Dear Party Fellow member Meyer!
The Fuehrer has worked out new and most urgent plans for the armament which require the quick mobilization of two more million foreign labor forces. The Fuehrer therefore has granted my for the execution of my decree of 21 March 1942, new powers for my new duties, and has especially authorized me to take whatever measures I think are necessary in the Reich, the Protectorate, the General Gouvernement, as well as in the occupied territories, in order to assure at all costs an orderly mobilization of labor for the German armament industry. The additional required labor forces will have to be drafted for the majority from the recently occupied eastern territories especially from the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Therefore the Reichskommissariat Ukraine must furnish 225,000 labor forces by 31 December 1942 and 225,000 more by 1 May 1943. I ask you to inform Reichskommissar Gauleiter party fellow member Koch about the new situation and requirements and especially to see to it that he will support personally in any possible way the execution of this new requirement.
I have the intention to visit Party member Koch shortly, and I would be grateful to you if you could inform me as to where and when I could meet him for a personal discussion.
Right now though, I ask that the procurement be taken up at once with every possible pressure and the commitment of all powers especially also of the experts of the labor offices. All the directives which had limited temporarily the procurement of Eastern laborers are annulled. The Reichs procurement for the next months must be given priority over all other measures.
I do not ignore the difficulties which exist for the execution of this new requirement, but I am convinced that with the ruthless commitment of all resources, and with the full cooperation of all those interested, the execution of the new demands can be accomplished for the fixed date. I have already communicated the new demands to the Reichskommissar Ukraine via mail.
In reference to our long distance phone call of today, I will send you the text of the Fuehrer's decree at the beginning of next week.
| Source: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume III Office of the United States Chief Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality Washington, DC : United States Government Printing Office, 1946 |