the meeting In substance it says that the moment had
arrived to settle the dispute with Poland by military invasion, that
although a conflict between Germany and the West was unavoidable in
the long run , the likelihood of Great Britain and France coming to
Poland's assistance was not great, and even if a war in the West
should come about, the first aim should be the crushing of the Polish
military strength. It also contains a statment by Hitler that an
appropriate propaganda reason for invading Poland would be given, the
truth or falsehood of which was unimportant since "the Right
lies in Victory."
The second unsigned document put in evidence by thc Prosecutor is
headed: "Second Speech by the Führer on 22 August
1939", and is in the form of notes of the main points made by
Hitler. Some of these are as follows:
Everybody shall have to make a point
of it that we were determined from the beginning to fight the Western
Powers. Struggle for life or death . . . destruction of Poland in the
foreground. The aim is elimination of living forces, not the arrival
at a certain line. Even if war should break our in the West, the
destruction of Poland shall be the primary objective. I shall give a
propagandist cause for starting the war- never mind whether it be
plausible or not. The victor shall not be asked later on whether we
told the truth or not. In starting and making a war, not the Right is
what matters but Victory . . . . The start will be ordered probably
by Saturday morning." (That is to say 26 August.)
In spite of it being described as a second speech,
there are sufficient points of similarity with the two previously
mentioned documents to make it appear very probable that this is an
account of the same speech, not as detailed as the other two, but in
substance the same.
These three documents establish that the final decision as to the
date of Poland's destruction which had been agreed upon and planned
earlier in the year, was reached by Hitler shortly before 22 August
1939.They also show that although he hoped to ne able to avoid having
to fight Great Britain and France as well, he fully realized there
was a risk of this happening, but it was a risk which he was
determined to take.
The event of the last days of August confirm this determination.
On 22 August 1939 the same day as the speech just referred to, the
British Prime Minister wrote a letter to Hitler in which he said:
"Having thus made our position perfectly clear, I wish to repeat
to you my conviction that war between our two peoples would be the
greatest calamity that could occur. On 22 August Hitler replied: