“The most difficult problem with which I was confronted was that of our relations with Poland. There was a danger that Poles and Germans would regard each other as hereditary enemies. I wanted to prevent it.”
I do not consider it necessary to read the entire document, and I will therefore omit a few sentences.
“Precisely a year later it was possible to reach an agreement which, in the first place, definitely eliminated the danger of a conflict for a period of 10 years.
“We are all convinced that this agreement will lead to a lasting pacification. We realize that here are two peoples which have to exist side by side, and neither can eliminate the other.
“A state with a 33 million population will always strive for an outlet to the sea.
“Because of that, a way for understanding had to be found. It has been found and will be more and more consolidated.”
In absolute conformity with this official and, from beginning to end, deceitful speech of Hitler’s, the Defendant Ribbentrop, speaking in Warsaw on 25 January 1939, stated—this quotation will be found in Document Number 2530-PS:
“It is a fundamental part of German foreign policy in accordance with the firm will of the Führer of the German people that the friendly relations between Germany and Poland, based on the existing treaty, be strengthened progressively and deepened.”
Omitting one paragraph of this document, which has already been read in court and submitted to the Tribunal as the Document Number 2530-PS, I wish to repeat only one sentence of it:
“Thus Poland and Germany can look forward to the future with complete confidence upon the solid basis of their mutual relations.”