PUHL: This is a report from our cashier, and in line with the obligation of secrecy the words “SS Economic Department” have been avoided and the more general term “the head of a Berlin public office” is used.
MR. DODD: And later on in the paragraph it refers to the incoming objects to be processed under the code name “Melmer,” M-e-l-m-e-r. That is the name I asked you a few minutes ago if you recognized, isn’t it?
PUHL: I didn’t understand the question.
MR. DODD: Well, the last sentence in this paragraph says: “All incoming deposits will be processed under the code name ‘Melmer.’ ” M-e-l-m-e-r. That is the name I asked you about a few minutes ago, and you said you didn’t know it.
PUHL: Yes, and this statement also shows that I couldn’t have known it, because only now, in this statement, is it disclosed that the name “Melmer” was used.
MR. DODD: I think if you will read it you will see that it shows just the opposite. It says, according to the oral confidential agreement between you and Pohl of the SS the Reichsbank took over the selling, and so on, of gold, silver coins, and so forth. “All incoming deposits will be processed under the code name ‘Melmer.’ ”
You are not telling this Tribunal that a transaction like this was going on in your bank over which you were Vice President, under a code name, and you didn’t know it, and you were the man who was dealing directly with the SS man. Are you seriously saying that to this Court?
PUHL: Yes. The word “Melmer” was never used in my presence. But our treasury directors could use code words for the accounts of clients who preferred not to give their own names and the names of their institutions; and the treasury made use of a code word in this case too.
MR. DODD: You will observe that this is the second time this morning that we have run across the name Melmer. Herr Thoms says you used that term in talking to him, and now we find it in one of your own bank memorandums, which is a captured document. Are you still saying that you don’t know the term?
PUHL: This memorandum wasn’t made for me, but for the responsible treasury official. And specifically in order to acquaint him with the arrangements made by the treasury, the memorandum states under what code name this transaction will be carried out.