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the same guarantee for its eastern frontiers. And the western countries accepted two categories of frontiers, one that were assured by the Treaty of Locarno and the others that were not.

SPEAKER

32,09

America's role at that time turns out to be decisive. New York in the twenties has become the centre of world finance. American banks have loaned England and France the money for the war, and Germany money for its economic recovery. They now want their money back. On the New York docks shipments are unloaded with some of the repayments from Western Europe to the United States.

32,42

NEW

Crates filled with gold bars. The war has cost enormous sums of money, costs that have weakened all European nations. That has left the United States economically and financially the leading power in the world. America experiences a unique economic boom. On Wall Street the stock exchange is pushed sky high by speculation such as never before. // In October 1929 comes the great crash. The market is flooded by shares, prices plummet, billions are lost. // As a result thousands of factories the world over are forced to close down, millions lose their jobs.

33,29

KISSINGER XI

NEW

The reactions of governments to the crisis was protectionism so that the

American banks have loaned England and France the money for the war, and Germany money for its economic recovery. They want their money back. On the New York docks shipments are unloaded with some of the repayments from Western Europe to the United States.

32,42

Crates filled with gold bars. The gold and money-transfers to the United States weaken the economies in Europe and thus breed political radicalism. America on the other hand experiences a unique economic boom. On Wall Street the stock exchange is pushed sky high by speculation such as never before. In October 1929 comes the great crash. The market is flooded by shares, prices plummet, billions are lost. As a result thousands of factories the world over are forced to close down, millions lose their jobs.

33,29

KISSINGER XI

Because the world economy had become interdependent but the reactions of governments to the crisis was protectionism so that the tendency was to encapsulate each of these economies in their own markets. That was one element. The second element was that according to traditional theory when there was a recession, the State should reduce its expenditures. Austerity would be the remedy by which capital would gradually be formed again. But all of this had the practical consequence of reducing demand even more, and turning recessions into

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[LC]

- 21 -

NEW

36,04

for the police in their confrontation
with unruly workers.

In Germany the police already do battle
in the streets.

36,17

Mass unemployment strengthens the
communists and the Nazis. They fight each
other in the streets while the police
become more and more impotent. People are
frightened by the unrest and cry out for
law and order. Joseph Goebbels, head of
Nazi propaganda, promises law and order
if Hitler comes to power. By now Nazi
storm troopers begin to dominate the
streets. 'Bring Hitler to power!' they
demand. Under his leadership, they
promise, there "will be work for
everyone". And Hitler will "tear up the
unjust peace treaty of Versailles", too.

36,59

There he is, Adolf Hitler, who promises
to make Germany great and powerful once
more. He draws huge crowds who believe
that he will overcome unemployment and
class war. Though Hitler himself
propagates hatred and conflict.

(Original recording Hitler: "We will
never capitulate")

37,28

Many people are impressed by his
aggressive attitude. In 1932 Hitler wins
one third of the overall vote. On January
30, 1933, President Hindenburg appoints
Hitler as chancellor. At first Hitler
heads a coalition of Nazis and right
wingers. On the left in our picture,
Hitler's companion, Hermann Goering,

38,03

KISSINGER XII

When Hitler came to power, one could not know whether he meant what he said. As late as 1936, if one goes through British statements at the time British leaders took the public view that Hitler was only responding to a well established grievance, and that once that was satisfied he would become a normal member of the international community. It was not historically considered a part of European diplomacy that nations would make their diplomatic contacts depend on the domestic structure of another country, provided that other country conducted a moderate and balanced foreign policy.

SPEAKER

36,55

Hitler has no intention of being
moderate, he is striving for total power.

39,07

Hitler appeals to his storm troopers:
"Now that we have won power in Germany,
we shall have to win the German people!"

39,25

Shortly after this the Reichstag - the
German parliament - goes up in flames.
Hitler uses the opportunity to arrest
political opponents, and to put an end to
the rule of law.

39,41

The first concentration camps are set up.
They are soon packed with refugees of

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the regime: Political leaders, intellectuals, or just people who oppose the Nazis. All of them prisoners now.

40,00

Jews are declared "enemies of the people". Their shops are smeared and the Nazis call for a boycott: "Germans! Do not buy from Jews!"

40,19

For the moment it is mass terror, in a few years it will be mass murder.

40,25

Many are leaving the country now. Albert Einstein is one of the first to seek refuge from Hitler Germany. Many more are to follow. Germany's spiritual elite is emigrating. Einstein finds asylum in the United States. "Freedom has died in Germany", he declares.

41,04 KISSINGER XIII

The reason for the lack of reaction of the rest of the countries is that the concept that human rights had to be vindicated by foreign policy had, in fact, not yet been established. And on the whole, nations did not alter their foreign policies on the basis of atrocity that might be committed in other countries. I lived in Germany at the time. I had no doubt that we were dealing with a maniacal personality. But for people further away, it was not so self-evident, whether even the racist views, were done for domestic consumption or whether he would, in fact, pursue them. One of the results of this blindness was that the democracies were

ELIMINATED

severely punished by being subjected to
some of the same treatment themselves
when Hitler broke out of his boundaries.

SPEAKER

42,16 At the same time in the United States, in March 1933, a new president takes office: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt promises to overcome the economic crisis through an extensive government program, the New Deal. And it is Roosevelt who will become one of the strongest adversaries of Hitler. However in 1933 when he takes office not Europe but Asia is on his mind.

42,51 At the inaugural parade the troops are led by a general named Douglas MacArthur, army chief of staff, seen here on horseback.

43,06 The general joins the president on the grandstand. // A few years later MacArthur will fight the war against Japan. The confrontation in the Pacific is already impending.

43,22 KISSINGER XIV

It is probably true that without ever stating it explicitly, the United States was in fact conducting a kind of balance of power policy in Asia. Now the practical result of a balance of power policy in Asia was to attempt to preserve the integrity of China and to prevent Japanese expansion. The Japanese actions fitted better into the American concept

of intolerable international behavior
than the early Nazi actions; the early
Nazi actions were primarily aimed at
domestic minorities of German nationality
and at undoing the effects or the
consequences of the Treaty of Versailles.
On the other hand, the Japanese actually
invaded neighboring countries; they were
therefore violating the concept of
collective security as it was understood
in the United States.

SPEAKER

44,32 Japan has grown into a formidable military power. In World War One Japan fought together with the allies against Germany; it belongs to the victor nations. Now it is striving to become the dominant power in Eastern Asia. Emperor Hirohito, a man who, godlike, enjoys the unqualified devotion of his subjects.

45,02 It is the close cooperation between State, industry, and the military which helps Japan on its way to becoming the dominant power in East Asia.

45,16 In 1931 Japanese troops occupy all of Manchuria, a part of China.

45,27 With the invasion of Manchuria Japan is the first power to break the post-war peace settlement.

45,41 China's leader Marshall Chiang Kaishek attempts to mobilize Chinese resistance against Japan.

[L]

emperor's speech and have to be
forcefully removed from the press section
on the balcony.

50,01 The Emperor lodges his complaint and the
assembly condemns Mussolini's attack on
Ethiopia. The western powers oppose
Mussolini's growing influence in Africa
and the Mediterranean.

50,18 The British delegate Anthony Eden asks for sanctions to be imposed on Italy. Thus the cooperation between the western powers and Italy dating from the first World War is virtually terminated.

50,41 The war in Ethiopia lasts for seven
months. Then Italian troops march into
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital.

50,56 These are still the times of colonial
empires. Colonies are a prerequisite of
any major power. And Mussolini wants
Italy to be a major power.

51,18 The Italian victory parade.

51,23 Ethiopia, or Abyssinia as it was then
called, was one of the very few countries
in Africa that had never been made a
colony. Now Italian arms have defeated
this independent black state.

51,37 Marshal Pietro Badoglio has won the war
in Ethiopia, and as victor he is cheered
on his return to Rome. In 1943 it will be
the same Marshal Badoglio who will topple
Mussolini and lead Italy back to the
allied fold. Now his victory in Ethiopia

[L]

earns Mussolini the cheers of the crowd. Under Mussolini's leadership Italy seems to be well on the way to becoming a major power in spite of all the sanctions imposed by the League of Nations.

52,12

## KISSINGER XVII

And so, the League of Nations passed sanctions, but so reluctantly and so ambivalently and so ambiguously that they had no major effect on Italy. The only sanction that might have had an effect, an oil embargo, was deliberately not imposed because it was feared that Italy would go to war against Britain and France if that happened. Which, in retrospect, appears absurd. Nevertheless, the confrontation between Britain and, to a lesser extent, France, over the issue of Ethiopia and Italy, created the objective condition in which Italy felt that it needed European support and was given it by Hitler. And it was the beginning of the Berlin/Rome axis.

## SPEAKER

53,12

The first meeting between Hitler and Mussolini had taken place 1934 in Venice. Mussolini still very much in the pose of the more powerful of the two, the leader of a country which belongs to the victor-nations of World War One. Hitler eager to engage Italy's sympathies; Germany still disarmed, Italy in possession of a strong army and navy. Much has changed since this meeting in Venice.

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53,45 Hitler has reintroduced general conscription and by rearming Germany has broken the Versailles Treaty. And nothing has happened in consequence.

54,03 Hitler displays the first tanks and air force squadrons of his armed forces in full view of the public.

54,17 The tanks and planes demonstrate how they will combine to break any enemy resistance.

54,25 Hitler is on the point of challenging the western powers once again: On March 7, 1936 German troops cross the Rhine and march into Cologne.

54,41 The Rhineland, after the allied occupation forces had left, was supposed to remain demilitarized. Hitler dares to re-occupy it.

54,52 KISSINGER XVIII

So that when Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, which he did, I believe, which only three battalions that had orders to withdraw if there were the slightest sign of opposition, and France could have defeated this with one of its standing divisions. France took the view that it could resist only with full mobilization. It would not do full mobilization without Britain. Britain urged conciliation and negotiation and it wasn't clear that Hitler would not be satisfied with simply asserting German sovereignty over, after all, German territory. Once that had

ELIMINATED

57,35

KISSINGER XIX

On two previous occasions right at the end of World War I, and then again in 1931, there was a specific prohibition against Austria joining Germany, although what would be done if they joined was never spelled out. It again reflects the fundamental ambivalence of the Western democracies. On the one hand, Austria was not offered a military alliance, as Czechoslovakia and Poland were, and as, logically, Austria should have been, to warn Germany that an annexation of Austria would lead to a general conflict.

SPEAKER

58,24

On March 12, 1938 Hitler's air force appears over Vienna. The military occupation of Austria by German troops has begun. Austrian Nazis take over power. Police loyal to the government are disarmed. The formerly illegal Nazis arm themselves and begin arresting thousands of political opponents. Even before the German troops arrive.

58,54

The German troops reach Vienna and hard on their heels comes Adolf Hitler.

59,03

Hitler is enthusiastically welcomed by many Austrians. For years their dream had been "the Anschluß", unification with Germany. Hitler now fulfills this dream and the Anschluß is welcomed not only by the Nazis.

- 32 -

[LC]

59,20 Hitler himself is surprised by the jubilant acceptance of what after all is a forceful annexation in breach of all international treaties.

59,38 Hitler had feared that an invasion of Austria would meet with opposition from the west. But nothing happened. Hitler had risked everything again and again he had won. From now on he will risk even more.

1,00,03 KISSINGER XX

Austria was taken over in a sort of a coup, but also with great popular enthusiasm. And the western democracies did not believe that their security was directly affected, even though the strategic situation of Austria in the hands of a major country opened the road to Central Europe.

SPEAKER

1,00,26 With the annexation of Austria the whole western part of Czechoslovakia is now encircled by the German armies.

1,00,37 In Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, the reaction is one of alarm. From the Hradsc hin castle President Eduard Benes orders the Czech army to stand by.

1,00,52 The Czechs have erected a close net of fortifications all along their borders. Military reinforcements now move into their defensive positions.

[L]

1,01,09

Hitler promptly lays claim to the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia, to the Sudetenland. A voluntary Sudeten-German corps, armed in Germany, crosses the border to fight the Czech forces, thereby creating an excuse for German intervention.

1,01,32

The British government sends Lord Runciman on a fact finding mission to Czechoslovakia. When Runciman returns to London he is inclined to acknowledge the German claim. Three and a half million Germans are living in Czechoslovakia. And England's Prime Minister Chamberlain asks himself whether it's worthwhile going to war for Czechoslovakia.

1,01,57

KISSINGER XXI

Neville Chamberlain said about Czechoslovakia, how strange it is that we might have to fight a war for a distant country about which we know nothing. This was said by a British statesman, a leader of a country that had fought three times in Afghanistan to prevent Russian domination of Afghanistan at the turn of the century.

SPEAKER

1,02,27

Chamberlain decides to take a drastic step. He flies to Germany to see Hitler.

1,02,44

It is a long way. Hitler wasn't prepared to meet the 70 year-old premier halfway.

- 34 -

[lc]

He receives him in his mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden. The greeting is a frosty one. What Hitler really wants is the destruction of the whole of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain is only prepared to agree to surrender the German-speaking territories.

1,03,35 After two meetings with Hitler the Prime minister is no longer optimistic.

1,03,41 Digging starts in London. In all the parks shelters are build as protection against airraids. Great Britain appears to be prepared to meet Hitler's challenge.

1,03,57 Gas masks are distributed to young and old.

1,04,05 Air raid wardens even celebrate a marriage wearing gas masks ...

1,04,15 ... and the newly weds leave in a "gas-school" bus for their honeymoon.

1,04,22 The French Prime minister Edouard Daladier and foreign minister Bonnet come to London for an emergency meeting. They are greeted by Chamberlain and Lord Halifax, the British foreign secretary. The meeting is called in order to decide how to deal with Hitler. In the streets demonstrators demand a strong stand for Czechoslovakia.

1,04,50 In this troubled atmosphere the French and the British come together at 10 Downing Street.

1,04,59

KISSINGER XXII

The dilemma of statesmanship is that when
your scope for action is greatest your
knowledge is at a minimum. When your
knowledge is greatest the scope for
creative action has disappeared. Hitler
still was in a position to claim that all
he wanted was to implement the principle
of self-determination that Americans,
too, had advocated, especially had
advocated at the time of the Treaty of
Versailles. And there was no doubt that
the German population of Czechoslovakia,
of the territories that were occupied by
the Germans in 1938 after Munich, were
mostly German speaking. And probably,
mostly wanted to be under German rule
rather than under Czechoslovak rule. So,
the democracies, still shell shocked by
World War I, wrongly believed that they
could placate Hitler by fulfilling
demands that had the color of being
reasonable.

SPEAKER

1,06.06

Great Britain already challenged by Japan
in Asia and by Mussolini in the
Mediterranean, shies away from the
confrontation with Hitler.

1,06.31

Chamberlain boards his third flight to
Germany, this time to meet Hitler at a
summit conference in Munich. On his
arrival Chamberlain is cheered by the
people as the man who comes to bring
peace. Accompanied by the German foreign

[L]

minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Chamberlain leaves the airport. France's
Prime minister Daladier follows. Daladier
and Chamberlain, both have come to
placate Hitler in order to avoid war.

1,07,06 It was Benito Mussolini who initiated the conference. Hitler receives him personally at the railway station. Together they drive through Munich in a triumphant cavalcade. Europe heaves a sigh of relief, peace seems to be preserved.

1,07,27 Mussolini, as apparent arbiter, enjoys his position. The western powers are about to drop the only democracy in Central Europe, Czechoslovakia, which France had promised to defend against German revisionism. Hitler had wanted to bring the whole of Czechoslovakia under his power. In this he failed. The agreement now signed in Munich by the four powers is a compromise after all. Hitler wins the German-speaking territories but has to promise to respect the territorial integrity of the rest of Czechoslovakia. That is not what Hitler had in mind. But even he had to give in to public opinion: people everywhere, including in Germany, cry out for peace.

1,08,18 KISSINGER XXIII

There is no doubt that the Munich
agreement was widely popular. It was,
first of all, widely popular in the
British population. And the people who
opposed it, like Churchill, were a tiny

minority. The agreement even was popular
in France, because Prime Minister
Daladier, when he arrived from Munich and
saw a large throng, thought it was in
order to lynch him. And found to his
amazement that it was to applaud him.
That, however, indicates that Daladier,
at least, had serious doubts.

SPEAKER

1,09,02

Daladier's return to Paris turns indeed into an exultant homecoming. A just way of reconciling France and Germany seems to have been found as a basis of lasting peace in Europe. The Prime minister is warmly applauded as a saviour of peace.

1,09,22

As she leaves her home in London Mrs. Chamberlain is congratulated in the streets. People thank her for the peace her husband is bringing back with him.

1,10,11

Where there had been disbelief before, the mood is now changing. Chamberlain drives to Buckingham Palace to inform King George VI. Cheers go up as they step out onto the balcony with their wives.

1,10,31

KISSINGER XXIV

There are two ways one can look at
appeasement. One is as selling out
fundamental principles out of weakness,
cowardice and misunderstanding of German
motives. Another way of looking at it is
to say, supposing that they were
convinced that Hitler might be a maniac.
Why not test it by drawing a line which

[L]

said you can get everything that our own
principles would justify, that is to say,
the German speaking parts of
Czechoslovakia. But if you go beyond
that, if you break your own word that
this is your last territorial claim in
Europe, then we know we're dealing with a
world conqueror. And we then will have
the moral basis for resistance, and on
that basis they understood Hitler. If one
assumes the second interpretation one
could say the leaders of the appeasement
group did understand Hitler but chose a
different means of resisting him. I
believe the truth is probably somewhere
in between, because after Munich, where
one logically could have presumed that
peace now being guaranteed, they would
slacken their defense effort, in fact,
Britain increased its defense effort,
especially in airplane procurement.

SPEAKER

1,12,00 Hitler breaks the Munich agreement. On March 15, 1939 his troops march into Czechoslovakia and occupy Prague. They meet with no resistance. Demoralized by the Munich agreement, the Czech government gives in to Hitler's military pressure. The Germans move into the castle of Prague, the Kradschin.

1,12,31 Hitler arrives soon after his troops and drives into the Kradschin. The swastika is hoisted on the roof of the castle.

1,12,44 Hitler has broken his promise to lay no claim to further territories. He had

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[LC]

away with the occupation of the Sudetenland. But once he went beyond that, and started incorporating non-German peoples, and especially by military means, and every six months had another military demand, it was impossible to expect Britain not to resist.

SPEAKER

1,13,30
Chamberlain now makes an attempt to stop Hitler. He guarantees Poland's sovereignty. Should Hitler attack Poland, Great Britain will come to her rescue.

1,14,06
In such a situation much would depend on the reaction of the Soviet Union. The British and the French despatch first a diplomatic, then a military delegation to Moscow. The officers are to find out under what conditions the Soviet Union would be willing to cooperate with the western powers. And the Soviets would like to learn what the West has to offer. The delegation is welcomed in a friendly atmosphere, Stalin however sees no immediate advantage in an agreement with the West but plenty of potential dangers.

1,14,44 KISSINGER XXVI

The paradox was that by giving a guarantee to Poland, Britain fundamentally weakened its bargaining position. Britain and France fundamentally weakened their bargaining position vis-a-vis the Soviet Union because a guarantee for Poland was geographically at the same time a

NEW

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- 41 -

NEW

guarantee of the Soviet border, since there was no way Germany could get to the Soviet border without crossing Poland. So the bargaining position between the Western countries and the Soviet Union had deteriorated fundamentally in the year since Munich. From the beginning, Stalin would have preferred to make some kind of arrangement with Hitler and to wait for what he considered the inevitable internal capitalist struggle. In addition, he faced the danger in 1939 that, due to the Axis, and to the Tokyo-Berlin-Rome agreement, due to these factors that if he got into a war with Germany, he might have to face on two fronts.

SPEAKER

1,16,10 These are scenes from a battle-front the world of 1939 scarcely took note of. The Red Army is fighting with Japanese troops in the Mongolian-Manchurian border area.

1,16,27 For the moment these are border skirmishes but Moscow must be prepared for an all-out war with Japan.

1,16,35 But then the Japanese meet strong resistance and the operations on the Soviet border are abandoned. Soviet and Japanese officers meet in order to agree to an armistice. For the moment the conflict has been resolved. Later on Tokyo will decide to expand into the Pacific. But Stalin's fear of a war on two fronts persists.

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P. 18

[LC]

to negotiate about the future of Eastern Europe.

1,18,07 From the airport Ribbentrop is driven straight to the Kremlin where his Soviet counterpart, foreign minister Molotow, is awaiting him. They quickly agree on the non-aggression pact and, in a secret protocol, on the partition of Eastern Europe into spheres of interest: Finland and the Baltic States will belong to the Soviet sphere, Poland will be partitioned between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Soviets are also promised Bessarabia, a part of Rumania.

1,18,42 It is the 23rd of August, 1939. That very same night Molotow and Ribbentrop sign the documents. Stalin, by virtue of his very presence, puts his full weight behind the agreements. In such a way assured, Hitler can now take the risk on invading Poland. No longer does he have to fear Soviet intervention.

1,19,06 KISSINGER XXVIII

ELIMINATED

The enemy, almost the historical joke in that The Versailles Treaty was designed to weaken Germany. And it weakened it physically. But it strengthened it strategically. The second historic joke is that, if Germany had had a normal government, it might almost certainly have gradually expanded its influence in Eastern Europe. But having a mad man as a leader, even though he achieved some early spectacular victories, he brought about World War II and the destruction of

Germany and prevented the exploitation in
the long term of the geopolitical change
that the Treaty of Versailles had created
by surrounding Germany with a belt of
weak countries that, in the end, would
not be able to withstand either the
economic or the military pressure from
Germany.

SPEAKER

1,20,24

Hitler starts his attack on Poland on September first, 1939. A few days later German troops are at the gates of Warsaw which is fiercely defended by the Polish army. Hitler watches from the air as Warsaw burns. Below him, the devastation his air force has brought about. Hitler had hoped to overrun Poland at such a speed that the western powers, or the British at least, would hesitate to go to war for a lost cause. Hitler was wrong. His attack on Poland has ignited a war which will soon involve the whole world.

1,21,05

Stalin's tanks cross Poland's borders from the East. The Soviets occupy those parts of Poland that the secret pact between Hitler and Stalin had turned over to the Soviet sphere of interest. With the Soviet soldiers, appears a man about whom the world will one day hear a great deal more: Nikita Kruschchov, Party Secretary of the Ukraine at that time, later to be Stalin's successor. Here he comes to supervise the partition of Poland between Germany and Russia.

1,21,44

German and Soviet officers draw the

against Poland. In London members of Parliament assemble. The MPs are already carrying packs with gas masks, or have slung them around their shoulders. Since eleven o'clock Britain is at war with Germany, within hours she will be followed by France. In London the children are evacuated: air raids on cities are to be expected.

1,23,58 The children are leaving for the country, and soldiers are leaving to sail over to France where they - just as in World War One - are expected to fight side by side with the French against Germany. And so the Versailles Peace Treaty turns out to have been just an armistice, the Great War of 1914 / 18 continues, fought with more modern weapons.

1,24,50 In France the reservists are called up and there are tears on French railway platforms as the soldiers leave for the front.

1,25,03 There seems to be no end to the suffering and sacrifices.

1,25,13 These feelings are shared on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Roosevelt would like to help the democracies in Europe, but for the moment congress insists that the United States remain neutral in this conflict. Roosevelt appeals directly to public opinion: (quote: "This nation will remain a neutral nation, but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well. Even a neutral has a right to take account of facts, even a

- 47 -

1,27,38 In movie houses all over the United States, newsreels show scenes of the war in China, and public disapproval of Japan's actions is growing fast.

1,27,54 American volunteers report for service against Japan, ready to fight in China, airmen above all. Their engagement is tolerated in the States despite official neutrality. "The Flying Tigers", as they call themselves, go to battle against the Japanese air force.

1,28,17 In America Japanese ships are boycotted and prevented from taking on raw materials.

1,28,24 KISSINGER XXXI

Hitler's obsession was that he would have known how to win World War I, and surely he could not demonstrate that obsession unless he was involved in World War II. I believe the interesting phenomenon about Hitler is that he had to have a war, and one can even argue that he had to be defeated, to fulfill his psychological necessities. There was no way of placating Hitler. Sodder or later, and sooner rather than later because he geared it so much to his health, there would have been a war with Germany. The Japanese were not determined to have a war. What the Japanese were determined to have was predominance in Asia. If they could have had this without war, they would have probably preferred this. But they were not willing to give up predominance in Asia without a war.