SCHMIDT: He did say that. He said that he would—that he would have—it must have been some time after the Anschluss—refused to shake hands with him, and actually he referred to his behavior in 1938.
MR. DODD: And he said his behavior was utterly impossible?
Is that not the language that Von Papen used about Seyss-Inquart, or some of the language?
SCHMIDT: He did express himself in that way.
MR. DODD: What were the other things that he said? You told down there in Vienna that Von Papen used the harshest language imaginable in describing Seyss-Inquart and his conduct in March 1938. I think that is of some interest to the Tribunal, and I wish you would tell us exactly what it was. It is only 3 years ago, you know, that you and Von Papen had this conversation, and you have not told us very much about it.
SCHMIDT: He spoke in a very vehement way, passing judgment to the effect that Seyss had offered no protection to the Austrians and that he had done nothing to keep order in Austria, that is, to safeguard Austria’s individuality and Austria’s interests.
That was Papen’s basic thought. His second thought was that the German interests had not been served by this either, by which he meant more or less that a quite justified interest of the German Reich had been made to look wrong in the eyes of the world because of the way in which it had been handled and that the foreign political interests of the Reich had been damaged thereby.
That was the principal thought in his conversation, and I think he made similar remarks during conversations with other people.
MR. DODD: All right. I am afraid I have passed on from Berchtesgaden and have omitted something that is probably of some importance.
Do you remember—some time, I guess not long before you broke up your session there—Hitler turning to Von Papen and saying, “Von Papen, you made it possible for me to be Chancellor, and I shall never forget it.”