DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: In this connection I should like to refer to the decree which has already been submitted, the decree dated 16 March 1939, Number Neurath-144 of my Document Book Number 5. In this decree I should like to call special attention to Articles 9 and 10.
[Turning to the defendant.] You are further charged with and accused of the fact that the rate of exchange of Czech kronen to marks was established as 10 to 1, for in this way the buying out of Czechoslovakian goods was said to have been favored. Are you responsible for the establishing of this rate?
VON NEURATH: No. In the decree of 16 March 1939 dealing with the establishment of the Protectorate—a decree in the drafting of which I did not take part in any way—it was already stipulated that the rate of exchange would be determined by the Reich Government. As far as I know, the same rate was the customary one at the stock exchange and in trade before the incorporation of the Sudetenland into the Reich as well as afterwards. An official rate had to be determined, of course, and this was done through the decree issued by the authorities in Berlin.
DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: In connection with the decree dated 16 March 1939, which was just mentioned and which is to be found under Number Neurath-144 of my Document Book Number 5, I should like to call your attention especially to Article 10 which sets forth: “The ratio of the two currencies, the Czechoslovakian and the German, to each other will be determined by the Reich Government.”
[Turning to the defendant.] The Czech report further accuses you of the fact that railroad rails allegedly were removed and taken to Germany. Do you know anything about this matter?
VON NEURATH: I know nothing about this matter and I think this is certainly an error. I know only that in the year 1940 there were negotiations between the German Reich railroads and the Czech State railroads concerning the borrowing of railroad cars and of engines against remuneration. But the stipulation in this case was that this rolling stock could be spared by the transport system in the Protectorate. Aside from that, the railroads in the Protectorate, were not under my supervision; but they were directly subordinate to the Transportation Ministry in Berlin.
DR. VON LÜDINGHAUSEN: I should like to refer to Article 8 of the decree which I have just mentioned, a decree which is found under Number Neurath-144 of my Document Book 5.
[Turning to the defendant.] It is further asserted that the Reich Commissioner at the Prague National Bank stopped all payments for abroad and confiscated all the stocks of gold and of foreign currencies of the National Bank.
Did you have anything to do with this matter?
VON NEURATH: I had nothing at all to do with these matters. The Reich Commissioner for the Prague National Bank was appointed directly by the Reichsbank in Berlin, or rather by the Ministry of Finance; and he got his orders from them.