DR. KUBUSCHOK: Did you then, that is, during the time until 22 January, participate in any political discussions about the formation of a new government?
VON PAPEN: No. Between 9 and 22 January I did not participate in any political discussions about the formation of a government.
DR. KUBUSCHOK: Please give us a short summary of the political development from 10 until 21 January.
VON PAPEN: The Prosecution asserts that now, in the interval between 9 and 30 January, I was the chief factor in forming the government of Hitler on 30 January. A chronological recapitulation of the days between the 11th and the 30th will reveal how completely wrong this assertion of the Prosecution actually is. Therefore, I shall have to mention a few dates in this connection.
On 11 January: Hitler was in Berlin. He did not see Von Schleicher, Hugenberg, or Von Papen. But the Reichstag decided through the Council of Elders: “We have to give a reprieve to the Government of Von Schleicher.”
On 13 January: Schleicher receives Hugenberg, the chief of the rightist movement.
On the 14th: Hindenburg receives Hugenberg.
Later on we shall see that on both of these days, Hugenberg, the leader of the Right, negotiated with Von Schleicher about his entry into the Cabinet, not about the formation of a government with Hitler.
Then on 15 January, the well-known elections in Lippe took place. The Lippe elections gave the National Socialists a new impetus.
On 20 January, the Reichstag, the Council of Elders, decided to postpone their meeting from the 24th to the 31st.