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Diary 7: August 1939 - April 1940 Item 15
TRANSCRIPTION
Left page
Manchester Guardian 2/9/39, delayed, in a
leading article says: -
This is a war we have striven
desperately to avoid; we have made
sacrifices of principle and prestige in
order to conciliate the aggressor; we
have come to the end. No efforts of
our diplomacy or of that of France or
Italy, no appeal to the highest
principles of human morality,
whether from the Pope or from the
heads of States, great and small, have
prevailed to turn Herr Hitler aside.
He has rejected all and, brushing
aside any pretence at negotiation, has
invaded a neighbour State without
declaration of war. Even in his own
shameless record of insincerity and
mendacity there has been nothing to
compare with the process by which,
within the space of a few short
months, Poland was transformed
from being a friend to be
flattered into an enemy to be
bullied and eaten up as were
Austria and Czecho-Slovakia before
her. Britain and France have their
guarantees to Poland, but even if
they had not we could not stand aside.
The fate of Poland to-day would be
that of Holland, of Switzerland, of
Belgium to-morrow, and of ourselves
and France the day after. It cannot
go on. At all costs we must make
Hitler's
amorality stands out nakedly. Who,
reading the German Notes, could
believe that it is less than twelve
months ago since Hitler described
how he had won "lasting pacification"
with Poland?
We do not expect anything from
one another. We are two nations,
and these nations will live and
neither of them will be able to
do away with the other. I recognise all
this, and we all must recognise that a
people of 33,000,000 will always strive
for an outlet to the sea. A way for an
understanding in this respect had to be
found, and has been found. And this
way will be farther and farther extended.
Certainly things become hard in this
area. The nationalities and small national
groups frequently quarrel among themselves,
but the main fact is the two State
leaderships, and all reasonable and
astute persons among the two peoples
and countries possess this firm will and
determination to improve relations.
The Poles have never 
Right page
12/9/39
A memo. passing through my hands
on the position of Afghanistan, compares
its present declaration of neutrality & that
in 1914-18. In 1915 a German mission
arrived & soon afterwards a pro-German
party was set up, influenced by the
fact that the Khalifa, as Sultan of Turkey,
was on the German side. Habibullah,
the Amir, had a difficult time but
eventually he agreed to a mission
proceeding to Berlin to discuss the
terms on which Afghanistan wd-
join the Central Powers. Of this
Afghan mission of 6 Afghans writes our Indian
colleague, four were actually British
Secret Service men with the result
that in various ways its departure
was again & again delayed. Von Hentig,
the German agent, eventually returned
to Berlin in disgust.
In Feb. 1919 Habibullah was murdred
& one of his successors engaged in War with
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
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
Manchester Guardian 2/9/39, delayed, in a
leading article says: -
This is a war we have striven
desperately to avoid; we have made
sacrifices of principle and prestige in
order to conciliate the aggressor; we
have come to the end. No efforts of
our diplomacy or of that of France or
Italy, no appeal to the highest
principles of human morality,
whether from the Pope or from the
heads of States, great and small, have
prevailed to turn Herr Hitler aside.
He has rejected all and, brushing
aside any pretence at negotiation, has
invaded a neighbour State without
declaration of war. Even in his own
shameless record of insincerity and
mendacity there has been nothing to
compare with the process by which,
within the space of a few short
months, Poland was transformed
from being a friend to be
flattered into an enemy to be
bullied and eaten up as were
Austria and Czecho-Slovakia before
her. Britain and France have their
guarantees to Poland, but even if
they had not we could not stand aside.
The fate of Poland to-day would be
that of Holland, of Switzerland, of
Belgium to-morrow, and of ourselves
and France the day after. It cannot
go on. At all costs we must make
Hitler's
amorality stands out nakedly. Who,
reading the German Notes, could
believe that it is less than twelve
months ago since Hitler described
how he had won "lasting pacification"
with Poland?
We do not expect anything from
one another. We are two nations,
and these nations will live and
neither of them will be able to
do away with the other. I recognise all
this, and we all must recognise that a
people of 33,000,000 will always strive
for an outlet to the sea. A way for an
understanding in this respect had to be
found, and has been found. And this
way will be farther and farther extended.
Certainly things become hard in this
area. The nationalities and small national
groups frequently quarrel among themselves,
but the main fact is the two State
leaderships, and all reasonable and
astute persons among the two peoples
and countries possess this firm will and
determination to improve relations.
The Poles have never
Right page
12/9/39
A memo. passing through my hands
on the position of Afghanistan, compares
its present declaration of neutrality & that
in 1914-18. In 1915 a German mission
arrived & soon afterwards a pro-German
party was set up, influenced by the
fact that the Khalifa, as Sultan of Turkey,
was on the German side. Habibullah,
the Amir, had a difficult time but
eventually he agreed to a mission
proceeding to Berlin to discuss the
terms on which Afghanistan wd-
join the Central Powers. Of this
Afghan mission of 6 Afghans writes our Indian
colleague, four were actually British
Secret Service men with the result
that in various ways its departure
was again & again delayed. Von Hentig,
the German agent, eventually returned
to Berlin in disgust.
In Feb. 1919 Habibullah was murdred
& one of his successors engaged in War with
- English (English)
Left page
Manchester Guardian 2/9/39, delayed, in a
leading article says: -
This is a war we have striven
desperately to avoid; we have made
sacrifices of principle and prestige in
order to conciliate the aggressor; we
have come to the end. No efforts of
our diplomacy or of that of France or
Italy, no appeal to the highest
principles of human morality,
whether from the Pope or from the
heads of States, great and small, have
prevailed to turn Herr Hitler aside.
He has rejected all and, brushing
aside any pretence at negotiation, has
invaded a neighbour State without
declaration of war. Even in his own
shameless record of insincerity and
mendacity there has been nothing to
compare with the process by which,
within the space of a few short
months, Poland was transformed
from being a friend to be
flattered into an enemy to be
bullied and eaten up as were
Austria and Czecho-Slovakia before
her. Britain and France have their
guarantees to Poland, but even if
they had not we could not stand aside.
The fate of Poland to-day would be
that of Holland, of Switzerland, of
Belgium to-morrow, and of ourselves
and France the day after. It cannot
go on. At all costs we must make
Hitler's
amorality stands out nakedly. Who,
reading the German Notes, could
believe that it is less than twelve
months ago since Hitler described
how he had won "lasting pacification"
with Poland?
We do not expect anything from
one another. We are two nations,
and these nations will live and
neither of them will be able to
do away with the other. I recognise all
this, and we all must recognise that a
people of 33,000,000 will always strive
for an outlet to the sea. A way for an
understanding in this respect had to be
found, and has been found. And this
way will be farther and farther extended.
Certainly things become hard in this
area. The nationalities and small national
groups frequently quarrel among themselves,
but the main fact is the two State
leaderships, and all reasonable and
astute persons among the two peoples
and countries possess this firm will and
determination to improve relations.
The Poles have never
Right page
12/9/39
A memo. passing through my hands
on the position of Afghanistan, compares
its present declaration of neutrality & that
in 1914-18. In 1915 a German mission
arrived & soon afterwards a pro-German
party was set up, influenced by the
fact that the Khalifa, as Sultan of Turkey,
was on the German side. Habibullah,
the Amir, had a difficult time but
eventually he agreed to a mission
proceeding to Berlin to discuss the
terms on which Afghanistan wd-
join the Central Powers. Of this
Afghan mission of 6 Afghans writes our Indian
colleague, four were actually British
Secret Service men with the result
that in various ways its departure
was again & again delayed. Von Hentig,
the German agent, eventually returned
to Berlin in disgust.
In Feb. 1919 Habibullah was murdred
& one of his successors engaged in War with
Language(s) of Transcription
English Translation
Transcription History
Left page Manchester Guardian 2/9/39, delayed, in a leading article says: - This is a war we have striven desperately to avoid; we have made sacrifices of principle and prestige in order to conciliate the aggressor; we have come to the end. No efforts of our diplomacy or of that of France or Italy, no appeal to the highest principles of human morality, whether from the Pope or from the heads of States, great and small, have prevailed to turn Herr Hitler aside. He has rejected all and, brushing aside any pretence at negotiation, has invaded a neighbour State without declaration of war. Even in his own shameless record of insincerity and mendacity there has been nothing to compare with the process by which, within the space of a few short months, Poland was transformed from being a friend to be flattered into an enemy to be bullied and eaten up as were Austria and Czecho-Slovakia before her. Britain and France have their guarantees to Poland, but even if they had not we could not stand aside. The fate of Poland to-day would be that of Holland, of Switzerland, of Belgium to-morrow, and of ourselves and France the day after. It cannot go on. At all costs we must make Hitler's amorality stands out nakedly. Who, reading the German Notes, could believe that it is less than twelve months ago since Hitler described how he had won "lasting pacification" with Poland? We do not expect anything from one another. We are two nations, and these nations will live and neither of them will be able to do away with the other. I recognise all this, and we all must recognise that a people of 33,000,000 will always strive for an outlet to the sea. A way for an understanding in this respect had to be found, and has been found. And this way will be farther and farther extended. Certainly things become hard in this area. The nationalities and small national groups frequently quarrel among themselves, but the main fact is the two State leaderships, and all reasonable and astute persons among the two peoples and countries possess this firm will and determination to improve relations. The Poles have never Right page 12/9/39 A memo. passing through my hands on the position of Afghanistan, compares its present declaration of neutrality & that in 1914-18. In 1915 a German mission arrived & soon afterwards a pro-German party was set up, influenced by the fact that the Khalifa, as Sultan of Turkey, was on the German side. Habibullah, the Amir, had a difficult time but eventually he agreed to a mission proceeding to Berlin to discuss the terms on which Afghanistan wd- join the Central Powers. Of this Afghan mission of 6 Afghans writes our Indian colleague, four were actually British Secret Service men with the result that in various ways its departure was again & again delayed. Von Hentig, the German agent, eventually returned to Berlin in disgust. In Feb. 1919 Habibullah was murdred & one of his successors engaged in War with
Left page Manchester Guardian 2/9/39, delayed, in a leading article says: - This is a war we have striven desperately to avoid; we have made sacrifices of principle and prestige in order to conciliate the aggressor; we have come to the end. No efforts of our diplomacy or of that of France or Italy, no appeal to the highest principles of human morality, whether from the Pope or from the heads of States, great and small, have prevailed to turn Herr Hitler aside. He has rejected all and, brushing aside any pretence at negotiation, has invaded a neighbour State without declaration of war. Even in his own shameless record of insincerity and mendacity there has been nothing to compare with the process by which, within the space of a few short months, Poland was transformed from being a friend to be flattered into an enemy to be bullied and eaten up as were Austria and Czecho-Slovakia before her. Britain and France have their guarantees to Poland, but even if they had not we could not stand aside. The fate of Poland to-day would be that of Holland, of Switzerland, of Belgium to-morrow, and of ourselves and France the day after. It cannot go on. At all costs we must make Hitler's amorality stands out nakedly. Who, reading the German Notes, could believe that it is less than twelve months ago since Hitler described how he had won "lasting pacification" with Poland? We do not expect anything from one another. We are two nations, and these nations will live and neither of them will be able to do away with the other. I recognise all this, and we all must recognise that a people of 33,000,000 will always strive for an outlet to the sea. A way for an understanding in this respect had to be found, and has been found. And this way will be farther and farther extended. Certainly things become hard in this area. The nationalities and small national groups frequently quarrel among them- selves, but the main fact is the two State leaderships, and all reasonable and astute persons among the two peoples and countries possess this firm will and determination to improve relations. The Poles have never Right page 12/9/39 A memo. passing through my hands on the position of Afghanistan, compares its present declaration of neutrality & that in 1914-18. In 1915 a German mission arrived & soon afterwards a pro-German party was set up, influenced by the fact that the Khalifa, as Sultan of Turkey, was on the German side. Habibullah, the Amir, had a difficult time but eventually he agreed to a mission proceeding to Berlin to discuss the terms on which Afghanistan wd- join the Central Powers. Of this Afghan mission of 6 Afghans writes our Indian colleague, four were actually British Secret Service men with the result that in various ways its departure was again & again delayed. Von Hentig, the German agent, eventually returned to Berlin in disgust. In Feb. 1919 Habibullah was murdred & one of his successors engaged in War with
Manchester Guardian 2/9/39, delayed, in a leading article says: - This is a war we have striven desperately to avoid; we have made sacrifices of principle and prestige in order to conciliate the aggressor; we have come to the end. No efforts of our diplomacy or of that of France or Italy, no appeal to the highest principles of human morality, whether from the Pope or from the heads of States, great and small, have prevailed to turn Herr Hitler aside. He has rejected all and, brushing aside any pretence at negotiation, has invaded a neighbour State without declaration of war. Even in his own shameless record of insincerity and mendacity there has been nothing to compare with the process by which, within the space of a few short months, Poland was transformed from being a friend to be flattered into an enemy to be bullied and eaten up as were Austria and Czecho-Slovakia before her. Britain and France have their guarantees to Poland, but even if they had not we could not stand aside. The fate of Poland to-day would be that of Holland, of Switzerland, of Belgium to-morrow, and of ourselves and France the day after. It cannot go on. At all costs we must make Hitler's amorality stands out nakedly. Who, reading the German Notes, could believe that it is less than twelve months ago since Hitler described how he had won "lasting pacifica- tion" with Poland? We do not expect anything from one another. We are two nations, and these nations will live and neither of them will be able to do away with the other. I recognise all this, and we all must recognise that a people of 33,000,000 will always strive for an outlet to the sea. A way for an understanding in this respect had to be found, and has been found. And this way will be farther and farther extended. Certainly things become hard in this area. The nationalities and small national groups frequently quarrel among them- selves, but the main fact is the two State leaderships, and all reasonable and astute persons among the two peoples and countries possess this firm will and determination to improve relations. The Poles have never 12/9/39 A memo. passing through my hands on the position of Afghanistan, compares its present declaration of neutrality & that in 1914-18. In 1915 a German mission arrived & soon afterwards a pro-German party was set up, influenced by the fact that the Khalifa, as Sultan of Turkey, was on the German side. Habibullah, the Amir, had a difficult time but eventually he agreed to a mission proceeding to Berlin to discuss the terms on which afghanistan wd- join the Central Powers. Of this Afghan mission ^of 6 Afghans^ writes our Indian colleague, four were actually British Secret Service men with the result that in various ways its departure was again & again delayed. Von Hentig, the German agent, eventually returned to Berlin in disgust. In Feb. 1919 Habibullah was murdred & one of his successors engaged in War with
English Translation
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