Weizsäcker, Woermann and the reduction of Czechoslovakia

Abstract

The author traces the actions of Ernst von Weizsacker and Ernst Woermann relative to Czechoslovakia from 1938 until the occupation of Prague in March, 1939. His purpose is to study the roles of two career diplomats in the formulation and execution of Nazi foreign policy during this time period. Both Weizsacker and Woermann entered the German Foreign Office shortly after the end of World War I, and shared many misgivings about the Versailles settlement. In 1938, Weizsacker was promoted to State Secretary, and Woermann to Under State Secretary, and both joined the Nazi Party. The author examines and compares the responses of the two men to Nazi aggression against Czechoslovakia. In his study, the author has relied upon unpublished documents found in the Political Archive of the German Foreign Office in Bonn, and he concentrates on the files of the State Secretary and the Under State Secretary which relate to Czechoslovakia. He has also utilized the transcript of Nuremberg Case 11, United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsacker et al., which is available at the National Archives Building in Washington. Other materials used include published German and British foreign office documents and the memoirs and diaries of German, British, French, and Czech diplomats. The author concludes that the responses of Weizsacker and Woermann were quite different. Although he desired to revise German-Czech borders by political pressure, Weizsacker hoped to avoid a general European war. When it appeared that Britain and France would oppose Germany militarily, Weizsacker counseled moderation, and collaborated with the anti-Nazi German resistance. Woermann, on the other hand, helped to formulate Nazi goals against Czechoslovakia and actively suggested aggressive means to realize these ends. Woermann was a career diplomat almost totally converted to the service of Nazism.