GERMAN INDUSTRIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 October 1945, Page 5

GERMAN INDUSTRIES

COMBINE DISSOLVED CHEMICAL PLANJ SEIZED WASHINGTON? October 21. The War Department has released a report ’ from General Eisenhower saying that in the ’first move to destroy for ever the I.G. Farberiindustrie’s stranglehold on German industry the United States Army has seized 45 plants, 25 sales offices and four miscellaneous installations owned by the company. The Army has discharged 896 Nazi employees and imprisoned some key directors. General Eisenhower describes the company, the assets of which are estimated at about 2,400,000,000 dollars, as Germany’s largest corporation ana the world’s largest chemical corporation. It employed over 400,000 people during the war, and had some financial control in 613 companies. In addition it participated in over 2000 international cartels. It was Germany’s greatest war producer and made acquisitions by conquest, following closely the German army from 1938 onward. The report discloses that the United States zone had 9.75 per cent, of the Farben plants in Germany, the British 11.5 per cent., the French 20.2 per cent., and the Russian 58.5 per cent. The report says that the arrested officials will be held pending a further check on their Nazi, and militaristic activities and determination whether they shall be triqd as war criminals. _ The report traces the Farben Company’s growth, noting many agreements between German and American firms. It adds that a complete description of the Farben activities would include the explosives field, in which the Farben Company by agreement with. Imperial Chemical Industries and du Pont divided the world markets for industrial explosives. FINDS IN SWITZERLAND.

The report also mentions marketing agreements with Swiss, Italian and Japanese companies. It adds that it has been decided to seek legislative action by the Allied Control Council outlawing cartels ' and simplifying their dissolution. “The American search for hidden Nazi capital has revealed that 214 German firms salted away enormous sums in camouflaged Swiss companies to await the day of return to Germany,” says the Geneva correspondent of the “Daily Express.” “In the case of I. G. Farbenindustrie alone, nearly £30,000,000 has been traced m a branch office and agencies m Switzerland. The discoveries so far constitute only a first list, to which the names of other 1 companies will be added as they are found Many companies have not appeared on the British and American black lists. “The revelations have caused a first-class sensation throughout Switzerland, as the Federal Government has never informed the public of the existence of these Nazi finan cial hoards. All the firms hsted huve Swiss names and directors, rhe Agfa photography firm, one part at 1. G. Farbenindustnes, has a lai go branch at Basle. . Another Farben branch, with an innocent-sounding title and capital of £50,000, was also found at Basle. A further Farben branch has a capital of J lO ; 000 ’ 0 ™; Many Swiss firms and banks have been revealed as units of the great German combine.”

HITLER’S DEATH PRESUMED LONDON, October 21.* A British Intelligence officer in Berlin said that British and American investigators had notified London and Washington that no evidence whatever has turned up to showthat Hitler is still alive, and that new instructions are re I c J/ ed z ,^ e hunt for the Fuehrer would be considered ended.

HIGHER TAXATION BERLIN, October 21. The Allied Control Council in Germany has announced that Germans will have to pay higher, taxes. The present income tax is equivalent to 7/6 m the £l. The new rate means that Germans will have to pay taxation than under the Nazis. The council has also decided to establish a new German judicial system. A proclamation assuring the Germans of their equality under the law, guaranteeing the rights of accused persons, formally liquidating the Hitler system, and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary, is being published to-morrow. ’ MEETING OF EDITORS. LONDON, October 21. “The German editors and publishers of 12 newspapers, many of whom still showed signs of their sentences, in concentration camps, met at Marburg for a free discussion for the first time in 12 years,” says the Associated Press correspondent in Germany. “They argued strongly for more paper, more diversified news reports, and more licensed journalists to ‘bring back the German name into its proper light in. the world’.”

LEAVING POLAND LONDON, October 21. Mr. Henryk Strasburger, the new Polish Ambassador to London, said that he had notified the British Foreign Office that the Polish Government had stopped all measures connected with the forced repatriation of Germans. However, “spontaneous movement” was continuing. Mr. Strasburger explained that thousands of Germans whom Hitler had sent in to occupy districts in Poland were not waiting for the return of the rightful owners, but were leaving on their own volition. He added: “Although the Polish Government wishes to see the return of all exiled Poles, especially specialist workers, they have no intention of trying to force any to return.” U-BOAT PENS LONDON, October 21. The Allies have blown up the German U-boat pens at Hamburg. Thirty-two tons of German bombs and T.N.T distributed among piers eight feet thick, were exploded electrically. The roof, 12 feet thick, was shattered and collapsed. The explosion, "which sent up a column of smoke 2000 feet high, brought to nothing works on which the Germans worked for four and a-half years.

JET PLANES’ SUCCESSES WASHINGTON, October 21. Declaring that Germany had made a mistake in not concentrating on the production of hundreds of. jet fighters, General Arnold, Chief of the United States Army Air Forces, said it was reported that one Luftwaffe jet pilot shot down between 17' and 20 Flying Fortresses in one engagement. DUTCH REPARATIONS. THE HAGUE, October 22. The Dutch Minister of Commerce (Mr. H. Vos) estimated that the Netherlands demands for reparations from Germany amounted to £875,000,000.