 |
| |
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF
DOCUMENT NI-2972
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT
481 |
| |
| EXTRACTS FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT KRAUCH, 22 JANUARY 1947,
CONCERNING HIS FUNCTIONS AS PLENIPOTENTIARY GENERAL FOR SPECIAL QUESTIONS OF
CHEMICAL PRODUCTION IN THE PROCUREMENT OF MANPOWER AND RELATED
MATTERS¹ |
| |
| AFFIDAVIT |
| |
I, Carl Krauch, born on 7 April 1887, residing at Heidelberg, Im
Lindenried 23, herewith state under oath the following facts of which I have
personal knowledge:
1. I was a member of the NSDAP since 1937, Chairman
of the Supervisory Board of I. G. Farbenindustrie from 1940 until April 1945,
the Plenipotentiary General for Special Questions of Chemical production within
the framework of the Four Year Plan from July 1938 until April 1945.
2.
In my official capacity as Plenipotentiary General for Special Questions of
Chemical Production I was the highest authority in passing judgment regarding
the allocation of labor for the individual plants of the chemical industry.
This labor included (in addition to German workers) foreign workers, prisoners
of war, and inmates of concentration camps. The Reich Labor Ministry would send
me the labor requisitions of the individual plants for final decision. I had
the authority to either accept the full number requested, or to decrease it if
a check revealed that the requested number was too high. It was my
responsibility to allocate the correct amount of labor necessary to accomplish
whatever production program was involved. The Reich Labor Ministry kept me
posted on the available number of workers. Frequently I would be informed that,
for example, so and so many thousands were to arrive from Belgium or from
Russia and that these were available to the chemical industry. The total number
of workers employed in the chemical industry amounted to approximately 400,000.
3. I am the originator of the “Karinhall Plan,” erroneously
known as the “Krauch Plan” The purpose, among others, of this plan
was to bring foreign workers into Germany on a voluntary basis. I also made the
suggestion to General Thomas through Herr Kirschner that Russian prisoners of
war be brought into Germany in order to employ them in the armament
industry.² This occurred in the year 1941 when hundreds of thousands of
Russian prisoners of war were living in Poland and Russia under terrible
conditions. |
__________
¹ Krauch discussed
some of the statements made in this affidavit during direct examination by his
counsel. See extracts from his testimony, reproduced below in subsection F
1.
² Letter of Kirschner to General Thomas deputy to defendant Krauch,
20 October 1941 (EC-489, Pros. Ex 473) reproduced
above in subsection D.
573 |
. 
