H.R. Cummings' letter, London representative of the League of Nations Secretary-General, to J. Avenol, League of Nations Secretary-General.
A.N. Chamberlain's reversal of policy; C. Burckhardt three days back in Danzig: about European situation; J. Avenol: League of Nations in case of war; flight of Swiss capital.
Madrid crumbled in the face of Franco; Mussolini's territorial objectives; Germany started an anti-Polish campaign; France and England military relations; J. Avenol about League of Nations position in case of emergency; ILO plans for evacuation; Polish-German relations and spirits.
Trouble with J. Avenol concerning war preparations; March of Hitler towards war; efforts to construct a peace front in Europe; USSR volte face: German-Russian non-aggression Pact.
Talks with J. Avenol and the Supervisory Committee about financial and political problems; C.J. Hambro from Norway, delegate at the League of Nations Council sessions, strongly anti-German, was afraid of Ireland being made a German base for espionage; letter from S. Lester's wife Elsie: Ardagh Lodge; A. Hitler speaking from Danzig; V. Sokoline, League of Nations Secretariat official, office of the Secretary General, on Soviet moves; visit of the Palais des Nations by the Duke of Windsor back to England after three years' exile.
Real war soon: partial mobilisation in Holland, Belgium and Switzerland; curious affair in Munich: Hitler celebrated the birthday of Nazism, left quickly just before a bomb exploded, according to C. Burckhardt and J. Avenol it was the Gestapo's action to prepare opinion for ruthless war and reprisals; S. Lester's family affairs; list of members, including S. Lester, of the Honorary and Executive Committees of the "Maison internationale des étudiants"; Raymond Fosdick's letter, Rockefeller Foundation, on the United States opinion of war.
Finnish appeal to the League of Nations after Soviet invasion; Soviets expelled from the League of Nations: V. Sokoline, Under-Secretary General of the League of Nations, the only Russian member of the Secretariat left at Christmas 1939; aid for Finland; world opinion fiercely anti-Russian; "Axe" Committee: League of Nations staff reduced by over 50%; Special Assembly with E. de Valera, Ireland, as president; Duke of Devonshire, new member of the British Delegation: talk with S. Lester on anglo-Irish relations; S. Lester was J. Avenol's intermediary for V. Sokoline's departure; V. Sokoline's letter of 7 December 1939.
J. Avenol's occupations: talk between J. Avenol, former Secretary-General of the League of Nations, and the French official René Marie Frédéric Charron (former League of Nations Finance and Economic Research Section) on J. Avenol's memorandum 100% pro-German; R.M.F. Charron advised J. Avenol against sending the memorandum to Marshal Pétain; J. Avenol prepared to put himself and the League of Nations at the disposal of the Germans and Italians; J. Avenol believed the German victory was certain.
Invasion of Western European countries: France, Belgium, Holland, etc.; Elsie's visit in spite of the war; League of Nations Secretariat crisis owing to the war; J. Avenol, League of Nations Secretary-General: plans for evacuation; ILO in the same position as the League of Nations; French capitulation, the plan: to put Marshal Pétain in as Prime Minister to make an armistice; S. Lester proposed to J. Avenol the destruction of secret papers.
S. Lester's letter to Arthur Sweetser, United States, Office of the League of Nations Secretary General, Information Section, on German troops along the Jura, closed to Switzerland, on disillusionments (J. Avenol) and League of Nations staff.