Archive/File: imt/nca/nca-06/nca-06-3638-ps Last-Modified: 1997/07/30 Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression, Volume VI Translation of Document 3638-PS [Page 400] Berlin, 1 October 1938 RM 256 This forenoon, I had a telephone conversation with Ciano, following the Polish ultimatum to Czechoslovakia and the news that the French, English and Italian ambassadors in Warsaw, appealing to the Munich Pact, had taken emphatic steps to hinder military intervention by Poland. Ciano said that he had not commissioned the Italian Ambassador in Warsaw to take steps, but that he had directed him to convey to the Polish Foreign Minister in the form of a conversation that the Italian government does not expect Poland to take arms merely because of the few days which might be involved. I thereupon presented our conception to Ciano and told him that on the basis of our experience with the treatment of the Sudeten Germans, we had great sympathy and understanding for the Polish point of view. I said that 240,000 Germans have already been expelled from the Sudetenland. In Poland 200,000 people are involved who have, in part, already undergone a similar fate or are awaiting it. We are informed about the terrible circumstances in the Teschen area. He, Ciano, would understand why under the above circumstances we did not use the same language in Warsaw as Italy. I thereupon at the same time declared the following to the Polish Ambassador regarding the step undertaken by our Ambassador in Warsaw toward the Polish Foreign Minister Beck: 1. We have a complete understanding of the Polish point of view; 2. We hoped that military intervention would not become necessary; the prerequisite appears to be that Prague should immediately accommodate itself to the Polish demands and in the shortest possible time meet the wishes of the Poles; 3. In case of an armed conflict between Poland and Czechoslovakia, it is self-understood that we would take a favorable attitude; 4. Should the Soviet Union take military action against Poland, which I deem impossible, an entirely new situation would arise in the whole Czechoslovakian question as far as Germany is concerned. Signed: Ribbentrop.
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