“I have written a letter today to the Reich Finance Minister, and I enclose a copy of it for you. I beg you to support my suggestion.”
You, therefore, did not hear of this liquidation until after it had been undertaken, since you yourself had undertaken it, isn’t that true?
SEYSS-INQUART: I still entirely uphold my first assertion. The question was who decreed this; I understood you to ask me who was the person in the Reich who demanded this. It is a fact that I did not hear about this whole matter until a few months had passed. Then I took over this liquidation and had it carried through to the end through my offices, and then I wrote this letter. Thus the execution rested with me.
M. DEBENEST: You said just now—and I understood the translation very clearly—that you heard of it only after it had been done. You contradicted your own declaration, as I was able to note yesterday on several occasions, when the documents were submitted to you.
SEYSS-INQUART: I did not understand that. Is that a question to me?
M. DEBENEST: I am simply making a remark.
Was this liquidation of the property of the Freemasons a big undertaking?
SEYSS-INQUART: Yes, certainly. I should like to say that it was started by another office. The property was confiscated, then I took over this task and had it carried through by my competent offices.
M. DEBENEST: Did you make arrangements for the utilization of the funds which this liquidation produced?
SEYSS-INQUART: I made the proposal that this money be given to the Party.