 |
EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF
DEFENDANT
WURSTER¹ |
| |
| DIRECT EXAMINATION |
| |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| |
DR. HEINTZELER: (associate counsel for defendant Wurster) : I now
come to the so-called mobilization plans, and I ask the indulgence of the
Tribunal if I spend somewhat more time on this subject. I believe it is
necessary to go into some detail here because the example of the Ludwigshafen
plant is an especially good illustration of whether the assertion of the
indictment in paragraph 23 is correct or incorrect, namely, and I quote:
"September, 1939, and the invasion of Poland found Farben long since converted
to a wartime footing." My first question on this subject, Dr. Wurster: Before
the first of January 1938, before you became a Vorstand member and the plant
leader of Ludwigshafen, was the working out of mobilization plans one of your
duties?
DEFENDANT WURSTER: No. As I have already said, before this time
I was only the head of one production department. Therefore I can say nothing
from my own knowledge in regard to the prosecution documents concerning
mobilization plans before this time.
Q. I then ask you to tell the
Tribunal, speaking from a general point of view, what the mobilization ideas
were of the authorities in respect to the Ludwigshafen-Oppau plants, after 1
January 1938.
A. The ideas of the Berlin authorities were less to
mobilize Ludwigshafen for war than to mobilize the production. The authorities
apparently believed that, because of its situation very near the western border
of the Reich, Ludwigshafen was in great danger, and therefore it would not be
able to produce in case of emergency. I did not think that this idea was
evidence of an intention to wage a war of aggression. |
| |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| |
Q. May I ask you, Dr. Wurster, with the aid of this map [Wurster Doc.
16, Wurster Def. Ex. 3]² to explain the position of Ludwigshafen with
respect to the French border?
A. The map shows at a glance that
Ludwigshafen is about 60 kilometers from the French border; that is, about 40
miles — that is very near. |
| |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
__________
¹ Complete testimony is
recorded in mimeographed transcript. 8, 9. 12 April 1948, pp. 10861-10874;
10009-11011; 11044-11127; 11202-11206. Further extracts are reproduced below in
sub-section I 7 g and in section VIII C 4 in volume VIII, this series.
² A map of Western Germany, not reproduced herein.
1150 |
. 
