862.00/2939
The Ambassador in Germany (Sackett) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 30.]
Sir: In continuation of despatch No. 2255 of March 20, 1933,16 going forward in this pouch, I have the honor to report certain domestic political developments which took place during the past week, which may be regarded as the finishing touches in the first stage of the national revolution.
The ruthlessness with which the Nazi Commissarial Government in Bavaria proceeded to wipe out all trace of opposition in that State, arresting Bavarian legitimists suspected of conspiring to restore the [Page 211] Wittelsbach dynasty, as well as leaders of the Left parties, soon convinced the titular Bavarian Government of the futility of further resistance. Dr. Held, the Bavarian Minister-President, has now resigned, with the result that all the functions of the Bavarian Government have been taken over by the Nazi Commissioners.
For similar reasons, the titular Prussian Ministry has now decided to withdraw its suit against the Reich, contesting the validity of the Presidential Decree of February 6, which deprived it of the few remaining functions left to it by the Supreme Court’s decision last fall (see despatch No. 2177 of February 7, 193317).
The lack of vigorous resistance with which the Prussian ministers capitulated before the Machtpolitik of the Reich Government has resulted in a signal loss of prestige by the Social-Democrats. The resignation with which Otto Braun, the Prussian Minister-President, who since the death of Ebert was looked upon as the leader of the party, accepted the latest developments in Prussia, especially his departure for Switzerland on the day of the elections and his refusal to accept a seat in the Reichstag and the Prussian Diet, has dealt a very heavy blow to the party.
It is generally known that Otto Braun’s wife has been very ill during the past years, that he was tired of office and wished to retire from politics altogether. However, the fact that he practically deserted a loyal and well-disciplined following at a most critical time must have a demoralizing effect on the already discouraged rank and file of the party, which his political opponents will not fail to exploit.
The repressive measures pursued by the new régime against political opponents, the purging of the administration of republican officials, as well as the suppression of newspapers and periodicals, continue unabated. While the number of political excesses by members of the Brown Army—in so far as reports of such cases are at all available—seems to have dwindled during the past week, Goering’s determination to “extirpate the Marxists” is reflected in further house searchings by the police and numerous arrests of Left republicans and Communists. According to a statement by the Nazi Reich Minister of the Interior, all Communists and other “dangerous persons” held in custody by the police are to be confined in concentration camps and put to work at manual labor until they have become “useful citizens.”
In Berlin last week a thorough search by the police of several blocks of houses occupied by actors, authors and journalists, known as the Künstlerkolonie, resulted in the arrest of about a dozen persons suspected of Communist activities. In Freiburg, in Baden, a Social-Democratic deputy shot down two policemen as they were attempting [Page 212] to enter his home in order to arrest him. By way of retaliation, the Nazi Reich Commissioner in Baden thereupon ordered the arrest of all Communist and Social-Democratic deputies representing Baden in the Reichstag and in the State Diet. Over 100 deputies and functionaries of the two labor parties of the Left are now being held in custody as a result of this shooting. In addition, all organizations affiliated with these two parties, as well as the Social-Democratic newspapers and periodicals not already proscribed, have been suppressed.
Simultaneously with such sharp repressive measures against political opponents, the Commissarial Governments in Prussia and other German states are granting full pardons to Nazis who have been convicted for political murder and other political crimes, or who are awaiting trial for such offenses. The first to be thus released from prison were the five Nazis who were sentenced to death by a special court at Beuthen last August for an exceptionally brutal murder of an alleged Communist. (See section 4 of despatch No. 1888 of August 23, 1932.)18 Upon their release the men were hailed as heroes and given ovations by the local Storm Detachments of that city.
The pardoning of convicted Nazi murderers on the one hand, and sharp retaliatory measures against large groups of persons for the crime of an individual, on the other, tend to create a most dangerous atmosphere. The present situation is such that any attempt, whether successful or not, on the life of a Nazi member of the Government may perfectly conceivably lead to sanguinary pogroms against Jews and a wholesale massacre of political opponents.
In Prussia and other states, the suppression of the Social-Democratic press has been prolonged. This is in accordance with Goering’s threat in a recent public speech that so long as journals of the Left in foreign countries continued to attack the present régime in Germany, the Social-Democratic press would remain suppressed. However, the muzzling of the press and the repressive measures against journalists are by no means confined to the opposition of the Left. Leading members of the editorial staff of the Münchener Neueste Nachrichten, a prominent Bavarian journal of conservative monarchist leanings, have been taken in custody by the police in Munich.
The democratic Berliner Tageblatt, in order to secure a reduction of the period of suppression and in order to avert financial ruin as a result of further suppressions, was forced to make changes in its editorial staff acceptable to the Nazi authorities. Among the foreign newspapers and periodicals barred from Germany for periods ranging from six weeks to six months are the Russian Izvestia and the Pravda, the Paris Le [Page 213] Populaire, the English Week-End Review and the New Statesman and Nation.
On the basis of a recent presidential decree, the old imperial flag and the Nazi swastika flag are to be displayed hereafter together, until the question of a new national flag is definitely settled. This decree—practically abolishing the black-red-gold of the Weimar Constitution—offers a most eloquent illustration of the radical political change which has taken place in Germany during the past weeks. Perhaps the last outward sign of the Weimar Republic disappeared as a result of another presidential decree, ordering the removal from the Reich military standard of the small inset of republican colors, and restöring the old black-white-red cockade in the service and field caps of the members of the Reichswehr.
Respectfully yours,