FRITZ SAUCKEL

FRITZ SAUCKEL
(1894 - 1946) Nazi chief of slave labor recruitment who seized over five million workers and kept them under the vilest condition. Tried, convicted and hanged at Nuremberg. SAUCKEL WRITES ALFRED ROSENBERG ABOUT SLAVE LABORERS Outstanding Nuremberg Trials-related content A.L.S. in German, 2pp. legal folio, [n.p., n.d., certainly 1945-46], addressed to fellow war criminal ALFRED ROSENBERG (1893-1946) while in Allied captivity, regarding the use of slave laborers in the Third Reich. It reads, in part: 'Mr. Rosenberg...My main witness for the work assignment of the workers from the East has arrived. Therefore, I am drawing your attention to the following in order to avoid unnecessary objections...This witness will express: Based on your personal request an agreement existed between your ministry and the office of BA [referencing Sauckel's 'Generalbevollmaechtigter fuer den Arbeitseinsatz', responsible for the deployment of foreign and eastern laborers] in which all correspondence with the 'Reich commissioners' must go through your office, i.e. through you...When you say that I did not answer your letter it is important to note that I came to you in person immediately. There were 4 meetings, 3 at your office...and 1 in your apartment...My witness will also express clearly that I have given the strictest instructions to not use any kind of violence while recruiting or when carrying out orders and that such violence was not used by any office or any department...The commissioned officer of the G.B.A. was attached to the Reich commissioner. He was able to give instructions, but the execution was under the control of the Reich commissioner...' Signed 'Sauckel' at the conclusion. Clearly, this letter is Sauckel's attempt to deflect blame from his own horrendous human rights abuses, scapegoating Rosenberg as the Reich commissioner of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Of course, both Sauckel and Rosenberg would be executed for war crimes shortly after this letter was sent. Light mailing folds, else fine. The document was obtained by our consigner from the collection of ALFRED THOMA, one of the defense attorneys at the Nuremberg Trials, as indicated by the hand-pencilled 'Thoma' at the top margin.