and for June 1941 (Polen 347, 260 ff.);
Kreishauptmann
Petrikau (Piotrków Trybunalski) for May 1940 (Bl. 607);
Kreishauptmann
Jaroslau (Jarosław) for June 1940 (Bl. 672); monthly report, Kraków District chief for January 1941 (Polen 347, 221 ff.);
Kreishauptmann
D
bica (Kraków District, Bl. 250 ff.);
Kreishauptmann
Lublin region for February 1941 (Bl. 389 f.);
Kreishauptmann
Krasnystaw (Lublin District) for February 1940 (387 f.) (“the Polish resistance is not confining its efforts to passive resistance”).