Stresemann in Historical Perspective

Abstract

On October 6, 1929, but three days after Gustav Stresemann's untimely death, Hermann Oncken made a first attempt to see him in historical perspective: “Suddenly all of us, friend and enemy alike, feel that there is a vacuum in the political life of the nation. … Suddenly one senses that a chapter has ended.” Oncken showed the changes which Germany had undergone since that dark day in August 1923 when Stresemann had taken over the chancellorship in an atmosphere of despair, and he praised the greatness of his accomplishment. Analyzing the sources of his success, he stressed his openmindedness and flexibility, his sense of timing, the suggestive power of his oratory, his indomitable optimism, and his willingness to fight for his convictions. But, above all, he admired his ability to go beyong the traditional political realism of Bismarck and to lead German statesmanship onward into an idealistic sphere. He cited as evidence Stresemann's programmatic words spoken on the September day of 1926 when Germany entered the League of Nations: “The man who serves humanity best, is he who, rooted in his own nation, develops his spiritual and intellectual gifts to their fullest extent and thus, growing beyond the confines of his own country, contributes to the whole of mankind.”