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not sufficiently attractive from a technical and a commercial point
of view to prompt Farben to take such a step.
Q. Did Pollak thereupon
try to approach other enterprises?
A. We then heard that Pollak
approached Prager Verein, the Prague Association for Chemical and Metallurgical
Production, as well as the largest Italian chemical enterprise, Montecatini.
Q. After Pollak had approached these corporations which you just
mentioned, did the attitude of Farben change with respect to the participation
project of Skoda-Wetzler?
A. Yes. A possible association of
Skoda-Wetzler with the Prague Association (which was our most important
competitor in Austria), because the Prague Association had, together with
Solvay, an important participation in the Ebensee factory in Austria, would
have meant a danger to our interests. This caused us to change our former point
of view for purely economic considerations. In addition, the Austrian
Government at the time requested the construction of a nitrogen plant for which
Skoda-Wetzler would have been primarily suitable.
Q. Were reports made
on that in the Commercial Committee?
A. Yes, in the meeting of 10
September 1937, that is Document NI-4959, Prosecution Exhibit 363.
Q.
Is it a prosecution exhibit?
A. Yes, Prosecution Exhibit 363, document
book 14, English page 9, German page 18,* Mr. Weber-Andreae as head of the
Sales Combine Chemicals reports on the intended merger and he states the
following: “The firms DAG [Dynamit A.G.], SWW [Skodawerke-Wetzler], and
the IG group are each to take over one third of the Anilinchemie A.G.'s capital
stock amounting to 300,000 Austrian schillings, so that, by taking Herr Philipp
and Herr Pollak into the Verwaltungsrat of Anilinchemie, permanent contact may
be assured and a discussion board [Aussprache-Gremium] may be established for
all questions regarding development in Austria. Over and above this, an
endeavor is to be made to coordinate the sales of the three companies through
Anilinchemie more effectively than hitherto — DAG and SWW are already
selling a large part of their production through Anilinchemie — so that by
means of a larger assortment increased protection against Aussig and other
firms may be assured.”
Q. Let me put one intermediate question:
You just read a quotation from the Commercial Committee meeting, and it says
here, “protection against Aussig.” What do you mean by
“Aussig”? |
__________
* Document NI-4959 contains
the minutes of the meeting of the Commercial Committee of 10 September 1987.
Contained therein is the above-quoted statement which is not included in the
partial translation of NI-4959 reproduced above
in subsection C4. However, Document NI-9289,
Prosecution Exhibit 1069 (an affidavit of Frank-Fahle concerning certain
meetings of the Commercial committee), contains the above-quoted statement and
is reproduced in 2 above.
1466 |
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