Page 89 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

76 The British Diplomats

When Field Marshal Göring asked him if he also deserved that censure, he
received the following reply: “Yes, naturally.” 146
Ogilvie also demonstrated his independence from Henderson in writ-
ing about the persecution of the Jews. Henderson occasionally and briefly
touched on the subject, and despite his anti-semitic prejudices, at times
he expressed disapproval of the government’s anti-Jewish campaign. But
he seemed to believe that nothing could be done to stop it because hatred
of the Jews was so central to the thinking of Hitler and his supporters. On
June 21, 1938, when the Nazis greatly intensified the oppression of the Jews,
most notably in incorporated austria, Henderson had predicted that the
“regime of the Ghetto will soon be a reality. . . . anti-semitism is an integral
part of the National socialist doctrine and as such it will be pursued regard-
less of its disadvantages and of the inconvenience of other countries.” 147
Ogilvie, however, attached much greater significance to the anti-semitic
outbursts and was much more appalled by them, as were Gainer in Vienna
and smallbones in Frankfurt am Main. Ogilvie was moved to devote several
long dispatches to Nazi anti-semitism, in large part because he was repelled
by it, but also because he considered it to be “symptomatic of [Hitler’s]
frame of mind”; he wanted to drive home the point that Hitler himself
was “personally conducting” the campaign against the Jews. to Ogilvie, the
virulent anti-semitism in Germany was “not a national but a world prob-
lem, which, if neglected, contains the seeds of terrible vengeance.” 148 He
also noted that the “best elements” in Germany were distressed by it, but
that the “National socialist machine has the people relentlessly in its grip.”
indeed, it was widely assumed in Berlin political circles that nothing could
be done to stop Hitler’s aggressive moves, at home or abroad. 149
late in January 1939, in one of his broad surveys of developments in Ger-
many during the preceding year, Ogilvie warned that the “extermination”
of German Jewry “can only be a matter of time.” Ogilvie was so moved
150
by the plight of the Jews that he proposed to the German government that
the “atonement fine” of one billion marks that it had imposed on the Jew-
ish community for having caused the death of the diplomat ernst eduard
vom rath and the subsequent destruction of property during Kristallnacht
be used to pay for Jewish emigration. Needless to say, the government
ignored his suggestion. 151
Unlike Henderson, Ogilvie was thoroughly pessimistic about europe’s
future. several times he returned to the theme of Hitler’s displeasure with
the Munich agreements. the Führer was especially disappointed that the

On rath and Kristallnacht, see below, pp. 190–94.