English Translation

13. 11: 1944 Entered by the Head of Division V 56 Mr. Dr. Gies: Cg Eigace) 978/3 According to the agreements reached with Speer in Berlin, there should not be any change to the present state in the delimitation of the responsibilities of the Chairman of the Arms Committee on the one hand and of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labour on the other. On the other hand, the draft is set out in point (c) of the second paragraph of Article 2 of the Financial Regulation. 3 that the "commissioner of the Reichsministerium Speer für Böhmen und Mähren" should have the powers to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labour, to the extent that it is responsible for the tasks of the Economic Office and of a Gauarbeitsamt, which result from his position as chairman of the Arms Commission after the decree of 29.10.1943. This decree states: "The chairmen of the Armaments Commissions have to control all departments dealing with armaments-related tasks uniformly within their area." Control is synonymous with instruction. The "commissioner" would therefore be able to provide the Minister for Economic Affairs and Labour with instructions. That is precisely what we wanted to avoid. Practically, the change in the current state may not seem very significant, as she will have responded to Hernekamp's wishes. Formally and politically, however, the draft would lead to a worrying break-in both in the competence of the German Minister of State and in autonomy. I propose that a written statement by Dr. Bertsch should first be made. Hil Prague, March 10, 1944.