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Aktiengesellschaft and manager of the film factory in Wolfen, make
the following sworn statement in favor of Dr. Fritz Gajewski, member of the
Vorstand of the IG. On account of the fact that here in Brazil only signatures
on Portuguese documents are certified, it was not possible for me to obtain a
certification of my signature. In case my uncertified statement should carry no
weight, I am prepared to have it translated into Portuguese and certified, or
to repeat the statement in English here, at an American or British Embassy or
Consulate.
1. I met Dr. Gajewski in Frankfurt am/Main in February 1933,
at a meeting of the Aufsichtsrat of the German Gelatine Factories. Dr.
Gajewski, who sat next to me during the meeting, said to me, in connection with
the Nazi rise to power which had just taken place, "So we will have to wade
through this filth, too! There will soon be no more people around like Haber or
Willstaetter. You'll soon see!" I have never forgotten these words of Dr.
Gajewski. They seemed to prove to me that he was at heart an enemy of the
Nazis. I was all the more surprised when I learned several months later than he
had joined the Party. But I thought that he had taken this step in the
interests of the company and not on account of his personal convictions.
2. I know that about 1934 Dr. Gajewski helped his old friend, Dr.
Ernest Schwarz, who had been for many years Welfare Director at the
Ludwigshafen works and who was the son of a Rabbi, to go to the U.S.A., and
there to become the president of the Agfa subsidiary of the Agfa Ansco in
Binghamton, N. Y.
3. When on 10 November 1938 I was driven from my home
in Grainau, Upper Bavaria, and arrived in Berlin after being detained for three
days in Bregenz, Dr. Gajewski sent a car to take me to Wolfen in order to
discuss with me my new situation and my plans. During this discussion he told
me that by taking this step he was laying himself open to danger; he was
continually being spied upon and he showed me his office safe containing
important documents. This safe still bore the marks of an attempt to force it
open, which had been made several days previously.
4. When I was
arrested in Berlin by the Gestapo at the end of January 1939 and transferred to
the police jail in Halle (Saale), Dr. Gajewski who had been informed by my
wife, immediately went to Halle to intervene with the chief of the Gestapo
there and to effect my release. As he told me later, this man said by way of
introduction: "He will never leave alive!" On the instigation of Dr. Gajewski,
several executives of the film factory again intervened in May 1939 on my
behalf. |
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