20 FEB. 1946 Date and Time: 20 February 1946, 1345-1530 hours Place: Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, Japan Present: General Hiroshi OSHIMA G. Osmond Hyde, Interrogator Lt. Comdr. F.B. Huggins, U.S.N.R., Interpreter Miss Lucille G. Brunner, Stenographer. Questions by: Mr. Hyde. OATH OF INTERPRETER Mr. Hyde: “Lt. Comdr. Huggins, the Interpreter, having been duly sworn on previous interrogations of General OSHIMA, now continues to interpret from English to Japanese and from Japanese into English, as required in this proceeding. Q. General, you have indicated that you want to make a statement before we proceed with our interrogation. A. Before MATSUOKA left Berlin he put in a request to the German authorities to hand over to him a copy of the record that they had made of his conversations with German leaders. The reply came after he had left and was transmitted to me by Stahmer, and in substance stated that because they had not prepared an official transcript of the conversations that they were not in a position to let MATSUOKA have the copy. I feel personally that the Germans had not taken down the stenographic record of the conversations, but had simply put down on paper their remembrance of the meetings. I would like included in the record the fact that the Germans often made it a habit to have only the two parties concerned present at a meeting and later the German representative would dictate his remembrance of the events which transpired. I have personally had several experiences of this sort and I believe this was the case in the conversations which MATSUOKA took part in. Q. The last time we heard anything about Stahmer during the course of this interrogation he was in Tokyo, during those days when the final negotiations with respect to the Tripartite Pact were taking place. Now, tell us, if you know, when he left Tokyo upon his return trip to Berlin? A. I am not absolutely certain of the date, but as the Three Power Pact was concluded in September, I believe that he left soon after, probably early in October. 1 1 The Invasion of Russia took place on June 22, 1941, also called Operation Barbarossa. 115