Lohse Orders Halt to Killing of Jewish Skilled Workers

Riga, December [2], 1941
Reichskommissar for Ostland

IIa Diary No. 220/41g
To
Reichskommissar for Ostland
Higher SS and Police Leader ( Hoeherer SS- und Polizeifuehrer ) in Riga
Generalkommissare
in Reval

Riga

Kovno

Minsk

For info: Commander of the Wehrmacht for Ostland in Riga

The Chief Quartermaster ( Chefintendant ) of the Wehrmacht Command in Ostland has lodged a complaint that armament plants and repair workshops have been deprived of Jewish skilled workers through their liquidation, and that they cannot be replaced there at the present time.

I request most emphatically that the liquidation of Jews employed as skilled workers in armament plants and repair workshops of the Wehrmacht who cannot be replaced at present by local personnel be prevented.

Agreement on which of the Jewish workers are to be considered irreplaceable will be reached with the Gebietskommissare (Department of Social Administration).

Provision is to be made as quickly as possible for the training of suitable local personnel as skilled workers.

The same applies to Jewish workers in enterprises which do not serve the purpose of the Wehrmacht directly, but have important tasks to carry out within the framework of the war economy.