Now let us look at the situation 4 years later, on July 25, 1938, after the Anschluss with Austria. At that time the German officials no longer expressed regrets over the death of Dollfuss. They were eager and willing to reveal what the world already knew, that they were identified with and sponsors of the murder of the former Chancellor.
I offer in evidence at this point Document L-273, which I offer as Exhibit USA-59. That document is a dispatch from the American Consul General, Vienna, to the Secretary of State, dated July 26, 1938. Unfortunately, through a mechanical slip, this document which is in English in the original, was not mimeographed in English and is not in your document book. However, it was translated into German, and is in the document book which counsel for the defendants have. I read from a photostatic copy of the dispatch:
“The two high points of the celebration”—here was a celebration—“were the memorial assembly on the 24th at Klagenfurt, capital of the Province of Carinthia, where in 1934 the Vienna Nazi revolt found its widest response and the march on the 25th to the former Federal Chancellery in Vienna by the surviving members of the SS Standarte 89, which made the attack on the Chancellery in 1934.”—a reconstitution of the crime, so to say.
“The assembled thousands at Klagenfurt were addressed by the Führer’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, in the presence of the families of the 13 National Socialists who were hanged for their part in the July Putsch. The Klagenfurt memorial celebration was also made the occasion for the solemn swearing in of the seven recently appointed Gauleiter of the Ostmark. From the point of view of the outside world, this speech of Reich Minister Hess was chiefly remarkable for the fact that after devoting the first half of his speech to the expected praise of the sacrifices of the men, women, and youths of Austria in the struggle for Greater Germany, he then launched into a defense of the occupation of Austria, an attack on the ‘lying foreign press’ and on those who spread the idea of a new war. The world was fortunate, declared Hess, that Germany’s leader was a man who would not allow himself to be provoked. The Führer does what is necessary for his people in sovereign calm and labors for the peace of Europe, even though provocators ‘completely ignoring the deliberate threat of the peace of certain small states,’ deceitfully claim that he is a menace to the peace of Europe.
“The march on the former Federal Chancellery,”—referring back to the Putsch of 4 years before—“now the Reichsstatthalterei, followed the exact route and time schedule of the original attack. The marchers were met at the Chancellery by Reichsstatthalter Seyss-Inquart, who addressed them and unveiled a memorial tablet. From the Reichsstatthalterei the Standarte”—that is the SS organization which made the original attack and which marched on this occasion 4 years later—“marched from the old Ravag broadcasting center, from which false news of the resignation of Dollfuss had been broadcast, and there unveiled a second memorial tablet. Steinhaeusel, the present Police President of Vienna, is a member of the SS Standarte 89.”
Today that original memorial plaque, if the Court please, is rubble, like so much of Nuremberg; but we found a photograph of it in the National Library in Vienna. I should like to offer this photograph in evidence. It was taken on this occasion 4 years later. The Nazi wreath encircles the memorial tablet. A large wreath of flowers with a very distinct swastika Nazi symbol was laid before the wreath. I offer that photograph identified as 2968-PS in evidence. I offer it as Exhibit USA-60. You will find that in the document book. I know of no more interesting or shocking document at which you could look. We call celebrating a murder 4 years later, “Murder by ratification.”
As that photograph shows, this plaque which was erected to celebrate this sinister occasion reads: “One hundred and fifty-four German men of the 89th SS Standarte stood up here for Germany on July 25, 1934. Seven found death in the hands of the hangman.”
The Tribunal may notice that the number “154” at the top of the plaque is concealed in the photograph by the Nazi wreath surrounding the plaque. I must confess that I find myself curiously interested in this tablet and in the photograph which was taken and carefully filed. The words chosen for this marble tablet, and surely we can presume that they were words chosen carefully, tell us clearly that the men involved were not mere malcontent Austrian revolutionaries, but were regarded as German men, were members of a para-military organization, and stood up here for Germany.
In 1934 Hitler repudiated Doctor Rieth because he dragged the German Reich into an internal Austrian affair without any reason. In 1938 Nazi Germany proudly identified itself with this murder, took credit for it, and took responsibility for it. Further proof in the conventional sense, it seems to us, is hardly necessary.
Next we refer to the program culminating in the Pact of July 11, 1936. In considering the activities of the Nazi conspirators in Austria between July 25, 1934 and November 1937 there is a distinct intermediate point, the Pact of July 11, 1936. Accordingly, I shall first review developments in the 2-year period, July 1934-36.