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Q. What is your position today?
A. Today I am the head of the
financial department of Krupp.
Q. How long have you been that?
A. Since April 1943.
Q. If I understood you correctly, you
mentioned just now that organizational questions came under your jurisdiction?
A. Yes, however, we only had to do with the organization of the
accounting office and of the administrative department. I had nothing to do
with the plant organization.
Q. Who was in charge of the organization
of the plant?
A. The plant managers, who had a large amount of
independence. Besides them, there was a so-called plant operational department
headed by Mr. Girod. This department only intervened from case to case either
if there was something wrong in the plants or if the Vorstand asked for a
certain job to be done.
Q. The situation which you described just now,
was it the same in Essen and in the plants outside of Essen?
A. The
leaders of the concern plants also had quite a lot of independence, actually
more independence than the Essen officials. We only intervened as the case
required, when we noticed in Essen that something had gone wrong.
Q. If
I understood you correctly, you are talking about plant organization. Did the
plants also have a certain independence in financial matters?
A. Yes,
they had a great deal of independence in financial matters, with certain
restrictions. The Central Office Essen gave to the subsidiary plants exact
instructions as to the drawing up of balance sheets.
Q. Did you have a
fixed system for your balance sheets?
A. Yes, the system for the
drawing-up of balance sheets was uniform for the whole Krupp concern, so that
the figures of the concern plants could be compared.
Q. Did this
balance sheet procedure show any peculiarities or was it the customary one?
A. It was the one generally used in Germany, as prescribed by
corporation law, and it was subject to certain directives by the economic group
[Wirtschaftsgruppe].
Q. Were these balance sheets audited by a trustee?
A. The balance sheets of Krupp and its concern plants were audited once
a year by an independent auditor. In addition, they were audited by the
financial authorities every three years. On these occasions, approximately ten
auditors checked the books for about 1 year.
Q. From the statements you
made up to now, I conclude that the influence of the Central Office Essen on
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