Walther Rathenau and the German People

Abstract

In view of the hectic sequence of international conferences on European reconstruction after World War II it is appropriate to remember that the first official conference of a pan-European character in the twentieth century took place at Genoa, Italy, about twenty-five years ago. It was there for the first time since the Bismarckian era that leading statesmen of all the major European countries, victors and vanquished, and of various small ones, had gathered in one room around the same table for the discussion of European problems. Credit for the respect with which the defeated Germans were received at Genoa in 1922, was due chiefly to Walther Rathenau, then German Foreign Minister. Only a year previously he had emerged from a period of political oblivion, ignored by all political parties. At the request of Reich Chancellor Josef Wirth he had assumed leadership when Germany was confronted with the crucial ultimatum that she must either undertake to pay a specified high