“* * * The Press: The Press Division of the APA is comprised of persons who together master all the languages that are in use. Daily they examine approximately 300 newspapers and deliver to the Fuehrer, the deputy Fuehrer, and all other interested offices the condensations of the important trends of the entire world press. I know that these press reports are highly praised by all who constantly follow them. The Press Division furthermore conducts an exact archives on the attitudes of the most important papers of the world and an exact archives on the most important journalists of the world. Many embarrassments during conferences in Germany could have been avoided had one consulted these archives (case of Leumas, Nurnberg, 1934; case of Dorothy Thompson; and others). Further, the Press Division was able to arrange a host of interviews as well as conducting a great number of friendly foreign journalists to the various official representatives of Germany.” (003-PS)
The nature and extent of the activities of the APA are amply disclosed in a “Report on the Activities of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Party from 1933 to 1943,” signed by Rosenberg (007-PS). This report contains a recital of widespread activities in foreign countries. These activities range from the promotion of economic penetration, to fomentation of anti-Semitism; from cultural and political infiltration to the instigation of treason. Activities were carried on throughout the world and extended to such widely separated points as the Middle East and Brazil. (007-PS)
(1) Activities in Hungary, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. Much of the APA’s achievements were brought about through the subtle exploitation of personal relationship. Activities in Hungary proceeded as follows:
“* * * The first foreign state visit after the seizure of power took place through the mediation of the Foreign Affairs Bureau. Julius Gombos, who in former years had himself pursued anti-Semitic and racial tendencies, had reached the Hungarian Premier’s chair. The Bureau maintained a personal connection with him.” (007-PS)
The APA endeavored to strengthen the War Economy by shifting the source of food imports to the Balkans:
“Motivated by reasons of War Economy, the Bureau advocated the transfer of raw material purchases from overseas to the areas accessible by overland traffic routes, i.e., primarily in the Balkans, naturally insofar as practicable. At first little heed was paid to the Bureau in these endeavors, but it later secured the active support especially of the Food Estate [Naeurstand]. Through its cooperation, e.g., on the subject of fruit and vegetable imports, a very substantial shift in the source of imports was attained, particularly through the currently initiated cooperation with Croatian and Hungarian cooperatives as well as with commercial associations all over the Balkans.” (007-PS)
Activities in Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg were confined to “observation of existing conditions” and “to the establishment of relations, especially of a commercial nature.” (007-PS)
(2) Activities in Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In Iran the APA achieved a high degree of economic penetration, in addition to promoting cultural relations:
“The Bureau’s initiative in developing, with the help of commercial circles, entirely new methods for the economic penetration of Iran found expression, in an extraordinarily favorable way, in reciprocal trade relations.
“Naturally in Germany, too, this initiative at first encountered a completely negative attitude and resistance on the part of the competent state authorities, an attitude that had first to be overcome.