VON NEURATH: No, and I do not believe it, either.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Well, let us see what the German press was saying.
On the 24th of April 1933 the Times was quoting the Hamburger Fremdenblatt, which, in turn, was invoking official sources and stating that there were 18,000 Communists in prison in the Reich and that the 10,000 prisoners in Prussia included many social intellectuals and others.
Would the Hamburger Fremdenblatt, which had a very long career as a newspaper, if it misquoted official sources under your Government in April 1933, have misrepresented the position? It would not, would it?
VON NEURATH: That I do not know, but I do know that a lot of trouble is always being stirred up by means of figures.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: But Defendant, here is a figure quoted, as far as I know, by a responsible Hamburg paper, as an official figure, requoted by the London Times, which is the principal paper in England. Wasn’t that sufficiently serious for you to bring it up in the Cabinet?
VON NEURATH: I am very sorry, but with all respect to the papers—and even the London papers—they do not always tell the truth.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: No. That is a perfectly reasonable comment. Newspapers, like everyone else, are misinformed. But when you had a widespread account of terrible conditions giving large numbers, did you not, as one of the respectable elements in this Government, think that it was worthy of bringing it up in Cabinet and finding out whether it was true or not?
VON NEURATH: How do you know that I did not do that?
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: That is what I am asking. Did you bring it up, and what was the result when you did?