29 Nov. 45
The conference held November 5, 1937, planning for aggressive war
in Europe, outlined as objectives in Austria the conquest of food
through expulsion of a million people and the effective increase in
fighting strength, in part through the improvement in the frontier.
I cite again Document 386-PS, Exhibit USA-25. Austria was to
yield to Germany material resources, and moreover, she provided ready
cash taken from the Jews and from the Austrian Government.
One of the first orders passed after the Anschluss was an order
signed by Hitler, Frick, Schwerin von Krosigk and Schacht for the
transfer to the Reich of the assets of the Austrian National Bank. I
refer to the order for the transfer of the Austrian National Bank to
the Reichsbank, March 17, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt 1938, Volume
1, Page 254, Number 27, translated in our 2313-PS.
Austria also yielded human resources. Three months after the
Anschluss there was enacted a decree requiring the 21-year-old men,
Austrian men, to report for active military service. I refer to the
decree regarding registration for active military service in Austria
during 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt 1938, Volume 1, Page 634,
translated in our 1660-PS.
And the acquisition of Austria improved the military strategic
position of the German Army. I invite the Court's attention to a
document which I introduced in the case on preparation for
aggression, L-172, Exhibit USA-34, which was a lecture delivered by
General Jodl, Chief of the German Staff of the Armed Forces, on 7
November 1943, at Munich, to the Gauleiter. Only one page of that
lecture appears in this particular document book, and I quote from
one paragraph on Page 5 of the English text, which is Page 7 of
Jodl's lecture, which reviewed the situation in 1938:
"The Austrian Anschluss, in its
turn, brought with it not only the fulfillment of an old national aim
but also had the effect both of reinforcing our fighting strength and
of materially improving our strategic position. Whereas, until then
the territory of Czechoslovakia had projected in a most menacing way
right into Germany--a wasp waist in the direction of France and an
air base for the Allies, in particular Russia-- Czechoslovakia
herself was now enclosed by pincers. Her own strategic position had
now become so unfavorable that she was bound to fall a victim to any
attack pressed home with vigor before effective aid from the west
could be expected to arrive."
The Nazi conspirators were now ready to carry out the second part
of this second phase of their aggression and to take over
Czechoslovakia.