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This was ordered by the Reich Ministry of Economics, by the
government, and thus the construction was planned for Auschwitz. The only
planning in our project that had to be made was that the power plants, the
roads, and water-ways, and individual buildings that had originally been
planned had to be reconstructed in view of the new project in order to have
only one power plant, one water works, one pipe bridge, and one power station
for the plant, and this project had to be pushed very quickly so that one could
catch up with the other part that was already under construction. That is what
I remember about it.
Q. Dr. Buetefisch, was the site of the new plant
to be constructed in Auschwitz already determined when you received the order
to transfer this plant from Leuna to Auschwitz, or were you told, “We do
not want you to build in Leuna; we want you to construct a new plant with a new
project where the buna plant is already constructed,” and that after that,
one went around looking for a suitable site?
A. No, it can be seen
clearly from the documents that at first a construction site for buna had
already been decided upon, and that thereafter one thought about a combination
on the basis of the quotas allocated.
Q. Do I understand you correctly
if I assume that you did not participate in the search for the construction
site?
A. No, I did not participate. I did not look for this
construction site.
Q. Very well. When you were told now that the Leuna
part is going to be constructed in Auschwitz in connection with the buna plant,
were you told at the time, in that connection, that the plant was to be built
there because one could use the concentration-camp inmates in the plant?
A. No, nothing was said about that at the time; they spoke about the
construction site, and I remember that we negotiated with Dr. von Staden who
was in charge of this plant, and we discussed this with Dr. Wenzel who had
developed this process, and we discussed the technical prerequisites that were
given, and it was mentioned that there was coal and water in the necessary
form, but the employment of concentration-camp inmates (at least at the end of
February - I do not remember whether it was the 20th or 23d — but I know
that it was decided, when it was decided to build there) no mention was made of
an employment of concentration-camp inmates. |
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| (Recess) |
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DR. FLAECHSNER: Dr. Buetefisch, when for the first time did you know
that inmates were to be employed in the construction of the Auschwitz plant?
A. I remember that that became known to me through the letter
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770 |
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