THOMS: On several occasions he visited the strong-rooms of the bank to inspect the gold stored there and particularly to inform himself about the type of stores. The deliveries of the “Melmer” transactions were kept in a special part of one of the main safes, so that on those occasions Herr Puhl must also have seen the boxes and sacks full of those deliveries. Nearby in the corridor of the vault the articles of the “Melmer” deliveries were being dealt with.
I am firmly convinced that when he walked through the strong-rooms, Herr Puhl must have seen these objects, as they were lying quite openly on the table and everyone who visited the strong-room could see them.
MR. DODD: There were about 25 or 30 people that sorted this stuff out, were there not, before it was shipped away for melting and for sale in the pawnshops?
THOMS: I would say that there were not 25 to 30 people who sorted these things—in the course of a day perhaps 25 to 30 people would visit the strong-rooms to carry out some official business there. For this particular business some four or five officials were occupied in sorting out the things, getting them ready.
MR. DODD: And everyone under your supervision was sworn to secrecy? They didn’t talk about this business; they were forbidden to do so, were they not?
THOMS: There were strict instructions in the bank that secret matters must not be discussed, not even with a colleague of one’s own department, if that colleague did not himself also work at the same job. So that...
MR. DODD: Well, this was a super-secret matter, wasn’t it? It wasn’t the ordinary secrecy that attended. Wasn’t there a special secrecy surrounding these deliveries?
THOMS: Quite right. It was quite an exceptional affair and it had to be kept especially secret. I would say that it went beyond the limits of top secrecy. For even I had been strictly forbidden to talk to anybody about it; and I said at the time when I left Vice President Puhl, after the first conversation, that I would however inform the leading officials in the Treasury, because after all my superiors must be informed about this business.
MR. DODD: Was there a report made about these “Melmer” deposits to the Directorate?
THOMS: No. The matter was treated as a verbal agreement. It was after all an exceptional case and only one account was kept of the deliveries made, which was called the “Melmer account.” This account was transmitted by the head cashier’s office to the foreign exchange department which, in turn, had to take further steps with the Directorate of the Reichsbank.