Vossische Zeitung
- German Arrested by the French
- Union of Republics
- Romania's Policy Toward Germany
The Vossische Zeitung of 2 October 1926 took up the aftermath of the Germersheim shooting. It reported that Richard Holzmann, a shoemaker wounded that Sunday night, had been summoned from hospital as a witness by the French military court in Landau and then declared under arrest when he denied striking the officer. The paper protested that the lieutenant who had fired, by contrast, was merely confined to a Landau hotel and had been seen walking the streets alone. Emil Ludwig, on his way to the Paneuropa Congress in Vienna, argued that a union of Europe's 25 states could only be a union of republics and warned against Bismarck's ghost. A Bucharest report quoted the Romanian minister Mitilineu, who hailed Germany's entry into the League of Nations as historic and predicted a settlement of the Banca Generale notes.
Translation
German Arrested by the French
[?] I am informed that the shoemaker Richard Holzmann of Germersheim, although he had had to go into hospital for treatment because his wounds had begun to suppurate, has been compelled by the French military court in Landau to come to Landau to be examined as a witness in the Roucier case. There he was told to his face that he had struck Second Lieutenant Roucier before the latter could reach for his riding crop and then for his pistol. When Holzmann firmly denied this, the representative of the prosecution declared him under arrest, and, as was said [?] to the arrested witness, he is to be held in custody until he tells the truth. Our correspondent, who, as reported from Germersheim, went over the events in detail with Holzmann, had received a statement from him in which he flatly denied that there had been any provocation whatsoever on the part of the Germans. Our correspondent had the impression that Holzmann's account of what happened on Sunday night corresponds to the truth. But even if Holzmann should have kept something back, his arrest — for that is what it is — is an outrage, given the fact that besides him a second German in Germersheim was seriously wounded and a third was killed. The fact, after all, is that Roucier shot one German dead and seriously wounded another. Yet neither Holzmann nor Matthes and Müller have been found to have possessed weapons. The Telegraphen-Union reports today from Landau that Roucier has been taken from Landau to Nancy to be tried there. This report does not correspond to the facts. Roucier is, on the contrary, in Landau; moreover, he has not been placed in the military prison but is living there in a hotel, where he is confined to his room. He is taken daily under guard to the examining magistrate for questioning, but otherwise he is apparently free to move about the streets of Landau, since he has repeatedly been seen in Landau unaccompanied. [?]
Union of Republics
[?] Anyone travelling to Austria these days to take part in the Congress needs no visa; he simply shows his credentials as a Pan-European, and he is let through. In this small courtesy lies a symbol: for the first time in our history, someone who calls himself a European is rewarded for it. Never mind that he pays 10 schillings to be there; the old states demand far higher taxes. Until yesterday, anyone who professed the continent as his great fatherland was a dreamer, a philosopher or some other long-haired eccentric; and just as the rest of us, who wrote in favour of a League of Nations before the war ended, now sat somewhat awkwardly across from a few zealous officials in Geneva, like poets before the directors of their plays, so it will probably be in a decade, when our sons listen in astonishment to stories of the passports without whose 25 visas one could not visit the 25 states of Europe. Perhaps there will be fewer of them by then; perhaps financial reasons will have become as decisive for small states in choosing to join together as for the little German Länder, which are beginning to hand over their pocket-sized sovereignty to larger entities. Today we travel to the most powerless country on the continent, under the patient smirks of the generals of every country, none of whom recalls certain resemblances to Herod, who likewise, decked out with the orange ribbon of the pan-Roman Pour le Mérite, looked on mockingly as John proclaimed his downfall. Is the comparison too blasphemous for you, gentlemen? To me it is too full of pathos, for what makes the idea of "Paneuropa" so formidable is its practical value, for whose sake capital may safely put up with the spirit. That is also why it is the only idea that capital and socialism support equally strongly, and since the third great International, the Vatican, joins these two, the young creation bears the best signs in its coat of arms and has nothing against it but yesterday. When Gorchakov in 1879 sought Bismarck's consent to the smashing of Austria, and in doing so lied something about liberating Christians on the Bosporus, he wrote to him: "This question is neither German nor Russian: it is European," whereupon Bismarck wrote in the margin: "Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong"... "I have always found the word Europe in the mouths of those politicians who demanded something of other powers that they did not dare to demand in their own name." Here lies one main danger for Paneuropa: at no price may it become the flower with which the ghostly politicians of 1900 adorn themselves thirty years later in the latest fashion. Bismarck, too, who repeatedly and proudly called himself a European, would appear as a great ghost at tomorrow's Congress: the last great dictator; a man who called the accountability of English ministers indiscretions toward Parliament, who despised the crowd, nations and human beings en bloc, and who loved only the great game of chess and developed it to mastery. For only as open or disguised republics can the 25 states join together in a union, and only because in the last decade the map has gained 16 new republics in place of half a dozen monarchies will today
Romania's Policy Toward Germany
[?] Minister Mitilineu today made statements to Romanian and foreign journalists about Romania's activity at the last session of the League of Nations. Germany's entry into the League of Nations, he said, was not only a great political event but also a historic act. Stresemann's speech had made a deep impression in all League circles. Prime Minister Averescu had had a meeting with Stresemann during his stay in Geneva. Now, following the understanding between France and Germany, it was the duty of all states to put their relations with that country in order. Germany had also shown that it wished to make its relations with Romania closer and to settle all questions still pending. Thus the question of the notes of the Banca Generale will also soon be settled. [?]
Context
How the Germersheim shooting ended before the Landau court-martial
The report deals with what later literature calls the Rouzier case (the paper spells the officer's name Roucier). In the early hours of 27 September 1926 the townsman Emil Müller was shot dead near the Germersheim post office, and two other residents, Josef Mathes and Richard Holzmann, had already been hit. Germersheim lay in the Allied-occupied Rhineland, and the case was handled by French military justice. On 17 December 1926 the trial opened before the French military court in Landau. It was directed not only against Rouzier but also against Mathes and Holzmann, the man the paper presents here as a wrongly detained witness. The outcome ran counter to the paper's account. Rouzier was acquitted, while the German defendants received prison terms of between three months and two years. Holzmann was given two months, a sentence he had already served by the time of the verdict. In effect, the custody the paper protested in October counted as his punishment. Holzmann's statement that the Germans had not provoked the incident was the account the paper endorsed at the time, and the court-martial did not accept it.
The first Paneuropa Congress, Vienna, October 1926
Ludwig was writing on the eve of the first Paneuropa Congress, which met in Vienna from 3 to 6 October 1926 and drew about 2,000 delegates from 24 states. The movement went back to Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi's 1923 manifesto Paneuropa, which called for a unified European state, and the congress delegates elected Coudenhove-Kalergi president of the Union. Unlike some rival schemes, the Paneuropa idea envisaged uniting Europe without Great Britain and the Soviet Union. The union Ludwig describes was therefore meant as a continental grouping rather than one that included every great power. His "25 states" is his own count. Against this background, Ludwig's warning draws on Bismarck's marginal note. The word "Europe" had long served politicians who used it to cover demands they did not dare to make in their own name. So Paneuropa must not become a fashionable ornament for "the ghostly politicians of 1900". In Ludwig's argument, only states that had become republics could join such a union.
Who actually backed Paneuropa: capital, parties and Ludwig's "three Internationals"
Ludwig claims that Paneuropa was the only idea that "capital and socialism" supported equally, with the Vatican as a third International. Part of this can be checked against the movement's history. Business support was real. After the 1923 Ruhr occupation, European-minded industrialists funded the movement, and a Paneuropa support society was set up under the chairmanship of Robert Bosch to provide regular financing. On the political side, the idea found its main base in Germany among the parties of the Weimar coalition, but it never commanded a majority of public opinion. The movement was well connected but remained a minority. That both supports and qualifies Ludwig's optimism that nothing stood against it "but yesterday". His claim about the Vatican, like his neat symmetry between capital and socialism, is his own rhetorical framing.
Germany's entry into the League in September 1926 and its neighbours
Mitilineu's remarks came directly after one of the turning points of Weimar foreign policy. In September 1926, as planned during the Locarno negotiations, Germany was admitted to the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the Council. The Locarno Treaty itself entered into force on 10 September 1926, together with Germany's admission. The minister argued that, after the Franco-German understanding, every state had a duty to "put in order" its relations with Germany. His argument reflects how Locarno and League membership changed Germany's diplomatic standing. For Romania, he presented this as a chance to settle with Berlin "all questions still pending". The claim that the question of the Banca Generale notes would soon be resolved is the minister's forecast as reported by the paper. The same page shows the limits of this détente. Only seventeen days after Locarno took effect, the Germersheim shooting set off a new clash over the occupation.
Original
Deutscher von Franzosen verhaftet
[?] Wie ich erfahre, ist der Schuhmacher Richard Holzmann aus Germersheim, trotzdem er sich ins Krankenhaus zur Behandlung begeben mußte, weil seine Wunden in Eiterung übergegangen waren, durch das französische Militärgericht in Landau gezwungen worden, zu einer Vernehmung als Zeuge in dem Fall Roucier nach Landau zu kommen. Dort hat man ihm auf den Kopf zugesagt, er hätte den Unterleutnant Roucier, ehe dieser zur Reitpeitsche und nachher zur Pistole greifen konnte, geschlagen. Als Holzmann dies energisch in Abrede stellte, wurde er durch den Vertreter der Anklage für verhaftet erklärt und soll, wie man [?] verhafteten Zeugen gegenüber aussagte, so lange in Gewahrsam gehalten werden, bis er die Wahrheit sage. Unser Berichterstatter, der, wie aus Germersheim berichtet wurde, mit Holzmann die Vorgänge genau erörterte, hatte von Holzmann eine Erklärung erhalten, worin dieser durchaus bestritt, daß irgendeine Provokation seitens der Deutschen stattgefunden hätte. Unser Berichterstatter hatte den Eindruck, daß die Darstellung Holzmanns über die Vorgänge in der Sonntagnacht der Wahrheit entspricht. Aber selbst, wenn Holzmann etwas verschwiegen haben sollte, ist seine Verhaftung - denn um eine solche handelt es sich - eine Ungeheuerlichkeit angesichts der Tatsache, daß außer ihm ein zweiter Deutscher in Germersheim schwer verletzt und ein dritter getötet wurde. Tatsache ist doch, daß Roucier einen Deutschen erschossen und einen anderen Deutschen schwer verletzt hat. Aber weder bei Holzmann noch bei Matthes und Müller ist der Besitz von Waffen festgestellt worden. Die " Telegraphen-Union " meldet heute aus Landau, daß Roucier von Landau nach Nancy transportiert worden wäre, um dort abgeurteilt zu werden. Diese Meldung entspricht nicht den Tatsachen. Roucier befindet sich vielmehr in Landau, und zwar ist er nicht in das Militärgefängnis eingeliefert worden, sondern wohnt dort in einem Hotel, wo er Zimmerarrest hat. Er wird zu seiner Vernehmung täglich durch einen Posten zum Untersuchungsrichter geführt, darf sich aber im übrigen scheinbar frei in den Straßen Landaus bewegen, da er wiederholt ohne Begleitung in Landau gesehen worden ist. [?]
Union der Republiken
[?] Wer in diesen Tagen nach Oesterreich fährt, um am Kongreß teilzunehmen, braucht kein Visum; er zeigt nur seine Legitimation als Paneuropäer vor: dann wird er durchgelassen. In dieser kleinen Artigkeit liegt ein Symbol, zum erstenmal in unserer Geschichte wird einer, der sich Europäer nennt, dafür belohnt. Macht nichts, daß er 10 Schillinge zahlt, um dabei zu sein, die alten Staaten fordern weit höhere Steuern. Bis gestern war man Schwärmer, Philosoph oder sonst ein Sonderling mit langen Haaren, wenn man sich zum Erdteil als großem Vaterland bekannte; und so, wie wir andern, die vor Kriegsschluß für Völkerbund geschrieben, einigen eifrigen Offiziellen in Genf jetzt etwas verlegen gegenüber saßen, wie Dichter vor den Regisseuren ihrer Stücke, so wird es wohl in einem Jahrzehnt auch sein, wenn unsre Söhne sich staunend von den Pässen erzählen lassen werden, ohne deren 25 Visa man die 25 Staaten Europas nicht besuchen konnte. Vielleicht werden es weniger geworden, vielleicht werden Geldgründe auch für Kleinstaaten so entscheidend geworden sein, sich lieber zusammen zu tun, wie für deutsche Ländchen, die ihre Duodez-Hoheit an größere Gebilde abzugeben beginnen. Heute fahren wir in das machtloseste Land des Erdteils, unter dem geduldigem Schmunzeln der Generale aller Länder, von denen keiner gewisser Aehnlichkeiten mit Herodes sich erinnert, der auch, geschmückt mit dem orangefarbenen Band des panrömischen Pour le mérite, spöttisch zusah, wie Johannes ihm den Untergang verkündete. Ist Ihnen, meine Herren, der Vergleich zu lästerlich? Mir ist er zu pathetisch, denn was den Gedanken " Paneuropa " so furchtbar macht, ist sein praktischer Wert, über den das Kapital getrost den Geist in Kauf nehmen darf. Darum ist er auch der einzige Gedanke, den Kapital und Sozialismus gleich stark unterstützen, und da zu diesen beiden großen Internationalen auch die dritte tritt, der Vatikan, so hat das junge Gebilde die besten Zeichen im Wappen und nichts gegen sich als das Gestern. Als Gortschakoff 1879 Bismarcks Zusage zur Zertrümmerung Oesterreichs suchte, dabei etwas von Christenbefreiung am Bosporus log, schrieb er ihm: " Cette question n'est ni allemande ni russe: elle est européenne, " worauf Bismarck an den Rand schrieb: " Qui parle Europe, a tort "... " Ich habe das Wort Europa immer im Munde jener Politiker gefunden, die von andern Mächten etwas verlangten, was sie im eigenen Namen nicht zu fordern wagten. " Eine Hauptgefahr für Paneuropa liegt hier: um keinen Preis darf es die Blume werden, mit der sich die gespenstigen Politiker von 1900 dreißig Jahre später nach der neuesten Mode schmücken. Auch Bismarck, der sich wiederholt stolz einen Europäer nannte, würde als großes Gespenst auf dem Kongresse von morgen erscheinen: der letzte große Diktator; ein Mann, der die Verantwortlichkeit der englischen Minister Indiskretionen gegen das Parlament genannt, Menge, Völker, Menschen en bloc verachtet, nur das große Schach geliebt und zur Meisterschaft entwickelt hat. Denn nur als offene oder kaschierte Republiken können die 25 Staaten sich zu einer Union zusammentun, und nur, weil im letzten Jahrzehnt die Karte statt eines halben Dutzends Monarchien 16 neue Republiken erhalten hat, wird heute
Rumäniens Deutschlandpolitik
[?] Minister Mitilineu gab heute den rumänischen und den ausländischen Journalisten Erklärungen über die Tätigkeit Rumäniens bei der letzten Völkerbundtagung ab. Der Eintritt Deutschlands in den Völkerbund sei nicht nur ein großes politisches Ereignis, sondern auch ein historischer Akt. Die Rede Stresemanns habe in allen Völkerbundkreisen tiefen Eindruck gemacht. Ministerpräsident Averescu habe während seines Aufenthalts in Genf mit Stresemann eine Zusammenkunft gehabt. Nunmehr sei es Pflicht aller Staaten, nach der Verständigung zwischen Frankreich und Deutschland ihre Beziehungen zu diesem Land zu bereinigen. Deutschland habe auch gezeigt, daß es den Wunsch habe, die Beziehungen zu Rumänien enger zu gestalten und alle noch schwebenden Fragen zu regeln. So wird auch demnächst die Frage der Noten der Banca Generale ihre Regelung finden. [?]