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Re: Buna Planning
At the meeting held on 2 November 1940 in
the Reich Ministry of Economics under the chairmanship of Under State Secretary
v. Hanneken, it was definitely decided to expand the buna installations so as
to achieve a total production of 150,000 tons per year. For this purpose, two
new buna plants, each with an output capacity of 25,000 tons per year, were to
be built. The site suggested by IG for the third buna plant, Ludwigshafen, was
approved, and IG was also instructed to find an appropriate site for a fourth
plant in Silesia.
During a previous conference in the Reich Ministry of
Economics, held on 19 October 1940 under the chairmanship of State Secretary
Landfried, IG pointed out that the job of expanding the Hosts plant from 40,000
to 60,000 tons a year, (and the construction of a new plant in Silesia involved
thereby) would represent a great burden, both with regard to the construction
costs and the amount of the cost price to be expected. State Secretary
Landfried expressed the opinion that IG should make appropriate suggestions to
his Ministry with regard to these increased expenses, which he acknowledges.
The purpose of the conference with Ministerialrat Dr. Roemer was a detailed
statement on these proposals on the part of IG.
Dr. Ambros started by
describing the favorable development of the Ludwigshafen project based on the
Reppe method and emphasized that, given normal war conditions, the
polymerization plants in Ludwigshafen would already be completed by the end of
1941, so that, in case of a production stoppage in Schkopau or Huels, the
Ludwigshafen installations would already be in a position to produce buna from
imported butadiene. The whole process of production will start in the middle of
1942. The progress of the construction so far, the placing of orders, the
procurement of labor, confirmed the fact that our plans for Ludwigshafen
completely corresponded to the goal desired, namely, to achieve an increase in
buna production with the greatest possible speed. In connection with these
statements, it was explained that IG did not want to accept any financial
assistance from the Reich for the construction of the buna plant in
Ludwigshafen, and that we merely counted on having the expenses of the starting
period covered by a corresponding financial contribution from the Schkopau and
Huels buna plants, which would be added to the price of buna at that time.
After that, Dr. Ambros described in detail the requirements for the Auschwitz
site of the fourth buna plant.
Taking into consideration the
above-mentioned willingness of State Secretary Landfried to listen to
suggestions by IG concerning the excessive costs of building the Silesian buna
plant, we developed the following ideas: There can be no doubt that the
construction of the buna plant at Auschwitz, where production would get under
way in the second half of the year 1943 at the earliest, represents a special
risk. The beginning of production in Auschwitz is, after all, 4 or 3 years
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