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

FRANCE IS TO BLAME 717took to say in hard and unfriendly words that it was impossible — whileHitler still was speaking of peace and reconciliation. The decision tonegotiate or not to negotiate with Germany involved for France thechoice between England and Russia as her ally. Now she had chosen,and rejected England; yet in the end she was unable to retain her alliesin the East.A year and a half before, Hitler had demanded that if the disarmamentnegotiations collapsed again, France should be considered guilty of theirfailure in the eyes of the world — that is to say, of England andAmerica. This was the case now. Germany was rearming, but Francewas considered responsible for it. The estrangement between France andEngland had begun before that seventeenth day of April, 1934; but nowit was to be final for years to come.At the beginning of June, 1934, Doctor Cosmo Lang, Archbishop ofCanterbury, in an address to the Convocation of Canterbury, made anumber of political remarks. Among other things he said that 'he couldnot but deplore the attitude taken by M. Barthou,' and rebuked Francefor having 'almost contemptuously rejected the most reasonableproposals put forward by Germany.' As for Germany herself, DoctorLang, while expressing his concern over the growth of 'paganism' underthe influence of the National Socialist Movement, said that nevertheless'he had the very greatest sympathy with the immense, undoubted, and,on the whole, beneficent awakening which had come to Germany andGerman life in every aspect, in the remarkable revolution associatedwith the name of Herr Hitler.'About the same time Schacht began to set up so-called 'control posts'for raw materials throughout Germany. Questionnaires were sent out tobusinessmen, who were invited to state before the middle of May, 1934,the amount of aluminum, lead, chromium, copper, magnesium,manganese, quicksilver, wolfram, zinc, and tin they had in stock. Alsothe stocks of wool, cotton, skins, and hides were to be listed. Germanybegan to take a census of her raw materials, to test her economicstrength, and everyone knew that henceforward aluminum, quicksilver,cotton, and skins were no longer merchandise, but weapons. This wasthe first step toward rearmament 'beyond the limits of economic reason.'