Vienna, Sunday June 29, 47.

What a transition! I regret the big gap & shall now make more frequent entries. I am sitting at my “Sekretär” in the familiar surrounding of the furniture of the Stadlerg. but in a large & nice but strange apartment. The parents are well, though mother has aged & shows traces of illness. But she is in fine spirits & I am delighted. H. is fine, looks well; Vienna is much less of a shock than I thought at first, but I have not looked hard behind the façade. I was too glad to see most of it standing. There is much to report & I can do it only gradually. There are first more observations about Paris & Zürich, though nothing decisive.

Ad Paris: I left on the 9th of June by plane for Zurich. On the 18th Luncheon at the Brass du Nègre offered by the Institute (14 persons); long Talks with Frechet, Roy etc. (Allaiz). I cannot understand why they were so nice to me. The mil. permit for Austria came on Tuesday; when I had dinner at Piatier’s home. Very interesting but a shade doubtful. His wife speaks perfect German and has translated much. He may have played a great role in the underground. But –. Aside from this interesting in an apparently genuine effort to build up statistical research in the face of enormous odds. Also had a long talk with Chalmey who told about the distressingly poor mechanism of getting an ecom. education & recruiting new teachers. There are no hopes unless a real center is formed & its standards are imposed upon the Fac. de Droit. Too many people want to emigrate. Hence care with fellowships!

Sunday 15, Dinner with the Buchanans. – Also with Schütz at the Tour d’Argent & then to the Cave des oubliettes rouges. Very good & interesting. Sch. very pessimistic about France, though some investments turn out better than expected (he is looking for a better job). –

Took out Mrs Buchanan to the same places; very pleasant. I persuaded her not to return to the US. Now she put the children to school at Montreux where she expects her husband. I shall see him in Wien on July 15th.

The permit runs to July 22; I also have one for the French zone in G. so that I can go to Freiburg. I have not yet the German permit.

Ad Zurich: What a difference: Switzerland & France. A peaceful country, paradise. Even better, in many ways, than the US, because of the peace. Prices 50% + than before the war. I was put up in Hermann Weyl’s room at the Waldhaus Dolder with beautiful view of Z. & the Lake. He was in, we had “4li” on the balcony. He enjoys his stay & work. She is well but went on too long a tour. We spent the evening on their balcony with some wine. They are pleased with Switzerland but know from visit of Michael & Margareta that it is not typical of Europe. (They went directly from N.Y.) But it is interesting that they would not like to live there. Maybe after H’s retirement for 1-2 years.

The taxi driver on my asking about the gen. Situation: “There are 2. hostile, powerful nations. There is bound to be a conflict engulfing all Europe again. US is stronger in respect to industry, atomic bomb, organization than Russia. Also Russia has lost all sympathies in Western Europe.” A better analysis than heard before. In Paris the Piattiers - & many others – spoke of the “ruin of Europe” etc & hoped the war would be at the Bering Street. Fear to look things into the face.

[Ad Paris: Sunday Tea at Lutfalla’s, at the Place des Voges. Fine home, beautiful books, esp. physiocrats. We also went, another day, to see the beautiful exhibition of Flemish primitives. I also saw the French Impressionists; while very good, I had a strange impression in N.Y. from the Cézanne exhibition at the Wildenstein.]

Lunch with Somary at the Storch; very good & most interesting. One of our best meetings. He expects war within 3-5 years. I told him of the taxi driver; he is not well informed about atomic energy. He is writing a book on wars and economics. – I need not note what he thinks about Austria, France etc. Espec. that the latter has not yet understood its small position in the world. Agrees with my interpretation of the Marshall plan: if it can be made for Western Europe, it means organizing it for the US; if the Russians come in & stall again then the world – if still unbelieving – can see where the responsibilities lie. So in any case the US must be winning, even when Russia comes in. At least, on the basis of the few data.