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[Com…] mittee, the TEA¹ but the plants of the Dynamit Nobel
A.G. were managed by Dr. Paul Mueller completely independently. Mueller was for
many years the director of the Dynamit Nobel A.G. which already, during the
earlier generation, had been owned by his family; and when he concluded the
transaction with Farben in 1926, he made a specific condition that he should
remain the independent manager of his own enterprise. The Dynamit A.G. quite
formally belonged to Sparte III of the I.G. Farbenindustrie A.G. However, the
head of Sparte III, Mr. Gajewski, did not derive therefrom any influence to be
exercised upon the works of Dynamit Nobel A.G.²
Q. You know that
Dr. Struss stated in his Affidavit, Prosecution Exhibit Number 325, that all
credit applications of DAG were discussed in the TEA. But you also know that
Dr. Struss, when he was a witness here on 9 October 1947, changed that
statement.³ But please tell me first of all how the credit applications of
DAG were treated in the TEA.
A. Undoubtedly it was the case that during
the first time after the mutual interest agreement was concluded and after Dr.
Paul Mueller was taken into the TEA, the credits of the Dynamit Nobel A.G. were
discussed in the TEA in the same manner as was done in the case of the other
Farben Plants. Dr. Struss testified that this treatment of credit applications
during the later years, after the rearmament program was started, when one or
another credit was to be kept secret somehow, that then all credits of the
Dynamit Nobel A.G. were no longer discussed in the TEA, and that particularly
applied during the time of war. Furthermore, the extension of munition
enterprises which were based on the experiences of the Dynamit Nobel A.G., and
operated by them, these were mostly stand-by plants which belonged to the
Reich4 where the money was furnished by the
Reich, and those credits did not have to be submitted to the TEA. They derived
their funds from some other place.
Q. Did you have any knowledge about
these plants at all — that is, the plants you just now mentioned?
A. These stand-by plants, which were built by the Reich with the
technical assistance of the Dynamit A.G. were so unknown to me, even by name,
that when I stayed in Kransberg it happened |
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¹ Mr. Mueller also
attended meetings of Farben's Commercial Committee. When Defendant von
Schnitzler wrote to Dr. Bosch, Chairman of Farben's Aufsichtsrat, about the
reconstitution of the Commercial Committee on 12 August 1937, von Schnitzler
stated: “In September we shall also contact Dr. Paul Mueller as to the way
in which we should include the explosives interests in our circle.”
Prosecution Exhibit 361. Document NI-653, not reproduced herein.
² See
testimony of Defendant Gajewski in subsection M 5.
³ See extract from
the testimony of Dr. Struss above in subsection 2c.
4 The so-called standby plants were plants of the
Verwertchemie, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DAG.
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