Stranica 4 [4]
OCR
— page four e In personal contacts Gyandval makes a fine impression, He is a man who believes in his task, is dedicated body and soul to his country, and with that has a very unselfish approach to ali things. Being today strongly religious, he takes a lofty view of things, sometimes even to lofty, so as to overlook other things which seem not to enter directly into his worke Somehow one gains the impression, that for him, on his map, there is bit France and the Saar. Speaking for instence of the Soviet Union, one has the impression that for Grandval it is at best a nuisance, which may interfere with his work ; nothing more. He is not interested in world affairs beyond his own zone of interest. But in his zone he know s everything to incredibly smaii details, he follows up every report and seems to remember simply everything. In his work Zor an independent Saar he has assembled around him a motley crew of men, a very curious mixiure of high idealists and low opportunists, cf fine men and scoundrels, of moralists and racketeers, The one thing in coumon among them isz none of them, or very few of them are native Saarlanders. Most of the are Gemans ; and their finest brains are, lixe Grandval himself, Jews who have turned to Catholicism, : . he "head of State" and Prime Minister of the Saar is Mr. Johennes Hoffmann, or Papa Hoffmann as he is more usually cale lei. By birth a Berliner, old man Hoffmann became a professional politician in the pre-Hitler days. He was a party~hack of the Zentrum Party, a great supporter of Chancellor Brűninge He was persecuted under Hitler, The impression given by Hoffmann is a curious one, The Germans, and the overwhelming majority of his own country-men consider him a traitor, a man in the pay of the French. Despite this he has a certain amount of popularity, because of his fatherly attitude, his genuine kindness and his very nice way to deal with people. Personally he makes a most syupathetie impression. He is not very intelligent, but has much routine and cunuinge He is certainly not in the pay of the French, He serves the Saar Policy for reasons of idealism - regardless of what others might says He believes that only a Buropean solution is possible, that national differences gre Europe's tragedy, and that it is the mission of the Saar to be the link between France and Germany, the first truly Buropean country. Thus Hoffmann ges nuinely believes thathe serves the true German interest by what he does ; and he takes the sharp attacks on hin with much phijo-= sophye While thus outwardly Hoffmann is the boss, the true leaders of the Saar Regime are two baptized Jews of German origin : Strauss, the present Saar Ambassador in Paris, a native a Berlin 3 Singer, the present Minister of Interior, a native of Saxony. Both are very intelligent men, both are strongly reliAg,
