A. Its creation must have taken place during the last days of March 1942. It originated from a discussion which Speer had with Hitler in the latter’s headquarters. At the time when Speer had taken over armament there was no higher authority which was acting according to clear-cut points of view when distributing raw material. Until then we had been receiving raw material through a certain department of the OKW. This department in turn had been getting it from the Four Year Plan. The OKW was distributing to the army, navy and air force but this department had no expert knowledge. Consequently the continuity of armament suffered under this. Speer quickly recognized the state of affairs and without my having previous knowledge of it he tackled this question when talking to Hitler. As a result Hitler appointed Speer as the central planner for this subject. Subsequently Speer made the request that I should take on this task together with him, since Speer had been in the armament business rather briefly and since he said I would be able to help him—at least this was the way Speer discussed the matter with me shortly afterwards; I, myself, hadn’t been at that conference. Following this, on 2 April 1942, Speer and I together went to see Goering since Speer considered that this task, which, after all, was connected with the Four Year Plan, should be discussed with Goering. Goering expressed agreement but he demanded that a representative of State Secretary Koerner, who was in official contact with the Four Year Plan should enter the Central Planning Board. I know that Speer said at this point: “It seems to me three are rather too many for this job”, and I said “Well, I am only too willing to drop out. I have enough work as it is,” and Speer interfered and said that was out of the question. Goering said: “No, it is my view that there can be three.” That is how the composition of the Central Planning Board was realized. I can anticipate at this point that very much later Minister Funk joined the Central Planning Board as a force which was done at the instance when the so-called “War Production”—and in this case we are not talking about the armament business but civilian requirements and the like—was transferred from Funk’s Ministry to Speer’s Ministry.
Q. Witness, did you, within the framework of the Central Planning Board become the armed forces’ or air forces’ representative?
A. No, right at the very beginning that had been decided upon by Hitler that, namely, that in no way was I to look after my own interest there, that is to say, the interest of the air force, that I should be above the Party. Later on there were demands from the navy, which had not known about this arrangement. They, too, wanted to have a representative in the Central Planning Board. * * *
Q. Witness, what were the actual tasks of this Central Planning Board?
A. The tasks had been communicated to me by Speer and had been confirmed through Goering. There was only distribution of raw materials to all holders of priority permits.
Q. Witness, what is what you call the “holder of a priority”?
A. Well, the armed forces are such priority holders, and within the armed forces the navy, army, and air force are holders of these priorities. The coal industry holds these priorities; the steel industry; the textile industry; the German cities and municipalities, for their municipal requirements; the power supplying industry.
Q. What about agriculture?
A. Most certainly agriculture, for agricultural machinery requires steel, requires coal, requires all sorts of things. Altogether, the forms according to which we used to distribute, and which contained the word “armament” on the left, contained on the right all the civilian purchasers, all the buyers. There were approximately 40 to 45 civilian holders of these priorities.
Q. But then what did the Central Planning Board have to do with the Four Year Plan, to which there seemed to be some sort of formal connection through Speer?