We explain what the Hossbach Memorandum is and what its content is. Also, its historical context.
What is the Hossbach Memorandum?
The Hossbach Memorandum is the minutes that describe what was discussed at a meeting held in Berlin on November 5, 1937. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and some of his ministers and military leaders participated in this meeting. The name of the memo comes from Colonel Friedrich Hossbach, who took note of the meeting.
The Hossbach Memorandum exposes Hitler's expansionist ideas and his project to extend German rule to the east to achieve the Lebensraum (living space) for the German population. Hitler's first targets were Austria and Czechoslovakia, territories that were effectively integrated into the Third Reich in 1938 and 1939.
The ideas contained in the Hossbach Memorandum They implied a future confrontation with France and the United Kingdom. Some of those present at the meeting, such as Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath, considered days later that Hitler's project was very risky. Neurath was replaced in February 1938 by Joachim von Ribbentrop, who applied the expansionist policy proposed by the Führer.
The Hossbach Memorandum It was used in the Nuremberg trials (1945-1946) to demonstrate that German military aggression had been planned in 1937.
Key points
- The Hossbach Memorandum is the record that documented what was discussed in a secret meeting between Adolf Hitler and some of his ministers and military leaders on November 5, 1937.
- In the meeting recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum the conquest of the Lebensraum (living space to settle the German population), which meant German expansion towards the east.
- Hitler carried out the expansion plan with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938, and the invasion of Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1939.
- After World War II, the Hossbach Memorandum was used as evidence at the Nuremberg trials.
See also: German expansion before World War II
The historical context
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933. Shortly after taking office, he established a dictatorship and began the rearmament of Germany, which violated the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. Nazi Germany left the Society of Nations and recovered the Saar region, which was under the control of France.
In 1936, Hitler militarily reoccupied the Rhineland, in western Germany, and intervened on behalf of the rebellious or “national” side in the Spanish civil war (1936-1939). Hitler's intention was to expand the territory of the German Third Reichwhich was viewed with concern by the governments of the Western powers.
However, the policy of appeasement was soon imposed in the United Kingdom and France, which sought to avoid a military confrontation with Germany.
Hitler's expansionist intention was recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum, composed of the notes made by Colonel Friedrich Hossbach from a meeting held on November 5, 1937 in Berlin.
See also: Interwar period (third stage)
The content of the Hossbach Memorandum
The Hossbach Memorandum is the memory that a head of the Wehrmacht (German armed forces), Colonel Friedrich Hossbach, made of a secret meeting that Hitler held with his closest collaborators, such as Hermann Göring, Erich Raeder and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Konstantin von Neurath.
Although its true meaning was disputed by some historians, it seems clear that in it Hitler expressed his expansionist purposes in search of Lebensraum (living space) for the German population. The conquest of this vital space was considered necessary to face Germany's economic difficulties and maintain the vitality of the Nazi movement.
In the Hossbach Memorandum, Hitler expressed his intention to expand eastward and focus his immediate objectives on Austria and Czechoslovakia.. After the meeting, Neurath was in favor of postponing political expansion until greater rearmament of Germany was achieved. Hitler replaced him in office with Joachim von Ribbentrop in February 1938 and, a month later, began the Anschluss (the German annexation of Austria).
After the German defeat in World War II (1939-1945), the Hossbach Memorandum was used as evidence in the Nuremberg trials against Nazi officials accused of committing war crimes.
Who was Konstantin von Neurath?
One of the officials who were present at the meeting that gave rise to the Hossbach Memorandum was Konstantin von Neurath. He entered the German diplomatic service in 1903 and, after the First World War (1914-1918), he was ambassador to Denmark, Italy and the United Kingdom. In 1932 he was appointed Foreign Minister and retained his position after the rise of Adolf Hitler. in 1933.
In his position as Foreign Minister he tried to give a certain respectability to Hitler's foreign policy. He managed Germany's exit from the League of Nations in 1933 and negotiated the German-British naval agreement in 1935. On November 5, 1937, he participated in the meeting between Hitler and other officials that was summarized in the Hossbach Memorandum.
Neurath He considered the expansionist policy proposed by Hitler in 1937 very risky and was replaced in 1938 by Joachim von Ribbentrop.. Neurath was appointed in 1939 Reichsprotektor (Reich Protector) of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Although in this position he abolished political freedom, introduced the Nuremberg racial laws in the protectorate and made Czech industry work in favor of the German war effort, Hitler dismissed him in 1941 because he considered him “very benevolent.”
He was captured by French troops in 1945, tried in Nuremberg and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. However, he was released from the Berlin Spandau prison in 1954.
References
- Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2023). Konstantin, Baron von Neurath. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
- Evans, R.J. (2007). The Third Reich in power. Peninsula.
- Sevillano Calero, F. (2020). Europe between the wars. The disrupted order. Synthesis.
- Williamson, D. G. (2018). The Third Reich. 5th edition. Routledge.
