Frederick Voigt to [W.P. Crozier].
Location: [Paris].
Notes. He defines his role as he sees it, namely to supplement the work of Lambert and to 'say what he cannot say'. To obtain important information that cannot be found in any other papers, and to give the German service an 'MG character'. He outlines the disadvantages of the paper's 'slight apparatus' and small resources in comparison with other papers especially The Times. He is largely dependent on voluntary help and people such as W. [Wolf] who are paid little and yet run great personal risk, plus he has help of two diplomatic services. He talks of the stories in which the MG has led the way since the Nazi dictatorship began, the Reichstag fire - they supplied the principal documents that were used in the parallel trial, the Terror, the German religious crisis, and the underground political opposition. The people helping them expect certain results.
He has of late, since 30 June, 'feared the breakdown of our organisation because of the uneasiness caused by the treatment of the German news'. He cannot state his views without criticising a younger colleague [Lambert]. He hopes to talk these things through with him (Crozier) when they meet in Manchester. He is unhappy about the time lags in the publication of his messages. News quickly goes out of date. He would like his messages to be 'organically consecutive'. He gives three detailed examples that occurred in June. 1. Espionage in the SA. 2. Concentration Camps and the Terror. 3. The Memel conflict. He includes some shorter examples. He talks about the reporting of the events of June 30th in detail, mentioning Lambert and the acting editor [Phillips]. The mistaken hypothesis about the 'plot' and the generally miscalculated handling of the massacre messages led to them being scooped by The Times.
He understands that Dell will be seeing him too regarding his messages. He, Dell and Werth 'had the impression that their messages were treated so as to fit in with the leaders'. He expands on this. He thinks if he were based in London he could adapt his work better to Lambert's and Vinogradoff's. He would like to be closer to him too and also to do the occasional leader on Germany. He would have to visit the Saar several times a year, taking in Paris. He encloses an estimate of the expenses for this work and expands on this.