On 15 March German troops occupied Bohemia and
Moravia, and on 16 March the German decree was issued incorporating
Bohemia and Moravia into the Reich as a protectorate, and this decree
was signed by the Defendants Von Ribbentrop and Frick.
The Aggression against Poland
By March 1939 the plan to annex Austria and
Czechoslovakia, which had been discussed by Hitler at the meeting of
5 November 1937, had been accomplished!. The time had now come for
the German leaders to consider further acts of aggression, made more
possible of attainment because of that accomplishment.
On 23 May 1939 a meeting was held in Hitler's study in the new
Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Hitler announced his decision to attack
Poland and gave his reasons, and discussed the effect the decision
might have on other countries. In point of time, this was the second
of the important meetings to which reference has already been made,
and in order to appreciate the full significance of what was said and
done, it is necessary to state shortly some of the main events in the
history of German-Polish relations.
As long ago as the year 1925 an Arbitration Treaty between
Germany and Poland had been made at Locarno, providing for the
settlement of all disputes between the two countries. On 26 January
1934, a German-Polish declaration of non-aggression was made, signed
on behalf of the German Government by the Defendant Von Neurath. On
30 January 1934, and again on 30 January 1937 Hitler made speeches in
the Reichstag in which he expressed his view that Poland and Germany
could work together in harmony and peace. On 20 February 1938 Hitler
made a third speech in the Reichstag in the course of which he said
with regard to Poland
"And so the way to a friendly
understanding has been successfully paved, an understanding which,
beginning with Danzig, has today, in spite of the attempts of certain
mischief makers, succeeded in finally taking the poison out of the
relations between Germany and Poland and transforming them into a
sincere, friendly cooperation . . . . Relying on her friendships,
Germany will not leave a stone unturned to save that ideal which
provides the foundation for the task which is ahead of us —
peace."
On 26 September 1938, in the middle of the crisis
over the Sudetenland, Hitler made the speech in Berlin which has
already been quoted, and announced that he had informed the British
Prime Minister that when the Czechoslovakian problem was solved there
would be no more territorial problems for Germany in Europe.
Nevertheless, on 24 November of the same year, an OKW directive