English Translation

15 copy. The Reichswirtschaftsninister Berlin, 16 December 1940. II 1in.Ö1 5787/40 g Execution No./o6 An a) the Supreme Reich Authorities Secret! b) the Lords Reichsdefense Commissars. Secret! Subject: Reductions in fuel consumption, From numerous reports by the services which I have ordered, I have drawn attention to the fact that, in the case of consumers, in particular the authorities, there is no sufficient understanding and willingness to take action to limit fuel consumption. Without regard to the fuel supply situation and without the involvement of the bodies responsible for the allocation of fuel, the public authorities are assigned tasks to the economy which require the use of fuel and which, in many cases, must lead to an increase in fuel consumption compared with the current framework. The issue of official certificates on the need for fuel allocation also drives such an abuse that these certificates are usually worthless for the district and economic offices responsible for the allocation of fuel. The lack of insight into the need for fuel savings often leads to the fact that the regional and economic offices are exposed to the strongest pressure from the consumer society and to unrefreshable disputes if they force their power quota, which is only measured for the necessary needs, to reject the fuel allocation. Press publications may also have contributed to this, in which the German fuel supply situation has been presented very optimistically for propagandistic reasons. On the other hand, I must stress that the fuel supply situation has to be described as quite serious, since, as a result of the expansion of the German laughing stock and from a number of other sources, so many new supply tasks are brought to the German oil industry, that the coverage of the quantities required for this purpose is, in the longer term, still unexplained. I do not want to go into the question of the possible development, but I would ask you to bear in mind that even greater fuel savings are likely to be necessary in the coming years than before.