Page 149 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

136 The French Diplomats

Montbas also raised a series of intriguing questions about the larger sig-
nificance of Kristallnacht: Were the Nazi leaders abandoning all pretense
of moderation, and were they prepared to strain relations with the United
states and Great Britain, where the anti-Jewish violence evoked extensive
criticism of the German government? did the new anti-Jewish campaign
mean that the “spirit of accord” reached at Munich was no longer in ef-
fect? Was a “stable” relationship between the West and the third reich
impossible? Finally, did the attacks on Jews mean that Nazi Germany was
committed to violence as a principle and that Hitler would not hesitate to
subjugate any people he considered his country’s adversary? the last ques-
tion is especially noteworthy because it touches on a very difficult and im-
portant issue that is still debated by scholars and politicians: is there a direct
link between a government’s domestic and foreign policies? Or, to relate
this discussion directly to our topic, did the Nazis’ unhesitating resort to
violence against the Jewish population at home mean that Germany would
act just as ruthlessly toward foreign countries? in his last sentence Mont-
bas observed that several diplomats from smaller countries believed that
“if there were no changes in the domestic conditions of the third reich, a
european conflict could well be inevitable.” 97
to add to the diplomat’s anxiety, an analysis completed by the Berlin
embassy on december 14, 1938, depicted in unprecedented detail the scope
of Germany’s expansionist goals. On the basis of a careful reading of many
journals and newspapers, the staff reached conclusions that must have jolt-
ed officials in Paris. German ambitions in central europe were well known,
but this report pointed out that Hitler had much more in mind. the Nazi
leadership aspired to expand into the Near east and the Gulf of Persia,
so that the reich would be able to exploit the economies of turkey and
iran. the pre–World War i dream of a railroad from Berlin to Baghdad was
to be realized, placing Germany in a powerful position to dominate the
economies of a vast region. the authors of the report were convinced that
98
Hitler’s grip on political power was now so overwhelming that he could
lead the country into adventures that even some Nazi officials who still
retained a sense of proportion might consider unrealistic. in addition, early
in 1939, one of ambassador Coulondre’s “collaborators” had talked to a
senior German official whose work put him in frequent contact with the
Führer, and he had indicated that since the settlement of the conflict over
the sudeten region “all the leaders of the reich are convinced that the Füh-
rer is infallible.” the senior official also said that although Hitler genuinely
wanted peace, Germany was bolstering its military forces so rapidly “that