So ended Britain’s involvement in the European War.
LONDON
Over a period of four days the Foreign Secretary had called in the different governments-in-exile based in London. He had steeled himself to let these people know, in no uncertain terms, that they must negotiate with Germany. If they declined he would politely point out that Britain would have no alternative but to withdraw recognition of them, leaving the Germans to negotiate with others in their countries.
It had been only weeks earlier that the British Government, anxious for foreign support in the war, had gratefully acknowledged the common aims and ideals shared between them all. Now they were being told they were on their own! Such is politics!
The Polish delegation was led by General Wladyslaw Sikorski, a vigorous advocate of the Polish cause, and a fierce opponent of both the Soviets and the Nazis. He had only recently arrived in London. His government had previously been based in France since his own country had been overrun by the Germans the previous year. The imminent fall of France in June, had persuaded the Poles it was time to move - again.
Sikorski had been surprised at the terms offered to Poland by Germany, then suspicious. However, after an hour of in-depth discussions with Halifax, he came to realise that he really had no option but to accept. There was no possible way he could get better terms anyway. And he would be freeing his country! Or at least the western part!
He nurtured a deep hatred of the Germans but eventually agreed to talks with the German Minister of Foreign Affairs in London at any time of their choosing.
After Sikorski left, Halifax breathed a sigh of relief. “One down, four to go,” he thought.
Norway and tiny Luxembourg had accepted the proposals with alacrity. They were getting their countries back.
The five man Czechoslovakian delegation had left the meeting with Halifax, in despair. He had no good news for them, other than that they would be allowed to return to their country on condition they accepted the status quo that Czechoslovakia was now an integral part of Germany. And they would have to swear an oath of loyalty to the German state and become German citizens.
Lord Halifax genuinely felt sorry for them as he bade them goodbye and they slowly filed out of his office.
It was the Dutch that resisted the most. Queen Wilhelmina, (once described by Churchill as ‘the only man in the Dutch government’), was part of their delegation. After hearing what was being offered she was scathing about their country being left at the mercy of the Germans. It took all of Halifax’s patience and diplomacy before she reluctantly conceded they had no choice but to agree to talks with their enemy.
Halifax had now honoured his commitment to von Altendorf. He had persuaded the foreign ‘governments’ to see the greater perspective. Good luck to him!
BRUSSELS
While Lord Halifax was ‘entertaining’ the other governments-in-exile in London, Baron von Altendorf had visited the Belgium King Leopold at his palace in Brussels. The King had been under house arrest since surrendering alongside the Belgium army at the end of May. Meanwhile his previous government – from which he was estranged – was temporarily sitting in Bordeaux, in Vichy controlled France.
The policy of neutrality of the Belgium government before the war had been taken to ridiculous extremes and had left the country with an ill-equipped army and air force. The army had been equipped with only sixteen battle tanks when the Germans invaded. For ‘political reasons’, more than this number of tanks had been considered ‘too aggressive’ for a neutral power. Political correctness gone mad!
For this and other reasons, the Belgium King held his incompetent government in contempt, hence the estrangement.
The King immediately grasped what was on offer from Germany. He agreed with it but was not sure how his ex-ministers would view it. Leopold had little respect for their common sense. He suggested to von Altendorf that the Vichy French detain them in Bordeaux – not arrest, just detain – and escort them to Brussels for talks.
Von Altendorf did not particularly want to play it this way, but to be realistic; it was probably the only way he was going to get to talk to them easily.
He telephoned von Brauchitsch.
The following day the members of the Belgian government-in-exile, angry, tired, and more than a little apprehensive, were duly delivered to Brussels. Without delay they were in deep discussions with their King and von Altendorf. Despite the hostility between the two Belgian sides, they eventually saw the futility of trying to carry on as before. Just as all the other exiled governments had done.
It took a further day to hammer out a firm and binding agreement that was acceptable to all parties. A point of contention had been von Altendorf’s insistence on the historic problem of differences between the two language groups that made up Belgium’s population being resolved by way of a future referendum.
The German demand for the return of their territory ceded to Belgium after the Great War raised no great objections. It had been expected, and in any case did not amount to a large area.
Immediately afterwards von Altendorf flew to Copenhagen.
COPENHAGEN
His meeting with King Christian X and his fully constituted government went smoothly. When Germany had invaded their country, the Danish government had almost immediately capitulated in exchange for their retaining political independence in domestic matters.
Historically there had always been a large degree of interaction with Germany. The existing Danish politicians quickly formed a government of national unity involving the main political parties, but excluding communists. It was led by the serving Danish Prime minister. Danish public opinion generally backed the government as they recognised the reality of the situation.
Von Altendorf was actually offering more than expected. He had no great difficulty in procuring a deal!
He now made preparations to visit London to meet a lot of people who, for very good reasons, currently had no great love for Germans. Once he had agreements with them, he could turn his attention to what would be the biggest single problem - France. But he would let the French simmer for a little longer.
LONDON
In a relatively short but emotionally charged meeting with the Czechoslovaks, von Altendorf repeated, in a sympathetic but firm way, what they had already heard from the British Foreign Secretary. The country previously called Czechoslovakia, no longer existed. They would all be welcome to return to what were now the German provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, conditional only on them accepting German citizenship and undertaking not to engage in subversive activities. All previous property rights would be respected.
As a body, the delegates knew they were finished. The British government had already informed them that they had withdrawn their official recognition. Of the five individuals in the delegation, two advised they wished to return to Bohemia, - it was hard for them to call it this - two others elected to remain in Britain, and the delegation leader, Edvard Benes, the ex-President of the Czechoslovak Republic, was going to live in the USA. He had had enough of Europe and its politics!
Dealing with the Poles turned out to be less complicated than von Altendorf had thought. In less than two hours the two sides had agreed on all major points of a lasting peace treaty between Poland and Germany. Von Altendorf thought they seemed quite eager to get back to their native country. He realised that a major incentive for the Polish acceptance of what had been offered was Germany’s binding guarantee against foreign aggressors, i.e. the Soviet Union.
The matter of atrocities committed by the SS in Poland was brought up by General Sikorski. Von Altendorf was prepared for this and informed the Poles of the investigation currently underway, and assured them that any guilty party would be suitably punished. The new Polish government would be kept informed.
Remarkably they parted on good terms with General Sikorski actually inviting von Altendorf to visit Poland at the earliest opportunity.
“Wonders never cease,” he thought
as the Poles left.
The Dutch were also in a more receptive frame of mind following their previous discussions with Lord Halifax. Von Altendorf thought that he had managed to allay some of their fears and misgivings. The delegation had left the meetings in a seemingly more positive, less suspicious, mood. The Queen had even managed a smile - once.
He counted his diplomatic offensive as a success! Now he had to get back to Berlin to ensure the military governors of the occupied countries knew what they had to do, and co-operated wholeheartedly with the soon to be re-established internal governments.
But first, tomorrow he was being introduced to the British Prime Minister by Lord Halifax. Von Altendorf was looking forward to meeting the old war horse. Winston Churchill was the only man who had consistently and vocally warned about the dangers posed by Adolf Hitler. The only high profile politician, in any country, including Germany itself, who had recognised Hitler for what he was!
In the meantime he would enjoy a nice quiet dinner this evening with the new German Ambassador and his wife.
The next evening a car duly arrived at the German Embassy to collect von Altendorf for his meeting with the Prime minister and the Foreign Secretary. It was to be an informal dinner at number 10 Downing Street.
As he arrived at Downing Street he privately marvelled at the developments that had taken place over the past few weeks. Now, here he was, about to share a meal with the man who only a few weeks earlier was considered to be Germany’s greatest enemy. Absolutely fantastic! Unbelievable! The stuff of fiction books.
He was escorted to a room in which there were three people. Lord Halifax he already knew, and the portly figure of Winston Churchill he immediately recognised, of course. The third person present was someone he thought was vaguely familiar and whom he felt he should know, but he could not put a name to him.
Immediately he entered the room Churchill had spied him and lumbered forward to introduce himself. The introduction was scarcely over when the unknown person walked over and said, “Winston, I would very much appreciate it if you would introduce me to his Excellency.”
Churchill looked at both of them, and said, “Your Majesty, may I present His Excellency Baron von Altendorf.”
A slight pause. “Your Excellency, may I present His Majesty, King George.”
The imperturbable Von Altendorf was stunned! To meet the King! What an honour for him and his country! He was absolutely speechless for a few seconds before he recovered his wits.
Lord Halifax joined them and the conversation swiftly became relaxed and informal. There was no probing or contentious questions in the beginning, but later his hosts were very interested in the current situation in Germany. All had the good grace not to mention Hitler. He answered all comments and queries as fully as he could.
It had been a warm, congenial get together. Both the King and Churchill expressed their sincere appreciation for the swift and smooth repatriation of the British prisoners of war, an operation which would be completed in the next few days.
There was no doubt in von Altendorf’s mind that there had been an unbelievably huge, and he hoped permanent, thaw in Anglo-German relations.
AUGUST
Von Brauchitsch had invited the Interior Minister to join him for a private meeting at his convenience. Today was that meeting.
Firstly he asked Speer how conditions were in the concentration camps now that he had been tasked with closing them. As usual Speer gave a short concise answer.
“The teams I have sent into the camps have made great progress. Their first action was to change the SS guards for regular army guards, as we had already agreed.
There were almost one hundred thousand prisoners in the camps. Far more than we had expected. The SS ran an extremely brutal and uncaring system. Conditions were not good, to say the least. Poor and inadequate food, and only basic accommodation. The prisoners were overworked and physically abused. There was sickness and unnecessary deaths, some of them no doubt due to mistreatment.
Accommodation is now improved, food rations have been increased, and they are of better quality. Working conditions are more in line with industrial norms.
Ordinary criminals have been separated from the political and other prisoners who were considered to be enemies of the previous Nazi state. The criminals will be dealt with only after all the other, more deserving, cases are finalised. The teams at each camp are working through the records of the inmates, interviewing them, and where they are considered to have been wrongly incarcerated, they are immediately set free. They are then transported to a rehabilitation centre of their choice and given every possible assistance to integrate back into society.
In the case of alleged communist prisoners, the interviewing officers have to feel confident that the prisoner will not engage in subversive activities and are not Moscow controlled. Otherwise those particular cases are relegated for future consideration.
Prisoners are being released at the rate of about three thousand a week but we will increase this as time goes by. My staff are working ten hour days, six days a week.”
It was obvious that Speer was handling this unpleasant problem with his usual skill and speed.
Von Brauchitsch now broached the subject of their meeting. “Albert, I would like to ask you a personal favour. One that I need to be handled very discreetly.
Somewhere in the camps there were, or possibly still are, the relatives of a Jew called Max Baum. I think there may be his father, a brother, and some other relatives, possibly uncles, aunts and cousins. Can you find out what has happened to them? If they are still there, could you please release them immediately and have them accommodated with sufficient cash for them to get by for a few weeks?”
Speer asked no questions. “I will attend to it immediately.”
“Thank you Albert. I’ll wait to hear from you.”
After Hitler’s death, von Brauchitsch had waited for Goering to quietly mention that he had honoured his promise to Max Baum. Goering had said nothing. Possibly he had done what he said he would do, but von Brauchitsch’s conscience needed confirmation. Also he was not entirely confident that Goering wouldn’t arrange for Baum’s relatives to be eliminated, thus avoiding any possible trace back to him, should certain previous events ever come to light.
Confirmation came three days later. Speer handled the matter personally and came to the General’s office with the results.
Von Brauchitsch read the sheet of paper handed to him.
Goering had done nothing! Baum’s father, brother, and eight aunts, uncles and cousins had still been imprisoned in the camps up until this morning. They were guilty only of being Jewish! They had now all been released and at this very moment were being driven to a furnished house in Berlin owned by the Interior Ministry. A nurse had been allocated to them as the father was sick. A junior clerk from the Interior Ministry was also assisting them to re-adjust after their unpleasant time in the camp. They had been given enough money to get by for the next month pending further instructions from von Brauchitsch.
Von Brauchitsch was full of mixed emotions. Relief they were still alive, anger at the callousness of Goering, and gratitude to Speer for his usual super efficiency.
Speer saw himself out.
The General thought about Goering. He had noticed that the Field Marshall had been paying only minimal attention at the last few Governing Council meetings. Perhaps it is time he retired.
SEPTEMBER
BERLIN
Jamie MacLellan was in his study at home writing a long personal letter to his President. When finished, he leaned back and read through it.
Dear Mr President
The first two personal reports I sent to you were basically no more than my initial impressions during the short time I have been in Berlin.
Over the past weeks I have made some progress in establishing contacts that I regard as important. I now feel I have more insight into how things stand here in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
&
nbsp; In particular I mention a friendship I have developed with the British military attaché in Berlin, Colonel Jeremy Blackstone, who before this appointment, was aide to General Brooke, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Jeremy talks freely with me about matters that he believes are of mutual concern to our two countries.
He seems to have struck up a close friendship with Colonel Klaus von Altendorf, the son of the German Minister of Foreign Affairs. Klaus is also aide to General Rommel. They meet often, both on a formal and informal basis.
I mention this because I suspect he may be one of the sources of Blackstone’s information.
The German Peace Page 9
