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NB : Note non signée ni datée, attribuée à la Maison en raison de la formule « Worms & C° would like to add a few personal remarks » ; le classement de cette note après le 21 janvier 1945 se justifie par le fait que l'événement le plus récent mentionné dans le texte est la mise en liberté provisoire de Hypolite Worms.

Confidential

In view of the numerous misleading statements published or rumours spread around regarding the firm of Worms & C° or their Senior partner M. Hypolite Worms, and the firm's activities during the German occupation of France, they deem it necessary to enlighten their allied friends on the true position, and wish to give the following facts.
Worms & C° have four distinct departments:
A - coal
B - shipping
C - shipbuilding
D - private banking
in addition to which
E - they hold majority or minority interests in a certain number of French industrial or commercial concerns.
The following details will describe the activities of those various departments during the occupation.

A - Coal -
Worms & C° were amongst the largest importers and distributors of foreign coal, mostly British, in France. They also owned coal depots in the Mediterranean and have been established at Port-Said and Suez ever since the opening of the Suez Canal.
In June 1940 and during the four years of occupation, their coal activities, through lack of imports, came to a standstill. In order to keep employment for their large staff and to prevent their deportation to Germany, Worms & C° endeavoured to enter into some side activities, more or less connected with the fuel trade, such as production of charcoal, peat, wood and timber.
The products of all these side ventures were delivered to the French Authorities for distribution to the civilian population of France. No work whatsoever was done for or goods supplied to the enemy, and Worms & C° were thus able, at great cost and loss to themselves, to keep their staff employed, none of them being deported to Germany.
In Egypt the whole of Worms & C°'s plant, material and staff, which at the time of the armistice had been put under the control of London, worked night and day, and to the best of their ability, for the allied forces, and Worms & C° venture to think that they have brought a very useful contribution to the allied war effort.

B - Shipping -
Worms & C° in addition to their own fleet of 24 ships own the control of the Nouvelle compagnie havraise de navigation, and a 30% interest in the Société française de transports pétroliers (a tanker Cy).
The whole French Mercantile fleet was put under requisition by the French Government on the 1st of September 1939, Worms & C°, although keeping the technical management, lost control of their ships ever since the beginning of the war.
With the exception of 4 or 5 ships belonging to those three fleets and which being under repair, and thus unable to be cleared out in time, were seized by the Germans on their arrival at the French ports, all boats belonging directly or indirectly to Worms & C° have been running for the allies during those four years. The ships which were in the Mediterranean, carrying food for the French population up to November 1942 came under Allied control when the allied forces landed in North Africa.

C - Shipbuilding -
Worms & C° own the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Seine maritime at Le Trait, when the Armistice was signed in 1940, those yards had on their slips, building for the French Admiralty exclusively, four submarines, and three tankers in addition to which they had, on order, four more submarines making eight submarines in all.
What became of all those units ?
The French Admiralty, first of all cancelled the four submarines ordered, but not yet started. They moreover directed the Company to dismantle, out of the four submarines being built, the two units which were in the least advanced stage of construction. But in the meantime the Germans having occupied the yards and seized the ships in course of erection, as war prizes, ordered work to be pursued, for their account, which order , Worms & C° declined to obey.
The French Government were then forced to come to an arrangement with the German Government whereby they abandoned the two submarines and one tanker to the Germans retaining the other two tankers for themselves. They accordingly gave Worms & C° instructions to go on with the work.
Faced with the threat of seeing their shipbuilding yards taken over completely by the Germans, who could with the existing plant and labour (eight berths - 1,200 workmen and a large engineering staff) make considerable use of them, Worms & C° decided to submit to the instructions of their Government with a view to sabotaging the work, and this they did with the following results:
The first submarine "La-Favorite" which in June 1940 was almost completed and which normally should have been delivered in November 1940 was, in fact, only finished and delivered on the 24th November 1942, that is two years later. Moreover she did not carry her torpedo tubes, and was thus of no use for war purposes.
The second submarine "L'Africaine" which was to be launched at the end of 1940 and delivered in June 1941 was also delayed purposely, and to such an extent, that she was never delivered, not even launched and was still on her berth in September 1944 when the allied troops entered Le Trait. The Germans tried to blow her up before leaving but they were not completely successful and this submarine is now being repaired and will be delivered in a few months to the French Admiralty.
The tanker "La-Charente" was to have been delivered in the course of 1941. She was in fact only completed and delivered on the 19th September 1943, this also two years later.
In addition the German Authorities forced Worms & C° in 1940 to take an order for four 700 ton barges and three 1.200 ton coasting vessels. Only one lighter was delivered in Mars 1944 having taken 3 ½ years to be built. The three other lighters and the three coasters, which were never delivered, are now on the slips, at the disposal of the French Government. Moreover, not a single German ship was repaired at Le Trait, Worms & C° having declined to accept any repairing work.
Thus in four years, with eight berths, Worms & C° managed to limit their total production to one submarine, one tanker, both of which were in 1940 within a few months of being completed, and one barge of 700 tons. According to the evidence of high officials of the French Admiralty, the production of these yards might have been 3 submarines and one tanker a year, making 13 submarines and 4 tankers over the four years of occupation.
Needless to say that with their production thus wilfully limited, the financial working of the yards has shown a considerable loss to Worms & C°.
These Admiralty Officials definitely stated that amongst the whole French Shipbuilding Industries, the "Le Trait" yards of Worms & C° were those having the most efficiently sabotaged the German war efforts
This somewhat remarkable result was achieved notwithstanding the permanent presence at Le Trait of a whole staff of German engineers and supervisors, accompanied by soldiers and sailors, plus a local Gestapo, notwithstanding the presence at the Head Office of Worms
& C° of a German Controller, vested with full powers, who had been imposed upon them ever since October 1940 by the German Government, notwithstanding the treats of reprisals which they had to face for four years, and the arrest of several members of their staff who spent a long time in prison under accusation of sabotage.

D - Banking -
Worms & C° are private bankers. All through the four years of occupation their business transactions with the Germans were restricted solely to ordinary current banking business, such as payment of cheques, documentary credits on goods imported or exported, all such transactions being under the control of the Bank of France or of the foreign exchange control committee of the Ministry of Finance. Most of the business done was with the Commerzbank and in this connection it is to be noted that the first "Commissaire" appointed by the German Government to take charge and control of Worms & C° was the Manager of a branch office of the Commerzbank and it is at his demand that such transactions were carried on.
Nevertheless and while Worms & C° are classed amongst the most important private banking houses in France, the percentage of their turnover with Germany as compared with their total turnover was infinitesimal, and amounted to less than 1% of the total of financial transactions between Germany and the French banking system.
Notwithstanding pressure brought on them, time after time, and from various official and commercial quarters during the four years of occupation, Worms & C° always declined, and pride themselves, never to have sold directly or indirectly any of their assets, or any participation however small, even one single share, they owned, to any German company or private individual.
Moreover they have never entered into negotiations over, or carried on, any business in participation, or otherwise with any German administration, industrial or commercial concern, or individual. This applies not only to their banking department, but also to the three other branches: coal, shipping and shipbuilding, or any subsidiary controlled by them.

E -
In addition to these four departments, Worms & C°, as coal factors, as ship owners or as private bankers, hold interests, major sometimes, but more often minor interests in certain industrial or commercial concerns.
While they can only accept responsibility when they own control they are prepared to state that, in no case any of those concerns did manufacture for, or supply to the Germans, war material of any kind whatsoever. They all carried on their pre-war and peace time trade, or production, and any proportion of such peacetime production taken by Germany, from some of those concerns, were either requisitioned by the German Authorities or supplied through French Government channels. Indeed a great many of those concerns never had any contact or dealings with any German.
In such cases where any British interest were concerned in partnership with Worms & C° the latter managed to camouflage those British interests and the Germans were never able to get hold of or seize them.
We venture to think that few French Business Firms of some importance can show such a clean balance sheet.

Their activities during the German occupation being thus described Worms & C° would like to add a few personal remarks.
I - At the beginning of the war their Senior partner, M. Hypolite Worms, was sent by the French Government to London as first delegate to the Anglo-French shipping Executive Committee where he remained right down to the Armistice. Notwithstanding his family connections in England (his wife is British by birth, his only daughter, married in England, lives there with her three children) notwithstanding his Firm's important interests in Great Britain, or in territories controlled by Great Britain, notwithstanding his racial origin (although by birth a catholic, he is racially 50% jewish) Mr Hypolite Worms felt it was his duty to return to his country to defend the very large interests and assets owned by his Firm, or entrusted to them, all over France, and to protect the thousands of clerks and workmen employed by them against the German invaders.
But before leaving London Mr Hypolite Worms negotiated on his own accord with the British Government and transferred to them the I ½ to 2 million tons of neutral tonnage allotted to France by the Anglo-French shipping Executive Committee, together with all the cargoes already loaded in some of those ships. The agreement was signed by him on the 7th of July 1940, that is a fortnight after the Armistice, and he then returned to France to get such agreement confirmed by the French Government, which was done after great difficulties and personal risks to himself, as from the date of the Armistice and according to its terms the French Government were not allowed to enter into any negotiations with Great Britain or any country at war with Germany.
II - News of this agreement leaked out, and from then on to the evacuation of France
Mr Hypolite Worms and his firm have constantly been threatened by the Germans and by all their French satellites. Articles appeared in the newspapers controlled by the Germans, as early as October 1940, demanding the arrest of Mr Hypolite Worms and the liquidation of his firm, on account of their pro-British activities and of their racial origin.
Ill - Indeed, at the same time, in October 1940, the German Government nominated one of their officers, a banker in civil life, as "commissaire" to control the activities of Worms & C° with full powers, with a view to determining the extent of the firm's connections with Great Britain and their true racial status. This control lasted four years.
In addition to a permanent controller, chartered accountants were appointed by the Germans to investigate into all the details of their business. Their investigations listed several months.
IV - In addition to their pro-British sentiments and to their doubtful racial origin, Worms & C° were accused by the Germans and pro-German elements in France, of political activities with the Vichy Government during the period of time extending between the Armistice and November 1942.
It is true that one man, directly connected with Worms & C° and another one who between 1938 and 1940 had been chairman and managing Director of an industrial concern 50% of which is owned by them, have, during some of that period, occupied an official post in the French Government. They had withdrawn from all business activity and deemed it their duty to offer their services to the State.
It is up to them to justify their action and to justify whether they did right or wrong, but the firm of Worms & C° with whom they have been, or are, disconnected cannot be blamed or held responsible. Surely any business man - and it has happened from time to time in many countries - has a right to retire from his professional job to accept an official or even a ministerial post. It is not conceivable that the firm he previously belonged to, or was connected with, be held responsible should he be criticised, or blamed in the fulfilment of these official duties.
V - Is it not very strange that while during the four years of occupation Worms & C° have been accused by the Germans, and their satellites in France, of pro-British activities and of being completely linked up with Great Britain, sentimentally and economically, they are now accused, in the same way, and with similar methods of propaganda, of having worked for, or with, the Germans, which as shown above, and as all fair minded people in France know, is completely false?
Is it not a cause of wonder that while they have repeatedly been accused by the Germans, and their satellites of having used, or tried to use, political influence with the Vichy Government between 1940 and November 1942 which the Germans did not consider sufficiently friendly to them, the same criticisms, the same accusations, with the same methods of propaganda, have been brought up against them since the liberation of France?
Is it not reasonable to think that it all boils down to a sordid matter of competing business interests?
VI - This said, Mr Hypolite Worms was arrested on the 7th September 1944, taken to jail and, three weeks later, but three weeks later only, accused of "atteinte à la sûreté extérieure de l'État". After 4 ½ months in jail, he was released in January 1945. Under the present political conditions in France, this release may be considered a complete withdrawal of all charges against him.