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Table of Contents
The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1
  • 27 October 1937
  • 12 July
  • 18 July
  • 9 August
  • 30 October
  • 31 October
  • 1 November
  • 4 November
  • 5 November
  • 6 November
  • 7 November
  • 9 November
  • 10 November
  • 12 November
  • 15 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 18 November
  • 23 November
  • 24 November
  • 25 November
  • 27 November
  • 28 November
  • 29 November
  • 1 December
  • 5 December
  • 6 December
  • 11 December
  • 13 December
  • 16 December
  • 17 December
  • 18 December
  • 19 December
  • 20 December
  • 24 December
  • 27 December
  • 31 December
  • 8 January
  • 9 January
  • 15 January
  • 18 January
  • 25 January
  • 26 January
  • 28 January
  • 1 February
  • 4 February
  • 6 February
  • 10 February
  • 12 February
  • 14 February
  • 15 February
  • 20 February
  • 21 February
  • 22 February
  • 28 February
  • 1 March (1)
  • 1 March (2)
  • 2 March
  • 4 March
  • 5 March
  • 6 March
  • 7 March
  • 8 March
  • 9 March
  • 11 March
  • 12 March
  • 13 March
  • 14 March
  • 15 March
  • 16 March
  • 17 March
  • 18 March
  • 19 March
  • 20 March
  • 21 March
  • 22 March
  • 23 March
  • 3 June
  • 5 June
  • 6 June
  • 12 June
  • 15 June
  • 16 June
  • 17 June
  • 19 June
  • 27 June
  • 2 July
  • 8 July
  • 9 July
  • 7 September
  • 4 November
  • 6 November
  • 8 November
  • 13 November
  • 14 November
  • 15 November
  • 14 December
  • 16 December
  • 20 January
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  • 26 January
  • 28 January
  • 29 January
  • 30 January
  • 31 January
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  • 28 March
  • 2 April
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  • 1 December
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  • 16 June
  • 28 June
  • 1 July
  • 27 July
  • 29 July
  • 29 July
  • 1 August
  • 10 August
  • 23 August
  • 25 August
  • 12 September
  • 14 September
  • 19 September
  • 27 October
  • 6 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 18 November
  • 24 November
  • 1 December
  • 4 December
  • 12 December
  • 14 December
  • 4 January
  • 15 January
  • 20 January
  • 25 January
  • 27 January
  • 28 January
  • 7 February
  • 11 February
  • 25 February
  • 1 March
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  • 29 March
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  • 12 April
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  • 30 August
  • 31 August
  • 1 September
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  • 5 September
  • 7 September
  • 8 September
  • 11 September
  • PS 1 October
  • 12 September
  • 13 September
  • 14 September
  • 15 September
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  • 18 September
  • 19 September
  • 20 September
  • 21 September
  • 22 September
  • 23 September
  • 24 September
  • 25 September
  • 26 September
  • 27 September
  • 28 September
  • 29 September
  • 30 September
  • 1 October
  • 6 October
  • 11 October
  • 13 October
  • 15 October
  • 17 October
  • 19 October
  • 20 October
  • 22 October
  • 25 October
  • 26 October
  • 27 October
  • 28 October
  • 30 October
  • 31 October
  • 1 November
  • 3 November
  • 9 November
  • 15 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 25 November
  • 27 November
  • 7 December
  • 11 December
  • 13 December
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  • 19 December
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© 2025
20 October
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By Liakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)

The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1

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20 October
The position of the small powers today is an unenviable one! I had the chance to feel this when the Greek ambassador Simopoulos,
Charalambos Simopoulos, Greek ambassador to London, 1935–42.
sitting in the armchair opposite me, lamented their unhappy lot.
He was in a panicky mood.
‘We used to fear our enemies, but now we have to fear our “friends” more,’ he said.
These are terrible times. Force triumphs everywhere. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. One must be cautious. Keep a low profile. Sit quietly in one’s corner and wait. Maybe things will ‘blow over’.
I asked whether England, which is so interested in maintaining good relations with Greece, offers any support?


Page 372

Simopoulos gestured vaguely. Yes, England certainly plays the role of Greece’s ‘protector’, but… isn’t it kind of a strange ‘protector’? You can never be sure of her. Especially now, after Munich.
Take Italy, for example. Greece is mortally afraid of Italy. Should the Italian navy appear in Piraeus, everything will be over in 24 hours. What’s to be done? Can one say with confidence that England will not betray Greece? Who knows? Everything is so vague. If only the Anglo-Italian agreement could come into effect soon. Perhaps the situation in the Mediterranean would become a little more stable. But in the meantime Greece has to bow down low before Italy.
The economy is another example. The total debt of Greece to Britain and France amounts to 60 million pounds, with the annual interest totalling 4–5 million. Greece is unable to pay this much and offers about half the sum. That’s not so bad, is it? But the English won’t have it. Meanwhile, Greece has a trading deficit with Britain of 1.5 million pounds. How can Greece pay its interest in such circumstances?
I inquired about the particulars of Greek foreign trade. Simopoulos was very keen to answer: ‘Tobacco and currants are our main export items. Britain purchased huge amounts of both before the war, and what now? Currants are no longer exported to Britain at all because of Australian competition. Tobacco exports to Britain amount to virtually nothing. It’s three years now that I’ve been doing my utmost to persuade the Imperial Tobacco Co. to add some Greek tobacco in its cigarettes. If they agreed to mix in even just 5%, Greece would be happy and her entire economy would recover. But the ITC has its own plantations and does not want to use our tobacco. What should we do? We’ve tried to obtain export credits in Britain, but to no avail. We’ve asked for armaments on credit, but failed again. Greece is building two destroyers in Britain, which will be completed in about four months, and now what? The company flatly demands that we pay on the nail. We lack the funds to make an immediate payment for the guns that are to be mounted on the destroyers, and now what? The company refuses to grant us credit. We’ll have to send the destroyers to Greece unequipped and mount German guns on them at home.’
‘Why German?’ I asked.
‘Very simple,’ Simopoulos answered. ‘The Germans, unlike the British, take nearly half Greece’s exports and supply us with arms and ammunition on a clearing basis.’
The Greek ambassador concluded: ‘You know, I am an Anglophile. My wife is English. But what are we to do? You rack your brains and sigh, and finally go cap in hand to Funk.
Walther Funk, press chief and undersecretary in the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda from 1933; minister of economics and ambassador general for war economy from 1938.
There is nowhere else to go.’
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Document Details
Document Title20 October
AuthorLiakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)
RecipientN/A
RepositoryN/A
ID #N/A
DescriptionN/A
Date1938 Oct 20
AOC VolumeThe Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1
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