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Quick facts for kids Fritz Sauckel
Sauckel at the Nuremberg trials

General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment
In office 21 March 1942 – 8 May 1945
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Gauleiter of Gau Thuringia
In office 30 September 1927 – 8 May 1945
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Artur Dinter
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Reichsstatthalter of Thuringia
In office 5 May 1933 – 8 May 1945
Prime Minister	Willy Marschler
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Minister-President of Thuringia
In office 26 August 1932 – 8 May 1933
Preceded by	Erwin Baum
Succeeded by	Willy Marschler
Acting Reichsstatthalter of the Free State of Anhalt
In office 29 November 1935 – 19 April 1937
Prime Minister	Alfred Freyberg Rudolf Jordan
Preceded by	Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper
Succeeded by	Rudolf Jordan
Acting Reichsstatthalter of the Free State of Brunswick
In office 29 November 1935 – 19 April 1937
Prime Minister	Dietrich Klagges
Preceded by	Wilhelm Loeper
Succeeded by	Rudolf Jordan

Personal details
Born	(1894-10-27)27 October 1894 Haßfurt, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	16 October 1946(1946-10-16) (aged 51) Nuremberg Prison, Nuremberg, Allied-occupied Germany
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Political party	Nazi Party
Spouse	Elisabeth Wetzel
Children	10
Occupation	Merchant sailor
Criminal conviction
Criminal status	Executed

Conviction(s)	War crimes Crimes against humanity
Trial	Nuremberg trials
Criminal penalty	Death

Ernst Friedrich Christoph "Fritz" Sauckel (born October 27, 1894 – died October 16, 1946) was a German Nazi politician. He was the Gauleiter (a regional leader) of Gau Thuringia from 1927. From March 1942 until the end of World War II, he was the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (Arbeitseinsatz). This role meant he was in charge of finding and organizing workers for Germany. After the war, Sauckel was one of 24 people tried at the Nuremberg Trials. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, sentenced to death, and executed.

Early Life and Career
- Life at Sea
- Returning to Germany
Joining the Nazi Party
- Rise in Thuringia
- New Roles in the Nazi Government
World War II Responsibilities
- General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment
- End of the War
Trial and Execution
See also

Early Life and Career

Fritz Sauckel was born in Haßfurt, a town in what was then the Kingdom of Bavaria. He was the only child of a postman and a seamstress. He went to school in his hometown and later in Schweinfurt. However, he left school in 1909 when he was 15 because his mother became ill.

Life at Sea

At 15, Sauckel began working as a sailor in the merchant marine for Norway and Sweden. He started as a cabin boy on a three-masted schooner. He sailed around the world, eventually becoming an able seaman. When World War I began in 1914, he was on a German ship heading to Australia. The ship was captured by French forces, and Sauckel was held as a prisoner in France from August 1914 until October 1919. During his time as a prisoner, he studied subjects like mathematics, languages, and economics.

Returning to Germany

After being released, Sauckel went back to Germany. For a few years, he worked in a factory in Schweinfurt as an apprentice locksmith and toolmaker. In 1919, he joined the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund, a large group in Germany that was against Jewish people. He managed their local office in Lower Franconia until 1921. Later, he moved to Thuringia and studied engineering from 1922 to 1923, but he was expelled because of his political activities.

Joining the Nazi Party

Sauckel joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in January 1923. He helped start a local group in Ilmenau and became its leader. He also joined the SA, which was the party's private army. In November 1923, he planned a "March on Berlin" with about 80 followers. This was meant to happen at the same time as Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. However, Sauckel and 22 of his followers were arrested before their march could begin.

Even though the Nazi Party was temporarily banned after the failed putsch, Sauckel continued his political work. He started a right-wing group and gave speeches. He also helped create a group in Thuringia that was secretly linked to the SA. In 1924, he became the publisher of a small newspaper in Ilmenau. This newspaper later merged with another and became the official newspaper for the Nazi Party in Thuringia, called Der Nationalsozialist. Sauckel was its editor from 1927 until 1945. Because of his early involvement, Hitler saw him as an "old fighter" and remained loyal to him. In 1924, he married Elisabeth Wetzel, and they had ten children.

Rise in Thuringia

After the Nazi Party was allowed again, Sauckel became the business manager for the Nazi region of Gau Thuringia in March 1925. He officially rejoined the party in April. In February 1927, he was also made the Deputy Gauleiter and was in charge of personnel. Sauckel became the main Gauleiter of Thuringia on September 30, 1927, and he held this position until the end of the Nazi regime.

In December 1929, Sauckel was elected to the Landtag of Thuringia (the state parliament). The Nazis had six members, and they held the balance of power between other parties. In January 1930, a new government was formed in Thuringia that included Nazi ministers for the first time in Germany. Sauckel became the leader of the Nazi group in the parliament. After the election in July 1932, the Nazis won 42.5% of the votes. Sauckel then became the leading Minister of State (like a Minister-President) and the interior minister. This gave him control over the state police.

New Roles in the Nazi Government

After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, Sauckel was appointed to a new role called Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of Thuringia on May 5, 1933. He kept this job until May 1945. This new position helped the central government control the states more closely. On May 8, he left the Thuringian cabinet.

Sauckel in his Gauleiter uniform, 1937

On September 9, 1934, Sauckel joined the SS as an SS-Gruppenführer (a high rank) after being invited by Heinrich Himmler. He was also given an honorary rank in the SA in November 1937. When Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper died, Sauckel took over his role as acting Reichsstatthalter for both Anhalt and Brunswick from November 1935 to April 1937. In January 1937, Sauckel was put in charge of the main office for the Four Year Plan in Thuringia, which aimed to prepare Germany for war.

World War II Responsibilities

When World War II started on September 1, 1939, Sauckel was named Reich Defense Commissioner for a large military district. His job was to oversee civil defense, including air raid protection and evacuations. He also controlled the war economy, managed rationing, and tried to stop the black market. In November 1942, his role as Commissioner was limited to just his region of Thuringia. He was promoted to honorary SS-Obergruppenführer in January 1942 and received the Golden Party Badge, a special award for early Nazi Party members.

General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment

On March 21, 1942, Sauckel was given the job he is most remembered for: General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz). He was recommended for this role by Martin Bormann.

Identity document issued to a Polish forced labourer in 1942, together with a letter "P" patch that Poles were required to wear.

Sauckel worked under Hermann Göring to find and assign workers for German factories and farms. As the war continued, Germany needed more and more workers. Hitler gave Sauckel special powers in September 1942 to get workers from the areas Germany had taken over. Sauckel's agents could give orders to military and civilian leaders to make sure enough workers were supplied.

Most of the workers came from Eastern Europe, especially Poland and the Soviet Union. The methods used to get these workers were very harsh. The Army was sometimes used to force local people to leave their homes and go to Germany. Of about five million foreign workers brought to Germany, only around 200,000 came willingly.

Street round-up of random civilians Warsaw's Żoliborz district, 1941

Working conditions for these forced laborers were extremely difficult, and discipline was very strict. Many were not paid and were given very little food, just enough to barely survive. This type of forced labor was used in many German industries, including coal mining, steel production, and making weapons. The number of forced laborers grew throughout the war. It is estimated that over 12 million such laborers were forcibly brought to Germany to work.

End of the War

In July 1944, Sauckel was named Oberpräsident (Chief President) of the Erfurt region, which became part of Thuringia. In September 1944, he became the leader of the Volkssturm (a home guard militia) in his region. On October 27, 1944, he received a large cash award for his 50th birthday and his work for Germany. On April 10, 1945, after telling his Volkssturm forces to fight the approaching American Army, Sauckel fled the city of Weimar by car. He was arrested in Salzburg by the US Army on May 12, 1945. He was then held in different prisons, eventually ending up in Nuremberg.

Trial and Execution

On November 20, 1945, Sauckel was put on trial before the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg trials. He was accused of serious crimes related to the war. He defended his work, saying it was about organizing labor and not about exploiting people. He denied that it was slave labor or that people were intentionally worked to death.

Sauckel's lawyer tried to show him as someone who cared about the working class. His lawyer argued that Sauckel simply met the demands for workers from others, like Albert Speer, who was in charge of armaments. However, the court decided that Sauckel was directly responsible for his role as General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment.

Sauckel was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was executed at Nuremberg Prison on October 16, 1946, just 11 days before his 52nd birthday. His body, along with those of other executed men, was cremated, and the ashes were scattered in the river Isar.