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stroke of lightning from a clear sky.” This is a prosecution
document from the year 1938, the 16th of March. I believe there is no need to
say anything more on this subject.
Q. How did you hear of the Munich
Agreement about the Sudetenland?
A. Again, like every citizen, on the
radio. We were very much worried that things would go wrong. We were happy that
everything was in order, thanks to the attitude of Chamberlain, above all.
Q. What did you learn
about the invasion of Prague?
A. I heard about it over the radio, and was very much surprised.
Q. How and when did you
hear of the beginning of the war with Poland on 1 September 1939?
A. I was convalescing at
the sanitorium of Rupana in Austria at that time. Dr. Krueger, my
representative, came to see me a few days before. He was desperate about my
optimism. He could not convince me that this situation was serious. He went
back to Berlin and (as has already been testified here) I went hunting in the
wilds of Wachau. The same thing was true when the occupation of France took
place.
Q. How did you
hear of the entry into Denmark and the occupation of Norway? That was in April,
1940.
A. I was still
convalescing in Austria. I heard that up in the mountains. These events were
all a surprise to me.
Q.
What do you know about the Goering speech in the Herrenhaus in 1936?
A. At that time I was on
my way back from South America. I was in midocean. I came back on 22 December.
I did not read the speech itself. This statement which was given here
“There was just no shooting,” or something like that, I never heard
that,* I do remember that someone — who and where this was, I don't
remember — told me something else about it that has not been reported here
about the determination of the Third Reich for autarchy; and Goering is
supposed to have said something like the following — I quote from memory,
of course. “We will bore to the navel of the earth, and woe to the
industrialist who does not collaborate! Into the abyss with him!” That is
what I remember of the speech.
Q. Dr. Ilgner, the prosecution says in the
Preliminary Memorandum Brief on page 89 as follows: and I quote: “Any
intelligent man in Germany must have realized from the very moment |
__________
* See Document
NI-051, Prosecution Exhibit 421, “Extracts
from a Report of Goering’s Speech before Leading Industrialists. 17
December 1936,” reproduced in subsection F 2. “The Four Year
Plan.”
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