English Translation

62 -5 - The very difficult fuel supply situation in this sector has also been mastered to such an extent that closures of particularly important plants did not occur during the winter months. In cooperation with the Central Association of Industry and the individual economic groups, greater difficulties could always be eliminated at the right time, despite the lack of statistical documentation and indexes, in spite of the usually incorrect information in the official reports. It was possible, for example, to keep the Poldi hut not only from production restrictions, but even from standstill by allocating existing stocks to the Prague iron-industrial company and other quantities which were subsequently released. A study carried out by the Business Group, the Central Office for Public Contracts, the Armaments Inspection and the Central Association of Industry in accordance with the guidelines of the Reich made it possible to allocate the amount of fuel that will become smaller each month, with corresponding percentage reductions, to the public industry (depending on the importance of the individual plants). This ever smaller amount of fuel for the industrial sector therefore increasingly required a concentration in the industry or a corresponding transfer of orders. Only in this way could the responsibility for a to some extent regular continuation of the protectorate industry be assumed. In order to take account of the existing fuel stocks in the armaments industry during the respective monthly allocations, a clear overview of the stocks was made with the help of the arms inspection. It turned out that even larger stocks of fuel were available. With these, the monthly allocations could be extended even further. In a detailed discussion on the fuel supply situation with the chief executives of the central association of industry, these were informed of the extremely difficult situation and given instructions and guidelines in particular regarding the official templates and the level of fuel requirements and allocations. In a letter to the Central Association of Industry, the latter was further made aware that a number of industrial enterprises used the fuels allocated by the coal industry not only for their military orders but also for civilian production. In the case of the poor traffic conditions caused by frost and snowfall, the quantities required had to be greatly reduced. Therefore, the Central Association of Industry decided that the plants should use the quantities of fuel allocated to them only for the most important orders. If the quantities allocated exceed the requirements of the main contracts, these multi-monges should be stored as stocks. -9