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care of national defense, and within the scope of those duties we
also had to call on German industry to take those measures which we considered
necessary in the interests of national defense. By law, we were appointed as
the supreme agency for national defense.
Q. Then you never had the
idea, Mr. Witness, that anybody in German industry could oppose the demands
that you had to make.
A. No, I never had those ideas and I may
supplement that during the years preceding 1933 it was different. At that time
(and I experienced it, myself, during a conference which the then Oberst von
Blomberg had in 1927 or 1928 with Herr von Bohlen in Villa Huegel), the firm of
Krupp rejected developing certain guns which were not admissible under the
Versailles Treaty. That was possible until 1933, and I believe that I can
remember that demands that were made at that time to I.G. Farben were rejected
by the Vorstand with reference to the Versailles Treaty and we were forced at
the time — that is, we from the Wehrmacht were forced at the time —
to build up, to construct, plants on our own initiative because German industry
refused to violate the Versailles Treaty in any way. I have been in the OKW
since 1927 and, therefore, I am somewhat informed about armaments questions.
Q. And why did that change?
A. It changed, in the course of the
years after 1933, on an ever increasing scale. I didn't investigate the
international legal justification for this change. Whether we were justified at
the time, I wasn't concerned with because I was only a captain, but German
legislation demanded this attitude from German industry, and thus industry was
forced to comply with the demands. |
| |
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| 4. TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT AMBROS |
| |
[Statement from the judgment concerning the personal
history, positions, and affiliations of defendant Otto Ambros:
"Ambros, Otto: Born 19 May 1901, Weiden, Bavaria. Professor of
Chemistry; 1938-1945, member of Vorstand, Technical Committee, and Chemicals
Committee; chairman of three Farben committees in the chemical field; plant
manager of eight of the most important plants, including Buna-Auschwitz; member
of control bodies in several Farben units, including Francolor.
"Member
of Nazi Party and German Labor Front; Military Economy Leader; special
consultant to chief of Research and Development Department, Four Year Plan;
chief of Special Committee 'C' (Chemical Warfare), Main Committee on Powder and
Explosives, Armament Supply Office; chief of a number of units in the Economic
Group Chemical Industry."] |
425 |
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