033.1140 Stimson, H. L./135½
Memorandum by the Secretary of State of a Conversation With Members of the German Government at Embassy Dinner, Berlin, July 25, 1931
I sat between Chancellor Heinrich Bruening and Mr. Dietrich, Minister of Finance, and had a very interesting evening. Afterwards when we left the table there gathered completely around me the Minister of War, von Groener, Bruening, Curtius and von Prittwitz, the German Ambassador to the United States, who acted as interpreter. It gave me a chance to talk plain words on the subject of militarism and tell them my personal family’s history as to German militarism, giving them not only the theoretical view with which I have placed German responsibility for the war, but telling them of my own father’s experiences in Berlin in 1872 when the arrogance of the Prussian officer class caused him to make up his mind that it was no place for a free citizen to live and made him move to Paris to continue his education. I told them that in my opinion Germany has a perfect case for the General Disarmament Conference unless she spoiled it by something that gave other nations a chance to draw a red herring across the trail; that her very defenselessness was her very best defense. I told them what we had learned of British preparatory work for the conference and advised them to get in touch with the British and do likewise. It was a very interesting talk and our circle gradually drew the room to observe.
I also had a talk with Luther76 with respect to Germany’s attitude towards the credits and I told him very frankly as to Mr. Hoover’s position, that our Government had done all it could or would do as a Government in the debt holiday, that we were now trying to stabilize $600,000,000 of credits in Germany, but that our success depended upon [Page 553] the banks and the bankers would not loan money to a man who said he was broke, and that Germany had better get off that key and turn to courage and self-help.
- Dr. Hans Luther, President of the Reichsbank.↩