 |
to appear even more dangerous to the trust when Germany began to
develop economic forms against which no countermeasures could be taken by the
usual method of competition, at least not in Germany itself. In this case, the
far-seeing policy of the trust did not offer any positive guarantee of success,
the more so since the trust realized that IG, being a major firm, was perfectly
capable of procuring nickel resources independently of the trust.
It
should, perhaps, be pointed out in this connection that it is by no means
misleading to assume that it might have been that very threat which induced the
trust, among other considerations, to acquire at any price the large deposit at
Petsamo, thus securing an important foothold in Europe, seeing that it
conducted simultaneous negotiations with IG and the Finnish Government.
And when IG proceeded to look for nickel deposits in Canada and
elsewhere, the trust saw fit to enter into negotiations with IG and to carry
them to an early conclusion.
This 8-year contract, which was concluded
in 1934, has had very favorable effects upon the German economy. It was the
first time that the trust had been compelled to break with the principle of
supplying metallic nickel only, and to put sufficient quantities of Canadian
nickel matte at the disposal of IG, to meet more than half of the German
requirements, while saving 50 percent foreign exchange. Beyond that, IG
succeeded in persuading the trust to store a very considerable supply of nickel
matte in Germany at its own expense for the benefit of IG.
Up to the
last days before the outbreak of war, the attitude of the trust was decidedly
loyal. No attempts were made, no steps were taken to eliminate the risk (to the
tune of several million marks) involved in storing such quantities.
I
have given the events mentioned above merely as an illustration to show that it
is obviously the policy of the trust to refrain as much as possible from doing
anything which might prejudice future collaboration after the termination of
hostilities.
Farben is of the opinion that a similar attitude could, in
this case, be assumed by them [Farben] in their own interest as well as in that
of German national economy, but they are of course prepared to subordinate
their interests to those of the German national economy should the latter
demand different measures. |
| |
| 3. Petsamo |
| |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| 4. Nivalla |
| |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| |
| Signed: HAEFLIGER |
| |
1178 |
. 
