Nuremberg Page #4

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.

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