3
Dec. 45
"As
M., during the course of the drive,
observed that I photographed large open
spaces out of the car, he said. 'Aha, so
you're looking for airfields!' I
answered that we supposed that in the
case of any serious trouble, the Czechs
would put their airfields immediately
behind the line of fortifications. I had
the intention of looking over the
country from that point of view."
In
the latter part of the Air Attaché's
report, reference is made to the presence of
reliable agents and informers, which he called "V-Leute"
(V-people), apparently drawn from the ranks of
the Henlein party in this area. It was indicated
that these agents were in touch with the "Abwehr
Stelle" (the Intelligence Office) in
Breslau.
In September, when the Nazi
propaganda campaign was reaching its height, the
Nazis were not satisfied with playing merely on
the Sudeten demands for autonomy. They attempted
to use the Slovaks as well. On the 19th of
September the Foreign Office in Berlin sent a
telegram to the German Legation in Prague. I
offer the document in evidence, Number 2858-PS,
Exhibit USA-97, another captured German Foreign
Office document — a telegram:
"Please
inform Deputy Kundt that Konrad Henlein
requests to get in touch with the
Slovaks at once and induce them to start
their demands for autonomy tomorrow."
— signed — "Altenburg."
Kundt was Henlein's representative in Prague. As
the harassed Czech Government sought to stem the
disorders in the Sudetenland, the German Foreign
Office turned to threatening diplomatic tactics
in a deliberate effort to increase the tension
between the two countries. I offer in evidence
Documents 2855-PS, 2854-PS, 2853-PS, and
2856-PS, as United States Exhibits respectively
98, 99, 100, and 101. Four telegrams from the
Foreign Office in Berlin to the Legation in
Prague were dispatched between the 16th and 24th
of September 1938. They are self-explanatory.
The first is dated 16 September.
"Tonight
150 subjects of Czechoslovakia of Czech
blood were arrested in Germany. This
measure is an answer to the arrest of
Sudeten Germans since the Führer's
speech of 12 September. I request you to
ascertain as soon as possible the number
of Sudeten Germans arrested since 12
September as far as possible The number
of those arrested there is estimated
Conservatively at 400 by the Gestapo.
Cable report."
A handwritten note follows:
Impossible
for me to ascertain
these facts as already communicated to
the chargé d'affaires."