 |
| [com…] pletely uninformed about the whole subject of rubber
synthesis. I know only too well that, oddly enough, he thought rubber synthesis
was something like a stand-by plant* for possible eventualities, and perhaps
that buna was poor but perhaps useful as a substitute in emergencies. I took
great pains to explain to him what was behind buna, and that I saw in buna
synthesis something entirely different; that buna was not so bad, and that the
expected price developments would be regulated too. It was in the fall of 1938,
and I told him that the processing question would be solved, too, and that is
reported in the second paragraph of this letter. The paragraph closes with a
sentence in which I expressed somewhat ironically that Brinkmann should, in the
future, not be governed by the military points of view. I asked for his support
in possible future steps of the government on the question of buna, in the
sense that the best and most economical processes be used in each case, and
that, as long as certain processes used by us were not yet ready for
production, no pressure should be exerted on us for the construction of another
factory. |
| |
| (Recess) |
| |
| * * * *
* * * * * * |
| |
Q. Dr. ter Meer, before the noon recess, you have made some
statements with respect to a letter which you sent in October 1938 to State
Secretary Brinkmann in the Reich Ministry of Economics. You had not yet
concluded this explanation of this letter, and would you, therefore, be good
enough to continue?
A. At the end of this letter a statement is made
about the proposed location of a plant at Fuerstenberg. This question has been
particularly emphasized by the prosecution when they presented their evidence.
I believe that I have already mentioned that this project, Fuerstenberg, as a
planned third plant, had already been mentioned during the negotiations in the
spring of 1937. Dr. Ambros and I were at Fuerstenberg at the time and we were
not at all satisfied about the entire industrial prerequisites for the plant of
Fuerstenberg. We suggested to the Reich office that if a plant was to be built
in the East it would be more advantageous to us to move closer to the Upper
Silesian coal. On that occasion, the representative of the Reich Office for
Economic Development, who at the same time was an official of the Reich
Ministry of Economics, Dr. Eckel, had told us “No.” In the Upper
Silesian terrain, no Four-Year Plan plants were to be erected because this
|
__________
* See subsection VII K,
“Special or Stand-by Plants Sponsored by the government or the German
Armed Forces, and Constructed and Operated by Farben.”
1577 |
. 
