MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And before you started for the Führer’s headquarters you communicated with Göring about it, did you not?
BODENSCHATZ: Before my departure, when I flew to Münster Camp—that was a few days before—I spoke to him and when I returned, before reporting to the Führer, I telephoned Hermann Göring in his headquarters and gave him the same message.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And did he instruct you to go to the Führer’s headquarters at that time and give the message to the Führer?
BODENSCHATZ: This trip from Münster Camp I made on my own initiative because it was important for Adolf Hitler to know of this information before Mussolini, who was expected to arrive at the Führer’s headquarters at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on 20 July. . . .
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: As I understand you, Göring wanted a peaceful outcome of the negotiations at Munich?
BODENSCHATZ: He said that to me several times.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And he was highly pleased with the outcome that was achieved there?
BODENSCHATZ: He was very pleased. I emphasized that before when I said that when he came from the conference room, he said spontaneously, “That means peace.”
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And when you say that Göring wanted peace with Poland, he also wanted that same kind of a peace, did he not?
BODENSCHATZ: Regarding peace with Poland, I did not speak to him.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Did he send someone or induce Hitler to take someone to Munich in order to countercheck Ribbentrop?
BODENSCHATZ: All I know personally on this subject is this: Here, in imprisonment, Captain Wiedemann told me that Hermann Göring had expressed the wish that Von Neurath should be taken, and Wiedemann told me that Hitler had granted that wish.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, you were interrogated by the United States about this subject before Wiedemann got here, were you not?
BODENSCHATZ: Before?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Before Wiedemann was brought here.
BODENSCHATZ: I was not interrogated on this subject—the Munich Agreement and Von Neurath.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Were you interrogated on the 6th of November 1945, and did you not then say that Göring used very harsh words about Ribbentrop and asked Hitler to take Neurath to Munich with him in order to have a representative present? Did you not say that to the interrogators of the United States?
BODENSCHATZ: I cannot remember at the moment. If that is in the record then it must be so.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: This meeting as to which you have—oh, by the way, after Munich you know that Göring gave his word of honor to the Czechs that there would be no further aggression against them, do you not?
BODENSCHATZ: Please repeat the question.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You know that after Munich, when Göring was pleased with the outcome, he gave his word of honor that there would be no further aggression against the Czechs. Do you know that?
BODENSCHATZ: No, I did not know that.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: This meeting that took place in London, I mean the meeting that took place when the Englishmen were present . . .
BODENSCHATZ: In Husum, yes.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Who was the Swedish person who was present?
BODENSCHATZ: Herr Dahlerus was the Swede who was present.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Who were the English who were present?
BODENSCHATZ: There were six to eight English economic experts. The names I do not know.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And at that time—by the way, have you fixed the time of that? What was the date?
BODENSCHATZ: I cannot say precisely. It was the beginning of August.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Was it not 7 August?
BODENSCHATZ: I cannot say.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Was Mr. Dahlerus there?
BODENSCHATZ: The question as to whether Dahlerus was there—I cannot remember one hundred percent whether he was there. I know only that when I spoke to my lawyer he said that Dahlerus was there, but I cannot swear one hundred percent that he was there. I assumed he was, since the Defense Counsel Dr. Stahmer told me that he was there. That was the reason why I said previously that Hermann Göring and Dahlerus were present at that meeting.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And the subject under discussion was the Polish relations with the German Reich?
BODENSCHATZ: Polish relations were not discussed, but relations between England and Germany. There was no talk of relations with Poland.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And Göring wanted the English gentlemen to see that England did not attack Germany?
BODENSCHATZ: He did not express it quite that way. He said, as I have already stated, the English gentlemen should, when they returned home, work in the same way that he was working—for peace, and to make their influence felt in important circles.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, was that not said in connection with the Polish negotiations that were then going on?
BODENSCHATZ: With the Polish negotiations? I cannot remember that any mention was made of Polish negotiations.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Were you with Hermann Göring when the Polish war broke out?
BODENSCHATZ: When the Polish war broke out I was in Berlin.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Were you still in your office under Hermann Göring’s command?
BODENSCHATZ: Yes, I was at that time under Hermann Göring’s command.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: When did you first begin preparing for a movement of your forces in the direction of Poland?
BODENSCHATZ: I cannot make any definite statement on that subject; that was a matter for the General Staff. I know only that during the period before the outbreak of war the Chief of the General Staff several times visited the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Hermann Göring, and that such matters were discussed. I, myself, was not informed as to how many forces were to be used in the Polish campaign.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Were you present at the conference in which Hermann Göring stated that he, right after Munich, had orders to multiply the Air Force by five?
BODENSCHATZ: I cannot recall having been present at any such discussion.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You know that the Air Force was greatly enlarged after Munich?
BODENSCHATZ: No, I do not know that. The Air Force was augmented according to plan. In this connection I can say for certain that the German Air Force, at the beginning of the Polish campaign, as regards leadership, planning, or material, was not equal to its task.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Justice Jackson, would you like to adjourn now or would you like to go on in order to finish?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: This would be a convenient time. I am sure we cannot finish before lunch hour.
THE PRESIDENT: You would like to adjourn now?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Yes, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
[The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours.]
Afternoon Session
THE PRESIDENT: We will have no open session tomorrow.
GENERAL R. A. RUDENKO (Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.):