And on the second page of that document, in the second paragraph, is found the quotation by the Defendant Göring. It starts from the basic thought that:
“The show-down with Russia is inevitable. What Russia has done in the field of reconstruction we too can do.”
On the third page of that document, in the second paragraph, the Defendant Göring stated: “All measures have to be taken just as if we were actually in the stage of imminent danger of war.”
In the same month the office of the Four Year Plan was created with the mission of making Germany self-sufficient for war in 4 years. I refer back, at this point, to the Document Number EC-408, and particularly refer Your Honors to the third paragraph, again, of that document, where the statement is made as regards the war economy:
“Minister President Generaloberst Göring sees it as his task, within 4 years, to put the entire economy in a state of readiness for war.”
The Nazi Government officials provided the leadership in preparing Germany for war. They received, however, the enthusiastic cooperation of the German industrialists, and the role played by industrialists in converting Germany to a war economy is an important one, and I turn briefly to that aspect of the economic picture.
On the invitation of the Defendant Göring, approximately 25 of the leading industrialists of Germany, and the Defendant Schacht, attended a meeting in Berlin on the 20th day of February, 1933. This was shortly before the election of March 5, 1933 in Germany. At this meeting Hitler announced the conspirators’ aim to seize totalitarian control over Germany, to destroy the parliamentary system, to crush all opposition by force, and to restore the power of the Wehrmacht.
Among those present on that day, in February of 1933 in Berlin, were Gustav Krupp, head of the huge munitions firm Friedrich Krupp, A.G.; four leading officials of the I.G. Farben, one of the world’s largest chemical concerns; present, I repeat, was also the Defendant Schacht, and Albert Vögler was also there, the head of the huge steel trusts, the United Steel Works of Germany, and there were other leading industrialists there.
In support of the assertion with respect to that meeting at that time and in that place, I refer Your Honors to the document bearing the number EC-439, it being an affidavit of George von Schnitzler, and it reads as follows:
“I George von Schnitzler, a member of the Vorstand of I.G. Farben, make the following deposition under oath: