862.00/3540
The Ambassador in Germany (Dodd) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 27.]
Sir: I have the honor to present a survey of developments at the Party Congress held in Nuremberg from September 10 to 16, as derived chiefly from a first impression of the speeches delivered there. It is perhaps still too early to treat the subject more than superficially as opportunity must be awaited to consult authoritative persons who were present and as time will doubtless be required before the significance of the recent events become more fully apparent.
As a mass meeting of the Party and its leaders the Congress was expected to put on parade a sufficient show of political militancy and demagoguery to furnish encouragement for another year, and in this respect the recent meeting caused little disappointment. This makes it perhaps all the more difficult at the present time to place events in their perspective against the less spectacular background of German everyday life, and to say offhand that the radical Naziism in evidence at Nuremberg will everywhere prevail within the next year. It may on the contrary be held that, beyond bringing to life further passages from Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, particularly those dealing with the flag and citizenship, the Congress produced little fundamentally new, and that the latest Reichstag laws, while extreme in appearance, failed to legalize all that the Party has been doing upon its own initiative. Marriages between Jews and Germans, for instance, have been impossible for some time (see Embassy’s despatch No. 2230 of August 20, 193517) and in return for merely confirming in law much that already has had de facto force, the high leadership has imposed upon the more radical following an obligation to maintain strict discipline and to refrain from individual action.
On the other hand, there are of course the significant references [Page 279] in Hitler’s programmatic address to the possibility that the Party may exercise powers that the State is unfitted to wield, but whether this is merely an offer of prolonged hope to the extremist element, or will be actually applied to add to the already existing confusion in leadership, remains to be seen. The new laws against the Jews deceive very few people that the last word has been said on that question or that new discriminatory measures will not eventually follow within the limit of what is possible without bringing about too great a disturbance in business.
A point worth stressing particularly, however, is that the Congress appears to have made absolutely no concessions to those radicals desirous of more thorough-going “socialism,” but in avoiding the topic, and in Hitler’s reaffirmation that there will be no inflation, seems rather to have left Dr. Schacht’s program intact.
Two distinctive notes were struck that will probably endure some time. These were, first, that the process of political assimilation will continue and, secondly, that it will be accompanied by a more intensive militarization of the people, the setting of the Congress with the increased participation of the armed forces being symbolic of such a trend. The speeches were evidently intended to leave no doubt that the Party and the intangible entity known as the “movement,” or all Nazi sympathizers, will push forward their claims to ascendency in all fields of German life, and that the cloak of traditionalism which has served to shield elements of conservative opposition together with certain of their organizations, such as the Stahl-helm and the student corps, may no longer avail. In other words, all must be National Socialist in name even though it may not be possible to bring about a corresponding conversion of conviction. The change-over to the Swastika flag as the national emblem consecrated this aspiration, President of the Reichstag Göring making it plain in proposing the law (which incidentally Judge Brodsky doubtless made all the easier of adoption,18 as acknowledged by Göring in an indirect reference), that it was to prevent the former national emblem from being “misused” by the “reaction,” that it is being discarded. Beyond this visible trend, which was more or less to be expected, the Congress was beset by an atmosphere of generality and vagueness, such issues, for instance, as the Church conflict, inter-Party relationships, and specific economic problems, being left practically untouched.
Hitler’s Addresses
a) Congress Program.
Hitler’s speeches are of primary interest not only because they were naturally the most authoritative but also because they generally achieved a certain finesse and dignity becoming a Minister of State [Page 280] that was lacking in many of the others. From his “program,” which was read out on the opening day by Gauleiter Wagner of Munich, the warning stands out that “what can be settled by the State will be so settled but what the State, because of its Constitution, is not in a position to deal with, will be settled by the ‘movement’.” Furthermore: “The determination to nip in the bud certain dangers would, if necessary, cause the transfer of functions which the State was clearly less fit to exercise, to organizations which were better qualified to handle such a task.” The reference to the Church question is vague, it being stated that the Party had endeavored to collect together all the “impossible” Protestant provincial churches “into a great National Church” without interfering in matters of faith, and had attempted also by concluding the Concordat to create a mutually profitable relationship with the Catholic Church. Furthermore, the proclamation declares, the Party had abolished godless organizations and had cleansed German life of much that the churches themselves had tried to do away with. On the other hand, the State would under no circumstances permit either of the confessions to take part in politics.
On the subject of economics the program declared that nourishment of the people was assured and that it mattered little whether this or that person complained because he found it difficult to obtain luxury articles. “New materials,” not so-called “substitute products,” were making Germany independent of foreign imports, it was explained, and already success had been obtained in producing oil, rubber and textiles from home materials. Germany is no longer a defenseless plaything of the world but stands safe, not through treaties and pacts, but through the determined will of the leaders and the nation’s own strength. Our Army is our most precious and proud property, the proclamation reads, and the thought is expressed that without the National Socialists the new people’s army could never have been.
b) Hitler Before The S. A. and S. S.
Hitler’s speech before the S. A. and S. S. on Sunday morning, September 15, is interesting first of all for the announcement that boys coming from the Hitler Youth may pass into these two organizations before performing their labor and military service. (See Embassy’s despatch No. 1939 of April 24, 1935.19 It will be recalled that when Herr Lutze of the S. A. put this forward as a tentative proposal last April there were good reasons for supposing that Army leaders would not permit it to be carried out.) A reference in the same speech to the “many thousands of discharged soldiers from the first class in the new German Army who will pass into your ranks,” was interpreted by the Angriff of September 16 to mean: “The S. A. [Page 281] alone is to take over the discharged soldiers of the defense forces, thereby putting an end to month-long discussions between the Kyffhäuserbund, the Soldatentreubund, and the Stahlhelm. The S. A. is for all time the permanent political soldier company of the Führer’s.” An authoritative Army source has stated that no such decision has been taken, nor is likely to be taken in the near future, and that the Angriff merely drew a hasty conclusion from the vague hope expressed by the Führer that many recruits after their military service would volunteer for the S. A. While this assurance may possibly mean that the Army is not yet willing to acknowledge a proposal that may be in agitation and may eventually be forced upon it, it may be pointed out that the designation of the S. A. as the official reserve corps would be revolutionary from many points of view, particularly as its chief, Herr Lutze, in his statements of last April disclaimed for it any aspirations of a purely military character, defining its task to be a political soldiery, and adding furthermore that it would be made up only of Party members.
c) Hitler’s Closing Speech.
In his closing speech before the Congress on the evening of September 16, Hitler paid tributes to Christianity and the monarchy as having made useful contributions to German state unity in their time. Christianity, however, lost its meaning as a governmental basis through its split into various confessions, and monarchy as a system, according to Hitler, was doomed by the new spirit of the French Revolution. “The ferment of decomposition,” as Mommsen called Jewry, had led to Marxian socialism, Hitler explained, and Christianity, by joining in the democratic chaos, had done itself untold damage. (Stormy applause, according to the press reports.) That many states had not yet broken down did not prove the opposite of his theory, Hitler claimed, but merely that the process of history is slow.
The Party, Hitler continued, is now engaged in liquidation of the revolution, and the taking over of power must also be consummated in the taking over of leadership; when opposition makes itself evident it must be first warned and then if necessary “corrected.” Fallibility or infallibility of leadership does not enter into discussion but it is the primary duty of all Germans to obey. Hitler then answered those (who are probably many) who say, “The Führer is one thing and the Party is another,” by declaring that the Führer is the Party and the Party is the Führer. He would close his eyes, he said, in the confidence that the Party will continue to rule, and that he who is chosen by the Party shall be its master, as well as chief of the Army. The Army must preserve Germany’s power and watch over it.
[The remainder of the despatch reports miscellaneous speeches.]
Respectfully yours,