 |
A. No. The other part of this letter deals with questions which have
nothing to do with foreign workers and the procurement of labor for Germany.
Q. I think we can leave it at that. |
| |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| |
| 3. TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT SCHNEIDER |
| |
EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF
DEFENDANT
SCHNEIDER* |
| |
| DIRECT EXAMINATION |
| |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| |
DR. HEILMUTH DIX (counsel for defendant Schneider): * * * From what
period on Mr. Schneider, were you main plant leader of Farben?
DEFENDANT SCHNEIDER: From 1938 on until the end of the war, as
Professor Selck's successor, who had held this position since 1934.
Q.
Can you tell me quite briefly what the character of your position was?
A. According to the law regulating national labor, in a stock
corporation [Aktiengesellschaft], the Vorstand represented the position of the
owner and the leader of the enterprise. If he did not work in the plant itself,
for instance if he resided in another locality, the Vorstand had to delegate a
person as leader of the enterprise. If the Vorstand consisted of several
persons, then it had to single out one member to exercise the function of the
leader of the enterprise. If the corporation consisted of several plants in
different localities, then the Vorstand also had to appoint one deputy from
among its ranks who would be the leader of the entire enterprise. In Farben,
that was the person of the main plant leader.
Q. Is this term
“main plant leader” mentioned in the law?
A. No. It was
probably chosen as a parallel to the main plant cell obmann,
[Hauptbereiebszellenobmann (chairman of a factory cell)], the man appointed by
the German Labor Front for large enterprises with several plants.
Q.
What other position (lid you hold in your capacity as main plant leader?
A. I was also the head of the Enterprise Council [Unternehmensbeirat].
Q. For what reason was this Enterprise Council formed?
A.
According to the law regulating national labor, in enterprises with various
plants, an advisory body representing the employees had to be created to advise
the entrepreneur on social welfare questions. |
__________
* Further extracts from the
testimony of the defendant Schneider are reproduced earlier in subsections VII
C 5c, D 4c, I 7b, volume VII, this series,
and below in subsection G 8.
719 |
. 
