FRANZ VON PAPEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24715, 18 September 1941, Page 10

FRANZ VON PAPEN

GERMAN AMBASSADOR ACTIVITIES IN TURKEY Franz von Papen, " champion of the double cross," and German Ambassador to Turkey, is described in the following extracts from an article in the American magazine This Week by Peter Engelmann. Von Papen recently left Ankara for Vienna ostensibly .for health reasons. In some quarters it has been suggested he may not return to Turlccv Before he could attack Russia, Hitler had to secure strict Turkish neutrality. Franz von Papen brought about such an agreement. Yet the diplomatic struggle at Ankara is by no means ended. Any move by Turkey may cause the strongest reactions at the' two present battle fronts: the Ger-man-Russian and the Near Eastern front. Accordingly, England, Germany and Russia struggle constantly behind the scenes to create such a move in their favour. The man who plays Hitler's hand in this dinlomatic game at Ankara is German Ambassador Franz von Papen. Nazi diplomats are usually a curious mixture of outward correctness and undercover intrigue. Von Papen is the master adventurer of them all. He is nearly six feet tall. His face, with its melancholy winkles, resembles that of a Russian wolfhound; so do his movements, which are fast, but-con-trolled. A moustache softens cold, thin lips He dresses like a dandy: socks and tie always match. In the Foreign Office in Berlin they call him "Franchen "—Little Franz.

Smile Hides Uglier Features When you sit across from this gentleman in all probability he will tell vou about his great passion for racehorses. Yet. while you listen to that smooth voice and watch the fine, nervous hands moving elegantly, you feel there is something hidden. It is 1 ehmd the greyish eyes, the eager voice, the never-disaopearing smile; for von Papen wears his smile like a mask, to hide the uglier features of his mind. I met him in 1932, when he had just become Chancellor. In great detail he explained to me how Iv would crush the Socialists and Nazis alike. I met him again, shortly after his three closest collaborators had been killed and he himself had been manhandled. I saw him on several other important occasions; but he was always the same gentleman, conversing pleasantly and smiling One does not see much by looking at him. , To know him truly, one must look into his life. This life does not show any consistent loyaltv—to a party, a principle or even a friend. His wife and three daughters play a merely decorative role. ' As Ambassador to Turkey von Papen has met with Europe's most able players in the international poker game of secret diplomacy. Since 1933 the rule of Turkish foreign policy had been: "Our security depends on the German Air Force, the British Navy. and the Russian Army." For four vears von Papen has tried to upset this rule into total dependence on Germany. •'_•.••

This task has not been easy. There has always loomed the danger that Hitler's policy of aesression might make Turkey. an active partner of either England or Russia, and — more recently—that Turkey might become a diplomatic and military bridge between Great Britain and the Soviet Union. So far von Papen has been able to counteract these dangers. More, to a certain extent he has brought Turkey into line with German rjolicy. .. His German-Turkish "neutrality" agreement, allowed Nazi columns to invade Russia without fear of a flank attack. Blood of a Continent

Yet every new development in the Near East, every week the RussoGerman war goes on makes Turkey's position more important. The diplomatic battle of Ankara is not.over. , That is the reason for von Papen's present feverish activities. Once more he stands in the centre of power politics. He loves it fanatically. This fanaticism is not, subject to anv higher aim. It is the double-crossing .game, itself which makes life worthwhile for Fr?nz' von Papen. The price of this same he has paid, so far. not only with the lives of his friends and coll.aboi-ators. but also' with the blood of a whole continent.