SEYSS-INQUART: Yes.
M. DEBENEST: I will show you Document F-828, which I submit under Number RF-1533. This document is a letter from Reichsleiter Martin Bormann to Reich Minister Dr. Lammers of 3 July 1941. At the beginning of the letter Bormann discusses the speech of the Queen of Holland; and in the last paragraph, which is the one which is important to me, he writes:
“The Führer has therefore given permission to confiscate the property of the Netherlands Royal House, for which the Reich Commissioner had already applied at an earlier date.”
Do you still maintain that it was because of the speech made by the Queen?
SEYSS-INQUART: I beg your pardon. There was a hitch in the sound apparatus.
M. DEBENEST: Yes, there was, but in any case you have the document in your hands.
SEYSS-INQUART: Yes. I know what the question is here.
M. DEBENEST: Of course you know it.
SEYSS-INQUART: It had escaped my memory entirely, that I might have asked for that permission at an earlier date. I really cannot remember. Perhaps I discussed the question as to whether this property was to be confiscated or not, but the only thing I do remember is my suggestion at the time this speech was made. After all, that was not the first speech made by the Queen of the Netherlands. She had spoken in the same manner previously.
M. DEBENEST: That is an explanation, and the Tribunal will take note of it.