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important to me, the fact that from 1943 on, you were the director of
this Committee "C." Did that lead to expressing your opinion as an expert on
some occasion, and what occasion was it?
A. On 15 May 1943, as the last
conference, there was a discussion with Hitler and this concerned the treatment
of the chemical warfare agents.
Q. Were you alone?
A. Shortly
before this date I was notified by telegram by the Armament Ministry, and I was
told to come to Berlin, and I was taken to the supreme headquarters in East
Prussia by airplane. There were representatives of the General Staff, Speer,
Schieber, and various directors of central committees from the armament
industry.
Q. And what did Hitler want from you?
A. As the last
point on the agenda of this conference there was a one-hour conference about
the situation in the poison gas field. Mr. Speer and Mr. Schieber reported,
first of all, about the military aspect, about the general situation, and then
I was given the floor; and I showed, on the basis of a table: (a) the
requirements of poison gases by the General Staff, (b) the actual
production, (c) the stocks. Thus, I discussed objectively all types and
described the situation as it was.
Q. Did Herr Hitler ask you —
one could practically gather this — whether one could use poison gases, or
what was the situation?
A. The first reaction was a disappointment,
since, in most types, not even half of the requirements of the General Staff
had been met. There followed a discussion about the reasons for this, and he
asked the question: "What is the other side doing?"
Q. Before that, I
would like to ask you a question. Did you have the impression as if Hitler
wanted to use the poison gases?
A. No, Hitler himself did not, but
around him there were people who did.
Q. Well, go ahead, please;
describe to us what happened at this conference.
A. He discussed the
main types, always with a point of view of "How does it look on the other
side?" and I reported objectively that, for example, in the Lost [mustard gas]
field, countries which have a lot of ethylene would perhaps have the
possibility to produce larger quantities of these substances than we could.
Thereupon he said: "I understand that the countries with petroleum are in a
position to make more, but Germany has a special gas, Tabun. In this we have a
monopoly in Germany." At that moment I said: "I have justified reasons to
assume that Tabun, too, is known abroad. I know that Tabun had been publicized
as early as 1902, that Sarin was patented, and that these substances
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