Hello all,
Reading the Wikipedia page of the Comte Bernadotte, I ran into the mention of a peace agreement offered by Himmler to the Allies suggesting that Germany would surrender fully to the West but would be allowed to keep fighting the Soviet Union, hopefully with help from the Western Allies.
This is something I had never heard of before, so I was wondering if any historian could provide some info or some context about this!
On a follow-up question on the same topic, I was wondering if the German high command perceived the coming hostilities between Eastern and Western allies, and if they thought it could be a leverage to potential negotiations ?
Thanks a lot for your time!
Hello!
I previously answered a similar question which I'll quote and link here, but I'd be more than happy to answer any followup questions you might have.
Himmler (as well as Eichmann and other high ranking members of the SS) actually attempted to keep many Jews and other persecuted parties (specifically Jews and other persecuted parties from Western Europe) under his control alive towards the final stages of the war, but not out of some grand gesture of humanitarianism, but out of an attempt to use them as bargaining chips with the Allies in exchange for money and goods. Himmler made a number of gestures to the Allies, many of which were through a Swedish Red Cross representative, Folke Bernadotte (whom he also submitted a peace proposal directed at the Western Allies in April 1945 that would allow Germany to continue fighting against the Soviets), that he would be willing to ransom several thousand Jews in his custody. Himmler did this both as a way to gain money and material to continue the war effort, as well as to try gain favor with the Western Allies, whom he believed were indebted to the Jews, and as a result would allow him some form of power or leadership in Post-War Germany. This obviously did not work out the way Himmler had intended it to.
As far as your followup question about the German's being aware of the coming hostilities between the Eastern and Western Allies, it was no secret that both sides shared a mutual distrust of one another and that their alliance was indeed a fragile one.
Which is one of the major reasons why you had Himmler and other German officers/officials making attempts to make peace with the Western Allies while continuing to fight against the Soviets. Himmler and many other Germans fully believed that the Western Allies would soon see if they hadn't already the Soviets/Bolshevism in the same light that Nazi Germany did, and would grasp every opportunity and advantage to defeat the Soviets/Bolshevism once and for all.