VON NEURATH: No; in any case I did not know at the time.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, there is one other question that I should like to put to you. You remember when you were called on the 11th of March 1938, at the time of the Anschluss with Austria, and you wrote the letter of the 12th of March 1938, in answer to the memorandum which you received from the British Government through Sir Nevile Henderson. You knew Sir Nevile Henderson quite well, did you not?
VON NEURATH: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: And in that letter you said this:
“It is untrue that the Reich used forceful pressure to bring about this development; especially the assertion, which was spread later by the former Chancellor, that the German Government had presented the Federal President with a conditional ultimatum, is pure invention. According to the ultimatum, he had to appoint a proposed candidate as Chancellor and form a Cabinet conforming to the proposals of the German Government, otherwise the invasion of Austria by German troops was held in prospect.”
And then you go on to say what you allege was the truth of the matter. You know now, do you not, that your statements in that letter were entirely untrue?
VON NEURATH: That did not come through.
THE PRESIDENT: Have you heard any part of the question that I was putting to you?
VON NEURATH: Unfortunately not.
THE PRESIDENT: It is a pity that you did not say so earlier. Do you remember the 11th of March 1938 and being called in to represent the Foreign Office, and you have told me just now that you knew Sir Nevile Henderson quite well?