Exchange W
The switching center W was an organization founded in September 1935 within the IG Farben , which served the coordination between the Wehrmacht and the group for arming the Wehrmacht .
The organization was planned since 1933. Before the outbreak of war it consisted of 6 to 8 specialists with 30 to 40 employees. It was based in Berlin . Until 1937 in the street Unter den Linden 78, then in Dorotheenstraße 34 and from 1939 in Kochstraße 73.
In all of the IG's main plants there were liaison officers to the exchange, whose main task was to set up so-called “mob calendars” for mobilization . In addition, so-called "war games" were carried out since 1934, in which the bombing of the plants was simulated.
According to an investigation report by the American military government ( OMGUS ), the files of the exchange were destroyed shortly before the end of the war. This report also states that the IG's relations with the Wehrmacht had become so close that a coordinating body was required.
The historian Raymond G. Stokes judges that it appears "as if the top managers of the IG had sensed early on that war could soon come."
literature
- Raymond G. Stokes: From IG Farbenindustrie to the founding of BASF (1925–1952) . In: Werner Abelshauser (Ed.): The BASF - A company history. , Munich 2002, p. 271.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Investigation report online
- ^ Raymond G. Stokes: From IG Farbenindustrie to the re-establishment of BASF (1925–1952) . In: Werner Abelshauser (Ed.): The BASF - A company history. , Munich 2002, p. 271.