[NUREMBERG TRIALS]: SAUCKEL FRITZ (1894-1946) German Nazi politician, Gauleiter of Gau Thuringia from 1927 and the ...

[NUREMBERG TRIALS]: SAUCKEL FRITZ (1894-1946) German Nazi politician, Gauleiter of Gau Thuringia from 1927 and the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Department from March 1942 until the end of World War II. A.L.S., Sauckel, two pages, folio, n.p. (Nuremberg), n.d. (1945-46), to Alfred Rosenberg, in German. Sauckel writes in bold pencil and states, in part, '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 [i.e. Sauckel's Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz, responsible for the deployment of foreign and eastern labourers] 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'. A letter of interesting content in which Sauckel clearly attempts to deflect blame for his own horrendous human rights abuses by making Rosenberg a scapegoat. Some light age wear, VG Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946) Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue who served as head of the NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs 1933-45 and as head of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories 1941-45. Both Sauckel and Rosenberg were among the 24 persons accused in the Nuremberg Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal. Both were found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed by hanging on 16th October 1946. Provenance: The present letter originated from the archives of Dr. Alfred Thoma, defence counsel at Nuremberg for Rosenberg and bears his name, in Sauckel's hand, to the upper edge of the first page.