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I talked to Major Hesse about it, examined some plans and works of
that kind and, to my great astonishment, I found in these publications a
confirmation of what he had told me; that is, that long before that time,
exactly the same things had been done in the United States — air-raid
precautions, air corps mobilization, and transfer of factories, stockpiling of
material — exactly the same demands which were made of us by military
economy.
Q. Very well. Now will you please comment on whether these
German regulations about mobilization plans, and so forth, were designed
specifically for I.G. Farben or whether they affected all of Germany's
industry?
A. Of course, they affected all of Germany's industry.
Q. Did the instructions come through the Reich Group Industry, and
other big economical operations?
A. Yes, Reich Group Industry was
included.
Q. In this connection I should like to call your attention to
Document NI-8197, which was submitted by the prosecution as Exhibit 493,*
document book 22, English page 93, German page 117; if you will look at this
document, please tell us to what extent this prosecution document confirms what
you have just told us?
A. Dr. Boettcher, may I ask you which page you
mean? This is a very big document.
Q. Page 131.
A. That page is
not in my document book. It begins with page 147.
Q. Just a moment;
will you look at my copy?
A. Yes; the pages are different here. I shall
quote: "of special significance in war was the field of air-raid precautions,
the basic idea of which was for industrial plants to protect themselves against
air raids. As early as 1929 this was taken up by the head organizations of
industry, and in the following period it was developed further."
Q.
That is sufficient. Now will you please tell us very briefly where this
quotation comes from? Look at the first page.
A. Reichsgruppe
Industrie. Its chief business manager sent a memo to industry. Q. This is a
memorandum then.
A. Yes. |
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| * * * * * * * * * * |
__________
* An extract from The Reich
Group Industry — Location and Task of the Industrial Organization ," by
Dr. Karl Guth. Not reproduced herein.
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