882.00/3029
The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received July 21.]
Sir: In continuation of despatch No. 2504 of June 30, 1933, relative to the further sweep of the new revolutionary wave and the end of the political parties in Germany, I have the honor to report that with the dissolution of the Center Party, which until a few weeks ago was regarded by non-Nazi circles as an organization so deeply rooted that even the Nazis would scarcely be able to annihilate it, the last of the old political parties has disappeared. The Nazi principle of “totality” has become a fact; Hitler’s triumph over the political parties is complete.
The dissolution of the Center Party was preceded a few days earlier by the dissolution of the Bavarian People’s Party and the German People’s Party which was headed by Dr. Stresemann for many years. These two parties dissolved themselves unconditionally, without negotiations with the Nazis.
The Center Party sought to assuage the agony of impending death by negotiating with the Nazis, in the hope of obtaining an arrangement for its absorption by them similar to the one agreed upon between Hitler and the Nationalists. However, the Nazis were relentless and refused to accept the Centrist deputies in the Reichstag and other parliamentary bodies on the same basis as the Nationalist deputies. The final communiqué of the Center Party expresses only pious hopes in this respect. [Page 245] Applications by Centrist deputies to join Nazi parliamentary delegations must be made individually, the Nazis reserving the right to decide each case on its own merits.
Thus the party which successfully offered resistance to Bismarck and in post-war Germany became the most influential party by virtue of its pivotal position, has now met an inglorious end. To most minds, six months, or in any event one year, ago this situation was hardly conceivable. In addressing an S. A. rally at Dortmund last Sunday, Hitler himself said that no one could ever have believed that only five months after the Nazis’ accession to power the Center Party “would haul down its flag.”
With the disappearance of the Center Party, Vice Chancellor von Papen, who negotiated the Concordat with the Holy See, will doubtless seek to regain his impaired influence and prestige as the political representative of German Catholicism.
While the Center Party has ceased to exist in the Reich, the local groups of this party in Danzig and the Sarre region have refused to disband, declaring that they still have a “great mission to fulfill.”
Respectfully yours,