 |
[Broeck …] ler). When I asked him to return the factory,
Broeckler replied to me that that was out of the question in view of the fact
that the firm belonged to Mr. Rothschild, a Jew. Broeckler paid no attention to
his Yugoslav citizenship.
In the course of the discussions Broeckler suggested the following
solution:
Mr. Rothschild
was to resign as administrator-deputy and transfer his stocks and shares to an
Aryan and he even suggested that this be done in my name.
I then went back to Lyon in order to ask for Mr. Rothschild’s
decision. He finally accepted in the interest of his family, in order to save
his heritage and also in the interest of the personnel and workers of the
factory and of his agricultural clients in France.
Following this decision, I was appointed
in his place as administrator-deputy by the administrative board, and at the
same time Mr. Rothschild legally transferred to me all the stocks and shares
that he owned.
When these
formalities were completed I again went back to Broeckler who approved them and
on 19 October 1940, he put at my disposal the factory of the company at
Liancourt which I immediately put back into operation.
On 28 December 1940, a certain Lucien
Segond presented himself at the factory saying he was the provisional
administrator (Commissaire Gerant) of the Société Austin,
nominated to this post by virtue of a German decree on Jewish enterprises or
enterprises under Jewish influence.
In the light of this decree, transfers which had been made after 23
May 1940 were not considered valid. Consequently, the transfer of the stocks
and shares of Mr. Rothschild to my name was not recognized by the Germans. This
was officially confirmed on 15 April 1941. (NIK-10587, Pros. Ex. 664.)*
In the period which
followed, several provisional administrators were nominated, either by the
Germans or by Vichy.
In
1942 this position was held by Mr. Maurice Erhard. Until then the normal
production of the factory consisted of new tractors and spare parts for
tractors already in use.
I was obliged to leave the occupied zone on 6 April 1941, that is to
say, at the time when the Germans attacked Yugoslavia, as I was a citizen of
Yugoslavia myself. I settled down in the non-occupied zone and did not return
to Liancourt before October 1944, after the liberation.
Upon my return I found the factory
occupied by Mr. Paramythioti who after the liberation had been nominated
adminis- [trator] |
__________
* This document the
official notice to Milos Celap is reproduced below in this section.
507 |
. 
