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Questions of Chemical Production in the allocation of prisoners of
war to the various plants and industries. This authority is left with the Reich
Ministry for Armament and Munitions in agreement with the Reich Ministry for
Labor and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The deputies of the Reich
Ministry for Armament and Munitions were given authority to enter
prisoner-of-war camps to assist in the selection of skilled workers. We are
unable to find in the record any instance of the allocation of prisoners of war
by Krauch for purposes prohibited by the Geneva Convention. We reach the
ultimate conclusion that Krauch, by his activities in connection with the
allocation of concentration-camp inmates and forced foreign laborers, is Guilty
under count three.
Ter Meer. The defendant ter Meer, as the
technical leader of Farben as well as head of Sparte II and chairman of the
Technical Committee, had general supervision of matters pertaining to
production and new construction. lie discussed the expansion of buna production
with the Reich Ministry of Economics oil several occasions. On 2 November 1940,
that Ministry approved the expansion and advised Farben through ter Meer and
Ambros to choose an appropriate site in Silesia on which to erect a plant. Ter
Meer was Ambros' immediate superior, and to that superior Ambros reported on
numerous occasions. Ter Meer states, |
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“I believe that most of the
information I had on the building of the Auschwitz plant came either through
correspondence or through conversations with Ambros, and Ambros has in very
long conversations shown me all the things which I call good industrial
conditions. I know that he brought me a map and that he showed me everything,
but according to the best of my recollection he did not draw special attention
to the existence of the concentration camp. Ambros himself, in the TEA,
developed, with the help of a map of the site of Auschwitz, the general
conditions, the size, and also the way the factory should be built. I do not
recall that he at that time discussed that some of the labor would be drawn
from the nearby concentration camp, but I would say that Ambros, who in his
reports of this kind was very exact, probably mentioned it, but I am not
positive.” |
| That the concentration camp figured in the early plans with respect
to Auschwitz is disclosed in the documents referred to in our general
discussion of that project. There are other documents and reports of a similar
nature. For instance, on 16 January 1941, at a discussion in Ludwigshafen
between representatives of Farben and Schlesien-Benzin [NI-11784, Pros. Ex. 1411], at
which Ambros was present. a report was given by a director of the latter firm
regarding the desirability of the Auschwitz site. It was reported that the
inhabitants |
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