§ 40 and 41. Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) what is the management's policy in the concerns owned by I. G. Farben; to whom, for what period, and upon what basis have the plants been leased; who are the directors; and what concerns they were or are connected with;
(2) what is His Majesty's Government's policy relative to the future of I. G. Farben; who are the controllers or representatives of the Government in the I. G. Farben; what firms are, or were, they connected with; and what part do the bizonal Government play in the management of the German chemical industry.
§ Mr. BevinThe management policy of concerns owned or formerly owned by I. G. Farben is a matter for the German 7W management in control of the concern. However, two bodies, one British and American and the other German, have been set up to deal with the decartelisation of I. G. Farben in the bizone.
The first is the Bipartite Farben Control Office with joint British and United States chairmen. The British chairman is Mr. E. L. D. Fowles, a chartered accountant, who is also Controller of I. G. Farben concerns in the British zone. This body is responsible for the financial control and the approval of plans for the reorganisation of the Farben complex.
The German body, the I. G. Farben Dispersal Panel, has been instructed to draw up plans for the deconcentration of the Farben complex into independent units. Many of the Farben subsidiaries are already operating as independent units under the supervision of trustees appointed by Military Government. None of the I. G. Farben assets have been leased to new enterprises. Responsibility for production in the individual units has passed to German hands. As will be seen from the foregoing, Military Government policy as regards I. G. Farben is to break up the excessive concentration of economic power which the complex acquired under the Nazi régime.