[NOEL-BAKER PHILIP]: (1889-1982) British politician and diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize winner, 1959. Noel-Baker also won a silver medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp and is the only person to have won an Olympic medal and received a Nobel Prize. STRONG KENNETH (1900-1982) British Major General of World War II who played a leading role in the negotiations for the unconditional surrender of Germany in 1945. An interesting typed manuscript signed, Kenneth Strong, Major General, eleven pages, 8vo, n.p., n.d. (January 1946), in German. The manuscript is of a speech made by Strong to introduce Philip Noel-Baker to German prisoners-of-war at Wilton Park and states, in part, 'I have the pleasant task of introducing you, the third course students at Wilton Park, to this evening's speaker, Minister of State Philip Noel-Baker. It is a particular pleasure for me because it gives me a good opportunity to attend the third course myself, as I did at the opening of Wilton Park and at the beginning of the second course…..When, on January 17 of this year, I opened the first course, and with it the Training Centre, on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs, which I head, we were optimistic…..But no one could know how it would develop. Of course, it is still too early to say that the Wilton Park experiment was a success, because it will not be possible to decide whether it was successful or not until years after you return to Germany. But I would like to say that the development of these six months has proved right for those of us who thought that the attempt should be made…..and that it also makes it clear to the German prisoners of war here and in all camps, what importance His Majesty's Government attaches to the construction work that is being done here…..Even if Mr. Noel-Baker were not a senior officer at the State Department, he would be one of the most suitable personalities to address you in Wilton Park. I know that part of your curriculum is the Projection of Britain, and Mr. Noel-Baker embodies much of the British political tradition and development that you have heard about this semester. First of all, his political stance: I was told that last semester, nothing impressed the students more than the fact that six Labour MPs gave a brain trust, who agreed that your socialism is not based on Karl Marx, but built on Jesus Christ. And you have….[been]……shown how alive the social conscience is in the English religious communities. Mr. Noel-Baker is in the same tradition. His domestic and foreign political views are based on his religious convictions…….This combination of religion and socialism, which is not so widespread in Germany….is not the only combination of qualities that are found in England and rarely found in Germany. Mr. Noel-Baker was a university professor before politics demanded all his time, but not an unworldly, so called apolitical lecturer, but a professor who was aware of the social obligations of universities……I am sure you will appreciate it if I tell you that while a student Mr. Noel-Baker was also president of the Cambridge Debating Society…..and president of the Cambridge Athletics Club and represented England at an Olympiad……But it's not just in sports that Mr. Noel-Baker has devoted himself to cultivating international relations. He has been his party's leading expert on foreign policy issues for years, and has deepened and expanded his knowledge and experience through his work with the League of Nations and the Disarmament Conference.' Signed by Strong to the verso of the final page, and signed a second time beneath an explanatory statement, 'Speech made in German by General Strong to German prisoners of war in the U.K. at the Wilton Park Training Centre in January 1946'. Some light overall age toning, a few stains, tears and areas of paper loss to the first page only, and with small staple holes to the upper left corner of each page, G

Wilton Park began on 12^th January 1946 as part of an initiative inspired by Winston Churchill who, two years earlier, had called for Britain to help establish a democracy in Germany after World War II. Between January 1946 and June 1948 approximately 4,500 Germans were made to attend re-education classes there. Today Wilton Park exists as an executive agency of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office providing a global forum for strategic discussion.