DR. STAHMER: Very well.
[The Defendant Göring resumed the stand.]
DR. STAHMER: [Turning to the defendant.] A map was mentioned previously which is supposed to have been drawn up by you and which is contained in Mr. Dahlerus’ book, the authenticity of which he confirmed this morning in answer to my question. I am having this map, which is to be found on Page 53 of his book, shown to you and I ask for your explanation of it.
GÖRING: In the discussion that took place in the night of 29-30 August between Dahlerus and me, I believe at the Führer’s, I tore a map from an atlas on the spur of the moment and outlined with a red pencil, and I believe a blue or green pencil, those regions—not the regions which we would demand, as declared here before by the Prosecution—but those regions of Poland in which Germans live. That the witness Dahlerus was also of this opinion can be seen most clearly from the fact that he repeated the same markings on another map and then wrote as follows, next to the marked section: “German population according to Göring;” and next to the dotted section: “Polish inhabitants according to Göring.”
He then goes on writing and draws boundaries: “Göring’s first proposal for the boundary” which agrees with the markings of the regions of German and Polish populations. That was not a boundary proposal, but a separation of the two populations. And then he writes: “Hitler’s proposal;” that is the final, the correct, and the only proposal transmitted to the Polish as well as to the British Government. If one compares my map one sees that here quite spontaneously and in a great hurry, with a two-color pencil, a quite superficial marking off of the approximate zones of population is made, that is, one in which the majority are Germans and one in which there are exclusively Poles. From the beginning Mr. Dahlerus was given only the broad outlines of the boundary proposal, which was later made more exact. That is the only one in question, the same one which was published, which was read to Ambassador Henderson, and which, as Henderson did not understand it, I had telephoned to the Embassy by Dahlerus during the night, and checked the next day.
DR. STAHMER: Will you please repeat the last sentence? I believe it did not come through.
GÖRING: I said, the boundaries of the Corridor, as outlined here at Hitler’s suggestion, were the official proposal which the Führer, as the only person entitled to make final proposals, had worked out. It is the same proposal that was read to Ambassador Henderson, and as he did not understand it, I turned the note which was read to Henderson, over to Dahlerus for him to dictate it so that I could be sure that the English Ambassador was informed of it in its entirety.
To do this was, as I have already said, actually an enormous risk, since the Führer had forbidden this information being made public at the moment, and, as I have stated already, only I could take that risk. But for the rest, as far as my markings are concerned, they show clearly on the map: “German population according to Göring; Polish population according to Göring.” But that was only approximate and done in a great hurry during the night, merely for his information, and on a map torn from an atlas.
DR. STAHMER: Mr. Dahlerus said that you called him up on the 23rd of August and asked him to come to Berlin immediately because in the meantime the situation had become serious. What made you consider the situation serious?
GÖRING: Through the statements of the Führer at the Obersalzberg on that 22d of August it was clear to me that the tension had reached its peak. The Führer had stated that he would have to bring about a solution of the problem, if it were not possible to obtain one diplomatically. On that occasion, since it was simply an address, without discussion, before the higher officers of troop formations which would be used in case of war, I, as senior officer present, confined myself to saying to the Führer at the end: “The Wehrmacht will do its duty.” Of course it has to do its duty, if it is called upon. At the same time, however, I wanted to exert every effort in order to make as soon as possible—it was now a matter of days; a definite date, the 25th or 26th, as decided at first, had not yet been set on this day—to make one more attempt at negotiations. I wanted to be able to say to the Führer, if such negotiations were successfully underway, that there were still prospects of and chances for a diplomatic solution.