MILCH: I joined the Party only after 1933. When I again became an officer my membership lapsed.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You waited until after they had seized the power?
MILCH: Yes.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Do you recall a conversation that you had with Hermann Göring on the 28th of January 1933?
MILCH: Yes.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And where did that take place?
MILCH: In my own residence.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Did he call upon you?
MILCH: I had guests in my house that evening, and he suddenly arrived because he wanted to talk to me very urgently.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And will you relate to the Tribunal the conversation that you had with Göring at that time?
MILCH: He told me that an agreement had now been reached with the other parties in question for the formation of a coalition government with the National Socialists. Reich President Von Hindenburg had agreed to the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor in this government.
He asked me whether I would be ready to offer my collaboration in an Air Ministry to be set up. I proposed two other persons instead of myself, explaining that I did not wish to leave the Lufthansa. Göring rejected them and insisted that I place myself at his disposal.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Did you agree to do so?
MILCH: I asked for his permission to think the matter over, and I made my consent dependent on whether Hitler would insist.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, what did Hitler do?
MILCH: I accepted on the 30th, after Hitler had told me once again that he considered my technical knowledge and ability in the field of aviation to be indispensable.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: So, on the day that the Nazi Party came to power, you took over the task of building a Nazi air force, did you not?
MILCH: No, not an air force. The immediate problem was the linking up of all the various branches of aviation which existed at that time. For instance, there was one civil aviation transport company, or there might have been two. There were the aviation industries, the training schools for civilian pilots, the meteorological service, and I believe there were several research institutes. That, I think, covers the entire field of aviation of that time—but it had nothing to do with an air force.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Perhaps, I will say, you took over the task of making Germany predominant in the air?
MILCH: No, I cannot agree with that.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Put it in your own way. Tell us what you did; what your object was in taking over this new task.
MILCH: My first task was to develop the various branches in order to build up a large air transport system.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You then made visits to France and England, and on your return reported to Hitler personally, did you not?
MILCH: Yes.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: When you returned from England, did you warn Hitler against the activities of Ribbentrop?
MILCH: Yes.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: What did you tell Hitler about the activities of Ribbentrop in England?
MILCH: That I had gained the impression in England that Von Ribbentrop was not persona grata.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, when you were interrogated before, didn’t you state after your capture that you told Hitler that if he did not get rid of Ribbentrop soon he was going to have trouble with England? Is that not what you told Hitler in substance?
MILCH: I cannot now remember the exact words.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: But is that not the sense of it?
MILCH: I was of the opinion that another man should be sent to England to bring about mutual understanding as to policy, in accordance with the wish so often expressed by Hitler.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Before you talked with Hitler about that, you had discussed it with Göring, had you not?
MILCH: With whom?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Göring.
MILCH: About the journey? Or about what?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: About Ribbentrop.
MILCH: No, I did not discuss him with the Reich Marshal.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: There came a time when some engineers were sent to Russia, were they not, to inspect the air construction there, factories, facilities, and that sort of thing?
MILCH: Yes, that is correct.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: This was a group of engineers, and you had something to do with sending them there, did you not?
MILCH: No, I had nothing to do with that group. At that time technical research was not under my control.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Under whose orders were they?
MILCH: Under General Udet, who, in turn, was under the Reich Marshal.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And when they came back, you learned that they had reported that Russia had greater capacity for building airplane engines than all six of the German factories, did you not?
MILCH: Yes, that is correct.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: What order did Göring give about that information being made available even to the Führer?
MILCH: Göring did not believe the information at that time. I know that from the words of General Udet.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Is it not a fact that you stated to the interrogators before that Göring called these experts defeatists, forbade them to repeat that information to anybody, and threatened them with the concentration camp if they repeated that information? Did you say that or didn’t you?
MILCH: I never said it in that form.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, use your own words and tell us just what Göring said on that subject.
MILCH: At a considerably later date, when the question of American armament figures came up, the Reich Marshal said to me, “Now, you too are going to turn defeatist and believe these large figures.” I told him then that I did indeed believe these figures; but that had nothing to do with the Russian matter.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Were those Russian figures ever reported to Hitler, to the Reichstag or in any way made public to the German people?
MILCH: The Russian figures? That I cannot say. I had nothing to do with the matter. The American figures were undoubtedly submitted to Hitler, but Hitler did not believe them.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You testified on Friday, I believe, that you knew that the commencement of the war with Russia would mean the annihilation of Germany. I remind you of that, and that is correct, is it not?
MILCH: Not the destruction—the defeat. I think I said annihilation or defeat.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You went to Reich Marshal Göring to protest against the entrance into the Russian war, is that right?
MILCH: Yes.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And did Göring agree with you that it would end in the defeat of Germany?
MILCH: No, he did not agree. He had to be extremely cautious in his statements in deference to his relations with Hitler. I told him the cause for Germany’s difficulties and he nodded. His words gave me the impression that he had already put the same arguments to Hitler, and that he had been unsuccessful.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: In other words, he agreed with you that it would end with the defeat of Germany,