DR. RUDOLF DIX (Counsel for Defendant Schacht): The question by Justice Jackson was not whether Schacht considered the generals guilty, but the question was whether it was correct that Schacht, in an interrogation previous to the Trial, had given certain answers to certain questions. In other words, it was a question about an actual occurrence which took place in the past and not a question about an opinion or a judgment which he was to give here. As Schacht’s counsel, I am not interested in this passage being stricken from the record, except to the extent that these words remain: “I, Schacht, would never have executed an immoral order and an immoral demand by Hitler.” So far as the rest of this answer of Schacht is concerned I, as his defense counsel, declare that it is a matter of indifference to me.
DR. LATERNSER: Mr. President, after the declaration of Justice Jackson, I withdraw my objection.
MAJOR GENERAL G. A. ALEXANDROV (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): Mr. President, may I begin my cross-examination?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
GEN. ALEXANDROV: Defendant Schacht, when answering the questions put to you by your counsel, you informed us of the circumstances under which you first became acquainted with Hitler and Göring. You even remembered a detail such as the pea soup with lard which was served for supper at Göring’s house.
What I am interested in now are some other particulars, rather more relevant to the case, of your relations with Hitler and Göring. Tell me, on whose initiative did your first meeting with Hitler and Göring take place?
SCHACHT: I have already stated that my friend, Bank Director Von Stauss, invited me to an evening in his home so that I might meet Göring there. The meeting with Hitler then took place when Göring asked me to come to his home—that is, Göring’s home—to meet Hitler.
GEN. ALEXANDROV: For what reasons did you, at that time, accept the invitation to meet Hitler and Göring?
SCHACHT: The National Socialist Party at that time was one of the strongest parties in the Reichstag with 108 seats, and the National Socialist movement throughout the country was extremely lively. Consequently, I was more or less interested in making the acquaintance of the leading men of this movement whom up to then I did not know at all.
GEN. ALEXANDROV: But you declared that you were invited by Göring himself. Why did Göring especially invite you?