HITLER’S TEST IS TO COME: WAS HIS VICTORY TOO EASY?

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 885, 5 October 1933, Page 8

HITLER’S TEST IS TO COME: WAS HIS VICTORY TOO EASY?

The Strange Enigma of Hindenburg: German Mentality not Revolutionary .

Paris is at present full of competent analysts of German affairs, says a correspondent of the “ Melbourne Herald.” lam speaking of the many German refugees, fresh from the Fatherland. Of course, most of them are too much grieved to keep a cool judgment of the situation. Still, there are people strong-minded enough to combine political passion with logic. Such refugees are, as a rule, rather pessimistic. They do not deceive themselves with easy hope of a prompt deliverance of Germany from Hitler’s dictatorship. All the more interesting are their opinions about

Germany . X HAD THE OPPORTUNITY of an intimate talk with one of the most clever and cool-headed Germans one can meet in Paris. I take the liberty to quote, under my responsibility, his thoughtful, although anonymous, assertions. . . . The first thing to keep" well in mind while analysing the position of the new regime in Germany, said my friend, is the too easy victory of Hitler. At the very day of his taking power all his enemies melted away like wax before fire. And, truly, they were quite numerous. \ anished the Socialists, with all their organised forces; vanished the Communists, with all their determination to make alwavs trouble; the Catholic Party, so decidedly opposed to the barbaric fascism of Hitler, committed suicide; and silenced was the haughty grumbling of the aristocratic ** yonkers ” of Pomerania, to whom Hitler is no more than a vulgar intruder, and a perfectly dangerous demagogue, with socialistic tendencies. ... Is it not too good to be true. . . . ? The key to this enigma is the German political mentality, which is essentially unadapted to any revolutionary action. Should Hitler try to take power by force, to carry through his continual, but not once attempted, threat of a revolution against the regime of Hindenburg, all these forces would, with the same spontaneity, rise to crush him—and would most probably succeed. For, in this case, the status quo, the German political inertia, would automatically play against Hitler. Hindenburg’s Part. Unfortunately, Hindenburg turned the whole situation upside down. At a time when the elections started to be unfavourable to the Nazis, when Hitler’s spell seemed to weaken, Hindenburg served him with the Chancellorship! The Old Man wanted Germany to be ruled by Parliamentary methods, according to the Weimar Constitution. And as every step to create a workable majority in the Reichstag failed, Hindenburg had the ingenious idea of trying a legal Hitlerian majority! . . . With this purpose he made Hitler Chancellor, gave him for the elections his own glorious banner, and for the subsequent moderation and legality of his Governmental action gave him two guardian angels— Herr von Papen and Baron von Neurath! —Live long, then, the Weimar Constitution, to uphold which he, Hindenburg, took a faithful oath! . . . Well, Hitler was unfitted for a revolution when the established power was against Hitler! He proved capable of a coup d’etat when the established power was Hitler himself. For the sake of the Old Man, Hitler performed the Parliamentary tragiccomedy. The edifice of Parliament was propferly burned (by some pious devotee of the Parliamentary regime, of course! . . .) Hundreds of legally elected deputies were banished from the Reichstag and sent to prison; full power to the Chancellor was voted and—the Thing is done as no revolution could do it. The Weimar Constitution, from Alpha to Omega, sent to the de\*il, legality given to dogs for their supper. And what happened? . . . Nothing! Ten millions of Socialists and Communists are powerless; the two angels are still guarding the empty shrine and Hindenburg. Well, let us rather class the old President among the most unexplicable and troubling enigmas of Germany than believe that he can be in sympathy with all that Hitler is doing. A strange enigma, indeed! One has to admit that Hitler’s dictator-

ship and policy are popular with a great many millions of Germans. The conditions in Germany have been quite bad, and Hitler promised so much—in fact, he promised a paradise. Why not try Hitler? All those who have been most deprived in life went to him as to a Messiah. All those who looked for work and did not find; all those who wanted bread and had it not; all those who had ambitions and not capacities enough to achieve success; all those maidens who ’ wanted husbands and found none; all those who are too impatient to get for Germany guns, tanks, aeroplanes, colonies; all those who have been outdone in the hard competition for prosperity and honours; lastly, all those (not very many) who had a noble dream of a new virtuous and spiritual Third Kingdom (for their sake, probably, Hitler reopened in the German summer resorts the formerly forbidden gambling houses!). And all these people earnestly expect Hitler to make good his promises. They mean business very decidedly. So that is the question! ** Will Hitler prove capable of keeping his promises?” On this depends the definite submission of his very many enemies, who have been too easily conquered; and the whole future of his regime. Uncertain Future. The only thing in which Hitler has been really successful so far is persecution! He promised to make life a hell for Jews, Socialists, Liberals and pacifists—and he did it royally. True, the Government is boasting of a certain reduction of unemployment, the official statistical data confirming the boast. But be careful to take it at its face value! (1) More than a hundred thousand unemployed have been given work at the expense of those who have been robbed of their work in private industry and trade, as well as in State offices—Jews and other anti-Hitlerians. The latter are, naturally, not counted among unemployed, because . . . (2) Only the heads of families are at present registered for employment, so that any member of the family without work who used to be on the register is no longer there now. That makes very much for statistical beauty ! (3) Many are newly employed in the clandestine production of arms, in clandestine military factories. That is real new employment. (4) There is some seasonal revival of production and work. Thus the economic position of Germany will not become clearer before the late autumn; only then will one be able to judge the possibilities and the tendencies of the new regime. For the time being the only certain feature of German economy is a considerable decrease of export, due, probably in some degree, to the Jewish boycott. International Position. Along with the economic conditions, a very great influence on the future of Hitlerism, and on the behaviour of his enemies within the State, will be the international position of Germany. Will Hitler give her new strength, new achievements, new prestige and new dignity? So far, the international position under Hitler has become much worse. The combined action of Britain, France and Italy is a significant expression and a symbol of the new situation. . . . The future of Hitlerism is thus not quite so clear as it looks. The victory was too easy, and the silence of its inner opponents may be not altogether definite.