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discussed. I know of no case where the minutes of the meetings
represent falsely what transpired in the meetings of the Commercial Committee.
I recall one instance where the minutes were made with a view to "window
dressing," so as to counterbalance criticism by Party organizations as, for
example, the Foreign Organization [Auslandsorganisation] of the NSDAP. There an
entry was made that no representatives of IG. Farben should be sent abroad
unless they were members of the D.A.F. [German Labor Front], and approved by
the Foreign Organization, and that their attitude should be in agreement with
the objectives of national socialism. Since already at that time all persons
going abroad had to be members of the German Labor Front and had to be approved
by the Foreign Organization of the NSDAP, this entry was principally made as a
matter of "window dressing," since it changed nothing.
At this time I
can recall no further examples of such "window dressing," with the exception of
one or several of the minutes during the last period of the war. At that time,
I used in the preamble of the minutes the wording that all following
discussions took place under the viewpoint to combine all efforts for the
defense of the country, in order to eliminate right from the start any possible
criticism of defeatist formulations of the minutes. The wording of the minutes
concerning resolutions on price regulations were always carefully checked by
the members directly concerned, since they did not wish to give a basis in the
minutes for attack by the Reich authorities concerning their calculations in
these complicated questions. The final draft was presented to Dr. von
Schnitzler, who signed it and sent it back to me in Berlin. After I had signed
the minutes, they were reproduced and circulated by the Bureau of the
Commercial Committee [BKA]. I recall that the following received copies of the
minutes of the Commercial Committee meetings: all members of the Commercial
Committee; the chiefs [Leiter] of Sparte I, II, and III; the chairman of the
Vorstand and the Aufsichtsrat (Bosch from 1937 to 1940, and Krauch from 1940 to
1945) ; all members of the Central Committee of the Vorstand; the TEA
[Technical Committee]; the ZA [Central Committee] ; the various secretarial
offices [Sekretariate] of the Sales Combines; the heads of all departments of
Berlin NW 7; and, as well, numerous other persons and offices within I.G.
Farben. At least 50 copies of the minutes were circulated throughout I.G.
Farben. In a few instances, there were objections as to the wording of the
minutes, after the minutes were circulated. In case these objections proved to
be justified, the minutes were amended accordingly. |
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434 |
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