SCHMIDT: No. The Chancellor worked with Glaise-Horstenau who represented the so-called National Opposition.
THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid there is a defect in the sound equipment, so we had better adjourn.
[A recess was taken.]
DR. STEINBAUER: Witness, in the spring of 1937 Seyss-Inquart entered politics, and presumably you met him then.
SCHMIDT: Yes, I met him first in the summer of 1937.
DR. STEINBAUER: Now, I shall go on, and I should like to ask you what reasons in domestic and foreign policy led to the well-known meeting between Adolf Hitler and Dr. Schuschnigg in Berchtesgaden.
SCHMIDT: This question calls for a detailed answer. I ask for permission to express myself in somewhat more detail.
By New Year 1938, the Austrian foreign policy situation had become worse. Italy had entered into an engagement in Spain in favor of Franco, which reduced still further her military and political influence in Central Europe. What we called “The Watch at the Brenner” had in effect ceased to exist, and Germany had more or less a free hand with regard to Austria.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Steinbauer, the Tribunal has common knowledge of the history of this time. It is not necessary, really, to go into it.
DR. STEINBAUER: Witness, I should like to ask you to tell me if you were present at the Obersalzberg at that time.