Shortly after 11 a.m. 1 received a final message from Herr von Ribbentrop asking me to call upon him at once. I did so at 11.30 and he handed me this time a lengthy document to read, beginning with a refusal on the part of the German people to accept any demands in the nature of an ultimatum made by the British Government, and stating that any aggressive action by England would be answered with the weapons and the same form, The rest of the document was pure propaganda with a view to attempt to prove to the German people and the world generally that it was Britain alone who was to blame for everything which had: happened. My only comment on reading this completely false representation of events was: "It would be left to history to judge where the blame really lay." Herr von Ribbentrap's answer was to the effect that history had already proved the facts, and that nobody had striven harder for peace and good relations with England than Herr Hitler himself. His last remark to me was that he wished me, personally, good, to which I could only reply that I deeply regretted the failure of all my efforts for peace, but that I bore no grudge against the German people. Thereafter I saw no further German official except the member of the Protocol, who accompanied our special train as far as Rotterdam. My last official communication to the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.