862.00/3022
The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received July 11.]
Sir: In amplification of my telegram No. 113 of this noon43 and in continuation of despatch No. 2496 of June 24, 1933, I have the honor to report that the new revolutionary wave, which began to sweep the country almost immediately after the conference of Nazi leaders in Berlin about two weeks ago, has submerged practically all political parties and organizations which have thus far managed to retain at least a semblance of independence. All potential sources of resistance to the [Page 240] Nazi regime—except the Reichswehr and the police—have now been either absorbed by the Nazis or largely, if not totally, crushed.
This development towards an exclusive one-party State, in accordance with the Nazi principle of “totality,” has proceeded with startling rapidity, for with the exception of the Evangelical Churches, which valiantly, though in vain, fought against the threatened Nazification, no group in Germany actually offered serious resistance.
Several weeks ago, the Center and the Nationalist Parties proceeded to reorganize along lines which suggested that they did not intend to submit complacently to their threatened absorption by the Nazis (see despatch No. 2399 of May 13, 193344). Dr. Brüning was made the leader of the Center Party, with complete full powers. The party was to be revitalized and reorganized on the principle of authoritative leadership which now rules supreme in Germany. A somewhat similar development took place in the Nationalist Party which, in keeping with the times, changed its name to Nationalist Front (see despatch No. 2371 of May 6, 1933, section 444).
The Social-Democrats, in an attempt to escape proscription, elected a new executive committee, which promptly dissociated itself from the anti-Nazi activities of its party colleagues in foreign countries, expressly repudiating the claim of Wels and other Social-Democratic leaders to speak in the name of the German Social-Democratic Party. These attempts, however, failed to check the Nazi advance.
The Social-Democrats soon met the fate of the Communists. The lively activity of the old executive committee of the party, which settled down in Prague and attempted to direct the affairs of the Social-Democratic Party from this safe retreat, furnished the pretext for a final Nazi blow against the hated Social-Democrats.
Contending that the disavowal by the party leaders in Germany of their party colleagues in Prague, was merely a tactical maneuver calculated to deceive the German authorities, the Nazis began to arrest prominent Social-Democratic leaders. Former President of the Reichstag Löbe, and other prominent Social-Democrats, as well as large numbers of party officials were arrested. Reports of wholesale arrests all over the country would seem to indicate that thousands of Social-Democrats were put into concentration camps during the past two weeks.
The procedure followed with the Social-Democratic Party was the same as in the case of the Communists. On the basis of the Presidential Decree issued immediately after the burning of the Reichstag (see despatch No. 2223 of March 4, 1933) the party was prohibited from engaging in political activity in any form, its property was confiscated, [Page 241] its newspapers and periodicals were prohibited, and its deputies were expelled from all legislative bodies.
The outlawing of the second largest party in Germany did not come unexpectedly. The party has never recovered from the decisive blow it suffered by the appointment of a Reich Commissioner for Prussia and the ousting of its Ministers from the Prussian Government. The cowardly way in which the Social-Democratic leaders, with a few notable exceptions, fled from Germany when the Nazis came into power, leaving their stunned following in the lurch, and the repressive measures of the Nazi régime, completely undermined the morale of the party. The seizure of the trade unions (see despatch No. 2362 of May 5, 193345) finally deprived the party of its main pillar of support. The ignominious death of this unfortunate but well-meaning party cleared the way for the final attack on the Nationalists and the Center.
Influential Nazi leaders made it clear that Hitler’s philosophy of a one-party State required the complete elimination even of those parties which voted for the empowering law giving Hitler unprecedented powers. The proscription of the Nationalist Kampfringe and other organizations of this party clearly showed that the Nazis were determined to destroy it. A Nationalist meeting in Berlin at which Hugenberg was to be the principal speaker was prohibited by the police at the last moment. Soon afterwards, on June 27, Hugenberg transmitted his resignation to President von Hindenburg.
The fact that the resignation was not accepted immediately, and the announcement that Chancellor Hitler was proceeding to Neudeck for a conference with the President, gave rise to the rumor that the latter was loath to drop Hugenberg, who was regarded in business and industrial circles as the only member of the Cabinet who might still be able to resist successfully the complete Nazification of all spheres of German life. However, Hugenberg’s resignation was accepted.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party decided to dissolve itself. This decision was apparently taken against Hugenberg’s wish. The dissolution of the party was decided upon following a written agreement between the party leaders and Hitler, whereby the latter, in recognition of their action, permitted the Nationalist deputies in the Reichstag and other legislative bodies to join the Nazi delegations. This agreement was signed by Hitler and former leaders of the Nationalist Party, but not by Hugenberg.
According to this agreement, former members of the dissolved Nationalist Party will be given full and equal recognition by the Nazis as “fellow combatants of National Germany” and are to be protected against all discrimination. This applies in particular to civil servants [Page 242] and employees who were members of the Nationalist Party. Former members of this party at present in custody for political offenses are to be released immediately.
With the absorption of the Nationalists and Stahlhelm by the Nazis, the so-called Government of National Concentration, which was originally based on a coalition of Nazis, Hugenberg Nationalists and Stahlhelm, has now become a purely Nazi Government, since those members of the Cabinet who are not Nazis are regarded as experts without party ties.
The Nazis owe their phenomenal growth during the past years largely to two factors: The chronic unemployment in Germany and the active support which Hugenberg has been giving them in the Reichstag and through his chain of newspapers. In fact, the Nazis owe their initial success at the polls in the fall of 1930 to the publicity which Hugenberg’s powerful press gave them in the preceding campaign for the referendum against the Young Plan. Without Hugenberg the formation of the Hitler Cabinet would not have been possible. It must be humiliating and infuriating for Hugenberg to have to withdraw from the political arena under pressure from those very elements which he had helped to put into power.
Hugenberg was convinced that after paving the way for the Nazis, he could harness them to his cart. With the support of the masses which flocked to Hitler he hoped to destroy the hated Weimar Republic and prepare the way for a return to monarchy. He helped Hitler to crush the Weimar Republic, but in his blind fanaticism he failed to realize—what was apparent to political observers long ago—that he was dangerously weakening the position of his own party.
The main Nazi attacks on the Catholic parties have thus far been concentrated on the small but formerly influential Bavarian People’s Party. Nazi leaders in Bavaria have made it perfectly clear that they considered this party superfluous. The political police in Bavaria has raided the offices of this party and the homes of its leaders. All of the Party’s deputies in the Reichstag and State Diet, as well as other prominent members of the party, have been arrested. Among those arrested are such notables as Prelate Leicht, the party’s floor leader in the Reichstag, Dr. Schaeffer, the chairman of the party, Dr. Emminger, former Reich Minister of Justice, and Ritter von Lex, leader of the Bayernwacht, the semi-military organization of the party. As a result of the Bavarian Government’s action, Count Quadt, the Bavarian Minister of Economics, who is a member of the Bavarian People’s Party, has resigned.
The repressive measures against the Bavarian People’s Party were first taken on the ground that it was suspected of treasonable relations [Page 243] with the Dollfuss régime in Austria. It is now charged that the material seized during the raid proved that the proscribed Bayernwacht was still active, that the party was evading the prohibition against meetings and that it was attempting to sabotage the decrees of the State Government. The diversity of the reasons successively advanced is pretty good proof of their flimsy character.
In combating the Catholic parties the Nazis take pains to stress that their action is not in any way directed against the Catholic Church, but only against political Catholicism. They contend that the elimination of the Catholic parties would make for a better understanding between the Catholic and Protestant sections of the population.
While the Center Party has thus far been treated with more consideration than its sister party in Bavaria, it too now seems doomed to an early death. The absorption of the Nationalists by the Nazis has not been without influence on the Center Party. Desertions from this party are now reported from various sections of the country. At the moment the national leaders of the party are assembled in Berlin to decide whether or not the party should follow the example of the Nationalists and submit “voluntarily” to absorption by the Nazis on the basis of an arrangement similar to the one agreed upon between Hitler and the Nationalists.
Political developments in Germany have been moving with such amazing rapidity that at this writing the situation is very different from what it was only a week ago. The Center Party which has been regarded in the past as the impregnable citadel of political Catholicism in Germany, is apparently about to surrender to the Nazis without a siege. The State Party has been proscribed because in the last Reichstag election it put up joint lists in the Reich with the outlawed Social-Democrats. Other “splinter” parties have been absorbed, or are about to be absorbed, by the Nazis. The Nazis’ goal of an exclusive one-party State has become a fact much sooner than they themselves apparently dared to hope only a few months ago. The main factor in making this possible has been the attitude of President von Hindenburg which, at this juncture, must be characterized as disastrously weak (see my telegram No. 107 of June 23).
In accepting Hugenberg’s resignation President von Hindenburg appointed as his successors, Dr. Kurt Schmitt, President of the Allianz Versicherung, Reich Minister of Economics and Dr. Walter Darré, the head of the agricultural bureau in the Nazi Party, Reich Minister of Agriculture. The two new members of the Hitler Cabinet were appointed at the same time by Prussian Minister-President Goering, in his capacity as Acting Statthalter for Prussia, as the heads of the corresponding ministries in that State. Dr. Bang, Hugenberg’s Secretary of State in [Page 244] the Ministry for Economics, has been replaced by Dr. Feder, the author of the original Nazi economic program. This is a distinct loss, as the former was an experienced official with rather unusually clear ideas for this country as to the value of good international relations.
In the early years of the Nazi movement Dr. Feder was the economic expert of the party. In recent years, this position has been held by Dr. Wagener, the present Reich Commissioner for business and industry. It will be recalled that at the time of Hitler’s break with Gregor Strasser last winter, Dr. Feder requested leave of absence because he was dissatisfied with certain administrative changes in the party (see despatch No. 2070 of December 14, 193246). Since then Feder had remained conspicuously in the background and his position in the party was not clear. His pronounced socialistic tendencies and strong leaning to financial and economic experiments will probably make cooperation between him and the new Minister of Economics very difficult.
Respectfully yours,