 |
[docu…] ments. I believe that these statements suffice. May I
ask you to come now to the question of the so-called liaison men?
A. In
view of the large size of Farben, its international relations, the tremendously
large variety of products, its scientific and technical standards, it was a
matter of course that we had an economic intelligence service that could not be
good enough. Next to the information given to us by the Political-Economic
Policy Department [WIPO] and the Economic Research Department [VOWI], about
which subject my colleague Ilgner has already dealt — we gained additional
economic information from abroad through our Farben liaison men. We also got
information from Germany, but that was so self-evident that I do not even have
to make a pretense of discussing it now. Among these liaison men, there were a
few people from Bayer as well. I read their reports, and I must admit that I
did not find anything in them that might, in any way, look like information of
an economic espionage service.
We were interested in getting all the
information that we needed in order to be able to evaluate properly our
business relationships — for instance, as to the documents which have been
submitted quoting certain passages from newspaper articles, which everyone
could read, in reference to the increased military budget of a South American
country. Such articles were sent to us by our liaison men, and it is quite
clear that we had to know about it because if a country increases its military
budget, it also means an increase for the medical services of the Army. There
would be certain competition conducted for remedies, and because we intended to
participate, we had to know of these things as early as possible.
Q.
According to what principles were these liaison men chosen?
A. Solely
upon technical and professional considerations.
Q. Mr. Mann, I should
like to ask you to look at document book 44 of the prosecution. Have you that
book before you? There is Document NI-10267,
representing Prosecution Exhibit 782,* page 89 of the English, and page 99 of
the German, which is a letter to the Winthrop Chemical Company, New York.
Attached to this letter is circular letter No. 27 of the directorate, dated 14
December 1933 [NI-10267, Prosecution Exhibit 782]. I ask you about this because
the prosecution emphasized this letter particularly. Will you please comment on
that?
A. For many years, even before 1933, it was customary for us
— that is, the Bayer Sales Combine — to send a survey of the past
business year to all of our agents. At the end of 1933, the business year was
compared with others and a cumulative survey |
__________
* Reproduced above in
subsection D 2.
705 |
. 
