“This criminal plan was approved by Karl Hermann Frank, Secretary of State of the Reich Protector in Prague from 17 March 1939 and Minister of State in Prague from 1943, known to the world as the Butcher of Lidice. Interrogated on this point by Colonel Ecer, in Wiesbaden on 29 May 1945, Frank declared:
“ ‘The plan for the evacuation of the Czech people to the East, as mentioned above and decided in Party circles, roughly coincides with the passage quoted.’ ”
The Defendant Neurath was Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia from 17 March 1938 to 28 September 1941. He did much to destroy Czechoslovakia as a state entity.
Appendix 1 to the Report of the Czechoslovak Government reads as follows—you will find this extract on Page 167 of Volume I, Part 2 of the document book: “The Reich Protector was the highest of the Reich authorities, agencies, and officials in the Protectorate.” The Defendant Neurath must not escape responsibility for these crimes.
My colleagues of the Soviet Delegation will submit evidence to show the Tribunal the upheaval in the life of the work-loving Czech people, from the moment that the Hitlerite aggressors began to put into practice their plan for the destruction of Czechoslovakia as a state entity.
When we turn to the material concerning the aggression against Poland, we find there many features in common with the crimes of the conspirators directed against Czechoslovakia.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Pokrovsky, I think it is only a mistake in the translation into English, but it is stated in our copy that the Defendant Neurath was Reich Protector for Czechoslovakia and Moravia from the 17th of March 1938. No doubt you said 1939. Did you?
COL. POKROVSKY: I am afraid that what I said was not quite correctly heard. I said from 17 March 1938 to 28 September 1941.
THE PRESIDENT: It should have been 1939, should it not?
COL. POKROVSKY: Yes, if I am not mistaken, that would be correct.