760F.62/1283: Telegram
The Ambassador in Germany (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 29—9:40 a.m.]
518. Supplementing my 512, September 28, 5 p.m.4 The following background on the Munich meeting today was learned at the French Embassy last night: When François-Poncet talked to Hitler yesterday morning as a result of his urgent instructions he found the latter continued to be most violent in his tirades against the Czechs which Hitler described as “Mongols and not Slavs”. Hitler told Poncet that if he had been dealing with the French on such a question no such situation would have developed as now existed in the Sudeten area and cited the Saar plebiscite as an example of how such questions could be arranged. Poncet replied that if matters had been arranged today as in the Saar question they would not be faced with the present acute crisis. In the Saar, combined international forces had been sent in first to keep order and assure a fair vote while in this case Hitler wanted German military occupation first and a plebiscite later. It was this threat of military action that was setting all the world against Germany which would find that military action against Czechoslovakia would bring in England and France against her within a few days and that in Poncet’s opinion would eventually bring American countries into a war against Germany. Here Ribbentrop interposed to say that Germany was strong enough to face any combination of powers. Poncet went on to suggest that if Hitler was so concerned over the disorders in the Sudeten area why would it not be possible to send French troops in to keep order until a plan could be worked out. The conversation was broken off at this point as Hitler was summoned to the telephone to talk with Mussolini. When he came back he promised not to take any action until he made a written reply to the French note which Poncet had presented (of which we are not informed respecting the precise contents). He said that he would have an important message for Poncet shortly.
[Page 699]Poncet returned to the Embassy and early yesterday afternoon was called urgently to the Foreign Office to see Ribbentrop who said that Hitler and Mussolini were meeting in Munich today and that Hitler would like at the same time to confer with Daladier and Chamberlain. Poncet got in touch at once with Paris and had an acceptance of the invitation by Daladier within an hour. Poncet left last night for Munich.
The French are of the opinion that the original suggestion for the meeting came from Chamberlain but that it was actually proposed by Mussolini in his telephone conversation with Hitler yesterday morning.
- Not printed.↩