Franz von Papen, General Staff officer, politician and diplomat, talks about his activities in the United States before and during the First World War. He paints a detailed picture of the decline of the Weimar Republic and outlines the reasons that led him to collaborate with Hitler, especially emphasizing his openly critical attitude towards the Nazi regime. Although the figure of this politician seems quite controversial to the Russian reader, the memoirs of Franz von Papen are one of the most important literary works in Germany in the post-war period.