DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: Nor do I want the witness to discuss this matter.
THE PRESIDENT: Why don't you stop him then? Why don't you stop him?
DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: I did not want to hear it from the defendant himself, but from the person who was employed by the defendant to take these steps. That in my opinion has more weight than if the defendant makes the statement himself. That is why I asked the witness about it. But it is almost finished now.
THE PRESIDENT: When we come to the defendant then we kill not hear him on these subjects.
DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: No, that is not intended-moreover, as far as I know, the matter will be finished with just a few words.
Please, Witness.
STRÖLIN: Upon Von Neurath's instigation, Rommel wrote a letter to Hitler saying that because of the military situation he believed that it would not be possible to continue the war, and that he, Rommel, suggested to Hitler that he start political negotiations.
Consequently, as he told me, after his accident Rommel fell from favor for this reason, and thus Von Neurath's attempt to end the war with Rommel's aid also failed.
DR.VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: And then came 20 July and soon afterwards the end.
I have no more questions, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn.
[A recess was taken.]
THE PRESIDENT: Do any of the other defendants' counsel want to ask questions of this witness?
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: May the witness be handed GB-262 (Document Number 3258-PS). My Lord, that is the same document of which an extract has already been handed up to the Tribunal while I was cross-examining the last witness.
Witness, I want to be quite clear as to with you say about the Deutsches Auslands-Institut. Do you say that that institute had no connection with either Hess or the Auslands-Organisation?
STRÖLIN: The Deutsches Auslands-Institut had no connection with Hess. The connection with the Auslands-Organisation was due to the fact' that the Auslands-Organisation had its meetings at Stuttgart.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: So that the fact that the Auslands-Organisation and the Deutsches Auslands-Institut both had their meetings at Stuttgart, that is the only connection between the two organizations; is that so?
STRÖLIN: The Auslands-Organisation, to my knowledge, did not consult the German Auslands-Institut on practical matters, for it had its own collection of material. The Auslands-Organisation was, as far as I know, created in the year '32, and...
LT. COL. GRIF'FITH-JONES: Now, I do not want to stop you, but if you can answer my question "yes" or "no7' it will save us all a great deal of time. I will repeat my question in case you are not quite clear about it. Do you say that the fact that both those organizations held their meeting in Stuttgart is the only connection between the two? Now you can answer that "yes" or "no."
STRÖLIN: I cannot answer that with "yes" or "no." I must say that the connecting link was the fact that Stuttgart was the city of foreign Germans and so to speak the representative of Germans abroad, because of its past history.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Do you read English?
STRÖLIN: A little.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Will you look at Page 461 of the book that you have? At the bottom of Page 461 you will see reproduced a copy of an article from the Stuttgarter Neues Tagblatt of 21 September 1933.
The Tribunal will find the extract on Page 4 'of the translation.
That article describes the annual meeting of your institution, after its reorganization In 1933 when the Nazi Party came to power.
I want to read just four short extracts from that article 2 and ask you for your comments.
"The chairman of the Deutsches Auslands-Institut, Lord Mayor, Dr. STRÖLIN, opened the celebration." That is yourself presumably; is that so?
STRÖLIN: Yes.
LT.COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: "Among those present, he greeted in particular, Minister President and Minister of Religion in Wiirttemberg, Mergenthaler, as the representative of the supervisory authorities; General Haushofer of Munich as representative of Rudolf Hess, who has been entrusted by the Führer with the supreme direction of all matters concerning Germans in foreign countries. . . ." Did you say that?
STRÖLIN: I cannot remember having said that. Haushofer was for me the representative of the VDA, and I cannot conceive how he could have been the deputy of Hess at this occasion. However, it is probably true.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Do you think the Tribunal is safe in taking it that the Stuttgarter Neues Tagblatt on the day after that celebration would accurately report what you said in your opening address?
You need not look at the rest of it for the moment. It is not likely that that article is untrue or incorrect, is it?
STRÖLIN: No, the article is probably correct, but I did not remember-now looking back-that ~aushoferwas at that time the deputy of Hess, for Rudolf Hess had no connection with the Deutsches Auslands-Institut as such.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: It appears that you are saying there, and you are saying it in a speech, that Haushofer is representing Hess, and that Hess has been charged by the Führer with the supreme command 01 all matters concerning Germans in foreign countries. Do you understand what you are saying there?
STRÖLIN: Yes, it may have been put that way at that time, but in practice, it never happened that I received a directive of any kind from Rudolf Hess.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Your institution could correctly be said to concern itself in matters concerning Germans in fore@ countries, could it not?
STRÖLIN: I did not understand the question.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Did your institution, the Deutsches Auslands-Institut, concern itself in matters concerning Germans in foreign countries?
STRÖLIN: Yes.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Very well, I shall leave that. Will you bok down the page and omit the next...
STRÖLIN: I would like to add to this point. It was the first time that I made a speech for the Deutsches Auslands-Institut and the speech was, of course drafted with the approval of the personalities who were to be welcomed there. I cannot longer remember that Haushofer was present in that capacity on that occasion and can merely repeat my statement that as the honorary president of the Institute I know nothing of Rudolf Hess having given directives to the Deutsches Auslands-Institut.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: You may have known nothing about it, but you were the new chairman of the Deutsches Auslands Institut at that time, were you not?
STRÖLIN: NO, I was not the chairman. The chairman of the Institute was a special leader. In my capacity as Lord Mayor it was merely one of my many extra duties to act as president of the Institute. It is quite impossible for me to remember which personalities I greeted at the time, and how I did it.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Please confine yourself to answering the particular question I put to you: Were you or were you not the chairman of the Deutsches Auslands-Institut an 20 September 1933?
STRÖLIN: Yes, I was appointed to that position at that time.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: You had just been appointed because you were a good Nazi and the Nazi Party had come to power and was reorganizing this institution.
STRÖLIN: I was appointed to this post because I was Lord Mayor of Stuttgart and because later the city of Stuttgart was called the "City d Germans Abroad" since, because of its history and tradition it had always had very close connection with Germans abroad.
LT.