Text: English     International Military Tribunal "Blue Series," Vol. 4, p. 539
		8 Jan. 46 Afternoon Session MR. ALBRECHT: May it please the Tribunal, two important conferences which have already been adverted to by the Prosecution show clearly how the Defendant Göring inspired and directed the preparation of the German economy for aggressive war. On the 8th of July 1938 he addressed a number of the leading German aircraft manufacturers and laid the groundwork for a vast increase in aircraft production. He stated that war with Czechoslovakia was imminent and boasted that the German Air Force was already superior-in quality and quantity to the English. He said that: " ... if Germany wins the war. Then she will be the greatest power in the world, dominating the world market, and Germany will be a rich nation. For this goal, risks must be taken ... " That quotation, may it please the Court, is taken from Document R-140, Exhibit Number USA-160. A few weeks after the Munich Agreement, on the 14th of October 1938, at another conference held in Göring's office, he made the statement that Hitler had instructed him to organize a gigantic armament program which would make insignificant all previous achievements. He indicated that he had been ordered to build as rapidly as possible an air force five times as large, to increase the speed of army and navy rearmament, and to concentrate on offensive weapons, principally heavy artillery and -heavy tanks; and at that meeting he proposed a specific program designed to accomplish those ends. That is a short summary of facts which appear from Exhibit Number USA-123 already in evidence, our Document 1301-PS. In his dual role as Reich Air Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force it was Göring's function to develop the Luftwaffe to practical war strength. As early as the 10th of March .1935, in an interview with the correspondent of the London Daily Mail, the mask of hypocrisy was removed and Göring frankly announced to the world that he was in the 'process of building a true military air force. Two months later, in a speech to 1,000 Air Force officers, Göring spoke in a still bolder vein. I offer in evidence from Exhibit Number USA-437, our Document 3441-PS — which is Göring's Reden und Aufsätze — another excerpt that has not yet been read in evidence, from Page 242. Göring said: "I repeat: I intend to create a Luftwaffe which, if the hour should strike, shall burst upon the foe like a chorus of revenge. The enemy must have the feeling of being lost already before having fought." 539
		Text: English     International Military Tribunal "Blue Series," Vol. 4, p. 539     Last modified: January 2, 1999 Copyright © 1998 The Mazal Library and The Holocaust History Project. All rights reserved. Technical/administrative contact: webmaster@holocaust-history.org Find a typo? Let us know.