“He”—Neurath—“was not interested in the Czech nation and interventions of Cabinet members and Dr. Hacha pressing Czech demands were on the whole without any result.
“There were the following actions in particular:
“Arrests of Czechoslovak officers, intelligentsia, members of the Czechoslovak Legion of the first World War, and politicians. At the time of the attack on Poland by the German Army about six to eight thousand persons were arrested. They were hostages. The Germans themselves called them ‘held in protective custody.’ The majority of those hostages were never interrogated, and all steps taken at the office of the Reich Protector in favor of these unfortunate men remained without any result.
“Neurath, as the only representative of the Reich Government in the territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, was responsible for the execution of nine students on 17 November 1939. The execution was carried out soon after...”
THE PRESIDENT: General Raginsky, would it not be better and perhaps fairer to the defendant to ask him one question at a time? You are reading long passages of these documents which contain many questions. Perhaps you could take these two paragraphs you read now about the arrest of officers and ask him whether he says those are true or untrue, and then go on to the other paragraphs you want. It is very difficult for him to answer a great number of questions at one time.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Mr. President, he has these documents before him and he is acquainted with the testimonies in question, but I will take into consideration what you have just told me. I will speak about the shooting of the students separately.
[Turning to the defendant.] Do you corroborate this part of the evidence which I have just read into the record regarding the hostages?
VON NEURATH: About the arrest of the members of the so-called Vlayka, at the beginning of September 1939, I have spoken earlier, and I spoke in detail about that yesterday.
I said that these arrests—I am repeating it once more—were carried out by the Gestapo without my knowledge. Herr Havelka’s statement, that no steps had been taken in the interest of these people, is untrue. He ought to know that I continuously fought for these people and that a large number of them were released through my efforts.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Very well, let us go over to another question. Here, before this Tribunal, a certain document has already been introduced several times under Document Number USSR-223. This is the diary of Frank.