29 Nov. 45
"I asked Göring what aims
especially he had in mind. He replied:
"'We are determined to join to the German Reich all Germans
who are contiguous to the Reich and are divided from the great body
of the German race merely by the artificial barriers imposed by the
Treaty of Versailles.'
"I asked Göring if he meant that Germany was absolutely
determined to annex Austria to the Reich. He replied that this was an
absolute determination of the German Government. The German
Government, at the present time, was not pressing this matter because
of certain momentary political considerations, especially in their
relations with Italy. But Germany would tolerate no solution of the
Austrian question other than the consolidation of Austria in the
German Reich.
"He then added a statement which went further than any I
have heard on this subject. He said:
"'There are schemes being pushed now for a union of Austria,
Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, either with or without a Hapsburg at the
head of the union. Such a solution is absolutely unacceptable to us,
and for us the conclusion of such an agreement would be an immediate
casus belli.' Göring used the Latin expression casus
belli; it is not a translation from the German, in which that
conversation was carried on.
"I asked Göring if the German Government was as decided
in its views with regard to the Germans in Bohemia, as it was with
regard to Austria. He replied that there could be only one final
solution of this question. The Sudeten Germans must enter the German
Reich as all other Germans who lived contiguous to the
Reich."
These, if the Tribunal please, are official reports made by the
accredited representative of the United States in the regular course
of business. They carry with them the guarantee of truthfulness of a
report made by a responsible official to his own government,
recording contemporaneous conversations and events.
My next subject is pressure and threats resulting in further
concessions by Austria: a meeting at Berchtesgaden, 12 February 1938.
As I have stated before, the Austrian Government was laboring
under great difficulties imposed by its neighbor. There was economic
pressure, including the curtailment of the important tourist trade,
and there was what the Defendant Von Papen called "slowly
intensified psychological pressure." There were increasing
demon-