4
Dec. 45
Conciliation
signed between Germany and the Netherlands on
the 20th of May 1926. It was a breach of a
similar treaty with Luxembourg of 11 September
1929. It was a breach of the Kellogg-Briand
Pact. But those treaties, perhaps, had not
derived in the minds of the Nazi rulers of
Germany any added sanctity from the fact that
they had been solemnly concluded by the
governments of pre-Nazi Germany. Let us then
consider the specific assurances and
undertakings which the Nazi rulers themselves
gave to these states which lay in the way of
their plans against France and England and which
they had always intended to attack. Not once,
not twice, but 11 times the clearest possible
assurances were given to Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg. On those
assurances, solemnly given and formally
expressed, these countries were entitled to rely
and did rely. In respect of the breach of those
assurances these defendants are charged. On the
30th of January 1937, for instance, Hitler had
said:
"As
for the rest, I have more than once
expressed the desire and the hope of
entering into similar good and cordial
relations with our neighbors. Germany
has, and here I repeat this solemnly,
given the assurance time and time again
that, for instance, between her and
France there cannot be any humanly
conceivable points of controversy. The
German Government has further given the
assurance to Belgium and Holland that it
is prepared to recognize and to
guarantee the inviolability and
neutrality of these territories."
After
Hitler had remilitarized the Rhineland and had
repudiated the Locarno Pact, England and France
sought to re-establish the position of security
for Belgium which Hitler's action had
threatened. And they, therefore, gave to Belgium
on the 24th of April 1937 a specific guarantee
that they would maintain, in respect of Belgium,
the undertakings of assistance which they had
entered into with her both under the Locarno
Pact and under the Covenant of the League. On
the 13th of October 1937 the German Government
also made a declaration assuring Belgium of its
intention to recognize the integrity of that
country.
It is, perhaps, convenient to
deal with the remaining assurances as we review
the evidence which is available as to the
preparations and intentions of the German
Government prior to their actual invasion of
Belgium on the 10th of May 1940.
As in
the case of Poland, as in the case of Norway and
Denmark, so also here the dates speak for
themselves.
As early as August of 1938
steps were being taken to utilize the Low
Countries as bases for decisive action in the
West in the event of France and England opposing
Germany in the aggressive plan which was on foot
at that time against Czechoslovakia.