International Military Tribunal - The Nuremberg Trials - Complete Tribunal Proceedings (V. 6)

The next stage in the Austrian aggression is that at the time of the occupation of Austria, this defendant gave the assurance to M. Mastny, the Ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Berlin, regarding the continued independence of Czechoslovakia. That is one document at Page 123, TC-27, which I have already put in as Exhibit GB-21. It was to Lord Halifax, who was then Foreign Secretary; and if I may read the second paragraph just to remind the Tribunal of the circumstances in which it was written, M. Masaryk says:

“I have in consequence been instructed by my Government to bring to the official knowledge of His Majesty’s Government the following facts: Yesterday evening (the 11th of March) Field Marshal Göring made two separate statements to M. Mastny, the Czechoslovak Minister in Berlin, assuring him that the developments in Austria will in no way have any detrimental influence on the relations between the German Reich and Czechoslovakia, and emphasizing the continued earnest endeavor on the part of Germany to improve those mutual relations.”

And then there are the particulars of the way it was put to Defendant Göring, which have been brought to the Tribunal’s attention several times, and I shall not do it again. The 6th paragraph begins: “M. Mastny was in a position to give him definite and binding assurances on this subject”—that is, to give the Defendant Göring on the Czech mobilization—and then it goes on:

“. . . and today spoke with Baron Von Neurath, who, among other things, assured him on behalf of Herr Hitler that Germany still considers herself bound by the German-Czechoslovak Arbitration Convention concluded at Locarno in October 1925.”

In view of the fact that the Defendant Von Neurath had been present at the meeting on the 5th of November, 4 months previously, when he had heard Hitler’s views on Czechoslovakia—and that it was only 6 months before that really negotiated treaty was disregarded at once—that paragraph, in my submission, is an excellent example on the technique of which this defendant was the first professor.

I now come to the aggression against Czechoslovakia. On 28 May 1938 Hitler held a conference of important leaders including Beck, Von Brauchitsch, Raeder, Keitel, Göring, and Ribbentrop at which Hitler affirmed that preparations should be made for military action against Czechoslovakia by October; and it is believed, though not—I say frankly—confirmed, that the Defendant Von Neurath attended. The reference of that meeting is in the transcript of Pages 742 and 743 (Volume III, Page 42).

THE PRESIDENT: Sir David, is there any evidence?

SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: No. Your Lordship will remember the documents, a long series of them, and it does not state who was present; therefore, I express that and put it with reserve.

On the 4th of September 1938 the government of which Von Neurath was a member enacted a new Secret Reich Defense Law which defined various official responsibilities in clear anticipation of war. This law provided, as did the previous Secret Reich Defense Law, for a Reich Defense Council as a supreme policy board for war preparations. The Tribunal will remember that I have already referred them to Document 2194-PS, Exhibit USA-36, showing these facts. Then there came the Munich Agreement of 29 September 1938, but in spite of that, on the 14th of March 1939 German troops marched into Czechoslovakia; and the proclamation to the German people and the order to the Wehrmacht is Document TC-50, Exhibit GB-7, which the Tribunal will find at Page 124, which has already been referred to and I shall not read it again.

On the 16th of March 1939 the German Government, of which Von Neurath was still a member, promulgated the “Decree of the Führer and Reich Chancellor on the Establishment of the Protectorate ‘Bohemia and Moravia.’ ” That date is the 16th of March. That is at Page 126 of the document book, TC-51, Exhibit GB-8.

If I may leave that for the moment, I will come back to it in dealing with the setting up of the Protectorate. I will come back in a moment and read Article 5. But taking the events in the order of time, the following week the Defendant Von Ribbentrop signed a treaty with Slovakia, which is at Page 129 (Document 1439-PS, Exhibit GB-135); and the Tribunal may remember Article 2 of that treaty, which is:

“For the purpose of making effective the protection undertaken by the German Reich, the German Armed Forces shall have the right at all times to construct military installations and to keep them garrisoned in the strength they deem necessary in an area delimited on its western side by the frontiers of the State of Slovakia, and on its eastern side by a line formed by the eastern rims of the Lower Carpathians, the White Carpathians, and the Javornik Mountains.

“The Government of Slovakia will take the necessary steps to assure that the land required for these installations shall be conveyed to the German Armed Forces. Furthermore, the Government of Slovakia will agree to grant exemption from custom duties for imports from the Reich for the maintenance of the German troops and the supply of military installations.”

The Tribunal will appreciate that the ultimate objective of Hitler’s policy disclosed at the meeting at which this defendant was present on the 5th of November 1937, that is the resumption of the “Drang nach Osten” and the acquisition of Lebensraum in the East, was obvious from the terms of this treaty as it has been explicit in Hitler’s statement.

Then we come to the pith of this criminality. By accepting and occupying the position of Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, the Defendant Von Neurath personally adhered to the aggression against Czechoslovakia and the world. He further actively participated in the conspiracy of world aggression and he assumed a position of leadership in the execution of policies involving violating the laws of war and the commission of crimes against humanity.

The Tribunal will appreciate that I am not going to trespass on the ground covered by my colleagues and go into the crimes. I want to show quite clearly to the Tribunal the basis for these crimes which was laid by the legal position which this defendant assumed.

The first point. The Defendant Von Neurath assumed the position of Protector under a sweeping grant of powers. The act creating the Protectorate provided—if the Tribunal would be good enough to turn back on Page 126 in the document book (TC-51, Exhibit GB-8) and look at Article V of the Act, it reads as follows:

“1. As trustee of Reich interests, the Führer and Chancellor of the Reich nominates a ‘Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia’ with Prague as his seat of office.

“2. The Reich Protector, as representative of the Führer and Chancellor of the Reich and as Commissioner of the Reich Government, is charged with the duty of seeing to the observance of the political principles laid down by the Führer and Chancellor of the Reich.

“3. The members of the Government of the Protectorate shall be confirmed by the Reich Protector. The confirmation may be withdrawn.

“4. The Reich Protector is entitled to inform himself of all measures taken by the Government of the Protectorate and to give advice. He can object to measures calculated to harm the Reich and, in case of danger in delay, issue ordinances required for the common interest.

“5. The promulgation of laws, ordinances, and other legal provisions and the execution of administrative measures and legal judgments shall be deferred if the Reich Protector enters an objection.”

At the very outset of the Protectorate the Defendant Von Neurath’s supreme authority was implemented by a series of basic decrees of which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice. They established the alleged legal foundation for the policy and program which resulted, all aimed towards the systematic destruction of the national integrity of the Czechs: