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. NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL
Volume VII · Page 1487
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Table of Contents - Volume 7
2. AFFIDAVITS AND TESTIMONY OF PROSECUTION
WITNESSES EHRMANN AND WAGNER 
 
a. Affidavit of Dr. Felix Ehrmann, Deputy Business Manager of the Economic Group Chemical Industry 
 
  TRANSLATION OF
DOCUMENT NI-4954
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 500
 
AFFIDAVIT OF DR. FELIX EHRMANN, 13 MARCH 1947. CONCERNING CONVERSATIONS AT THE ECONOMIC GROUP CHEMICAL INDUSTRY ON THE INTERNATIONAL TENSION IN THE SUMMER OF 1939 
 
I, Dr. Felix Ehrmann, residing at Baddeckenstedt, District of Wolfenbuettel in the British Zone of Occupation, having been advised that by making any false statements I will become liable to punishment, hereby voluntarily declare the following under oath and without having been subjected to any duress:

The main topic of conversation of the responsible persons of the Economic Group Chemistry used to be, in the course of the summer 1939, the tension in the international situation. Though I don't know whether Dr. Ungewitter¹ possessed any official information concerning the plans of an invasion of Poland, he discussed these matters with many responsible persons of the government and of the Wehrmacht, and often remarked in my presence that Hitler would invade Poland.

This problem also appeared in connection with the question of the I.G. Farbenindustrie plants at Ludwigshafen-Oppau. Mr. Ungewitter also considered the possibility that war with Poland might also entail war with France and England. Being the representative of the Economic Group Chemistry, he had several conferences in this connection with delegates of the Reich Ministry of Economics. This problem was also discussed with Herr von Schnitzler,2 member of the Central Committee of the Managing Board [Zentralausschuss des Vorstandes] of I.G. Farben. War with France and England would have meant great dangers for the factories at Ludwigshafen-Oppau which were situated close to the French border and could be reached by French airplanes and even by French artillery. Therefore, it was considered advisable to stop all new construction at the Ludwigshafen-Oppau plants and to transfer part of the factories to the
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¹ Dr. Claus Ungewitter was business manager of the Economic Group Chemistry as well as Reich Plenipotentiary for Chemistry.
² An affidavit of Defendant von Schnitzler concerning his conversation with Dr. Ungewitter at this time is reproduced in the following subsection.  




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