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in building the plant. When the time came to commence production, the
proposal to use concentration camp labor, which had been forwarded by the
defendant Korschan and approved first by the defendant Mueller, was then
approved by the Vorstand in Essen; and thousands of concentration camp inmates
were then established in camps, including Fuenfteichen as Aussenlager (annexes)
of the notorious Gross-Rosen concentration camp.
Not content with
exploiting concentration camp labor in its permanent plants, Krupp actually
went inside the confines of the concentration camps to establish plants. In
1942 the defendant Mueller reported upon a project to make parts for automatic
weapons at the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp, and the defendants
Alfried Krupp and Loeser approved an appropriation of two million marks for
this purpose. In 1943 these plans were successfully carried out; it was to this
plant, at Auschwitz where the greatest and most horrible exterminations of all
time occurred, that these defendants arranged with the Speer Ministry to
transfer some 500 Jews who had been working in or near Berlin. A report to the
defendants Mueller, Eberhardt, and Pfirsch, dated 16 March 1943,
stated: |
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“Obersturmfuehrer Sommer
received the lists sent to me by Dr. Wieland, Special Committee M 3, of Jews
who have been employed by the firms Krone-Presswerk and Graetz (about 500
workers) who are to be transferred to Auschwitz for the purposes of employment
in the proposed manufacture of fuses.
“About 14 days ago, all Jews
were transported from Berlin, and according to the statements of the SS they
are for the most part already in the Auschwitz camp. Obersturmfuehrer Sommer
again pointed out that when establishing a fuse manufacturing plant in
Auschwitz, we could count on the full support of the SS, and he requested
immediate action in case any assistance from his office became necessary.”
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Having experienced the benefits of exploiting concentration camp
labor, the defendants used such labor at several other Krupp plants, including
Geisenheim, Norddeutsche Huette, Deschimag, and Weserflug. They obtained
concentration camp inmates for use even in plants in occupied countries, as at
ELMAG in Mulhouse, France.
The defendant Ihn reported on a conference
on this subject at his office on the afternoon of 5 July 1944, at which the
defendants von Buelow and Kupke were present. This report, which is marked for
distribution to, among others, Alfried Krupp von Bohlen, Janssen, Houdremont,
Mueller, von Buelow, and Kupke, stated in part: |
120 |
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