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process for the production of gasoline out of crude oils and tars.
Another associate of Feder was a director of the Berlin-Anhaltische
Machinenfabrik, von Laroche, with whom I repeatedly came in contact in
connection with orders for plants of the I.G. Farbenindustrie. Von Laroche drew
my attention to this new process and asked me to give my opinion on the
possibility of producing, or of developing and executing, this process.
Q. Dr. Krauch, I think that may perhaps be going a little too far.
Perhaps you will be good enough to explain very briefly the essentials of the
negotiations with Feder.
A. Yes. Von Laroche asked me to tell State
Secretary Feder about the misgivings I had about this process, and this brought
me to my first contact with Feder. I was able to convince Feder that this
process was not as yet technically workable. He mentioned that the government
was considerably interested in realizing the plan of obtaining work for the
many unemployed, and in developing new projects which would enable them to
employ workers.
Q. You then talked about the gasoline negotiations of
November 1932?
A. Yes.
Q. What happened then?
A. Feder
asked me whether it would be possible, upon the basis of the hydrogenation
process of the I.G. Farbenindustrie, to embark upon a larger production of
gasoline. I told him that the gasoline production of Leuna had to be limited to
a certain production of 100,000 tons, for financial reasons.
Feder then
asked me whether it was technically possible to increase that production
figure. I admitted, offhand, that there was such a technical possibility, but I
drew his attention to the fact that it would involve a large financial risk for
the IG. The IG had had a large amount of expenses when working out the
hydrogenation process, and for that reason they had decided to leave production
at a technical level of 100,000 tons, which could be coped with according to
the experiences made. I said that with the increase in production, it was to be
feared that technical difficulties would arise which would increase costs of
production.
Q. Will you please pass on to the final result of these
negotiations?
A. Yes, the final result was the following: We suggested
the idea of a certain profit guarantee which was equal to the development
costs. I must explain that. If in the case of a production of 100,000 tons, we
calculated, for instance, 24 pfennigs production cost, and if, in case of a
higher production than a hundred |
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