Editor’s Note: In respect to the presentation of the final pleas by Counsel for the Defense, the Tribunal in several instances directed that written speeches of excessive length be shortened for oral presentation in Court and that notice would be taken by the Tribunal of the paragraphs omitted. In the sessions to follow such passages have been reproduced in small type.
Afternoon Session
DR. EXNER: Mr. President, I shall read the letter dated 22 June 1946, sent to the International Military Tribunal:
“Mr. President:
“During the cross-examination on 6 June 1946, the British Prosecution presented Document C-139 to the Defendant Jodl, obviously thinking that the document showed evidence of preparatory measures for occupying the Rhineland as early as 2 May 1935 ...”
[The proceedings were interrupted by technical difficulties in the interpreting system.]
THE PRESIDENT: Go on, Dr. Exner.
DR. EXNER:
“... the Defendant Jodl has stated that he did not know the document. After looking through the document, he explained that it is quite obvious from the document that in the West, at any rate, there was no plan for any German action, but that definitely only defensive measures were considered. He did not discover where the ‘Operation Training’ was supposed to take place; he could only guess.
“Defendant Freiherr von Neurath has now informed him that in 1934, during the summer, Mussolini had stationed several divisions at the Brenner Pass in order to occupy the North Tyrol in the event of the Anschluss. The Defendant Jodl, after receiving this information, perused the document again, and he now imagines that according to this document an operation was to be prepared to thrust the Italians back across the Brenner Pass in the event of their marching in. But he knows nothing about this affair.