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stroke made possible the mechanization of the Wehrmacht independently
of foreign supplies. After Hitler came into power, efforts to produce synthetic
rubber in sufficient quantities for the waging of war were greatly intensified.
In 1942, Farben controlled 91.1 percent of synthetic rubber production
throughout the world. In 1943, Farben accounted for 100 percent of Germany's
total production of synthetic rubber. A top technical official of Farben has
stated: "It would not have been possible to carry on the war for several years
without IG's buna."
41. After Hitler's seizure of power, Farben
developed another production program, unrelated to its usual lines of chemical
production, which was indispensable to the creation of the Luftwaffe. This was
the production of light metals used in the manufacture of aircraft and
ordnance, of which magnesium and magnesium alloys were the most important.
Farben increased its magnesium production between 1930 and 1942 by over 4,000
percent, and its aluminum production by over 1,300 percent.
42. Farben
performed most of the research for the secret development of poison gas for
war. The experiments were carried out by Farben employees under the direction
of the defendants Hoerlein, Ambros, and ter Meer, in close cooperation with the
Wehrmacht. In 1943, Farben produced 95 percent of the poison gas in Germany.
43. Thus, from 1933 to 1939, Farben marshaled for the German High
Command the vitals of modern warfare. The defendant von Schnitzler declared:
"It is no overstatement to say that modern warfare would be unthinkable without
the results which the German chemical industry achieved under the Four Year
Plan."
44. Farben's expansion after 1933 and the resultant increase in
production was far in excess of the needs of a peacetime economy. Farben often
took the initiative in persuading the Reich authorities of the need for
additional facilities and negotiated with them for the construction thereof.
Billions of reichsmarks, supplied principally by the German Government itself,
were invested in new plants, mines, and power installations. In other cases the
expansion program was, for particular purposes, undertaken at the request of
representatives of the German military machine. In 1936, the Wehrmacht, which
had requested the construction of numerous types of plants, guaranteed the
purchase of all production therefrom. Expanded capacity and production meant
increased sales. Farben's total sales (not including the sales of its
subsidiaries), in 1932, amounted to approximately 900,000,000 reichsmarks. In
1943, they totalled 3,000,000,000 reichsmarks. Book profits rose from
approximately 71,000,000 reichsmarks in 1932 to 571,000,000 reichsmarks in
1942. These |
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