“Paragraph 9”—this is Page 221, Volume I, Part 2 of the document book.—“Later on, during his visit to Warsaw, the Defendant Ribbentrop assured the Polish Government that there would be no fait accompli on the territory of the Free City—25-27 January 1939.”
It is known that during the last months preceding 1 September 1939 concentrations of German mobilized military forces were carried out. Border clashes then took place. I think that the cause of these clashes will become quite obvious after I have read into the record the notes on Fall Grün, Document Number 388-PS, signed by Jodl.
On 15 April 1939 the late President of the United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, made an appeal to the world and to the leaders of Germany and Poland with a view to preventing further complications in Europe.
On 28 April and 5 May 1939 the Polish Government proposed to the Government of Hitler Germany a practical solution for the problem of the Free City of Danzig.
On 23 August 1939 the King of Belgium addressed to the world a radio appeal for peace.
On 24 August 1939 the President of the United States of America appealed once again to the leaders of the Reich and Poland.
The Polish Ambassador in Berlin, acting on the advice of the British Ambassador in Warsaw, had a conference with Ribbentrop on 31 August.
I should like to quote two paragraphs, 18 and 19, of Exhibit Number USSR-93, marked with red pencil on Page 6 of the Russian original; in your document book they are found on Page 222, Volume I, Part 2:
“18. The German note stating the conditions for the settlement of the conflict with Poland was broadcast over the German radio on 31 August 1939, at 9 p.m. This note, however, was not handed to the Polish Ambassador until the evening of 1 September 1939. This was a few hours after German Armed Forces, both from the air and the land, were in the process of seizing Polish territory, in the early hours of 1 September 1939.
“19. In this way Germany attacked Poland in violation of her international assurance, without a previous declaration of war and at a time when her actions had convinced the Polish Government that further negotiations between the two countries were pending, with a view to arriving at a peaceful settlement of this dispute.”