5
Dec. 45
In the
speech to his military commanders on 23 November
1939, Hitler described the process by which he
had rebuilt the military power of the Reich.
This is our Document 789-PS, Exhibit USA-23. I
quote one passage from the second paragraph:
"The
next step was Bohemia, Moravia, and
Poland. This step also was not possible
to accomplish in one campaign. First of
all, the Western fortifications had to
be finished. It was not possible to
reach the goal in one effort. It was
clear to me from the first moment, that
I could not be satisfied with the
Sudeten German territory. That was only
a partial solution. The decision to
march into Bohemia was made. Then
followed the erection of the
Protectorate and with that the basis for
the action against Poland was laid . .
. . "
Before
I leave the subject of the aggression against
Czechoslovakia, I should like to submit to the
Court a document which became available to us
too late to be included in our document book. It
reached me Saturday, late in the afternoon or
late at night. This is an official document,
again from the Czechoslovakian Government, a
supplement to the Czechoslovakian report, which
I had previously offered in evidence. I now
offer it, identified as Document 3061-PS, as
Exhibit USA-126.
The document was
furnished us, if the Court please, in the German
text with an English translation, which didn't
seem to us quite adequate and we have had it
re-translated into English and the translation
has just been passed up, I believe, to the
Tribunal. That mimeographed translation should
be appended to our Document Book 0.
I
shall not read the report; it is about 12 pages
long. The Court will take judicial notice of it,
under the provisions of the Charter. I merely
summarize. This document gives confirmation and
corroboration to the other evidence which I
presented to the Tribunal. In particular, it
offers support to the following allegations:
First, the close working relationship
between Henlein and the SDP, on the one hand,
and Hitler and Defendants Hess and Ribbentrop,
on the other;
Second, the use of the
German Legation in Prague to direct the German
Fifth Column activities;
Third, the
financing of the Henlein movement by agencies of
the German Government, including the German
diplomatic representatives at Prague;
Fourth,
the use of the Henlein movement to conduct
espionage on direct orders from the Reich.
In
addition, this document gives further details of
the circumstances of the visit of President
Hacha to Berlin on the