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Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Castle) of a Conversation With the German Ambassador (Von Prittwitz)

The German Ambassador talked freely about the political situation in Germany. He said that the main thing he wanted to make very clear was that the policy of the new Government, so far as external relations were concerned, would not differ from that of the former Governments. He said that on disarmament, for example, there would be no change in policy, that, of course, Germany to a man wanted equality, but that, as a matter of fact, the men in power, including Hitler, had almost a pacifist mentality. The Ambassador is inclined to believe that in the elections on March 5th the present parties forming the Government will secure a real working majority. He thinks that the Centrists will lose to some extent, that the Social Democrats will make overtures to the Communists, which will result in a decreased Communist representation without probably an increased Social Democrat representation. He thinks that the slogan “Hindenburg and Hitler” will carry a really large number of votes as the people who have been afraid of Hitler will, nevertheless, vote for a combination of this sort on account of their confidence in the President.

I asked the Ambassador whether this new Government would affect his job. He said that it probably would, that, of course, he could not tell definitely, but that he felt his days as ambassador would be numbered if the elections gave the Government a majority. He said that Hugenberg has been steadily working to get rid of any one with a Stresemann taint, that, although he has never been in politics, he is certainly not representative of the parties in power and that in the key positions he thinks they will want to have their own people. He does not believe that Hugenberg will have very much influence in the new Cabinet, although he will have to be retained until after the elections to secure the votes of the Nationalists.

W. R. Castle, Jr.