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upon four groups of alleged facts characterized as follows:
(a) the role of Farben in the slave-labor program of the Third Reich;
(b) the use of poison gas, supplied by Farben, in the extermination of
inmates of concentration camps; (c) the supplying of Farben drugs for
criminal medical experimentation upon enslaved persons, and (d) the
unlawful and inhumane practices of the defendants in connection with
Farben’s plant at Auschwitz. These aspects of the case will be given due
consideration in the course of this subdivision of the judgment, but not in the
order stated.
Poison Gas The indictment charges in paragraph 131
that “Poison gases * * * manufactured by Farben and supplied by Farben to
officials of the SS, were used in * * * the extermination of enslaved persons
in concentration camps throughout Europe.” In substantiation of this
charge the prosecution established that Cyclon-B gas [Zyklon B gas] was
supplied to concentration camps in large quantities for extermination purposes
by Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Schaedlingsbekaempfung, commonly called Degesch,
in which Farben had a 42.5 percent interest, and that said firm had an
administrative committee or supervisory board consisting of 11 members,
including the defendants Mann, Hoerlein, and Wurster. The connection of the
defendants with these transactions will, therefore, bear more careful scrutiny.
Cyclon-B, which had wide use as an insecticide long before the war, was
invented by Dr. Walter Heerdt, who appeared before the Tribunal as a witness.
The proprietary rights to Cyclon-B belonged to the firm of Deutsche Gold-
und-Silberscheideanstalt, commonly called Degussa, but actual manufacture was
performed for it by two independent concerns. Degussa was a competitor of
Farben's and of the Th. Goldschmidt A. G. in the production and sale of
insecticides. Degussa had, for a long time, sold Cyclon-B through the
instrumentality of Degesch, which it dominated and controlled. Degussa,
Goldschmidt and Farben, therefore, entered into an arrangement with Degesch
whereby it became the sales outlet for insecticides and related products for
all three concerns. As already pointed out, Farben took a 42.5 percent interest
in Degesch. The remaining shares in the concern were divided, 42.5 percent to
Degussa and 15 percent to Goldschmidt. The management of Degesch was the direct
responsibility of Dr. Gerhard Peters, but the firm had an executive board of 11
members — 5 from the Farben Vorstand (the defendants Mann, Hoerlein, and
Wurster, together with Brueggemann, who was severed from this trial, and
Weber-Andreae, deceased), 4 from Degussa, 1 from Goldschmidt, and Dr. Heerdt,
who was connected with a Degesch subsidiary. The defendant Mann was the
chairman of the board. Degesch had originally been organized as an outlet for
Degussa prod- [...ucts] |
1168 |
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