Nevile Henderson

"He failed to realise why his military-cum-police tyranny should be repugnant to British ideals of individual and national freedom and liberty, or why he should not be allowed a free hand in Central and Eastern Europe to subjugate smaller and, as he regards them, inferior peoples to superior German rule and culture. He believed he could buy British acquiescence in his own far-reaching schemes by offers of alliance with and guarantees for the British Empire. Such acquiescence was indispensable to the success of his ambitions and he worked unceasingly to secure it. His great mistake was his complete failure to understand the inherent British sense of morality, humanity and freedom."

"If Hitler wanted peace, he knew how to insure it; if he wanted war, he knew equally well what would bring it about. The choice lay with him, and in the end the entire responsibility for war was his."

"I attached much importance to the selection of a new British Ambassador to Germany... I selected Sir Nevile Henderson. The responsibility for this decision was, of course, entirely mine, but the recommendation in his favour was strong and no one foresaw the opinions he was to hold... The most fancied alternatives were Sir Miles Lampson and Sir Percy Loraine, and I deeply regret that I did not choose either of them in preference to the diplomat who was recommended to me."

"It was an international misfortune that we should have been represented in Berlin at this time by a man who, so far from warning the Nazis, was constantly making excuses for them, often in their company. Henderson kept his hostility for the Czechs. He grew to see himself as the man predestined to make peace with the Nazis. Sincerely believing this to be possible, he came to regard me, and others at the Foreign Office who shared my opinions, as obstacles to his purpose."

"Our aeroplanes can no longer fly between Germany and East Prussia without being shot at; their route had been changed, but they are now even attacked over the sea. Thus, the plane which was carrying State Secretary Stuckart was fired at by Polish warships, a fresh incident which I was not yet in a position to bring to the notice of Sir Nevile Henderson this morning."