5
Dec. 45
Defendant
Von Neurath giving the assurance on behalf of
Hitler that Germany still considers herself
bound by the German-Czechoslovak Arbitration
Convention on 12 March 1938, 6 months before Dr.
Beneš made a hopeless appeal to it, before
the crisis in the autumn of 1938. Of course the
difficult position of the Czechoslovak
Government is set out in the last paragraph, but
M. Masaryk says — and the Tribunal may
think with great force — in his last
sentence:
"They
cannot however fail to view with great
apprehension the sequel of events in
Austria between the date of the
bilateral agreement between Germany and
Austria, 11 July 1936, and yesterday, 11
March 1938."
I
refrain from comment, but I venture to say that
is one of the most pregnant sentences relating
to this period.
Now the next document
which is on the next page is the British
Document TC-28, which I hand in as Exhibit
GB-22. And that is an assurance of the 26th of
September 1938, which Hitler gave to
Czechoslovakia, and again — the Tribunal
will check my memory — I don't think that
Mr. Alderman read this but . . . .
THE
PRESIDENT: No, I don't think so.
SIR
DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Then I think if he did not,
the Tribunal ought to have it before them,
because it gives very important point as to the
alleged governing principle of getting Germans
back to the Reich, which the Nazi conspirators
purported to ask for a considerable time, while
it suited them. It says:
"I
have little to explain. I am grateful to
Mr. Chamberlain for all his efforts, and
I have assured him that the German
people want nothing but peace; but I
have also told him that I cannot go back
beyond the limits of our patience."
The
Tribunal will remember this is between the
Godesberg visit and the Munich Pact:
"I
assured him, moreover, and I repeat it
here, that when this problem is solved
there will be no more territorial
problems for Germany in Europe. And I
further assured him that from the moment
when Czechoslovakia solves its other
problems, that is to say, when the
Czechs have come to an agreement with
their other minorities peacefully, and
without oppression, I will no longer be
interested in the Czech State, and that,
as far as -I am concerned, I will
guarantee it. We don't want any Czechs.
But I must also declare before the
German people that in the Sudeten-German
problem my patience is now at an end. I
made an offer to Herr Beneš which
was no more than the realization of what
he had already promised. He has now
peace or war in his hands. Either he
will accept this