WITNESS: Well, let's see, now --- about 35.
Q. Witness, when you stated 35 people in your office, a personnel strength of 35, what was the date you selected the number in the office when it was dissolved? On the 1st of April, or do you mean a date prior to that?
A. As the release of the female personnel took place from January, 1945, on, in other words, the personnel strength which I just mentioned could be considered the personnel strength in January, 1945, because it was then that these people were released week after week.
Q. Are you in a position to tell this Tribunal the personnel strength as it was immediately before the dissolution of your office?
A. Well, there were left myself, one officer, and two typists.
Q. Witness, you explained today how the Court of Audits dealt with these personnel difficulties, by doing without regular scheduled preliminary checks. Did the Court of Audits during the war facilitate your preliminary checking in any way?
A. Yes, the Court of Audits renounded all preliminary checking with some agencies among the Waffen SS.
Q. And which agencies were those?
A. There was, for instance, the pay office of the Waffen-SS in Dachau. For years that agency had been in a state of being established reorganized. That was the reason why the Court of Audits deferred the checking of the pay agency. A checking with regard to the accounts was not necessary, because that particular office had HolleritMachines, where checking was no longer necessary. Apart from that, the preliminary checking of the clothing factory of the Waffen SS was no longer carried out. Here also a checking of the accounts was not necessary because that agency also was carrying out the bookkeeping and the accounting with Hollerit Machines. Apart from that factory was a commercial installation and I didn't have the necessary experts to carry out the checking. As such personnel was available in the Court of Audits, the Court of Audits carried out the checking of that agency itself.
DR. SCHMIDT: May it please, Your Honors, in this connection with the clothing agency of the SS, I would like to introduce an affidavit, which is Document Joseph Vogt 1-1 in the document book on pages 36 to 37. I would like to introduce this affidavit by Fritz Lechler, and that is Exhibit Joseph Vogt 8, and I would like to read this affidavit, and I shell quote: After the usual initial sentence the affidavit reads:
"Since the establishment of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office on 1 February 1942 I was Chief of Office B II (Supply of Clothing for the troops). As such I was charged with the care for the clothing and the equipment of the Waffen SS. Until 1 April 1944 the requirements of the Waffen. SS were reported to the OKW by the Office B IV (Raw materials and supplies) and from then on, after this Office had been dissolved, by my office. The OKW distributed the raw material quotas allotted by the Reich Ministry for Economy (later the Armament Ministry to the Waffen SS.
After the allocation of the quotas by the Reich Ministry for Economy the procurement of clothing for the concentration camps was handled by Office B-IV until 1 April 1944, and from then on by Office B II through the firms named by the Armament Ministry.
The bills for shipments to the Waffen SS as well as those to the administrative offices of the concentration camps were sent to the clothing depot of the Waffen SS, and there they were paid from advance payments of the finance office of Office A II of the Economic and Administrative Main Office. At the end of the year the clothing depot accounted for the advance payments by issuing bills for all shipments made to the Waffen SS and the administration offices of the concentration camps.
As far as the budget year 1940 is concerned, I know that it was pro-examined during the year 1941 by a certified accountant with the name Schuler.
At that time Schuler came into the administrative office of the clothing depot of the Waffen SS in Dachau, of which I was chief at that time, and examined there the budget year 1940. At that time Schuler came from Berlin. I do not know whether he belonged to the auditing department of the Administrative Office of the Waffen SS or to the Main Office Budget and Building Office I. As far as I know, the clothing depot was not longer pre-examined in the later budget years. In my opinion the reason therefore was that the auditing office A IV of the Economic and Administrative Main Office was lacking trained personnel in commerce for such pre-examinations.
At the same time I was also Chief of Office W-VI, which at first was called Textil and Lederverwertung (Textile and leather Utilization) and later Deutsche Textil and Bekleidungswerke. Office A IV had nothing to do with the pre-examinations of the budget of this office, the examinations were made by the Staff W."
Court No. II, Case No. 4.
Q Witness, you heard that according to this statement made by Fritz Lechler, a last preliminary examination of the clothing factory for the budget year of 1940 was carried out in 1941 by a man named Schuler. Do you know if Schuler of the Auditing Department of the Waffen SS in Berlin, the chief of which you were, was a member of that organization?
A Schuler for a period of time was a member of the checking office of the Administrative Office of the Waffen SS. However, he was later on transferred to the checking office of Amt. AI-1 and used there. When Schuler at the time, that is, in 1941, carried out the preliminary checking of the clothing factory, he was already a member of Office A-I-l with the Main Office Budget and Construction.
Q May I understand from your answer that your Office A-IV never carried out the preliminary checking of the clothing works of the Waffen-SS?
A Office A-IV, as I stated before, by arrangement with the Court of Audits, no longer carried out a check of that factory there, because it would not have been possible to do so, namely to examine a commercial enterprise with non-expert personnel.
Q Can you give us more examples where a preliminary checking of the accounts was not carried out by your office?
AAll those particular accounts which necessitated expert auditing were concerned. Also the expenses for medical purposes were to be considered, bills for the medicines, bills to buy medical equipment, dentists bills, and so forth, and so forth. The factual checking of those accounts, according to paragraph 82 of the Reich Code for Accounting, had to be carried out by the Medical Office because the expert personnel necessary for such a job were there. A preliminary checking of the Supply Office had been renounced because the Court of Audits wanted to carry out the checking itself, because there was not the expert personnel in my office.
DR. SCHMIDT: Your Honor, may I read to you the Legal Regula Court No. II, Case No. 4.tion which the defendant just referred to.
It is contained in paragraph 82 of the Reich Accounting Regulation, Document 5, Exhibit 5, on page 18 or 19. I shall quote there, paragraph 82:
"Extent of expert examination and ascertainment of facts:
"Paragraph 1. If the examination and ascertainment of vouchers and receipts requires special knowledge, as, for instance, in the field of architecture, medicine, or chemistry, an examination carried out by an expert will have to be made in addition to the general one."
Q Witness, can you tell the Tribunal how the preliminary checking of the construction expenses were shown?
AAmtsgruppe C was the competent office for construction matters. The checking of those construction expenses were under the supervision of C-VI under Standartenfuehrer Eirenschmalz. Eirenschmalz in his affidavit made statements to that effect -- namely that the Department auditing was responsible in his office for the preliminary checking of all construction bills or construction accounts of the construction agencies under Amtsgruppe C. The final examination of these expenses was under the supervision of the Court of Audits.
Q Excuse me, Witness, I would like to point out that the affidavit of the Defendant Eirenschmalz which the witness was referring to is contained in Document Book No. 1, and that is Document NO2613, Prosecution Exhibit No. 12, this Eirenschmalz affidavit. Would you continue, Witness?
A Office C-VI was in charge of the preliminary checking of those construction bills and accounts for which certain funds had been approved by the Reich Finance Minister and the accounting office extended it over a longer period of time. Office A-IV had nothing to do with these construction matters. Only the expenses for the current construction work, minor repair work, after having been approved by a special agency were carried out by the particular agency in charge, and they were booked. It was then submitted to Office A-IV, for a Court No. II, Case No. 4.preliminary checking.
Q Did this preliminary checking activity extend also over accounts of concentration camp treasuries?
Court No. II, Case No. 4.
A Yes. We established the WVHA on 1 February 1942. The preliminary checking of the treasuries of the concentration camps was also established, and that by transferring it to Office A-4. Prior to that this preliminary checking was in the hands of the preliminary checking office with the Main Office Budget and Construction as Office 1-1. At that time, however, due to the --
THE PRESIDENT: Office 1-1, that does not tell us anything.
THE WITNESS: Roman numeral I dash I.
THE PRESIDENT: What division, which office?
THE WITNESS: Office One Budget.
THE PRESIDENT: What Amts are you talking about, what division?
THE WITNESS: I am talking about the Main Amt Construction and Budget.
DR. SCHMIDT: Your Honor, in order to explain my point. In Document Book No. 2 of the Prosecution there is document NO-620. According to what I have here it is Prosecution Exhibit No. 33. This document is an organizational chart of the Main Office Budget and Construction, and under "Amt-1-Budget" it says, and that is Main Department 1-1, it says, "Pay Budget and Official Treasuries Construction Administration," and furthermore, it says, "Preliminary Checking of matters concerning accounts SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Writzel."
BY DR. SCHMIDT:
Q Witness, is that the Amt which you just meant when you answered that question?
A Yes.
Q All right. Will you continue then, witness?
A At that time, however, due to the general situation of the war, the preliminary checking ability of Office A-4 had already been restricted, and only spot checks were carried out. This applies for the accounts which were submitted to Office A-4, and also to the accounts which were carried out at the agency itself. So far as I Court No. II, Case No. 4.know my auditors at the time only carried out local checks and the rarer cases.
Then also, generally speaking, only in connection with the preliminary checking of the garrison treasuries.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Robbins, let me ask you a question about this Document NO-620. Is this a chart of the organization of the Main Office before February 1, 1942?
MR. ROBBINS: Yes, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, that is where the confusion came in.
BY DR. SCHMIDT:
Q Witness, you just told us that the preliminary checking of the accounts was only carried out locally within the framework of these particular agencies only with respect to the garrison treasuries. Will you explain this, witness, to this Tribunal a little more in detail?
A In reference to the circulation of cash and in order to save personal dealings with treasuries, from the end of 1942 on certain garrisons with several SS-agencies in the centralization of the treasury system was carried out. The various SS-agencies had to transfer their treasury deals to the garrison treasury; they themselves only kept the so-called pay offices; their pay office only took charge, or took care of small camp payments, while all the other treasuries' procedure, particularly I am referring now to those where no cash was involved, were dealt with by the garrison treasury. The result of this was that the voucher accounts and the bills of the concentration camps of the treasury, which had been attached to the garrison treasury of accounts, were sent to the garrison treasury, and they were prepared there for a preliminary checking together with the bills and accounts of the garrison treasury. It was thus that the accounts of the concentration camp treasuries, generally speaking, no longer were noticeable for much when the preliminary checking was carried out. The Court of Auditors of the German Reich, before the establishment of the WVHA, carried out the auditing of the concentration camp bills and accounts Court No. II, Case No. 4.itself.
That procedure was also followed after the transfer of the preliminary checking to Office A-4, and that was in the WVHA, and it kept all of that. I refer here to statements made by Councillor Haleck. The plan carried out the checking and accounts of the agencies of the Waffen-SS.
DR. SCHMIDT: Your Honor, may I point out that that statement of Amtsrat Haleck is contained in my Document Book as Document No. 9. That is on page -- it is an affidavit which I would like to introduce as Exhibit No. 9. It is on page 29 of the English. In this connection I would like to read only that particular paragraph which deals with the local audits of the Court of Audits. This was what the defendant is referring to. It says therein, Roman numeral II of this affidavit by Amtsrat Haleck: "Local Audits by the Financial Controlling Court." That is the Court of Audits. That is on page 31: "The Financial Controlling Court made in addition to the audits at the Berlin offices of the Waffen-SS also local audits at outlying field offices, as for instance at the clothing depot of the Waffen-SS and at the administrative offices of stations where large units were quartered. In connection with the local audit of the administrative offices of these stations there was in two or three cases an audit made of the accounts of the administrative offices for concentration camps of the Waffen-SS. The Financial Controlling Court limited these audits to tests at random of the revenue and expenditures of the Reich."
BY DR. SCHMIDT:
Q Witness, did you participate in this spot checking of the revenue and expenses of the Reich in Office A-4 personally?
A No, I personally never did deal with the preliminary checks. The books and vouchers were examined by my auditors; those were administrative officers. Those auditors worked in various regions, and they had their assigned duties, and that is by assigning one auditor for the Berlin Region, one each in the Southern areas, the Northern and Western areas, and our Eastern army district at home.
Court No. II, Case No. 4.
THE PRESIDENT: We will take a recess.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is in recess for fifteen minutes.
(Recess)
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
BY DR. SCHMIDT:
Q. Witness, before the recess you stated that you personally did not participate in these spot checks of the garrison treasuries or concentration camps treasuries. However, you were in charge of Amt-A-IV? In this capacity didn't you have a responsibility for this auditing?
A. Yes. If my auditors found any case for complaints, they would write then down in the auditing report. And then these remarks which had been drafted by my auditors were looked over by me, and then I would sign them. If any special cases had to be dealt with, then the files were submitted to me, and the case was presented to me, then I myself would examine this case.
JUDGE MASMANNO: Dr. Schmidt, I am wondering if you are not now going to go into a lot of details which perhaps does not give us any more information than what we already have in the way of ascertaining the methods by which his work was done. I think we have a fairly comprehensive view now of the machinery of his office.
DR. SCHMIDT: Yes, Your Honor. I now want to ask the witness a question which is not directly connected with the machinery and the organization of the auditing system. It deals with the general matters and conclusions; in particular, so far as auditing of concentration camp bills is concerned. I believe that this point is very important in order to judge the case of the defendant Vogt. May I directly ask my next question of the witness. I now want to ask the witness whether he could see from spot checks of garrison treasury bills, of concentration camp treasury bills, just how conditions were in the concentration camps with regard to food, billeting, clothing, and the physical condition of the inmates.
JUDGE MUSMANNO: Yes, that would be directly in point, yes.
BY DR. SCHMIDT:
Q. Witness, will you please answer this question which I have just asked?
A. No, that was not possible at all. It would not have been possible either if precise preliminary checking had been made on these bills and not only on the spot checking. In order to gain an insight into the inner conditions of the concentration camps a longer stay would have been necessary in the particular camp. I have already stated that concentration camp accounts, and the accounts of the local treasures, were only checked in large intervals. This preliminary checking consisted of auditing work, which did not require individual auditing officials to be present in certain garrisons of the concentration camps for a longer period of time.
Q. Was it the task of the auditor, or was it a task of your office in the case of such preliminary auditing of concentration camps vouchers, to examine also whether the inmates of the concentration camp were supplied with sufficient food, clothing, and whether they had good billets?
A. This was not the business preliminary auditing of the Treasury and the bills but they were the tasks of the official supervisors. The local supervision was carried out by the Director of administration of Concentration Camps. This person was responsible for the procurement of food and clothing. He was also responsible for the billeting of the inmates. The official supervision on a ministerial level was the task of the Inspectorate of the Concentration Camps, that was Amtsgruppe-D. For the supervision of food, we also had a food inspector, that was Professor Dr. Schenck. I would like to describe briefly the organization of concentration camp administration.
Wherever a concentration camp was located there was some sort of an administration. It was directed by an administrative officer who was a Sturmbannfuehrer or a Senior Hauptsturmfuehrer. He was responsible for the treasury, for the procurement and maintenance of clothing and for the procurement and the preparation of food. He had to supervise the kitchen. He had to administer the stock in the camps. He had to procure and he had to request billets. He, furthermore, had to supervise the inmates' treasury which was subordinated to the Camp Commander. The next higher agency was the Office D-IV. It was called the administrative supervisory agency.
Q And if I have understood you correctly the AMT A-IV had nothing to do with it?
AAmt A -IV had nothing to do with the administration in the camp and the administrative supervision. We only dealt with the subsequent auditing of the expenditures which had accumulated there.
Q Witness, you know that in the affidavit of the defendant Frank this is affidavit NO-1576, Prosecution Exhibit 4 in Document Book I of the Prosecution, it is stated that the bills which resulted from the food which was procured in the concentration camps were submitted to Amtsgruppe D, Burger, by the administrative officials in the concentration camp. There they were compiled and then they were sent to you in order to be examined and it is alleged that it was your task to examine the expenditures and to see if they agreed with the funds that had been allotted for that purpose. In the cross-examination of the defendant Frank I have already asked that question and the defendant Frank has given us his view-point in the witness stand. However, I consider it appropriate if you also would give us your viewpoint - your own viewpoint in this matter. What can you tell us with respect to the auditing of food bills from the concentration camps from your own personal knowledge?
A It's impossible that on the part of the administration of concentration camps, the bills for food were sent separately to the Administrative Office of Amtsgruppe D. I believe that Burger still was thinking of the previous procedure.
Q Excuse me for interrupting you. Are you referring to Burger or are you referring to Frank in his affidavit?
A I am referring to Frank. Probably Frank was still thinking of the previous procedure which consisted of the following: the administrations of the concentration camps sent their bills on a monthly basis to the administration office of the Inspectorate. There these bills were examined and they remained there until the preliminary checking was carried out.
THE PRESIDENT: What do you mean by "former procedure?" You mean before the WVHA?
A Yes, that was before the establishment of the WVHA and this new procedure was maintained until the fall of 1942 when the local garrison treasuries were established. Amongst these bills also were the bills for the food expenditures.
Q And what can you say with respect to the procedure which was adopted later on?
A I have already mentioned it at the establishment of garrison treasuries, this treasury made all cash payments and there the bills were kept.
DR. SCHMIDT: Your Honor, in this connection I would like to read the affidavit which I have already mentioned in the cross-examination of the defendant Frank. It is the affidavit of the former Chief of the Amt DIV. His name is Burger. This is Document Vogt No. 20. It is contained in my subsequent volume to the Document Book used by Vogt. It's on page 8. I want to submit it as Vogt's Exhibit 10. I now want to read part of it and I begin after the usual introduction to the affidavit. There it states and I quote: - that's Document No. 20. I quote:
"To the statements of the defendant Frank as laid down in his affidavit of 17/;/1947, which has been submitted to me, document of the Prosecution No. 1576, Exhibit No. 4, contained in Document Book I, which deals with the treatment and the examination of accounts for feeding concentration camp inmates (Document Book I, page 18), I state the following:
It is incorrect to say that the administrative of the divers concentration camps sent their bills for food, procured for the concentration camp inmates, to the administration of Amtsgruppe D (Burger ), to be classified and to be finally forwarded to Vogt for auditing. During my work with the Amtsgruppe D, I have never received such bills, nor forwarded them to Vogt. As far as I know, these bills, as well as other expenses of the concentration camp administration were paid either by the concentration camp administration itself or, if the concentration camp pay office in question was attached to the garrison pay office, the bills were forwarded to them, for payment. They were treated in the same way as the other cash vouchers of the administrations in question, and remained there, together with the other vouchers. I can not say what methods my predecessor Kaindl used."
DR. SCHMIDT: Witness, I now come to the point which deals with the allocation of inmate labor. This subject has already been discussed in the cross examination of the defendant Frank, in connection with your auditing activities. I now want to ask you the following question: Did your office A-IV have anything to do with the allocation of inmate labor of concentration camp inmates?
A No, the Amt A-IV did not participate at all in the labor allocation of inmates.
THE PRESIDENT: Just a minute. That's enough. That answers the question.
Q Did your office have anything to do with the income which resulted from the labor allocation of inmates?
A The income from the labor allocation of inmates were solicited by the administration from books, and, of course, they were registered accordingly. Such bills were subjected to preliminary auditing. Then this income was also accepted. An examination of the bills themselves was not possible because the Office A-IV did not have any knowledge about the salaries which were paid.
THE PRESIDENT: You are referring, Dr. Schmidt, to the bills which were rendered to industries for labor furnished from the camps?
DR. SCHMIDT: Yes, Your Honor, that's correct.
THE PRESIDENT: That is payrolls, wage earnings from the industries?
DR. SCHMIDT: Yes, Your Honor, I now want to ask you, witness, was this income from the labor allocation of inmates - was this not also contained in the monthly reports of the agencies which dealt with these bills and did they not come in this way to the knowledge of the Office A-IV?
A Yes. This income was listed in the final report. However, these matters were not specified. Therefore, it could be not be seen whether among amounts of five million, three million had been received for the allocation of prisoners and two million for other matters. These monthlypayrolls only passed through my office in order to be audited. And then they were included in the annual account and turned over to the Amtgruppe A-II.
Q I now come to a document. This is your affidavit which has been presented by the Prosecution as Exhibit No. 8. The document is contained in Document Book 1 and it is document NO-1567. In this affidavit you have stated that you examined the income and the expenditures of Amtsgruppe A, B and D, in the WVHA, with the exception of C and W. Is this statement in your affidavit correct?
A The Amt A-IV had to deal with the preliminary auditing of the bills of the treasury of the WVHA: it had to deal with them in exactly the same way that it dealt with the examination of other agencies. It was not so that the Amtsgruppen first had to turn over their scheduled or current expenses to the Amt A-IV for approval before the money was spent. The expenditures of Amtsgruppen A, B, C appeared in the total balance --of the treasury of the WVHA. These expenses were also audited in the preliminary auditing of the treasury. However, as far as expenses were concerned for other agencies, for example the Main Economic Agency, these expenses appeared and were listed with these agencies, and there they were included in the balance.
Q Excuse me, witness, I want to interrupt you: With what agencies were these other expenses registered? Can you please repeat that once more very clearly?
A In the Main Economic Agency, And if they had to give some expenses, then these expenses were also listed with the Main Economic Agency. The expenses of Amtsgruppen E, D, W, were not paid by the Treasury of the WVHA. The Amtsgruppe D originally had its own office treasury. However, this treasury was discontinued when the garrison treasuries were established.
The expenses of Amtsgruppe D were dealt with by the garrison administration at Oranienburg and there they were listed in the balance.
I want to give an example now: Let us assume that Amtsgruppe D needed communications equipment. The chief of the Amtsgruppe D orders their procurement. And the proper authorities procured this equipment. The bill then is certified to be essential by the chief of the Amtsgruppe; that is to say, that the procurement of this equipment is essential. It then went to the Administrative Office of Amtsgruppe D. There an order for payment was issued. Then it was again turned over to the garrison treasury. Then the bill was paid there and it was registered there too. Then it remained in the balance, was included there. With regard to Amtsgruppe C, we can only consider those expenses which were not construction expenses, because the expenses which arose from the constructions, were already listed by the construction agencies themselves. The control of the income and the expenditure of Amtsgruppe W was the task of the Special Economic Auditing Agency with this Amtsgruppe itself. The office, A-IV, had nothing to do with that.
Q Witness, I want to refer once more to your affidavit in Document Book 1: In this affidavit you have stated that to the bills of Amtsgruppe D which were submitted to the auditor also attached to the order for payment was attached, and from that it could be seen just how high the credit was which was put at the disposal of Amtsgruppe D. Is this statement in your affidavit correct?
A This apparently is a mistake. It should not be D, but should be B. The interrogator asked me the following question: "What task did the auditing office have if the Chief of the Amtsgruppe B was given a credit of 20 million marks? Did you have to supervise that and to examine it?" By way of explanation I would like to say the following: If the Chief of Amtsgruppe B was given such a sum at his disposal, for example, for clothing, then the treasury of the WVHA was order to give the clothing plant a credit of 20,000,000. The clothing plant in the course of the year used the credit which had been approved and it would withdraw the required funds.
At the end of the year the credit was accounted for with Amt A-II. This office also had to exercise the control that the fund which had been allotted was not surpassed. Amt A-IV had nothing to do with this matter.
Q Witness, up to now you have spoken of the preliminary auditing work of Amt A-IV. Within this preliminary auditing work did you also have to carry out the auditing of treasuries?
A No. I have already mentioned that during my activity with the administrative office of the Waffen SS besides the preliminary auditing I also had to carry out the extraordinary treasury auditing with the garrison treasuries. With the establishment of the office, A-IV, in the WVHA the supervision of the treasuries was transferred to the agencies on medium level and as a ministerial agent I had to deal only with the preliminary auditing. It is possible that my officials whenever they carried out preliminary auditing, whenever it was necessary in the interests of the examination, also connected an examination of the treasury with it. However, this didn't change anything in the supervisory tasks of the agency itself.
Q In concluding the whole question of the preliminary auditing activity of the Amt A-IV, I would like to submit several documents. I would like to quote from Documents which have already been presented. I want to quote some important phrases from them. First of all, I want to quote from the affidavit of Haleck, which has already been presented; that is Document 9 -- Exhibit 9, and it is located on page 29 of the German text in the document book.
I would like to read paragraph I, and I quote: "Tasks and development of the office AIV". I would like to add that Arthur Haleck was Amtsrat with the Auditing Court of the German Reich, and he makes the following statement:
"The task of the office A IV was to make a preliminary audit of the accounts which had to be submitted by the different finance departments of the Waffen-SS offices. This did not apply to construction expenditures which had to be audited preliminarily by office C VI (Standartenfuehrer Eirenschmalz). according to the definition given in article 2 subparagraph 3 of regulation for preliminary audits for the constituent states, preliminary audit only means an audit of the material which is to be submitted to the Auditing Court after the payments have been made. The Auditing Office A IV was not entitled to exercise any control prior to the payments or to cooperate in the creation of the regulations and budgetary decrees of the WVHA? The sub sequent preliminary audit which according to article 13 of the regulation for preliminary audits for the constituent states had to be made with regard to form, arithmetic and to the facts represented the first of the two steps of the general audit. The second step was the final auditing of the accounts by the Auditing Court, which may also be called 'Superrevision' or superauditing.
"During the war it became impossible to maintain the normal extent of the preliminary auditing; that is to say, the preliminary auditing of all accounts of every Waffen-SS unit, because of the acute lack of qualified administrative officers. For this reason the preliminary auditing was with the approval of the Auditing Court (in accordance with article 92, subparagraph 3 of the Reich Budgetary Law) limited to tests on the spot. Because of the long duration of the war and the continues considerable increase of Waffen-SS units this lack of administrative personnel became increasingly serious. Due to this circumstance the Auditing Court waived in numerous cases the preliminary auditing the office A IV in its entirety. I was informed at that time of this waiver through the competent sub department chief of the Auditing Court, Ministerial Councillor Knebel. To which individual branch offices it applied I am unable to say at this time - with exception of the supply affairs of the Waffen-SS.