 |
[Vors…] tand of IG, manager of Division II (Sparte II) of the
Vermittlungsstelle W, and, since 1943, production manager of the entire German
dyestuffs industry within the framework of the Economic Group Chemical
Industry, after having first been warned that I will be liable to punishment
for making a false statement, state herewith under oath, of my own free will
and without coercion, the following:
Already in 1933, it was obvious
that the German military authorities had decided on concentrating German
industry in Central Germany and restricting the building of plants in the
frontier districts. No specific order was issued to this effect. However, when
the military authorities selected a site it was always situated as far from the
frontiers as possible. Moreover, when IG decided to extend an existing plant in
the frontier district, IG was refused the necessary building material.
I mention the following examples: When the Luftwaffe gave orders to IG
in 1933 and 1934 to build two magnesium plants, the Luftwaffe selected as sites
two places in Central Germany, viz., Aken and Stassfurt. When, a few years
later, IG intended to extend its plants Ludwigshafen, Hoechst, and Leverkusen,
all situated near the German-French frontier, the Reich Office for Economic
Development rejected our applications for iron allocation.
Shadow
plants* always had to be built in Central Germany, especially for products
which were manufactured in places near the frontier. In 1935, by order of the
High Command of the Army, IG had to build a stabilizer plant at Wolfen in
Central Germany, although the existing IG plant Uerdingen near the Belgian
frontier could fully cover Germany's need in stabilizers.
From all that
it was clear to the leading IG men at that time that a district of about 80
miles along Germany's western frontier was to be deindustrialized, the obvious
reasoning being that French and Belgian guns could shoot that far. I remember
having drawn a map at that time showing the western area affected by the
building restrictions.
Similar restrictions applied to Germany's
eastern frontier.
I have carefully read each of the two pages of this
declaration and have signed them personally. I have made the necessary
corrections in my own handwriting and initialed them and I declare herewith
under oath that I have given the pure truth to the best of my knowledge and
conscience. |
| |
| [Signed] DR. ERNST A. STRUSS |
__________
* “Shadow plants”
is the term commonly used in England for “stand-by plants.”
1200 |
. 
