rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich-william-shirer-pdf

292 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICHFrance, he said, could have stopped Germany in the Rhineland ”and thenwe would have had to retreat. But now it is too late for France.” Finally:HITLER: I give you once more, and for the last time, the opportunityto come to terms, Herr Schuschnigg. Either we find a solution now orelse events will take their course . . . Think it over, Herr Schuschnigg,think it over well. I can only wait until this afternoon . . .What exactly were the German Chancellor’s terms? Schuschnigg asked. ”Wecan discuss that this afternoon,” Hitler said.During lunch Hitler appeared to be, Schuschnigg observed somewhat to hissurprise, ”in excellent spirits.” His monologue dwelt on horses and houses. Hewas going to build the greatest skyscrapers the world had ever seen. ”TheAmericans will see,” he remarked to Schuschnigg, ”that Germany is buildingbigger and better buildings than the United States.” As for the harried AustrianChancellor, Papen noted that he appeared ”worried and preoccupied.” A chaincigarette smoker, he had not been allowed to smoke in Hitler’s presence. Butafter coffee in an adjoining room, Hitler excused himself and Schuschnigg wasable for the first time to snatch a smoke. He was also able to tell his ForeignUndersecretary, Guido Schmidt, the bad news. It was soon to grow worse.After cooling their heels for two hours in a small anteroom, the two Austrianswere ushered into the presence of Ribbentrop, the new German Foreign Minister,and of Papen. Ribbentrop presented them with a two-page typewritten draftof an ”agreement” and remarked that they were Hitler’s final demands andthat the Fuehrer would not permit discussion of them. They must be signedforthwith, Schuschnigg says he felt relieved to have at least something definitefrom Hitler. But as he perused the document his relief evaporated. For here wasa German ultimatum calling on him, in effect, to turn the Austrian governmentover to the Nazis within one week.The ban against the Austrian Nazi Party was to be lifted, all Nazis in jailwere to be amnestied and the pro-Nazi Viennese lawyer Dr. Seyss-Inquartwas to be made Minister of the Interior, with authority over the police andsecurity. Another pro-Nazi, Glaise-Horstenau, was to be appointed Minister ofWar, and the Austrian and German armies were to establish closer relations by anumber of measures, including the systematic exchange of one hundred officers.”Preparations will be made,” the final demand read, ”for the assimilation of theAustrian into the German economic system. For this purpose Dr. Fischboeck[a pro-Nazi] will be appointed Minister of Finance.” 288Schuschnigg, as he later wrote, realized at once that to accept the ultimatumwould mean the end of Austria’s independence.Ribbentrop advised me to accept the demands at once. I protested,and referred him to my previous agreement with von Papen, madeprior to coming to Berchtesgaden, and made clear to Ribbentropthat I was not prepared to be confronted with such unreasonabledemands . . . 289But was Schuschnigg prepared to accept them? That he was not preparedto be confronted with them was obvious even to a dullard such as Ribbentrop.The question was: Would he sign them? In this difficult and decisive momentthe young Austrian Chancellor began to weaken. He inquired lamely, according