Page 43 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

30 The British Diplomats

his friends attribute his peculiarly venomous tongue to a ‘vanity complex’
arising out of it.” as for the leaders just below these three, there were none
of “real worth.” they were brutal, even sadistic, and would not hesitate
to “adopt the most ruthless methods and outlandish ideas.” rumbold em-
phasized that he was not just voicing his own conclusions; he had talked
to almost all his colleagues in the diplomatic corps and was “struck by the
unanimity of their views on the present situation. they are bewildered by
the whirlwind development of Hitler’s internal policy, and view the future
with great uneasiness and apprehension.” 33

sir eric phipps on nazism

sir eric Phipps, who succeeded to the ambassadorship in the summer of
1933, was also an experienced diplomat, having served for some thirty-four
years in four different countries. He was the brother-in-law of Vansittart,
who recommended him for the post, knowing that Phipps generally agreed
with him that Germany posed a threat to Britain. although the new am-
34
bassador’s most recent post had been Vienna, where interest in German
politics was strong, he apparently did not know much about the history of
Germany or its politics and was not particularly interested in the country.
He had hoped to be assigned to Paris, and when he was posted to Berlin
instead he indicated that while he was not fond of Germans, he was “[not]
totally hostile to the new regime.” He nurtured a certain admiration for
35
the idealism in National socialism and thought that Hitler might even be
serious in his desire for peace. 36
in fact, in November 1933, after painting a picture of Hitler that was far
from flattering, Phipps confessed to being puzzled by the German leader.
Was he “the man of Mein Kampf or the more restrained man of the election
in November 1933, who emphasized his peaceful intentions”? true, Hitler
had not changed his attitudes on the Jews or on Germany’s right to annex
austria, and he had not toned down his hatred of France, all central themes
in his partly autobiographical book. But Phipps believed it was “too simple”
to assume that the Führer still clung to all the views he had expressed ten
years earlier while in prison. if he had not changed his views, then the only
course of action for the West would be a preventive war, an option rejected
by Phipps. instead, he proposed that an attempt be made to “bind him” to
an international agreement “bearing his signature freely and proudly given.
. . . By some odd kink in his mental make-up he might even feel impelled