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Witness, were these phosgene bombs which were filled there ever used?
A. No, they were not used. The military use of phosgene would have
meant chemical warfare.
Q. Do you know whether the Army Ordnance Office
also had planned a phosgene filling station for shells?
A. It was
planned, yes.
Q. But it was never realized?
A. The order was
given after the outbreak of war but was never carried out.
Q. In
connection with the Farben plant at Wolfen, another product has been mentioned,
trinitro-anisole. Do you know that this product was made at Wolf en? A. Yes,
for purposes of private industry it had been produced even earlier. The Army
Ordnance Office had planned an explosive called trinitro-anisole for military
use, and the preliminary product for that would have been the nondangerous
trinitro-anisole [sic] which was already being produced by Wolf en for private
enterprise. It was to have been made into an explosive, in an explosives
factory, but these plans never materialized.
Q. Witness, weapon
decontamination substances were also produced at Wolf en. Was that also an
order of the Army Ordnance Office?
A. Yes, there was a small production
of about 17 tons of weapon decontamination substances at Wolfen. It was later
increased to 34 tons.
Q. And it was also an order from the Army
Ordnance Office?
A. Yes, an order of the Army Ordnance Office.
Q. Can you say the same for the production of Losantin, also a
decontamination agent, at Bitterfeld?
A. Yes. Losantin is a much better
decontamination agent than calcium chloride and was produced at Bitterfeld by
order of the Army Ordnance Office.
Q. Witness, as far as such products
were produced in Farben-owned plants, was it the rule for the Army Ordnance
Office to approve increased amortizations, and can you give us the reasons for
that?
A. No, that was not the rule, but in special isolated cases
increased amortization rates were approved when the firm — whether it was
Farben or any other chemical firm — was given the order to produce
products for the Wehrmacht in the firm’s own plants, for which the firm
had to make new expenditures, and which were of no interest as far as private
industry was concerned. Since, on the other hand, the Wehrmacht did not
undertake to be a regular |
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