O.C. Kiep, German Consul General in New York, before the Eastern Regional Conference of the Savings Bank Association of the State of New York in the Hotel Roosevelt, New York, Thursday, January 28th on Germany's Attitude Towards the Present Crisis. $500
Mimeograph, 1932. 11”x 8.5”, 7 leaves.
Provenance: from H.L. Mencken, to the Library of Congress, with the rubber stamp of the LC on the rear leaf. Written in pencil on the rear of the first leaf: “Gift/H.L. Mencken/Feb 5 1932”.
This is in GOOD condition, a 4 or so out of 10. There are two ancient horizontal folds from when the paper was folded in thirds (all of the Mencken material I received in this purchase were folded one way or another). There are some short tears at these folds at the page edges on each leaf. These can be reinforced with Japanese archival tissue tape, though I haven't yet done so.
“From December 1926 to 1929 Kiep served as Counselor to the German Embassy in Washington,D.C. And then in 1932 he as the German Consul General in NYC. Because of his public support in 1933 of Albery Einsteoin hew was forced to resign his government position. Kiep returned to public life in 1936with the German Foreign Ministry in business negotiations in South America and East Asia, and later in the year he was chosen as the German representative to the International Committee on Non-Intervention in London, England. At the start of the war in September 1939 Kiep was recruited into the Abwehr, working with Admiral Canaris, but would soon become part of the resistance (along with Canaris and many others).”--Paraphrased from “The German Resistance: The WWII Story of Otto and Hanna Kiep” (online), adapted from Ice Set Free: The Story of Otto Kiep by Bruce Clements.
Kiep and Canaris and many others would both be ratted out in 1943/, with Kiep turned in by Dr. Paul Reckzeh. He would face the terrible People's Court of Roland Freisler in July 1944 and be found guilty, and was hanged two months later.
This paper details the considerable direness of the economic situation in Germany in early 1932—part of the downfall of the German economy was due to the reparations payments demanded by the Versailles Treaty, and Kiep made a case for lifting the German debt obligations. He warned that Germany wasn't presently in a position to make payments and suggested a temporary halt to them for one to three years. For the signatories to pursue the demands Kiep stated “that reverts to the most dangerous practices of warfare and can never hope to establish the peace and confidence necessary for a return of prosperity”.
In another paper three months later Kiep warned that Germany was still dealing with the debt situation mildly in the political arena but that may all come to change if the debt payments were pursued. This of course turned out to be the case, with Hitler becoming chancellor in January 1933.
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