Page 150 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

The French Diplomats 137

in four or five years no power in the world will be capable of defeating” the
country. 99
in the meantime, the Nazis imposed a new list of restrictions, most of
them purely spiteful, on the Jews. On december 15, 1938, Coulondre sent
the foreign minister a description of the measures that, in the ambassador’s
view, were to prepare the ground for the creation of a ghetto that would
consign the Jews to the “margin of society.” economically as well as socially,
the Jews were to be isolated. Jews were no longer permitted to appear on
certain streets and in certain public places; on saturday, december 3, the
day of “national solidarity,” Jews were not to leave their homes between
12:00 noon and 8:00 p.m.; Jews could no longer attend the theater, con-
certs, museums, or sports events; as of december 31, Jews would not be
allowed to own cars, and those not clearly identifiable as Jews would have
to adopt the name “israel” or “sarah”; and Jews could no longer attend
universities or technical schools. toward the end of the long dispatch, Cou-
londre speculated whether these restrictions would be followed by “other,
more radical measures.” in the very last sentence he predicted that if one of
the persecuted, in an attempt to seek revenge for the suffering of his people,
succeeded in assassinating a Nazi, the sa or the ss “would not hesitate in
bringing about the disappearance in blood of those they call the descen-
dants of Judas.” 100 Coulondre showed real insight into Nazism even though
he was too cautious in his prediction; the bloodshed occurred even without
the provocation he mentioned.
despite the mounting barbarism of the Nazi regime and the growing in-
ternational tensions, in early 1939 Coulondre believed that the public mood
in Germany, which was hostile to war, together with the severe shortages
of goods, might lead Hitler to curb his aggressive designs. People resented
the “orgy of grandiose construction” of buildings for senior officials at a
time when ordinary people could not buy essential foods. the police had
discovered the following graffiti on the wall of the new reich Chancellery
in Berlin and on walls and sidewalks in several sections of the city: “Kein
Kaffee, keine Butter, kein Ei, Aber eine neue Reichskanzlei” (No coffee, no
butter, no eggs, but a new reich Chancellery). among workers discontent
was especially intense, and Coulondre was certain that the public mood
was quite different from that of 1914, when many people enthusiastically
supported the country’s war effort. ever the optimist, Coulondre thought
that the widespread disquiet could influence Nazi leaders into being more
cautious in pursuing their expansionist goals. 101
the ambassador reached this conclusion three weeks after learning some