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b. Testimony of Defendant Schneider |
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EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT
SCHNEIDER¹ |
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DR. HELLMUTH Dix (counsel for defendant Schneider) : Now we come to
the problem of stockpiling war materials. * * * Then the indictment speaks of
the stockpiling of urea and other products of Sparte I.
DEFENDANT
SCHNEIDER: This stockpiling of urea and other products of Sparte I goes back to
the letter of the Reich Ministry of Economics of 5 July 1939, in which, because
of the unfavorable position of the Ludwigshafen and Oppau plants from the point
of view of defense, the transfer of important products was demanded. The
production of products which could not be transferred on short notice was to be
increased and stocks were to be accumulated in plants which were not fully
used. To these products belonged carbonyl iron, ammonium chloride, carbon,
nickel, carbonate of ammonia and carbonyl, and above all urea.
In
Prosecution Exhibit 231, that is NI-7125, in book
8, English page 126 there is contained a list 2 which shows what the uses of
urea were. That is on page 178 in the German text, in book 8. One can see from
this that it was of indirect importance during war, like all other industrial
products, but that there is not a single use listed which is only a military
use. If one adds up all the various uses, one gets an annual consumption of
5,425 tons, of which 4,110 tons were for the production of molded plastics,
cellophane, Raunt glue, Plastopal; and of the remainder there is also nothing
that is of any direct significance whatever for war.
In February 1937,
the Reich Ministry of War asked Farben to set up a stand-by plant for urea,
since the only production plant for this product was at Oppau. Because of the
small amount of work at Oppau, stockpiling was suggested by Farben, which can
be seen from Prosecution Exhibit 231. A year later this was again discussed
with the Reich Ministry of War. This can be seen from page 180, in the same
exhibit. And a year later it was taken up more energetically again by the Reich
Ministry of Economics that was 2 months before the outbreak of war. It
is quite difficult from this delaying action of Farben to see in this evidence
of preparation for a war of aggression.
Q. I have only one more
question, Dr. Schneider. You mentioned a letter in the beginning. What exhibit
is that? |
_____________ ¹ Further extracts
are reproduced above in subsections C 5c. D 4e; and in section IX F 3. volume
VIII, this series. ² Prosecution Exhibit 231 is reproduced in part in
2 above, but the mentioned list is not reproduced.
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