M. DEBENEST: As far as I know, this refers to political as well as to economic questions.
SEYSS-INQUART: No, in the German text it says “police question.” Economic and police questions, not political; there is a difference.
M. DEBENEST: In that case, I will re-read the sentence, bearing your answer in mind.
“But it seemed necessary, from a political point of view...”
Now is that “political” or “police” which we see?
SEYSS-INQUART: Just a moment, please. Yes, that is correct. But that does not mean politics in the sense of party politics, but political in respect to the treatment of the Dutch people as such. Whether they thereby became National Socialists or not was quite immaterial to me.
M. DEBENEST: Was it in the interests of Dutch or of German policy?
SEYSS-INQUART: Well, I admit without any hesitation at all that I followed a German policy. That was part of my task.
M. DEBENEST: But the German policy of that day was surely the policy of the National Socialist Party?
SEYSS-INQUART: The German policy was, at that time, the policy of a fight for existence on the part of the German people, and this struggle was led by the National Socialist Party. But the basic concern was not the carrying out of the 25 points of the Party program, but rather the carrying through of our fight for existence, and that is what I think this means.