DR. SAUTER: If I understand you correctly, Witness, then, the meaning of what you have just told us is that you still considered the matter legal or lawful even when in 1943 you saw the inscription “Auschwitz” and “Lublin” on some items. Even then you considered the matter legal, didn’t you?
THOMS: Yes.
DR. SAUTER: Well, then, why did you in your affidavit of 8 May 1946—it is true it is not a sworn affidavit—tell the story somewhat differently? Perhaps I can read the sentence to you...
THOMS: Please, do.
DR. SAUTER: ...and you can then tell me if I misunderstood you or whether the official took it down incorrectly. It says there, after first of all saying that you considered the matter to be legal:
“One of the first indications of the origin of these articles was when it was noticed that a packet of bills, presumably bonds...”
THOMS: No, they were bank notes.
DR. SAUTER: “...were stamped ‘Lublin.’ ”
THOMS: This occurred early in 1943.
DR. SAUTER: “Another indication was the fact that some articles bore the stamp ‘Auschwitz.’ We all knew these places were the sites of concentration camps. In connection with the tenth delivery in November 1942”—that is, previously—“gold teeth appeared, and the quantity of gold teeth grew to an unusual extent.”