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I.
To date, the following orders have been in force for the
Government-General:
1)
Polish and Ukrainian workers are to be replaced by Jewish
workers, in order to release the former for work in the Reich;
the enterprises concerned will set up camps for the Jews.
2)
For the full exploitation of Jewish labor for the war effort,
purely Jewish enterprises and Jewish sections of enterprises
will be established.
The
evacuation of the Jews without advance notice to most sections
of the Wehrmacht has caused great difficulties in the
replacement of labor and delay in correct production for
military purposes. Work for the SS, with priority
"Winter," cannot be completed in time.
II.
Unskilled workers can be replaced in part, if the Commissioner
General for Labor is prepared to relinquish the 140,000 Poles
who were assigned for work in the Reich, and if the Police is
successful in rounding them up. Previous experience gives
cause for doubt in this respect.
A
small proportion of the skilled labor can be supplied by
students at present in government technical schools.
Fully
skilled labor would first have to be trained. The training of
labor drawn mainly from agriculture requires several months to
a year, and more in the case of particularly highly qualified
workers and craftsmen.
Whether
the solution of this especially complex problem, on which the
continued productivity of the Government-General for the war
economy depends primarily, can be speeded up by the release of
skilled workers from the Reich is beyond my competence to
judge.
III.
According to the figures supplied by the Government-[Generals]
Central Labor Office, manpower in industry totals a little
over a million, of which 300,000 are Jews. The latter include
roughly 100,000 skilled workers.
In
the enterprises working for the Wehrmacht, the proportion of
Jews among the skilled workers varies from 25% to 100%; it is
100% in the textile factories producing winter clothing. In
other enterprises for instance the important motor
manufacturing works which produce the "Fuhrmann" and
"Pleskau" models the key men, who do the wheel-work,
are mainly Jews. With few exceptions all the upholsterers are
Jews.
A
total of 22,700 workers are employed at the present time on
reconditioning uniforms in private firms, and, of these,
22,000 (97%) are Jews. Of these, 16,000 are skilled textile
and leather workers.
A
purely Jewish enterprise with 168 workers produces metal parts
for harnesses. The entire production of harnesses in the
Government-General, the Ukraine and, in part, in the Reich
depends on this enterprise.
IV.
The immediate removal of the Jews would cause a considerable
reduction in Germanys war potential, and supplies to the front
and to the troops in the Government-General would be held up,
at least for the time being.
1)
There would be a serious drop in production in the armaments
industry, ranging from 25% to 100%.
2)
There would be an average decrease of about 25% in the work
done at the motor vehicle repair workshops, i.e., about 2,500
vehicles fewer would be put back into working order per month.
3)
Reinforced units would be required to maintain supplies.
V.
Unless work of military importance is to suffer, Jews cannot
be released until replacements have been trained, and then
only step by step. This can only be done locally, but should
be centrally directed from a single office in
coordination with the Higher SS and Police Leader (Hoeher
SS- und Polizeifuehrer).
It
is requested that the orders may be carried out in this
manner. The general policy will be to eliminate the Jews from
work as quickly as possible without harming work of military
importance.
VI.
It has now been noted that a great variety of Wehrmacht
offices have placed military orders of the highest priority,
particularly for winter needs, in the Government-General,
without the knowledge of the Armaments Department or the
Military Commander of the Government-General. The evacuation
of the Jews makes it impossible for these orders to be
completed in time.
It
will take some time to register systematically all the
enterprises involved.
It
is requested that the evacuation of Jews employed in
industrial enterprises may be postponed until this has been
done.
Yad
Vashem Archives, 04/4-2. |
