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and constructed, in actual practice, the mighty plants where the
processes conceived in the laboratories became a reality. As chairman of the
Engineering Committee [TEKO], Director Jaehne was the first among these special
technicians; a man whose qualifications as an engineering technician were in
keeping with the size of the company which had placed him in this position and
whose tremendous working sphere claimed all of his powers without exception.
The position of an engineer in a chemical factory is different than in
other factories where the engineers make a practical use of their own
inventions. Because of this special position of the engineer in the chemical
factory, my client had no influence on the question as to what should be
produced, or to what extent. They did not come to him until after the
question was already decided as to whether the plant should be built and what
was to be produced there. Then he was the man who was asked how the plant
should be built most efficiently; and who also had to look after the necessary
general installations, such as power plant, rail installations, wharf
installations, workshops, etc.
Jaehne was chief engineer in Hoechst,
and since 1938, deputy plant manager. His influence, naturally, was less
considerable in the other plants of the IG, since there were chief engineers
there whose position in the organization was equal to his. Only his positions
as chairman of the Engineering Committee [TEKO] (since 1931), as member of the
Technical Committee [TEA] (since about 1933), and, at first, as deputy member
(1934), and later, (since 1938), as regular member of the Vorstand, enabled him
to exert greater influence in technical and personnel matters.
Even in
the Engineering Committee (TEKO) he was only "primus inter pares." Here his
main task was to utilize the latest advances in physics and engineering
technique for the installations and plants of Farben. Furthermore, TEKO had the
task to make available cheap sources of power in enormous quantities, and
finally, to enable the other plants to make use of the knowledge acquired in
the individual factories; to see to it that the entire engineering system was
conducted in a uniform way; to train young engineers and skilled workers; and
to take part in discussions of personnel questions. The TEKO was only one of
the 30 committees of the Technical Committee (TEA). Not all [applications for]
credits, therefore, were submitted to it for an opinion, but only those that
concerned technical questions, and the opinion of TEKO accordingly was given
only from the engineer's point of view.
The defense will prove that,
outside of these technical tasks which required his full attention, Jaehne had
neither the oppor- […tunity] |
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. 
