“I KNEW HIM WHEN”

Evening Star, Issue 23113, 12 November 1938, Page 3

“I KNEW HIM WHEN”

HITLER'S AND STRESEMAMN’S INTERPRETER [Erwin I). Caxiiam, in the ‘ Christian .Science Monitor. ’J 1 read the following Associated Press squib in the * Indianapolis .News under a Godesbcrg (Germany) date line: “ Paul Schmidt, Hitler's ' interpreter, carried tho reply to Chamberlain this afternoon.” I don’t want to write anything that would prove-em-barrassing to Paul Schmidt peisonallj, and this shouldn’t, ’because all the following facts are well known m tho Wilheimstrassc. but, well, “ 1 knew him when ...” . . The amazing fact is that 1 aul Schmidt was Gustav Strcsemanu s interpreter, too. But ho was more than an interpreter. He was a sort of alter ego in all the many negotiations that Strcsemanu conducted with Aristide Briaud. with Sir Austen Chamberlain, with Eduard Benes—indeed, he was a central though inconspicuous figure in all tho hopeful diplomacy of the German Republic. And now he is a central though inconspicuous figure in Nazi diplomacy. When Hitler and Chamberlain met privately, there was a third person present. It was Paul Schmidt. He is the meeting-ground for the ideas ot the two statesmen, for only through his services can their ideas be communicated to one another. Schmidt is a brilliant interpreter and a very discreet man. I have not talked with him since 1932, so I have no way of knowing how his own ideas have evolved. But T remember much more than Paul Schmidt’s public appearances, though these were in full spotlight. Following Strcseinann’s first appearance in Geneva, he decided always to speak publicly in German. So always at his side was Schmidt. When btresemann rose for one of his groat orations Schmidt would get up immediately afterward, -and translate the remarks. Schmidt’s English is nearly _ faultless, flawed only by a slightly thick intonation, lacking the crisp ‘ r of the Ano-10-Saxon. His French was almost equally good, and when occasion demanded he turned Stresemann s German into effective French for W. Briaud. or for other League delegates who preferred the lingua franca ot diolomacv. The most ringing declarations of German social-democracy s hopes and aims rose to the eager, crowded galleries of Geneva from the lips of Paul Schmidt, At Press conferences, Schmidt was alwavs at Stvcsemann’s side, turning reporters’ queries into German for the oreat Minister, and converting Ins replies into English or French Bo was a big help to those of us at Geneva whose German was weak. But these were Schmidt s public appearances. I remember the tar moio thrilling Geneva evenings then v>‘would gather at the Cafe Bavaria, or up the lake at Bellenve, or at one ot Geneva’s dozens of fine cafes or restaurants or even lecture halls, and talk excitedlv ot the problems of permanent peace. On such occasions, the barriers and inhibitions were all let down. We were all social-democrats, more or less, students and reporters and secretaries of delegations and Veterans in the war for psn.ee. Strs.ssmonn. mid Brianu themselves used to come to the Bavaria. And Paul Schmidt was an active member of these groups. He f■ fee y joined in our discussions. Was he not Stresemann’s rieht-hand man? bo his ideas carried weight. They were ideas imbued with the same idealism that wo a jl felt—the idealism that made us all so excited, and filled Geneva nights with thrills. We were almost pro-Ger-man, too, intensely attracted by the Strosemann viewpoint which Schmidt so ably expressed. He was often tho hero of oiir little round-table talks. That was 10 years ago. 1 know there are other' German diplomatists who have survived the change of regime, although their numbers and in- • 11 pence decrease. But 1 know that none of them was as close to both Stresemann and Hitler. And 1 don’t use. “ close ” in a tricky sense. Paul Schmidt was more than a mechanical interpreter. He was a subtle instrument of expression. He had to catch and to feel all the nuances of hope that Stresemann was conveying. He had to transmit with, equal faithfulness Herr Hitler’s ideas.

Paul Schmidt has escaped the purges, I suppose, because he can assume tho position of merely a mechanical interpreter, no more than a human dictaphone. That is his good fortune. He must have been very useful to both Chamberlain and Hitler, the other day. •It was interesting that he was the actual intermediary carrying messages across the Rhine at Godesberg. That is a responsible task, normally - entrusted to an Amhassadoi. I wonder if Schmidt ever remembers those days and nights at Geneva. Do those* Stresemaun speeches ever ring in his ears ? Does he think of disarmament and appeasement, of Geneva’s and Germany’s hatred for the warspirit in any form? Does he remember the thousands of words he translated in criticism of Polish (now Germany’s quasi-ally) treatment of the German minority in the Corridor and Upper Silesia, and the reflected praise on Czechoslovakia’s humane attitude toward the Sudetens, which the German Government then frankly recognised ? Does he remember the applause of the world statesmen that greeted Stresemann’s addresses, and the response of friendliness they evoked? For if has been only 10 years.