Paris, April 14th

Since my return I find much misinformation in circulation, and in circles which should be well informed, with regard to the wishes of the Austrian Germans toward the Anschluss, the union with the German Reich which, as I was instructed to tell Renner, is to be forbidden in formal terms by the Versailles Treaty. I am well aware that an opinion based upon but a few days’ stay in Vienna is not very convincing and should not be accepted without further study, but, on the other hand, it should be taken into consideration that owing to many long sojourns in Austria in previous years I was able to make contacts with important people who would have been more reticent in their talks with a casual stranger. The result of all this preamble is that I have no hesitancy in affirming that the great majority of Austrians are opposed to the plan, at the present time, and that to the few who toy with the idea it is a counsel of despair. These people say “crippled Austria cannot stand alone, she must lean on someone, what crutch can you suggest other than North Germany?”

Even the people who favor the Anschluss see clearly what union would mean to Austria. As one of them said, “We shall become the granary, the very limited granary, of the Reich, and our infant industries will be put out of business by the greater productivity of the North German industrial plants.” And whenever the subject was broached I had ample opportunity to realize that the dislike,¹ even the antipathy, of the Austrian for the Prussian, has not been quenched by the common misfortunes endured during the Great War. On the contrary, I think it has been increased.