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and Party activities in these fields. In this capacity, Goering, on
26 May 1936, addressed a meeting of the Committee of Experts for Raw Materials
Questions, his principal advisers. The defendant Schmitz attended that meeting
together with representatives of the Ministries of War and Air, and other high
government officials. Supply questions vital to "A-Fall" (the code name for
"Case of War") were discussed. Goering emphasized that, once at war, Germany
would be cut off from all oil imports; that since a mechanized army and navy
were dependent upon oil, the entire waging of war hinged on the solution of the
oil problem. Goering also declared that "rubber is our weakest point" and
indicated that considerations of cost were "immaterial." Every subject,
including oil and rubber, was discussed at the meeting in the light of military
requirements for waging war.
26. Shortly thereafter, Carl Bosch, then
president of Farben, recommended to Goering that he retain the defendant Krauch
to advise him in the planning and control of the chemical sector of the
rearmament program. Krauch was put in charge of research and development in
Goering's newly created Office for German Raw Materials and Synthetics.
27. On 8 September 1936, at the Nazi Party rally in Nuernberg, Hitler
announced the establishment of the Four Year Plan and the appointment of
Goering as the plenipotentiary in charge. The purpose of the Four Year Plan was
to make Germany ready for war in four years. The Office of the Four Year Plan
was charged with working out complete programs for the development of plant
capacity in all fields vital to war mobilization, including chemicals, rubber,
gasoline, and explosives. In a memorandum to Goering explaining the objectives
of the Four Year Plan, Hitler stated that the final solution of Germany's
problem lay in the acquisition of new territories; that such acquisition was
the task of "the political leadership"; that in order for "the political
leadership" to exercise its responsibilities, the German economy had to be
mobilized for the purpose of making Germany self-sufficient in critical war
materials.
28. On 17 December 1936, in Hitler's presence, Goering made
a speech in the Preussenhaus in Berlin in which he explained to a large
audience of government officials and industrialists the aims of the Four Year
Plan. Bosch and the defendants Krauch and von Schnitzler were present. Goering
made clear the intention and decision of the Nazi government to wage war. He
said among other things: "The battle which we are approaching demands a
colossal measure of productive ability. No limit on the rearmament can be
visualized. The only alternative in this case is victory or destruction. If we
win, business will be sufficiently compen- [...sated] |
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