"Conversations with Von Pap en in Vienna",,

Transcription

1 iubjectt "Conversations with Von Pap en in Vienna",, After the assassination of Chancellor Dolfuss, the continued stay of von Rieth, the German Minister In Vienna, was impossible. There was no doubt whatever that he had been connected with this terrible assassination. I am inclined to think that Ton Rieth, who was a trained German diplomat and a gentleman and, I believe, in many respects what I woula 1 call a good German, loathed certain things which he had to do as German Minister in Vienna* He had long been In the diplomatic careero He was a wealthy man. He wished to continue in the career. He was one of those Germans who believed that the Hitler regime could not last forever. I do not believe he had any sympathy with the Nazi regimeo He played along for pure opportunism* He wished to remain in the career. Nevertheless, he was so closely connected with the events preceding the assassination of Dolfuss that no matter what part he played therein, he could no^ longer stay in Vienna 8 It was therefore with very real surprise that we learned that Franz von Papen had been named German Minister to Vienna. I had little respect for Ton Papen. I knew too well what he had done in our country in Washington when he was Military Attache/before we went Into the first World War. I had discovered the code that he used to communicate with German agents in the United States when he was enjoying our hospitality and diplomatic immunity. X had fallowed his activities later in Germany from 193 n # when I was stationed in Berlin. I had no reason either to admire or respect or trust hiau His appointment, however, to tha Legation in Vienna was really surprising, During the short period that he was Chancellor at the beginning of the Nazi's taking over the government in Germany in 1933» ne had three secretaries, three young men who were very intelligent and very decent persons. I knew them all quite well. were serving von Papen out of personal loyalty to him and not to tha They

2 - 2 - T 4 1 4' Hitler regime. They felt that they aould do some good. Two of these secretaries irere shot 4hiring the Saint Bartholomew' day massacre at the end of June 195^-» I believe, to Switzerland* The third of these secretaries escaped and went, X knew that von Papen had escaped death during the Saint Bartholomew day massacre on June 5 * 193^ only by a miracle* He was one of those marked by Hitler for elimination that day. I eannot vouch fo* the absolute accuracy of this story, but it eame to me at the time from a friend of Prau von Papem# It appears that von Papen the left his home in Berlin/fcfcmi morning of the massacre very early. Shortly after he had left home a high ranking German officer, whose mame X recall but will not mention even in these notes, called on Frau von Papen. He asked her where Franz was. She told him that he had just left home* He told her that all sorts of people werw to be eliminated that day and that her husband was among them. He wished to get in touch with von Papen immediately. Fran von Papen could not help him as she did not know where he had gone. From among the higher generals in the German Army X learned that they had succeeded in getting in touch with von Papen and hiding him* Many high ranking officers of the German Army were friends of Ton Papen. They did no* trust him nor respect him more than some of the rest of us did. but they eonsidered him as one of the elements which could be msed in keeping the Nazis from getting complete control of the government machinery and people in the eountry. He was a man to be conto served rather than/let the Nazis knock him off* These Army officers kept him in»iding for some time. Von Papen was one of those who was to be eliminated that day and he knew it, of that there is no doubt. It is not necessary, therefore, to explain further the surprise that some of us felt that he should accept this appointment as German

3 3 - Minister in Vienna from Hitler* How a man,who was to have been eliminated undef direct orders from Hitler himself, and whose two private secretaries had been shot for no arime whatever, eould accept such a post from Hitler seemed incredible even for von Papen, We should have known better as we should have realized that von Papen was capable of anything % it suited his own purposes* In the Austrian government it was realized that the appointment of von Papen meant no good. It was realized that it meant an intensification of the German efforts to secure control of Austria and to bring about the Anschluss, The new Chancellor, Dr, SchuschnittU Made no secret of this in the talks which we had» When von Papen arrived he began to make his calls on hia colleagues. The German Legation was established in tiie old German Embassy in Vienna, It was a very large, comfortable old palace. It had been the German Embassy for many many years in the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Shortly after his arrival, von Papen asked for a time to call on me I purposely kept putting off the call for several weeks, I wished him in this way to know that I had no par» ticulaf desire to see hi»» I wished from the beginning to put our relationship on the proper basis. On the day finally fixed for von Papen's call he came alone, but I asked Alfred Klieforth, who was the First Secretary of our Legation, to be with me during von Papen 1 s call* Von Papen greeted me most effusively when he came into my office. He greeted me lika an old friend, I had told Klieforth that I did not wish to discuss anything of substanoa with von Papen during this meeting, I wished the call to be purely the ceremonious call which it really waa«van Papen endeavored during the conversation to bring up all sorts of subjects. He wished to discuss the situation in Germany and in Austria and in Europe in general, I kept the conversation on a purely formal

4 basis, X refused to discuss any of the questions which he raised. He had obviously come to have a long talk for on arrival and after seating himself, he had settled himself comfortably la ft big armchair,, He tried unsuccessfully for half an hour to engage me in conversation, and when he found that it was impossible he left* According t«the msual protocol, I had to return this call on von Papen at his legation* Again I put it off for several weeks. We had good sources of information and I knew that from almost the day of his arrival, he had begun his machination! to endeavor to undermine the Austrian government* It was quite obvious that he was going to be ft complete instrument of the Hitler regime. When I finally called on him after several weeks, X f course had to go alone, I couldn't take ft secretary with me this time. It was not customary to do that. When I arrived at the German Legation which was very close to our own Chancery, Ton Papen received me in his officft which was one of the very large rooms on the ground floor of the old embassy. It was ft beautiful room. Von Papen greeted me very courteously and again as an old friend. As we settled down in chairs he said to me with a smile, "This time we arc in my legation and although you may not talk,i can talk and you will have to listen to me", I was quite ready to listen for I knew that von Papen could be the most indiscreet man in tha world. He started out to tell me what he was going to do. He said that he had come as Minister to Vienna not only as Minister to Vienna but also to supervise the activities of the German chiefs of mission in Hungary and Rumania and Bulgaria* He said that Austria was the natural hinterland of Germany as were these other aountries. It was his business to see that the Anschluss was brought about peacefully. It was his intention

5 - 5 - to do thiso The Austrian government was in power against the will of the majority of the people., He had already established contact with Cardinal Innitze*. He wished to remind me that he, von Papen, was a good Catholic and that his wife was aven a better Catholic than he. He was going to establish eontact with tha- most important Catholic elements in the country. He then went into great d#t*il to set forth to me just how he was going to work in Austria. I was quite prepared to hava him talk about German objective* la Austria and southeastern Europe but I must admit that even I, knowing him as I did and his duplicity, was surprised that he should tell me in such frankness and in aomplete detail, what they were planning to do, and what he was planning to do. He told me that it was definitely the German objectiv* to get control of Austria and of the countries to the south to the Turkish border. He spoke with a great deal of pride about the fact that he was to supervise the activities of the German ministers ia these other countries* Vo» Papen always was a very vain man. He was a man absolutely without shame, Whils he was talking, and he must have talked about three-quarters of an hour, I of course kept taking nota mentally of all that he was saying, but I kept thinking of how it was possible for a man with thisflsmilytradition and his military tradition to undertake a job of this kind* I realized once again with what kind of people we were dealing when we were dealing with the Nazi regime. There were no scruples whatever to attain the end desired. When von Papen reached the end of his speech he said, "Now you know what I plan to do hera". He said it in such a ton* and manner as to indicate: "What difference does it make whether you know what I plan to do because you 1 ** not going to be able to do anything to stop it and you might Just as well realize it«* When he finished I got upf I said to von Papen that

6 - 6 - I had had many experiences in my lifetime, that I had had strange things happen ta me, and that I had seen strange things happen to others, I had had many surprising eonversatione, X had never had one like this, wanted him to know that I did not doubt what he had just told me was the endeavor to policy of his government, I had no doubt that he would/do just what he had been telling me, I said that at timee in the old days the ways of diplomacy had been rathe» devious* I had not known, however, of any time in modern history where a man had been sent by hie government to endeavor, under the protection of diplomatic immunity, to undermine the government of the country and to destroy its sovereignity I It was not accessary for me to express any ef my own views or opinions, either about the plans of his government e* with regard to him. I aid wish him to know, however, that I thought it would be very convenient that when we met we have as little to do with each other as possible. It would serve no purpose; I said that X hoped that when we met each other in public places,that he would not put me in a position to show how disapproving I was, not only of what his government was doing but ef what he was doing. I wanted ta give him fair notice. I may say that my purpose la saying this was that I was sura that von Papen would endeavor to make it appear, when we saw each other in public places, that we were good friends. It was his way of working, I wanted von Papen to know just where I stood but I did not wish him to put me in the position of having ta te discourteous in publie. Von Fapen merely smiledo I could not have made him understand more definitely how despicable X thought he was. He was so confident of himself that it did not affect him in the slightest, X,of course^reported the conversation to my government* The objectives of the German government in southeastern Europe and that von Papen ahould be chosen to help carry through these objectives was,

7 - 7 - of course, no surprise to the Department in Washington. They knew von Papen too well»ver the years. It was difficult to keep things from coming into the open between von Papen and myself. The Austrian authorities, of course, with whom I was in touch almost every day, knew how I felt and how my government felt. Hardly a day passed that I did not see Chancellor Schuschnitfc or the Minister of Foreign Affair* or some other of the important ministers in the government. They talked with me in the most complete frankness. Prom our own sources in ths Legation an* from the Austrian government I got full details of von Papen's, almost from day to day, activities. If sver a chief of mission abused his privileges, if ever a chief of mission acted in a dastardly manner, von Papen did so in Vienna. And ye% on all public occasions it would appea» that his attitude towards Austria was most friendly, and that his attitude towards the Austrian government was most friendly. Wherever he was invited he went. There were two occasions on which my wife and I had to go to the German Legation on the invitation of on Papen. There was one occasion^ I do not recall what It was, when we had to ask him and Prau Ton Papen to war Legation. He was careful, however, to take note of my warning. Whenever he and Z were present at some public occasion, he always made it a point to come up to speak to me but he never held out his hand because he knew I would not take it. He was always all smiles and apparent friendliness. On more than ons occasion my wife hat as sit next to him at dinner. He always endeavored to engage her in conversation on matters affecting Germany and Austria and the United States. My wife knew how to handle the situation. She always talked to him about porcelain. This did not keep von Papen from endeavoring to open thes* subjects whenever he sat next to her. He never made any progress because she always

8 _ 8 - returned to porcelain,, Tho Austrian government had good sources of information; it naturally had to keep itself informed and had many agents whoso business it was to keep track of the movement* of certain foreign diplomat* and of certain foreigners. They knew who saw von Papen at his Legation and it became increasingly obvious that certain persons, important in the country, were going to see von Papen at strange hours of the night when they thought they would ba unobserved. Our own Legation had very good sources of information and,as the Austrian officials gave me the information which they had, I found that almost invariably it checked with that which our people were giving to me, The worst of it all was, of course*, that von Papen made progress with certain lements which heretofore had been completely anti-nazi, fie was able to give economic aid to some, he was able to make promison of what would happow. to these people when the Austrian government fell and the German occupation camo # The situation in Europe was deteriorating It became obviously more clear that Mussolini t who had thought that he was going to be the bigger partner in the Hitler-Mussolini combination, was rapidly becoming completely subservient to Hitler and following his lead. It was increasingly obvious that Mussolini, who had given his support to the Austrian government, was les«and less able to give that support. The assassination of Dolfuss had infuriated Mussolini. Mussolini admiro* Dolfuss. There isnh any doubt that the policy of the Italian government, up to a certain point, MM to maintain the Austrian government and had let Hitler so know. It was one of the things which Infuriated Hitler with Mussolini. With the decreasing influence, however, of Mussolini in tho Hitler-Mussolini combination, it becamo obvious not only to tho Austrian government but those of thoso in Vienna who wero following things slosely, that if things came to a crisis again Mussolini was not in a position to

9 ivi) # continue to give the same strong support to the Austrian government that he had been giving. This was a tremendous disillusionment to the Austrian officials Increasingly,men of certain importance in Austria and who had a certain influence, began to get ready to turn over towards the Hitler regime. They did this very quietly at first but their frequent visits to von Papen in the German Legation, usually in the hours of the night, «ade obvious what was taking place. It became increasingly clear to the Austrian government that the British government and the French government, while continuing their assurances of support, that the time would almost certainly come when the British and French governments would acquiesce in the taking over of the country by the Nazis* There was an element of deep sadness that prevailed in serious conversations with the Austrian official** So far as our country was concerned, the Austrian government knew that the primary responsibility for stopping the lazis lay with Austrian government the French and with the British governments. The/ looked upon us as their friend; tiiey knew that we had this deep and friendly Interest in theirtoeingabla to maintain their aovereignity and integrity* They accepted the situation, however, as it was. They were great realists. Never in their conversation! did they expect us to do things which we could not do at tha time, nor did they even by implication ask us to do anything. The Austrian government was very grateful for the infor* matioa which I gave to them, which I received from so many aources, and which it found helpful* In turn, they gave to me information, I think, which they gave to few of the chiefs of mission, if any. in Vienna. They felt that they could trust me because they knew how I personally felt and they knew of my actuation in Berlin. They felt that they could trust our country but they knew that they could not expect anything from our country at the time.