Thursday, November 19, 2009

Leopold III at Berchtesgaden

On November 19, 1940 Leopold III, then a German prisoner of war, met with Hitler at Berchtesgaden. The Belgian monarch had reluctantly agreed to the meeting (arranged by his sister, Crown Princess Marie-José of Italy) in a desperate attempt to obtain better conditions for his conquered army and people. The interview, however, was a disaster. Here is the account (in French translation) of the meeting by Hitler's interpreter, Paul Schmidt, from his memoirs Statist auf Diplomatischer Bühne, 1923-1945. 
...Hitler received him with a rather icy civility. I clearly noticed that the king was making an effort to control himself. When he sat down in the office, with a face revealing a curious mixture of unease and tension, I had the feeling he was cursing the initiative his sister had taken.
Hitler tried to warm up the atmosphere a bit by asking a few personal questions. He always had, on these kinds of occasions, courteous words which betrayed his Austrian education. "I greatly regret the circumstances of our visit...Do you have any personal desire I could satisfy?" "I have no personal desires to formulate for myself," responded Leopold in the rather disdainful tone of an imprisoned monarch before a conqueror's tribunal, which indicated he had other desires to put forth.  
But he strove, at first, to prepare Hitler, by thanking him for what he had already done, in particular for authorizing Belgian refugees to return to their homeland. He added his personal thanks for the accommodations accorded him and, more especially, for the return of his children from Spain. Leopold was not a good diplomat. He expressed his thanks well, but his tone was not convincing.
Hitler launched into one of his long monologues on the political situation...At one point, Hitler rather abruptly asked how Leopold imagined future relations between Germany and Belgium. Quite cleverly, the king responded with another question: would Belgium preserve her independence at the conclusion of peace?
 Hitler did not like precise questions...(and launched into) prolonged reflections on the future of Europe, but Leopold...demanded a precise definition of internal independence. Hitler, faced with this insistence, became openly impatient. He attacked Belgium's previous attitude with a certain warmth, accusing her of having violated her neutrality. In the future, Belgium would have to align herself with Germany, militarily and politically.
"Am I to understand that Belgium's political independence will be guaranteed in exchange for political and military accords between herself and the Reich?" asked Leopold, at once raising doubts as to the possibility of such a solution, given the Belgians' love of liberty, which he underscored. He insisted upon unfettered independence, basing his demand on the fact that it had long been recognized by the English, and on the certitude that the Belgians would naturally turn in the direction which would assure their autonomy...
From this moment on, Hitler was completely closed to all Leopold's other desires. He was visibly annoyed that the King of the Belgians, in contrast to other heads of state, did not eagerly accept his offer of collaboration with Germany. These other desires principally concerned the prisoners of war. "We need manpower," said Hitler. "Naturally, the officers will remain in captivity until the end of the war." Leopold made further desperate efforts to win a few small concessions in the realm of food supply and internal administration. On both these points, the response was negative.
Henceforth, the bad mood was unmitigated on both sides. Leopold became more and more laconic and several times I got the impression he was no longer even listening...His face closed, he allowed Hitler to let flow torrents of words, no longer reacting, except for form...
Hitler would probably have preferred to put an end to the visit immediately. But a tea was planned for the king and his entourage. He broke up the meeting long before the appointed time, and received Leopold at his home...(During the tea, despite his disappointment) he opened a map to try to win the sovereign over to his views on a close collaboration between the two countries. In the course of a long monologue on the European order, he indicated that Belgium, if she allied herself with Germany, would receive not only a military guarantee, which would dispense her from ever needing an army again, but also territorial gains in northern France, as far as Dunkirk and Calais.
The king remained silent. Had he even heard? Naturally, I attached particular care to the translation of his response. But I had before me only a disappointed, apathetic man...
...Later events proved my impressions had to have been correct. Hitler never saw Leopold again. Nothing changed in Belgium. The administration did not alter and the food situation remained as bad as before. The Belgian prisoners were only liberated at the end of the war. Leopold himself remained a prisoner and, before the end of hostilities, was deported to Germany over his protests.
Hitler never forgave him for refusing to accept his offers at Berchtesgaden. "He is no better than other kings and princes!" he said from time to time, whereas before this visit, he had often had words of praise for "King Leopold, who prevented useless bloodshed in 1940"...
So much for those who accuse Leopold of having a "friendly interview" with Hitler!

1 comment:

MadMonarchist said...

Hitler despised meeting royals. It always greatly annoyed him when he went to Rome and had to be cordial to Mussolini's nominal superior King Victor Emanuel III. In photos you can see the two of them are gritting their teeth about having to deal with each other. From what I've understood the Nazis intended to absorb Belgium entirely and even those who were on the side of the Nazis could not agree. Hence there had to be 2 distinct units for the SS vollunteers; one for the Walloons who were Belgian nationalists and one for the Flemings who wanted a Greater Netherlands leaving Wallonia to Germany. It is also something to think about that the two men might have previously met on the battlefield in World War I where both of them served as soldiers on the Ypres front. Anyway, Hitler hated royalty and hated dealing with any of them who had not renounced their status out of total devotion to him. He usually dispatched Goering or Himmler to deal with royals since he could not stomach them. Probably part of his class-envy which always stayed with him.