HITLER—AND GERMAN HYSTERIA.

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19054, 19 September 1933, Page 4

HITLER—AND GERMAN HYSTERIA.

Hitler has worked on the hysteria of a broken nation with a nebulous programme, no part of which originated with himself, writes Professor S. H. Roberts, the Australian historian and economist. Part of that programme came from his mentor, Eckart, part from the economists Gottfried Feder and Othmar Span.

Hitler’s emotional exploitation fell mainly on two receptive classes. These consisted of embittered ex-soldiers and disillusioned youths who were suffering from the malnutrition of the war period. To those were joined idealists. Hitler successfully juggled with these temporarily united elements, added to which were other organisations. Hitlerism was thus a universalising of every conceivable hate, combined with a tincture of half-baked economic theories and a crudely militaristic nationalism.

The primal cause of Hitler's success consisted of the mistakes of his opponents. Hitler is now dictator of Germany, yet, despite the exercise of every known form of coercion and propaganda, and the muzzling of his opponents, he polled no more than 4 per cent, of the votes. In the background, Hitlerism finds itself confronted with all manner of difficulties. Hitler might now be in a stronger position than ever Bismarck had dreamed of, but his seat is an uneasy one.

Economic factors are most likely to hasten the dictator’s ruin for he can keep economic peace only by balancing on a greasy pole between industrialists and agriculturists. Meanwhile every outward success of Hitler is really weakening him. He is probably proving the architect of his own ruin by provoking too many opponents at the same time. If, however, Hitlerism does succeed in its present form, it would mean the buttressing of the old German ideas of repression and militarism at home and Chauvinism abroad.