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acted as a commissioner. The commissioners during the period from
1940 up to spring 1943 switched the production of the firm to a great extent to
the manufacture of war material. For this war material production, large
purchases of machines were made by the commissioners. The firm headed by the
commissioners went under the name of “ELMAG Elsaessische Maschinenbau
A.G.” and was a legal entity according to the German laws in force since
1940.
During the lease negotiations with the firm of Krupp, therefore,
the two commissioners and the Chief of the Civil Administration appeared in
Strasbourg as legal representatives of the ELMAG A.G. A special company was
founded by the Friedrich Krupp firm for the purposes of leasing and managing
the firm in Mulhouse and this was given the name of “ELMAG Werke Elsass
Maschinenbau G.m.b.H.” (ELMAG G.m.b.H). This explains why the preliminary
agreement on the lease arrangement dated 31 March 1943* was concluded by the
Chief of the Civil Administration on the one hand and the firm of Fried. Krupp
on the other while the final lease contract dated 5 July 1944 was concluded by
four signatories, namely the Chief of the Civil Administration in Alsace and
the ELMAG A.G. as lessor, while the ELMAG G.m.b.H. and the firm Fried. Krupp
were named as leaseholders.
There were no doubts as to the right
of the Chief of the Civil Administration and of the commissioners appointed
by him to conclude such a lease agreement.
The negotiations for
the lease agreement were very lengthy, particularly because the provisional
administrator of the ELMAG A.G., Mr. Dalmer, thanks to his very secure
political position, was able to enforce his wishes very energetically. This was
especially evident during the fixing of the lease price. In this I personally
held the point of view that only a lease price of 1.3 million Reichsmarks per
annum was warrantable. Mr. Eberhardt, who conducted the negotiations, however,
very generously met Mr. Dalmer’s demands and agreed to a lease price of
2.5 million Reichsmarks. Mr. Habermaas, at that time director of the ELMAG
G.m.b.H., intimated to Mr. Eberhardt his refusal to accept the responsibility
for this extraordinarily high lease price, and I recall that he told him at the
time — “If so much rent is to be paid, do not expect profits from
me.”
In the course of the negotiations it soon became obvious that
Mr. Dalmer wanted to gain something for himself personally; therefore, finally,
a very generous payment of 50,000 Reichsmarks for Mr. Dalmer was included in
the lease agreement.
The lease agreement included the whole enterprise
of the ELMAG A.G. in the Alsace (excluding the enterprise at Grafen-
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* Document Document
NIK-6254, Prosecution Exhibit 1804, reproduced above in this section.
617 |
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