Liveblogging World War II: May 30, 1943
Albert Speer writes to Heinrich Himmler:
Berlin-Charlottenburg 2 :: May 30, 1943
To the Reichsführer SS and Chief of German Police, Himmler
Re: Iron and steel quota for SS, especially Auschwitz concentration camp
Dear Party Comrade Himmler!
On the basis of the reports before me and the inspection of the Auschwitz concentration camp by my Messrs. Desch and Sander I am prepared, over and above the iron and steel quantities allocated to you for the third quarter of 1943 (in the amounts of 450 tons per month to cover requirements within the Reich territory, and 180 tons per month for requirements in the adjacent and occupied territories) to make a once-only allowance of the following quantities :
- 1000 tons of iron and steel acquisition rights
- 1000 tons of cast steel tubes, for which the SS is to make available 300 tons of iron and steel acquisition rights from its overall allotment
- Approx 100 tons of half-inch water piping from the disposition stocks of the Plenipotentiary-General for Construction in Hamm
- The requisite quantity of 8-20 mm hardened steel rod
These quantities of iron and steel are to be used only for the expansion [or construction] of the concentration camps, particularly Auschwitz. Unfortunately I cannot allocate further iron and steel quotas for temporary construction requirements incurred by raising the new Waffen SS divisions. The requirement will have to be drawn from the overall iron and steel quota quantities allocated to the SS by the Plenipotentiary-General for Construction. Individual allocation issues are to be determined between your authorities and my own raw materials office. The requisition of acquisition certificates for one thousand tons of cast steel pipes and the dispatch of the water piping have already been set in motion.
Heil Hitler
Yours truly, Speer
[Handwritten:] I was pleased that the inspection of the other concentration camps yielded a completely positive picture.
