Page 110 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

The French Diplomats 97

for six months [and] they themselves will run away from it.” six years later,
after Marcus had left Germany, he acknowledged that he had misjudged the
significance of Hitler’s rise to power. On January 30, 1933, “the world had
changed with one blow,” but few realized it at the time. 7
Moreover, during the years from 1933 to 1939 the people of France faced
a myriad of domestic crises so severe that many citizens were disinclined to
pay much attention to developments in a neighboring country, even one
as threatening as Germany. the Great depression of the late 1920s, which
reached France in 1931–32, caused a substantial increase in unemployment,
and as a consequence many Frenchmen focused on eking out a living. then
in 1934 a major scandal erupted over the illegal trading of stocks by serge
stavisky, which led to street riots in Paris. the political system was too
fragile to cope with so many upheavals. in just seven years no fewer than
fourteen different governments held the reins of power, a state of affairs not
conducive to the adoption of bold policies and programs. the political in-
stability of France will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter, after
a consideration of how French diplomats in Germany kept Paris abreast of
developments in Nazi Germany and of the dangers the new regime posed
for France. that, too, is a complicated story because French emissaries
never provided their government with as penetrating and clear-cut an as-
sessment of Nazi leaders as rumbold sent to london.

the politics of françois-poncet

in addition to the embassy in Berlin, France maintained consulates in
six other German cities, and officials in all of them produced some inter-
esting and informative dispatches on developments in Germany. But by
far the most influential and most comprehensive ones were written by the
ambassador himself, and when the government in Paris debated policy on
Germany, it focused on the information he had submitted. François-Pon-
cet was a powerful personality and his knowledge of German and German
affairs was extensive, as were his contacts with influential people in Berlin.
He was also a man of enormous energy, personal charm, and ambition.
during his seven years as ambassador to Germany (from september 1931
until October 1938), he sent reports to Paris that covered a vast array of
subjects: political, social, and economic developments in Germany; his
meetings with government leaders, including numerous ones with Hitler;
relations between italy and Germany; diplomatic negotiations between