172 J.-A. PEMBERTON
considerAtion of tHe coloniAl Question
Schacht seemed to genuinely want to see an international agreement
reached with Britain and France on the question of colonial retroces-
sion. According to Gerhard L. Weinberg, this was ‘partly because it
might help his own position in Germany, partly because he still hoped
to divert Hitler from eastern conquests to international economic coop-
eration and colonial development in Africa.’ With this in view and in
light of French démarches in December 1936 concerning such matters as
Franco-German trade and colonial concessions, Schacht suggested that a
tripartite conversation take place between himself and representatives of
Britain and France.^296 Weinberg records that Schacht seemed to envis-
age a general settlement that would involve concessions to German in
the economic field, most particularly in the form of colonial transfers,
in exchange for certain political concessions on the part of Germany.^297
Despite having severe doubts as to whether Schacht was able to speak
authoritatively on behalf of his government, the British and French
governments, presumably not wanting let any opportunity for reach-
ing a settlement slip, decided to send representatives to hold talks with
Schacht in Paris between May 25 and 29, 1937.^298
Schacht was again in Paris in June. On this occasion, he was in
Paris in order to inaugurate the German Pavilion at the international
of our nation’s living space so that in our domestic economy the problem of Germany’s
food supplies can be solved,” and this “extension” included the old German colonies.’
Wood observed that the ‘absorption of Czechoslovakia may have deferred action in regard
to the colonies, but they were not forgotten by Berlin.’ Wood, Peaceful Change and the
Colonial Problem, 141. In his 1937 study of Germany’s revisionist policy, Rogge referred
to ‘“the revision need of over-populated Germany” and to “the need of the German peo-
ple for wider living and working space” which “arose immediately after the Diktaten of
1918–1919, which reduced German living and working space,” and which was accentu-
ated, among other things, “by the expulsion and elimination of Germans, from a num-
ber of countries, causing a mass return to the over-crowded homeland.” These needs, he
suggests, would be met by a return to Germany of her former colonies, but he marks no
reference to any officially formulated German demands.’ Rogge, 1937, quoted in Chalmers
Wright, Population and Peace, 49.
(^296) Gerhard L. Weinberg, Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933–1939: The Road to World War II
(New York: Enigma Books, 2005), 340, 355.
(^297) Weinberg, Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933–1939: The Road to World War II, 341.
(^298) Ibid., 340–41, 345, 356. See also ‘Dr. Schacht’s Paris Visit: Considerable Political
Importance,’ Straits Times (Singapore), May 27, 1937.