Ernst Friedrich Christoph "Fritz" Sauckel (27 October 1894 – 16 October 1946) was a Nazi
war criminal, who organized the systematic
enslavement of millions from lands occupied by
Nazi Germany. He was General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment from 1942 until the end of the war, after which he was tried and executed.
Early life
He was born in
Haßfurt (
Kingdom of Bavaria), the only child of a postman and a seamstress. Sauckel was educated at local schools and left early when his mother fell ill. He joined the
merchant marine of
Norway and
Sweden at age fifteen, first on a Norwegian three-masted
schooner, and later on Swedish and German vessels. He went on to sail throughout the world, rising to the rank of
Vollmatrose. At the outbreak of
World War I, he was on a German vessel en route to
Australia when the vessel was captured. He was subsequently
interned in France from August 1914 until November 1919.
He returned to Germany, found factory work in Schweinfurt, and studied engineering in Ilmenau from 1922 to 1923. He joined the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) in 1923 (member 1,395). In 1924 he married Elisabeth Wetzel, with whom he had ten children. He remained a party member over its dissolution and publicly rejoined in 1925. Sauckel was appointed party Gauleiter of Thüringia in 1927 and became a member of the regional government in 1929. Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, he was promoted to Reich Regent of Thüringia and Reichstag member. He was also given an honorary rank of Obergruppenführer in the SA and the SS in 1934.
World War II
During
World War II he was Reich defence commissioner for the
Kassel district (
Reichsverteidigungskommissar Wehrkreis IX) before being appointed General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (
Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz) on 21 March 1942, on the recommendation of
Martin Bormann. He worked directly under Hitler through the Four-Year Plan Office, directing and controlling German labour. In response to increased demands, he met the requirement for manpower with people from the occupied territories. Voluntary numbers were insufficient and forced recruitment was introduced within a few months. Of the 5 million workers brought to Germany, around 200,000 came voluntarily. The majority of the acquired workers originated from the Eastern territories, where the methods used to gain workers were reportedly very harsh.
Trial and execution
He was a defendant at the
Nuremberg trials accused of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; war crimes and crimes against humanity. He defended the
Arbeitseinsatz as "nothing to do with exploitation. It is an economic process for supplying labour". He denied that it was slave labour or that it was common to deliberately work people to death (extermination by labour) or to mistreat them.
After a defense led by Robert Servatius, Sauckel was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and together with a number of colleagues was hanged on 16 October 1946. His last words were recorded as "Ich sterbe unschuldig, mein Urteil ist ungerecht. Gott beschütze Deutschland!" (I die an innocent man, my sentence is unjust. God protect Germany!).
Fritz Sauckel's sentence has been much the contentious subject among historians. Sauckel's ministerial responsibilities were part of Goering's "Four Year Plan" the so-called economic solution for greater Germany. The common misconception is that Albert Speer was his direct superior on account of his demands to meet the quota of foreign labourers in his munitions divisions. This assertion is incorrect, as Goering was effectively his direct superior. It is true that Speer inherited vital economic responsibility from Goering with his assumption as minister of armaments, but the policy of acquiring foreign labour was enabled by then armaments minister Fritz Todt and Hermann Goering. Moreover, the mistreatment of dragooned prisoners was ultimately left up to the discretion of the respective commandant of the division, not Sauckel. He expressly stated in a memorandum to his delegates of foreign labour that the men and women be treated accordingly with adequate care. In this sense the mistreatment of foreign labourers falls neither on Sauckel nor on Speer, for that matter.
Portrayal in popular culture
Fritz Sauckel has been portrayed by the following actors in film, television and theater productions;
Ken Kramer in the 2000 Canadian/U.S. T.V. production
Nuremberg
Paul Brennen in the 2006 British television docudrama
Literature
Steffen Raßloff: Fritz Sauckel. Hitler "Muster-Gauleiter" (Thüringen. Blätter zur Landeskunde 36). Erfurt 2004. (PDF) (translation into English)
Steffen Raßloff: Fritz Sauckel. Hitlers "Muster-Gauleiter" und "Sklavenhalter" (Schriften der Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Thüringen. Bd. 29). 3. Auflage, Erfurt 2008. ISBN 978-3-937967-18-9 (PDF)
References
External links
Testimony of Sauckel at Nuremberg (page 72 onwards)
biography and literature
Category:1894 births
Category:1946 deaths
Category:People from Haßberge
Category:People executed by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg
Category:People executed by hanging
Category:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria
Category:SS generals
Category:German sailors
Category:German Protestants
Category:German people convicted of crimes against humanity
Category:Gauleiter
Category:Executed German people
Category:Executed Nazis
