Nuremberg Page #2

the Nazi conspirators

lost no time in tearing

Germany away from

a policy of peace.

Late in 1933, they

led their nation

out of the Disarmament

Conference,

quit the League of

Nations and embarked

on a course of

secret rearmament.

By 1934, the new armaments

program, designed by defendants

Goering, Schacht and Funk,

was going full blast.

German industry was again

turning out the tools of war.

The plants hummed and one year

later Goering could announce:

[NARRATOR] From

the strong foundation

of the National Socialist

Ideology today rises once again

the German Armed Forces.

[NARRATOR] A few days

later, General von Blomberg

announced the new law for

compulsory military service.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The law was signed by

defendants Goering, Hess, Frank,

Frick, Schacht and Von Neurath.

The training began.

(MARCHING BAND MUSIC)

Finally, in the spring

of 1936, the Nazis

sent their new troops

marching into the Rhineland.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] Mein Fuhrer,

on March 7th, 1936,

soldiers of the army,

which was created

by order of the Fuhrer,

crossed the sacred river

of German history and occupied

their former garrisons.

They pledged the Fuhrer,

whatever decisions he may make,

unbreakable faith and

obedience and they vow

to follow him and to

prove their sincerity,

by their never ending

love for Germany.

[NARRATOR] The

columns grew longer.

The sound of boots grew louder

on the streets of Nuremberg.

But Hitler said:

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] The German

people is not a people,

which welcomes a war today,

tomorrow or the

day after tomorrow.

That is not in the

character of the Germans.

He is by nature not only

peaceful and peace loving,

but above all conciliatory.

He wants to work.

In our country are

millions of peasants,

they want to till their fields.

They want to bring

in their harvests.

There are millions of workers,

they want to perform their work.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] But the

Nazi conspirators,

in the name of Lebensraum,

continued to plot

new aggressions against peace.

In November 1937, Hitler

called a special meeting

with defendants Goering,

Von Neurath and Raeder

and Generals von

Blomberg and von Frick.

The meeting was secret but

Lieutenant Colonel Hossbach,

Hitler's personal adjutant,

faithfully recorded

Hitler's words:

[NARRATOR] The German

question can be solved

only by way of force.

For the improvement of our

military-political position,

it must be our first aim, in

every case of entanglement

by war, to conquer

Czechoslovakia

and Austria simultaneously.

The annexation of the

two states to Germany,

militarily and politically,

would constitute

a considerable relief.

[NARRATOR] This meeting set

the stage for Nazi expansion

and Act One came only three

months later at Berchtesgaden

where a defendant von Papen

finally engineered a meeting

between Schuschnigg,

the Austrian Chancellor,

and Hitler and defendants

Keitel and von Ribbentrop.

Guido Schmidt, who was

Austrian Foreign Minister

at the time, also

attended the meeting.

And now he takes

the witness stand.

Did Hitler demand

that Seyss-Inquart

be made Minister of Security?

[NARRATOR] That was one of

the demands on that program.

[NARRATOR] Where

there also demands

made with regard to currency

exchange and customs?

[NARRATOR] There were demands

of an economic

nature of every kind.

[NARRATOR] Hitler

told you that you

had until February 15th to

accept his terms, didn't he?

And he told you that if you

didn't do so he would use force.

[NARRATOR] The ultimatum

as Hitler stated it

was that he intended, as

early as February, to march

into Austria and that,

for the last time,

he was prepared to postpone it.

[NARRATOR] Faced

by these threats,

the Austrians carried

out all Hitler's demands.

But the Nazi conspirators

weren't satisfied.

A month later when Schuschnigg

announced a plebiscite

on Austrian Independence,

Hitler and defendant Goering

demanded the

plebiscite be canceled.

Another ultimatum demanded

Schuschnigg resign

within three hours.

Fearing invasion,

Schuschnigg resigned

and finally defendant

Seyss-Inquart was appointed

the new Chancellor of Austria.

That same day Goering in Berlin

called Keppler of the

German Embassy in Vienna.

The conversation

was transcribed.

Kepler spoke first:

[NARRATOR] Well, we

represent the government now.

Yes, that's it,

you're the government.

Listen carefully, the

following telegram

should be sent here

from Seyss-Inquart.

Take the notes.

The provisional

Austrian Government

sends to the German

Government the urgent request

for support in its task

to help prevent bloodshed.

For this purpose, it asks

the German Government

to send German troops

as soon as possible.

[NARRATOR] Well, SA and SS

are marching

through the streets.

Everything has collapsed

with the professional groups.

[NARRATOR] Seyss-Inquart

is the only one

who still has power in Austria.

Yes, there are troops who

have crossed the border today.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

[NARRATOR] The act was written

joining Austria to Germany

and signed by defendant

Seyss-Inquart, Goering,

Frick, von Ribbentrop and Hess.

Hitler, of course, had said:

[NARRATOR] Germany neither

intends no wishes to interfere

in the internal affairs of

Austria, to annex Austria

or to conclude an Anschluss.

21st of May 1935, Adolf Hitler.

[NARRATOR] The

curtain fell on Act One,

but already the Nazi conspirators

prepared for Act Two

with this 1938 memorandum from

Hitler to his High Command.

[NARRATOR] It is my

unalterable decision to smash

Czechoslovakia by military

action in the near future.

It is the job of the

political leaders

to bring about the politically

and militarily suitable moment.

[NARRATOR] Konrad Henlein was

designated political leader.

The plan was labeled

Operation Green

and defendant Jodl issued

another memorandum reading:

[NARRATOR] Operation Green

will be set in motion by means

of an incident in Czechoslovakia

which will give Germany

provocation for

military intervention.

The fixing of the exact

time for this incident

is of the utmost importance.

[NARRATOR] A few months

later, Germany signed

the Munich Pact with

England, France and Italy.

This pact involved the transfer

of the Sudetenland to Germany.

The conspirators called it

their last territorial demand.

But before the ink was dry,

they were making other

plans for Hitler's goal

was the complete absorption

of Czechoslovakia.

And now the Czech

president Hacha

was called to a

meeting with Hitler

and defendants Goering

von Ribbentrop and Keitel.

They gave him the ultimatum.

Bohemia and Moravia

would be incorporated

into Germany immediately

or Czechoslovakia

would be invaded and Prague

destroyed from the air.

Hacha was helpless.

Defendants von Ribbentrop

and Frick signed the decree

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