at  public  meetings,  but  Conrad  has  made  a  point  of  rejecting  these.  The  K.P.  is  the
only  party  not  to  have  stuck  placards  on  the  public  hoardings  and  the  window
display  „Nein  zum  Statut“  in  its  newspaper  office  in  Saarbrücken  is  the  same  as  it
was  a  month  ago.
11.  The  D.P.S.  under  Schneider  says  it  wants  no  Kolonialstatut  and  no  foreign
exploitation;  it  rejects  the  favoured  position  of  France  in  the  economic,  cultural  and
therefore  political  life  of  the  Saar  and  demands  new  negotiations,  for  which  it  has
an  8-point  programme  (see  appendix21).  Schneider  is  the  most  dynamic  of  the
German  party  leaders  and  so  far  he  has  set  the  pace  for  the  others,  on  occasions
making  claims  on  their  behalf.  His  meeting  in  Saarbrücken  on  July  30  was  the  first
to  be  held  there  under  the  new  dispensation  and  he  has  been  speaking  almost  every
night  in  one  place  or  another.  His  methods  betray  something  of  his  former  Nazi
affiliations  -  his  speech  in  Saarbrücken  lasting  about  80  minutes  was  preceded  by
20  minutes  of  marches  and  folk  music  played  by  a  brass  band  dressed  in  white
shirts  and  black  trousers  and  the  proceedings  concluded  with  the  first  verse  of  the
Deutschlandlied  and  Deutsch  ist  die  Saar.  His  speech  was  a  mixture  of  argument
and  personal  denigration,  of  which  the  latter  provoked  good-humoured  laughter
from  the  audience  who  were  obviously  in  holiday  mood  after  10  years  (or  you
might  say  20  years)  of  not  being  able  to  enjoy  the  free  criticism  of  those  in  authority.
  The  total  audience  numbered  nearly  4.000,  including  about  800  people  in  the
street  outside  where  the  police  had  some  difficulty  in  keeping  a  way  for  traffic.
This  was  of  course  a  Saturday  night  but  the  following  Wednesday  Conrad  of  the
D.S.P.  filled  the  same  rooms  (the  largest  in  Saarbrücken)  to  overflowing,  although
on  this  occasion  the  police  moved  on  the  people  in  the  street.
12.  Conrad  is  a  more  sober  character  than  Schneider  but  is  regarded  by  the  C.V.P.
and  S.P.S.  as  their  most  dangerous  opponent.  (Ney,  the  leader  of  the  C.D.U.,  is  an
old  man  without  personal  appeal).  Much  of  his  opposition  to  the  Statute  is  on
economic  grounds.  He  claims  that  the  French  have  been  modernising  the  heavy
industry  of  Lorraine  at  the  expense  of  the  Saar,  that  they  are  robbing  the  Saar  of  its
best  coal  by  working  the  Wamdt  coal-field  from  the  other  side  of  the  frontier  and
that  in  ten  years  there  will  be  unemployment  in  the  Saar  as  a  result.  The  D.P.S.
seems  to  be  well  organised  throughout  the  Saar  but  Conrad  has  complained  to  me
of  a  lack  of  money.  So  far  the  D.S.P.  has  only  produced  one  placard,  in  black,  gold,
red  -  „Die  Saar  bleibt  Deutsch“,  with  the  subsidiary  caption  „Recht  muss  Recht
bleiben“  which  I  am  informed  was  a  remark  of  Schumacher’s.
13.  But  what,  you  are  asking,  is  my  provisional  forecast  of  the  result  of  the  Referendum?
  I  must  frankly  say  that  i  am  very  reluctant  to  give  one  at  this  stage  as  so
much  can  and  no  doubt  will  happen  before  the  Referendum  takes  place  which  will
affect  the  issue  one  way  or  the  other.  In  particular  there  are  several  concessions

21  Hier  nicht  abgedruckt.

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