Gareth
Jones' Newspaper Articles
from
Germany
Describing
the Rise of the Dictator, Adolph Hitler.
(1931-34)
Gareth
Jones’s articles were written and published following his visits to
Germany in February and June 1933 and in August 1934 mainly, in The
Western Mail. He appeared to have great affection for the
country and the people of that nation. He had visited Germany yearly
from 1923 and with his command of the German language, he, of any British
man was in a position to comment on the momentous political events that
were unfolding before him. He witnessed during these visits, the
rise of National Socialism occurring in the country and the adulation and
worship of Adolph Hitler. Though employed by David Lloyd George,
signatory of the Treaty of Versailles, the former Prime Minister did not
appear to influence him in his opinions. Despite this, the great man
must have influenced Gareth’s understanding of the situation.
On
his first visit in 1922, the German Mark had become worthless and he
travelled through the country very cheaply. He witnessed the
temporary improvement of German finances in the late twenties only to see,
in the early thirties at the time of the Great Depression, the plight of
the 6,000,000 unemployed. He saw the failure of German Democracy: he
understood the reason for the German’s bitterness as a consequence of
the Treaty and the fact that there had been no revision of this Treaty
after more than a decade. The Germans resented the fact that they
had loss territory to the east and west of their country as well as their
colonies. He interviewed in 1931 Dr.Curtius, German Foreign Minister
who spoke bitterly about the Polish Corridor controversy. [As early as
July 1931, in an article for The Contemporary Review, Gareth
foresaw the secret addendum to the August 1939 Molotov-Ribbontrop Pact in which
Germany and Russia agreed to carve up Poland. CLICK
HERE for a transcript of this article.] The
Foreign Minister was hostile towards the Poles and blamed President
Wilson. He understood not only that the repayment by the Germans of
the reparations demanded of them after the peace agreement but also that
the United States demand for settlement of the War debts was the main
cause of the Depression throughout the World.
He
appreciated the legacy of the acrimonious Treaty of Versailles, which the
Germans had been forced to accept, was a humiliation to a proud nation.
He realised he was seeing the rise of the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler
and predicted with gloomy foreboding an impending Second World War.
This was before his tragic death on August 12th 1935 in China.
His
final words in the first series of articles were: “The Europe of 1933
has seen the birth of the Hitler dictatorship in Germany. What will it see
in the Soviet Union?”
Gareth
visited Germany on three occasions during 1933 and 1934. His articles fall
into three sections and there is a further section of miscellaneous
writings.
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"A Welshman
looks at Europe".
Nazi
Germany in February 1933.
The
following 12 articles appeared as a series in The Western Mail throughout
February 1933, entitled: 'A Welshman looks at Europe':
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On Thursday Mr. Gareth Jones is to fly with Hitler, the German Chancellor,
from Frankfurt to attend a Nazi meeting. This was the first time
Hitler had invited a foreign observer to fly with him since he became
Chancellor.
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Emotion of National Eisteddfod at Political Meeting.
"The
Europe of 1933 has seen the birth the Hitler dictatorship in Germany.
What will
it see in the Soviet Union?"
Additional
Articles
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Germany Under Hitler
in 1933.
Gareth visited
Germany again in June 1933.
The following
series of articles were entitled "Germany Under Hitler" and printed in
The Western Mail
in June 1933:
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"Although
Hitler now desires peace, there is in the combination of his Eastern
expansionist policy with his militarist training of youth, a profound danger to
the peace of Europe in years to come."
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Two
further articles were printed in The Western Mail shortly after the above
series:
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Germany
in 1934.
Third series of articles written in
The Western Mail shortly after
the murder of Roehm and Dollfuss in July and August 1934:
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Germany
in 1934. Miscellaneous Letters & Articles.
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Finally
here is a link to one of Gareth's New York American Articles relating to Germany
in 1931:
FASCIST
DICTATORSHIP IN GERMANY NOW A POSSIBILITY, Sunday,
November 29th 1931. Development Seems
Inevitable in Spring.
(With
special thanks to Dr. Alun Jones for
researching and chronologically listing all of Gareth's published articles.)
For
further background articles on Nazi Germany, please visit Spartacus
School Net
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Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany.
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