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the war." Contrary to this, my own thesis is that the activities
described in paragraphs 19 of the indictment, especially those of the defendant
Krauch in the "Vermittlungsstelle W", and the participation in the Four Year
Plan, did not constitute activities in preparation for an aggressive war or
participation in the waging of a war of aggression. I shall prove this thesis
by examination of the defendant Krauch, whom I shall call to the witness stand
for that purpose.
I shall make it a special point in my argumentation
to describe the attitude of the defendant Krauch towards the official
authorities of the National Socialist government from 1933, as well as the
development of his activities, and for this purpose I shall make use of the
defendant's own statements and of other evidence.
It will be seen that
the establishment of contacts with the official authorities of the National
Socialist government was nothing out of the ordinary, as the IG had made it a
habit, even before 1933, to maintain connections with the government; for on
the one hand, the IG was interested in being kept informed of the trend of the
economic policy of the government, whereas, on the other hand, each government
office had an interest in being kept informed about the economic situation of
an enterprise such as IG. However, these contacts were established by Dr.
Krauch, not for some political reason or other, but because Dr. Krauch was an
internationally recognized authority in the field of hydrates, nitrogen, buna,
etc. The beginning of his preparatory work, his experience, and his
international connections date back to a time 20 years before 1933. The
evidence will prove that Krauch was always guided in his actions by a desire to
avoid, by proper direction of industry, a repetition of the economic events of
the years between 1929 and 1933, which proved so disastrous for the working
classes. Therefore, he welcomed the economic boom brought about in the year
1933 by the employment program of the new government. That his employment
program served, to a degree, the armament and rearmament of Germany will not be
disputed here. The evidence will, however, provide solid foundation for the
view that such knowledge cannot be regarded as identical with the intention to
start a war, and certainly not with that of starting a war of aggression. It
will also be shown that Dr. Krauch's joining the Raw Materials and Foreign
Exchange Staff in 1936 and, later on, the Four Year Plan, was prompted by the
same considerations.
I shall proceed to prove this, both as regards the
actual facts, and as regards Dr. Krauch's state of mind, and I shall group my
evidence as follows: |
211 |
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