3
Dec. 45
I will
read this telegram:
"Prague,
16 March 1938.
"Foreign
(Office), Berlin; (cipher cable
secret); No. 57 of 16 March.
"With
reference to cable order No. 30 of 14
March.
"Rebuff to Frank
has had a salutary effect. Have thrashed
out matters with Henlein, who recently
had shunned me, and with Frank
separately and received following
promises:
"1. The line of
German foreign policy as transmitted by
the German Legation is exclusively
decisive for policy and tactics of the
Sudeten German Party. My directives are
to be complied with implicitly.
"2.
Public speeches and the press will be
co-ordinated uniformly with my approval.
The editorial staff of Zeit"
Time "is to be
improved.
"3. Party
leadership abandons the former
intransigent line, which in the end
might lead to political complications,
and adopts a line of gradual promotion
of Sudeten German interests. The
objectives are to be set in every case
with my participation and to be promoted
by parallel diplomatic action. Laws for
the protection of nationalities
(Volksschutzgesetze) and territorial
autonomy are no longer to be stressed.
"4. If consultations with
Berlin agencies are required or desired
before Henlein issues important
statements on his program, they are to
be applied for and prepared through the
Legation.
"5. All information of
the Sudeten German Party for German
agencies is to be transmitted through
the Legation.
"6. Henlein
will establish contact with me every
week, and will come to Prague at any
time if requested.
"I now
hope to have the Sudeten German Party
under firm control, as this is more than
ever necessary for coming developments
in the interest of foreign policy.
Please inform Ministries concerned and
Mittelstelle (Central Office for Racial
Germans) and request them to support
this uniform direction of the Sudeten
German Party."
The
initials are illegible.
The dressing
down administered by Eisenlohr to Henlein had
the desired effect. The day after the telegram
was dispatched from Prague, Henlein addressed a
humble letter to Ribbentrop, asking an early
personal conversation.
I offer in
evidence Document Number 2789-PS as Exhibit
USA-94. This is the letter from Konrad Henlein
to Defendant Ribbentrop, captured in the German
Foreign Office files, dated 17 March 1938.