Paris Peace Conf. 184.01402/19
Dr. H. H. Field to the Commission to Negotiate Peace14
Subject: Union of German Austria with Germany.
Prior to being charged with my mission in Munich, it fell to my lot to confer with most of the political personages of prominence who came from Austria to Switzerland. Among these I did not encounter a single thorough going advocate of the union of Austria and Germany. Many were very stoutly opposed to such a union and among these [Page 78] were several official or semi-official personages, such as the Commercial Attaché of the Austrian Consulate in Zurich and the Secretary of Legation Prince Alfred zu Hohenlohe in Bern. The latter went so far as to declare it as his personal opinion that the whole movement in Vienna had been financed from Berlin. The German Embassy in Vienna would seem from the accounts of Hohenlohe to have outdone itself in propaganda. The only responsive chord in Austria was stated to have been the socialists and their interest in such a solution was a matter of party interest. I was therefore curious to see how the problem would appear on the other side of the frontier.
In Bavaria, the question is seldom treated and the general attitude in the masses is one of profound indifference. I used the occasion of a visit to the upper Inn valley (Rosenheim) near the Tyrolian frontier to sound the people as to their feelings for their southern neighbor. They were loud in proclaiming that a sharp line of demarcation existed. Bavaria ends before Kufstein and Tyrol begins with no gradation. I even found a remnant of resentment concerning the last phase of the war (invasion of Tyrol). In Munich two very different groups desire the union: the socialists and the militarists. With the socialists it is a matter of party tactics and is far from universal. With the militarists it is a matter of power; to offset the losses in Alsace-Lorraine, Poland and Schleswig, the adjunction of a compact German population seems a godsend. In intellectual circles also, sentimental reasons for strengthening German culture prevail. But here too there are those who contend that it is German culture in its diversity that is important and the specific Austrian manifestation is endangered with being quite submerged. Political considerations in liberal circles seem opposed to the union, especially if carried out under the dominion of the centralist tendency which now seems to pervade Prussia-Germany. “Surely if we revolt at the violence being done to our federalistic ideas, the Austrians will never find it to their taste and if in a moment of disorientation, the ill considered step is taken, we shall lose the counterpoise of Vienna, which a federalistic solution might have afforded us.” Just as is the case with Bavarian separatist tendencies, there is a dislike to publicly take position against the entry of Austria; but in frank private conversation the sentiments I have expressed will be shown. Ex-Prime-Minister Dandl told me his knowledge of the Austrians led him to doubt there being any really deep felt desire for union. “Surely they can not like what is being done in Weimar!” On the other hand, no step could foster the movement for union and particularly its expression in public assemblies more than a veto proclaimed in advance by the Entente. Both Bavaria and Austria can be led with ease; they may prove difficult to drive. Both look sincerely to the Allies; both have a common hatred of Prussianism; both are sick of militarism.
[Page 79]In some heads I encountered a vague feeling that some league between Austria and Bavaria might be possible; but such a conception does not seem to play any prominent part in practical Bavarian politics.
I regret that I am not in Bavaria to see how Bavarian opinion reacts to the idea of neutralizing Austria put forward by the French press. I can conceive the possibility, if not the probability, of its being taken up as a matter which might also interest Bavaria.
P. S. In the introductory paragraph of this report, I refer to conversations I had with Austrian statesmen regarding the union of Germany and Austria. I neglected to mention the Austrian Minister Freiherr v. Haupt and the commercial advisor Baron Hennet. These two personages, representing as they do officially a government, which had already declared itself in favor of union, could not be expected to give vent to heterodox views. In matter of fact, they placed themselves on the platform of the union as inevitable. It was, however, interesting to see the arguments they used in favor of the decision. They explained that German Austria could not possibly stand alone and then proceeded to point out how all advances on Austria’s part had found no hearing with the Tchèques, with the Yugoslavs, with the Poles or with the Hungarians. So they had to turn to Germany as the last possibility. It would not seem a very good omen for the marriage relations of Austria and Germany that the suitor confesses that he has been given the mitten by all other possible and impossible neighbors. At the time when I had these conversations, no one could have foreseen that it was intended to build up a unified state to take the place of the federal German empire. From what I learned in my intercourse with the Austrian Legation concerning the attitude of Dr. Bauer, I am inclined to give credence to the tale that his retirement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may not be entirely without relation to what he learned in Berlin and Weimar concerning the internal status of the new German Republic.
- Transmitted to the Commission by the Minister in Switzerland under covering letter No. 272, March 24; received March 26.↩