 |
| 8. TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT DUERRFELD |
| |
| [statement from the judgment concerning the personal history,
positions, and affiliations of defendant Walter Duerrfeld: |
"DUERRFELD, Walter: Born 24 June
1599, Sarrbruecken. Doctor of Engineering. Not a member of the Vorstand nor of
any committees; 1932-1941 senior engineer of Leuna works; 1941-1944 Prokurist
of Farben (a position analogous to attorney-in-fact) and chief of construction
and installation at the Auschwitz plant; 1944-1945 director of Auschwitz plant.
1937-1945 member of Nazi Party; 1934-1945 member of German Labor Front;
1932-1945 member of National Socialist Flying Corps (Captain 1943-1945);
1944-1945 district chairman for Upper Silesia, Economic Group Chemical
Industry; 1918 received the Iron Cross) Class II; 1941 War Service Cross Class
II; 1944 War Service Class I."] |
EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF
DEFENDANT
DUERRFELD¹ |
| |
| DIRECT EXAMINATION |
| |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| |
DR. SEIDL (counsel for the defendant Duerrfeld): Now I turn to the
matter about which you are accused particularly, that is count three. First of
all, I would like to ask you this. In your survey about your biography and your
training and your development, you said that in 1941 you received the order to
work in the construction of the new plant at Auschwitz. How did this order come
about? Can you remember that?
A. Oh, yes. In the beginning of March
1941 — that was between the 5th and the 10th of March. I was ordered in
Leuna by Dr. Buetefisch to start a project of a synol installation. That is an
installation for the production of synthetic liquid hydrocarbons, partly to be
used as diesel oil and partly for other purposes.
For this order there
was a directive from the Reich Ministry of Economics I received this order
— together with Dr. Braus, whom we have gotten to know here on the witness
stand,² and together with the Certified Engineer von Lom, who later became
one of the senior engineers in Auschwitz.
Soon a propanol installation
was added, but at the direction of the Reich Ministry of Economics this was
changed. It was connected with the synol installation and combined into a
methanol and iso-octane installation. I can pass over the development of these
matters because Dr. Schneider and Dr. Buetefisch have already testified about
this in detail, when they were on the stand.
I was to supervise the
planning and the assembly for this synol installation, that is the installation
which was to be paired with the |
__________
¹ The complete
testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript 15, 16, and 19 April 1948,
pages 11535-11582; 11615-11705 and 11725-11821.
² Extracts from the
testimony of Karl Braus are reproduced below in section IX G7.
³
Extracts from the testimony of defendants Schneider and Buetefisch on the slave
labor charges are reproduced above in subsections F3 and F7 respectively.
787 |
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