The Council asked him to open preliminary discussions with Britain and report back at the earliest opportunity.
The Minister of Justice, Julius Buch, announced his proposed new measures concerning the sentencing of criminals. Germany did not suffer as high a level of criminal acts as most other European nations, but the Council wanted to see it even lower. The new policy to be introduced in the police and courts was to be known as ‘Zero tolerance’, with harsher sentencing for offenders. However, convicts would be given the opportunity to study or given vocational training after an initial ‘lockdown’ period. It was hoped that many prisoners could be rehabilitated and become useful members of society.
Repeat offenders were now liable to be sentenced to a penal battalion in the army. There they would labour at the hard, dirty, and often monotonous tasks that normal soldiers would have had to do. And all this under firm military discipline.
Nobody wanted, or even envisaged, a police state, but the German public and their property must be protected. The rights and comfort of convicted criminals were of far lesser importance compared to those of law abiding citizens.
Another proposed measure was the creation of a Serious Fraud Office. Initially it would be a small operation staffed by accountants who would be given some legal training. The principal objective of the unit would be to investigate corruption at national level in the awarding of state or municipal contracts. Buch’s attitude was that such practices were equivalent to theft from the state. It must be stamped out, with penalties for convicted persons severe enough to act as a deterrent to others.
The Council wholeheartedly agreed.
The Ministers of Agriculture and Economics had little to report at this time. Neither did the two Ministers without Portfolios.
Von Brauchitsch was the last to speak. “I can report that the first cruise of our aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin to Hawaii went without a hitch. Both the British admiralty and the American naval operations were impressed with her design. The Graf Zeppelin then went on for courtesy visits to China and Japan. Showing the flag.
The keel for the next carrier has not yet been laid. At this stage we are delaying a decision on the future role of carriers as regards the German navy and the European Alliance. We have no overseas possessions to defend. Two aircraft carriers may well be more than we need. We are re-evaluating the position. In the meantime the shipbuilders are continually improving designs in anticipation of a future go ahead.
The same philosophy applies to submarines. Our engineers and scientists are researching new technology with a view to designing the most advanced submarine in the world. Bigger, faster and quieter than any other, and a much greater range. Until then we are maintaining the current size of the submarine fleet by replacing the older designs with the best of the upgraded existing models.
The Luftwaffe has extensively tested our new jet fighter, the ME262, which has resulted in significant improvements all round. The original engine reliability problem has been eliminated. The ME262 is one hundred and fifty kilometres per hour faster than any other fighter aircraft in the world. Testing and improvements continue, and the aircraft is scheduled to go into production before the end the year.
Similarly, designs for a new high speed jet bomber/reconnaissance aircraft has been called for. I will keep the council informed of developments.
Our new medium tank, the Panther, and heavy tank, the Tiger, are testing well. They are far superior to any tank in production or even on the drawing boards of any other nation. These will be in production by the end of the year.
The Belgian — now French — firm of Fabrique Nationale submitted the best design for a new semi-automatic rifle for the Alliance armed forces. It is called the FAL. It is a superb rifle and has been rigorously tested under all possible field conditions, from ice and snow to deserts. It will give our troops unmatched firepower on the battlefield. Every individual government within the Alliance has placed orders for the re-equipping of their armies with these rifles as part of our standardisation of equipment policy.
All is on schedule with the armed forces of Germany and the European Alliance”.
The high level meeting between the German and Soviet officials was over. The German delegation numbered twenty two and was led by Baron von Altendorf and Albert Speer. The Soviets numbered twenty three, led by their Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov.
Molotov had been a leading figure in the Soviet Government since the 1920s. An old Bolshevik with considerable diplomatic skills, he had risen to power as a protégé of Josef Stalin. He had also supported Stalin in his purges during the 1930s.
His name would live forever in the ‘Molotov cocktail’, the improvised petrol bomb. Molotov was one of the architects behind the Soviet — Nazi pact of 1939. One of understandings in this pact was that the Soviet Union effectively had a free hand in their dealings with Finland. This quickly led to a war with Finland during the course of which the Finnish troops used improvised fire bombs with much success against Soviet tanks. They named these weapons Molotov cocktails in an insulting reference to the perceived architect of their trials and tribulations.
The negotiations had gone better and easier than expected. Von Altendorf had calmly dealt with all the accusation and adverse comments against the European Alliance made by Molotov. He calmly and repeatedly assured them that the European Alliance was a purely defensive alliance. Take a look at its Charter! Any European country could apply for membership, including the Soviet Union. This knocked Molotov back a little!
He pointed out that the Molotov — Ribbentrop pact of 1939 between Germany and the Soviet Union was a non-aggression pact, and that this was still in force and was honoured in its entirety by Germany. This pact had also allocated the northern European states of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as being within the Soviet sphere, and the eastern European countries within Germany’s sphere. The Soviet Union had subsequently occupied the Baltic States and part of Finland. Germany had raised no objections.
The northern states were important to the Soviet Union as they were close to their important centre of Leningrad. The Soviets had also been afraid of a German presence in that region because of the potential threat it would create. Von Altendorf categorically assured Molotov that Germany had no interest in territorial expansion anywhere. Look at how we gave back Belgian, France, Norway and Poland their independence. Neither was Germany interested in attempting to increase its influence at the expense of the Soviet Union.
At the same time, again in adherence to the 1939 pact, they had acquiesced in the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland, and they had also applied pressure on Romania to cede part of their country to the Soviets in terms of an old Russian territorial claim.
The commercial trading agreements between their two countries continued to their mutual advantage.
During a break in the negotiations Molotov took the opportunity to discuss the situation with Stalin. The dictator always had the final say on any important decisions in his country. While he remained highly suspicious of the European Alliance, he had no option but to concede that Germany had acted correctly so far, in terms of their written agreements. He instructed Molotov to accept Germany’s position in the matter. Despite tensions between the two countries, the pact between them had held up and neither side wanted war.
The trade officials had then completed some marathon negotiations over the next two days. Drawing on their experience of the past years the two sides had comprehensive lists of their requirements. Basically the Germans wanted oil, raw materials and grain. The Soviets wanted machinery, locomotives, turbines, generators, diesel engines and ships. The trade would be in the form of a barter arrangement at agreed prices for the various items. The total amount due by each side should end up being more or less the same. As Germany had already delivered the Battleships Bismark and Tirpitz to the Soviets, these were included in the aggregate amount of trade goods to be exported by Germany to the Soviet Union.