MICHAEL D. HAUSFELD
REMARKS AT WASHINGTON, D.C. CONFERENCE ON SLAVE AND FORCED LABOR

May 12, 1999

Last night, Minister Hombach told a story of two friends. The first friend wanted the second friend to watch his cat for him while he was gone for a week. He asked his friend if he would do at least one thing each day that would please his cat. The second friend said he would. The first friend left his cat in the care of his friend for a week. Upon his return, he asked his friend if he had honored his promise to do one nice thing for his cat every day. The second friend said that he had. “What did you do?” asked the first friend. The second friend said “let me show you.” He then picked up the cat and spun him around and around by his tail. “This is what you think gives my cat pleasure?” asked the first friend. “Yes,” the second friend replied. “Look how happy he is when I stop.”

Rather than this so-called joke being amusing, I found it deeply disturbing. I referred to it as the tale of the tormented cat – the story of a living thing that was subjected to continuous acts of thoughtless, ruthless cruelty. It was a tale that was reminiscent of the horrors experienced by the slave and forced laborers in the German economy under the Third Reich.[fn1]

These were people who were tormented and abused by the hideous system of slave and forced labor.

They were again tormented and abused by the defenses raised by German industry in German courts. German industry sought to legally justify their offenses by explaining that despite the fact these laborers were beaten and starved, their work performance was substandard.

They were tormented and abused by decades of deliberate neglect and avoidance of their claims.

Contrary to the arrogantly expressed position this morning of the representatives of German industry, these are claims that are not and cannot be barred by time or technicality. These are claims which are not requests for charity, for voluntary gestures of good will or for humanitarian assistance for the needy. They are not claims based on a mere calculation of unpaid hourly labor.

The claims asserted on behalf of the slave and forced laborers and to which the interests in the German economy are accountable are based on the genocidal implementation of the race biologic principles of National Socialism. These are legal claims founded on the historical fact that slave and forced laborers were called and treated by the German economy as “beasts, barbarians and subhumans” solely because of who they were in a bizarre and distorted scale of racial hierarchy.

The implementation of this program was a joint product of and a “cooperative structure” between National Socialism and the German economy. The exploitation and repression of forced and slave laborers, as one noted German historian observed, was not a Third Reich “induced side effect.”

These offenses violated the most basic elements of universal legal norms. As the Nazi Government itself remarked in an April 1943 “Leaflet”:

Every person, even a primitive human being, has a finely honed sense of justice. For that reason, any thoughtless treatment must have a devastating effect. Consequently, it is imperative that injustices, insults, harassment, maltreatment, etc. be avoided.[fn2]

German economic interests must finally account to precisely this finely honed sense of justice. It is imperative, as a matter of fundamental international human rights, that the devastating effects of the atrocities long suffered by these people are finally, fully and fairly resolved.

The present litigation in the United States courts focuses only on specific companies and a limited portion of the slave and forced labor population. This conference must have a much wider focus. It must encompass the entirety of the issues on behalf of all sectors, public and private, of the German economy that used or organized forced or slave labor. These issues must be addressed on behalf of all people who were enslaved by the program, whether the entity they were forced to work for exists today, whether the entity does business in the United States and regardless of where in the German economy they were forced to work.

In a prior meeting, Minister Hombach relayed the beliefs of some German industrialists and lawyers who told him they would “prefer to litigate the matter to the bitter end, no matter what.” This is a particularly destructive and unconstructive emotion. It is reflective of a shameful, vengeful mentality.

We are mindful of the unique elements of this issue. German interests need to achieve a closure. The surviving victims need to achieve a rough justice in their remaining lifetime. This is a solid foundation for a cooperative effort to craft a viable solution.

But rest assured, there is a complete commitment and resolve on behalf of the victims to continue these litigations if a full and fair resolution is not achieved. There is a small band of us who have the talent, will and experience to pursue each case to judgment, if necessary.

German government and industry have undertaken a significant initiative. But an initiative, by definition, is only a beginning. We have to jointly produce the means to provide the beginning with an end.

fn1 A member of the Czech delegation and a slave labor survivor later told Minister Hombach that his cat story reminded him of the Nazi guards who twirled children through the air and then bashed their heads into the nearest wall.

fn2 “Leaflet” of April 15, 1943, issued by the “working group dealing with questions pertaining to foreigners which meets at the RSHA [Central Office for Reich Security].” This “Leaflet” was disseminated on May 5, 1943 by the Reich Chancellery, the RSHA, the Propaganda Ministry, and a range of other offices via their mailing list.

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