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| [some…] times turned to the IG. Other times, however, for
instance in the sphere of production with which I dealt, nitric acid, they
approached BAMAG [Berlin-Anhaltische Maschinenbau A.G.]. They first asked for
an estimate of costs, and then they embarked upon conferences with their
Ministry — the Ministry of Economics — and then they decided whether
they would build according to the Farben process or according to the BAMAG
process. The chemical processes were different. They, however, always had
instructions not only to select the cheapest process, but the safest process,
so that in case of war or mobilization they would have a factory which could
give the best guarantee that it could really start production at
once. |
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| * * * * * * * * * * |
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Q. We were dealing with the question of whether other firms received
instructions from the WIFO to build factories for them, or to rent them, or to
manage them for them. You already mentioned one firm and, in view of a
misunderstanding in the translation, I should like to say here that we are not
concerned with the WIPO, but with the WIFO. The WIFO is a company belonging to
the Reich, and the WIPO is an office of Farben. We are talking about the WIFO,
the Reich-owned company. You have already mentioned one firm which was building
for the WIFO. Was that the case with the other firms too? Do you know of that?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, Dr. Diekmann, did Farben build these
“shadow factories” on their own initiative?
A. Not at all on
their own initiative. They were always built on the instructions of the
authorities.
Q. In the affidavit with which we are dealing at the
present time, you mention that Farben, in the case of these “shadow
factories,” had to produce proof for the Luftwaffe of the preparedness of
the plant by means of mobilization plans and mobilization calendars, as stated
yesterday. In the case of Doeberitz, it even appears as if Farben was
interested in having a particularly good and perfect mobilization plan. How was
that?
A. I have already said that Farben itself had no interest in
building stand-by plants because such plants, from the point of view of
peacetime only, represented competition with regard to their own production
capacities in the respective fields. However, if, through Vermittlungsstelle W,
Farben could not prevent the erection of these plants, and if they had to be
built on the orders of the authorities, then we were at least interested in
seeing to it that they did not go into operation very quickly, or at any rate
not during peacetime, especially not during the first years of 1936, 1937, and
1938, when some of Farben's own production capaci- […ties] |
1238 |
. 
