Page 207 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

194 The American Diplomats

declared, would react similarly to news of such violence from anywhere in
the world, an observation designed to make it clear that americans were
not criticizing events in Germany only because the victims were Jews. “i
myself,” roosevelt concluded, “could scarcely believe that such things could
occur in a 20th century civilization.” 123 the president was the only world
leader publicly to condemn the November pogrom.
at the same time, secretary of state Hull informed Wilson that “the
situation in Germany . . . has so shocked the american Government and
american public opinion that the President desires you to report to him in
person.” Wilson was ordered to return to the United states for consultation
as soon as possible and was asked to make only a short statement to the
German Foreign Office in explaining his sudden departure. When the
124
German ambassador in Washington visited Hull to inform him that he,
in turn, had been recalled to Berlin, clearly in retaliation for the american
action, Hull greeted him coolly. “i felt no spirit of cordiality and naturally
acted accordingly.” it was a brief encounter, and the German official left
after Hull “personally wished him a safe voyage and health.” 125 No other
country followed the example of the United states.
the american action was unlikely to prod the Nazis into moderating
their policies toward the Jews, but at least it made them aware of foreign
disapproval. and, as already noted, Hitler and his subordinates viscer-
ally resented criticism from abroad. When Harold ickes, the secretary of
the interior, delivered a speech in Cleveland in late december 1939 that
criticized Nazi attacks on Jews, the deutsches Nachrichtenbüro (German
News agency) denounced him as driven by “blind hatred” for the German
people. Various German publications disparaged the roosevelt administra-
tion as a “tool of the Jews” and claimed that the president was “backed by
Jewish influence seeking to profit from a colossal rearmament.” 126
For three years before the rupture of all diplomatic relations between the
two countries on december 11, 1941, the american ambassadorship in Ger-
many remained unoccupied, as did the German one in Washington. But
the diplomats in charge of embassy affairs in Berlin (first Prentiss Gilbert,
followed by raymond H. Geist and alexander Kirk) continued to report
on developments in Germany, although their dispatches were not as de-
tailed or frequent as before, no doubt out of suspicion that they would be
scrutinized by Nazi officials. a central theme of the reports was the steady
deterioration of conditions for Jews. On december 9, 1938, Gilbert sent the
department of state a detailed account of the aryanization (in effect, sei-
zure) of Jewish properties, businesses, and other assets. to justify the mas-