My colleagues of the Soviet Delegation will submit evidence to show the Tribunal the upheaval in the life of the work-loving Czech people, from the moment that the Hitlerite aggressors began to put into practice their plan for the destruction of Czechoslovakia as a state entity.
When we turn to the material concerning the aggression against Poland, we find there many features in common with the crimes of the conspirators directed against Czechoslovakia.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Pokrovsky, I think it is only a mistake in the translation into English, but it is stated in our copy that the Defendant Neurath was Reich Protector for Czechoslovakia and Moravia from the 17th of March 1938. No doubt you said 1939. Did you?
COL. POKROVSKY: I am afraid that what I said was not quite correctly heard. I said from 17 March 1938 to 28 September 1941.
THE PRESIDENT: It should have been 1939, should it not?
COL. POKROVSKY: Yes, if I am not mistaken, that would be correct.
I take the liberty of repeating that when studying the documents with regard to the aggression against Poland, we find there many features in common with the crimes which the conspirators committed against Czechoslovakia. I have in mind the systematic violation of treaties and solemn declarations, false assurances, the creation of a paid Fifth Column organized on a military footing, and the sudden infliction of a treacherous blow. This can be proved by a whole series of documents.
An official report of the Polish Government contains a detailed list of the treaties violated by the conspirators. We submit the document to the Tribunal under Exhibit Number USSR-93 (Document Number USSR-93). Inasmuch as we are concerned with the facts of common knowledge and of those already commented on in the opening statements of the prosecutor, I beg the Tribunal to take judicial notice of this part of the Polish report without further proof, namely of the first two articles of the Count “Crimes against Peace.”
I wish to read into the record four lines from Paragraph 3 of this Count which begins on Page 219 of your document book. This concerns the Polish-German declaration of 26 January 1934:
“Both governments are convinced that the relations between their respective countries will in this manner develop fruitfully and lead to the establishment of neighborly relationships which will contribute to the well-being not only of both their countries, but of the other peoples of Europe as well.”