. ©MAZAL LIBRARY

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. NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL
Volume VII · Page 1312
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Table of Contents - Volume 7
continued. He said that he had observed such phenomena in the United States: Whenever American industry — and specifically Standard Oil — gave information to Germany, they had to inquire of the War Department in Washington whether the War Department was willing to have this information given to Germany.

I told him that we had similar arrangements. We also had to inquire, but in view of the needs of industry, and especially the export industry, these inquiries were handled generously, so that I had no misgivings about continuing the exchange of experiences in the future. 
 
* * * * * * * * * * 
 
b. Testimony of Defendant von Knieriem 
 
EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF
DEFENDANT VON KNIERIEM* 
 
DIRECT EXAMINATION 
 
* * * * * * * * * *  
 
DR. PELCKMANN (counsel for defendant von Knieriem) Now, we must deal with another point in somewhat more detail. That is patents. The prosecution has charged that Farben took special measures in cooperation with the German Wehrmacht in order to keep patents and processes secret from other countries in the interests of German rearmament. Those are points 20 and 21, and 50, and following in the indictment.

My question is, did Farben have any interest in keeping patents and experiences secret from other countries?

DEFENDANT VON KNIERIEM: No.

Q. But surely Farben had to observe the legal provisions. What legal provisions were in effect before 1933?

A. Before 1933 there were provisions against military treason and also the so-called Espionage Law of 3 June 1914, which punished anyone who had intentionally given writings, drawings, or other objects, the secrecy of which was required in the interest of the country, into the hands or to the knowledge of another, and thereby endangered the security of the Reich.

Inventions are not mentioned in this law. Then there was the secret patent law which reads as follows: “If a patent is of interest for the purposes of the Army and the Fleet, then by application the patent will be issued without any publication. In this case, registration in the list of patents will not be made.”

There were similar rules in England and France. I did not know that before 1933 these regulations were of any significance for Farben.
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* Further extracts are reproduced above in subsections IV, VII I 6b, and K 3b, and below in subsection M 6b.
 



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