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service. On the other hand, it is equally evident that Farben
accepted the situation that was presented to it through the Labor Office of the
Reich and that when free workers, either German or foreigners, were
unobtainable they sought the employment and utilization of people who came to
them through the services of the concentration camp Auschwitz and
Sauckel’s forced-labor program.
THE PRESIDENT: Judge Morris will
continue with the reading of the judgment.
JUDGE MORRIS: Closely
associated with Auschwitz was a project for the control by Farben of the output
of certain coal mines. At the Founders’ Day meeting [NI-11117, Pros. Ex. 1430], the
defendant Buetefisch reported that a new company had been founded for the
purpose of securing, from the Fuerstengrube Mine, coal supplies for the
Auschwitz plant. In this new company Farben controlled 51 percent of the stock
and was, therefore, in a position to determine the destination of the output of
the mine. Later, through this same company, Farben acquired the controlling
interest in another mine known as Janina. Buetefisch became the chairman of the
Aufsichtsrat of the new company, Fuerstengrube G. m. b. H. In this capacity he
fitted into the general program of Auschwitz as an expert on fuels. He and the
defendant Ambros were important factors in the acquisition of the control of
the Janina mine in 1942. These mines were important in the plans of Farben, for
it was intended that their production would be utilized in connection with the
manufacture of gasoline from coal in the fuels plant at Auschwitz.
It
seems clear from this record that Polish laborers were used by Fuerstengrube in
mining operations in 1943. This was long after the conquest of Poland and the
impressment of the Poles into the ranks of German labor. British prisoners of
war were also employed by Fuerstengrube, particularly in the Janina mine. These
prisoners offered considerable resistance to their employers, with the result
that they were withdrawn from labor in the mines in the latter part of 1943.
They were replaced by concentration-camp workers. A file note discloses that
Hoess and Duerrfeld inspected the Janina and Fuerstengrube mines on 16 July
1943 [NI -12019, Pros. Ex. 1544]. It was then agreed that British
prisoners of war should be replaced by concentration-camp inmates. It was
estimated by the SS that 300 camp inmates could be accommodated at Janina where
150 British prisoners of war were housed. At the Fuerstengrube mine, 600
inmates could be accommodated, and the fencing-in of the camp would be started
at once. Another camp was also to be taken over, and it was estimated that
altogether it would be possible to use 1,200 or 1,300 inmates at Fuerstengrube.
As we recapitulate the record of Auschwitz and Fuerstengrube, we find
that these were wholly private projects operated by Farben. |
1186 |
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