Page 191 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

178 The American Diplomats

they focused on every aspect of Nazi anti-semitism. they frequently sent
dispatches that dealt only with the Jews, and some of them were so detailed
that they ran to several long pages, and at least one of them could pass for
an accomplished scholarly paper. Neither the British nor the French diplo-
mats in Germany came close to covering this subject so systematically.
Hull was also very troubled by the boycott and now expressed “deep
concern” over the mistreatment of Jews; he asked Gordon to convey to
Foreign Minister Neurath the secretary of state’s view that the “friendship
of the two countries might not remain unaffected” if Germany’s policy of
persecution continued. the first dispatches on the Nazi persecution of
86
Jews reached Washington at a time when both the president and the sec-
retary of state were already angry at the Nazi leadership for their refusal to
honor their war debts to the United states. the reparations imposed on
Germany in 1919 for the damage and expenses caused by World War i had
been substantially reduced twice (in 1924 and 1929), yet the Nazi leaders
resorted to various deceptions to avoid payments. roosevelt was so put out
that he instructed Hull to snub Hjalmar schacht, the minister of econom-
ics, when he arrived at the state department in May 1933 to discuss the
reparations issue. the president directed Hull not to pay attention to the
minister when he appeared in his office by pretending to be studying papers
on his desk. 87
schacht may have been offended, but the slight did not induce him to
change his policy regarding the payment of reparations. Nor did Hull’s
expression of concern over the plight of the Jews prompt the Nazis to mod-
erate their anti-semitic policies. in fact, early in July the state department
received a dispatch from Gordon sharply critical of the German govern-
ment for contemplating a law to deprive Jews of German citizenship. the
purpose of such a law, he wrote, “would be to reduce the German Jews to
the position of ignominy to which they were subjected during the Middle
ages. Nazi leaders have repeatedly boasted in the past that one of the first
acts of a Nazi regime would be to set up ghettoes in Germany.” and he
could not see any sign that the government intended to “let up on these
discriminatory measures.” 88
the evidence on the persecution of the Jews that american diplomats
sent to Washington could leave no doubt in any reader’s mind that Ger-
many was being engulfed by a wave of sadism and that the Jews were living
under a state of siege. Often the dispatches included details of anti-semitic
incidents in smaller towns, where the prejudice was more virulent than else-
where, especially in the early years of Nazi rule. thus, the state department