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Stresemann in Historical Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Felix E. Hirsch
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Extract

On October 6, 1929, but three days after Gustav Stresemann's untimely death, Hermann Oncken made a first attempt to see him in historical perspective: “Suddenly all of us, friend and enemy alike, feel that there is a vacuum in the political life of the nation. … Suddenly one senses that a chapter has ended.” Oncken showed the changes which Germany had undergone since that dark day in August 1923 when Stresemann had taken over the chancellorship in an atmosphere of despair, and he praised the greatness of his accomplishment. Analyzing the sources of his success, he stressed his openmindedness and flexibility, his sense of timing, the suggestive power of his oratory, his indomitable optimism, and his willingness to fight for his convictions. But, above all, he admired his ability to go beyong the traditional political realism of Bismarck and to lead German statesmanship onward into an idealistic sphere. He cited as evidence Stresemann's programmatic words spoken on the September day of 1926 when Germany entered the League of Nations: “The man who serves humanity best, is he who, rooted in his own nation, develops his spiritual and intellectual gifts to their fullest extent and thus, growing beyond the confines of his own country, contributes to the whole of mankind.”

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , July 1953 , pp. 360 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1953

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References

1 Oncken, Hermann, “Stresemann ah historische Gestalt,” Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Berlin), 10 6, 1929Google Scholar. Oncken, the leading German political historian of his generation, was close to Stresemann's line of thought in many ways. He has been frequently misrepresented at home and abroad, especially in recent years. About his aims as an historian and scholar-politician see the articles of this writer, which are based on a long and close association: “Ein Historiker des Lebens: Hermann Oncken als nationaler und liberaler Politiker,” Preussische Jahrbücher, CCXVIII (1929), 162–181Google Scholar, and “Hermann Oncken and the end of an era,” Journal of Modern History, XVIII (1946), 148–159.Google Scholar

2 Löwenstein, Hubertus Prinz zu, Stresemann: Das Deutsche Schicksal im Spiegel seines Lebens (Frankfurt, 1952), p. 9.Google Scholar

3 Rheinbaben, Rochus von (Dresden, 1928)Google Scholar. —Olden, Rudolf, Stresemann (Berlin, 1929)Google Scholar. —Bauer, Heinrich, Stresemann: Ein deutscher Staatsmann (Berlin, 1930)Google Scholar. —Vallentin, Antonina, Stresemann: Vom Werden einer Staatsidee. Second edition, with Nachwort by Henry Bernhard (Munich-Leipzig, 1948)Google Scholar. —See also Stern-Rubarth, Edgar, Stresemann der Europäer (Berlin, 1930)Google Scholar and the same author's personal memoir Three Men Tried: Austen Chamberlain, Stresemann, Briand and their fight for a new Enrobe (London, 1939).Google Scholar

4 Stresemann, Gustav, Vermächtnis: Der Nachlass im drei Bänden. (Berlin, 1932–1933).Google Scholar

5 Personal telegram from Hoesch to Curtius, of February 17, 1930. Unpublished.

6 See Vermächtnis, Das, II, 553–555Google Scholar. Consult also Olden, Rudolf, “Was Stresemann sincere?”, Contemporary Review (London), CXLVII (1935), 557–565.Google Scholar

7 See Knight-Patterson, W. M., Germany from defeat to conquest, 1913–1933 (London, 1945)Google Scholar; Bieligk, K. F., Stresemann: The German liberals' foreign policyGoogle Scholar (London, no date); Boas, George, “Stresemann: Object lesson in post-war leadership”, Public Opinion Quarterly, VIII (1944) 232–243CrossRefGoogle Scholar, with the reply by this writer: “Stresemann: good European or unrepentant sinner?” in the same journal, IX (1945), 258–260.Google Scholar

8 Görlitz, Walter, Gustav Stresemann (Heidelberg, 1947)Google Scholar. —Löwenstein, Hubertus Prinz zu, Stresemann: Das deutsche Schicksal im Spiegel seines Lebens (Frankfurt, 1952)Google Scholar

9 Dr. Thimme has given this writer an outline of her forthcoming book which will be published by the Bollwerk-Verlag, Offenbach am Main, in a new series of brief political biographies.

10 See, e.g., Schlottner, Erich Heinz, Stresemann der Kapp-Putsch und die Ereigmsse im Mitteldeutschland und in Bayern im Herbst 1923 (Frankfurt, 1948)Google Scholar

11 Curtius, Julius, Sechs Jahre Minister der deutschen Republik (Heidelberg, 1948)Google Scholar and his posthumously published study Der Young-Plan: Entstel-lung und Wahrheit (Stuttgart, 1950)Google Scholar; Radbruch, Gustav, Der innere Weg (Stuttgart, 1951)Google Scholar; Schiffer, Eugen, Ein Leben für den Liberalismus (Berlin, 1951)Google Scholar; Schreiber, Georg, Zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur: Persönliche Erinnerungen, 1919–1944 (Münster, 1949)Google Scholar; Severing, Carl, Mein Lebensweg. 2 vols. (Cologne, 1950)Google Scholar. See also Stampfer, Friedrich, Die ersten vierzehn Jahre der deutschen Republik (reissue; Offenbach, 1947)Google Scholar, which is still most useful for the understanding of the period. For William Sollmann, another leading social democratic supporter of Stresemann's foreign policy and a member of his cabinet, see this writer's recent articles: “Memories of William Sollmann,” American-German Review, XIX (1953), 14–16Google Scholar, and “William Sollmann, wanderer between two worlds”, South Atlantic Quarterly LII (1953), 207–227Google Scholar. The author owes much to Sollmann for his constant encouragement in his Stresemann studies. Neither the Memoirs of Franz von Papen (London, 1952) nor the fat volume by Meissner, Otto, Staatssekretär unter Ebert, Hindenburg, Hitler (Hamburg, 1950)Google Scholar add substantially to our picture of the Stresemann era; there may be more of interest in the life story of Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, which has been announced for early publication. Former Chancellor Dr. Hans Luther told this writer in great detail about his relations wtih Stresemann; see his printed address Vor 25 Jahren war Locarno—was ist heute? given before the Amerika-Gesellschaft, Hamburg, on 12 5, 1950.Google Scholar

12 Dirksen, Herbert von, Moskau, Tokio, London: Erinnerungen und Betrachtungen zu zwanzig Jahren deutscher Aussenpolitik, 1919–1939 (Stuttgart, 1950)Google Scholar; Kordt, Erich, Nicht aus den Akten (Stuttgart, 1950Google Scholar; Prittwitz, Friedrich von und Gaffron, , Zwischen Petersburg und Washington: Ein Diplomatenleben (Munich, 1952)Google Scholar; Schmidt, Paul, Statist auf diplomatischer Bühne, 1923–1945 (Bonn, 1949)Google Scholar; Weizäcker, Ernst von, Erinnerungen (Munich, 1950)Google Scholar. Three books published in this country are indispensable for an understanding of the international situation in the Stresemann era: Craig, Gordon and Gilbert, Felix (editors), The Diplomats, 1919–1939 (Princeton, 1953)Google Scholar; Holborn, Hajo, The political collapse of Europe (New York, 1951)Google Scholar; and Neumann, Sigmund, The future in perspective (New York, 1946).Google Scholar

13 The list of these names is far too long to be given here, but at least the unfailing helpfulness of Konsul Henry Bernhard should be grate-fully acknowledged.

14 See especially his articles “The Portent of Stresemann”, Commonweal, XLI, (1945) 486–489Google Scholar, “Locarno: twenty-five years after”, Contemporary Review (London), CLXXVIII (1950), 279–285Google Scholar, and “Adenauer and Stresemann compared”, New York Herald Tribune, 04 10, 1953Google Scholar. The present article incorporates also some points raised by the author in a lecture on Stresemann given at the University of Heidelberg in July 1949 and passages from a paper read at the Boston meeting of the American Historical Association in December 1949.

15 Stresemann, Gustav, “Politische Umschau”, Deutsche Stimmen, XXXIV (1922), 421–427Google Scholar. See also the most recent presentation of Rathenau's ideas by Kollman, Eric C., “Walter Rathenau and German foreign policy”, Journal of Modern History, XXIV (1952), 127–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 See Schiffer, Eugen, Ein Leben für den Liberalismus, p. 112Google Scholar. Schiffer gave a similar account of the incident in a statement for this writer.

17 Unpublished; the exact date when Stresemann wrote the poem, could not be ascertained.

18 See Oncken, Hermann, Rudolf von Benningsen. 2 vols. (Stuttgart 1910)Google Scholar. This is the only major contribution to the history of the national liberal party.

19 Example, in his Reden und Schriften, (Dresden, 1926), vol I, p. 140–163Google Scholar and in his introduction to Eschenburg, Theodor, Das Kaiserreich am Scheidewege (Berlin, 1929).Google Scholar

20 Still unpublished.

21 See Stresemann's beautiful memoir of Naumann, in his Reden und Schriften, vol. I, p. 241–251Google Scholar. Compare also Heuss, Theodor, Friedrich Naumann, second edition (Stuttgart, 1949)Google Scholar and in English the essays by Shanahan, William O., “Friedrich Naumann: a mirror of Wilhelmian Germany”, Review of Politics, XIII (1951), 267–301CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and by this writer: “Friedrich Naumann: a memorial to a great teacher”, Forum, CVI (1946), 105–111.Google Scholar

22 This was the observation of its long-time member, Hans von Raumer, in a conversation with this writer in Stuttgart, in July 1949.

23 Monsignor Ludwig Kaas received the author on July 2, 1949 in his residence at the Vatican and gave him a detailed picture of his relations with Stresemann. While Kaas had been openly critical of the Erfolgsarmut of the Locarno policy in the last years of Stresemann's life, he praised him in this discussion as the best available minister of foreign affairs and stressed especially his genuine sincerity.

24 Erich Koch-Weser, the former leader of the Democratic party, shortly before his death, sent this writer a long description of Stresemann's struggle within the Volkspartei and his plans for a party realignment.

25 von Rabenau, Friedrich, Seeckt, 1918–1936 (Leipzig, 1940)Google Scholar, is an indispensable source for the understanding of Seeckt's attitudes, but must be read with considerable caution, because the biographer was anything but a dispassionate historian.

26 Stresemann in a conversation with the author, in the winter of 1926.

27 In a letter to this writer, on which he enlarged in a long conversation in July 1952. The author has also a similar statement from Dawes in his possession.

28 D'Abernon, Lord, An Ambassador of peace, vol. III, p. 20 (London, 1930)Google Scholar. See also SirChamberlain, Austen, Down the years (London, 1935).Google Scholar

29 Economist (London), CXVII (1949), 1113Google Scholar. See also the author's above mentioned article in the New York Herald Tribune, 04 10, 1953.Google Scholar

30 See Stern-Rubarth, , Three men triedGoogle Scholar. Important French contributions to the subject are Suarez, Georges, Briand, vol. 6: 1923–1932 (Paris, 1952)Google Scholar; Herriot, Edouard, Jadis, vol. 2: 1914–1936 (Paris 1952)Google Scholar, and François-Poncet, André, De Versailles à Potsdam (Paris, 1948).Google Scholar

31 In a conversation with the author in Lisbon, May 1949.

32 In a detailed memorandum written to the author.

33 See this writer's article, “Rapallo, thirty years after”, New York Herald Tribune, 04 16, 1952.Google Scholar

34 Vermächtnis, vol. II, p. 554.Google Scholar

35 In a long letter to the author.

36 Unpublished telegram of October 12, 1925.

37 See Carr, Edward Hallett, German-Soviet relations between the two world wars, 1919–1939 (Baltimore, 1951)Google Scholar, an interesting brief survey, but hardly the last word on the subject, and Fischer, Louis, The Soviets in world affairs, vol. II (Reissue; Princeton, 1951).Google Scholar

38 Unpublished.

39 Carr, , op. cit., p. 88.Google Scholar

40 Carr, , op. cit., p. 89.Google Scholar

41 Thoughts expressed in a conversation with this writer in Göttingen, August 1949.

42 About Stresemann and the League see the excellent presentation by Walters, F. P., History of the League of Nations (Oxford, 1952), especially vol. I, p. 316–327 and 436.Google Scholar

43 SirChamberlain, Austen, op. cit., p. 178.Google Scholar

44 To the younger generation Nicholas Murray Butler is known primarily as President of Columbia University in which capacity he often appeared as the spokesman of a conservative point of view. Students of history, however, would seem deplorably ignorant, if they did not remember that he was also one of America's most vigorous proponents of better international understanding in the inter-war period and as such highly respected in Europe. For good reason, he was one of the few Americans to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He continued to take a keen interest in German problems even in those last years of his life when he was physically incapacitated, and repeatedly asked this writer for information and advice.

45 Holmes-Laski Letters, 1916–1935, edited by Howe, Mark De Wolfe, vol. II, p. 1138 (Cambridge, 1953).Google Scholar