Dublin Airport, Collinstown, Irish Free State, Wednesday, 2nd October 1940
Dr. Eduard Hempel, Ambassador of the Reich to the Irish Free State, was of two minds (at least) about the Führer. He had liberated the country from the shackles of the Dictated Treaty, given it power and dominion, and humiliated the English (which made him liked more here). He had gathered too much power into his own hands, put a total blithering nincompoop in charge of foreign affairs, and offended too many countries.
The summons to the airport, therefore, was most disturbing.
If the humiliation of England had been exhilarating, the subsequent humiliation of the Reich, in its laughable attempt to bring England to terms, had been melancholic. And then this dire abrupt silence from Berlin. What was going on?
And the message summoning him to go there, and to arrange security measures for important personages; was he to be the arbiter of a peace? The Irish authorities had been strangely reactive, but they had cooperated.
Now, the three Focke-Wulf Kondors flared out for a landing. From what he had heard, the pilots had been most taciturn and uncertain. Well, they would have to fly over France, which he had heard was in quite some stir, at night, and avoid the English fighters. Small wonder they had other things on their mind than talking.
He shivered in the autumn dawn breeze, and wondered.
A number of tough, hardened men in civilian dress abruptly emerged from the first two Kondors and surrounded the third. The Irish security seemed a bit disturbed by the sight.
Then, a man descended from the lead Kondor and strolled over to Hempel. He greeted the ambassador with a brisk, restrained formality. Hempel knew him well.
“I am surprised Herr von Ribbentrop has not come himself,” he said.
“Herr Ribbentrop [he stressed the lack of a noble particle] has indeed come, but in somewhat of a different position. Herr Doktor Hempel, I must be put in immediate communication with London. Have the Irish granted our request for . . . special facilities? The Herr Foreign Minister and indeed the Cabinet are most particular about the matter.”
Dr. Eduard Hempel, Ambassador of the Reich to the Irish Free State, was of two minds (at least) about the Führer. He had liberated the country from the shackles of the Dictated Treaty, given it power and dominion, and humiliated the English (which made him liked more here). He had gathered too much power into his own hands, put a total blithering nincompoop in charge of foreign affairs, and offended too many countries.
The summons to the airport, therefore, was most disturbing.
If the humiliation of England had been exhilarating, the subsequent humiliation of the Reich, in its laughable attempt to bring England to terms, had been melancholic. And then this dire abrupt silence from Berlin. What was going on?
And the message summoning him to go there, and to arrange security measures for important personages; was he to be the arbiter of a peace? The Irish authorities had been strangely reactive, but they had cooperated.
Now, the three Focke-Wulf Kondors flared out for a landing. From what he had heard, the pilots had been most taciturn and uncertain. Well, they would have to fly over France, which he had heard was in quite some stir, at night, and avoid the English fighters. Small wonder they had other things on their mind than talking.
He shivered in the autumn dawn breeze, and wondered.
A number of tough, hardened men in civilian dress abruptly emerged from the first two Kondors and surrounded the third. The Irish security seemed a bit disturbed by the sight.
Then, a man descended from the lead Kondor and strolled over to Hempel. He greeted the ambassador with a brisk, restrained formality. Hempel knew him well.
“I am surprised Herr von Ribbentrop has not come himself,” he said.
“Herr Ribbentrop [he stressed the lack of a noble particle] has indeed come, but in somewhat of a different position. Herr Doktor Hempel, I must be put in immediate communication with London. Have the Irish granted our request for . . . special facilities? The Herr Foreign Minister and indeed the Cabinet are most particular about the matter.”