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DOCUMENTS ON GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY ' 1918-1945 from tbe Brcbt"es of tbe ~erman jforeign .Ministtl2 Series D Volume I FROM NEURATH TO RIBBENTROP September 1 9 3 7 • September 19 3 8 LONDON HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE In June 1946 the British Foreign Office and the United States Department of State agreed jointly to publish documents from captured archives of the German Foreign Ministry and the Reich Chancellery. Although the main body of the captured archives goes back to the year 1867, it was decided· to limit the present publication to papers relating to the years after 1918, since the object of the publication was" to establish the record of German foreign policy preceding and du:ing World War II". The editorial work was to be performed " on the basis of the highest scholarly objectivity". The editors were to have complete freedom in the selection of the documents to be published. Publication was to begin and be concluded as soon as possible. In April1947 the French Government, having requested the right to participate in the project, accepted the terms of this agree­ ment. The documents covering the period from July 1936 to the outbreak of War in September 1939 have now been selected jointly by the three Allied Editorial Staffs. They comprise six volumes, and form the first and larger portion of Series D, which will carry the history of German foreign relations to the end of the Second World War. Volume I, the present volume, deals with Germany's foreign policy from the end of September 1937 to September 1938, covering particularly the seizure of Austria in March 1938. Volume IT, which will appear very shortly, will deal with Germany's relations with Czechoslovakia from October 1937 to the Munich agreement of September 1938. Volume ill, which is in active preparation, \\ill cover the Spanish Civil War from July 1936 to July 1939. Series A to C are designed to cover the period from 1918 to 1937. 21 S. NET DOCUMENTS ON GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY 1918-1945 FROM THE ARCHIVES OF THE GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTRY LONDON: HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE 1949 This series is also pub.,-.d in the Uniud States o/ America at the Government Printing Office, Washington LONDON: PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE To be purchased directly from H.M. Stationery Office at the following addresses: York House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 13a Castle Street, Edinburgh, 2; 39 King Street, Manchester, 2; 2 Edmund Street, Birmingham, 3; I St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; Tower Lane, Bristol, 1; 80 Chichester Street, Belfast OR THROUGH ANY 800KSELUit 1949 Price £1 Is. Od. net Reproduced in Great Britain by Jarrold and Sons, Lid, Norwich by photolithography S.O. Code No. 59-114-1 * BOARD OF EDITORS Editors-in-C hie/ AMERICAN: Raymond ] ames Sontag E. Malcolm Carroll, Deputy in Europe BRITISH: John W. Wheeler-Bennett (Editor-in-Chief until May 1948; thereafter, Historical Adviser) James Joll (from June to December, 1948) General Sir James Marshall-Cornwall (from June 1948) FRENCH: Maurice Baumont Editors AMERICAN: James Stuart Beddie; Fritz Epstein (until July 1948); Paul Sweet (from September 1948); John Huizenga; Joachim Remak; Otto Pflanze; Jean Brownell Dulaney · BRITISH: E. K. Bramsted; L. Branney (until July 1948); K. H. M. Duke; Peter Ericsson; W. H. C. Frend; T. F. D. Williams FRENCH: Leon de Groer; Georges Bonnin; Jean Estienne DOCUMENTS ON GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY 1918-1945 SERIES D (1937-1945) VoLUME I FROM NEURATH TO RIBBENTROP (September 1937-September 1938) GENERAL INTRODUCTION In June 1946 the British Foreign Office and the United States Department of State agreed jointly to publish documents from cap­ tured archives of the German Foreign Ministry and the Reich Chan­ cellery. Although the captured archives go back to the year 1867, it was decided to limit the present publication to papers relating to the years after 19181 since the object of the publication was "to estab­ lish the record of German foreign policy preceding and during World War II." The editorial work was to be performed "on the basis of the highest scholarly objectivity." The editors were to have complete independence in the selection and editing of the documents. Publica­ tion was to begin and be concluded as soon as possible. Each Govern­ ment was "free to publish separately any portion of the documents."1 In April1947 the French Government, having requested the right to participate in the project, accepted the terms of this agreement. The three Governments realized the unique nature of the enterprise. Captured enemy documents had been published in the past, and espe­ cially by the Germans themselves, but only documents which supported a propaganda thesis. Never had three victorious powers set out to establish the full record of the diplomacy of a vanquished power from captured archives "on the basis of the highest scholarly objectivity." The editors wish to state at the outset that they have not only been permitted, but enjoined, to make their selection on this basis alone. In the selection of documents for publication, and in <the editing of the documents, the editors have had complete freedom. No effort has been made at any time by any of the participating Governments to influence their work. The editors, therefore, accept complete responsi­ bility for the volumes as published. II The archives of the German Foreign Ministry came into Anglo­ American custody partly as a result of planning, partly by accident, but chiefly through the incomplete execution of orders to destroy the most important portions. During hostilities, the Allied military forces were instructed to keep close watch for enemy archives, and teams of experts were assembled behind the lines so that the examination of • It was In aerordance -with this provision that the Department ot State, in January 1948, published the volume ot documents entitled Naz._Botliet Relat«m.., 1939-1941. vn VIII GENERAL INTRODUCTION captured documents might begin without delay. In April1945 units of the United States First Army discovered more than 300 tons of Foreign Ministry papers in various storage places in the Harz Moun­ tains. The Anglo-American experts were immediately summoned. They located other parts of the archives in the Harz Mountains and Thuringia. Their most important discoveries were a box containing memoranda summarizing conversations of Hitler and Ribbentrop with foreign statesmen, and a quantity of German microfilm which, when made into continuous rolls and printed at the Air Ministry in London, was found to record some 10,000 pages of the working files of the For­ eign Minister ( Buro RAM). Under the supervision of the Anglo-American experts, the cap­ tured archives were assembled at Marburg Castle, in the American zone of Germany. Later the collection was moved to Berlin. Finally, in the summer of 1948, the archives were moved to England, where they are to remain until conditions in Germany become more stable. Between 1945 and 1948 the collection was augmented by many tons of Reich Chancellery documents and other smaller collections. III When the Foreign Ministry archives were captured in April 1945, the question was considered whether they had been deliberately placed in the path of the Anglo-American armies and spurious documents added to the collection, with the purpose of sowing discord among the enemies of Germany. Documentary evidence and interrogation of surviving German officials have completely dispelled these suspiciol:ls. Actually, the German Government made efforts to prevent the cap­ ture of the documents, both by moving them from place to place and by ordering the destruction of the files for the Nazi period only a few days before the arrival of the American First Army. The dispersal of the archives began in 1943, when the air attacks on German cities had become intense. It was then decided to keep only a skeleton staff and the current files of the Foreign Ministry in Berlin ; the rest of the staff with their files were moved to less vulner­ able parts of Germany. Most went to Krummhiibel, a resort in the Riesengebirge, but some branch offices were sent as far away as Lake Constance. The archives were also dispersed to castles in the Harz and south and east of Berlin. In the summer and autumn of. 1944 the Soviet advance enforced the transfer of those archives which had been stored south and east of Berlin to the Harz region. Orders were given for the d~trnction of the nonessential secret documents at Krumm­ hiibel and for the removal of the remainder to Thuringia. It is im­ possible to determine with precision wha.t was destroyed by accident NOTE : The gap in the files on Anglo-German relations from the spring of 1938 to the spring of 1939, mentioned on p. ix, line 16 from bottom, has now been filled. The State Secretary file on the Halifax visit, November 1937-April 1939, has been identified as the file thougllt to be missing and is identical with film serial No. 375 (cf. Appendix III, p. 1200) and was used in the prepa.ra.tion of this volume. GENERAL INTRODUC'l'ION IX or design in the hurried movement which followed. It is known that these transfers were not entirely completed before the arrival of Soviet troops. Only in tlle early months of 194:», therefore, were the Foreign Ministry archives concentrated in the west. By spring the German armies were in full retreat. Early in April 1945 the evacuation center at :Meisdorf received a list of categories of documents which were to be prepared for destruction. These in­ cluded all important files for the Nazi period. On AprillO an order was received by telephone to commence immediately the destruction of these categories.

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