"Therefore we National Socialists
have purposely drawn a line through the line of conduct followed by
pre-war Germany in foreign policy. We put an end to the perpetual
Germanic march towards the South and West of Europe, and turn our
eyes towards the lands of the East. We finally put a stop to the
colonial and trade policy of the pre-war times, and pass over to the
territorial policy of the future.
"But when we speak of new territory in
Europe today, we must think principally of Russia and the border
states subject to her."
Mein Kampf is not to be regarded as a mere
literary exercise, nor as an inflexible policy or plan incapable of
modification.
Its importance lies in the unmistakable attitude
of aggression revealed throughout its pages.
The Planning of Aggression
Evidence from captured documents has revealed
that Hitler held four secret meetings to which the Tribunal proposes
to make special reference because of the light they shed upon the
question of the common plan and aggressive war.
These meetings took place on 5 November 1937, 23 May 1939, 22
August 1939, and 23 November 1939.
At these meetings important declarations were made by Hitler as
to his purposes, which are quite unmistakable in their terms.
The documents which record what took place at these meetings have
been subject to some criticism at the hands of defending Counsel.
Their essential authenticity is not denied, but it is said, for
example, that they do not purpose to be verbatim transcripts of the
speeches they record, that the document dealing with the meeting on 5
November 1937, was dated five days after the meeting had taken place,
and that the two documents dealing with the meeting of 22 August 1939
differ from one another, and are unsigned.
Making the fullest allowance for criticism of this kind, the
Tribunal is of opinion that the documents are documents of the
highest value, and that their authenticity and substantial truth are
established.
They are obviously careful records of the events they describe,
and they,have been preserved as such in the archives of the German
Government, from whose custody they were captured. Such documents
could never be dismissed as inventions, nor even as inaccurate or
distorted; they plainly record events which actually took place.
Conferences of 23 November 1939 and 5
November 1937
It will perhaps be useful to deal first all with
the meeting of 23 November 1939, when Hitler called his Supreme
Commanders