 |
Thereafter Farben made numerous financial contributions to Hitler and
the Nazi Party ranging over a period from 1933 to 1944 and reaching a total of
40,000,000 reichsmarks including those required contributions which were based
on rates fixed for industrial organizations in German economy. As a matter of
general procedure in Farben, all contributions had to be reported to and
approved by the Central Committee which, prior to 1938, in turn reported to the
Working Committee of the Vorstand and after 1938 reported direct to the
Vorstand. It is clear that Farben was a generous and regular contributor to a
wide variety of Nazi causes and to some of its leading personalities.
b. Cooperation with the Wehrmacht. It is stated in the
International Military Tribunal Judgment: |
| |
“During the years
immediately following Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor, the Nazi
government set about reorganizing the economic life of Germany, and in
particular the armament industry. This was done on a vast scale and with
extreme thoroughness. " * * * In this reorganization of the economic life of
Germany for military purposes, the Nazi government found the German armament
industry quite willing to cooperate, and to play its part in the rearmament
program.”¹ |
| Farben was pre-eminent in chemical research and development and
willingly cooperated with the Nazi regime in making its technique available.
The evidence establishes a continuous record of collaboration and cooperation
between Farben and the Wehrmacht in these important fields. Farben cooperated
in the planning of stand-by plants or state-owned shadow factories; as early as
1933, Farben made preparations for air-raid protection of its plants [NI-8461, Pros. Ex. 170]
and through the subsequent years conducted “map exercises” or
“war games,” testing how important plants could be protected against
bombing.² The chief and officials of the Military Economic Staff
personally attended such exercises in March 1936. An extensive program of
stockpiling of essential war materials was pursued by Farben. An official
German governmental report on “The Program of Work for Economic
Mobilization on 30 September 1934” showed that [EC-128, Pros. Ex. 716] :
“It was possible to start in June of this year at Doeberitz,” a plant
for making a sufficient quantity of highly concentrated nitric acid available
for production of explosives and ammunition. (This was a Farben plant and
required approximately 2.7 million reichsmarks for construction.) Of the
ferrous alloys (ferrous chromium, ferrous wolfram, ferrous molybdenum, ferrous
vanadium) necessary for the production of high grade steels, Farben, at
|
__________
¹ Trial of the
Major War Criminals, volume I, pages
182 and 183.
² See Document NI-4624, Prosecution Exhibit 185; NI-8637, Prosecution
Exhibit 29; NI-5881 Prosecution Exhibit 183.
1246 |
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