Koch was ordered to provide 450,000 workers a year from Ukraine for German industry by "ruthless" means, according to Reitlinger. German documents said that the Ukrainian Ostarbeiter would be "worked to death." Although 40,000 Ukrainians a month were being sent to Germany as Ostarbeiter (slave laborers), armaments minister Albert Speer complained that his work force was dwindling. This would mean that more than 40,000 were dying every month.
