Himmler's Secret War: The Covert Peace Negotiations of Heinrich Himmler by Martin Allen

Author:Martin Allen [Allen, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2009-02-02T11:16:00+00:00

Many of the leading men in Nazi Germany therefore knew that if peace was ever to be achieved with the western Allies, Rihbentrop must not be part of the negotiating process. There was too much at stake for his arrogance and lack of judgement to be allowed to play a part. Himmler, ever the astute politician, was very much aware of this situation. In the summer of 1942 he met discreetly with Albrecht Haushofer at the Munich home of his lawyer, Carl Langbehn.

Following the collapse of the Hitler/Hess negotiations with Lord Halifax and the loss of Rudolf Hess to the British in May 1941, Haushofer had been quick to align himself with several powerful new patrons. The first of these was Martin Bormann, Hess's replacement at Hitler's side, for whom he wrote several in-depth reports on both foreign affairs and the possibility of negotiating peace with the Allies at a future date.'s The second was the Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler, who knew that Haushofer was one of Germany's leading experts on foreign affairs. Indeed, he had met him many times in the 1930s when, often in the company of Hess, Haushofer had been present at high-echelon gatherings in Berlin to advise Hitler on foreign policy. Himmler, now keen to obtain some expert advice, therefore asked Langbehn to arrange a confidential meeting. This took place on the evening of 12 August 1942 at Langbehn's home,"' and there Haushofer tendered his advice to the Reichsfuhrer-SS on the problems faced by Germany in opening negotiations with the Allies. One of his key observations was that if any leading politician in Germany - i.e. one of the top Nazis - `did desire to negotiate with Britain, the very fact that the German Foreign Minister was Ribbentrop would make it difficult for any negotiations to get off the ground'.'

Haushofer confirmed to Himmler that Rihbentrop was anathema to the British, stating that the Ribbentrop situation' would `get in the way of any negotiations'. If anyone in Germany managed to open a line of communication, Ribhentrop would eventually have to take part - as Foreign Minister - and that would be `fatal' to the success of such negotiations.2"

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