The most important thing... is the liberation of German territory from foreign occupation. We must first get the strangler from our neck. Therefore German policy, as Metternich said of Austria—it must be after 1809—must in this respect consist first in showing finesse [finassieren] and avoiding fundamental decisions.


Letter to the Crown Prince (7 September 1925), quoted in Jonathan Wright, Gustav Stresemann: Weimar's Greatest Statesman (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 327.

Gustav Stresemann Quotes

The most important thing... is the liberation of German territory from foreign occupation. We must first get the strangler from our neck. Therefore...

The most important thing... is the liberation of German territory from foreign occupation. We must first get the strangler from our neck. Therefore...

The most important thing... is the liberation of German territory from foreign occupation. We must first get the strangler from our neck. Therefore...

The most important thing... is the liberation of German territory from foreign occupation. We must first get the strangler from our neck. Therefore...