CONSTANTIN VON NEURATH (Defendant): Constantin von Neurath.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat this oath after me: I swear by God—the Almighty and Omniscient—that I will speak the pure truth—and will withhold and add nothing.
[The defendant repeated the oath.]
THE PRESIDENT: You may sit down.
DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: Herr Von Neurath, will you please give us a brief account of your family background, your education at home, and your schooling?
VON NEURATH: I was born on 2 February 1873. On my father’s side I come from an old family of civil servants. My grandfather, my great-grandfather, and my great-great-grandfather were Ministers of Justice and Foreign Affairs in Württemberg. On my mother’s side I come from a noble Swabian family whose ancestors were mostly officers in the Imperial Austrian Army.
Until my twelfth year I was brought up in the country in extreme simplicity, with particular emphasis laid on the duty of truthfulness, responsibility, patriotism, and a Christian way of life, along with Christian tolerance of other religions.
DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: Later you took your school certificate examination and went to the university. Where and when?
VON NEURATH: After having graduated from high school I studied law in Tübingen and Berlin and there passed the two state law examinations.
DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: After your examinations, what official positions did you hold up until the moment when you were appointed Reich Foreign Minister?