It was very shortly after I arrived in Berlin in 1930 that we got to know

Transcription

1 J? Subject! Dr. BrUning It was very shortly after I arrived in Berlin in 1930 that we got to know Dr. BrUning. He was a bachelor and he lived very quietly and went out very little* He did,however, come with certain frequency to the American Embassy and Mr. Sackett, our then-ambassador and Dr. BrUning had a very olose and helpful relationship. There were at the time some 30 parties in Germany. Dr. BrUning as Chancellor had an exceedingly difficult position to maintain. Aside from the internal problems whioh were so serious, such as unemployment and the constant pressures on him from every direction, the British and the French governments were not making his task any easier. Throughout.All this stress and strain I never saw him anything but calm and quiet* One day Ambassador Sackett told me that the Minister of ifllrttemberg was giving a luncheon in the VTOrttemberg Legation in Berlin and he wished Mrs* Sackett and him to be there, and that he was inviting me also with my wife. Incidentally, it may seem strange that one should speak of a WUrttemberg Legation in Berlin, and while this is too long a story to go into because it oovers an interesting phase of the internal organization of the Reich, for many years after the Empire and up until the time of whioh I am writing, the German-States kept legations in Berlin. The then-tsurttemberg Minister in Berlin was a very pleasant man. I had met him on a number of occasions. The University of Tubingen was giving Ambassador Sackett an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. The Rector of the university accompaniejpby several professors were coming to Berlin to the TRiUrttemberg Legation for the purpose of informing the Ambassador of this action, and the Legation luncheon was to be the occasion of this formal notification. Mr. and Mrs. Sackett invited us to go with them in their oar to the Legation and during the driva I said to the Ambassador that I doubted very much that Dr* BrUning would be at the luncheon as he had indicated he would be. It was my understanding that in the early afternoon there was to be a meeting of the Reichstag and

2 - 2 - there was a strong possibility that Brttning would be voted out and would have to resign. Almost immediately after we arrived at the Legation Dr. Brttning arrived. He chatted principally with Mrs. Sackett and with my wife before the luncheon. They were as I recall on either side of him during the luncheon. He was unusually entertaining and seemed to be completely without any preoccupation. I was rather mystified and came to the conclusion during the luncheon that I had been mistaken or improperly informed about the probable events of the afternoon. At the end of the luncheon Dr. Brttning said to the ladies that he was sorry that he could not remain as he would have to leave immediately for the Reiohstag. He just had time to get there for an important meeting. He turned to Mr. Sackett and said that he did not know what the outcome of the session would be but that after it was over he might not be Chancellor. During all the years that we knew Dr. Brttning afterwards there has remained the impression that I had of him then and of his extraordinary calmness. When the Nazi regime came in Dr» Brttning's life was in danger. He was in hiding. I was in touch with him through friends. I learned that he was sleeping in a different house every night. The Gestapo was looking for him. That he had good friends and faithful friends is shown by the fact that they were not able to find him. #2 t is customary in practically all posts, when an Ambassador or a Consul General or an important member of the staff of our establishment leaves for another post the resident Americans give him a dinner* Ttfhen it was learned that I was going to Vienna as Minister the very considerable colony of Americans living in Berlin decided to give a dinner in the Hotel Esplanade. A committee came to see me and said they would like to ask certain distinguished Germans to the dinner. As they were my friends I told them they must not think of that as they would only be harming these people. I said that I accepted the invitation to this dinner, which I appreciated very much, under one condition, and that was that no one in the Nazi

3 - 3 - government and no one with any Nazi sympathies should be invited. For that reason it was best to keep it entirely to Americans, and by the samo token my wife and I would not sit down in the dining room of the Esplanade if there was a Nazi flag displayedo The dinner was quite a large one. Just as I was about to have to make a speech a message was brought to me to the effect that there was a friend of mine who wished to see me in a certain room in the Esplanadee The circumstances were such that I knew it must be something serious or important, so I excused myself and went to this room in the hotel. I found there a distinguished German whom I had known since the beginning of s$r stay in Berlin. He was a close friend of Dr. Brttning. He told me that Dr. Brttning had asked him to convey two messages. The first was that it was a matter of great regret to him that he could not be at this dinner at which the Americans honored me onraydeparture for the new post in Vienna, He knew what I had done for Germany and how much I had the real interests of Germany at heart and that he considered that it was an unhappy thing that I was leaving Berlin for Vienna. The second message was that Dr. Brttning felt that he would have to get out of the oountry as it was increasingly difficult for his friends to protect him, that is to keep him hidden. It was not only that he was in danger but that the friends who were sheltering and protecting him were in danger. I gave appropriate messages to this man to convey to Dr. Brttning and told him that I thought it would be advisable for him to leave the country and that I would be very glad to help in the arrangements to that end. Even now I do not believe it is advisable to set forth here what these arrangements were, but it was not long thereafter that Dr. Brttning passed safely over the German frontier into Holland one night. Dr. Brttning went to the United States and he had this professorship at Harvard in which I think on the whole he found himself comfortable. I saw him from time to time and was in touch with him by letter. I recall on one occasion President Roosevelt expressed a desire to have a talk with Dr. Brttning at the White House but preferred that it be kept from the press. I therefore asked Dr. Brttning to come to

4 .1*. Washington to see me and he spent a few days with us in our home in Georgetown. During this stay he saw the President quietly one Sunday morning at the White House* Dr. BrUning always nourished the desire to return to Germany and he did not wish to do anything which would interfere with hi* return to Germany. He had the strange idea, therefore, that he should not get an immigration visa from us on tho basis of which ho could reside continuously in the United States and still retain his Gorman citizenship. He therefore remained in our country for a number of years on so-called visitor'* visas. I tried on several occasions to impress on him that it would be desirable for him to regularize his position through getting an immigration visa, but he always asked me to see if it would not be possible for him to continue on visitor's visas. It was while I was Ambassador to Cuba that I received a letter from Dr. BrUning saying that he would be very glad to make a visit to us in Havana. As my wife and I were both very fond of him we told him that we would be very glad to have him come and stay for several weeks with us in our homo. When he arrived he told me that he wished to tell me frankly that aside from the pleasure of seeing us he now wished to arrange for an immigration visa to the United States. He knew that he had been pestering his friends by this matter of visitor's visas and that he wished to regularize his admission on a permanent basis 0 As it was necessary for a person in the United States on. a visitor'* visa to leave the country in order to apply at a nearby consulate for an immigration visa, he had decided to accept our invitation to visit us and get thi* visa in Havana. I told him that this was purely a matter of carrying through the appropriate formalities and that he did not have to give himself any concern about that. During this visit I found that BrUning was in much better health than I bought he was. He had suffered for years from a mild form of heart insufficiency. He wai his usual charming self during this stay with us. He preferred to be quiet so we had few engagements during his stay and we spent the evenings

5 - 5 - on the veranda talking about Germany and what would happen. I found him very gloomy. He was not quite the same Dr. Brttning that we had known before. He seemed to have become in some respects embittered. We had had so many conversations with regard to Germany and Europe and usually found ourselves in agreement. During these conversations in Havana I found his ideas of the post-war Germany and its position very different from mine. It was the first time that we had differed fundamentally about anything of importance. He was quite obviously upset that my views were not in accord with his. Dr» Brllning remained in touch with us. We had occasional letters but no correspondence on anything of importance* When Dr«Brttning finally returned to Germany he must have found it very difficult to accommodate himself % the new situation. Dr. Adenauer was holding the position in the West German government that undoubtedly Dr«Brttning had looked forward to. There was really no important place in the West German political picture for Dr. Brttning* He should have been able to understand this and given his full support to Dr. Adenauer in the tremendous efforts he was making to hold the situation in West Germany together and to carry through the policy of collaboration with the United States and England and France, which was the keystone of his policy. Tr&St ring the few months preceding the ratification of the defense arrangements which permit the rearmament of Germany statements which Dr<> Brttning made have not been helpful in the internal German picture nor helpful in solidifying the position within Germany. He should have given his most full and generous support to Dr. Adenauer. The many years that Dr. Brttning had spent out of his country and his academic seclusion at Harvard had in many respects withdrawn him from the realities of life and of the times that we were living in. For those of us who have admired and respected him and have cherished him as a friend, our memory would be happier and sweeter if he had given Dr. Adenauer in these great days of trial in 1955 "k** 8 support which he should have given him.