Faced with the refusal of the French delegates, Hemmen declared at the meeting of 4 October 1940 (I submit to the Tribunal an extract from the minutes of this meeting as Document Number RF-256):
“I should regret to have to transmit such a reply to my government. See if the French Government cannot reconsider its attitude. If not, our relations will become very difficult. My government is anxious to bring this matter to a close. If you refuse, the consequences will be extremely grave.”
M. de Boisanger, the French Delegate, replied:
“I will therefore put that question once more.”
And Hemmen replied:
“I shall expect your reply by tomorrow. If it does not come, I shall transmit the negative reply which you have just given.”
Then, in the course of the meeting on 9 January 1941, Hemmen stated—I submit again an extract from the minutes, Document Number RF-257:
“At first I was entrusted with this affair at Wiesbaden. Then it was taken over by Consul General Neuhausen on behalf of a very high-ranking personage (Marshal Göring), and it was handled directly in Paris by M. Laval and M. Abetz.”
As far as French investments in petroleum companies in Romania are concerned, the pressure was no less. In the course of the meeting of 10 October 1940, of the Armistice Commission, the same Hemmen stated (I submit as Document Number RF-258, an extract from the minutes of the meeting):
“Moreover we shall be satisfied with the majority of the shares. We will leave in your hands anything which we do not need for this purpose. Can you accept on this point in principle? The matter is urgent, as for the Bor Mines. We want all.”