I wish to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to you for sending me to Germany last June. I have found the work truly exhilarating and I consider myself to be very lucky to be in this country during this period of radical change.
The trial of the Nazi plotters has started. I was able to attend the first two court sessions to see for myself how justice works in the new Germany. I was pleasantly surprised. Apart from procedural differences, I perceived it to be as fair as our own judicial system, and perhaps a lot less theatrical. I want to attend more of these hearings as they help me stay in tune with German thinking.
As regards the demise of Hermann Goering, he does not seem to be greatly missed. I think he was probably no more than a figurehead and spokesman for the Governing Council. I also have it on good authority that he was somewhat ineffectual when he was Aviation Minister.
It seems that the old Nazi concentration camps are now empty except for genuine criminals and a small number of undetermined cases. These are housed in one camp and the others have been closed. Permanently!
The economy continues to improve. The Interior and Agriculture Ministers have been quite innovative. The Economics Minister so far cannot be faulted for any of his actions.
You already have my military reports via the embassy. All the German capital ships have been sold. The Russians finally signed a deal after they heard the Germans were contemplating accepting an offer from the Japanese. After all the border clashes between Russian and Japanese forces in recent years, the last thing the Soviets want to see is an even stronger Japanese Empire.
As you already know, the European Alliance is now a reality. Beyond all the political statements and the press reports, I can give you a little more background.
Norway, Denmark and Poland signed simultaneously with Germany. The Scandinavian countries have small populations and, following the recent war, they are looking for some kind of guarantee against future invasion. The same is true of Poland, but they, of course, have a much larger population. Talking to officials from these countries, I ascertained that they all have one definite thing in common. They see the Soviet Union as a future threat. Especially Poland.
Germany is re-equipping the armed forces of those three countries with the same equipment that the Germans are currently using. They are doing this free of charge as an unspoken form of reparations for the unprovoked invasions by Germany under the previous Nazi regime. Once the re-equipping is complete, sometime next year, the four countries have agreed to spend at least five percent of their annual budget on defence the following year. Thereafter their defence budgets must never fall below three percent a year without formal agreement from all the other alliance members. Germany herself will apparently exceed this budgetary requirement for the immediate future.
The Poles were not happy that the city of Danzig voted to become part of Germany, but then it was never truly Polish anyway. I meet regularly with Polish officials at embassy functions, etc, and their previous hatred of the Germans has diminished. They may never actually like them, but they certainly respect them these days.
Holland is expected to join the Alliance in the very near future.
The referendum in Belgium yielded the expected result in terms of the two different language groups wishing to separate. The big surprise was the eagerness with which the Flemish speakers in the Northern half of the country entered into negotiations with the Dutch to become a semi-autonomous province of Holland. These discussions are still ongoing but I hear everything is proceeding smoothly.
In the Southern French speaking half of Belgium the politicians are still squabbling among themselves about their future direction. There is some talk of union with France, but the German occupation of Northern France is hindering this.
I have heard that the German Foreign Affairs Minister will be visiting France shortly, possibly to discuss a final peace treaty. The last of the French prisoners of war have now been repatriated from Germany, which resulted in a fairly high level of unemployment in their home country. To alleviate this, the Germans agreed to an amendment of the armistice agreement and allow Vichy France larger armed forces. This absorbed a considerable number of the returning soldiers.
The Japanese had their nose put out of joint when France, backed by Germany, refused their request for military access to French Indochina. They were infuriated by Germany’s sale of a battlecruiser to China, and two battleships to Russia. They were apoplectic when it was announced that Germany was going to provide China with military aid.
As far as I have been able to ascertain, the aid will be in the form of tanks, aircraft, guns, trucks, mortars, rifles and machine guns. All of it is German surplus stock or captured French material and much of it approaching obsolescence, but still superior to anything the Chinese have, and better than much of what the Japanese have at present. German and French military personnel will also be sent to train them in their use.
German military advisors will be there, to train the Chinese forces in operations and tactics. As usual the Chinese will pay for this aid by way of supplying produce and raw materials, but the Germans have given them a big discount on the purchase price of the equipment.
My friend Jeremy Blackthorn has told me that the British are still quietly reinforcing their Far East possessions, as are the Dutch and the French with German blessing.
The Japanese Empire is now isolated. Maybe they will now have a rethink about their aggressive expansion. One can only hope. If they do come to the negotiating table, we will have Germany to thank.
Finally, one interesting item I picked up only three days ago. It seems that the German Governing Council has no plans to introduce a democratic vote for a new government at any time in the near future.
I discretely canvassed as many Germans as I could, to discover how they would regard such a thing. The majority take the simple view that politicians have let them down in recent history. There was no effective democratic government before the Great War. And after that war, politics were in chaos in Germany until Hitler swept it all away. Now they see themselves as a stable country and one of the world’s great powers. They do not need democracy.
I found that very interesting.
Yours respectfully
Jamie MacLellan.
OUTSIDE BERLIN
Jamie and Erica had the von Altendorf estate to themselves this weekend. No other family or friends. Klaus was with his regiment wherever it was, and the Baron was working over the weekend.
Since they had first met, they had seen each other at least once every week, usually for dinner or theatre. They had become very close.
After dinner that evening they played American jazz records. Erica was sifting through the records. Jeremy was slouched in his favourite armchair, eyes closed, listening to Glenn Miller’s ‘American patrol’. At peace with the world. He was here, alone, with Erica.
“This music was banned up until recently, you know,” quipped Erica with a giggle. “If the Gestapo burst in here right now, they would haul us off for interrogation.”
Jeremy just smiled without opening his eyes. He was dreaming of holding Erica in his arms, something they had not yet progressed to. Although he suspected he would summon the courage to declare his affection very soon, maybe this weekend.
As the number finished, Erica put on another Glenn Miller favourite, ‘In the mood’.
Jeremy was startled when she sat herself on his lap. Even more surprised when she relaxed against him with her head nestled on his chest. He gingerly put his arms around her. They remained like that, absorbing the music, comfortable with each other.
The music stopped and Erica reluctantly got up to change the record. This time it was ‘Moonlight serenade’. She sat on Jeremy’s knee again but did not lean back on him. She appeared to be lost in thought.
“What deep thoughts do you have, Miss von Altendorf,” said Jeremy lightly.
She did not answer, just turned her head and looked at him. After a moment she said �
��It is time.”
A little bewildered Jeremy asked, “Time for what,” with a quizzical look.
She stood up and held out her hand to him. “Time you stopped being a reserved English gentleman. Tonight I do not want to sleep alone.” She stared at him, willing him to respond.
And respond he did. As soon as it sunk in what she was saying, he was on his feet and engulfed her in his arms. They kissed passionately. All their emotions set free. Once they had un-entangled themselves, Erica took his hand and led him out of the room and up the broad stairway.
14 DECEMBER
The trial of plotters belonging to the Oktoberfest Conspiracy as it had come to be known, was over.
After the arrest of the eighty five plotters, some of them had quickly co-operated with the police, and as a result, a further nineteen people were arrested. Police interrogation soon ascertained which of the one hundred and four detainees were merely used as unsuspecting messengers or dupes. There were fifteen of these. They were released with a caution to be on their guard in the future.
The remaining eighty nine were brought to trial.
To accommodate everyone, including a large contingent of local and international media reporters, the hall of a disused school was converted into a makeshift courtroom. There were five judges, who, unlike the British or American system, actively involved themselves in establishing the facts of the case. They acted as prosecutor, defender, jury and judge all rolled into one. The Public Prosecutor was a civil servant who presented the case to the court.
All of the accused were found guilty of treason in varied degrees. The ringleaders, eleven in total, received the death sentence. The remainder received sentences of imprisonment with hard labour for terms between twenty and five years with no opportunity for parole. A couple of them were excused the hard labour part due to their age or health.
A final irony was that the prison terms were to be served in one of the same concentration camps that the Nazis had set up and administered so brutally through their SS guards. Poetic justice!
In his office von Brauchitsch was relieved. Justice had been done. The relatively harsh sentences meted out, would be seen as a deterrent to any other potential plotters with Nazi tendencies. Thankfully, there had not been even the faintest whisper of a suggestion of any involvement by Hermann Goering.
The General believed that Nazism was now finally dead in Germany.
16 DECEMBER
The German Minister of Foreign Affairs met with the French President, Marshall Petain, and his Minister of Defence, Admiral Francois Darlan, in the town of Vichy, France. The seat of the non-democratic government of what was left of France.
Petain was already eighty four years old. A hero of France from the Great War. Now he was attempting to run a country in which a low intensity civil war existed between communists/republicans, and those who preferred a more right wing regime such as that of General Franco in Spain. The pre-war French political parties were totally discredited. Communism was on the rise in France.
It was exactly six months since the armistice had been signed.
Von Altendorf had already met with Petain and his then Minister of Defence, General Charles de Gaulle, some months earlier to initiate discussions on a final peace treaty. While Petain largely stayed silent, the bombastic de Gaulle had dominated the meeting. His arrogant and unrealistic demands caused von Altendorf to prematurely terminate the talks.
It was another three weeks before a letter was received by von Altendorf from Petain advising him that General de Gaulle had been offered, and accepted, an appointment with the French forces in Africa, and that Admiral Francois Darlan was the new Minister of Defence as well as Deputy Prime Minister.
‘In other words de Gaulle was fired’, von Altendorf thought. ‘Good’.
There followed another two months of exchange of letters in which Petain and Darlan asked for German proposals and thoughts on a final peace treaty, in reply to which von Altendorf prevaricated and gave nothing away, only hinting at certain possibilities.
Now he was ready to talk!
After the usual preliminary small talk they got down to business. The discussions were conducted in French, in which von Altendorf was fluent. As before, Petain stayed largely silent. Darlan did most of the talking. The Admiral displayed a much more reasonable and conciliatory approach than his predecessor.
He started by admitting to von Altendorf that Germany had acted scrupulously in fulfilling its obligations in terms of the armistice. Indeed, he commended the Baron for relaxations of some of the terms, namely allowing the new French Army to grow to a quarter of a million men instead of the one hundred thousand limit originally imposed. This had been done to absorb some of the unemployed ex-prisoners of war repatriated from Germany. It had been of invaluable assistance to the French.
Von Altendorf allowed just a little bit of optimism to creep into his thoughts in the face of Darlan’s reasonableness. Perhaps now they could talk seriously.
Von Altendorf spoke. “We also turned a blind eye to the French navy not disarming as you are obliged to do in terms of the armistice.” A slight pause to let this sink in. “Furthermore your air force strength is twenty percent of what it was on 1 May, not fifteen percent as agreed.”
Before they tried to deny this, or even worse, blatantly confirm it in a show of defiance, he carried on. “However, provided we can make some progress towards a mutually acceptable peace arrangement, these infractions could be considered unimportant.” He thought he detected a very slight sign of relief on the part of Darlan.
“You are well aware of our support for the European Alliance. I will not beat about the bush. Germany would welcome a willing and enthusiastic independent France as a participant in this alliance.” There! The offer was on the table. Let them respond.
It was Petain who replied. “What exactly do you mean by ‘independent France’ , Baron?”
‘Good’, thought von Altendorf. ‘We are talking’. He answered, “Exactly what it says. France’s borders the same as they were at the beginning of this year before the war exploded, but perhaps expanded by the inclusion of the French speaking southern half of Belgium.” That surprised them! “And Germany forever renounces any claims to its former territory of Alsace-Lorraine.” Another surprise!
“You will be governed by whatever form of government you wish, subject only to two reasonable stipulations.”
“And they are?” Darlan asked.
“Firstly, no return to the incompetent governments that France has endured for the past twenty years or so. And secondly, no communists, either in government or even allowed as a political party.”
“Are you so afraid of communists? Just as Adolf Hitler was.”
“Things have changed dramatically in Germany. There is now freedom of expression, except for communists. And this is not just because they are labelled communists. It is because Moscow controls them for its own ends. Stalin has no more interest in the brotherhood of man than the man in the moon.
No doubt many people who think of themselves as communists are good people who believe in their principles. It is not these we are concerned with. It is the subversive element following Moscow’s directives that we will not tolerate.”
Petain and Darlan seemed to be considering this. They knew the truth about Russian manipulation of the naïve, unscrupulous, or simply power hungry members of the French communist party.
He carried on speaking. “As regards the first stipulation, it would not be in anybody’s interest for France to revert to the sort of politics you have experienced for many years now. A stable and prosperous France is needed.”
Von Altendorf thought they should digest this and comment on it. The ball was in their court. He pretended to look through one of his files while they thought things through.
Once again it was Darlan that spoke. “What timetable do you have in mind?”
In von Altendorf’s mind it was this point that could be the most contentious issue.
‘Now for the difficult bit’ he thought. “The main problem foreseen by the current members of the Alliance is that new members need to have stable governments and sound economies. This is of even greater concern in the case of a larger member.
Let us be blunt. France’s governments since the Great War have not served your country well. You also have the only large communist party in Western Europe.”
He paused briefly before continuing. “We propose Germany would withdraw all of its troops immediately from the French Atlantic seaboard that we now occupy. The total number of the occupying troops in northern France would simultaneously be reduced to a maximum of two hundred thousand. This is less than the numbers of the French army as it currently stands.
We will announce that we will steadily reduce our troops with total reductions being not less than fifty thousand a year, but France would be ‘free’ of German troops in a maximum of three years.
The German Peace Page 13
