TIMM: There were various ways of keeping the contact active. There were liaison men on both sides. The Plenipotentiary General sent men from his select staff to the office of the Four Year Plan for a preliminary co-ordination of his plans, and on the other hand, as far as I can recall, there were almost constantly delegates from the office of the Four Year Plan who took part in the staff conferences.
In addition, the Plenipotentiary General frequently had personal talks with the Delegate for the Four Year Plan.
DR. SERVATIUS: How was the co-operation with the other ministries conducted? With Goebbels, to begin with?
TIMM: The Plenipotentiary General felt in principle that it was important to keep as close a contact as possible with the other departments and to have his plans and intentions co-ordinated beforehand. Co-operation with the Ministry of Propaganda was no longer so good, especially at the time when the Minister, Dr. Goebbels, was Delegate for Total War Effort.
DR. SERVATIUS: After the proclamation of total war was Sauckel subordinate to Goebbels?
TIMM: The relationship was never quite clear. In my opinion it had to be looked at this way: The Delegate for Total War Effort received comprehensive powers for all tasks, and was therefore in fact superior to the GBA (Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor).
DR. SERVATIUS: What was the relation with the other authorities, for instance with the Reich Ministry for Food?
TIMM: The co-operation with the Reich Ministry for Food was very good. The relations with State Secretary Backe especially were always very good as far as I could judge. There were also continual conferences between the experts of both offices on questions of feeding in general.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Servatius, what was the date of the proclamation of total war?
DR. SERVATIUS: Does the witness know when total war was declared?