“All the Catholic schools were suppressed.”
THE PRESIDENT: Who was the Foreign Minister of the Reich at the time that document was sent?
COL. WHEELER: It was the Defendant Von Ribbentrop.
I turn to Page 4, the 10th paragraph of the English text, Page 5, 4th paragraph of the German text:
“The use of the Polish language in sacred functions, and even in the Sacrament of Penance, was forbidden. Moreover—and this is a matter worthy of special mention and is at variance with the natural law and with the dispositions accepted by the legal systems of all nations—for the celebration of marriage between Poles the minimum age limit was fixed at 28 years for men and 25 years for women.
“Catholic Action was so badly hit as to be completely destroyed. The National Institute, which was at the head of the whole Catholic Action movement in Poland, was suppressed; as a result all the associations belonging to it, which were flourishing, as well as all Catholic cultural, charity, and social service institutions, were abolished.
“In the whole of the ‘Warthegau’ there is no longer any Catholic press and not even a Catholic bookshop.