In his next customary speech after the defeat of Poland, before the Reichstag on 6 October, Hitler reassured Yugoslavia of his love of peace and of his friendly attitude in the following words:
“. . . after the annexation had taken place, I assured Yugoslavia in the same manner that her frontier with this country shall be regarded as inviolable by Germany from this moment on, and that we want to live in peace and friendship with her. . . .”
I am now going to read into the record a few paragraphs from Subparagraph 2 on the first section of the report of the Yugoslav State Commission for the investigation of the crimes perpetrated by the aggressors. The excerpts in question begin with Paragraph 3, on Page 6 of Exhibit Number USSR-36 (Document Number USSR-36). In your document book it is Volume I, Section I.
Thus, Hitler regularly gave assurances about friendly relations with Yugoslavia and about the inviolability of her boundaries while, at the same time, his band of conspirators and enslavers were already tightening the ring of war around Yugoslavia. When Yugoslavia was completely surrounded by Hitler’s Panzer divisions, and when the government of the Centralist Fifth Column of Prince Paul, Cvetovič, and Maček was ready to join the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941, that is, 10 days before the attack on Yugoslavia, the Defendant Ribbentrop stated as follows—on Page 413 of your document book you will find it, in Document Number 2450-PS:
“Germany herself—and I solemnly state this—has neither territorial nor political interests in this region.”
The Tribunal has already been handed a certified extract from Document Number 72 of the above-mentioned German book.
An official note from the Reich Government of the same date reads as follows—you will find this on Page 415 of the document book:
“Mr. Prime Minister: On behalf and on the direction of the German Government, I have the honor to report to Your Excellency as follows:
“In connection with today’s adherence of Yugoslavia to the Tripartite Pact, the German Government affirms its resolution to respect at all times the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia. . . .
“Signed, Joachim von Ribbentrop.”