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THE ATTACK AGAINST GERMAN CAPITAL
flow of reparations to the Soviet Union. Many of Germany's
greatest producers of civilian goods were dismantled and
shipped eastward. Among them were the two largest shoe
factories (Lingel and Tack); the largest sugar refineries in the
great beet-sugar region; the largest grain processing mills in
Europe, at Barby near Magdeburg; the great Bemberg Silk
Mills, famous before the war for their hosiery and lingerie,
and the Zeiss Optical Works at Jena. All secondary rail lines
were torn up and all electric locomotives removed from the
zone.
But many of the confiscated plants were left in Germany
where they could be operated by Germans for Russia's bene-
fit. She installed Russian or Communist foremen and placed
Russians or Communists on the Boards of Directors. In this
fashion she acquired complete ownership and control of 200
of Germany's key industries comprising the zone's real eco-
nomic wealth and employing 1,300,000 workers-a third of
the zone's working population. Examples of the industries
seized are all of the I. G. Farben Industrie plants in Saxony,
including the famous Leuna chemical factories at Merseburg,
Bitterfeld, and Wollin; the Reich's only important copper
works, the Mansfield Co., in Saxony; the machine works of
Krupp Gruson at Magdeburg; the Brabag Brown Coal and
Gasoline Co., near Gera in Thuringia; the Polysius machine
works at Dessau; and many of the most important iron ore
plants, machine tool factories, coal mine companies, potash
mines, and electrical plants.
America, which from the beginning had been the most zeal-
ous in carrying out de-industrialization in its own zone, made
no protest to Russia until it was learned that two establish-
ments owned by American concerns, the United Shoe Ma-
chinery Co. and the Corn Products Refining Co., had been
among those seized. We then offered the suggestion that
Allied owned property should be exempted from seizure and
added the pious thought that plants producing civilian goods
should be kept in Germany. Our note went unanswered. It
is known, however, that Russia has invented numerous ex-
cuses to give her seizures apparent legality, among them being
the contention that plants with international backing are