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TRANSCRIPTION
Left page
Monday 28/8/39
Saw Aghnides and Avenol on my return to the office from Ireland this morning. Both trying to count
up the favourable factors of the Russo-German agreement: - Spain
Japan and the consolidation of opinion in the decent countries
where the German propaganda had many adherents or dupes on the
idea of Nazi-ism being a bulwark against Communism. And to
discount the other factors. To me the germans seem to have
changed their policy towards Russia at a price but that that
fact suggests that they count more on immediate advantages
in Europe
than on long-distance losses. That is that the neutralisatio
of Russia, the consequent weakening of Polands position, the
opening of a new source of supplies against a possible blockade
will count substantially in a war or threat of war.
Avenol says if they had meant war they have lost ten invaluable
days when the western preparations have been made quietly
and efficiently. After talking with him I heard on the
T; S; F. that Hitler had told Deladier he wanted not only
Danzig but the Corridor, and the "protection" of two millions
Germans in Western Poland which means in fact other large
territorial concessions in northern and western Poland. If
he sticks to that we shall have war. England and France are
so far standing firm. To give way would make them second-
class Powers overnight. Turkey Rumania and Greece would
promptly tumble into Germanys pocket as Poland would be again
partitioned leaving a free(!) rump to act as a helpless buffer
territory. And when Europe was consolidated in Nazi hands
they would be stretched out for whatever they coveted of French
and British. I think the Western Powers have virtually their
backs to the wall. And it dates very specifically to the
Hoare-Laval agreement.
Right page
28/8/39
Without quite knowing why everybody is feeling easier about
Switzerlands position. Perhaps it is Italy. She is in a
quandrary now. If she remained neutral she for a time she
would demobolise I mean Immobilise a large Anglo-French fleet
and forces and perhaps strike when Germany had cleaned up in th
East. So it is not unlikely she will get an ultimatum if War
comes and she tries that game- for or against-.
1st September.
The news comes in that German
troops have entered Polish territory
at three points and that Polish
towns are being bombed from
the air. So it begins.
Language(s) of Transcription
LOCATION
Gdańsk (Poland) (54.3612, 18.5499)
Story Location
ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
Document Date
Document Type
Document Description
Language of Description
Keywords
External Web Resources
People
Thanassis Aghnides
Description: Greek diplomat and international civil servant who served in the League of Nations secretariat from 1919 to 1942
STORY INFORMATION
Title
Diary 7: August 1939 - April 1940
Creator
Lester | Seán | 1888-1959
Contributor
Seán Lester
Lester, Seán, 1888-1959
Date
August 1939 - April 1940
Type
Text
Rights
This collection has been digitised and made available by Dublin City University Library. Please credit Dublin City University Library when using these images, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Language
eng
Identifier
#hq388c59q
LandingPage
https://www.europeana.eu/item/707/_hq388c59qCountry
Ireland
DatasetName
707__Dublin_City_University
Begin
1936-05-01
End
1937-02-28
Language
en
Created
2022-03-23T16:13:34.244Z
2022-03-23T16:13:40.137051Z
2022-03-23T16:13:40.137645Z
Story Description
Handwritten and typed diary entries relating to Lester's time as Deputy Secretary General of the League of 12 Nations in Geneva, the outbreak of the Second World War, and the evacuation of his wife and three daughters from Geneva to Ireland. Includes letters and cards to Lester from: Jack T Mayo ['an English fishing companion']; Ambrose B Wareing, the Danzig correspondent for the Daily Telegraph newspaper (letter dated 16 June 1937); Isidro Fabela, Mexican diplomat; Pierre Stoppani, League of Nations Economic Relations Section; Eóin MacNeill, Professor, National University of Ireland; Vladimir Sokoline, Under Secretary General's Office, League of Nations; Stephen Gwynn, former MP for Galway city, academic and journalist; S Pelychuoniades, Hellenic Delegation to the League of Nations; Joseph MN Jeffries, author and journalist; Phyllis Manning, a friend who it seems, also holidayed in Connemara and who worked at the Agricultural Economics Research Institute in Oxford, and GC Greene, 'British Sporting Agency Ltd, Digswell Vale, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, UK. Includes extract from letter written by Raymond Fosdick, Rockefeller Foundation, to Arthur Sweetser, League of Nations' Public Information Section. Also includes a handwritten 'note for talk with S.G.' [?Secretary General, Joseph Avenol], dated September 1938, newspaper cuttings, poems by Patricia E Lester [Seán Lester's daughter], and black and white photographs. First photograph features the following individuals chatting beside a bench in a garden or park 'at luncheon to [?Iroguiera' Luis Podestá Costa, League of Nations Under Secretary General; Frank P Walters, League of Nations Under Secretaries-Generals in charge of Political Section Office; Lester, and Isidro Fabela, Mexican diplomat. Second photograph features Lester, Alberto Guani, Uruguayan Foreign Minister, and [?Iroguiera] in Lester's office. There are two gaps in the diary when Lester did not record entries for months at a time. This diary opens with '[n]ot a line written in a notebook for months', and an entry on 31 January 1940 notes that '[n]othing written for 2 months'.
TRANSCRIPTION
LOCATION
DESCRIPTION
PEOPLE
STORY INFO
TUTORIAL
Left page
Monday 28/8/39
Saw Aghnides and Avenol on my return to the office from Ireland this morning. Both trying to count
up the favourable factors of the Russo-German agreement: - Spain
Japan and the consolidation of opinion in the decent countries
where the German propaganda had many adherents or dupes on the
idea of Nazi-ism being a bulwark against Communism. And to
discount the other factors. To me the germans seem to have
changed their policy towards Russia at a price but that that
fact suggests that they count more on immediate advantages
in Europe
than on long-distance losses. That is that the neutralisatio
of Russia, the consequent weakening of Polands position, the
opening of a new source of supplies against a possible blockade
will count substantially in a war or threat of war.
Avenol says if they had meant war they have lost ten invaluable
days when the western preparations have been made quietly
and efficiently. After talking with him I heard on the
T; S; F. that Hitler had told Deladier he wanted not only
Danzig but the Corridor, and the "protection" of two millions
Germans in Western Poland which means in fact other large
territorial concessions in northern and western Poland. If
he sticks to that we shall have war. England and France are
so far standing firm. To give way would make them second-
class Powers overnight. Turkey Rumania and Greece would
promptly tumble into Germanys pocket as Poland would be again
partitioned leaving a free(!) rump to act as a helpless buffer
territory. And when Europe was consolidated in Nazi hands
they would be stretched out for whatever they coveted of French
and British. I think the Western Powers have virtually their
backs to the wall. And it dates very specifically to the
Hoare-Laval agreement.
Right page
28/8/39
Without quite knowing why everybody is feeling easier about
Switzerlands position. Perhaps it is Italy. She is in a
quandrary now. If she remained neutral she for a time she
would demobolise I mean Immobilise a large Anglo-French fleet
and forces and perhaps strike when Germany had cleaned up in th
East. So it is not unlikely she will get an ultimatum if War
comes and she tries that game- for or against-.
1st September.
The news comes in that German
troops have entered Polish territory
at three points and that Polish
towns are being bombed from
the air. So it begins.
- English (English)
Left page
Monday 28/8/39
Saw Aghnides and Avenol on my return to the office from Ireland this morning. Both trying to count
up the favourable factors of the Russo-German agreement: - Spain
Japan and the consolidation of opinion in the decent countries
where the German propaganda had many adherents or dupes on the
idea of Nazi-ism being a bulwark against Communism. And to
discount the other factors. To me the germans seem to have
changed their policy towards Russia at a price but that that
fact suggests that they count more on immediate advantages
in Europe
than on long-distance losses. That is that the neutralisatio
of Russia, the consequent weakening of Polands position, the
opening of a new source of supplies against a possible blockade
will count substantially in a war or threat of war.
Avenol says if they had meant war they have lost ten invaluable
days when the western preparations have been made quietly
and efficiently. After talking with him I heard on the
T; S; F. that Hitler had told Deladier he wanted not only
Danzig but the Corridor, and the "protection" of two millions
Germans in Western Poland which means in fact other large
territorial concessions in northern and western Poland. If
he sticks to that we shall have war. England and France are
so far standing firm. To give way would make them second-
class Powers overnight. Turkey Rumania and Greece would
promptly tumble into Germanys pocket as Poland would be again
partitioned leaving a free(!) rump to act as a helpless buffer
territory. And when Europe was consolidated in Nazi hands
they would be stretched out for whatever they coveted of French
and British. I think the Western Powers have virtually their
backs to the wall. And it dates very specifically to the
Hoare-Laval agreement.
Right page
28/8/39
Without quite knowing why everybody is feeling easier about
Switzerlands position. Perhaps it is Italy. She is in a
quandrary now. If she remained neutral she for a time she
would demobolise I mean Immobilise a large Anglo-French fleet
and forces and perhaps strike when Germany had cleaned up in th
East. So it is not unlikely she will get an ultimatum if War
comes and she tries that game- for or against-.
1st September.
The news comes in that German
troops have entered Polish territory
at three points and that Polish
towns are being bombed from
the air. So it begins.
Language(s) of Transcription
English Translation
Transcription History
Left page Monday 28/8/39 Saw Aghnides and Avenol on my return to the office from Ireland this morning. Both trying to count up the favourable factors of the Russo-German agreement: - Spain Japan and the consolidation of opinion in the decent countries where the German propaganda had many adherents or dupes on the idea of Nazi-ism being a bulwark against Communism. And to discount the other factors. To me the germans seem to have changed their policy towards Russia at a price but that that fact suggests that they count more on immediate advantages in Europe than on long-distance losses. That is that the neutralisatio of Russia, the consequent weakening of Polands position, the opening of a new source of supplies against a possible blockade will count substantially in a war or threat of war. Avenol says if they had meant war they have lost ten invaluable days when the western preparations have been made quietly and efficiently. After talking with him I heard on the T; S; F. that Hitler had told Deladier he wanted not only Danzig but the Corridor, and the "protection" of two millions Germans in Western Poland which means in fact other large territorial concessions in northern and western Poland. If he sticks to that we shall have war. England and France are so far standing firm. To give way would make them second- class Powers overnight. Turkey Rumania and Greece would promptly tumble into Germanys pocket as Poland would be again partitioned leaving a free(!) rump to act as a helpless buffer territory. And when Europe was consolidated in Nazi hands they would be stretched out for whatever they coveted of French and British. I think the Western Powers have virtually their backs to the wall. And it dates very specifically to the Hoare-Laval agreement. Right page 28/8/39 Without quite knowing why everybody is feeling easier about Switzerlands position. Perhaps it is Italy. She is in a quandrary now. If she remained neutral she for a time she would demobolise I mean Immobilise a large Anglo-French fleet and forces and perhaps strike when Germany had cleaned up in th East. So it is not unlikely she will get an ultimatum if War comes and she tries that game- for or against-. 1st September. The news comes in that German troops have entered Polish territory at three points and that Polish towns are being bombed from the air. So it begins.
Monday 28/8/39 Saw Aghnides and Avenol ^on my return to the office from Ireland^ this morning. Both trying to count up the favourable factors of the Russo-German agreement: - Spain Japan and the consolidation of opinion in the decent countries where the German propaganda had many adherents or dupes on the idea of Nazi-ism being a bulwark against Communism. And to discount the other factors. To me the germans seem to have changed their policy towards Russia at a price but that that fact suggests that they count more on immediate advantages in Europe than on long-distance losses. That is that the neutralisatio of Russia, the consequent weakening of Polands position, the opening of a new source of supplies against a possible blockade will count substantially in a war or threat of war. Avenol says if they had meant war they have lost ten inval- uable days when the western preparations have been made quietly and effieciently. After talking with him I heard on the T; S; F. that Hitler had told Deladier he wanted not only Danzig but the Corridor, and the "protection" of two millions Germans in Western Poland which means in fact other large territorial concessions in northern and western Poland. If he sticks to that we shall have war. England and France are so far standing firm. To give way would make them second- class Powers overnight. Turkey Rumania and Greece would promptly tumble into Germanys pocket as Poland would be again partitioned leaving a free(!) rump to act as a helpless buffer territory. And when Europe was consolidated in Nazi hands they would be stretched out for whatever they coverted of French and British. I think the Western Powers have virtually their backs to the wall. And it dates very specifically to the Hoare-Laval agreement. 28/8/39 without quite knowing why everybody is feeling easier about Switzerlands position. Perhaps it is Italy. She is in a quandrary now. If she remained neutral she for a time she would demobolise I mean Immobolise a large Anglo-French fleet and forces and perhaps strike when Germany had cleaned up in th East. So it is not unlikely she will get an ultimatum if War comes and she tries that game- for or against-. 1st September. The news comes in that German troops have entered Polish territory at three points and that Polish towns are being bombed from the air. So it begins.
Saw Aghnides and Avenol ^on my return to the office from Ireland^ this morning. Both trying to count up the favourable factors of the Russo-German agreement: - Spain Japan and the consolidation of opinion in the decent countries where the German propaganda had many adherents or dupes on the idea of Nazi-ism being a bulwark against Communism. And to discount the other factors. To me the germans seem to have changed their policy towards Russia at a price but that that fact suggests that they count more on immediate advantages in Europe than on long-distance losses. That is that the neutralisatio of Russia, the consequent weakening of Polands position, the opening of a new source of supplies against a possible blockade will count substantially in a war or threat of war. Avenol says if they had meant war they have lost ten inval- uable days when the western preparations have been made quietly and effieciently. After talking with him I heard on the T; S; F. that Hitler has told Deladier he wanted not only Danzig but the Corridor, and the "protection" of two millions Germans in Western Poland which means in fact other large territorial concessions in northern and western Poland. If he sticks to that we shall have war. England and France are so far standing firm. To give way would make them second - class Powers overnight. Turkey Rumania and Greece would promptly tumble into Germanys pocket as Poland would be again partitioned leaving a free(!) rump to act as a helpless buffer territory. And when Europe was consolidated in Nazi hands they would be stretched out for whatever they coverted of French and British. I think the Western Powers have virtually their backs to the wall. And it dates very specifically to the Hoare-Laval agreement.
Saw Aghnides and Avenol ^on my return to the office from Ireland^ this morning. Both trying to count up the favourable factors of the Russo-German agreement: - Spain Japan and the consolidation of opinion in the decent countries where the German propaganda had many adherents or dupes on the idea of Nazi-ism being a bulwark against Communism. And to discount the other factors. To me the germans seem to have changed their policy towards Russia at a price but that that fact suggests that they count more on immediate advantages in Europe than on long-distance losses.
English Translation
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