Hitler swept the forelock off his brow and shook his head slowly. “We all know that the Italian campaign is of value only in opening the Mediterranean to Allied shipping and is of no great importance as far as the defeat of Germany is concerned. Marshal Stalin will tell you as much himself when I am no longer in the room. At the risk of sounding pedantic, Mr. President, I must remind you of some European history with which Marshal Stalin is already doubtless familiar. In 1799, Marshal Suvorov discovered that the Alps presented an insuperable barrier to an invasion of Germany from Italy. And Turkey? Yes, that might open the way to an Allied invasion of the Balkans, but that is a very long way from the heart of Germany. No, gentlemen, no, Germany’s weakest spot is France, which, let’s face it, you and the British have had all year to invade. What is more, I do not see that you could even contemplate a French invasion until the summer of 1944, by which time it is my calculation that as many as a million more Red Army soldiers will be dead. Out of respect to Marshal Stalin, I do not say this lightly. The losses inherent in any European invasion are negligible to what he has lost already. And what he will lose. A million Red Army soldiers killed is four times as many losses as the quarter of a million British and American casualties that you and Mr. Churchill are hesitating about. Only after France has been secured will it make military sense to send more forces to Italy. In this way you will then be able to secure southern France and, after these two Allied armies have linked up, make your big push into Germany.” Hitler was speaking quickly, dismissively, as if considering Allied options off the top of his head. “But not Turkey. It would be a mistake for you to disperse your forces by sending two or three divisions to Turkey. Besides, Turkey is still a neutral country, and it is my understanding that she continues to reject Mr. Churchill’s attempts to persuade her to come into this war. Like Iran, perhaps, the Turks have a low opinion of British fair play after what happened at Versailles.”
Stalin had spent the last few minutes doodling wolf heads on a pad with a thick red pencil. He stopped now and, removing the pipe from his mouth, began to speak. “The Red Army,” he said quietly, hardly looking at either Hitler or Roosevelt, “has enjoyed a number of successes this year. But these have had more to do with simple numerical superiority. There are three hundred thirty Russian divisions opposing two hundred sixty Axis divisions. When all that remains of the German forces on the eastern front has been wiped out, there will still be seventy Russian divisions left. But this is the arithmetic of the madhouse. I would hope it does not ever come down to that. Besides, the Germans have achieved some unexpected victories. Nothing is certain save that, like the Germans, we, too, believe that the British and the Americans will be at their most effective by striking at the enemy in France, and nowhere else. From our point of view, the Fuhrer’s assessment of the task facing the British and the Americans is entirely accurate. But surely the Fuhrer has not come all this way to Teheran-and I must take the opportunity now to applaud his very great personal courage in doing so-merely to state that he intends to remain in those countries that he has invaded. Assuming that he is as anxious to put an end to this war as we are, what are his proposals regarding Germany’s occupied territories? Specifically, what are his proposals regarding those parts of Russia and the Ukraine that remain under his control? And then, also Hungary, Romania, the Balkans, Greece, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy? I should like to hear what he proposes as the basis for a peace that Germany might regard as honorable.”
Hitler nodded and took a deep breath. “My proposal is this, Marshal Stalin. A withdrawal of German troops to pre-1939 borders in the West, and the East. This would leave Russia as the dominant power in Eastern Europe. With a negotiated withdrawal-note, I do not use the word ‘surrender’-the war in Europe would be over by Christmas, perhaps even earlier, thereby permitting America and its allies to concentrate on the defeat of Japan, which I imagine America still sees as its own strategic priority. Under these circumstances, Mr. President, you can hardly fail to win next year’s election. For not only will you have saved two hundred and fifty thousand British and American men from certain death on Europe’s beachheads, but you will also have delivered the Jews of Hungary, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and France from their liquidation.”
Roosevelt looked beyond speech for a moment.
Hitler smiled thinly. “It was my understanding that we should talk frankly,” he said. “Of course, Mr. President, if you do not wish to talk about this particular subject, you do not have to do so. But it is my impression that the fate of three million European Jews would have enormous importance among a very vocal section of your own electorate.”
“Is it your intention to use Europe’s Jews as hostages?” Roosevelt spoke curtly, and for the first time, in German.
“Mr. President,” said Hitler. “My back is against the wall. The German people are facing nothing less than total destruction. You have offered us only unconditional surrender, at least in public. I am merely suggesting the existence of a factor that perhaps you had not considered.”
“As the Fuhrer will recall,” Roosevelt said stiffly, “the use of the phrase ‘unconditional surrender’ was always intended to be only a means of bringing him to the negotiating table.”
“I am here,” said Hitler. “I am negotiating. And one of the chips on this card table, besides the fate of two hundred and fifty thousand Allied soldiers, is the fate of European Jewry. Marshal Stalin has some very similar chips to play himself, such as the fate of Europe’s Cossacks and those White Russians who preferred to fight for Germany rather than the Soviet Union.”
“We have always been in favor of a negotiated surrender,” said Stalin, “and believed that the president’s notion of an unconditional surrender would serve only to unite the German people. But quite frankly, I don’t give a damn about the fate of Europe’s Jews.”
“Well, I sure as hell do,” insisted Roosevelt. “And by the way, I have a few conditions of my own. I might agree to Germany’s withdrawal to her pre-1939 borders if there was also a return to the pre- 1933 German constitution. That means free and fair elections and the Fuhrer’s retirement from German politics.”
“I might concede this,” said Hitler, “if I had the right to nominate my successor as the leader of my party.”
“I don’t see how that would work,” objected Roosevelt.
Now Stalin was shaking his head. “Speaking for myself, I care even less about German elections than I do about Europe’s Jews. Frankly, I have no faith that the German people are capable of reform, and I really don’t see that an election would be enough to curb their militarism. As far as I can see, the only condition I would insist on would be the payment by Germany of war reparations to Russia. This would have a twofold effect. First, it would go a long way toward preventing the German Reich from ever making war again. And, second, it would only restore that which Germany’s aggressive war against Russia has destroyed.” Stalin waved his hand dismissively in the direction of Roosevelt. “Everything else is of little account to us, including the matter of the Fuhrer’s retirement. Indeed, we should probably prefer to have one strong man in charge of the country rather than see it collapse into the anarchy that would surely follow on his retirement. At the very least, we should prefer him in semiretirement only, at the Berchtesgaden perhaps, with Reich Marshal Goring taking over the day-to-day running of the country.”