Word: wohlthat
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...time was already ripe enough to send crack foreign-tradester and Göring's right hand, Dr. Helmuth Wohlthat, to inventory Dutch finances, set up a German-Dutch economic block. Dr. Wohlthat was a natural choice to Nazify (and destroy) what was once the most complex and extensive banking system on the Continent. Only last summer he was deep in a deal whereby the British Government would lend Germany five billion dollars...
Storm. The Wohlthat-Hudson discussions were supposed to be secret and confidential. Dr. Wohlthat returned to Germany to report to Field Marshal Göring, but scarcely had he left before the plan-and garbled versions of it-had leaked out all over the world, much to the Secretary's annoyance and embarrassment. Early this week a sizable Parliamentary storm was coming up, and the British public, in no mood for further appeasement, was definitely angry...
While Mr. Hudson claimed that he had talked to Dr. Wohlthat only in his "private, personal capacity," the suspicion grew among Laborites, Liberals and non-appeasing Conservatives that the Chamberlain Government had far from re formed. "Is the Government still yearning after appeasement?" angrily asked Labor Leader Arthur Greenwood. "Is it prepared to try to buy off Hitler by sacrificing Danzig and perhaps Poland itself? Is it toying with the idea that it can, by sweet reasonableness and financial aid, persuade Germany to beat her swords into plowshares...
Early this week Secretary Hudson, badgered by the press and politicians, was once reported on the point of resigning. The Prime Minister, tranquil as ever, appeared before Parliament to explain. The Hudson-Wohlthat discussions were "private" and "unofficial" and the Cabinet knew nothing about them in advance, the Prime Minister reiterated. The Secretary and the foreign trade expert were simply discussing how international confidence could be restored, and naturally they mentioned international trade, barter agreements, exchange restrictions, import quotas. But there was "nothing unusual" in the talks and certainly no loan was proposed...
Leak. Although Mr. Chamberlain did not know how the story of the conversations could have leaked out, the angry, outspoken Mr. Hudson had an idea that it was none other than Dr. Wohlthat who had broken his confidence. If that were so, Dr. Wohlthat could scarcely have done a better day's work for his Führer. For it is just such appeasement rumors that weaken Polish, French and general European confidence in Britain's promises to stop further German aggression...