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| [Rotter…] dam, Amsterdam, and Utrecht. At the Rotterdam office
of the German Ministry for Armament and War Production they obtained the names
of shipyards and manufacturing enterprises in Rotterdam where they could
inspect machines and materials for shipment to Germany. Koch and Hennig visited
the Lips factory, which will hereinafter be referred to, where they selected
machines that were suitable to their lists. Ten fitters were requested from
Essen for the purpose of dismantling and shipping these machines to Essen. They
also visited the factories of De Vries Robbé & Co. of the N.V.
Nederlandsche Seintoestellen Fabriek in Hilversum which was a subsidiary of the
Philips firm in Eindhoven, of the firm of Rademaker, and the scale factory of
Berkel, as well as several idle shipyards; and at each of these plants they
selected materials and equipment. At one idle shipyard, for example, they did
not even neglect to designate ship toilets for removal — which appeared to
be useful for the barracks at Essen. They also selected profile steel and iron
bars. The following comment of Hennig is of interest: |
| |
“At heart, I did not approve
the confiscation of the machines from the Dutch owners, since I held the view
that the forcible removal of the machines deprived the owners of the Dutch
enterprises as well as the Dutch workers of the possibility to continue
production. In my opinion, this action was to be condemned as an unjustifiable
hardship for the Dutch.” |
We shall now discuss the evidence on the looting of three specific
factories in the Netherlands which will illustrate the pattern followed during
the period from September 1944 until the complete liberation of Holland in
April and May 1945. Those factories are: (1) Metaalbedrijf Rademaker N.Y.,
located at Rotterdam; (2) De Vries Robbé & Co., N.Y., located at
Gorinchem; and (3) Lips Brandkasten en Slotenfabrieken N.Y., located at
Dordrecht.
The firm of Rademaker was engaged in a very specialized
business — the production of cogwheels. Prior to the war some competition
existed between them and the Krupp firm in the Dutch market, hence Krupp was
familiar with the factory installations and the type of machinery owned by
Rademaker.
On 16 March 1944 Rademaker was advised by letter from the
commissioner for the Netherlands of the Reich Ministry for Armaments and War
Production that the Krupp firm at Essen was appointed the “sponsor
firm” for Rademaker and that Krupp could delegate a firm commissioner who
would exercise strict supervision over orders and deliveries and should be
advised by Rademakers of everything relating to German orders and their
execution. |
1366 |
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