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in 1927; the so-called Tri-Partite Agreement, or the
Franco-German-Swiss Cartel, concluded in 1929; and the so-called Four-Party
Agreement, to which German, French, Swiss, and English groups were parties,
entered into in 1932. Under these agreements, a basis of cooperation between
the more important producers of dyestuffs oil the European Continent had been
laid. But in planning for the New Order of the industry, Farben had
contemplated and recommended complete reorganization of the industry under its
leadership.
Immediately after the French armistice in 1940, Farben
conferred with representatives of the occupying authorities and other
governmental agencies and deliberately delayed negotiations with the French to
make them more receptive to negotiations. In the meantime, Farben's influence
with the German occupation authorities was used to prevent the issuance of
licenses and to stop the flow of raw materials which would have permitted the
French factories to resume their normal prewar production in keeping with the
needs of the French economy. When the French plants were unable to resume
production and their plight became sufficiently acute, they were forced to
request the opening of negotiations. Farben indicated its willingness to
confer. A conference was held on 21 November 1940 in Wiesbaden, at which
representatives of Farben, the French industry, and the French and German
Governments were in attendance. The meeting was under the official auspices of
the Armistice Commission. Patently the French knew that they were forced to
ascertain in the so-called negotiations what the future fate of the French
dyestuffs industry, then at the mercy of the occupying Germans, might be. The
meeting of 21 November 1940 was held in this atmosphere [NI-6727, Pros. Ex. 1246]. The
defendants von Schnitzler, ter Meer, and Kugler were in attendance as principal
representatives of Farben. At the outset of the conference the French
industrialists were frankly informed that the prewar agreements between Farben
and the French producers which the French wished to use as a basis in the
negotiations, must be considered as abrogated owing to the course of the war.
Farben’s historical claim to leadership, founded upon alleged wrongs
traced back to World War I, was asserted as additional reason. In a most
high-handed fashion, the German representatives informed the French that the
course of events during the preceding year had put matters in an entirely
different light, and that there must be an adjustment to the new conditions. A
memorandum read by von Schnitzler was presented to the French representatives,
in which Farben demanded a controlling interest in the French dyestuffs
industry. The German demands, set forth in the Farben memorandum, were
vigorously supported by Ambassador Hemmen, who pointed out the grave danger to
the French dyestuffs industry if its future should be relegated to settlement
by the peace treaty rather than through the medium of the |
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