DAVIGNON, Jacques, vicomte.

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Berlin: 1936-1940. First edition, first printing, of this surprisingly scarce memoir; this copy presented by the author - as a "cordial hommage" - to J. Wullus-Rudiger, a member of the pre-war Belgian government, and subsequently presented to Wolf Ulrich von Hassell, who participated in the German resistance to Hitler, son of Ulrich von Hassell executed by the Nazis in 1944 for the plot to overthrow Hitler.During the 1930s Wullus-Rudiger wrote a number of books on the deteriorating situation in Europe, and at the outbreak of war served under the Belgian Minister of National Defence, Lieut.-Gen. Henri Denis. His presentation inscription to Hassell (dated 1952) reads, "in sympathischen Andenken, und in aufrichtigen Würdigung des 'andern Deutschlands'" (in sympathetic memories, and in sincere appreciation of the "other Germany"). Hassell (1913- 1999) was a former West German ambassador to the UN and "oversaw his country's post-war transition to full membership in international organisations" (New York Times obituary).The author, Vicomte Jacques Davignon (1887-1965), was the "sleek, smart" Belgian ambassador to Germany (Time magazine). For four years he worked tirelessly to maintain Belgian neutrality in the face of German aggression. In his memoir The Armies March (1941), John Cudahy, US ambassador to Poland and Belgium in the years before the war, writes of having "great respect for the analytical quality" of Davignon's mind and that he was "better informed on conditions in the

• Printing: first

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