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“In conclusion I should like
to state that information concerning the process and practical knowledge in
connection with the production of buna-S and bunaN*** has never been made
available abroad.” |
Please express yourself on this statement. As far as I was able
to follow you, the experiments conducted in Baton Rouge, the intensive
inspections of your experimental plant in Oppau by representatives of American
companies, the giving of reports, drawings, samples, and so on; and finally the
tire experiments conducted in America gave much know-how to the United States.
Is that correct?
A. That's absolutely correct. Now, the letter which I
wrote to Professor Krauch in 1942 * * * yes * * * was written after Pearl
Harbor, and I had got a letter from Mr. Krauch, or Mr. Krauch's office, asking
about the transfer of know-how in the buna field to American concerns. Now,
Germany was at war with the United States, and I was afraid that an
investigation could be made in Germany in order to find out whether we had
given know-how to the United States without the consent of the government
agencies, and that might be a very nasty thing, not only for myself, but also
for my associates in the works who had given that know-how after consulting
with me. These things were not a joke in Hitler's Germany, and I therefore
denied to have forwarded any information on know-how.
I agree that this
statement was not correct. We had given Standard Oil informally a good deal of
information. We had acquainted the rubber goods manufacturers with our main
buna brands and with full information about handling and processing of buna,
including tire manufacture. I am quite sure that it was not casual when the
United States based their self-sufficiency during the war primarily on buna-S.
They knew the product, and they produced it.
Q. What feelings did you
have when the war broke out between Germany and the United States? Was it not a
great disappointment for you that the outbreak of war destroyed your plans in
the United States?
A. You mean the outbreak of war in Europe?
Q. Yes.
A. Because at that time the conversations with Standard
Oil came practically to an end.
Yes, it was a very great disappointment
for me. In summer 1939 — July or August — after having received those
favorable reports on the tire experiments in the United States, I believed to
have all the good cards in my own hands, and I was very hopeful and looked
forward to that trip to the United States I was |
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