Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

FRANCE IS TO BLAME 689was: Peace, peace! 'When I say peace, that is what the whole Germanpeople is thinking,' he cried. 'Hence the plebiscite!' It was not true, hedeclared, that a spiritual preparation for war was being carried on inGermany, and the enemies of Germany ought to think up somethingbetter. Whenever he, Hitler, spoke of peace, the answer was: only heand his intimate staff speak like that, but in the people a wild warlikespirit is raging; and in the next breath he was accused of repressing thewill of the people. Indeed, the stormy applause of millions at Hitler'speace speeches could not be ignored; in England, Lord Robert Cecil,chairman of the British League of Nations Association, said thatGerman statesmen could not continuously speak of peace if they werenot convinced that the German people, in the bottom of its heart, desiredpeace as much as every other people on earth; moreover, he, Lord Cecil,would not maintain that Germany had no reason for complaint.It was from England that the most encouraging voices came. While alarge part of the French press warned that Hitler wanted only to separateFrance and England, in England the opinion was widespread that Franceonly wanted to incite England and Germany against each other. True,not every Englishman was as enthusiastic as Lord Rothermere, who, onOctober 18, sent his correspondent, Ward Price, to Hitler. 'There aresigns,' said Ward Price, 'that since last Saturday' — day of the Germanwithdrawal from the League of Nations — 'your popularity with theBritish public has risen amazingly. Lord Rothermere, with whom Ispoke on the telephone last night, told me that when your picture wasshown in the news reels Monday night it was greeted with livelyapplause.' Even the conservative Morning Post wrote on October 16 thatFrance should not reject Hitler's outstretched hand; NevilleChamberlain, Sir Austen's brother, demanded what more or lessamounted to the same thing: that people reserve judgment in condemningGermany. Lord Beaverbrook wanted England to denounce theTreaty of Locarno, because France (not Germany) by rearming hadmorally broken it.Vernon Bardett said over the radio that he was convinced of the'almost foolish' sincerity of the Germans. Lloyd George, in manyarticles and speeches, prophesied the victory of Communism in