Page 136 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

The French Diplomats 123

a “pure-blooded aryan child.” in François-Poncet’s view, the laws were
60
further evidence that Hitler and the other leaders of the Nazi Party were
bent on “exterminating the Jews of the reich by means of a slow stran-
gulation more terrible than the pogroms.” despite these ominous signs of
Nazi brutality, François-Poncet saw a ray of light. ever the optimist, he
thought it was still “premature” to conclude that the “army has abandoned
all thought of resistance and that it is resigned to complying with all the
wishes of the [Nazi] Party.” His evidence for this optimism was not very
strong. all he could come up with was the reaction of the reichswehr to
a speech by Göring during the Nuremberg ceremonies on the “law of the
flag”: the officers were “stony faced,” which he interpreted as a sign of ap-
prehension. 61
On November 21, 1935, François-Poncet had his last interview of the
year with Hitler, and once again the ambassador’s reports on the meeting
are inconsistent, if not contradictory. in his first dispatch (a telegram), he
noted that the Führer had responded “with much amiability and in a very
cordial tone,” even though he also delivered a long criticism of the recently
concluded pact between France and the soviet Union, which he insisted
was directed against Germany. in a second telegram, François-Poncet indi-
cated that the German newspapers had reported positively on their meet-
ing, which gave the ambassador hope that Germany and France might be
able to discuss critical issues in a calm atmosphere and that they might yet
reach agreements acceptable to both. But six days after the interview, the
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ambassador wrote a much longer dispatch in which Hitler’s behavior was
described as much more bombastic and aggressive. “On 21 November i had
in front of me an elated and spirited man who embarked on a vehement
tirade as though he were addressing a crowd of several thousand people,
after which he seemed to be like a battery emptied of its electricity.” Hit-
ler had clearly reflected in advance on what he intended to say and made
his points forcefully. He expressed strong disapproval of the Franco-so-
viet pact, voiced concern over the friction between italy and abyssinia, and
reiterated his wish for better relations between Germany and France. in
the course of the interview, Hitler delivered “frequent and frenetic” attacks
on the Jews and the Ussr, but François-Poncet passed no judgment on
Hitler’s bizarre behavior. 63
François-Poncet’s repeated comments about Hitler’s good behavior are
puzzling because he knew that his British counterpart, sir eric Phipps, was
sending assessments of the German leader that were quite different from
his. the French ambassador met Phipps in mid-december, only days after