It purports, further, to expose the leading role played by the Party group Rainer-Klausner.
From the bias that is manifest in the contents of this letter, this letter cannot serve as proof for the facts brought forth in it, particularly since the witness Rainer, who wrote this letter, is available as a witness. I have discovered he is at present in Nuremberg.
I object to the use of this letter to the extent that it is to be used to prove the correctness of its contents, because the witness who can testify to that is at our disposal in Nuremberg.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will hear Mr. Alderman in answer to what has been said. The Tribunal has not yet read the letter.
MR. ALDERMAN: I think perhaps it would be better to read the letter before we argue about the significance of its contents.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you relying upon the letter as evidence of the facts stated in it?
MR. ALDERMAN: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: From whom is the letter, and to whom is it addressed?
MR. ALDERMAN: The first letter is from Mr. Rainer who was at that time Gauleiter at Salzburg, to the Defendant Seyss-Inquart, then Reich Minister of Austria.
That letter encloses a letter dated July 6, 1939, written by Rainer to Reich Commissioner and Gauleiter Josef Bürckel. In that letter, in turn, Rainer enclosed a report on the events in the NSDAP of Austria from 1933 to March 11, 1938, the day before the invasion of Austria.