“On 26 July 1934, you proposed to the late Field Marshal that I should be sent to Vienna on a temporary mission to restore normal and friendly relations.
“With the Agreement signed on 11 July, the decisive step has been taken in this direction.”
In a later part of the document, he asks to be recalled; I go on to quote the second paragraph from the end:
“Even though the ‘German question’ will need very careful and considerate handling in the future too—especially after the incredible difficulties which have gone before—I would like now, at the end of the task you entrusted to me, to place my resignation in your hands.”
The Prosecution have used the report you made to Hitler on 1 September 1936, 2246-PS, and they accuse you of remaining in contact with the illegal leaders of the Austrian National Socialists, of attempting to bring that Opposition into the Fatherland Front, and of desiring to change the Schuschnigg regime.
VON PAPEN: In the report mentioned I wrote:
“In the normalization of relations to Germany, progress has been hindered by the staying power of the Ministry of Security, where the old anti-National Socialist officials are located. Changes in personnel are, therefore, urgently required.”
The expression which I used in this report: “Changes in the regime,” actually means “Changes in personnel”; in that connection I also go on to say, in the following sentence, that economic negotiations will follow in the near future. This shows quite clearly that these words do not refer to a removal of Schuschnigg’s person. Apart from that, this report speaks of the gravity of the situation in the Danube area, and makes proposals for a peaceful solution.
If I am accused by the Prosecution of having had contacts with the Nazi Opposition, although the July Agreement had excluded all intervention in Austrian affairs, I must point out that I was perfectly entitled to these contacts because I was interested in ascertaining whether and how far Herr Schuschnigg kept his promise to take in men from the nationalist Opposition in whom he had confidence for collaboration. Just how far the Nazi Opposition submitted to that Agreement of 11 July is shown by Leopold’s statement in January 1937, which Mr. Messersmith has attached to his own affidavit.
DR. KUBUSCHOK: I refer to Document Number Papen-75, Page 171, which contains this file note of Leopold’s. The document is identical with the appendix, which has the number Exhibit USA-57. There is an error in the English translation. In the fifth line from the end, on Page 1, the word “Anschluss” has been translated by “annexation.”