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produce, out of indigenous raw materials, products which up to that
time had been imported.
Q. Who mentioned your name? Who established the
contact?
A. I only heard of that later. Funk, Schacht's successor as
Minister of Economics, told me about that in 1942. He said that Voegler, who
had connections with Goering, had mentioned my name to him as that of an expert
in the field of chemical synthesis and similar products.
Q. Tell me
about your discussions with Loeb?
A. Loeb explained to me this plan of
Goering's which was that processes were to be developed which would create the
possibility of producing products in the country, which, up to that time, had
to be imported and paid for with foreign exchange. He presented a plan to me
where there was a special department mentioned for research and development,
with the organization of which I was to be entrusted.
Q. Did you agree
to that proposal immediately?
A. No. I told him that I would first have
to get the approval of the IG.
Q. Who in IG could decide upon those
questions? Whom did you ask?
A. At first, I spoke to Geheimrat Schmitz,
whom I told that I should like to leave the decision, whether or not I should
participate in this organization, to Professor Bosch. I wanted to report to him
about my conversations with Loeb.
Q. What was Bosch's position in the
IG at the time?
A. Bosch was the chairman of the Aufsichtsrat.*
Q. Would you please tell us, with a few words, what Geheimrat Bosch's
relation was to the National Socialist regime?
A. Bosch was a
recognized scientist — a great scientist. He was a bearer of the Nobel
Prize, and he was perhaps the most predominant economic leader ever existing in
the field of chemistry. He was a man of tremendous reputation and he was
revered by his associates. He was a man with outstanding character, and all his
associates followed him with enthusiasm. Bosch, as I mentioned earlier this
morning, was an associate of Bruening on a friendly basis. He supported in
every way Bruening's government policies and, as a result, he had come into a
very natural opposition to national socialism at a very early date. Bruening,
of course, opposed national socialism. The gulf between Bosch and national
socialism was never bridged in the future.
Q. Would you give us,
briefly, reasons why Bosch opposed national socialism?
A. Bosch was an
absolute disciple of self-initiative of economy |
__________
* From 1935 –
1940.
990 |
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