862.00/2971
The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 13.]
Sir: … Wherever the Gleichschaltung can not be obtained openly, the Nazis have resorted to other means of extending their influence. Nazi commissariats in various departments of the Government, and newly-created departments in the Nazi Party serve as preliminary training for higher official positions. The foreign political department of the Nazi Party, headed by Rosenberg, brings the party in closer contact with the work of the Foreign Office; the Nationalist Minister of Justice in the Reich had to accept a Nazi Reich Commissioner for the unification of legal procedure and administration, while the activities of Dr. Darré, the Nazi agricultural expert, would seem to indicate that he is being held in readiness to take over Hugenberg’s agricultural portfolio in the Reich Cabinet. A similar situation obtains in other departments of the Government. The Gleichschaltung principle is being applied relentlessly, largely at the expense of the Hugenberg Nationalists.
To make matters worse, Hitler has succeeded in winning over Seldte, the leader of the Stahlhelm, which up to now has been regarded as the private army of the Hugenberg party. The announcement that Seldte had joined the Nazi Party, thus subordinating the Stahlhelm to Hitler, had the effect of a political sensation. This latest development deprived the Hugenberg Nationalists of their semi-military organization, and, at the same time, increased Hitler’s private army to over one million men.
Seldte’s announcement that he has submitted completely to Hitler’s leadership was preceded by the peremptory dismissal of Lt. Colonel Duesterberg, the second leader of the Stahlhelm, who had been in active command of that organization since Seldte became Minister of Labor on January 30. Duesterberg left the Stahlhelm ranks with a significant farewell letter, in which he said that he was laying down his office under compulsion, in the interest of the Stahlhelm to which he belonged since 1919, and admonished all his comrades to subordinate themselves unreservedly, as he had done, to the political leadership of Chancellor Hitler.
The brusque dismissal of a man who has played an important part during the past fourteen years in building up the Stahlhelm is one of the results of Hitler’s negotiations with Seldte for a consolidation of the two organizations, to which Duesterberg was vigorously opposed. Duesterberg, it will be recalled, was the joint candidate of the Stahlhelm and the Nationalists in the presidential election in March of last year [Page 230] (see despatch No. 1562 of March 14, 193238). Later, the Nazis discovered that he had a Jewish grandfather. Duesterberg thereupon handed in his resignation, but was prevailed upon by Seldte to remain.
President von Hindenburg who is honorary president of the Stahlhelm, has transmitted a letter in his own handwriting to Duesterberg, thanking him for the part he played during the past fourteen years in building up this organization. In recognition of this work as well as for his distinguished military career during the war, Hindenburg presented Duesterberg with a photograph of himself.
In a radio speech explaining his action, Seldte declared that through his entry into the Nazi Party he subordinated himself and the Stahlhelm as a unit to Hitler. According to an official interpretation by the Nazi Party, however, this should not be taken to mean that the Stahlhelm has gone over in a body to the Nazis. Seldte’s action is regarded by the Nazis merely as a “symbolic act” of recognition of Hitler’s successful leadership. Individual members of the Stahlhelm are to decide whether they are to remain Stahlhelmers or become members of the Nazi Party. Membership in both bodies is not to be permitted, except, so far, in the case of Seldte himself who is at the same time a member of the Stahlhelm and of the Nazi Party.
As Seldte was elected to the Reichstag on the Nationalist ticket, which, it will be recalled, was labeled for the purposes of the election “Kampfblock Schwarz-Weiss-Rot,” the Nationalists are now naturally demanding that Seldte surrender his seat in the Reichstag.
Seldte’s going over to the Nazis is perhaps one of Hitler’s greatest achievements, for it is doubtless an important step toward the professed Nazi goal of a “total State,” that is, State control of the social, political and economic life of the country. Seldte’s action has certainly not tended to improve Hugenberg’s influence in the Reich Cabinet, nor the prospects of the Nationalist Party with respect to retaining its independence.
Respectfully yours,
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