a suggestion of Mr. Bosch was accepted, according to which, first of
all in gasoline, expansion was to take place to a certain capacity in the Leuna
plant; but for the rest, the coal and tar hydrogenation process was to be
turned over by license to other parties in Germany. In the case of artificial
fibers, we wanted to have only a modest part of the proposed domestic
production, but in the case of synthetic rubber we wanted to keep this field in
our own hands at first, since we saw here some important problems which
promised a great future. The German buna process, which I shall not go into
now, is developed from carbide or acetylene. We saw in acetylene a new chemical
basis useful in many types of synthesis, and in a number of our laboratories we
specifically directed research into the field of acetylene; developments
justified our action. A number of very valuable new products were developed on
this basis, which, today and in the coming years, will be of great
significance.
Q. In these autarchy endeavors and the use of the
chemical industry for these purposes, the name Krauch has been mentioned
frequently here. Will you please tell me when Professor Krauch came to Berlin?
A. You are doubtlessly thinking of his appointment to the Office for
German Raw Materials and Synthetics. That must have been in 1936.
Q.
How did it happen that Professor Krauch, who belonged to the Vorstand of
Farben, was given this office?
A. Professor Krauch himself has
described the background of this.* I can only give you my personal opinion. I
think it quite natural, if the government wants to carry out an ambitious plan
like the Four Year Plan, an important aspect of which is chemistry, that the
government should get a good man for this chemical field who knows something
about it; and since this involves technical and practical things, such a man
could be found only in industry. I have the impression that that was the proper
solution for the problem.
Q. Was the Vorstand of Farben consulted
before Professor Krauch was called to Berlin? Had it come to any decision about
it, or anything like that?
A. The subject was not brought up in any
meeting that I attended. As far as I recall, the appointment of Professor
Krauch was reported at a meeting of either the Central Committee or the
Vorstand, but we were not consulted beforehand.
Q. Professor Krauch
retained his position in Farben. When he came to Berlin he was a member of the
Vorstand, a member |
. 
