Seyss-Inquart has admitted his membership in the Nazi closely affiliated with them at a much earlier time.
For this No. 700.
THE PRESIDENT: Thirty-seven what?
LT. ATHERTON: No. 3271-PS, sir. It becomes USA Exhibit No. 700.
letter, In this letter to Himmler, dated 19 August, 1939:
"As far as my membership in the Party is concerned, I state that I was never asked to join the Party, but had asked Dr. Kier problem . . . I paid my membership fees and, as I believe, directly to the region (Gau) Vienna.
These contributions also took place after the period of suppression.
Later on I had direct contact with the Ortsgruppe in Dornbach.
My wife paid these fees, but the 'Blockwart' (I believe that is another word for 'Blockleiter') was I was in every respect treated as a party member.
Furthermore, Kammerhofer."
And then go on to the last sentence of the paragraph:
"In every way, therefore, I felt as a Party Member, and December, 1931."
find in the third paragraph on page 7 of the translation. Referring to a meeting which he had had with Hitler, Seyss-Inquart says:
"I left this discussion a very upright man with the unspeakably happy feeling of being permitted to be a tool of the Fuehrer."
THE PRESIDENT: You said the third paragraph on page 7?
LT. ATHERTON: Yes. I will read from about the fourth sentence
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
LT. ATHERTON: "I left this discussion a very upright man with supporter of the Nazis at all times after 1931.
But after the Nazi to safeguard what the Nazis called his good legal position.
By this The Tribunal will remember document 2219-PS, USA Exhibit No. 62, Seyss-Inquart makes this clear.
It was in this letter also that he said:
"Yet I know that I cling with unconquerable tenacity to the goal in which I believe; that is Greater Germany and the Fuehrer."
The evidence which Mr. Alderman introduced told in detail the assault on Austria.
I do not intend to attempt to review any part of this evidence.
I merely wish to refer the Tribunal to two played by this Defendant.
I refer to the Rainer report to on 11 March, 1938.
The Rainer report is document 812-PS, USA Exhibit No. 61, and the Tribunal will find he read the document in full at Exhibit No. 76, and was introduced first at page 566 of the signed with advice of his Counsel on 10 December, 1945.
This is document No. 3425-PS, and I offer it as USA Exhibit No. 701.
his part in bringing about the Anschluss. I want to read first It states--and I quote:
"In 1918 I became interested in the anschluss of Austria with Germany.
From that year on I worked, planned and collaborated, with Germany.
It was my desire to effect this union of the two countries in an evolutionary manner, and by legal means.
I supported .."
Skipping this sentence or two, "I supported also the National With particular determination in favor of the anschluss.
From 1934."
Then skipping down another couple of sentences:
"From July onwards I endeavored to help the National Socialists Austrian Government.
During this time, particularly after the on railroads, bridges, telephone communications, etc.
I knew that regime in the Reich.
I was sympathetic towards the efforts of the influence, because they were in favor of the anschluss."
demonstrations. He tells us how immediately after this appointment I don't want to quote at length from that description, because the Tribunal knows already what happened.
Reading a little from on page 3, he says:
"At 10 o'clock in the morning Glaise-Horstenau and I went to Dr. Schuschnigg.
We told him of all that we knew, particularly "The Chancellor said that he would give his decision by 1400 hours.
While I was with Glaise-Horstenau and Dr. Schuschnigg, I was repeatedly called to the telephone to speak to Goering."
THE PRESIDENT: Has this been read already?
LT. ATHERTON: No, sir, this document has not been in before.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
LT. ATHERTON: "He informed me that the agreement of 12.2 had been cancelled, and demanded Dr. Schuschnigg's resignation and my appointment as Chancellor." The Tribunal has heard the other side of the story, the actual telephone conversations. Then finally in comes the two paragraphs in which he tells how Keppler repeatedly urged him to send a telegram calling on Germany to send troops, and that request he refused, but finally, and I now read from the next to the last paragraph:
"As I am able to gather from the records available, I was again requested around 10 p.m. to give my sanction to another somewhat altered telegram, about which I informed President Milas and Dr. Schuschnigg.
Finally approved my list of proposed ministers."
half of the Provisional Austrian Government was to send German troops as soon as possible in order to assist in its task, and help it to put down disorders. The telegram told him of the appointment of Seyss-Inquart, which if the Tribunal will refer to document 2463 of the document book. It is interesting to know the text of this telegram is substantially identical with that dictated by Goering over the phone to Keppler on the evening of 11 March, which is in the latter part of page 575 of the record. admitted that he telephoned Hitler -
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Are you reading?
LT. ATHERTON: No, sir, I am summarizing.
MR. BIDDLE: Don't read it in evidence.
LT. ATHERTON: In that event I will read a little further. I read now the last paragraph on page three:
"During the morning 12 March I had a telephone conversation with Hitler in which I suggested that while German troops were entering Austria, Austrian troops as assembled should march on the Reich, and Hitler agreed to this suggestion." He then flew to Linz with Himmler, who had arrived in Vienna from Berlin. "I greeted Hitler on the balcony of the City Hall, and said that the Article 88 of the Treaty of St. Germain is now inoperative," and I close the quotes. I have referred to the slavish manner in which the evidence has shown, I would say, the manner in which Seyss-Inquart carried out orders conveyed to him by telephone from Goering on 11 March 1938 in his negotiations with Chancellor Schuschnigg and President Miklas on that day. This relationship had in fact existed for some time. Early in January 1938, Seyss-Inquart, although he then held an important position in the Austrian Government, considered himself as holding a mandate from the Nazi conspirators in Berlin in his negotiations with his own government. As evidence as to the way in which this happened, I offer Document No. 3473-PS as USA Exhibit No. 581. This is a letter -pardon me, that has already been in evidence, it has been offered. This is a letter from Keppler to Goering, dated 6 January 1938. In this letter he states, and I quote:
"Most honorable General:
Councillor of State, Dr. Seyss-Inquart, has sent a courier to me with mandate entrusted to him."
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Go ahead.
LT. ATHERTON: "Dr. Seyss-Inquart desires to have a discussion with me regarding this before he acts accordingly.
May I ask your advice, or whether I should put forth efforts to postpone such an action."
The letter is signed by Keppler. On top of the original is attached a brief note signed by G. Limberger, apparently it was the secretary of the defendant Goering, and dated Carinhall, January 6, 1938, reading as follows:
"Keppler should be told by telephone:
1) He should do everything to avoid the resignation of Councillor of State Dr. Seyss-Inquart and State Minister Glaise von Horstenau.
If some difficulties should arise, Mr. Seyss-Inquart should come to him first of all."
Keppler on 8 January 1938 wrote a letter to Seyss-Inquart. I now offer this letter with is Document No. 3397-PS, in evidence as USA Exhibit No. 702. The Tribunal will remember that Keppler was at that time Secretary of State in charge of Austrian affairs of the German Government:
"Very esteemed State Councillor:
Today I had a visit from Mr. Pl. who gave us a report of the I informed General Goering of the situation in writing, and G. has one else, from taking this step.
This is also in the same vein as G.'s conversation with Dr. J. before Christmas, at any rate, G. requests you I can also inform you that G. is, furthermore, making an effort to speak to Ll., in order that certain improper conditions be eliminated by him."
Then the letter is signed by Keppler. the extent to which this Defendant was a tool, the extent to which he was being used at that time by the conspirators in their planning for their assault on Austria. Once troops were in Austria and Seyss-Inquart had become Chancellor, he lost no time carrying out the plans of his Nazi masters. by the Defendant, Seyss-Inquart, entitled "The Austrian Question." It is USA Exhibit No. 704.
I offer it only because of the description which he gives of the manner in which he secured the passage of an Austrian Act in annexing Austria to Germany. He said that on March 13 German officials brought him a proposal for inviting Austria into Germany. They reported that -
THE PRESIDENT: Are you quoting?
LT. ATHERTON: I now quote from the middle of page 20 of the English text:
"I called up a Council of Ministers, after having been told by Wolff that the Bund President would make no difficulties against that realization; he was to return to his home in the meantime and should await me there. On my proposal, the assembled Council of Ministers assembled in the meantime adopted the proposal of the bill to which my law section had made some formal modifications. The votes on the 26th of April had been planned already in the first draft. According to the provisions of the Constitution of May 1, 1934, any fundamental modification of the Constitution could be decided by the Council of Ministers with the approbation of the Bund President. A vote or a confirmation by the nation was in no ways provided for. In the case where the Bund President would, for any reason, either have resigned his functions or be for some time impeded in fulfilling them, his prerogatives were to go over to the Bund Chancellor. I went to the Bund President with Dr. Wolff. The President told me that he did not know whether this development would be of welfare to the Austrian Nation, but that he did not wish to interfere and preferred to resign his functions, so that all rights would come into my hands, according to the Constitution."
Then skipping two or three sentences to the top of page 21:
"Thereafter I drove to Kinz, where I arrived around midnight and reported to the Fuehrer the accomplishment of the Anschluss Law." decree and declared it to be a province of the German Reich, in violation of Article 80 of the Treaty of Versailles. I ask the Court to take judicial notice of Document No. 2307-PS, which is the decree to this effect, published in 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 237. he played in undermining the Government to which he owed allegiance, his fel low conspirators were quick to recognize the importance of his contributions.
In a speech in Vienna on the 26th of March, 1938, the Defendant, Goering, said -- and I am reading now from Document 3270-PS, which is an extract from the Dokumente der Deutschen Politik, volume 6, page 183:
"A complete unanimity between the Fuehrer and the N.S. confidants inside of Austria existed. . . .If the N.S. rising succeeded so quickly and thoroughly and without bloodshed, it is first of all due to the intelligent and decisive firmness of the present Reichsstatthalter Seyss-Inquart and his confidants." more, because this was a time of great importance and it was Seyss-Inquart who held the key position in this first open attack on another country. Had it not been for his part -- as has been shown -- things might have gone very differently, and if there were no other place where he were connected with the conspirators for aggression, this would be sufficient to rank him with the foremost of the conspirators.
Now, passing on, Mr. Alderman has shown the way in which Seyss-Inquart cooperated with the conspirators in integrating Austria as fully as possible into the Reich, making its resources available to the Reich -- its resources of wealth, its resources of manpower. as Reichstatthalter, demonstrated his talent for persecution of Jews. In an address in Vienna on the 26th of March, 1938, which will be found at page 2326 of the record, and as Document No. 3460-PS, USA Exhibit No. 437, the Defendant, Goering, expressly commissioned this Defendant to institute anti-Semitic measures. wholesale larceny such measures involved. So successfully did Seyss-Inquart perform his task that at the meeting at the Air Ministry under the Chairmanship of the Defendant, Goering, on the 12th of November, 1938, Fischboeck, a member of Seyss-Inquart's official family, was able to relate the efficiency with which the Civil Administration of Austria dealt with the so-called "Jewish Question."
I quote from Document No. 1816-PS, USA Exhibit 261 -and I am reading from page 14 of the English translation. The Tribunal will note that this is the third full paragraph from the bottom of page 14.
"Your Excellency:
"In this matter we have already a very complete plan for Austria. There are 12,000 Jewish artisans and 5,000 Jewish retail shops in Vienna. Before the National Revolution, we had already a definite plan for tradesmen, regarding this total of 17,000 stores. Of the shops of the 12,000 artisans about 10,000 were to be closed definitely and 2,000 were to be kept open. 4,000 of the 5,000 retail stores should be closed and 1,000 should be kept open, that is, were to be Aryanized. According to this plan, between 3,000 and 3,500 of the total of 17,000 stores would be kept open, all others closed. This was decided following investigations in every single branch and according to local needs, in agreement with all competent authorities, and is ready for publication as soon as we receive the law which we requested in September; this law shall empower us to withdraw licenses from artisans quite independently from the Jewish Question."
Goering said, "I shall have this decree issued today." the middle of the next page, in which Fischboeck says:
"Out of 17,000 stores 12,000 or 14,000 would be shut down and the remainder aryanized or handed over to the bureau of trustees which is operated by the State."
And Goering replies, "I have to say that this prosal is grand. This way, the whole affair would be wound up in Vienna, one of the Jewish capitals, so to speak, by Christmas or by the end of the year".
The Defendant, Funk, then says, "We can do the same thing over here".
In other words, Seyss-Inquart's so-called solution was so highly regarded that it was considered a model for the rest of the Reich. the Nazi conspirators were able to use Seyss-Inquart's expert services for the subjugation of other peoples. As an illustration, I refer the Tribunal to Document D-571, USA Exhibit No. 112, which has already been read in evidence. The Tribunal will recall that from this document it appeared -
THE PRESIDENT: Where do the D's come---
LIEUTENANT ATHERTON: At the beginning of the document book.
THE PRESIDENT: The C's appear -
LIEUTENANT ATHERTON: After the C's, Sir. official of the British Government reported from Prague to Viscount Halifax that on the 11th of March, 1939, Seyss-Inquart, Buerckel and five German Generals attended a meeting of the Cabinet of the Slovak Government and told them that they should proclaim the independence of Slovakia, that Hitler had decided to settle the question of Czecho Slovakia definitely and that unless they did as they were told, Hitler would disinterest himself, in their fate. It just gives an indication of the manner in which this man contiued to be busy in the aggressive plans of these Nazi conzpirators. Poland, Seyss-Inquart became Chief of the Civil Administration of South Poland. A few weeks later -- on the 12th of October, 1939 -- Hitler promulgated a decree providing that territories occupied by German troops, except those incorporated within the German Reich, should be subject to the authority of the GovernorGeneral of the Occupied Polish Territories. He appointed the Defendant, Frank, as Governor-General and the Defendant, Seyss-Inquart, as Deputy Governor-General This decree will be found in 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 2077, and I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. Shortly thereafter, on October 26, 1939, Frank promulgated his first decree establishing the administration of the Occupied Polish Territories, of which he was Governor. his decree is published in the Dokumente der Deutschen Politik and appears in the document book as No. 3468-PS. I am informed that this book, volume 7, has also received the exhibit number, 705, and I offer it as such. Governor-General and the Senior SS and Police Leaders are directly subordinate to the Governor-General and his Deputy. The Deputy, of course, was the Defendant, Seyss-Inquart. which the Tribunal has heard and will hear. I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of this decree.
Inquart seems to have had the job of setting up a German Administration through this territory; that is, he worked under the Defendant, Frank, but did much of the work of interviewing the various local leaders telling them what they should do. As an illustration I offer in evidence a report of official tour which Seyss-Inquart and his consultants took, between the 17th and 22nd of February, 1939. This is our Document No. 2278-PS, and I offer it as Exhibit 706, USA. If the Tribunal please, I mis-stated that date or period. It was the 17th to the 22nd of November 1939 -- in other words, shortly after the administration was set up. On the first page of the English translation -- and I now quoted from the second full paragraph -- the following appears:
"At 3.0 p.m., Reich Minister Dr. Seyss-Inquart addressed the department heads of the District Chief and stated, among other things, that the chief guiding rule for carrying out the German administration in the General Government must be solely the interests of the German Reich. A stern and inflexible administration must make the area of use to German economy and so that excessive clemency may be guarded against, the results of the intrusion of the Polish race into German territory must be brought to mind". great length, but if the Tribunal will turn over to page 7, I would like to read some extracts of what occurred while the Defendant was in Lublin. From the report it appears that the Defendant, Seyss-Inquart, after meeting the various local German administrative officers, "then expounded the principles"-- and I am now quoting from the top of page 7 -- "the principles in accordance with which the administration in the 'Government' must be conducted".
Then, skipping a sentence:
"The resources and inhabitants of this country would have to be made of service to the Reich, and only within these limits could they prosper. Independent political thought should no longer be allowed to develop. The Vistula area might perhaps be still more important to German destiny than the Rhine. The Minister then gave as a guiding theme to the District Leaders: We will further everything which is of service to the Reich and will put an end to everything which may harm the Reich".who were fulfilling a task for the Reich should receive a material post in keeping with their responsibility and achievements.
is describing a sightseeing tour which was made to the village of Wlodawa, Cycow -- and I quote:
"Cycow is a German village. . . Reich Minister Dr. Seyss-Inquart made a speech, in which he pointed out that the fidelity of these Germans to their nationality now found its justification and reward through strength of Adolf Hitler".
And then the next sentence, apparently thrown in by the reporter:
"This district with its very marshy character could, according to District Governor Schmidt's deliberations, serve as a reservation for the Jews, a measure which might possibly lead to heavy mortality among the Jews."
THE PRESIDENT: We might break off here for ten minutes.
LT. ATHERTON: If the Tribunal please, at the time the Tribunal rose, I was in the process of considering the functions of the defendant Seyss-Inquart, his place as Deputy Governor General of Poland in 1939 and 1940. perpetrated by the administration which Seyss-Inquart thus helped to create. The Prosecutors for the Soviet Union will present to the Tribunal more evidence of such atrocities. For our present purposes, to show the importance of the work which this man did to further the Nazi plan for the Government General of Poland, it is enough to quote a few words from the diary of the defendant Frank. when he became Reichs Commissar of the Netherlands, Frank said--and I now quote from Document 3465-PS, pages 510 and 511 of Volume 2, the 1940 set of the diary, which is USA Exhibit 614:
"I am extremely glad, Mr. Reich Commissar and Reich Minister, to assure you that in this hour of your departure that the months of our collaboration with you belong to the most precious memories of my life and that your work in the General Government will be remembered forever in the building of the coming world empire of the German nation."
Skipping down a little, if the Tribunal please, Frank went on to say:
"In the construction of the General government, your name will forever take a place of honor as an originatore of this organization and this State System. I express our thanks, Mr. Reich Minister, for your collaboration and for your creative energy."
Then reading the last two or three sentences:
"During the hard times, the common work united us here in the East, but it is at the same time the beginning point for a gigantic power development of the German Reich. Its perfection will show the development of the greatest energy unit which there ever was in the history of the world. In this work, you were placed by the Fuehrer very effectively in the most important position." from the second page of the translation:
"I learned here a lot, many things which I did not understand before at all, and mainly on account of the initiative and firm leadership as I saw them in my friend Dr. Frank."
Then, skipping a sentence:
"I will now go to the West, and I want to be open to you. With my heart I am here, because I am inclined with my whole attitude to the East. In the East we have a National-Socialistic mission; over there in the West we have a function; that may be the difference." read show clearly enough the conscious participation of the defendant SeyssInquart in the Polish phase of the conspiracy.
defendant Frank, Seyss-Inquart was ready to undertake his last and most ambitious task, the enslavement of the Netherlands.
The ruthless manner in which he performed it marks his position in the Nazi common plan or conspiracy. Hitler of 18 May 1940, which is found in 1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 778. The translation will be found in the book as 1376-PS. By Section 1 of this decree it is provided that:
"The Reich Commissioner is protector of the interests of the Reich and will represent the supreme power of the government within the civil sphere. He will be directly subordinated to me and will receive directives and orders from me."
Section 3 provides:
"The Reich Commissioner may use German Police forces to carry out his orders. The German Police forces are at the disposal of the German military commander insofar as the military necessities require this and if the missions of the Reich Commissioner permit, it," may promulgate laws by decree, such orders to be published in the Verordnungsblatt for the Occupied Territory of the Netherlands, a publication which I shall hereafter refer to merely as the Verordnungsblatt. promulgated an order covering the exercise of governmental authority in the Netherlands. This appears as 3538-PS in the document book. I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of its contents.
THE PRESIDENT: 1335?
LT. ATHERTON: 3588-PS. That will have two decrees. I am now referring to the first one. to the extent required for the fulfillment of his duties, "all powers, privileges, and rights heretofore vested in the King and the government in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the Netherlands." That is a direct quotation. safety, and order to the Netherlands police force unless the Reich Commissioner calls on German SS or police forces for the enforcement of his orders.
It further provides that the investigation and combatting of all activities hostile to the Reich and Germanism shall be the concern of the German police force. organization and establishment of the Office of Reich Commissioner. This decree is found in the Berordnungsblatt for 1940, Number 1 at Page 11 and is the second decree under 3538-PS. This decree provided for general commissioners on the staff of the Reich Commissioner to head four enumerated sections, one of whom, the Superior SS and Police Chief, was to head the section for Public Safety. It was provided by Section 5 of this decree that this official should command the units of the military SS and German police forces transferred to the occupied Netherlands territories, supervise the Netherlands central and municipal police forces and issue to them necessary orders.
THE PRESIDENT: It. Atherton, don't you think, that we can assume that the defendant Seyss-Inquart, who had been appointed to administer the occupied territory of the Netherlands, had all these powers, and that you can turn your attention to what he did under those powers ?
LT. ATHERTON: Yes, sir, I'll do that, Sir, but I wanted to make plain to the Tribunal, because of the peculiar setup of this German police force, the fact that he was granted the power to give orders to them, and, not only that, but that he customarily did. If that point is made clear, as I believe it is, in these two decrees, I will pass on to the next matter.
THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal has no doubt that an officer under the Reich who had got the powers of the administrator of an occupied territory could make use of the police forces.
LT. ATHERTON: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: It is a matter that we should be prepared to assume until it is proved to the contrary.
LT. ATHERTON: I agree, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: We would wish you to turn your attentionto show what he did under those powers which constitute crimes.
LT. ATHERTON: Yes, sir. It is not our intention at this time to go into the crimes against persons and property which the defendant SeyssInquart is responsible for in any detail, because evidence of Nazi barbarity in this country is to be presented by cur associates in the French Republic.
It is only our purpose to show a few illustrations and to give some idea of the scope of this defendant's activities and his responsibilities as evidence of his part in the execution of the Nazi's common plan or conspiracy, which it is our part to prove. defendant was responsible for widespread spoliation of property. Merely as an illustration of the way in which he was implicated in the smallest parts of this, I offer in evidence document 176-PS, as USA Exhibit 707.
THE PRESIDENT: bill you give the number again?
LT. ATHERTON. That is 176-PS, and it becomes US Exhibit 707. Netherlands, a part of the Einsatzstab-Rosenberg, on which the Tribunal has already heard evidence. Quoting from the first page of this report, the first sentence:
"The Working Group Netherlands of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg began its work in agreement with the competent representative of the Reichskommissar during the first days of September 1940." ledges and similar institutions to a considerable extent. Reading from Page -- I believe it is Page 3 of this report, the very bottom:
"An extremely valuable library, containing inestimable works on Sanskrit, was confiscated when the Theosophischen Society in Amsterdam was dissolved, and packed into 96 cases. A number of smaller libraries belonging to the Spiritists, the Esperanto Movement, the Bellamy Movement, the International Biblical Research and various other minor international organizations were packed into seven cases; texts belonging to various minor Jewish organizations were packed into four cases, and a library of the Anthroposophic Society in Amsterdam into three.
"It is safe to say that the racks of books confiscated, packed and so far sent to Germany by the Working Group are of extraordinary scientific value and shall contribute an integral part of the library of the 'Hohe Schule'."