Book Reviews: Moscow, Tokyo, London: Twenty Years of German Foreign Policy. By HERBERT VON DIRKSEN. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1952. Pp. ix, 276. $4.00.)

• Author: Joseph B. Schechtman
• Date: 01 December 1952
• Published date: 01 December 1952
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295200500410
• Subject Matter: Articles

662

Moscow,

Tokyo,

London:

Twenty

Years

of

German

Foreign

Policy.

By

HERBERT

VON

DIRKSEN.

(Norman:

University

of

Oklahoma

Press.

1952.

Pp.

ix,

276.

$4.00.)

Herbert

von

Dirksen

has

been

in

the

German

foreign

service

for

twenty

years.

The

first

three

years

were

spent

in

minor

diplomatic

positions

in

the

Ukraine,

the

Baltic

countries,

and

Poland,

and

the

next

seven

in

the

Polish

and

later

East

European

Department

of

the

German

Foreign

Office.

There

is

little

of

significance

in

von

Dirksen’s

reports

of

this

period,

except

some

violent

outbursts

of

a

highly

emotional

and

rabid

German

national-

istic

pride.

When

assigned,

in

1918,

to

welcome

a

military

Inter-Allied

Commission

whose

aim

was

to

make

the

notorious

German

&dquo;Free

Corps&dquo;

leave

the

Baltic

States,

von

Dirksen

&dquo;loathed

this

task&dquo;:

&dquo;I

felt

intensely

the

shame

and

humiliation

of

Germany

which

had

to

submit

to

the

orders

of

enemy

officers.&dquo;

Although

fully

realizing

the

necessity

and

justice

of

the

speediest

evacuation

of

the

Corps,

he

maliciously

enjoyed

the

difficulties

faced

by

the

commission.

Two

years

later,

when

he

was

appointed

First

Secretary

to

the

Ger-

man

legation

at

Warsaw,

he

obviously

shared

the

&dquo;deep-seated

...

feeling

of

superiority

over

the

Pole

inherent

in

the

German.&dquo;

There

is

hardly

a

kind

word

or

thought

about

Poland

and

her

problems

in

the

chapter

devoted

to

the

Polish

period

of

von

Dirksen’s

diplomatic

service

( 1920-21 ) ,

or

for

that

matter

in

the

chapter

describing

his

two

years

(1923-25)

in

Danzig.

There

is,

on

the

contrary,

a

persistent

and

incurable

soft

spot

in

regard

to

Soviet

Russia

in

his

political

thinking.

Not

that

he

had

any

sympathy

towards

the

Russian

people

or

the

communist

ideology

and

practice:

a

typical

Prussian

Junker,

he

had

only

abhorrence

and

contempt

for

both.

But

while

serving

in

the

Eastern

Department

of

the

German

Foreign

Office

(1925-28)

and

as

ambassador

to

Moscow

(1928-33),

he

firmly

believed

that

Germany

and

the

Soviet

Union

&dquo;shared

the

same

fate&dquo;:

&dquo;Both

had

been

vanquished

in

the

war,

both

were

being

treated

as

out-

casts

by

the

Allied

Powers.

Both

felt

resentment,

or

enmity

towards

their

new

neighbor

Poland....

Both

were

convinced

that

a

give-and-take

would

be

mutually

advantageous.&dquo;

Neither

personal

experience

in

Moscow,

nor

bitter

disappointments

in

dealing

with

the

Soviets

in

the

economic

field,

disturbed

von

Dirksen’s

infatuation

with

the

idea

of

a

German-Soviet

axis.

His

political

line

can

undoubtedly

be

considered

as

precursor

of

the

Hitler-Stalin

pact

of

August,

1939.

His

highly

critical

observations

of

and

comments

on

some

Soviet

&dquo;facts

of

life&dquo;

and

personalities

are

often

penetrating

and

enlightening,

but

he

invariably

refuses

to

draw

from

them

any

conclusions,

and

repeatedly