 |
A. That must have been, I guess, in the late fall of 1941.
Q.
Do you know on whose initiative the negotiations were started?
A. A few
weeks prior to that we had received a letter from the firm of ALSTHOM in which
they asked us to tell them whether we would be interested in purchasing the
machine.
Q. May I call the Court’s attention to the fact that this
is the letter which is marked Loeser Document 68, Defense Exhibit 1¹ and
was presented to the witness Robert Koch.²
What was the price
offered by Stahlbau Rheinhausen to ALSTHOM?
A. I don’t know and I
don’t remember whether the price was discussed at that juncture.
Q. Was an evaluation of the machine made in 1941?
A. After the
machine had been set up we called in an accredited expert of the Duisburg
Chamber of Trade and asked him to make his estimate. |
| |
| * * * * * |
| |
Q. Dr. Thiess, I would like to repeat a preliminary question so that
we get the proper continuity. When was it that you were asked to participate in
the purchase negotiations with ALSTHOM?
A. Beginning of 1942.
Q. And were there any previous negotiations?
A. Yes.
Q.
What course did the negotiations take when you were present?
A. It was
around the New Year, 1941-42, that an expert from the High Command of the Navy
appeared, his name was Administrative Councilor Simonis. By order of the OKM he
was to make a new evaluation of the machine. I think it was the intention that
this new evaluation was to provide the basis for the negotiations with the OKM
concerning compensation. We, on our part, were interested in clarifying the
further course of the matter. On the basis of the letter from the French people
we had entered into direct negotiations. Now the navy interfered and took up
the matter on their own part. Therefore, I went to Paris.
Q. When was
that?
A. The first half of February 1942, in order to discuss with the
economic and armament office how the matter was to go on. Of course, all this
was 16 years ago and my data on that part of the proceedings are no longer
available. Therefore I do not re- […member] |
__________
¹ Reproduced earlier in this section.
² Extracts from the testimony of Koch. a director of ALSTHOM, have
been reproduced above in this section.
654 |
. 
