impatience of the average Englishman with Nazi Germany; some
of the businessmen had urged him to get Göring to start nego-
tiations “before the killing started.” Dahlerus suggested that
Göring might meet these influential Englishmen on neutral ter-
ritory, to explore the possibility of summit talks between Britain
and Germany.
Göring nodded. Dahlerus busily put the idea to three
English company directors visiting Berlin, Messrs. A. Holden,
Stanley Rawson, and Charles Spencer. They welcomed the ini-
tiative, but now Göring got cold feet. When Dahlerus came out
to Carinhall again on July , Göring merely suggested they meet
again in Hamburg in two weeks’ time; but he did send Dahlerus
to ask fellow Swede Axel Wenner-Gren whether he would lend
his luxury yacht Southern Cross for the conference. On July ,
he received a discouraging reply from Wenner-Gren: Mr.
Chamberlain, he said, had confided to him that the revelation of
any high-level secret conference might well bring down his gov-
ernment; in his letter Chamberlain had, however, agreed that
Field Marshal Göring did appear to be out of step with Hitler.
The mere thought of this sent shudders down Göring’s
spine, and over the next months he seldom tired of protesting
that he would “never, never” go behind Hitler’s back.
For a few days he lazed along the waterways in Carin ,
ostensibly inspecting them on behalf of the Four-Year Plan.
Dahlerus did not give up. Visiting London, he obtained Foreign
Office approval for the proposed informal Anglo-German
meeting. Late on July , he came to Göring’s luxury suite at the
Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg and tackled the field marshal again.
Although involved in costuming himself in his whitest uniform
preparatory to addressing a mass rally, Göring talked to him for
two hours, then agreed to meet seven selected English business-
men. He anxiously stressed that he proposed to ask Hitler’s