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^
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byTtarlBilUnger earing
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the menace of the
man and
'.>'
his
program
^
t.^
byTtarlBilUnger earing
away
the veils of inarticulate mysticism
which fog the pages of ^fflem Kampf* the German author of this book lays bare the grim purposes of
the well-known Austrian paper-hanger.
/
The Book and When
became apparent that Mein Kampf was to be
it
Hitler's
taken seriously, there was in various countries to
book
a rush
make
this
available in completely unex-
purgated form
to readers through-
out the civilized world.
the Author
Jews, democracies, war, peace, racial
theories,
how
learn
why
anti-Semitism
an inevitable
It is,
however, an entirely
and
faithful description of
zenship papers.
Mein
of
real
not told in
his book.
Kampf.
translation
is
We
to power,
and why the
part of fascism,
accurate
another
came
Hitler
The author is now taking out
be
and arranging
etc.,
these topics in an orderly form.
facts of Hitler's life are
This book does not purport to
^^^~-?:>^A^^
young German, American citi-
a
his
He
opposed Hitler
origi-
during the early Nazi days and
Mein Kampf is an extremely long book, and that is not its most
concentration camp, which he de-
formidable feature from the stand-
scribed in his
point of the reader. Hitler's style
Fatherland. This present volume
Hitler's
world program. The
nal
notoriously bad even in
and the organization of
makes
it
extremely
is
German, book
his
difificult
for the
reader to acquire a clear picture of his thesis. Hitler Is rects this fault
No
Fool
of gathering together the scattered
cor-
by the simple process widely
Hiderian views on the
spent
many
terrible
months
famous
first
in
book. is
great
further proof of his really ability as a writer.
a
The book
pre-
sents a most penetrating analysis of
Hider and
his
policies,
conclusively that the
man
proving is
not to
be taken lighdy and that continued attempts to laugh
him
o£F will play
direcdy into his hands.
Hitler
Is
No Fool
BY KARL BILLINGER AUTHOR
OF
MODERN AGE BOOKS
^'FATHERLAND"
•
INC
•
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT 1939 BY KARL BILLINGER
PUBLISHED BY MODERN AGE BOOKS, INC.
All rights in this boof^ are reserved,
and
it
may
not
be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the holder 0/ these
rights.
address
For information
the
publishers.
60
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
3 1262
08645 472 4
Contents
vii
Preface
1
Who
2
Hitler's
3
How Did Hitler Come To Power ?
4
How
5
Will Hitler
Is
Hitler?
Program
Does Hitler Carry Out His Program?
Footnotes
Win?
i
29 88
132 169
195
Preface
Today,
after
more than
a mystery to the
is still
Third Reich appears
upon
built
six years of feverish activities,
terror
man
as a
and
To him
in the streets of America.
one-man
fear
Nazi Germany
and
shovi^.
He
indignant
is
the
resents a social order
when he
reads about
Jewish pogroms, threats of invasion, and conquests of weak coun-
But he
tries.
at
is
an
utter loss to explain the miraculous career of
He
the "Austrian housepainter."
might, perhaps, pity the
German
"madman,"
But the longer he sees them more will his pity change into contempt, the more will his feeHng grow that the Germans, after all, deserve a Government ruled by a "fool" or a
people.
the
which they apparendy are For
this
man
nc^t
wilHng
able or even
in the street the present
book
him with
his ideas
and plans and, moreover, with the
The
way
best
of doing
it
might
authoritative source, Hitler's
been spared
much
own
work
it
from a
The world would have
taken the trouble to study the
to
seldom offered the oppor-
dictator himself his
before he has been able to carry
But how are we
fascism, with
he represents.
be to go back to the most
book.
carefully. History has
tunity of learning
forces
guessing about the essence and aims of the
National SociaUst regime had Fuehrer's
still
written. It wants to
German
acquaint
the chief exponent of
is
to overthrow.
know
that
most guarded designs
them out. Hider who has
told so
many
broken so many promises, and violated so many solemn did not veil and distort the truth in his book.? Even a vii
Ues,
treaties
liar will tell
Vm
PREFACE
the truth
if it is
more advantageous than
There was
lying.
a time
when nothing but frankness would help his career. Let us for a moment return to the years when Mein Kampj was written. In November, 1923, in Munich Hitler led his first violent assault upon the Weimar Republic. However, the insurrection proved a fiasco. The Army upon whose support Hider had counted in Hitler's life
did not follow him, and the police turned their guns upon the
even though the famous General Ludendorfl, the brain of
traitors,
the
German Armies
War, marched
in the
in the front rank.
eve of the insurrection Hitler, revolver in hand,
vow, "Either a dead
I
am
victorious by
man!" Under
himself for the
made
On
the
the solemn
tomorrow afternoon, or L
shall
be
the bullets of the poHce he chose to preserve
German
people and fled to the Bavarian mountains,
to the family of his friend
Hanfstaengl.
Shortly after the insurrection he was taken into custody and
brought before a People's Court which sentenced him to "honorable imprisonment," the
five years'
minimum punishment
for
high
treason.
The Nazi movement had Hitler Party
and
suffered
was outlawed and began
industrial backers
withdrew
its
major defeat. The
first
to disintegrate.
their support.
Army
Hitler
officers
had com-
promised himself too greatly.
At
the
same time
stabilization of the currency
and the
made the German economic situation The inflation with its fantastic rise of
gold loan hopeful.
lower middle
class especially hard. It
and had driven
it
into the
arms of
had robbed
first
look a
political reaction.
of
more
had
hit the
all its
savings
prices it
foreign
little
Now, however,
with the prospect of better times ahead, the small shopkeepers, artisans, peasants derived
to the reactionaries' attack
new hope and were upon
less
ready to
listen
the Republic.
The end of the year 1923 marked a turning point German revolutionary movement. It became clear by
also for the
then that
its
IX
PREFACE most
influential body, the
Communist
Party,
had not been
able to
mobilize for the establishment of a sociaUst order the radical senti-
ments which the
War had
among the workers. profits made during War and
created
Big Business consoUdated the tion and did not feel any immediate necessity for playing
infla-
witii
counter-revolution.
democratic Government, to
The
victorious
and
seemed
an end.
at
During most
this
who had
its
Hitler's
poUtical
period of general decomposition of his
who had remained left
appearances, had emerged
authority.
question for Hitler was
vital
followers
established
all
him
career
movement
the
to justify himself to those of his
faithful
and
to
prove anew to those
his indispensabiUty for the future.
prison fortress of the small Bavarian
town
Thus
in the
of Landsberg, where he
had begun to serve his sentence on April i, 1924, he started to write his book. Mein Kampf is the continuation of Hitler's political fight. Nobody will dierefore expect objective truth from the man for
whom
objectivity in poUtics
writing its
made him
is
a "poison." But the purpose of his
write his truth—the book
tells
the truth about
author.
a strange hodgepodge of autobiographical notes, political discussions, and personal philosophy of life. It is at one and the same It is
time a document of self-defense and a program for a
ImperiaHsm. but there
is
Its
new German
content superabounds in pseudo-scientific argument,
always a political point even in the most abstruse
digression.
two complete Ameribeen censored by not have which can editions of Mein Kampf Hitler. But not many of the readers to whom the present book is There are now
available for the first time
addressed will have the time and patience to plow through the Fuehrer's voluminous and obscure work. In extracting kernel and
its
rational
exhibiting the inner logic in Hider's seemingly senseless
PREFACE theories
and
assertions, I
have
tried to give
them an
under-
easily
standable "lead" through the Leader.
In the presentation of Hitler's program sible Hitler's
own
ture of the personality, character,
the
man who,
I
an almost
and
unknown
intellectual composition of
figure ten years ago,
The
keeping the woi;ld in breathless suspense.
from the German edition of 1938 which, various
German
is
now
quotations are taken
like all the
hundreds of
few changes
editions, corresponds but for a
original version of sesses the
follow as closely as pos-
words. Nothing else would give as faithful a pic-
Mein Kampf. The American
reader
to the
who
pos-
English translation of 1933 should not try to find the
there. They have been omitted for the most part. The story of Adolf Hider is, of course, not the whole story of German fascism. The details of an individual Hfe, the accidents of
quoted passages
from searching
a political career should not divert us roots of National Socialism.
The
Fuehrer's character illuminates
only the character of the social forces which find in expression.
I
therefore did not confine myself to a
Mein Kampf, but tried Socialism and the various
of
for the social
to describe the relations strata of the
German
him
their ideal
mere summary
between National
people as well.
The
role of fascism manifests itself in these relations.
The
historic
background of the
rise
of Hitler
—the
economic,
Weimar RepubHc — were unique, and history will not repeat them exactly the same way in any other country. But once the nature of German fascism is understood, it should not be difficult for the man in the streets of America to
social,
and
detect the
the
political
problems of the
American brand and
German
version of a fight
to realize that
now
Hitlerism
is
only
being waged throughout the
world. R.B.
Hitler Is
No
Fool
ONE
Who
"Today
I consider
it
Braunau-on-the-Inn as
upon the border
Is Hitler?
my good fortune that Fate assigned me my birth place; for this Uttle town lies two German
of those
appears to us younger men, at fulfilled
This
Hitler sentence.
with one of his
aim he
whose reunion life
to be
by any means whatsoever."
the opening sentence of
is
teristic
states
a task of our
least, as
He
Mein Kampf.
It is
a quite charac-
combines a statement concerning his
political aims.
will stop at nothing
He makes
and
that he
it
is
life
clear that to attain the
imbued with an
historic
mission.
From
the explanation of the necessity for annexing Austria, Hitler
upon intricate and obscure, but never warning at the Conclusion:
takes the reader to the prophetic
A
state
which
cultivation of
its
aimless, paths
in the period of racial poisoning dedicates itself to the
must some day become the master movement must not forget, if that the sacrifice is too great in com-
best racial elements,
of the world. This the followers of our
they should ever be led to fear
parison with the attainable results.
The union
of
Germany and
of the world the
end of
Austria
Hitler's
is
the beginning; the conquest
program. I
HITLER
2
The man who mortal.
he a
Is
draw
he
has
strength,
his
is
he mad?
NO FOOL
is
no ordinary
From what
sources does
such an aim for himself
set
superman? Or
IS
and what circumstances have made
his
meteoric career possible?
Although he
our contemporary, there
is
is
a veil of mystery
and of the supernatural about him. Legends have seized person, even during his lifetime. cial
and
scribes.
unofficial
And
They
The
absolute monarch.
ruler
spun by
are eagerly
not without reason.
belongs to the self-made leader as the Grace of
must appear
upon
God
his
his offi-
The
legend
belongs to the
to his subjects as the
chosen instrument of Providence. In his book Hider has laid the of his
—in
life.
describing his venture into
War,
there
is
intentionally,
The
groundwork
for the mystification
In picturing his parental home, his family, and his youth life,
his service
during and after the
hardly a single clear statement of fact.
much
Much
blurred
is
has been proved beyond doubt to be imaginary.
omission of circumstances and experiences which in any other
man's
would be
life
Hitler's
irrelevant takes
proud
special significance.
Home
Hider was born on April customs
on a
official.
to
20, 1889, the son of a
His father stricdy regimented
have worked
his
way up from
minor Austrian
his household.
He
was
a shoemaker's apprentice to
and he wanted his son to Adolf, however, felt irresistibly drawn to the
the position of an Imperial civil servant,
become an Arts.
He
wanted father
official too.
thought with horror of a
to
become
and the
a painter.
life
The
spent sitting in an
conflict
office.
He
between the tyrannical
willful son pervaded the boy's early youth.
When
hardly eleven years old, so he says, he decided to thwart his father's plans by
means of
passive resistance.
on a quiet and stubborn
would renounce
He
no longer
strike at school, in the
his cherished
studied, but
hope that
wish of some day seeing
went
his father his son in
WHO
IS
HITLER r
3
With his father's death, when Adolf was thirteen came to an end. The boy had no dijfficulty with his mother. She spoiled him and allowed him to follow his inclinations without restraint. On his insistence she consented to take him out of the secondary school he hated so much and promised to send him to the Academy of Arts
a government
job.
years old, the struggle
in Vienna.
But
she,
too,
died soon afterward.
What
Hitler did
during the time between his father's and mother's deaths, he does not say.
He
is
strangely reticent
days" of his childhood.
how "my
long
We
when speaking
of those "happiest
do not even know from
this carefree period lasted.
"Two
his statements
years later," he writes,
mother's death brought these beautiful plans to an abrupt end."
The "two years later" can refer only to the time of his father's death. Thus the reader gets the impression that Adolf Hitler was an orphan at the age of fifteen, alone in the world,
and
sisters.
provincial
He
town
how
tells
of Linz,
he packed
where
his
his
without solicitous brothers
bundle and
mother had
left
the small
last lived, for
Vienna,
to try his luck in the metropolis of the
Hapsburg Monarchy. All
he possessed besides some underwear,
clothes,
ings in his bag,
was "an unshakable
and a
that
stack of
draw-
will in his heart" to
make
something of himself.
For the popularization of the Fuehrer, Nazi propaganda
made good
later
use of the picture of the boy standing alone and for-
saken in the hubbub of Vienna.
It is
not
difficult,
however, to point
out a few inconsistencies which have escaped the autobiographer.
Between the death
of his father in January, 1903,
mother in December, at
1908, fully six years elapsed
home, without any serious occupation,
and that of
his
which Adolf spent
as a spoiled darling of his
mother. These are years which are of the greatest importance for the future development of any
man Thus
human
being. In the picture of the
with an iron will they would, to be sure, have had no place. Hitler passes over
them with
light strokes.
HITLER
^
Not
boy of
a
fifteen,
but a nearly mature young
man
IS
NO FOOL
of nineteen
was left alone at his mother's death. No, that also is not quite true. For even though Hitler docs not mention his sisters and brothers
anywhere with so much For
a
man who
has
made
decisive factors in the
ing his like
own
origin
life
word, they were nevertheless there.
as a
racial ancestry
of blood the
of his subjects, the great reserve in describ-
somewhat
is
and pureness
Heiden and Olden we
To
surprising.
critical
biographers
are indebted for noteworthy disclosures
about the Hitler family. In the
first
place there
boy's development
Hider's father, whose influence on the
he was
bore until
Adolf's mother.
The name
and there seems
to be
Alois
great.
Hider was the
whose family name,
of a peasant girl,
illegitimate child
gruber, he
is
was undoubtedly
Schickl-
when he married Klara
forty,
of Klara Poelzl's
some foundation
Poelzl,
mother had been Hitler,
for the
assumpdon
that Alois
Schicklgruber, on his mother-in-law's insistence, changed his
name
to Hitler.
Klara Poelzl was Alois Schicklgruber's third wife. riage
had ended
born of
this
The
mar-
first
in divorce. Hitler's eldest half-brother, Alois,
marriage. After Adolf's
phenomenal
success
was
Alois,
waiter by trade, settled in Berlin and opened a cafe-restaurant at the
Wittenberg Platz.
He now
intimate and gemiitlich sign
One month
who
Munich and
passing burgher with the
after the death of his first wife Hitler's father
a second time.
Angela,
invites the
"ALOIS."
Two
months
afterwards was
later
was born
a daughter
The
father's
second marriage ended
Ten months
a year later with the death of the second wife.
now
forty,
of this marriage are living: a boy, is
known about
either of
there-
married a third time— this time
a girl of seventeen, Adolf Hitler's mother-to-be.
Litde
to him,
to take care of Hitler's household in
in Berchtesgaden.
after Alois Schicklgruber,
married
Two
Edmund, and
them.
other children
a daughter, Paula.
WHO At
IS
HITLER?
5
the age of fifty-six Hitler's father retired, unusually early for
a state
official.
settled
down
Of
this
all
Three times he changed
his residence, before
he
finally
near Linz.
nothing
is
said in Hider's autobiography.
There he
draws a picture of a family of three, living in modest but strictly regulated conditions.
He likes
among
address in favor
to call his father alter
student fraternities at
Herr, a form of
German
universities.
which was in no way unusual, becomes in triumph of an iron will. The little house and the Hider's description garden which Alois Hitler-Schicklgruber had acquired toward the His
career,
father's
end of
his life has in
Mein Kampf grown
to the size of a country
estate.
Poverty
no
is
ment from
The same groups who got no end about the first President of the Weimar
disgrace.
jokes
of amuse-
Republic,
"the red saddler" Ebert, and his wife, have, on the other hand,
how
known
well
origin.
That he came from
to exploit for
dous help to Hitler in
But
"common" people was of tremenwinning over the German lower middle class.
be able to preside over a bourgeois Germany, the Fuehrer
to
must be the It
propaganda purposes Hitler's humble
the
child of a respectable family.
becomes
a
little
difficult to fit this
Poor but
clean.
father—forever migrating,
with an inclination for alcohol, married three times, himself an
ille-
gitimate child and father of a daughter born two months after his
marriage
—into
aristocracy.
Hence
The longing is
the Third Reich's conception of "blood his picture in
Mein Kampf
for bourgeois respectability
is
and
soil"
heavily retouched.
and
social
recognition
even more noticeable in Hider's descriptions of his "Viennese
years of learning
and
suffering."
Vienna
The
four or five years which Adolf Hitler spent in Vienna after
the death of his mother formed his character in
all
its
important
HITLER
O
They were
traits.
He came
terrible years.
to
NO FOOL
IS
Vienna with "the proud
Academy
confidence" that he would be accepted in the
of Arts.
He
failed in his entrance examination.
His drawings were returned success that the
news
of
my
of the blue," he writes. typical for
him.
The
But he
Academy as
revealed surprising architectural talent. "That
with a remark
assured
far I
like a bolt out
as
him
that the
painting goes,
had attended neither
had had any instruction in architecture
a School of Architecture nor
my
came
closes the matter
Director of the
drawings he had shown, although bad
amazed Thus
was so sure of
as unsatisfactory. "I
not being accepted
examiners."
the defeat which the would-be painter had suffered
is
dis-
creetly transformed into professional recognition of his natural abilities
as
an
And
architect.
Adolf,
who had
just
Academy
the
left
building "in the greatest depression," was convinced in a very short
time that he "would some day become an architect." entrance to the Architectural School of the
Still,
Academy
in
Vienna required a completed formal preparatory training which Hitler did not have.
"What
was now
its
ness,
he
felt,
to take
the fulfillment of his
possible.
had missed
I
bitter revenge."
dream
of
his father,
make
all
ordinary standards,
becoming an
was not
artist
Seemingly insurmountable obstacles confronted him. But
obstacles are there only to be overcome!
to
in school out of stubborn-
By
who had
his
risen
from cobbler
The
picture in his
to state
official,
way in the world in spite of everything. The make up for the wasted years, he does not
his attempt to
the very beginning of the second chapter of his
mind of him
inspired
details of relate.
At
book the thread of
the description of his further schooling or specialized studies breaks off. It closes
with a dramatic declaration of thanks to fateful neces-
sity "for tearing
me away from
for pushing Mother's
Care
boy out of
for a foster-mother; for
smug life, and and giving him Dame
the hollowness of a his soft nest
throwing the reluctant one into the
WHO
IS
HITLER r
world of misery and poverty, thus allowing him to meet those for
whom
he was
the plan
later to fight."
and the
will
from
quietly dropped
jump
the Fuehrer takes a big
The
The
to
become an
have been
architect
Hitler's autobiography. In the next
which we expect
of his story, in
Marxists."
Except for a few scattered comments
some day
transition
is
to hear
more
paragraph
of his development,
to his favorite topic, the "J^ws
interrupted school period, the lost years of his youth, the
collapse of his favorite plan, have left
deep marks on Hitler's char-
Even at the height of his power the shades of his must haunt him. In his book, he breaks out with
acter.
and
most sudden!
failures
ment: "So-called
'Intelligence' looks
down
with
infinite
earlier
resent-
condescen-
upon anyone who has not been dragged through the obligatory schools and thus had the necessary knowledge pumped into him." sion
But he architects.
avenged himself on school,
later
science,
His contempt for "book-learning,"
his
and professional condemnation of
the school as a place of spiritual culture, his love of Caesarian buildings the plans for which he
the failures of his youth.
now
draws, betray the lasting effect of
Nothing
gives
him more
satisfaction,
besides military parades, than to guide admiring visitors through the
splendor of his
made good
new Reich
Chancellery in BerUn.
recently ordered
where he had heard of the building
The Fuehrer which he has
is
an Opera House
The
local
boy who
to be erected in
Linz
his first opera. Needless to say the architecture
inspired by himself.
never forgets a defeat.
failed!
And woe
Woe
to the institutions in
to the country in
which
for years
he
suffered the greatest personal humiliation!
The
Chauvinist
In Vienna, the city which "even today can awaken only gloomy thoughts" in
ment
him and which
of incest," Hitler
in retrospect seems to
became a
him
the "embodi-
fanatical Nationalist, a fanatical
IS
NO FOOL
and a
fanatical
HITLER
8 hater of "Marxism," that
is,
of organized labor,
anti-Semite.
He
brought from home an inclination to chauvinism.
course in the Linz secondary school had already
The
history
awakened "a
little
him and the social and political conditions of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were fertile soil for its growth.
national fanaticism" in the
The German-Austrian middle
class
sion of nationalities in old Austria
ism
as a
—which represented an economi-
and poHtically privileged minority within the confu-
cally, socially,
weapon
—developed
in the struggle for
its
its
German nationalThe old rivalry
position.
between Austria and Prussia had been decided in favor of the Prussians with, the victory of their
The
victorious
war
of
Germany
at
Koeniggraetz in 1866.
against France,
founding of the Reich and
the
1870-71,
army
its
which followed
in
powerful industrial
upsurge quite naturally had a strong attraction for the neighboring
German-Austria. Hitler's contempt for the House of Hapsburg and for the entire
Austro-Hungarian Dual-Monarchy, and on the other
hand
his ardent admiration for everything
with
many
his
Reich-German, he shared
advocates of a Greater Germany.
youth are tinged with pain and envy
The
descriptions of
being excluded from the
at
glory and power of the Bismarckian Reich.
Why is Why not rest of
the
first
it
war
that Austria did not fight in this
Father and
all
them? Don't we time to torment
the others too? Are all
not
Germans
like the
my litde brain. With suppressed envy I had to my cautious question —that not every German
answer
possesses the
good fortune to belong
not understand
[against the French]?
belong together? This problem began for
listen to the
to
we
to the
Reich of Bismarck.
I
could
this.
In Vienna, he later compared "with proud admiration the rise of the Reich with the slow death of the Austrian state." for Austria
and adoration
reasons which
moved him
to leave
Contempt
Germany were among the Vienna for Munich. At the begin-
for Imperial
WHO
IS
hitler:
ning of the
War
9
he offered himself
rather than the Austrian
suffered in It is
Army.
Vienna were one day
Bavarian
as a volunteer in the
But the humiliations which he had to
be avenged.
by no means a coincidence that among the Fuehrer's
associates
in
One might name
foreign-born Germans.
the Baltic-German, Alfred
Rosenberg, theorist and philosopher of National SociaUsm, probably influenced Hitler's views more than anyone berg's hatred for the Russian Revolution, the echo of
berated loud enough in the Baltic border
landed gentry of their privileges, policy of
German National
is
closest
numerous
the most responsible positions there are
who
else.
which
states to strip the
has
Rosenrever-
German
reflected clearly in the foreign
Socialism.
There
is
also the "Peasant-
Leader" and Minister of Agriculture, Walter Darre, born in Argentina, "an outpost of struggUng Gcrmandom in South America," as the Nazis put to
it.
The
recognition which the Argentinians failed
show him he arranged
for himself in
Germany. In the
first
year
Third Reich he presided over the unveiling of his own memorial, which "his grateful peasants" had erected in his honor in the Rhineland. Rudolf Hess, too, Private Secretary and personal of the
lieutenant of the Fuehrer, andria.
was born outside of Germany
The thwarted NationaUsm
—in Alex-
of the "Egyptian" can
now
find
compensation in an unrepressed authority. Hitler
and the Workers
The second
of his outstanding
of organized labor, the custom
traits, his
official's
contempt for and fear
son also inherited from his
family environment. In his attempts to interest his son in a govern-
ment
job, Alois Hitler
probably more than once spoke of the misery
from which he had managed to rescue himself. "The environment of my youth was composed of groups of petty bourgeois, that is, of a world which has very Htde connection with the real manual laborer," Hitler writes. He then adds an and
dirt of the laborer's life,
— HITLER
10
IS
NO FOOL
observation that proves his famiUarity with the feeHngs of the lower
middle
struggle for
As
own
its
strange as
which
is
often deeper than one
enmity risen
at first glance, the abyss existing
would think. The reason
class,
The
or at least that
may
it
middle
fear of the lower
—
for this
Hitler's
During
powerful
it
may
sink back into the old,
class,
When
it.
threatened with being dis-
was
later to
ally.
his first year in
skilled laborer.
shall I say
be regarded as belonging to
still
possessed and pushed into the ranks of the workers,
become
between
which has but a short time ago
from the ranks of the workers, that
scorned
its
by no means well situated, and the workers,
in the fear of a social group,
lies
refuses to unite
it
existence with theirs.
may seem
it
this social class, is
the workers, so long as
for
class
Vienna, Hitler made a living
he for the
as
an un-
time experienced the actual
first
of a worker, the heavens split wide open on the
life
young man who,
well taken care of by his mother's pension, had heretofore abandoned
himself to happy day-dreaming. the heroic past of the
German
To
an
revel in
artist's
nation had surely been
career or in
more pleasant
than carrying mortar on a scaffolding.
But
it
was not alone the physical hardship of the work that
depressed him.
more
The
upon
heavily
feeling that he
the officiars son.
ness" of his fellow workers culture."
him with
The
lost caste
weighed even
detested the "moral coarse-
and the "low
level
of their spiritual
miserable existence of the working-class family filled
The
horror.
these depths
had
He
very thought of having to spend his Hfe in
was unbearable
to
him. Not for a
moment would he
consider joining his fellows in their fight for better living conditions.
Nothing
characterizes
describes his
My
first
clothing
him
better than his
own words when he
contact with them:
was
personality reticent.
still I
fairly orderly,
was
still
so
much
my
language cultivated, and
absorbed in myself and
my
my fate
WHO
IS
that I
had very
HITLER r
II
time to worry about
little
my
environment.
only looked
I
work to keep from starving and to make possible my further education, no matter how gradual. Probably I would not have bothered about for
my new
environment
at all, if
My
join the union. nil. I
to a decision.
was asked
I
knowledge of union organization was
its
was
existence. Since I
gave the reason that
I
out at once.
me
told that
did not understand
my
into anything. Perhaps because of
me
me
as
to
time
at that
should have been able to prove neither the necessity nor the super-
fluousness of I
an incident had not occurred as early
which forced
the third or fourth day,
to
compel
A
fortnight later
to convert
no longer could have
I
and no power
better
in the
first
days
was
I
nearest pubs, while the others remained
had
I
know my environment have moved me to join an in such
an unfavorable
At noon some went
on the construction
They were
ate their usually miserable lunches.
though
joined, even
had seen
I
irritated.
few days or
in a
got to
world could
organization whose representatives
During the
I
me
were thoroughly mistaken.
to give in. In either case, they
otherwise been willing. In this fortnight
join, I refused.
reason they did not throw
first
They may have hoped
must
I
and would not be forced
it,
lot
light.
to the
and there
the married men, whose
wives brought them their soup. I
drank
my
bottle of
my
my piece of bread somewhere off my new surroundings or pondered over
milk and ate
by myself, and studied carefully miserable condition.
The
"terror" at the job,
by the way, doesn't seem
quite so terrible. For not only did the workers
let
him
to
have been
stay
on with-
out joining the union, but they were even patient enough to
not able to listen quietly
workers talk
At
I
when
others spoke.
politics, his self-control
was
at
When
he heard the
an end.
keep quiet. Finally, however,
I
could bear
began to take a stand, began to argue. But
I
was forced
first I
longer.
listen
with which he blessed them. Even then Hitler was
to the talks
tried to
realization that this
arm myself with
was completely
definite
futile, as
long as
I
knowledge on the disputed
it
no
to the
did not at least points.
So
I
set
HITLER
12
IS
NO FOOL
out to get acquainted with the sources of their would-be wisdom. Book after book,
pamphlet
Which books
after
year 1919-20.
Not
until
nowhere informs
and digest any of the
Marxism becomes evident from
of
took their turn.
the Fuehrer actually read, he
certainly did not read
That he
now
pamphlet,
scientific
works
a later passage referring to the
he heard a lecture by Gottfried Feder, he
Marxist economics suddenly become clear to him.
says, did
us.
How-
ever, he did not have a very competent teacher in Feder, who, under
the pressure of questions put to
him by
opponents, once
political
admitted that he had never read Das Kapital of Marx, which he
was
any
discussing. In
sentence
—spoken
case. Hitler
written
or
has never with so
—shown
signs
much
as a
of possessing even
a
smattering of the scientific findings of Marxism, whose destruction
he has
made
which he
the task of his
fights,
life.
Considering the weapons with
know Marxism
he need not
to be able to "refute"
it.
would have us
Hitler
believe that the Social Democratic
were greatly disturbed by the "I argued,
my
than
little
own knowledge
each day better informed about their
opponents themselves."
masons
hero's heated discussions.
A
nineteen-year-old against an
crew of Reds! The scene vividly reminds us of the National Socialist legend which tells how Hitler during the War captured, entire
single-handed, an entire platoon of Frenchmen.
warded
his alleged
heroism with the Iron Cross,
records seem to have been
rewarded him
A at
finally
lost.)
a
new
futile, I
experience.
(The
But the unappreciative workers
few of the opposition leaders forced
seemed
Military re-
first class.
by chasing him from the building.
me
either to leave the building
once or to be thrown from the scaffolding. Since
resistance
by
The
I
was alone and
preferred to follow the former advice, enriched
WHO
HITLER?
IS
I3
But none must think that the Fuehrer ever took a defeat lying
down. I left filled
with disgust, but at the same time so upset that
my
not possibly turn
my
revolt,
persistence
was confirmed had
to return,
again, only to
At
won
my
in
and
out,
decision by
arms, for in a few weeks
pitiless I
back on the matter. No,
whether
end
I
after the first
I
could
upheaval of
decided to go back to the job.
I
I
Want, who embraced me with her had eaten up my small savings. Now
I liked it or not.
And
game began once
the
as before.
Are
that time I reasoned with myself:
these
human
beings, worthy
of being part of a great nation?
A
painful question, for
if
the answer were "y^^/' ^^^^ the struggle for
German people is not worthy of the sacrifices which the best would have to make for such scum; but if the answer were "no," then our nation is poor in human beings. a pure united
Himself one of these
"best," the
young man, whose main accom-
plishment consisted of wasted school years,
and
work and
for all to take the
sacrifice
He
save the "scum" of the nation.
"yes"
and "no." The
How
won
He
left his
mother in December, until the
beginning of 1909.
fortunes changed.
He
companion of
in August, 1909.
scum must be
Thus
is
home
shoulders to
destroyed; only
He
after the
to
Vienna
us that in the year 1909-10 his
tells
no longer had as a
death of his
came
unfikely that he
to
eke out
an, existence as a
minor draftsman and aquarel-
these times has told that this period Hitler's life as a
gether half a year at the most. There it
own
back.
parental
1908. It
day laborer, but worked "then
A
his
long Adolf Hitler worked as a laborer can be determined
rather accurately.
hst."
upon
the decision once
found a compromise between
leaders of the
then can part of the scum be
made
is
working
man
began
lasted alto-
every reason to assume that
was not half a year of uninterrupted steady work.
forever this famous, much-praised episode of his
And
life.
thus ended
HITLER
14
Today
the Fuehrer
bol of the trial
German
celebrated in official
is
When
worker.
masses to understand the
NO FOOL
IS
Germany
as the
sym-
he commands the German indus-
vital necessities of his
new
imperial-
ism, he speaks as one of them.
The Poorhouse But what did he do
Why
in the
remaining three or four years he spent
such painful memories connected with
in
Vienna?
A
"painter in water colors
who
man
studied for pleasure," a twenty-year-old, healthy
and
with such
many-sided
interests in the theater, art,
young
even in Hmited and modest circumstances.
life
secret,
which remains
raphy,
is
The
politics
and hidden
carefully veiled
man
the wretched existence of a
real dregs of society.
this city?
painted to earn his bread and
could enjoy his
The dark
in his autobiog-
among
the
Asylum
for
early stranded
picture of years spent in the
the Poor and Homeless, fed as a beggar with charity-soups in the
monastery courts
—the picture
of millions cannot be passed
of Hfe
on
among
the derelicts in a city
to his contemporaries.
Ernst Roehm, one of Hitler's fighting companions, had the cour-
age to say of himself that the path of his Hfe had sometimes led
him
into depths the sight of
which would make a Babbitt shudder.
Hitler did not possess Roehm*s courage.
His language becomes general and vague whenever he alludes to the "five years of misery
What Not
until
much
later
and
grief" he
he dare not
their nature was,
He
too
had come
to
Vienna
relate
the bed assigned
to
"On
me
a
the very
details
of his
in 1909. In a flophouse
spent the night he met Hitler for the scene in these words:
in Vienna.
did his companion of those Viennese days,
the draftsman Reinhold Hanisch, Hitler.
went through
say.
first
first
I
with
where he
He
describes the
found
sitting beside
time.
day
man who wore
life
nothing but an old pair
WHO
IS
HITLER?
I5
of trousers, torn to shreds—Hitler. His clothes were being deloused,
because for days he had wandered about aimlessly without a roof
over his head, and he was in a dreadfully neglected condition."
"My
were
clothes
describing his
first
tion does not
sound
fairly
still
orderly," Hitler
had written in
days at the construction job. Hanisch's presentaincredible.
Months have passed
mean-
in the
time. "I asked
him what he was Hving on and he
hinted that for
had depended upon begging in the streets for his food. His hunger was so apparent that I was moved to share all I had with him a quarter of a loaf of bread. Gratefully he accepted several days he
—
the gift
and admitted
that
he had not eaten
^
day."
all
Hanisch and Hitler go into business together. Hitler paints which Hanisch tries to find customers. They divide
cards, for
income.
The
business feeds
plined worker.
He
them meagerly. Hider
prefers reading
is
not a
posttheir disci-
newspapers or going to the
When
Parliament to Hsten to the speeches.
he returns he can talk
and he doesn't care in the least whether or not flophouse companions Hsten to him. He hates the politicians,
politics for hours,
his
who
the ignoramuses
Hapsburgs,
who
try
get
good pay
to
gain favor
and suppress the German elements. unions.
He
hates his environment.
expressing pleasure in Hving single suggestion that
is
among
absolutely alone. to get the price
now
He
hates the subjects
He hates workers and their He hates. Not a single word
to be
found in
which reaches
cheeks framed with a beard, his hair
—hanging
their
his writing.
he had a friend or ever loved a
in a shabby black frock coat
that time
He
Slavic
for their nonsense.
down
girl.
to his knees, his
—in the bohemian
his neck, the artist starves
breaks with Hanisch, too,
he expected for a picture.
He
when
Not
a
Dressed
hollow
fashion of
through
life
the latter fails
hates everyone.
And
he finds the object on which to concentrate: The Jews. In
HITLER
l6
hating the Jews, he hates
all
the unpleasantness of his ruined exis-
One day he
will take a horrible
for all his suffering
and disappointment.
tence.
NO FOOL
IS
vengeance upon the Jews
The Anti-Semite "Today it is difficult, if not impossible, for me to tell just when the word Jew first gave me occasion for special thought," he writes, preparatory to his telling how he became an anti-Semite. His father was not
anti-Semitic,
and even
He whom
with hatred for the Jews.
was
a Jewish
boy of
in school
he had not been imbued
says he recalls that in school there
he was always wary. But
was
ascribes solely to the fact that the Jewish pupil
this
he
a tattletale. In
Linz the difference between Jews and Gentiles had not yet become apparent to him, because the few Jews
who
had
lived there
"occi-
dentalized their external appearance in the course of the centuries."
Their features were too "human" for him to differentiate. Even in
Vienna
it
the Jews
had taken him considerable time to be able to distinguish the thronging crowds, though it was not difficult
among
to tell the
orthodox Eastern Jew by his clothes.
Anti-Semitism thrived in the
social peculiarities of the
Hapsburg
Empire. The nearness of Poland and Rumania with their large Jewish populations, the emigration of Galician Jews to the Danubian capital,
where there were
the sharp
always
middle even
within the Hapsburg Monarchy had
national battles
favored class.
more
better possibilities for earning a Uvelihood,
anti-Semitic
currents
German-Austrian
the
in
Georg von Schoenerer's Pan-German Party influential
Christian-Social
Party
^
of
~
the
and the Viennese
Burgomaster Karl Lueger were both anti-Semitic. Schoenerer and
Lueger—especially Lueger— were leaders.
To them he
Hitler's
prototypes
dedicates dozens of pages in
of
popular
Mein Kampf
in
admiring acknowledgment. If
we
are to beHeve his
own
story,
it
was
his hate of the
Haps-
WHO
HITLER?
IS
V]
burgs and his nationalistic fervor for
on the road
to anti-Semitism.
The
Germany which
intriguing
set
great Viennese press for favor at the Court of the cursed repelled him.
That
their sympathies should
him
first
on the part of the
Hapsburg
be more with France
and French culture than with the admired Reich of Bismarck, aroused his indignation. His original leaning toward liberal democracy
had
for this reason cooled off.
Now
and then he would reach
Deutsche Vol\shlatt, the organ of the Christian-Socialists,
for the
but the violent anti-Semitism which
it
advocated did not yet find
favor with him.
His
own
"study" of another side of cosmopolitan Hfe revealed to
—
he discovered that in Vienna the Here for the first time in his book we come upon expressions which throw some light upon Hitler's sex life. It may be interesting for the psychiatrist that Mein Kampf
him
the Jewish danger in full
Jews had a monopoly of
sin.
speaks of sexual matters almost exclusively in connection with anti-
Semitism.
When
in the evening I
walked through the
and alleys of Lcowas made the unwilling
streets
poldstadt [the poor Jewish district of Vienna], I
witness of scenes which remained hidden to the great majority of the
German
people until the
War
gave the soldiers on the Eastern Front the
opportunity to sec similar sights, or
more
accurately, forced
them
to see
them.
What hypocrisy from the mouth of a man in whose proximity and with whose knowledge countless boys were being prostituted by Nazi
officers!
And,
quite aside
from the infamous
lie
that
more
Jews than others were professional prostitutes in Vienna, did not
German troops at the Western Front, with whom know the German Army brothels in the occupied
the
Belgium and France responsible
German
.f^
Hitler served, territories
of
Even Hitler could not very well unmask the
officials as
Jews.
HITLER
l8
,
But more than
in the truth of his assertions,
interested in the nature of the
we may
NO FOOL
IS
we are at the moment man who advanced them. One thing
His "study" of prostitution in Vienna
say with certainty:
made him
gave him the decisive push which
a convinced
and
active
anti-Semite.
When
for the first
time
this revolting trade of the efficient
and
exploded.
I
I
thus recognized in the Jew the manager of
metropoHs' scum, as cold as he was shamelessly
businesslike,
ran
a shiver
down my
no longer evaded the Jewish problem.
His alleged observations seem
to
whom
he poisons with
from her people." Then again he thousands of
girls
faced
I
it.
"The dark-haired Jew-
boy lurks in ambush for hours, satanic joy upon girl,
I
have impressed him deeply. The
rape scene, especially, has caught his fancy.
unsuspecting
But then
spine.
Now
his face, for the
his blood, thus stealing her
of the "rape of hundreds of
tells
And
by bow-legged repulsive Jew-bastards."
an-
other time: "These dark parasites on our people deliberately rape
our inexperienced young blond
which cannot be replaced Another noteworthy
girls
and thus destroy something
in this world."
detail
should not be overlooked in the search
Not
until
throw the
anti-
for the sources of Hitler's passionate, obsessed Jew-hatred.
the Social Democratic
masons had threatened
to
union day laborer, Adolf Hitler, from the construction scaffolding
and thrash him soundly, did the its
import
Social
dawn upon him. At
Democracy and
anti-social role of the
that
moment he
Jew
in all
discovered that
the labor unions were entirely dominated by
Jews and forever thereafter "Jews" and "Marxists" are identical for him.
Thus
the function of the
Jew
in Hitler's life
obvious: Hitler wanted to be an
artist
becomes simple and
but failed.
He
then found
out that the Arts are dominated and polluted by the Jew. Hitler
wanted
to convert the
workers
to nationalism
and
failed.
He saw
:
WHO
IS
them
in the grip o£ the international Jew. Hitler spent his youth
HITLER?
I9
without friends, without love. Naturally, love has been commer-
by the Jew. This dirty and ugly though more successful competitor takes unfair advantages over the noble and restrained cialized
Aryan.
The
now
philosopher has found the touchstone of
erect a logical structure of the world that has
Wisdom. He can no contradictions
Jew furnishes all the necessary explanation and justification. "Thus a long inner struggle came to an end." From the "weak cosmopolitan" who had come to Vienna he had
the
grown
into "a fanatical anti-Semite."
The Bachelor Concerning Hitler's sexual predispositions many rumors are in circulation.
those
who
Almost really
all
know
of
them
will not or can
he
said with certainty either that tent,
are without foundation, because
although he undoubtedly
is
is
no longer
tell. It
cannot be
homosexual or that he
sufEering
from sexual
is
impo-
repressions.
HomosexuaHty thrived in Hitler's immediate environment for many years. Roehm and Heines, two of his highest SA officers, have never made a secret of their homosexuality. The orgies which they held almost publicly more than once aroused storms of protest
within the Nazi
movement
itself.
Count Helldorf's homosexual
relations
with the adventurer Hanussen,
not cost
him
his post as Chief of the
only Hanussen's
life.
As
Steinschneider, did
alias
BerUn
police forces. It cost
early as 1927 a delegation
commissioned
by Ludendorff requested Hitler to dismiss from the party certain
SA
officers
ization.
who had
Heiden*
been abusing boys in the Hitler Youth Organ-
reports Hitler's answer: "I
whether they followers as long as
don't give a hoot
from the front or die back!" he believed he was sure of
That Roehm and Heines were shot
in
He
protected his
their faithfulness.
1934 because of their
HITLER
20
abnormal
NO FOOL
IS
even a Goebbels was not able to convince
inclinations,
the world. In spite o£ these
there
facts,
assumption that Hitler himself
is
no known
is
homosexual
basis for the
—or ever has indulged
in homosexuality.
On
the other hand,
it is
had not a few
a fact that he
relationships
with women, which, however, always came to an abrupt end.
most
tragic of these
was with
his niece,
The
of his half-sister Angela.
girl,
The
Crete Raubal, the daughter
who had worshiped
her Uncle
Munich apartment.
Adolf, shot herself in 1930 in his
many women have been close to him; with him. From time to time, the Fuehrer thinks it
has been rumored that
It
none has stayed opportune
demonstrate his interest in the other
to
appear in public with a beautiful
form before
The
a select gathering.
woman
But the
act
is all
Third Reich,
celebrated bachelor of the
He
sex.
will then
or invite a dancer to pertoo obviously staged.
to
whom
millions of
hearts are turned in hysterical ecstasy, has fundamentally remained as
lonesome
as the
vagabond
in the
Viennese flophouse.
There has been much speculation
much
devoting so
Germany
attention in his
of not having
made
to the reason for Hitler's
as
book
to syphilis.
He
accuses old
the struggle against this disease the
central task, "the task of the nation."
By
the use of any available means, a complete picture of
caused by this
all
the
damage
most horrible disease should have been pounded into the
people until they became convinced that everything depended upon the solution of this question
—new
life
Page upon page he dedicates
or decay.
to the past failings
of the State to exterminate this plague. That in the
hand of
the
expected. But
unusually
Jew who in
his
is
out to ruin the
presentation there
and future duties
German is
also
spread he sees
its
race,
to
be
was
to
be
heard an
mild and understanding note of compassion for the
endangered and the
sick.
Even
a boy of foiurtcen
must be shielded
WHO
IS
from
his sensual lust.
hitler:
21
"He
has no right to waste these years in use-
loafing about." Otherwise, Hitler
lessly
one should not be
says,
surprised "that at this age syphilis already begins to look for
its
victims."
His words are
pathos
full o£
when he
speaks of the sick and their
The State must see to it that only the healthy "He who is not healthy and worthy physically and
duties to the race.
beget children.
may
metitally,
The
State
that
it is
not perpetuate his sorrow in the body of his child."
must further "by means of education teach the individual
no disgrace
tune, but that
it is
to
be
dishonorable through one's
human
There
beings."
spite of one's
own
and weak, only a
ill
a crime and a disgrace to
is
illness.
own
egoism, by passing
this
it
on
misfortune to
innocent
only one disgrace: to beget children in
But
it is
a high
honor
one" renounces parenthood. "Conversely,
sick
regrettable misfor-
make
it
if
the "innocently
must be considered
reprehensible to withhold healthy children from the nation." the childless Hitler then to be honored for renunciation or
Is
he behaving reprehensibly against the
vital interests of the
is
Aryan
Race and the National State?
The War Hitler writes that he
left
Vienna
for
Munich
in the spring of 1912.
In the beloved Reich he hoped to find what the hated Hapsburg
Monarchy had denied him. At that time he was twenty-three. Only terrible memories united him with his home and Vienna. "It made
me
sick merely to think of this
The final
entire structure of his
form.
details
He
Babylon of
view of
life
races."
was already erected
its
notes with satisfaction that in his further Hfe "only
needed to be added."
Whether
or not there
is
more than
a mistake behind the error in
Germany The terrible
time has so far not been proved. Actually he did not go to until
in
1913, as
is
apparent from police registration.
[
HITLER
22
NO FOOL
IS
poverty of the years in Vienna does not seem to have haunted
went
so fiercely after he
not distinguish
unknown
whom
painters, of
there
were many in Munich, the
of the Arts. But the reality of the Second Reich
from
his
him
his Hfe there did
any way from that of other poor and
in
itself
Munich, even though
to
was
^
city
vastly different
dreams, and no one will therefore be surprised to see him
soon exposing the internal weaknesses of Germany. Into the prosaic course of an unsatisfying It
found Hitler ready
Even
as a
to
life
World War
the
throw himself jubilantly into
the Franco-Prussian
War
inner experience" to him.
I
of 1870
soldiers."
A book
about
had been "the most profound
The Boer War had appeared
like "sheet
:
was happy
to be able to witness this heroic batde,
were only from a distance. The Russo-Japanese considerably
failed.
War
tells
of himself that
The long
if
it
me
all efforts to
make him
been born a hundred years
of fate."
"Why
earlier, say, at the
could one not have
time of the
when a man did not have to possess appreciated!" The World War therefore came as Liberation,
the dreams of his youth existence.
a pacifist
period of peace which had seemed ahead was
him an "undeserved meanness
humdrum
even
already found
more mature.
Proudly he
to
arms.
waited impatiendy for the daily news and devoured news flashes and
reports; I
had
its
boy of ten he had been enthusiastic about "everything
which had any connection with war or with
lightning"
struck like Hghtning.
—and as
With
feelings in those tragic days
Wars
of
a business to be a fulfillment of
an escape from the misery of
his
the following words he describes his
when
the breath of the entire civilized
world was held back with horror:
To me
my
those hours
youth. Even today
came I
am
like a salvation
not
ashamed
from the
to say that
I,
bitter feelings of
overcome with a
WHO
HITLER?
IS
23
Storm of enthusiasm, sank upon
an overflowing heart for having
He
my knees and thanked Heaven me Hve in this age.
enUsted as a private in the Bavarian
the entire civil life
campaign
followed
Army and
participated in
Western Front. The loneUness of
on. the
him
from
let
He never
into the army, too.
a letter by field-post; he received no packages
his
wrote or received
from home. His com-
him queer. He would sit brooding for hours in some corner away from them, staring into space, and then suddenly condemn with wild accusations Germany's invisible enemies who were working for its downfall. Of course he meant the Jews and Marxists. As far as discipline and obedience to his officers were rades considered
concerned, he was a model soldier. In 1916 he received a slight
wound
shrapnel injury. After the
again for service at the Front. strangely first
healed, he immediately reported
He
received several citations, but
enough he never got beyond the rank of
sub-corporal, the
rank above a private in the German Army.
A
hot argument has started over the Iron Cross,
Hitler later pinned to his
he have received relates
Nazi
no
less
sources.
SA
The
it ?
uniform.
which what could contradictory. Olden ^
When
information
is
than seven different versions,
One
is
that
all
first class,
for
having issued from
he captured twelve Frenchmen in a dug-
out; another that he surprised a French officer
a cellar
and
and disarmed them; yet another
and twenty men
relates
that
it
in
was an
English tank that he tricked into a grenade-crater, where the crew
drowned. The time,
too, of the heroic
from the Autumn of 1915 the award is once given as August versions
October
4.
According
deed ranges in the various
to October, 1918; the date of 4,
191 8,
was given some time between October, It
has never been proved
officially.
The
1916,
and October,
as
award 1918.
history of his regiment, to
be sure, informs us that Hitler belonged to tion of his bravery.
and another time
to the Angriff, Goebbels' organ, the
it,
but there
is
no men-
HITLER
24
NO FOOL
IS
Revolution and Counter-Revolution
The Revolution this time, as
a
month
of 191 8 found
him
in the hospital once
the illness seems to have been completely cured. After the
military defeat, Hitler,
now
thirty, faced a void.
Germany's
the War was a terrible blow to him. All sacrifices And why? The same enemies who had crushed all his life
were here
resistance of the
with.
Not
at
work,
German
too.
for nothing!
Jews and Marxists had broken the
people from within.
They must be
wiped out can the struggle
until they are
war, even is
the
if
him beyond
future he will devote "I decided to
the
an
architect.
Death
mined
life.
His
to the
Gone
are
all his
entire future life
way
easy-going, cordial city of there
on
the
this
sentence Hitler
he begins a new
plans of becoming an artist or
is
to
be devoted to revenge. all
those
who
are deter-
of Germany's imperiaUst rebirth, at
home or abroad! The city of Munich, where he now
ist
With
this sentence
Jews and Marxists! Death to
to stand in the
when he went
shadow of a doubt. In
politician."
ends a chapter in his book; with chapter in his
world
new world
strength to this one goal.
all his
become a
for
dealt
and military preparation should take
political
clear to
loss of
the hopes of
domination be resumed. That Germany must fight a
decades,
more;
he writes, bHnded from poison gas. In the course of
goes,
is
no longer the
pre-War times. Even
pleasant,
in the year 1916,
leave after his injury, the depressed, defeat-
attitude of the Bavarians and their hatred for BerHn had shocked
him.
Then
He
had traced
it
the Revolution
back to the undermining work of the Jews.
had come. The Bavarians had
first
of
all
chased out their "venerable Royal House" of Wittelsbach, as Hitler reverently puts it. The democratic Republic was followed by a
and the Soviet Republic was crushed in a bloody by the Freikorps,*^ armed and financed with the help of the
Soviet Republic, fight
WHO
IS
HITLER?
25
Government
Social Democratic
The
in Berlin.
had
era of Reaction
begun. Hitler lived in at that
Munich during
time he nowhere
the Soviet Republic.
He
tells.
What
he did
only mentions in one place that
the Central Committee o£ the revolutionary
Government wanted
have him
"its
because he had earned
jailed
disapproval."
to
Eye-
witnesses of that time have reported that Hitler spoke at mass-
meetings in favor of Social Democrats as opposed to the radicals.
A
few days
after the freeing of
Munich,
mission investigating revolutionary
my
Regiment. This was
Behind tion in little
this
some
first
more or
I
was appointed
activities less
to the
com-
Second Infantry
purely political activity.
apparently innocent sentence
of the
the
in
hidden
is
his co-opera-
most dastardly deeds of those bloody days. In a
biography, which a Hitlerite wrote in 1923 with the consent
of the Fuehrer,
the following: "Ordered to testify before the
is
investigating commission, his accusatory
documents bring ruthless
clarity into the shamelessness of the military betrayals of the
dictatorship during the Soviet period in
Jew-
Munich."^ This can
all
be said more simply. Hitler betrayed his comrades to the counterrevolutionary execution squad. Informer and diers
with
whom
In his biography of Hitler, Heiden has
account of the
hangman
—these were his
he had lived
work
racks where Hitler
first
of the sol-
poHtical offices.
a detailed
eye-witness
of the "investigating commission." In the bar-
was
living with a
number
of
"Red
soldiers,"
•apparently in complete harmony, the "Whites" one day appeared.
Every tenth shot. Hitler
man
of the "Reds" was stood against the wall and
had been separated from the rest before the executions taking good care of their informer.
The "Whites" were His chance came when
began.
a few reactionary Reichswehr
officers
discovered his talent as a speaker. In one of the courses organized
by the Reichswehr for the purpose of "inculcating the troops with
HITLER
26 nationalism," that
is,
IS
NO FOOL
undermining the Weimar RepubUc,
of
a soldier
had opposed Jew-baiting. This stimulated
me
to reply.
The overwhelming majority of the men The result of the matter, however, was
taking the course agreed with me. that a
few days
later
was appointed
I
so-called educational ofi&cer in a
Munich regiment. His job now was
bring the soldiers, whose discipline at that
to
time was "rather weak," back into the fold of reaction.
The Nazi Party In his capacity as informer for the Reichswehr he also became
acquainted with the political party out of which the
NSDAP
—National-Sociali
{National-Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei
German Workers'
Party) grew.
to look into a political ers'
group which
Party. Certainly the
and no right But
tion.
of his officers
at that
called itself the
time a
German Work-
activities of the
state
st
had ordered him
Reichswehr had no business in
about the poUtical
to bother
was already
it
One
politics
popula-
within a state and was
assuming an authority which a weak democratic Government did
The informer found from about twenty
not dispute.
people assembled in the small meeting speaker.
wehr
It
was Gottfried Feder, who
courses. Hitler sat
down
hall.
He
to twenty-five
already
knew
the
also lectured in the Reichs-
quietly
and looked the assembly
over; they belonged "chiefly to the lower strata of the population."
Everything seemed
to
proceed in the usual manner of one of the
countless small political meetings of the
Germany
of that time, until
"a professor" got up and argued against Feder. That was Hitler's cue.
He
had come as a spy and now took part in At the close of the meeting, Anton Drexler, the Chair"German Workers' Party," asked Hitler to read a
forgot that he
the discussion.
man
of the
WHO
IS
HITLER?
27
pamphlet he had written. Hitler read
it
It
bore the
the following
The
Infantry Barracks.
title:
morning
My
Political
contents intrigued him.
progressed from Marxism to "national thinking"
which
I
had experienced myself twelve
The
—"a
was about
in the
author had
development
years before."
of his interest in the pamphlet, Hitler
Awal^ening,
room
in his Uttle
But in
spite
to forget
the
when a week later he received a notice from the German Workers' Party that he had been accepted as a member.
entire matter,
He
had never applied
Naturally, T was
members, and
I
for
membership.
more than
did not
surprised at this
know whether
I
manner
had
never thought of joining an existing party, because
my
own. So
I
was out of the question
this suggestion
of "recruiting"
should be angry or amused.
wanted
to
as far as
I
found I
v/as
concerned.
But then he changed party, even
his
cards, not even a rubber
honest will."
mind and
joined the ridiculously small
though there was "nothing printed, no membership
He became
stamp
its
—only
evident good faith and an
member Number
7.
In the very smallness and obscureness of the group he saw a
chance for himself.
Where
else
could he have played a role?
I was poor and without means seemed relatively easy to bear, but was more bitter to be one of the nameless, one of the millions, whom
That it
Chance
lets live
or die without even those nearest taking any notice. In
addition there was the difficulty which
was bound
to arise
from
my
lack
of formal education.
After two days of painful worrying and pondering he came to the conclusion that he had to take this step.
most important decision
A
more malicious
in his
trick of
It
was, as he says, the
life.
Fate could not be imagined. Hitler,
IS
NO FOOL
political party
Germany
HITLER
28
who was
to build
up the most powerful
had ever known, found duties as a spy;
That was enough
to
his
way
to
it
while he was carrying out his
and he became a member of
in 1919.
Four years
later
it
against his will.
he considered himself strong
attempt to seize the Government by means of a Putsch.
TWO
Program
Hitler's
"Territory as the goal of our foreign policy and a cally
at
new
ideologi-
sound, unified foundation as the goal of our political action
home."
Mein Kampf
His Philosophy of Life
The world
looks like this to Hitler: Nature has populated the
earth with living beings of
Among them
all sorts.
merciless struggle for existence prevails.
The
an endless and
right to live
supreme law. The strong conquer and the weak must this
is
as
it
weak can Nature
tion of the
Man
is
should be. For only by means of the
preservation
is
it.
Under
its
an expression of a combination of conceit, melts like
grown
The
—in
snow
in the
eternal peace
idea that
man might
derisively calls pacifist
and
stupidity." All attempts of
and plants self-
pressure so-called humanity, as stupidity, cowardice,
March
sun. In eternal
humanity must
and vain
war humanity
die."
be able to conquer Nature, Hitler
"typically Jewish in
humanity
logic of Nature, will in the
and
eUmina-
"In the end, nothing but the instinct of
victorious.
their
develop.
subject to Nature's iron will just as animals
are subject to
has
pitiless
is
die;
end harm only the 29
its
impudence and
to revolt against the inexorable
transgressors them-
HITLER
30
Want,
selves.
disease, misfortune,
and
finally
death are their certain
who would Uve must
punishment. "Therefore, he
NO FOOL
IS
and who-
fight,
ever will not fight in this world of eternal struggle does not deserve to live."
Nature
For
is
imbued with the
reason she has given her creatures the instinct for the
this
Only through pairing
with
like
can the strongest and most valuable offspring develop.
The
preservation of the species. strains
universal urge for purer breeding.
strains
progeny of two "not quite equally well-bred beings" cannot achieve the racial superiority of the better of the parents.
Such pairing of
life in
at variance
is
general. This
inferior, but in the
must his
is
is
strength.
because he
He who
or
victory of the former.
to unite with the
is
only a
is
Thus Nature
with the will of Nature for the progress
achieved not in the pairing of superior with
uncompromising
and has no right
rule
own
that
end
born a weakling
The
weaker and thus
may
consider this cruel, but
weak and narrow-minded human
Providence
stronger
to sacrifice
being.
—Hitler uses both concepts —subjects the whole of humanity
inter-
changeably and in the same sense to
laws, but
its
race to
it
treats its
members
of others to submit. Providence has its
differently according to the
which they belong. The function- of some
made some
races
to rule,
is
the executors of
desire for higher breeding; for the others remains the consola-
tion of
fulfilling
Nature's eternal
will
by serving the stronger
willingly.
The chosen
are determined by blood.
Blood
is
the basis
and sub-
stance of the race.
The Still is
less
this
the blood of a people
is
mixed, the purer
is
the race.
mean that the race which has the purest blood The Negro, for example, may, from the point of view
does not
the best.
of blood composition, be quite pure racially; yet Hitler puts this *'born half-monkey" beneath
the
hmit where the human
species
HITLER
S
PROGRAM
3I
must not merely be pure;
begins. Therefore blood
Nature can depend upon
definite quality, so that
evolutionary scheme.
end
to this all
is
the
The
human development
It is a useless
race
"Aryan
whose blood
race." It
own
most highly qualified
was destined
human
culture
to be the bearer of
time.
And
and thus the founders of
It is
is
so
much
here the answer
see before us today in the
and invention
o£ a
probably since the beginning of time.
include in the concept humanity. tion for our
must be
it
to carry out her
undertaking to argue about what race or races were the
original bearers of
Whatever we
is
it
way
is
of
that
all
we
simpler to ask this ques-
easily
human
and
clearly reached.
culture, art, science,
almost completely the creative product of the Aryan. But
this very fact allows the not
unfounded conclusion that he alone was the
founder of superior humanity in general, and for that reason represents the prototype of
What clear.
ing
all
that
we understand by
Hitler actually
As
The word
means by "Aryan race" he nowhere makes would have great difficulties in defin-
capacities.
ciation
it
almost
know
the term
Aryan
in a racial sense.
has nothing to do with blood, physical appearance, or
mental
According to the American Anthropological Asso-
simply denotes a "Hnguistic family."
all
already
word man.
a matter of fact he
Science does not
it.
the
European languages. But theories
flat
of
his
Hitler,
authorities,
the
As
such,
further
it
includes
ironing the
Frenchman Count
Gobineau and the Enghshman Houston Stewart Chamberlain,
manages
to
make
their "scientific discoveries" the justification of his
imperiaUst program.
According
to
him, the Aryans are the chosen people of the Lord.
Certain qualities of their blood races.
They
make them
superior to
all
possess, for example, the gift of organization
other
and of
"inner experience," which has been denied other races. Everything lying outside the realm of "cold logic," such as ethical concepts or expressions of pure feeling, exist only in the Aryan. His highest
-
HITLER
32 virtue
is
culture
every
his readiness to sacrifice himself for the general interest of
and humanity. "Every worker, every farmer, every inventor,
official,
etc.,
who
works, without ever being able to gain
happiness and fortune himself,
a bearer of this high ideal, even
is
the deeper significance of his
if
NO FOOL
IS
action
were always
remain
to
hidden from him."
But being the most the
Aryan
is
inferior races
also
idealistic
and generous among God's
creatures,
exposed to the danger of being misunderstood by
and of
falling prey to
harmful
ideas, for
example, to
the pernicious nonsense of pacifism. Actually the pacifist-humane idea
is all
right
when
man
the superior
has previously conquered and subjected the world so completely that he
The
has become the sole ruler of this earth. possibility of a
becomes
less
dangerous
and
less possible
and
The Aryan
race,
first
fight
original
and then
German see
become
Therefore:
first
fight
edition the last sen-
what can be done."]
"The
it.
Such a people
human
is
Aryan
doomed
to
fusion of blood and the resultant lowering
of the racial level are the only reasons for the dying
the loss of that
lacks the
so polluted that the original
elements finally are submerged in
cultures; for
form
practical application
however, can, through continued mixing with
inferior blood strains,
historical death.
its
finally impossible.
and then perhaps pacifism. [In the tence reads: "Therefore:
idea in this
result to the extent that
oflE
of ancient
beings do not die of lost wars, but rather of
power of
resistance
which
is
the property only of
pure blood." Therefore, within the Aryan people there are for Hitler classes of varying value, depending
upon
the purity of their blood
magnitude of the remaining, unharmed
"racial kernel."
and the For ex-
ample, a people once predominantly Aryan but today "more and
more
falling prey to negrofication,"
arc the French.
and therefore destined
to fall,
hitler's program
33
The German Aryans belong
to the "highest
humanity which by
the grace of the Almighty has been presented to this world."
them from achieving
fortunate circumstances have prevented
goal Providence has set them; to rule the globe. is
the
German
One
Whoever would
truly
and from the depth of would with
of the pacifist idea in this world, fight for the conquest of the to happen, the last pacifist
possible
with the
easily die
earth.
his heart desire the victory all
world by the Germans; for
might
the
of the reasons
on
people's illusion of eternal peace
Un-
if
means have
to
the reverse were
last
German,
since
the rest of the world has never been so completely taken in by this
unnatural and
illogical
Thus whether we
like
nonsense it
or not,
as,
unfortunately, our
we would have
own
people have.
to decide to
go
to
war
in order to achieve pacifism.
Another of the reasons why the German Aryans are not yet the master of the world
is
their failure to retain the full purity of
their race.
The German
people lack that sure herd-instinct which has
the unity of blood and which, in their downfall, because all
when
they oppose their
moments
minor
its
basis in
of danger, saves nations
from
internal differences disappear at once
common enemy, showing him
the closed ranks of
a unified herd. In the fact that our primary racial elements of the most
varying kinds have remained unmingled,
is
to be sought the foundation
what we mean by "super-individualism." In peaceful times it may occasionally be of good service, but all in all it has cost us world domina-
for
tion.
Had
the
German
people in their historical development possessed
which other nations had, the German Reich would today probably dominate the whole globe. The history of the world would have taken another course, and no one can tell if in this manner the same end might not have been achieved which so many blinded pacifists today hope to beg for themselves through whining and sniveling
that herd-like unity
—a peace
supported not by the olive branch of tearful
pacifist females,
but founded rather upon the victorious sword of a nation of
rulers,
ta\ing
HITLER
34 the world into the service of a superior culture.
.
.
NO FOOL
IS
Even today our
.
people suffer from internal differences. However, what brought us misfortune for the past and present,
no matter how harmful
may
be a blessing for our future. Because,
was on the one hand that the complete union
it
of our original racial elements did not take place and thus form a whole, unified body of people,
it
was
just as fortunate
on the other hand,
since
thus at least a part of our best blood has remained pure and evaded racial decline.
For the German people, the Savior does not come too
late. It is
the historical mission of National SociaHsm to bring together the
Germans
to lead the best racial elements
in the nev^,
the Third Reich
all
into
one German Empire,
among them
into ruling positions
in the world, to unite
^
them
and
and
the spiritual
to create
material conditions under which Nature's final goal can be realized.
And
we
herewith
from the domain of the general and
pass
sophical into that of the concrete
Annihilation of the Internal Politics
is
for
Hitler a
and
philo-
poUtical.
Enemy
means
of fulfilling the eternal will of
Providence that the strong must rule and the weak must Just as
human
fall.
culture, according to him, did not begin until the
Aryans subjugated
inferior races, so
the development of culture
to greater heights cannot be reached unless the
German
people,
destined to rule by blood and race, have conquered the place in
the world which
is
their due.
But the German nation of the ground, dishonored
enemies have deprived fices.
it
Its
of the fruits of
domestic and foreign all
its
labors
and
sacri-
Jews, Marxists, and Socialists drove the dagger into the back
German Army just before the conquerors sentenced the German people, in
of the glorious
the
upon
rulers at present lies prostrate
and defeated.
peace treaty of
all
times, to eternal weakness.
final victory,
the
To
and
most shameful settle
accounts
HITLER
S
PROGRAM
with the domestic
35
break the chains of Versailles, to
to
traitors,
do away with the miserable Republic, and
to give the
German
people, once they have recovered their political freedom at
armaments with which
the
are the prerequisites for the
A
to fight for a place in the sun
new
great variety of opponents
of "internal enemy."
The term
home,
—these
Reich.
rise of the
embraced in Hider's category
is
includes not only "racially inferior'^
or "impure" elements, such as "Jews and Jew-bastards," but every-
one whose views and actions do not conform to Hider's philosophy of
life.
Marxists and pacifists
and other beUevers
come under
as well as
it
democrats
in the parliamentary system; all Protestants
and
who fall for such insipid ideas as the universal brotherhood of man or such nonsense as international understanding; all scientists who refuse to be convinced that Hitler's "inexorable logic of Nature," the law of the jungle, must be applied to human society, or who may even doubt the correctness of the National Catholics
Socialist racial theories.
responsible
citizens
secret opposition
They
are
all
unsuited for the honor of being
new German
of the
makes them
Reich. Their open or
a great danger.
They must be broken
with the aid of the two powerful weapons
disposal of a
at the
"strong" government: terror and propaganda.
Twice the opportunity had been missed to clean up the "riffrafJ" home. At the beginning of the World War the Kaiser should have put the leaders of the entire labor movement under lock and at
key, tried them,
and
rid the nation of them.
Pitilessly the entire military
The
guish this pestilence.
machine should have been used
political parties
Reichstag should have been brought to aid of the bayonet If at the
—
or,
even
beginning of the
its
senses
—
if
during the
The
necessary with the
better, suppressed at once.
War and
to extin-
should have been dissolved.
War
.
.
.
twelve or fifteen
thousand of these Hebrew corrupters of the people had been exposed to poison gas
all at
once, just as hundreds of thousands of our very best
HITLER
36
German workers
of
all classes
But instead of
had
to suffer
it
would not have been
of millions at the front
"pitilessly
in the trenches, the sacrifice
in vain.
exterminating" the troublemakers and
thus squashing the vermin once and for
all,
"His Majesty the
Kaiser" extended his hand to them in reconciUation. their appreciation
The second
NO FOOL
IS
They showed
by fomenting the Revolution of 1918.
unforgivable error the
German government com-
mitted in 1923, during the French occupation of the Ruhr. Instead of utilizing the pitiable situation of the Reich
and the
incipient
uprisings for the destruction of the "Marxist hordes," the Govern-
ment
called
the French.
them
"A
to help in
organizing passive resistance against
National Government would,
real
have desired disorder and unrest,
if
at
that time,
only to have provided a pre-
text for a final settling with the deadly Marxist enemies of our
people."
With
the "most brutal grip one should have seized the vipers
who were
feeding on our national body." Such an error must not
The enemy within must be
occur a third time!
means whatsoever before Germany can
woe
to us if victory
as there
is
so
not the reward of the
is
much
as a
shadow
down and
nate spiritual ideas by life
day's battle.
its
strength
"For
As soon
which
is
of resistance
the opponent will be the undisputed victor."
Hitler himself puts the question: "Is
philosophies of
first
of defeat over a people
not quite free from internal enemies, will break
destroyed by any
fight foreign enemies.
it
really possible to extermi-
means of the sword?
Is it possible to fight
He
answers the question
movements with
a definite spiritual basis,
with brute force?"
himself, too:
Concepts and
whether
ideas, as well as
false or true,
may
be checked by means of force after a certain
stage of their development, only
time ihc harbingers of a
new
if
the physical weapons are at the
explosive Idea or philosophy of
life.
same .
.
.
HITLER
PROGRAM
S
Each attempt grief in the
a
new
37
by means of violence comes to
to fight a philosophy of life
end
the struggle does not take the form of aggression for
if
spiritual point of view.
Only where two philosophies
with each other can the weapon of brute
force,
bring about a favorable decision for the side which [It
must be
perfectly clear that] perseverance
primary prerequisite for a
battle
of life struggle
unyielding and ruthless,
is
supports.
it
and always
with the weapons of naked
.
.
.
will be the
force.
Only in
a consistently uniform application of the methods for the suppression of a
But
doctrine, etc. lies the possibility for the success of the intention.
soon as violence gives
which
doctrine
is
way
new
wave
new
life
from each persecution;
it
success.
will
even
and the old followers
will attach
them-
with greater obstinacy and deeper hatred than before, and even
renegade followers will try to return after the danger
uniform application of force alone
sistently
it
for after the lapse
of suppression, indignation over the sorrow suffered leads
followers to the old doctrine
selves to
as
—no matter how hesitantly—the
to be suppressed will not only recover, but
be in a position to gain of such a
to indulgence
This persistence
spiritual conviction.
Any
base will be vacillating
is
the
is
over. In the con-
prerequisite for
first
never anything but the product of a certain
force
which does not grow from a
and uncertain.
gained only from a fanatical view of
Propaganda and
lies
It
lacks the stability
solid spiritual
which can be
life.
violence, applied constantly side
lead to the internal union of the
German
by
people.
side,
should
Only with a
united people can Hitler be expected to carry out the great task for
which Providence has chosen him:
to
make Germany
a world
power once more. Upon this goal the entire activity of a nation must concentrate with fanatical determination. All other interests must be subordinated shunned.
The
to this one.
must be
a
sacrifices,
no
efforts
must be
hearts of children must no longer be "poisoned"
with the "curse of objectivity," very existence
No
is
when
the "preservation of one's
at stake." Science in the
means of furthering national
important than
scientific
National Socialist State pride.
And much more
schooling for the young people
is
that
IS
NO FOOL
girl's
training,
HITLER
38
The
the pink of condition."
their "bodies be in
should be directed primarily toward physical development;
too,
and
spiritual
The
have only a secondary
intellectual values are to
role.
goal of feminine education must always be the "future mother,"
for the Fatherland needs soldiers.
The culmination
of the whole educational process
tary training. "Military service
is
must be considered the
of the normal education of the average
to
be mili-
final period
German."
Hitler s Criticism of the Kaiser's Policy Hitler
no raving
is
which stand
visionary.
way
in the
Germany, and he wishes
He
the political difficulties
sees
of a rise to world
power by
to avoid the mistakes
which
a conquered
in his opinion
brought about the downfall of the old Reich. Therefore he submits the domestic
He
criticism.
and foreign is
policy of pre- War
its
actions.
Half-hearted was everything which was in any of this Parliament [the Reichstag]
Half-hearted was
Germany nor
way under
the influence
—you may examine whatever you
will.
policy in dealing with the Poles; of stirring
its
without ever seriously pushing through. for
to a severe
disgusted with the "half-heartedness"
especially
which characterized
Germany
The
result
was neither a
up
victory
a reconciliation with the Poles; instead, enmity with
Russia.
Half-hearted was every attempt to solve the problem of Alsace-Lorraine. Instead of once and for
all
crushing with brutal
fist
the head of the French
hydra, and afterward giving the Alsacians equal rights, neither was
done.
.
.
.
All of this
might yet have been bearable,
existence the country
depended
if
the
power upon whose
—the Army—
^had not also fallen victim to
this general half-heartedness.
The tion
sins
committed by the
would have alone
German
nation for
all
times.
"German Reichstag" draw down upon it the
so-called
sufficed to
Upon
in this direc-
curse of the
the most miserable pretenses did these
— HITLER
S
PROGRAM
39
parliamentary hoodlums
from our people and smash the weapon of
steal
self-preservation, the only protection of their If the graves of Flanders' plains v^^ere to
from them, hundreds of thousands of the
accusers v^^ould rise
young Germans who were driven ciently trained
—
into the jaws of death poorly
and
finest insuffi-
because of the unscrupulousness of these parliamen-
all
tary criminals. Millions of cripples
no
freedom and independence.
open up today, the bloodied
make
other reason but to
and dead the Fatherland has lost, for few hundred demagogues
possible for a
corruption, blackmail, or even only the grinding out of their
political
theories.
While Jewry shouted
and democratic
press,
forth to the
its
lie
of
whole world, by means of the Marxist
German
militarism and thus attempted
with every possible means to burden Germany, Marxist and democratic
development of German national
parties curtailed every adequate
At
the
same time, the
colossal
have been apparent to anyone
force.
crime which had been committed must
who
gave so
much
as a thought to the
matter of a future war, for which the entire nation must be mobilized and
which would find millions of Germans facing the enemy poorly or ciendy trained
—
this
all
sentatives of our
own
insuffi-
because of the crookedness of these fine repre-
so-called "popular representation."
But aside from
the results of the brutal and coarse unscrupulousness of these parliamentary pimps, this lack of well-trained soldiers at the beginning of the
could only too easily lead to losing the war
a fact
which the World
war
War
proved in so horrible a manner.
The nation
loss of the struggle for is
freedom and independence of the German
the result of a half-heartedness and weakness (already apparent
in time of peace) in the training of the entire popular force for the defense of the Fatherland. Just as too
few
.
.
.
recruits
were trained in the Army, likewise in the Navy,
the same half-heartedness was at
weapon more
Had
the
or less worthless.
German
.
.
work
to
make
the national defense
.
battleships at Jutland
had the same tonnage, the same
armor, and the same speed as the English, a hail of the more
German
38-centimeter shells
watery grave.
would have sunk the
efficient
British fleet into a
HITLER
40
Added were
suicidal.
Even
policy.
The
is
Germany made
alliances
meaning
a clear conception of the
was lacking. Hitler
treaties
NO FOOL
domestic preparedness for war was a
to diis insufficient
and dangerous foreign
sterile
IS
of poUtical
convinced that
the fates of nations are welded closely together only by the hope for a
common
success
short, of a
An
alliance
senseless
the sense of
in
common
mutual growth in power.
and
.
.
conquests
acquisitions,
to wage war is no other reason but war.
whose aim does not embrace the intention
worthless. Alliances are
formed
for
Instead of preparing for the battle to rule the world, the
pursued the portentous
illusions of a "peaceful
of the world, the greatest nonsense
of
principle
statesmanship."
The
much
as
with
it.
It
economic conquest
Reich lacked the
old its
own. ...
It
war, only to be finally forced into
unfavorable hour.
It
wanted
Empire
which ever became the leading
strength for active aggressive plans of
ing so
—in
.
to escape
fate
and
it
at the
most
caught up
fate
dreamed of world peace and was stranded
"inner
feared noth-
in a
World
War."
Thus
before the
War
the whole
German
alliance-policy
a defensive association of aged, historically retired,
According
states."
missing will for power
to Hitler this
unfortunate result of the varying racial elements in the disruptive
work
of Jews, Marxists,
and
liberals,
"ended in
and pensioned is
a
most
Germany and and
their "par-
hamentary procurers."
The
aimlessness
and weakness of the Empire
is,
he believes
traced back to the fact that the fundamental question
How, with a constantly growing German nation be insured?
to
be
was not asked:
population, could the future of the
Hitler sees four ways of dealing with the population problem. "First,
number
one might, according
to
of births artificially
and
population."
French precedents, decrease the tlius
evade the hazard of over-
hitler's program
41
But he turns down
As soon
this
method on
propagation as such
as
is
the basis of his race theory.
reduced and the number of births
decreased, the natural struggle for existence to survive will be replaced by a natural
the weakest and
sickliest.
which must become more its
will continues.
The
day be deprived of time be able to
its
Thus
the seed will be planted for a progeny
contempt for Nature and
end, however, will be that such a nation will one existence
spite the eternal
on
man may
this earth, for
for a short
laws of self-preservation, but revenge
A
since the desire for existence in
its
come sooner
to
final
form
will break all ridiculous ties
the humanitarianism of Nature, which destroys weakness to
German future.
A
He who
therefore
would
.
with
insure the future existence of the it
of
its
.
second method would be the one
we
so often hear praised
gested nowadays: domestic colonization. This
many well-meaning
Germany
is
and sug-
a suggestion offered by
people, but usually misunderstood by most of them,
thus causing the greatest
In
it
make room
people by self-limitation of propagation, thereby robs
.
is
stronger race will drive off the weak,
of a so-called humanitarianism of the individual in order to replace
for strength.
fittest
for saving at any cost even
pitiable, the longer this
or later.
bound
which allows only the
mania
damage imaginable.
the term domestic colonization
used for the
is
resettle-
ment, begun toward the end of the nineteenth century, of peasant families in sparsely populated parts of the country, especially east
of the Elbe.
The
Imperial regime, under whose supervision the
resettlement was undertaken, wanted to kill stone
:
first,
to strengthen the
German
two
birds with one
influence against the Poles in
the eastern provinces; and second, to assure to the "J^^^kers," the
landed gentry of these parts, the necessary labor for their largescale agriculture.
small to provide settler
The
plots sold to the settlers
as a rule too
The money on the neighboring sowing and harvest time. The poor peasant.
work and food
was therefore forced
estates of the gentry at
were
to
for the entire peasant family.
earn
HITLER
42 in taking over the settlement,
hopelessly tied
down
went deep
into debt,
to his "property." In this
IS
NO FOOL
and thus became
way, the much-feared
was staved
Carried on in
danger of
labor's deserting the land
this spirit,
domestic colonization was fundamentally but another one
many schemes
the
of
to
please
off.
the influential
and reactionary
Junkers.
The
attitude of the big
changed to
at
landowners toward domestic colonization
once when, after the War, the
Weimar Republic
tried
extend the settlement activity further and to create self-supporting
homesteads.
The Junkers began to fear come up again
settlement question will present, let us hear
... on
what
this earth there are
still
soil
in a later chapter.
has to say about
else Hitler
await the coming of the cultivator.
for their giant estates.
The
For the
it.
huge areas of unused land which but It
is
only just to conclude that this
has not been reserved by Nature for the future use of any one nation
or race, but that to take
land and
it is
and the industry
it
Nature knows no living beings
ence.
.
.
those people
political
as
who
have the strength
it.
boundaries.
and watches the tournament
and industry,
heart
soil for
to cultivate
It
populates the globe with
of strength.
The
strongest of
her dearest child, wins the lordship of exist-
.
For us Germans, however, the slogan "domestic colonization" astrous
if
only for the reason that
it
is
dis-
immediately confirms in us the
opinion of having found a solution, which, in accordance with pacifist points of view, assures us an existence of gentle slumber. This doctrine,
once taken seriously, will in this
mean
the end of
world which by right belongs to
all effort
to regain the place
us.
German were to become convinced that program would assure him a life and a future, any attempt
Just as soon as the average this peaceful at
an active and thus alone
the world
would be
fertile
representation of our vital interests in
at an end. Every truly useful foreign policy
would
of
necessity have to be considered buried as a result of such a national standpoint,
and with
it
the future of the
German
people in general.
HITLER
S
PROGRAM
For that reason
it
43
cannot be stated emphatically enough, says
Hitler, that domestic colonization can never suffice "in securing a
future for the
German
nation without increase of territory."
Also out of military considerations he
man
people growing
...
its
rejects the idea of the
German
food within the
in the very size of the living space of a people there lies an
important factor for the determination of
external safety.
its
the area at the disposal of a people, the greater for military decisions against nations living
is its
more
cially
effectively
A
and
easily
and
espe-
possible against
large territory offers certain protection
against irresponsible attacks, since success serious campaigns,
greater
on smaller, more condensed
more quickly and and completely than would be
nations living on larger areas.
The
natural protection;
areas have always been carried out
and
Ger-
borders.
attainable only after long
is
for that reason the risk of a foolhardy attack
will appear too great, unless extraordinary circumstances prevail.
Therefore extensiveness of the
state
makes
easier the defense of the
freedom and independence of a people, while conversely a small area actually invites the aggressor.
Of
the "four possible ways of guaranteeing
work and bread
the increasing population," Hitler has rejected the control
One
first
to
two, birth
and domestic colonization. But two others remain: could either conquer
new
soil,
in
order to take care of the
surplus millions each year, and thus advance the nation on a basis of support; or one could decide by
means
the needs of foreign markets, in order to
of industry
make
and trade
a living
self-
to supply
from the money
earned.
Therefore: Either territorial policy or a colonial and trade policy.
The
best
method which, unfortunately,
the
Empire did not
choose, would, in Hitler's opinion, have been the conquest of soil
new
in Europe, adjacent to Germany, rather than in the Cameroons.
HITLER
44 one wanted
If
territory
in
Europe,
this
manner
for the
start
marching
conquer with the sword the land,
German
poHcy would have made
a
way be
the Reich would, in the
Order, have had to
to the East in order to
and with the plow the bread
Such
German
of the Knights of the
on the old road
could in a general
Then
acquired only at the expense of Russia.
NO FOOL
IS
it
nation.
necessary to form an alliance
with England.
Only with England protecting the rear would out upon the new Germanic conquest.
start
.
.
it
have been possible to
.
To win
England's approval, no sacrifice would then have been too would have meant the renunciation of colonies and prestige at and we would have spared British industry German competition.
great. It sea,
Only an unconditional tion of world trade
position could have led to such a goal
and
colonies; renunciation of a
German
—renunciabatde
fleet;
concentration of the entire power of the State
The
result
would probably have meant
and mighty
great
future.
.
.
a
upon building the Army. momentary restriction, but a
.
Let us suppose that an intelligent over the role of Japan in 1904, and
Germany might have would never have come to
the results
German it
foreign policy had taken
would be
difficult
to estimate
achieved.
a World War. The blood shed in the would have saved tenfold that lost in 19 14-18. But what a position would Germany assume in the world today!
It
year 1904
However, caught by the
illusions of a "peaceful
economic" pene-
tration of the world, the old Reich decided in favor of the fourth
method
Here
—in
also
it
favor of trade and colonial politics, Hitler declares.
was
led
by the same half-heartedness, the same ridicu-
lous conceptions of peace:
Only children could of friendly
and
believe in going out to get their bananas by
correct behavior
means
and by continually emphasizing
their
peaceful intentions in a peaceful competition of peoples, as has been
HITLER
S
PROGRAM
45
and soothingly, without ever having
prattled so frequently
to resort to
arms.
No, once we entered upon
this road,
should one day become our enemy. a
into
It
it was inevitable? that England was worse than senseless to fly
though quite in keeping with our own harmlessness,
rage,
because England would take the liberty of meeting our peaceful intentions
with the violence of the brutal
have been able to do
From any astrous.
if
egoist.
We,
of course,
would never
this.
point of viev^ the alliance-poHcy of the Reich v^as dis-
For
European
territorial policy
and with England
an
as
was
to be conducted only against Russia
then on the other hand, a colonial and
ally,
world trade policy was to be carried on successfully only against England with Russia.
However, an sidered, just as
.
.
.
with Russia against England was not even con-
alliance little
as
an
alliance
with England against Russia, since in
—an alternative which was
both cases the end would have been war
to
be averted by a trade and industrial policy.
Germany's
alliance
with the doomed Hapsburg monarchy made
an understanding with Russia impossible. At the same time
weakened the enthusiasm
—Germany,
for
it
war on the part of the Triple Alliance
Austria-Hungary and
Italy
—
Italy
^for
bitterly
hated
the Austrian ally.
The
value of the Triple Alliance was negligible even from a purely
psychological point of view, since the solidity of an alliance decreases in just the
same measure
status quo. Conversely
individual signers
by
it.
may
as
it
restricts
to the
maintenance of the
expect to attain tangible, expansive goals specified
Here, too, as everywhere
in offense.
itself
an alliance will become stronger the more the
else,
the strength
lies
not in defense but
HITLER
46
There were dangers of
its
in
Germany
General
memorandum
a
of Ludendorff, then a colonel
on
But the warnings of "German Conservative
Staff.
were blown
Circles"
understood the
foreign policy and tried to correct them, says Hitler,
and he mentions the
who
time people
at that
NO FOOL
IS
winds.
to the four
Hitler's Foreign Policy
In the First
Volume
of his book. Hitler has exhaustively criticized
the failings of Imperial
Germany
in order that a
new Germany
should not repeat them. In the Second Volume, written two years he lays
later,
policy.
become
down
chief
Its
German foreign Germany must once more
the guiding lines for a future
aim
unalterable:
is
a world power!
That means
infinitely
more than just away with
establishing the borders of the old Reich or doing
re-
the
Treaty of Versailles.
Germany
is
no world power today. Even
ness were overcome, significance territory
is
is
we would
a state
as pitiful as that of the present
of
is
state
our present military weak-
whose
Of what
this title.
ratio of population to
German Reich? In an age in up among countries,
gradually being divided
which cover almost
world power a
if
have no right to
on our planet today whose
which the whole world
some
still
one can hardly
entire continents,
political
motherland
is
call
a
confined to the ridicu-
lous area of scarcely 200,000 square miles.
As
far
as
territory goes, the area
of the
German Reich
disappears
And no
one should
completely beside that of the so-called world powers. try to
prove the contrary by naming England and France, because the
nothing but the capital of the British world
English motherland
is
Empire, which
almost a quarter of the surface of the world
The United first
some
And
calls
States
really
must be considered another
its
own.
of the giant states of
magnitude; then Russia and China. All of them enormous areas, of
which are ten times the
even France must be counted
army supplemented
in
size of the
among
former German Reich.
these countries.
Not
only
is its
an ever increasing degree by the colored popula-
HITLER tion of
PROGRAM
S
47
gigantic empire, but racially also
its
it is
so rapidly falling prey
to negrofication that one can actually speak of the beginning of an
... If the development of France were manner for three hundred years, the last would drown in the European-African Mulatto-
African state on European
soil.
to continue in the present
Franconian blood
A
State.
a
new
strains
powerful, closed settlement from Rhine to Congo, populated by
inferior race
ization.
.
.
which had slowly developed from continued bastard-
.
Today we
find ourselves in a world of gradually
which our own Reich
becoming ever
is
less
and
growing
states in
less significant. It is
we face this bitter truth with a cold and sober mind. It we trace the German Reich through the centuries for comparison of its population with that of other countries. I know that
important that is
a
important that
everyone will then be alarmed at the conclusion which
expressed
I
Germany is no longer a wea\ or strong.
already at the beginning of this discussion:
its army is Movement really wants
world power, no matter whether If the
National Socialist
.
cration of a great historical mission for our people,
with
this realization
real condition in this
up the
battle
and
filled
.
.
to receive the conseit
must, imbued
with sorrow over the German people's
world, courageously and conscious of
against the aimlessness
and the
inefficiency
hitherto guided the foreign policy of our people. It
its
goal, take
which have
must then, without
regard to "traditions" and prejudices, find the courage to gather our people and their strength for a forward march upon that road which leads out of the narrowness of our living space to
new
territory,
thus
freeing us forever from the danger of being annihilated or of entering as a people of slaves into the service of others.
The National
Socialist
Movement must
try to
do away with the
proportion existing between our population and our territory as source of nourishment
must
try to
and
basis of support for
our power
do away with the disproportion between our
and our hopeless and impotent
dis-
—regarded politics. It
historical past
present.
The "forward march upon that road toward new territory" leads eastward. "When we in Europe today speak of new territory, we
HITLER
48
can think in the
Here,
too, Hitler sees
Fate vism,
first
itself
place only of Russia
Providence on his
and
bordering
its
seems to point the way. In turning Russia over to Bolshenational existence. For the organization of a
its
Russian governing body was not the result of the Slavs
in
Russia, but
of the
activity
a
political capacities of
wonderful example of the state-building
Germanic element
powerful empires have been
in
built.
an inferior Inferior
once grown into mighty
state edifices
Thus
race.
peoples,
countless
with Germanic
manner more than
organizers and masters as their leaders, have in this
racial
states."
side.
has robbed the Russian people of that intelligence which had
it
heretofore guaranteed
the
NO FOOL
IS
and remained thus
as
long as the
kernel of the state-forming race remained. For centuries Russia
strength from this Germanic kernel of its upper and leading Today this kernel may be considered as almost completely exterThe minated and extinguished. It has been replaced by the Jew. giant empire in the East is ready to fall. And the end of Jew-domination
drew
its
classes.
.
in Russia will also be the
end of Russia
as a state.
by Providence to witness a catastrophe, which
We is
.
.
have been chosen
the most powerful
proof of the correctness of our national race theory.
From the Nazi's conception of their historical mission — to make Germany a world power at the cost of Soviet Russia — to its realization is a long road. Many an obstacle must first be overcome; the soil
must be
carefully prepared before the final battle can begin.
The "internal enemy" must be many must first be freed from Hitler's Policy of Alliances:
totally destroyed.
England and
own
of their
will disintegrate at the very it
Ger-
says Hitler. Yesact
only in the
power, and even a coalition of victorious
interest
powers
which
all,
Italy
is no room for sentimentality, enemy may be tomorrow's ally. States
In politics there terday's
Above
its political isolation.
was formed has been
moment when
attained.
the goal for
HITLER
PROGRAM
S
49
and aims" had fought
States with "partly heterogeneous desires
against
Germany.
All of these states at that time profited by the defeat of Germany.
among
Fear of our strength forced avarice and jealousy
They
powders into the background.
individual
sav^ in a complete emasculation of
the Reich their best protection against a future uprising. Their bad conscience and their fear of the strength of our people
is
the most lasting
putty for keeping the individual parts of this alliance together even today.
The
only hope for a recovery of Germany's strength Hitler sees
up
in splitting
its
former enemies and bringing them
individually. Therefore he attacks
groups in Germany, who,
it
"appeasement pohcy" of the
most sharply those
account
nationalist
fought like him against the
true,
is
to
Weimar Republic and for the re-estabwho through the
lishment of a strong military government, but stupidity of their pohtical
demands kept
ting alHance of our opponents." policy of these groups,
fatal
"whose
extend beyond the border of 1914," return of the territory of which sailles
lishment of the borders of igi^
The
is
it
is
first place, nationalist circles
different,
They did not
impor-
mean nothing
these borders seen
for the future of the Ger-
serve as a protection in the past nor will they
The German
internal compactness through them, nor will
satisfactory,
much more
at stake.
borders of the year 1914
nation.
nonsense of such dimen-
is political
becomes a crime." In the
furnish strength in the future.
now
horizon does not
their constant cry for the
Germany was robbed by the Verdemand for the re-estab-
have not understood that a very
tant issue
man
nonsensical and most
political
Treaty. For a two-fold reason "the
sions that still
re-uniting "the disintegra-
The most
people will neither gain it
from a military standpoint appear
nor could they
finally
its
be assured food, nor do useful, or
even
improve the condition in which
find ourselves in relation to other world powers, or
we
more correcdy
HITLER
50
IS
world powers. Our discrepancy with England
to the real
NO FOOL
will not
be
lessened; the size of the United States will not be reached; not even
France would suffer an essential decline in
The
result of such a revision of the Peace
God knows
be so pitiful that
of our people again for Hitler's second is
that
political
its
Treaty would "again
would not pay
argument against demands
our bourgeois world
program
a political
might want
for the old boundaries
for
sets the
Germany,
it
regaining of the 19 14 borders as
frightens every possible partner
to leave the ranks of our enemies, because he
be attacked individually and to lose the protection of his individual
demand.
blood
to risk the
it."
hinders the spHtting of Germany's enemies.
it
When
it
importance.
state .
.
will
consider
itself
must
Every
allies.
and endangered by
affected
who
fear to
that
.
In howling against five or ten
states,
one neglects to concentrate
all his
powers of will and body for the thrust into the heart of our most despicable opponent,
through an Here, too,
and
the possibility of gaining strength
sacrifices
alliance. lies
a task of the National Socialist
Movement.
It
must teach
our people to overlook insignificant details and keep their eyes on greater things, not to waste their strength
forget that the goal for
of our people,
and
on immaterial
which we must
that the only
fight today
enemy
things, is
whom we
and never
to
the bare existence
must meet
is
and
remains that power which robs us of this existence. Hitler
is
convinced that with "a cool examination of today's
European balance of power," there separating the former opponents of
some
of
them can be won
is
as active allies.
the antagonistic interests of
every possible chance of
Germany, and
To
this
European powers.
that
moreover
end he examines
First, there
is
Eng-
land.
The
traditional tendency of British
diplomacy since the days of Queen
hitler's program
51
Elizabeth was toward preventing by the use of any available means the
growth of a European power beyond check
its
certain limits,
and
if
necessary, to
growth by means of offensive warfare. The weapons of power
used by England in such instances were various, depending on the particular issue or the task to be accomplished, yet the decisiveness
will
power put
forth
were always the same. The more
difficult
and
England's
position became in the course of time, the more necessary did the British Government deem the maintenance of a condition whereby the Euro-
pean
states
exhausted each other as a result of rivalry.
—which —caused the British
England's policy of a European balance of power forces free to defend
over-seas possessions
its
left its
always to turn against the strongest power on the European Continent, and, logically enough, to support the enemies of that power.
By crushing
hegemony of Napoleon I, England had restored for come the balance of power on the Continent. As soon as the successful war of Germany against France (1870-71) and the enormous development of German industry began to shift the balance in favor of Germany, a change in the English position became noticeable. An alliance between England the
a long time to
and France probably could have been prevented, Hitler
Germany had colonial policy
the errors of
from carrying out
refrained
and shown its
its
calls
it,
readiness to turn against Russia.
the victory over
Thus
in the
World War,
or as Hitler
"with the revolutionizing of Germany,"
British concern over the threat of
extinction of for
Germany from
England.
ture in those position
if
it.
Germany
Germanic world hegemony found a
conclusion pleasing to English statecraft.
—even
thinks,
unfortunate trade and
foreign policy brought about an alliance of the
strongest world powers against
With
its
On
the European
An map
interest in
the complete
has since then not existed
the contrary, the very crumbling of the struc-
November days
of 191 8 placed British diplomacy in a
which would have seemed impossible.
new
HITLER
52
IS
NO FOOL
For four and a half years the British world Empire had fought to
Now
break the apparent preponderance of a continental power.
sud-
denly there was a catastrophe which seemed to wipe this power out of the picture completely. There
was such a lack
tive instinct for self-preservation
of even the
most primi-
[on the part of the Germans] that the
European balance seemed to be thrown out of line. Germany and France the first power on the European continent. Actually England did not attain its end in the war. .
.
annihilated,
.
This immediately resulted in decisive changes in English foreign policy.
England does not want by the
rest
some day
in
a
France whose military
fist
can, unhindered
of Europe, take over the defense of a policy
one way or another
conflict
with English
which must
interests.
England
can never want a France that has, wath the possession of enormous western European coal and iron mines, the prerequisites for a menacing
economic world
position.
whose continental
Furthermore, England can never want a France position appears
political
so
secure,
thanks to the
destruction of the rest of Europe, that the resumption of the
main
of French world policy becomes not only possible but inevitable.
line
What
Zeppelin bombs did during the War, French bombs could multiply a thousand-fold any night; the excessive military power of France weighs heavily upor> the
mind
of Great Britain's
Besides England there
is
one other
world Empire.
state in
Europe with no
a complete extinction of a German central which would give France the economic and military potver
interest "in
her to undisputed hegemony." That Italy also
Europe.
is
vital
Europe to lead
Italy.
cannot want a further stabilization of French hegemony in
Italy's
future
will
always be conditioned by a development
centered about the Mediterranean basin.
What made
Italy
go
to
war was
certainly not the desire to strengthen France, but rather the intention of
giving the hated Adriatic rival
[Austria-Hungary, Germany's
ally]
a
HITLER
S
PROGRAM Any
death blow.
mean
53
on the Continent and no one should be fooled
further strengthening of France
a future checking of Italy,
believing
that
common
ancestry
among
will
into
do away with
nations can
rivalries.
Contemplated with a sober and cool head
two
England and
states,
Italy,
it is
today,
whose most natural
In Europe
England and
to a certain degree identical with them.
Germany can have
allies
these
.
.
nation
.
the near future:
in
Italy.
First Destruction of
The
only two
all,
German
not opposed to the prerequisites for the existence of the
and are even
of
first
interests are at least
France
Germany,
the mortal opponent of
irreconcilable,
is
and
always will be France, says Hitler.
The insulting charges which he made against France in Mein Kampf have caused him much embarrassment in his foreign diplomacy. They are in too open contrast with
avowed
his
desire for
peace with France, and they form great obstacles to a
French "understanding," which he pretends
to seek.
German-
Innumerable
times responsible representatives of the Hitler regime have had to
no longer holds
assure the French that the Fuehrer
opinion of France. Hitler himself has done
former
to his
so.
an interview granted the French JournaHst Bertrand
In
de
Jouvenel on February 21, 1936, Hitler said:
"When
I
wrote the book,
the Ruhr. It tries.
Yes,
it is
true,
Here we must noted,
I
was
was the moment of
in prison.
we were enemies consists of
between our coun-
at that time."
revive the Fuehrer's
Mein Kampf
French troops occupied
greatest tension
memory
a
^
little.
two Volumes, the
As
already
of
first
which
Hitler wrote during his imprisonment in the old fortress of Lands>
berg on Lech. This
Volume
on the market on July
bears a 1925 copyright
18, 1925. It is
dedicated to the
and appeared
memory
of the
HITLER
54
men who
sixteen
the dedication
is
lost their
Hves in the
October
i6,
various passages which
during the year 1924.
A
make
IS
NO FOOL
Munich Putsch. The date of Volume also there are
1924. In the it
obvious that the book was written
War
reminiscence of the beginning of the
August, 1914, reads:
in
With proud sadness
I
remember,
during these days of the
especially
tenth anniversary of the tremendous occurrence, the early weeks of the heroic batde of our people, in
which
fate so graciously
allowed
me
to
participate.
This First Volume, however, contains not a single one of the attacks, that
produced so much apprehension and indignation in
France. These insults and attacks are
all to
be found in the Second
Volume of Mein Kampf, which was not written in 1924, but much later; and, to be more specific, at a time when Hitler had long since left
the fortress
Volume its
II
and the French had already evacuated the Ruhr. it is very easy to establish from
bears a 1927 copyright;
contents the time
it
was written. The Conclusion,
for example,
states:
In November, 1923, in the fourth year of Socialist
entire
German Workers'
Reich. Today,
Party was
November,
existence, the National
its
oudawed and
1926, in the entire
before us free, stronger, and internally
more
solid
the
dissolved
in
Reich,
stands
it
than ever before.
In the final chapter, at the very place where Hider expounds his foreign policy in minute detail, there are critical notes on the Treaty
which was signed on October 16, 1925, and introduced the period of polidcal overtures between France and Germany. There are references to the Soviet Union which had "now lasted of Locarno
almost ten years," to the
powers
"eight years after a
still
existing coalition of the victorious
world struggle,"
etc.
Hider can hardly
HITLER
PROGRAM
S
55
moment
have written these chapters "in the
between our countries," ously he wrote
as
of greatest tension
he assured the French
them during
the era of the
journalist.
Obvi-
Briand-Stresemann
policy of rapprochement.
Hitler has gone to great lengths to maintain the fiction that he no
longer holds his former views regarding France. systematic efforts to censor
all
translations of
he forced a Paris publishing house
to
He
has
made
Mein Kampf. In 1934
withdraw and destroy an
unabridged French edition. Neither the earHer English nor the
American
earlier
However from
France.
most important section on
edition contains the
book in Germany, not
the so
first to
much
the current 420th edition of the
as a
word
of the
German
trary, a
new
edition:
".
.
.
original
On
the con-
accusation has been inserted in the current
German
has been changed to soften the attack on the French.
France
—who incidentally
stole Alsace-Lorraine
from
us." Hitler's charges against
bursts of
France are not merely the emotional out-
an embittered German
patriot,
stituent of the National Socialist plans for
An
but a fundamental con-
world domination.
understanding between France and Germany
is
for Hitler
inconceivable.
For that
is
one thing
inexorable mortal
France.
No
matter
we
enemy
who
make
should finally
of the
German
people
clear to ourselves. is
and always
has reigned or will reign in France
The
will be
—Bourbons,
Jacobins, Napoleonites or bourgeois democrats, clerical Republicans or
red Bolsheviks
—the
final goal of their foreign policy will
always be the
attempt to gain possession of the Rhine border and of the Rhine by
means
of a dissolved
and ruined Germany.
France's goal in the
World War was
the complete annihilation of
Germany. The goal of every French foreign
policy will always be
HITLER
56
an impotent Germany. Hitler conviction that he pounds
German
it
imbued with
so completely
is
NO FOOL
IS
this
again and again into the heads of his
readers.
What France
doing today in Europe, stimulated by
is
its
own
desire
and methodically guided by the Jew, is a sin against all white humanity and will one day incite all the juries of vengeance of a
for revenge
generation that has recognized racial pollution as the original
For Germany, however, the French push aside
ened
all
in the
French
and
sentimentality
same manner
as
to offer
we
are, is equally
In view of the vital issue at stake,
cance must wait.
way
The
That
him who,
to
threat-
unwilling to submit to
questions of lesser signifi-
all
German
of any positive
all
who
activity in foreign politics
the injustices
Germany
has
must be made innocuous. has annexed Germanic Southern Tyrol, should not
Italy
way
stand in the
robbing
to
stupid blockheads or slick schemers
by indiscriminately protesting against suffered,
our hand
power.
thirst for
stand in the
sin.
peril signifies the obligation
it
of
its
of a
German
aUiance with
Italy, just as
colonies should not stand in the
way
England's
of an alliance
with England. "Let us leave the healing of our small wounds to the mild cure of time, once close the biggest
From
we
have been able
to
burn out and
one of them."
a military point of view, also,
an alliance with England and
Italy has exceptional advantages.
The most important thing to
England and
Italy will in
at the
which might be strong enough be in no position to do possibility of quietly
so.
moment
is
the fact that an approach
no way bring about war. The only power to
alliance, France, would would give Germany the
oppose the
But the
alliance
ma\ing the preparations for an accounting with made in one way or another within
France, which would have to be the
framewor\
of such a coalition.
For the significance of such
a coalition
HITLER lies
57
Germany would not suddenly be exposed
in the fact that
sion,
but that the opposing alliance
much
so
PROGRAM
S
enemy
misfortune,
is
dissolving
itself,
the entente, to
and with
its
an inva-
to
whom we owe
dissolution the mortal
of our people, France, jails prey to isolation.
There are many other proofs of France. In
Hitler's
own
he wrote in his
1929,
real
paper,
toward
feelings
the
Voelkjscher
Beobachter:
As long manner,
Frenchman shakes hands with a German in a cordial hand is fatal for Germany. Not until France sees the
as a
this
embodiment
of hatred in a
German
statesman will the
German
people
have regained the respect of the world.
The most
convincing statement of his view of the relationship
between Germany and France Hitler,
as a representative of
German
imperiahsm, has formulated in a passage of Mein Kampf. There without defamation,
this
time even without drawing upon "world
Jewry," he writes: I shall
never believe that France's intentions toward us can ever change, rooted in the instinct of self-preservation of the
for they lie deeply
French nation. asl
dear to
me
were a Frenchman and the greatness of France were
If I
as the greatness of
Germany
is
sacred to me, then
could nor would act any differently than a Clemenceau.
number but
people, slowly dying off not only in racial elements,
wishes and deepest longings.
.
understood in Germany, so that the
no longer be wasted for a final
and
on the German
neither
especially in their best
can retain their position in the world only by destroying
Germany. French politics may make a thousand where near the end there will always be this goal last
I
The French
Not German .
.
until this
has been fully
nation's will to live
in merely passive resistance, but will gather
decisive conflict with France side
digressions, but someas a fulfillment of her
—not
until then will there
ing to a conclusion the eternal and in
with everything be a
itself sterile
its
need force
at stake
possibility of bring-
struggle between us
HITLER
58
and France. But with
all this,
Germany must
France nothing but a means of
IS
NO FOOL
see in the destruction of
giving our people the chance of
finally
possible expansion in another place.
The
Territorial Policy of the
Here, then,
is
Future
tion of the victorious powers; a
with
alliance
Italy
rapprochement or
and England; and the
destruction of France, so that
separa-
possible an
if
isolation,
and ultimate
Germany can without
fear of attack
from behind turn toward conquests
The
A
a rough sketch of Hitler's foreign policy:
in the East.
future goal of our foreign policy must not be orientation
—but
toward the West or the East
—
either
eastward expansion in the sense of
German people. Since it taJ^es and the mortal enemy of our people, France, is cho\ing us incessantly and robs us of our strength, we must ta}{e every sacrifice regaining the necessary land for our
strength,
upon late
ourselves, if
it is
suited in
its results
to aid in
an
effort to annihi-
French desires for hegemony in Europe. Every power
natural ally,
if it,
continent unendurable.
No
offer us the possibility of
With
this
effort to
go
we National
political direction of
centuries ago.
We
today our
a power should be too
to such
and no renunciation unutterable
great for us,
is
French desire for power on the
li\e ourselves, finds
if
the final result will but
an overthrow of our grimmest hater. Socialists deliberately
our pre-War
era.
We
put an end
begin where
stop the eternal drive of the
.
.
.
to the foreign
we
left off six
Germans toward the
South and the West of Europe and cast our eye upon the territory in the East.
We
finally
conclude the colonial and trade policy of pre-War
times and pass on to the territorial policy of the future.
Hitler does not veil the nature of such a territorial policy.
he builds Germany's
knowledge races, if
it
new world
empire, he will be guided by the
that a people of masters
must never breed with
does not want to risk the loss of
Old Germany was
guilty in
its
When
its
inferior
domination forever.
internal as well as foreign policy of
hitler's program a terrible error.
59
It
knows, however, that "only
ized. Hitler
can be Germanized."
To
Not language but blood
the ruler and the subjugated
would bring with
"The
it
final result of
the danger of
such a process
therefore be the annihilation of the very properties
which
The
protec-
made
the conquering nation capable of victory."
demands a sharp
tion of the superior race
the
but never people
decides a person's race. Confusion between
deterioration of the ruling race.
once
territory
German language upon a subwould not make Germans of them.
force the
jugated people of an alien race
would
German
differentiation
way
submerged
if
"England
races.
will lose India only
machinery should succumb
which
is
moment
at the
to racial
its
of handling
administra-
decomposition (something
entirely out of the question in India) or
defeated by the sword of a powerful enemy."
it is
between
conquerors and the inferior subjects. In the British
administration of India Hitler sees an exemplary
tive
German-
believed that races or nations could be
The
if
"so-called
Germany have neither before nor after the War necessity of making the race principle paramount
national circles" in
understood the
in their colonial policy.
The "Germanization
of the East," by
which
so
the Germanization of the Polish people, confused
with
German
Here too the
blood.
result
would have become a miserable one:
a foreign race expressing
its
thus compromising through
our
own
alien thoughts in the
its
own
A
German
inferiority the height
people of
language,
and dignity
of
folkdom.
That which
in the course of history has advantageously been Ger-
manized was the
and
many understood German language
settled with
soil
which our ancestors conquered with the sword
German
peasants. In
so*
far as they
brought strange
blood to our nation, they helped bring about that wretched splitting up of our inner being,
—German
praised
which
is
apparent in the
superindividualism.
—unfortunately
still
much
HITLER
60
The
-
conquest of
new
NO FOOL
IS
land for settlement in Europe must serve
the further "Aryanization," the higher breeding of the
The National
race.
newly conquered
Socialist State
German
cannot leave the settling of
territories to chance,
but must subject
it
its
to strict
regulations.
Race commissions appointed to that end the permit to definite racial
whose inhabitants are purity
The
and
will issue to the individual
The qualification for obtaining a permit will be a purity. Thus in time border colonies can be founded,
settle.
exclusively to be bearers of only the highest racial
for that reason of the highest racial efficiency.
inhabitants of these regions
—peoples
point of National Socialist race theory, are fore count with certainty
upon being
or kept in complete slavery.
off,
who, from the view-
all
"inferior"
—can there-
either exterminated, driven
The
Aryans and the non-Aryans can be only
relationship
between the
a master-servant relation-
ship.
The Conquest of
German People
of the
as the Prerequisite of
Wars
Conquest
Germany must have hopes to achieve
its
to ofler
more than good
prove to England and Italy that
power would want with the
Weimar
intentions
policy of foreign alliances. It it is itself
if it
ever
must above
capable of alliances.
all
No
to unite
Republic, with a State whose administration for years
has been a miserable picture of incapacity and pacifist cowardice and
whose people
for the greater part live in democratic Marxist blindness
and scandalously betray the
interests of their
In our present incapacity of being an ally
own lies
country.
...
the profound and final
reason for the solidarity of the robber enemies.
The powers
will not consider
Germany
a desirable colleague
HITLER
PROGRAM
S
6l
government and public opinion represent with equal fanaticism the will to fight for freedom. This is indispensable if a change in public opinion is to be brought about in those nations which are willing on until
march
the basis of their most private interests to suitable partner
—in
Instead of seeking
its
Weimar RepubHc should have
nothing undone for the rebirth of the
and
the desire for self-preservation of the
When,
man
in the year 1919, the Peace Treaty
people, one
by side with a
salvation in Jewish-international under-
standing and pacifist nonsense, the left
side
other words, to conclude a treaty with us.
would have had the
political will for
German
was forced upon the Gerhope that through
right to
very instrument of endless oppression the cry for
have been powerfully nourished. Peace
treaties
drums
whose demands
stride
first roll
for the later uprising.
What an
How
this
German freedom would
nations li\e the lash of a scourge do not infrequently sound the of
power
people.
issue could
have been made of the Treaty of Versailles!
instrument of boundless blackmail and most outrageous
this
humiliation might in the hands of a willing Government have become the
means
of
whipping up national passions
to white heat!
How
an
ingenious propagandistic use of these sadistic horrors could have stirred
up
the indifference of our people into an indignation,
and
this indigna-
tion into blazing mania!
How
every single one of these points could have been burned into the
brain and feeling of this people until finally in sixty million minds of
men and women
a
common shame and
a
common
hatred would have
exploded into a single ocean of flame, from whose glow would have arisen one steel will
and one
cry:
"We
want arms again!" Yes, this peace treaty might have served such a purpose. In the boundlessness of its suppression, in the shamelessness of its demands, there lies the greatest
weapon
spirits of life
of propaganda for the re-vitalization of the nation's
which have gone
to sleep.
Then, of course, beginning with the
first
primer of the child up to
HITLER
62
IS
NO FOOL
and every movie, every billboard and
the last newspaper, every theater
every spare wall must be placed at the service of this one great mission until the timid prayer of
our patriots today, "Lord, make us
free,"
is
transformed in the head of the smallest boy into the glowing prayer,
"Almighty God, wert. Judge
But
if
bless
now
if
some day our weapons; be
we
are ready for our liberty!
have at
It is
disposal the
its
our battle!"
and
mission,
its
courageous foreign policy of the Reich
keen will of a people thirsting for freedom.
Germany make
equally important that
for English
War
bless
our people possess a Government which understands
six years will not pass before the
will
as just as thou always
God,
it
Italian statesmen to revise their
as easy as possible
anti-German
policy.
propaganda created a general anti-German psychology in the
countries of the Allies,
and
takes hard vv^ork to change the spir-
it
itual constitution of a people. Especially in England,
mentarian democracy Jewry can
Germany,
will
it
be
from France and
would be
still
difficult for the
to support
where by
parlia-
influence public opinion against
leading politicians to break
Germany, even though such
away
a policy
in the best tradition of English continental politics. Ger-
mans must understand
the difficult position of these statesmen
who
have to cope with antagonistic public opinion in their countries.
They must be
patient
and do everything
the sails of their opponents. fleet
or for the recovery of
more
difficult
(In 1926 such izable
for English statesmen to
demands seemed
and purely
and coffee-house
Only when
fantastic
to take the
wind out
of
The howling for a new German war the German colonies will only make it draw
closer to
Germany.
to Hitler to be the "absolutely unreal-
nonsense of bloated patriot-politicians
Babbitts.")
a strong
German Government and
a
German
people,
united internally by a fanatical desire to fight for their freedom, will
have convinced the world that Germany must once more be
considered a powerful factor in European politics
—only
then will
hitler's program it
63
be possible to change public opinion in other countries in favor
Germany.
of a coaUtion with
"This,
too,
will
take years of uninterrupted skillful
naturally
work."
An
end, then, to the hurrah patriotism of our bourgeois world of
War
today, to the romantic nationalist slogan of the
enemies
—much
Germany died
An
honor." of
end
fantastic conception of the
its
"Many
years:
to all sentimentality!
Nibelungen alliance
with the Hapsburg corpse. Fantastic sentimentality in the treatment of today's foreign political possibilities forever.
.
.
.
[War and
its]
is
the best
way
to prevent
our rebirth
all-embracing organization should not be
approached from an heroic, but from a practical point of view. Diplomacy
must see
to it that
in a practical way.
use
a people does not perish heroically but
Any means
that leads to this
must be termed a criminal
it
Foreign alone:
irresponsibility.
is it
useful for our people
This
is
God and If,
.
is
\ept alive
good, and not to
.
now and
in the future, or will
it
be to
the only criterion to apply in the treatment of
foreign political questions. Partisan, religious, points of view
.
is
should be based upon one principle
political considerations
their detriment?
end
must not enter the
picture at
humane, or any other
all.
Justice tvith Hitler I
however, there should
race-poisoning moralists,
still
be some weak-minded
who on
idealists or
principle reject the conquest of
foreign territories and the subjection of "inferior" peoples, says Hitler,
they must be told that the highest law of the
will to
win
is
their
the batde for existence.
State boundaries are
The
Germans
made and changed by man.
,
.
.
actual success of the conquest of an excessively large territory by
a nation does not entail any obligation on the part of other nations to
acknowledge the possession of the conqueror
forever. It proves
no more
HITLER
64
IS
NO FOOL
than the power of the conqueror and the weakness of the conquered.
And
power alone
this
law.
is
.
.
.
Coolly and soberly one must regard the matter from the standpoint that surely
given
it
cannot be the will of Heaven that one nation should be
fifty
times as
suaded by
political
justice. If this
world
we need we will
the territory
Of
much
course
really has
to live
enough room
by
upon
not be given
sort of pacifist
would own only one-third Europe.
.
it
and what
.
us.
Then, however, the law of
gladly. is
we
denied to our kindness
we
nonsense as do our contemporaries,
of our present territory; in that case,
would be no German people
ever, there
dis-
our ancestors had depended for their decisions
force. If
same
the
one should not be
for all of us to live in, then
on must be given
self-preservation goes into effect; shall take
And
land as another.
borders from achieving the boundaries of eternal
worry about
to
its
how-
existence in
.
Today we
are eighty million
Germans
in Europe! If in less than a
hundred years 250 million Germans are living on
this continent,
our
foreign policy will have proved correct.
Toward
the end of his
book the worried Hitler writes a
testament to guide the future of the
German
political
nation, once
it
is
master over Europe:
Never
suffer the rise of another continental
every attempt to organize a second military
—be but the beginning of a capable of rising military —an attac^ on Germany, and consider not only your right but
border
power
power in Europe. See in power near the German
state
it
your duty
to use
growth of such a
This
to
it
is
the
any means, including force of arms,
state,
or to destroy
it if it
program with which Hitler
It
and reaction stand. In
the
oflers himself as liberator
and aggrandizer of the German nation. Many of old and well-known.
to chec\
has already developed.
its
features are
contains everything for which chauvinism
its
fanaticism and barbarism
it
expresses the
frame of mind of a beaten and curbed but not destroyed imperialist
hitler's program
65
Thus far, its author has quaUfied German "national" interests.
system. of
But Hitler
will
as a legitimate
spokesman
have to do more than to repeat old goals of con-
quest and robbery in order to prove to the upper class that he has
what
it
more
a people, bled white
He
takes to be Fuehrer.
must prove
and longing
it
by mobilizing once
and
for peace
For
security.
the old compromised reactionaries, for the profiteers of the Pan-
German League ^^ the Germans will no longer work up any enthusiasm. A new approach must be applied. The old goals must be integrated in an all-embracing philosophy of
In 191 4
it
was attacked
sufficed to tell the
to send
them
Belgium, Poland, Russia, of the future
German
willingly to the battlefields of France,
Italy,
whose borders
broadened. "The very existence of the in face of
it
To
and Turkey.
Empire
must be tremendously
German
race"
is
now
at stake,
such terms as offense or defense, aggressor, pro-
unprovoked attac\ must be stripped of
voiced or
build the
will not be confined to the ridiculous
area of 1914, the cry of national self-defense
and
life.
people that the Fatherland
their old
narrow
meaning. Every war Germany will undertake in the future will be a holy war, fought for the fulfillment of the Lord's
Therein
The
lies
doctrine of
Semitism
German
own
will.
the sense in the nonsense of Hitler's racial gospel.
Aryanism
at the other.
is
at
one pole; the doctrine of
Both are designed
to intoxicate
and
anti-
flatter
people into unity and submission.
Hitler
And The Jews
"The efficiency of the truly great popular leader consists in the main and at all times in preventing the division of the attention of a people and always concentrating it upon one single enemy." Mein Kampf
the
^
HITLER
NO FOOL
IS
The American reader who has struggled through eight hundred Mein Kampf might easily come to the conclusion that none
pages of
but a maniac would be capable of the terrible insults and accusa-
which Hitler pours upon the Jews.
tions is
no baseness
in the
would seem
It
that there
world for which the Jews are not responsible,
no indecency of which they have not been
guilty.
They
deliberately
contaminate the Aryan race and carry on white slavery aand tution; they organize societies such as the
Freemasons
in order to
protect immorality under the guise of the religious tolerance
Now
they teach.
prosti-
which
they use the princes, then democracy, and finally
dictatorship for their dark plans.
At one and
the same time they are
the leaders of international finance capital and the international
workers' movement; they have gained control of banking and Big Business in the United States and have delivered over
German
industry to foreigners; they fomented the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the 191 8 Revolution in to the
Rhine
Germany. They brought Negroes
to poison the blood of the
Germans. They are cowardly
and don't wash.
shopworn
All the
Mein Kampf, from
tales of the foulest
anti-Semitism are found in
the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (a
document
repeatedly proved a forgery in open court), in which the Jews are said
to
have revealed their plans for world-domination,
down
to
pornographic allusions to the raping of blond Aryan maidens by "swarthy, bowlegged Jew-bastards." Is
there any point,
struck as they
lies
seriously?
still
some may
Have
ask, in taking these vicious,
consider their task to be the investigation of the truth
and not the "fostering of national National Socialist hand, did practice?
moon-
not scientists the world over, in so far
this
racial doctrine as gross
unanimously rejected the nonsense?
prevent the Nazis from continuing
Are we
to dispute their
pride,"
not, then,
it
On
doing these criminals too
abominable assertions?
the other
in theory
and
much honor
hitler's program will
not rid the world of Hitler's
Nazi
will continue to hear the voice
refutations alone
Scientific
The
racial doctrine.
Jew
of the
67
fanatical
in every voice raised against his faith. Fascist race-
frenzy will die only with the collapse of the system which depends
upon
for
it
But
this
support.
its
is
exactly the point
What
need anti-Semitism?
which
Why
interests us.
ends does
it
serve? Is
it
does fascism
an accidental
or a necessary part of National Socialist domination?
we have
In the preceding pages
developed Hitler's domestic and
foreign program without going into the Jewish question in particular.
Indeed,
was our intention there
it
to prove that Hitler's plans
can be presented and completely understood without drawing upon the racial theory at
have
the weakness of the pre- War
criticized
internal enemies
and
its
Other reactionary and imperialist
all.
and have denounced
Empire toward
its
conduct of foreign
affairs
inadequate miUtary preparations for the "unavoidable"
World
War. They,
too,
torial conquests.
racial doctrine
its
concocted "overpopulation" theories to justify
But in
which
so doing, they did not feel the
terri-
need for that
Nazism's unique contribution to the theory
is
and practice of imperialistic expansion. They on political and economic grounds. If
politicians
anti-Semitism and the whole race
justified their position
humbug
Nazis
of the
is
not
necessary in order to provide a rational foundation for the aims of
German
Imperialism,
why
then does Hitler draw them
point, for the support of his
The
First
Whom
is
Volume
of
Mein Kampf
Hider caUing
and Marxists,
as
to account?
one might assume
ism doesn't argue with them;
whom
Hider considers worthy
highly
critical one, is
makes no
secret of his
the
in,
point by
program?
it
bears the
Not
title.
An
Accounting.
Jews, Pacifists, Democrats,
—National
at first glance
exterminates them.
The
Social-
partner
of "an accounting," to be sure a
German upper middle
class.
The Fuehrer
contempt for the complacency, the cowardice.
HITLER
68
and fanaticism
the indecision, the lack of brutaHty class,
and
ing adequately for the
Above
sion.
Just as ists
it
all,
it
War and where
failed
Ruhr
the
bringing
middle-class
a
gas, so
nation.
incapable of prepar-
to a victorious conclu-
it
were concerned.
internal enemies
lacked the energy during the
and Jews" with poison
itself
of the middle
German
general betrayal of the interests of the
its
For him, the German bourgeoisie proved
NO FOOL
IS
War
to exterminate
"Marx-
during the French occupation of
government again preferred
to organize
passive resistance with the aid of Marxist workers, instead of destroy-
ing them in a I
civil
war.
many and many
shouted myself hoarse in those days
tried to
stake,
make
and
clear at least for so-called nationalist circles,
that
if
the
same mistakes were made
as in 1914
a time,
and
what was and the
ceeding years, there would inevitably be an end like that of 191 8.
begged them repeatedly
to give destiny free rein
opportunity to setde with Marxism; but
I
were
finally
Then
I
reached the end of
Then
I
knew
ears.
saw how
its
all
that the
mission and that
it
German
all
Marxism only because
of competitive jealousy, without seriously wishing to annihilate
class,
times.
Bourgeoisie had
had no further task to perform.
these parties quarreled with
The German middle
Every-
better, until they
confronted by the most miserable capitulation of
became firmly convinced
I
and our movement an
preached to deaf
body, including the Chief of the Defense Forces,
at
suc-
in Hitler's
it.
was no longer
opinion,
capable of finding a solution for the problems which confronted a defeated imperialist
Germany.
the future totalitarian
war
An
entire people
of conquest.
had
The middle
to be class
won
for
no longer
possessed a single idea with which
it
could have mobilized the Ger-
man
It
had not even found a useful
people toward such an end.
substitute for the
What, then, was
program
of
Marxism.
there to give to the masses,
if
Social
Democracy were
overthrown? There was not one movement capable of drawing the
hitler's program
69
masses of workers under
The
draw the
to
its
once they had
spell,
"bourgeois" parties, as they
call
lost their leadership.
themselves, will never be able
"proletarian" masses into their camp, since here
two worlds and their
face each other, separated partly naturally, partly artificially, attitude
toward each other can only be one of opposition.
Even before the War, German
statecraft
had ceased
death out of free will and resolution." a
new
them out again "upon the
Marxism and send honor." Without the Idea no
field of
battle!
The demonstration
new
of a great
Idea was the secret of the success
of the French Revolution; the Russian Revolution owes
ject
have the
leads
Idea which could wrest the masses from
enthusiasm for
and from an Idea Fascism
Idea;
to
men to What Germany needed was which
"slightest conception of the nature of the force
its
victory to an
[Italian] received the strength to sub-
a people in a most beneficial
manner
to a
most comprehensive
reshaping.
Bourgeois parties are not capable of doing
Here the National to
fill
the gap
The main
left
Socialist race
this.
concept enters into the picture
by the ideological bankruptcy of the middle
props of the
new
explosive Idea,
German nation as The "Aryan" theory as a doctrine of the German people to dominate the world.
Hitler offers himself to the
"Nature's aristocratic method of selection"
by the Leader-Principle
—as
a basis for the
class.
on the strength of which its
savior are these:
predestination of the
—expressed
in politics
domination by the few
many "inferior." German Imperialism
"pure" and the subordination of the
The marauding
expeditions
of
as
God-
ordained acts for the "self-preservation" of His dearest children.
The destruction of the masses' rights and their exploitation as a German "people's commonweal," in which everyone makes sacrifices.
And
running through
it all
anti-Semitism, as the fuel with which
HITLER
70 the flame of nationalistic fanaticism
is
to be fed to
NO FOOL
IS
\eep
it
at white
heat.
Compared with
the "Liberty, EquaUty, Fraternity!" of the French
Revolution and the "Peace and Bread!" of the Russian Revolution,
Deutschland erwache,
It
("Germany, Av^^ake! Judah,
Jitda, verreckcl
Perish!") seems indeed a typical
Nazi
does not matter to a demagogue
substitute.
how much
truth there
his slogan. If only the masses fanatically believe in
liter-
of consideration," "most brutal decisiveness," in characterizing
the National Socialist
movement and
mutual dependence of the
to the
application of the most tice.
Hitler
in
such expressions as "fanatical intolerance," "ruthless
ally basks in
want
it!
is
A
view of
fanatical
its
aims.
He
continually points
an Idea and the
fanatical belief in
inhuman methods of putting it into praclife is to him the only stable ground for the
constant use of violence against enemies.
There
are not a
few people who even today refuse
stories or written reports of the
to believe the
gruesome deeds of horror
in Hitler's
concentration camps, for the simple reason that they find such bar-
German
barism irreconcilable with their love of the old
culture.
Perhaps they will stop to consider the significance of having a state,
with
all
its
means
idea that the "Marxist," the sociaUst, the communist,
are deadly enemies of the
a
German
of
the fanatical idea
and
the
The
of
Lord.
serving
If
they
day and year cated"
?
bank
officials
torture,
after year, prisoners
There
is
Anti-Semitism
with unflagging
were not
is
when he
is
zeal,
unem-
day
after
turned over to them to be "edu-
comfort in the realization that one
the will of destiny
is
Germany, how could
those brown- and black-uniformed peasant lads, students, ployed, and
Jew
people and that to fight them
deed pleasing in the eyes of
possessed
fascist
of influencing the masses, spreading the
committing
is
carrying out
atrocities.
an integral part of National
Socialist doctrine.
HITLER
PROGRAM
S
The Jew
bears the
Heaven. This
makes
it
is
7I
same
Aryan
relation to Hitler's
what
exactly
new
is
an inseparable part of
would have
Hitler of a
new German
program.
Imperialism. Hitler
the
as
It
many
is
He
not the
a friend of
but the compelling ideological force
knows
that countless dangers
—
Sun enemies all around, at German borders. There is, for example, the
lurk on the road to a Place in the
home and beyond
Hell does to
in Hitler's anti-Semitism.
his political
"weakness" of an "otherwise sensible" man, us believe,
as
Christian Church, which, in spite of
deahng with the strong
of this
notorious complacency in
its
world, constitutes for Hitler an
and
is
partly responsible for
the pacifism which has sapped the strength
from German hearts
eternal source of pernicious doctrines
and made
them incapable of fighting the bloody batdes of the future.
There are the millions social desolation tries,
of
Germans who
hate capitalism with
England, France, and America, whose strength
minds
in the
of the
German
people.
There
is,
stubbornly fix their hopes for a
new and
work from It is
old
German
fresh
the Soviet
German workers The problem
better world.
seems superhuman and frightens the fainthearted.
The
still
is
finally,
Republic, on which the politically most active
be approached?
its
and murderous wars. There are the powerful coun-
How
are they to
statecraft failed miserably in
its
1914 to 191 8, but Hitler feels equal to his mission.
part of the genius of a great leader to
make opponents
of gready
varying natures appear to belong to only one category, because the realization that there are various enemies will lead
characters to doubt their
As soon
many
as
own
weak and
the wavering masses see themselves confronted by too
enemies, objectivity steps in and the question
actually
all
unstable
cause.
the others are
movement alone is With this comes
their
own
paralysis of their
own
wrong and
is
raised
whether
nation or their
own
right.
the
first
strength. Therefore, a
HITLER
72
number
must always be regarded
of different enemies
enemy. This strengthens the
belief in one's
own
IS
NO FOOL one single
as
cause and increases one's
bitterness against the attacker.
The "one
single
enemy" upon
whom
Hitler
concentrates the
attention of his people in order to divert their attention real enemies,
That Hitler scapegoat
is
from
their
the Jew.
is
specifically chose the
He
not surprising.
Jew
for the role of universal
did not need to invent anti-Semitism
but merely to continue an already highly-developed movement. But
him belongs
to
the dubious honor of having "modernized"
it.
In "the good old times" anti-Semitism served as a justification for all
from the corruption and ineffiand from the misery which accompanied the
existing social evils, as a diversion
ciency of governments,
decay of feudalism and the
The
rise of capitalism.
small producer, expropriated by capitalism, and the peasant
son, relegated to the proletariat,
were not
difficult to
ensnare into
looking upon the Jew as the personification of capitaHstic forces-
whose laws they could neither comprehend nor change, but
forces
whose
they
effects
felt
on
their
own
persons.
The
the nineteenth century, as the great labor leader
expressed
it,
was "the socialism of the
sive workers'
movement was
footing. Its followers
lower middle
With
were
It
to be
no longer
tant ideological it
into a
no
found predominantly among the
the task of anti-Semitism has been
serves only as a device for diverting the
attention of the people, but
oped
Wherever the progres-
strong, anti-Semitism could get
class.
the rise of fascism
expanded.
dolt."
anti-Semitism of
August Bebel once
weapons of
now becomes one attack.
of the most impor-
National Socialism has devel-
whole "doctrine."
Naturally, not everyone can play the role of the devil. In the
twentieth century two horns and a hoof
no longer
suffice;
one must
HITLER
PROGRAM
S
be more
A
subtle.
group of human beings must possess quite
nite social characteristics
must have members among
hold responsible for their
members must be
these
the possessing class. It
of a special kind.
which the masses
that possessing class
own
misery.
At
same
the
easily distinguishable is
defi-
they are to be charged with the sins of
if
must be a minority, but a minority
the world. It It
73
most advantageous
also
time, however,
from the majority of if
the group
is
represented on the political Left and in a conspicuous position in the
workers' movement. Finally, as justification of the claims of world-
wide imperialist demagogy,
The Jew
He
is
number
it
must
exist internationally.
fulfills all of these requirements in
an
ideal
way.
a hopeless minority in the world and therefore weak. of Jewish capitalists
is
infinitely smaller
of non-Jewish capitalists, but large of propaganda
enough to enable the
of our time to identify
The
than the number efficient art
much-hated capitalism with
The fury of the masses can be directed upon them withmuch as touching capitalism. Their names, and in northern countries to some extent the color of their hair, make them more these few.
out so
or
less
recognizable. In practically every highly industrialized coun-
try there are Jewish labor leaders,
and the
in the field of progressive Left politics
many.
Finally, there are
number
Fascism
is
of
is
some
it
But the
not relevant for anti-Semitism. It
must
possess a
mass
fol-
can ever hope to gain power. Otherwise the ruHng
an Austrian subcorporal as
would have no need savior. The overwhelming
German workers
their
hated reaction, distrusted the Right,
and followed the lead of the two great labor
istic,
countries of
threatened with loss of their position,
majority of
ocrats
all
there are but a handful.
not a miHtary dictatorship.
lowing before classes,
of Jews
especially great in Ger-
Jews to be found in almost
the world, even though in actual
participation of the Jews
was
parties, the Social
and the Communists. The lower middle
class
was not
Demsocial-
but was opposed to Big Business. Anti-capitaUst sentiment was
HITLER
74
widely spread
among
open reactionary
upper middle
of the
German
The
pig-headed, die-hard Hugenberg, leader
a political
among
following
the laboring
In order to be able to influence the lower middle
classes.
Krupp
Nationalist Party and formerly director of the
Works, could not win
knew
with the old methods of
class
could no longer deal with a majority so
politics
powerful in number.
NO FOOL
laboring classes of the people. Hider
all
perfectly well that the
IS
class or
Communist workers, the National Socialcome out with an anti-capitalist program. It had to compete with Marxism in its own field, but in such a manner as not to gamble away the confidence of German Big Business. Those to whom our presentation might seem too manufactured and those who do not believe that Hitler saw the problem so cyniperhaps even Socialist and
ist
Party had to
cally,
own
need only turn to his
dilemma revealed
itself to
The solution of the Munich while he was
presentation.
him one evening
in
present at one of the political meetings, organized by the Reichswehr, for the "national education" of soldiers.
When
I
Tyranny
heard Gottfried Feder's
of Interest,"
theoretical
truth
future of the capital
I
knew
at
first
He
lecture
writes:
on the "Breaking
once that here
I
which would gain an immense importance
German
people.
The
same time, threatening the
German economic
basis of
for
the
rigorous separation of stock-exchange
from our national economic system offered a
ing the internationalization of
of the
had come upon a
possibility of fight-
life
without, at the
an independent national economy
in
the battle against capital in general. I
began to study again, and
now
for the
first
time came to a
real
understanding of the content and meaning of the lifework of the Jew
now
did his Kapital become really comprehensible to
as did the
batde of Social Democracy against the national
Karl Marx. Only
me, exacdy
economy
—a
battle
meant but
truly international-finance
economy.
to prepare the
ground
and stock-exchange
for the reign of the
capital over the national
HITLER
S
PROGRAM
75
Also, the thought immediately flashed through his
mind
that
now
he "had found one of the most indispensable prerequisites for the
founding of a new party."
Thus
the Fuehrer's intuition brought about the truly gigantic
accomplishment, not only of discovering at once a fundamental difference tal,
between national German and international Jewish
but also of unmasking the Jew Karl
Marx and with him
Social Democratic party as tools of stock-exchange capital.
that he exposed the Marxists to
capi-
and showed them
in their
He
the
boasts
nakedness
be nothing but Jews who, because they wanted to destroy Ger-
many as their next victim, were directing their struggle against German businessmen. To Hitler the fact that the German workers* movement was profoundly divided was but a Jewish tactic. The Jew simply plays Marxism with allotted roles: now as a Socialist, now as a Communist, now as a member of the Spartacus League,^^ or as a Pacifist, or as a moderate Democrat. But he can't fool a
Hider with
it
all.
For the Nazis, the division of ductive";
makes
capital into Aryan-National, "pro-
and Jewish-International, "predatory"
possible the distinction
and bad and harmful
ones.
capital
naturally
between good and useful
capitalists
The Aryan businessman
for profit but for the well-being of his fatherland
This makes him a true is
socialist.
The
and
does not
work
his employees.
dirty capitalist, the exploiter,
the international Jew. Herewith the "scientific" foundation for the
"socialism" of National Socialism has been laid.
In his book as well as in his entire political practice, Hitler has
kept
strictly to
the technique of
making no distinction between the With full deliberation he calls
workers' parties opposing each other. the workers'
movement, with
organizations,
contradictory
and incongruous with
Mein Kampf for a word conGerman Communist Party, whose political program
Jemsh. In vain cerning the
all its
Marxist; but Marxist he uses synonymously will the reader peruse
HITLER
76
IS
NO FOOL
fundamentally from that of the Social Democrats.
differed
The
which surged within the ranks of the workers are
battles
for
Communist revolutionaries, Democratic Government in armed up-
Hitler only a Jewish division of labor.
opposing the existing Social risings,
according to Hitler, were commissioned by the Jews,
wanted
to
make
for the Social
Democrats.
who
Hitler,
"effeminate,"
who
the submission of the terrified middle classes easier
fights
for a goal
which the "cowardly," "stupid,"
and "forgetful" masses
of
German
understand as being their own, must destroy
all
people do not institutions
and
organizations through which the will of the "backward" people
might express nation
tatorship liberties
itself.
The whole National
Socialist
based upon the "Leader-Principle," that
is
the masses through centuries of struggle
freedom of the
the secret ballot
But the mere
to say, the dic-
small aristocracy. Democracy, Parliament,
of a
won by
of speech,
is
system of domi-
—must be
all
the
—freedom
press, the right to organize, the right to
destroyed
National Socialism
if
political suppression of
is
to live.
democratic organizations does
They must be defamed, and as ideals they must be torn from the hearts of the young. The reader may easily imagine how the Nazis villify and dishonor them they denounce them as "creanot
suffice.
—
tions of the Jew."
Parliamentary democracy, the Fuehrer says, conforms best to the requirements of the Jews, since it
eliminates personality and puts in
incapacity,
and
last
but not
least,
its.
stead a majority of stupidity,
cowardice.
This institution can be precious and valuable only to lying sneaks
shun the
light of day,
whereas
it
must be loathsome
to every honest
who and
straightforward fellow, ready to assume personal responsibility. There-
democracy has become the instrument of that race, which according to its inherent aims shuns the sunlight, now and for fore this kind of
HITLER all
times.
less as
he
The
PROGRAM
S
77
Only the Jew can is
an
praise
institution that
is
as dirty
and
faith-
himself.
West is the forerunner of Marxism which would be unthinkable without it. It is democracy alone which furnishes this universal plague with the soil in which it spreads. In its outward form of expression, parliamentarianism, democracy created a present democracy of the
"mock image
of dirt
and
in which,
fire,"
am
I
sorry to say, the fire
seems to have gone out for the moment.
Marxism, however,
is
the supreme attempt of the Jew to eliminate
the overtowering significance of personality in replace
The
it
concept of
movements
human
also
whose name
equality, in
of the past centuries have been led,
The
the Jev^s, according to Hitler.
and to
life
elite,
is
progressive
all
an invention of
Christian doctrine, naturally, has
been polluted by the Jews; for
not the
phases of
all
with the masses' sheer weight of numbers.
it
considers universal
man, and
the Aryan, as created in God's image. National Social-
ism must expose the Christian nonsense of universal brotherly love
and
charity as Jewish rottenness.
German real
soldiers the
most inhumane
its
is
can Hider expect from
brutality,
anything which stands in the
designs.
The Jew
is
which he
says
is
the
way
of Hitler
Germany
for Hitler the invisible antagonist in
every problem and in
all fields.
fascism than from his
own
his
else
humanity of war?
"Jewish"
and
How
The Jew can no more
shadow.
He
develops with
appearance wherever fascism has enemies or
ever Hitler raises the cry of "J^w,"
we may be
escape from it
and makes
difficulties.
sure he
When-
means
a foe
German ImperiaUsm. is the way he works it: Hitler's war program, as we have already heard him say, is built upon the destruction of France and
of
Here
the subsequent annexation of to the Soviet
Union. For the
enormous political
areas in the East belonging
weakening and
isolation of
HITLER
7©
France, Hitler needs the support of England and that in
NO FOOL
IS
Italy.
We
know
Germany should certainly have waged war 1904-5, at a time when Russia, because of its
opinion
his
against Russia in
war against Japan, could have offered little resistance German aggressor. Seen from the point of view of German
defeat in the to the
Imperialism, Hider strives for an old goal.
accomplish the trick of dressing up
this old
How,
then, does he
program
so that
it
may
appear as a heavenly mission of the Aryan Germans against the
Jew? Nothing is more simple. He need but "unmask" Union and all other powers opposing his plans of supand conquest as the tools of Jewish subterfuge, and he will
international
the Soviet
pression
have given
his imperialistic goals a racial justification.
And
this
is
exacdy what he does. In Russian Bolshevism
Jewry
to
we must
see the twentieth-century attempt of
conquer the world.
The more
difficult
crude technique
is
problems of imperialist
politics, for
inadequate, can always be solved
on
which
this
the basis of
the "international Jew." Previously Hitler has endeavored to prove that
on the
basis of the theory of the
England cannot be
European balance of power
interested in the complete annihilation of Ger-
a strong Germany to counteract the French hegemony on the European continent. But the actual of an Anglo-German friendship must be explained some-
many, but rather needs struggle for difficulties
how.
Who
The Jewish
is
behind
it?
You
guessed
it!
Germany was not due to English but primarily to Our Jewish press understood again and again how to people's hatred especially upon England; and many a good
destruction of interests.
direct the
German
ass ^^
most readily flew upon the glue-twig extended by the
Jew, talked of "regaining the strength" of the
German Navy,
the robbing of our colonies, advocated winning
protested
them back, and thus
HITLER
PROGRAM
S
79
helped furnish the material, which the Jewish scoundrel was then able to turn over to the
members
England
of his race in
for practical propa-
ganda purposes.
someone modestly wanted
If
"Marxist-Jewish"
Social
to object that
it
who most
Democrats
nounced the Soviet Union and were reluctant between Germany and the U.S.S.R., and
relations
hand,
was the "Aryan" General
it
was the German
Staff of the
to establish close that,
on the other
—military co-operation with
Army—Hitler would
fling at
probably
was an example of the
Germany
deliver
diabolical
game
made to fit. The Jew is the German
to
blame
the reply that this, too,
Jew who wanted
of the
for your situation!
What
mind
German It's
an
easier existence softens the
excessively. less for
can Hitler offer
Who
But thinking
is
of the great
and
anything.
it,
tells
means
is
which the for war.
"The
receptive capacity
but very limited, their intelligence
their forgetfulness great."
You would now
of
mood
the masses often enough, they
the Fuehrer proclaims.
mass of people
for
not good for fanatical belief
the explosive Ersatz Idea, by
the Jew's fault! If one only
would pay
Aryans and develops
people must be united and brought into the
eventually believe
small,
else
people to strengthen their patriotism? Better living
that? Besides,
and even
to
tools,
The formula can always be
conditions? Access to education and culture?
the
Red
the
over to Bolshevism without burdening his
the Marxists, with the responsibility.
who
Reichswehr
favored "Eastward-Orientation"
him
de-
vituperatively
They can be made
to believe
be powerful, well-to-do, and the masters
had not the Jew deprived you of the fruits of your labors and sacrifices, he flatters the Germans. The Jew paralyzed the of the world,
national instinct for self-preservation with his pacifist-Marxist poison;
he pillaged the German people during the War; he organized the strike of the
victory;
munition workers in Berlin shortly before the
he fomented the Revolution, "the most disgraceful
final
act of
HITLER
80 the century"; he
ment
founded the Weimer Republic on the
of tribute to the AlHes
and renunciation of the
NO FOOL
IS
basis of pay-
German
stolen
he made Germany into a "slave colony" of foreign
territories;
countries.
German history is now being rewritten from this point of view. The schools, the Hitler Youth, the SA and SS, the press, radio, film, the co-ordinated priests, the preachers of the new heathen cults, and last
but not
debauchery
pornographic "disclosures" of Jewish
Streicher's
least,
drum
the
new
doctrine into the Germans.
"education of the masses to nationalism"
is
Thus
the
carried on.
The Jew is the common denominator to which Hitler reduced the sum total of his enemies. All failures, all submissions, all mistakes of German Imperialism in the past must in the same way be laid at must be
the Jew's door, as for the future
pocket.
—
it is
all
the difficulties of the present.
"It's
more
a
than the
satisfactory alibi
the Jew's fault"? If National Socialism uses the in-
dustrious qualities of the
means
as
also wise to carry the general absolution in one's
Can anyone imagine
formula:
And
German
people for the production of mili-
it answers that the international Jew is war preparations by preventing the democracies which he dominates from disarming. If the earnings on German exports are used to buy raw materials for the war machine, instead of food
tary
forcing
it
of destruction,
to
for the masses, of access to the
the Jew's fault, since he deprives
it's
world market. The Jew
tomorrow, Moscow the day
makes
his physical
anti-Semitism. For
after.
appearance
who
is
is
Whether or not of
German goods
Paris today,
a
Washington
Jew
actually
no importance whatsoever
can prove that the
Jew, invisible
to
behind
the scenes, does not pull the strings? In Czechoslovakia, by using
the
Democrat Benes and
defraud the
Germany
his "Hussite" ^^ cUque, the
of her eternal rights to
Jew joined hands with
Czech
Jew
territory.
tried to
In Austria
the Catholic Schuschnigg in order to be
able to block the much-desired return of the "Eastern Province" to
hitler's
program
8i
Nazi
the Reich. If a Roosevelt denounces
a Rosenfeld;
wisdom
if
aggression, he
becomes
an Eden, a Churchill, and a Duf? Cooper doubt the
of appeasement, they
become bribed
tools of international
Jewish finance.
The Nazi won't
allow himself to be disconcerted by
behavior of the Jew and Socialist tradict this
formula because Blum,
trifles.
Leon Blum would seem as
Prime Minister,
The
to con-
initiated
"non-
and thus delivered "Marxist-bolshevik" Spain over German and Italian fascism. But the Fuehrer had already told
intervention," to
the faithful that "there
is
in France today
more than ever an
inter-
nal agreement between the designs of the stock exchanges, the Jews
who
are running
craft."
And
and the wishes
it,
so the
of a chauvinistic national state-
good Nazi remains unperturbed.
He
Blum's pohcy to the general cowardice, indecision, and of
the
parliamentary democracies.
cannot be caught. His Idea will
With
resist
cold
logic
attributes
inefficiency
the
Fascism did not pull anti-Semitism out of a drawer for
consumption only.
It
makes
excellent use of
attacks.
That the
most reactionary sections of the ruling
capitalist
world, becomes
home
in planning foreign
it
for the
fascist
Aryan
any reasoning.
system of government exerts an attraction
more obvious
classes in the entire
The "Law and Order"
daily.
with which Hitler and Mussolini keep their peoples suppressed
The
arouses the admiration of
all reactionaries.
has prepared the
anti-Semitism in countries whose demo-
soil for
cratic liberal traditions formerly barred
learns
more and more
Semitism. Jew-baiting
is
to value the
its
crisis
of capitalism
way. Monopoly capital
diversionist
device of anti-
the bridge over which fascist agents force
England, France, Canada, North and South Amerunemployed workers and the impoverished middle classes are
their entry into ica;
their best
raw
of the native
Who
material,
"Aryan
would deny
and they share the leadership with members
aristocracy."
that Hitler handled the
fundamental problem
HITLER
82 of our times, the struggle between Capital
and Labor,
NO FOOL
IS
in a
manner
No
which many a
capitalist in less fortunate countries envies?
labor trouble!
For such a heaven-on-earth he would gladly
fice
Nor can anyone
a httle of his Christianity.
righteous indignation
German unemployed
are
now working
when
sacri-
expect that the un-
employed, upon whose backs the democracies fight their battles, will fly into
more
political
they read that the
in munitions factories.
And
whoever has had the opportunity, in times of severe struggles between Capital and Labor, of following the behavior of the lower middle
class,
tial class
lasts
knows
that this politically vacillating but
always tends to turn upon both of them
Why
a long time.
most
when
influen-
the conflict
should they not welcome an "arbiter"
who
promises to handle the contending parties with equal severity and justice?
There
a
is
common
develops from the general
base for the Fascist International.
crisis
Why
and from
of capitalist society
failure of the democracies to solve
it
It
the
in a democratic way.
did Mussolini suddenly, after fifteen years of dictatorship,
discover anti-Semitism?
Did
illumination? leisure, to
Was
this cynic
he recendy pick
suddenly struck by a
up Mein Kampf
in
racial
an hour of
read there that he has really always been an anti-Semite,
"perhaps in the depth of his subconscious"?
At
the beginning of his fascist career the Freemasons
^^ sufficed
for
the internal diversion of the Italian people; he dissolved their organizations
and persecuted them no
communists. Not
much
less
harshly than the socialists and
time has passed since the Italian press
fun of Hitler's Aryan theory and sneered
who were
the torch of culture,
burg
forests at a
of civilization.
conversion
is
time
One
when
still
ancient
at his
German
munching acorns
Rome had
made
bearers of
in the Teuto-
reached the pinnacle
astonishingly simple explanation of Mussolini's
that the
economic situation
that the dissatisfaction with
in Italy looks deplorable,
increasing taxes, rising prices,
and the
hitler's program
83
human sacrifices in Ethiopia and in of a new safety valve. But this alone
Spain necessitated the opening w^ould have been nothing
more
than the old Czarist recipe. Anti-Semitism, spread as a national virtue
and a new
religion, also strengthens
his struggle against
the
Near
The
England and France
it
and
East.
co-ordination of the Berlin-Rome-Tokio bloc
of anti-Semitism increases
does
MussoHni's position in
in the Mediterranean
imperialistic
its
matter that the Arabs
whom
on the question
fighting power. Little
Mussolini and Hitler are
now
"protecting" against the Jews are Semites themselves, according to
Nazi
racial theory.
Neither
is it
of importance that there are hardly
any Jews to be found in Japan. In the Near East anti-Semitism carried
on
in the
form of anti-"Judaism"
ments of the German-Italian
to
fight against
fit
is
the political require-
England and France. In
the Far East, where even the skill of a Goebbels cannot build
up
a
"Jewish question," fascism has destined to the Soviet Union the role of the Jew.
Anti-Semitism opens to Mussolini spheres of influence which his
arm
could not reach before. In France, Africa, in North and South
America there If
are millions of Italians
and descendants of
Italians.
they can be united, they will be extremely valuable troops with
whose
aid Mussolini can exert direct internal influence
countries. Anti-Semitism, a simple, comprehensible,
nation" of social and economic inequaUty, rallying cry than the obscure, vague, State." Utilizing a
genuine
existing social injustice,
it
if
is
a far
upon
these
and old "expla-
more
efFective
and new idea of the "Corporate
misdirected feeling of rebelHon against
has a truly international appeal.
By stamp-
ing the Jew as the symbol of capitalism and bolshevism, it draws upon primitive sentiments of resistance against exploitation as well as upon fear of social revolution. Skillfully developed along these lines
by fascism, anti-Semitism thus becomes an ideological link
HITLER
84
between the upper and the lower middle
camp
international as decaying capitalism
itself.
A
spiritual affinity
and American
is
Do
its
NO FOOL can
eflfects
of labor. Its appeal
German and
already uniting
reactionaries.
and
class,
be traced even far into the confused
IS
is
as
Italian fascists
not Hitler and Mussolini, Goebbels
and Gayda find silent—but how much longer silent?—approval of their attacks on Roosevelt? And was not the domestic and foreign collaboration of international fascism quite successful in discrediting
the
New
Deal
a Jewish-Communistic experiment?
as
expression
"Jewish-Communistic" more and more
everything
liberal, progressive,
democratic?
Do
not the
not the
Is
tied
up with
fascists slan-
who would stand in the way of their aggressions as "Communistic war-mongers"? Hider's formula, "Jews and Marxists" has been Americanized. "Jews, Communists, and Foreigners" der everyone
it
in the
is
United
States. It
is
appHed formula of "national
the
Mein Kampf. Thus anti-Semitism is today not only
education" of
means of deception
the old
used by reaction, but an integral part of the fascist-imperialist tics
of penetration
and conquest.
New
always the signal for a further offensive on one of the
where fascism
No
matter
is
how
is
useful
it
may be
to
lies,
Germany, National Socialism
On
sive.
insufficient
its
last
if
it
manifestations. this
Jew has emigrated from
will not stop spreading the gospel of
The more
becomes more strained and
The poor
all
is
the contrary, the "international Jew" will remain
the evil spirit in the world. of fascism
it
nor moral arguments can rid the world of
organized Jew-baiting. Even after the
anti-Semitism.
fronts
expose again and again the
not a part of the fight against fascism in scientific
many
active.
senseless accusations against the Jews as
Neither
poli-
persecutions of the Jews are
little
so, its
when
the internal situation
foreign policy
Jewish shopkeeper, whose poverty
more is
aggres-
visible to
everyone, bears scant witness to the dangerous international influ-
program
hitler's
85
ence, the fabulous wealth,
disappears,
it
will be
in the City of
and the dark schemes of Jewry.
much more
London,
Wall
in
would-be destroyer of Germany.
When
effective to incriminate the
and
Street,
The more
in
Moscow,
abstract
he
Jew
as the
and mysterious
"the Jew" becomes, the better he serves Hitler's purpose.
The
confusion which anti-Semitism has aroused
themselves are rich
due
is
Jew" does not exist. There and working-class Jews; there
leisure-class
and bankers,
are Jewish fur-workers
and
dentists
and small tradespeople,
factory workers. Consequently, there are also reaction-
ary and liberal, conservative and revolutionary Jews fascists
among them. Their
pends upon
the Jews
to the fact that "the
and poor Jews,
professors
among
attitude
A
their social status.
make
only too glad to
make
peace with them.
solini
may come
a few
to their senses
if
fascism would only
hope that Hitler or Mus-
silently
and drop anti-Semitism. They
themselves in a similar position to
many
who would
Englishmen, and Frenchmen,
there are
among them would be
minority
peace v^dth fascism,
Not
—and
toward fascism generally de-
find
non-Jewish Americans,
have no objection whatso-
ever to experimenting with an American, English, or French Hitler, if
they had the assurance that their respective Hitlers would refrain
from "unnecessary" and "embarrassing" pidities"
They
still
do not understand
such "stu-
its
existence
—
^just
sciences.
that regimentation, not only of the
sciences but also of the entire public
fascism for
—from
excesses
book-burning and the regimentation of the
as
as
is
and private
life, is
necessary to
"the night of the long knives,"
^^
the concentration camps, the People's Courts,^^ and anti-Semitism.
They
wonderful
it
must
lenged boss in his
own army of L's
by the "successes" of National Socialism.
are blinded
own
when
the capitalist
is
How
unchal-
house, the captain of industry master of his
have no more NLRB's, no CIO's, no AF company unions and no right to strike, no "foreign and no "red terror"! of workers!
—only
agitators"
be, they think,
To
HITLER
86
IS
NO FOOL
Anti-Semitism in the countries where fascism has gained power can disappear only with fascism
itself.
In the nations which are
still
democratic, the advance of anti-Semitism can be resisted successfully
only
the battle against anti-Semitism
if
unemployment,
against reaction, against
is
carried
on
as a battle
as a batde for better living
which deserve
conditions, for social progress, for a civiUzation
its
name. Either democracy possesses
enough
and
insight
desire to protect
the vital rights of the overwhelming majority of the population,
or "aristocratic"
monopoly
solve the social problems
so obvious that one
is
For the Jews there
capital
will
find
almost ashamed to say is
who
Hitler,
its
will
by means of the Fuehrer-principle. This it
is
again.
only one certainty: Victorious fascism will
strangle them, regardless of whether they have supported
it,
whether
they have "personally" not taken sides, or whether they have openly
and courageously fought against
it.
"The
so-called
most dangerous enemy," writes the organ of the January
13,
1939, "because
good Jew
SA
in
its
is
our
issue of
he challenges our pity and paralyzes us
in our struggle."
But guns sometimes
backfire.
So the witch doctor Hitler gives
understand that his race-formula should not be
his faithful ones to
used schematically. For example, he
justifies
England's post-War
understanding with Japan on the ground that the supremacy of the United States forced English statesmen into
"from
a racial point of
view
is
an
alliance,
which
perhaps unjustifiable, but represents
the only political possibility for a strengthening of the British world position against the aspiring
In
the
interest
of
American continent."
imperialism,
one must have absolutely no
scruples. Hitler did not hesitate to ally himself for a while
an "inferior" race
as the Poles;
he
is
now
courting the "Semitic"
Arabs; and he has signed a pact with the Japanese
Kampf
classified as
one of the
sterile,
with such
who
are in
Mein
non-culture-creating races. In
:
87 order to brush aside any doubt as to the "racial justification" o£ the
Nazi to
alliance
with the "Yellow Peril," the Fuehrer has had recourse
an ingenious method:
He
has raised the Japanese to the ranks
of Aryans!
With
this
he has only repeated what
his ideal
and prototype, the
anti-Semitic burgomaster o£ Vienna, Lueger, did.
lowers accused
him
them "I alone decide
When
his fol-
of associating with Jews, the burgomaster told
who
is
a Jew!"
THREE
How
"How
often
Did
we
Hitler
Come To Power?
used to shake with laughter over these simple-
ton middle-class poltroons and their ingenious guesses as to our origin, our intentions,
and our goal."
Mein Kampf
The Wea\ Democracy Nazi
historians have
an easy time of
it.
They have no more
prob-
In their profession the Leader-Principle, as everywhere
lems to
solve.
else in
Nazi Germany, holds sway. They have
history as the history of Great
Germans
came
to
getic
and more farsighted than any of
power
for the very reason that
only.
to present
The
greatest
German German
he was greater, more enerhis opponents, because
he
fought with the right weapons and because he followed with the sureness of a sleep-walker the road
which Providence pointed out
him. His enemies were blockheads,
Based upon
down
to the
Anyone
this
formula
German
dissatisfied
is
traitors,
to
and crooks.
everything which today
is
handed
children and adults as scientific knowledge.
with such an answer and looking for further
explanation would soon find himself on the direct road to high treason.
The
strength of
"The Great
Man 88
Theory," which
is,
by the way,
HOW
COME TO POWER?
DID HITLER
89
not found in fascist historical science alone,
lies
in the fact that
it
reduces the involved political, social, and economic conditions of an era
and the driving
The
development to pure psychology.
forces of their
theory has, indeed, the advantage of simplicity, but
simplicity. Its interpretation of historical events
ing as that of
its
is
it is
a stupid
unconvinc-
just as
extreme counterpart, an historical philosophy which
has been called "Economic Determinism" and which
often erro-
is
neously taken for Marxism. According to this second theory, the course of history
is
the unavoidable result of tremendous
economic forces before which the individual
is
unknown
driven as a blind and
helpless object.
Like The Great
Man
Theory, Determinism also has for every
question a glib answer, explaining
few stereotyped formulas.
Two
of
and "automatic" and afterward happen
must
as
it
did. It
inevitably
is
all
its it
and nothing.
a
favorite cliches are "inevitable"
knows
had
that everything
to
partial to generalizations such as: Capitalism
go through the phase of fascism before socialism can
be realized; the inner contradictions of the will automatically bring about
its
Although apparently wholly exclusive the former asserts that great
vacuum, while the
latter
economic system
fascist
collapse.
of each other in their indi-
vidual outlook, both theories nevertheless have a
Whereas
works on
It
common
men make
history as in a
holds that solely objective facts
the economic conditions of an era
—make
nucleus.
history, they
—above
all
both deny
the part played by the people in the determination of their destinies.
The
victory of fascism in
triumph was the
result of a
Germany was not
and outside Germany took part victory of a single
alone.
directly or indirectly. It
was not the
German
people over
man, but of one part
another. Neither was
it
inevitable. Hitler's
long struggle in which millions inside
the victory of
Hider gave these powerful
of the
anonymous economic
interests the
forces
form and expression
HITLER
90 by which they were able to In this
helped
NO FOOL
mastery in Germany.
rise to dictatorial
personal share in the success, and to this extent he
lies his
make
IS
history.
But the relationship between Hitler and the German ruling is
classes
not a fixed one; beneath the surface the struggle for power never
stops. Hitler
The
their lord than
men make
statement that
explanation. there
no more
is
They make
own
their
is
their puppet.
history requires further
under conditions which are already
history
and which are not of
he
own
their
choosing. It depends on their
conscious effort whether or not they solve the problems which history presents to them.
A
clear
naturally precede conscious the
more
understanding of the issues must
eflFort.
The
better
men
German
In 1918 the overwhelming majority of the the need of changing
its
social
order in such a
tition of the barbaric slaughter of the
impossible for that the
understand them,
successfully can they intervene in the course of history.
all
War had
time. It
was more or
War
manner
years
people
felt
that a repe-
would be made most Germans
less clear to
not been fought for their benefit, nor for that of
the Italian peasant, the French worker, or the English intellectual.
They hated imperialism because themselves
socialists;
bred wars. Most Germans called
it
they were determined to build a
more humane
and beautiful Reich. Systematically deceived
and kept
tary situation at the front, both the
in the dark as to the true mili-
army and
were completely unprepared for the Ludendorff and Hindenburg save the
Army from
collapse.
The
Kaiser had
fled;
on an immediate armistice
insisted
total destruction.
the civilian population
The sailors
to
rebelled against the
admiralty which wanted to drive them to their death in a
last sui-
The powerful war machine overnight. The ignorance of the
cidal batde against the English fleet.
of the
Empire
literally fell
apart
population and the inconceivable speed and completeness of the catastrophe explain
why
the collapse
was
later so effectively attrib-
HOW
DID HITLER
COME TO POWER?
9I
uted to the work o£ dark forces in Germany, to the Jews and Marxists.
The
lie
of the
war
was
reports
logically
continued in the
lie
of
the "stab in the back."
Every authority of the old Government was gone in people
left
the parties of the die-hards,
and jingoes who had
on "No Peace without Victory." The sharks League who were ready
191 8-19.
The
insisted
Pan-German
of the
to sacrifice the lives of further
hundreds
German soldiers for the robbery of the French Longwy and Briey and who with their greed frustrated
of thousands of
mines of
every attempt at a sane peace, had suddenly become silent and dis-
appeared from the Social
Democratic
mans
turned, took
political arena.
it
up
Power
whom
leaders, to
itself
and the
and millions
of Ger-
They did not
there with a heavy heart.
know what to do with it. The democratic Republic, which within
lay in the street,
millions
succeeded the Empire, carried
from the very beginning the germ of
its
collapse.
The
overthrow of 191 8 was no revolution in the sense of the great French Revolution in 1789, in which the bourgeoisie wrested
Nor was
from the hands
of feudalism.
sian of 1917 in
which the workers
tion takes place only
and
class
in
its
where one
uses political
own
interest.
power
power.
sei2:ed
class
A
social revolu-
to rebuild the entire social structure
The overthrow
of 191 8 created in
marked division of power. Like the Revolution was a typically German revolution it ended in
—
There was, however, a
power
supplants another as the ruling
clearly
191 8
political
a revolution like the Rus-
it
vital difference
Germany no
of 1848, that of
a compromise.
between 1848 and
1918. In
1848 a compromise was reached between the upper middle class
the
nobility,
two propertied
ascendant middle
class
felt
classes
—a
impelled to
compromise
make
An
growing strength of the working
class.
economy was
combined
On
able to support their
the other hand, in 191 8 a compromise
which
and the
in the face of the
expanding
capitalist
rule.
was attempted between
— HITLER
92 the
working
and the upper middle
class
class,
Not
proletarian revolution.
economy unable
doomed
to fail
make
impelled to
NO FOOL
one a non-propertied,
—a compromise which
the other a propertied class cratic leadership felt
IS
Demo-
the Social
in the face of a threatening
only was Germany's exhausted capitalist
to support such a partnership, but the attempt
under any circumstances, for a
socialist
was
order cannot
be grafted upon a capitalist system.
The
Social
the decisive
Democratic Government merely talked of transferring
means
a planned socialist to
of production to public ownership without
economy
touch Big Business.
It
not possible. Actually
it
which
did not dare
never found the courage to divide the big
landholdings of the Junkers the landless peasants
is
—with or without compensation—among
and farm hands.
Reichswehr whose
It
granted unlimited autonomy
it took over from the Army. It left the reactionary judiciary intact. Thus in a few months it became a prisoner of the old reactionary, imperialist forces whose destruction the majority of the German people had
to the reactionary
officers
Imperial
expected from
not
fulfill
it.
Its
great historical guilt
the promise
it
equal to the task placed before
This
is
in the fact that
not to say that these
—to
It
it
did
was not
it.
men
consciously and willfully pre-
pared the way for reaction and fascism.
were good democrats
lies
had given the German people.
The
great majority of
be sure, democrats of
German
them
coinage.
What seemed to them to be socialism, in a Germany which had never known a liberal democracy, was a beautiful dream of general harmony among the classes
They
called
themselves "socialists."
something that never existed anywhere. Least of foundation for
it
in poverty-stricken
all
was there
a
Germany, shaken by the misery
and unrest of the post-War period. One has only to read the autobiographies of these
men
to see
how
helpless
and incapable they
were when faced with the great problems of the
Weimar
Republic.
HOW
DID HITLER
The
political
COME TO POWER?
power with which
the
93
people had entrusted them
melted away in their hands. Party of Germany, the second largest workers'
The Communist
had been founded by
party,
lectuals
who had
left
Democratic workers and
Social
intel-
the old party because they did not wish to
the betrayal of the revolutionary principles of the
participate in
workers' movement.
They had fought
the "Social Chauvinism," the
collaboration of the Social Democratic leaders with the Imperial
German Government during
War. After
the
the revolution, they
continued the struggle against the opportunism of the Social cratic
Governments. Schooled
sian Revolution, they
made
DemoRus-
in the experiences of the Soviet
the conquest
of political
power the
cornerstone of their program. In Berlin and central Germany, in
Hamburg and of
armed
successes
The
—
and heroic
Social
Ruhr
in the
uprisings
all
of
they led the workers in a series
district,
them
ruthlessly suppressed despite local
resistance.
Democratic Government
tried to stave
ofif
the
Com-
munist attacks by turning for support to those deadly enemies of the democratic Republic, the Reichswehr
and the
illegal Freikorps.
With the weapons and the money which the Republic used to suppress the Communists, the German counter-revolution was organized.
During
reactionary forces
the
first
years of the
Weimar
Republic, the openly
would never have alone dared
to shoot
down
the
revolutionary workers. Such a course could be pursued only by a party which a large part of the workers and the lower middle class trusted
The
would bring about
socialism
by peaceful, bloodless means.
hatred of the Communists for the Social Democratic rene-
gades, for the betrayers of the social revolution, and, on the other
hand, the hatred of the Social Democrats for the Communists, in their eyes
who
wished to destroy the peaceful construction of the
Republic, built
up such a high
barrier
between the two great
HITLER
94 workers' parties that
came.
It
among
the
German
NO FOOL
down when decisive days how deep was the division
could not be torn
can hardly be imagined today
cal, social,
workers. There was not a single point of
politi-
and economic nature on which unity between the two
The
existed.
parties
it
IS
Democratic leaders hated the young
Social
come to an understanding with the The Communists saw in the Russian Revolu-
Soviet Republic and sought to
western democracies. tion the
model
for
Germany's own development, and
with Soviet Russia the best
means
to
in closer ties
meet the destructive
policies
The Social Democratic Party assured the workers that German economic structure had to be made strong and effective
of France.
the
again before socialization could be thought
Communists
the
of;
pointed out that with the strengthening of the capitalist economic system, the propertied classes
would
also be strengthened
and that
the policy of waiting was tantamount to the total renunciation of socialization.
While tered
The enmity between
the forces of the
fratricidal
struggle,
Equipped with the huge
working
all fronts.
two
class
parties
Reaction
is
bounds.
were losing no time.
the reactionaries
left
knew no
were engaged in an embit-
and the
financial resources
power which the Revolution had democracy on
the
positions of
them, they led the fight against never petty in the choice of
its
weapons. At the same time that they were legally directing the political opposition,
fitting illegal
they were organizing
armed
resistance
by out-
bands over which the Reichswehr held a protecting
hand. Seeing the weakness and the confusion which existed in the
Government, they soon found the courage
to
attack against the Republic. In 1920, a year
Revolution, they risked their
first
of the
Kapp
and
the
first
The quick
suppression
Putsch was not the work of the Government.
fled.
But the workers smashed
The
liberal
it
frontal
a half after the
armed counter-revolutionary up-
rising and occupied Berlin with their troops. ^^
make
with an
irresistible
English historian, R. T. Clark, in his
It
had
general strike.
Fdl
of the Ger-
HOW man
COME TO POWER?
DID HITLER
95
Republic, draws the following conclusions from the experiences
of those days:
The
situation
had been saved
entirely
by the action of the workers.
Here was a lesson for the democratic coalition, if it was democratic. Democracy in Germany was safe if it based itself on the democratic elements; the lesson that a strong and vigorous Socialist party was the one real basis of democracy in Germany was once more reinforced. But the Government refused to learn it. The strikers, flushed with their victory,
were inclined
to stay out
they had consolidated
till
to see insurrection not merely defeated but punished,
work number
it.
They wanted
and they wanted
the socialist aspect of the Government's
greatly extended.
the influence of Left extremists a great
of the strikers refused to
Under
go back unless guarantees were secured against the "national" intriguers: This was the inevitable end of the compromising concession-to-the-enemy policy adopted by the official party,
which had made
regime out of the promise of a strong
Socialist State.
a timid bourgeois
There was
bitter
evidence already that the bourgeois democracy was no friend to the
workers and the Government obligingly supplied more.^^
The
events that followed the
was willing it
had
to see,
how
to deal with
its
Kapp
powerless the
Putsch showed everyone, who Government already was when
internal enemies of the Right.
wehr, which had offered no resistance to the the workers
when
they refused to lay
Government would take measures
down
The
Reichs-
Kapp
Putsch, attacked
their
arms unless the
to punish the traitors. Together
with the Freikorps, which had fought on the side of Kapp, the
Army
took bloody revenge on the aroused workers. "Outnumbered and badly munitioned, the insurgents [workers] put up a magnifi-
cent resistance in their squalid streets, but were crushed with a thor-
oughness and viciousness that was in striking contrast to the tenderness with
which the Kappists had been
course of the fight in the
The weakness
Ruhr
treated," writes
Clark on the
district.
of the democratic Republic, the non-fulfillment of
HITLER
96
promises, the progressive inflation and economic distress,
its socialist
on the
naturally reacted
attitude
political
of
the
lower middle
In 1918 the peasants, employees, shopkeepers, artisans and
classes.
had
those belonging to the professions,
over from
for the
most part changed
and had come
their old political affiliations
Democratic Party as the representative of their
Social
NO FOOL
IS
new
stead of a
start in life, the
middle
interests. In-
Republic had given them unem-
The impoverishment
ployment, poverty, and despair.
to regard the
of the lower
proceeded with unparalleled speed and brutality.
classes
savings were transferred into worthless paper by the drop
Their
life
of the
mark and
the rise in prices. In the fall of 1923, a loaf of bread
cost millions of marks.
When
the value of the
marks
bilized at the ratio of 4,200,000,000,000 dollar, the expropriation of the
middle
Government had
Since the
socialization, the re-entry of
class
mark was
finally sta-
one United States
to
had long been completed.
capitulated before the difficulties of
German
world mar-
industries into the
ket had, naturally, to be effected in a capitalist fashion. This could
mean
only
working
a further deterioration of the living conditions of the
German
sections of the population.
lost its foreign investments, its colonies,
materials, lete
and which had seen
and antiquated during
to regain costs
its
ability to
middle
classes,
and
War
artists.
top of
this,
senseless
unrolled
itself
German and
its
raw
equipment become obso-
isolation in the
Was
it
War
years,
endeavored
to
officials, stu-
any wonder that the lower
endure new privations
years, gradually lost the
they had greeted the
which had
compete on the international market. The
which were asked
sacrifices of the
most
industrial
capitalism,
a great part of
were borne by the workers, peasants, employees,
dents, scientists,
On
its
its
and
after the
sympathy with which
new Republic?
the infuriating spectacle of fabulous luxury, the
extravagance before
all
in
eyes.
foreign crooks
the
midst of indescribable need,
The War and
inflation
profiteers,
and speculators frequented the swanky
HOW
COME TO POWER?
DID HITLER
97
up Uke mushrooms
night clubs which had sprung
in all the big
In number and growth only one other enterprise could com-
cities.
—the
them
pete with
A
banks. Speculation boomed.
pounds bought a house, a few thousand
dollars,
few English
whole blocks of
streets;
and not a few foreigners made good use of the golden oppor-
tunity.
The "bankruptcy
Germany during
of
sale"
the inflation
more than anything else, advanced the reactionary campaign against "Jews and foreigners." The question of war debts and reparations remained dangerously unsettled. None knew how many billions of gold marks the victorious Allies still wished to extract from the emaciated German people. Demoralization and period has probably,
despair
had reached a depth hitherto unknown.
This was the general
and
was
all this
of the
political
atmosphere during the years 1919-23,
grist to Hitler's mill.
weak democratic Republic,
The
mistakes and omissions
the inexorableness of vengeful
Allied Imperialism were his best aides.
The Demagogue Once and
for
all,
the erroneous idea that Hitler
turer or a reactionary nationalist of the old school
He
is
gang
neither a
who stir
above
he dedicated himself
And more
comprehended the
all,
a politician
^^
nor
and a
pseudo-socialists the deci-
"To lead means to Even before he began
politics.
to a study of
how
to lead
he has, with sure
instinct,
relationship of the classes to one another
and the
than
that,
of their struggle.
Perhaps the reader will think
who
is,
many
masses of the people in
his political career
tician
He
than
masses," he says in his book.
and rule masses.
mechanism
Kapp.
realizes better
sive role of the
be able to
only an adven-
leader of the type of a Captain Ehrhardt
a stupid reactionary like politician
is
must be discarded.
it
farfetched to call Hitler a poli-
thinks in concepts, which, according to his
are an invention of the "Jews
own
and Marxists." Actually he
is
words,
not only
HITLER
98
branding the
NO FOOL
The man who
a shrewd politician, but a class-conscious politician. persists in
IS
who
struggle a Marxist fabrication,
class
pretends to replace the struggling classes with the united nation and capitalist exploitation
who
weal,
alleges
with the National
that his
German
serves only the
Socialist people's
Government supersedes
people as a whole
—that
class
man
commonand
rule
an extraor-
is
dinary strategist of the class struggle.
"The
national intelligentsia," as he calls the representatives of the
old Imperialism of the Kaiser,
an
was compromised and no longer had
program. The middle
effective
craven manner capitulated to the
him had
ing to
"the
against
the courage
Street,"
that
The
in the
only ones
and the strength
is,
"had
parties
class
street."
to
who
most
accord-
come out openly
against organized Labor,
were the
Freikorps. Yet they, too, could not "exert any influence because they
lacked political understanding and above political
any
goal.
.
.
.
they lacked any real
all
That which excluded national Germany from
practical contribution to the poHtical
development was the lack
and of co-operation between brute
of co-ordination
force
and inge-
nious political will."
This failing was to be corrected by the Hitler
He
now
wanted
from the
that
the National if
practical construction of
duce
movement which
it
was
Socialist
to exert
It
was
him
clear to
Party would have to
any influence "upon the
German development." The
masses,
how-
were with the enemy, with the "Marxists"; they were hope-
lessly "led astray If
by the horns.
to take the bull
start
become a mass party ever,
political
undertook to organize.
anyone
still
by the Jew."
real socialism,
could they be
may some
fine
won back?
day
after all intro-
he has but to contemplate the Fuehrer's feelings
concerning "the masses." people separates
How
hopes that Hitler
A
him from
deep abyss of contempt for the working
the true socialist.
He
sneers at "the broad
masses" as being stupid, simple, cowardly, lazy, mentally
inert,
and
:
HOW
DID HITLER
COME TO POWER?
They want
insolent.
to be
99
dominated and are always glad to give
in to the strong.
Like a woman, whose emotional
life
is
motivated
by abstract
less
reason than by an indefinable, instinctive longing for the strength that will
complement
her,
and who
bow
for that reason prefers to
to the
strong rather than to dominate the weakling, the masses in the same
more than the suppliant and are much more satisfied with a teaching which will not tolerate another beside it, than they are with liberal freedom, which they don't know what to do with and which usually makes them feel forsaken. They are equally unaware
manner
love the ruler
of the indecency of their intellectual terrorization as they are of the revolting treatment of their
human
liberty, since
the internal nonsense of the entire doctrine. strength
and
is
They
suspect
see only the ruthless
brutality of the systematic, methodical expressions of this
doctrine before
Hitler
way
they in no
which they must always bow
not referring to his
own
in the end.
doctrine here; he
speaking
is
of Marxism. Elsewhere he says
The ing
is
masses' capacity for learning small;
and
is
for that reason their
in their overwhelming majority action arc guided less
is
but very limited; their understand-
memory
is
short.
.
.
.
The
people
so effeminate that their thought
and
by sober reasoning than by emotional instinct.
Revolutionary workers he
calls
"degenerate proletarians
.
.
.
phys-
ically corrupted and for that reason also spiritually a miserable pack.'*
Whereas some of his fellow party members, as for example the military bully Roehm, have now and then found a word of sportsmanlike praise for the revolutionary workers' courage and their moral strength of resistance, Hitler has only burning hatred and deep contempt for them. The workers for
him
the criminals
who adhere
who upon
to
Marxism always remain
the construction scaffolding in
his "spiritual resistance"
with physical violence and
chased him away. Those who are not
politically conscious are for
Vienna broke
HITLER
100
him
—the
gang
a credulous, uneducated, lazy
NO FOOL
IS
hoodlum
proletariat
of the Viennese flophouse.
But
Hitler, the official's son,
tician needs the
is
The
not Hitler, the politician.
poli-
masses to reach his goals. Without them his move-
ment can never become powerful. Without them Germany can never Thus his feelings are in eternal
again enter upon another great war.
with his
conflict
political insight. It
is
dema-
the real conflict of the
gogue. "All great movements are popular movements," says Hitler,
human
the politician, "are volcanic eruptions of
up by
ual emotions, stirred
the cruel
passions
and
spirit-
Goddess of Misery or by the
flaming torch of the word flung into the masses and are not syrupy effusions of literary aesthetes
When
and drawing-room heroes."
Hitler analyzes the poHcies of the
Pan-German Party
of
Schoenerer, which were closely analogous to his own, he realizes that
it
failed "because
primary masses.
from the very beginning
emphasis upon winning It
became
its
no
fighters.
and hard enough
Because for really great
They
Such a "one
sacrifices
alone are reso-
to fight this battle to the bloody finish."
prospects of victory
summing up, "a philosophy only when the broad masses
ready to fight
necessary
"In general," he says
the
broad
the
lukewarm reformers and
needs the simple people from the broad masses. lute
did not place the
'bourgeois, respectable, mildly radical.' "
party will in the long run attract at best opportunists, but
it
members from
battle
as
the
of
life
will
have
and
are willing
bearers
of
the
new
teaching."
The cal
middle-class parties with their antiquated
warfare
may
be
all
right
when
it
comes
win over
politi-
to satisfying the political
ambition of professional aesthetes and plaintive they will never again
methods of
pacifist females,
but
the masses, says Hitler.
No, we must not entertain any illusions about that. Our present-day become useless for any higher task of humanity, simply because it is without reservation too corrupt, and it is too corrupt not
bourgeoisie has
HOW
DID HITLER
much
SO
—
out of
Id
COME TO POWER? us say
^let
—
deliberate corruptness but rather as a result
of an incredible indolence and
all
comes from
that
it.
which knock around under the
those political clubs
For that reason
collective title of
^'bourgeois parties" have long ceased to be anything but professional
vocational groups united by
common
interests,
the best possible representation of their selfish politicizing "bourgeois" guild
when
ous; but especially,
is
able to
and
whose highest task is interests. That such a
do anything but
the opponents are not
fight, is obvi-
made up
of cautious
shopkeepers but proletarian masses, whipped up to the utmost and resolved to go the whole hog. Hitler's harsh language in his criticism of middle-class political
moment. He accuses them of only They are no longer able to save an imperialist Germany from the German socialists. The opponents of the upper middle class are also his opponents. They are the socialist workers and their political allies, the great majority of the German people. parties should not deceive us for a
one
sin:
To
break
this majority
strategic goal of the
with any available means
young Hitler movement. "Any
is
the primary
available
means"
includes weapons of physical and spiritual terror of every kind.
Upon
looking back today at the beginning of the Nazi Party, one
cannot help admiring the sureness of the demagogic instinct which led Hitler in his political agitation.
up
of his party
From
to the last detail of the
the selection of the
meeting technique, from the
design of the party flag to the party program, everything the service of one task party
known and
pointed in the
—developing a
is
put in
mass party and making that
popular with the very masses
weak Democracy. In
name
who were
a continual attack
disap-
upon the
Republic founded "upon high treason," in an uncompromising battle
on two
fronts, against the
parties, in the concreteness
middle
class as well as the
workers'
and popularity of his demands, and in
a mixture of the most unscrupulous propaganda and unrestrained terror Hitler
saw the
swiftest
and
surest
way
to success.
HITLER
102
NO FOOL
IS
The German Workers' Party underwent a rapid reconstruction after Hitler, its member Number 7, had in appreciation of his orapowers been entrusted with the propaganda department.
torical
all, he pushed aside the old useless party officials and them with soldiers whom he had known in the War and through his work for the Reichswehr. "They were all active young men, used to discipline and from their military days drilled in the
First of
replaced
'Nothing
principle:
Socialist
Very
impossible;
is
everything goes
the will
if
is
Then he undertook to change the name to "NationalGerman Workers' Party." The masses want socialism.
there.' "
he promises them a new, better kind than the poor prod-
well,
uct which the "Marxists" are trying to doctor up.
The
challenge
expressed in the words Socialist and Worf^ers' Party was chosen just as deliberately as the red posters
nounced It
its first
wanted
saw
tion,
meetings.
any
publicity at
It
with which the young party an-
wanted
cost.
The
to provoke. It
wanted
clashes.
Fuehrer, consumed with ambi-
in the isolation of his small
group the greatest
political
we
suffered
danger. "During the early period of our development
from nothing so much
as
our names which in
made our success doubtful." Whenever became weak and despondent, whenever it
his
group of followers
wanted
from the
insignificance
and obscurity of
itself
to shrink before the ridicule of
enemies and the criticism
of friends, he called out to them: It
docs not matter whether they laugh at us or defame us, whether
they represent us as clowns or criminals, the main thing
name
us at
that in time
must
He
still
all,
we
that they again
that they
appear to the workers as the only force with which they
contend.
seeks the hatred of his enemies, for
cannot
is
and again occupy themselves with us and
stir
"whoever on
this earth
the hatred of his opponents does not seem to
worthy friend."
me
a
HOW
COME TO POWER?
DID HITLER
He
workers by imitating the outward forms o£ their
incites the
movement. "As our
we
color
chose red as a matter of principle.
and was bound
the most exciting
is
IO3
to arouse
It
and provoke our
opponents to the utmost and to bring us to their attention in one
way
or another."
He
his rhymesters write
ganda
At
uses their tunes
new
words.
He
and fighting songs
for
which
leads the art of political propa-
to hitherto unattained heights of
demagogy.
the same time he must repeat to the frightened "bourgeois
poltroons" that that there
is
are distrustful. It
enemy
this is
all
absolutely
merely a matter of external show and
no cause
to be alarmed.
The owning
classes
will be some time before they realize that the
front can be broken
up only by such demagogic methods.
"Declarations concerning the final aims of a certain political ground
work," naturally enough, cannot be made. Hitler must in
depend upon
too,
Leader-classes."
this case,
the "intuitive insight of the spiritually superior
But the middle
class
has
less instinct
than even the
police allow.
The German
Nationalist minds, in the greatest secrecy, whispered the
suspicion around that fundamentally wc, too, are nothing but a
new
version of Marxism, perhaps nothing but disguised Marxists or, for that matter, socialists. For even to this very day, these forces do not under-
stand the fundamental difference between socialism and Marxism. Especially
we
when
it
was discovered in addition that
as a matter of principle
did not welcome "ladies and gendemen" at our meetings but only
"German comrades," and that wc spoke between ourselvs only of "party many of our opponents were sure of the Marxist specter.
comrades," then
Thus ally
Hitler speaks with anger
and irony of the middle
whose obtuseness and uneasiness
at the
class,
unscrupulous demagogy makes the Nazis' work unnecessarily cult.
For demagogy
is
a two-edged sword.
an
thought of Hitler's
The
with dangerous promises, cannot eternally be put
masses, off
won
diffi-
over
with promises.
HITLER
104
The middle after
someday
class fears that
have
will
it
to
IS
NO FOOL
pay the piper
all.
In Hitler's remarks concerning the nature and tasks of propa-
ganda, his notorious talent as a politician and his contempt for the masses find clearest expression. Propaganda
and he frequently returns
weapon
to exist that field.
To
to
it
in his book. It
hands of the expert," he
in the
says,
was
"spiritually
made
director of a
me
downfall.
The heroism
wasted" by bureaucratic
More than once put
I
propaganda ministry
During
months
these
at that time!
I
felt for
His
first
means.
It is
success
lies
whenever the desired success
must always be addressed
and must adapt
its
its
I
this:
end
to the principle that the
the only measure of
a
me, when
kill
and application of propa-
summarized, sound something Uke
correct
time the entire
at the front in
services in another place.
basic rules concerning the value briefly
Providence had
would have taken a
the
which any chance shot of a negro might
must be used according
It
if
me down
tied
might have rendered the Fatherland other
ganda,
German Army
only he had been
idiots. If
and criminal know-nothings and
ominous destiny which
treachery of an
the
good portion of the of the
good-for-nothings of our propaganda service, fate different course.
specialist in this
was tortured by the thought that
in the place of these incapable
position in
"a truly fearful
is
German War propaganda and
superiority of that of the Allies, he traces a
German
topic
and he allows no doubt
he considers himself a top-ranking
the inadequacy of
causes of the
favorite
his
is
Propaganda justifies
the
is
attained. In this
It
must be popular
value.
to the masses.
...
intellectual level to the intellectual capacity of the
whom
most simple-minded of those to
it
is
directed.
Therefore,
its
purely intellectual level will have to be driven lower, the greater the
mass of people to be reached.
.
.
.
The more modest
its
scientific ballast
HOW
DID HITLER
COME TO POWER?
IO5
it concentrates exclusively upon the emotions of the Any effective more thorough and complete the result. propaganda must limit itself to a very few points and must use them as slogans until with certainty the very last man can understand what is wanted. The task of propaganda is not to weigh various rights,
is
and the more
masses, the
.
.
.
which may be useful
objective truth,
masses in doctrinary
sincerity,
was fundamentally wrong to
Germany could not
that
this catastrophe,
but
with the whole
guilt,
course of events, as
Propaganda
A
.
.
but to emphasize exclusively the one
It
.
is
it
advocates. Its task
to others,
but to serve one's discuss
alone be
War
made
even
was
if this
guilt
to place
own
is
not to see
it
before the
truth persistently.
from the point of view
responsible for the outbreak of
would have been
it
and
right to
burden the opponent
had not corresponded
to the actual
actually the case.
not a matter of right or wrong, truth or falsehood.
most one-sided representation of one's own point of view, the
lowest possible intellectual level, an appeal only to the instincts and
emotions of the masses, a concentration upon a very few
easily
understandable slogans, and the greatest persistence in their repetiassure success. If these rules are adhered
tion
to,
by means of
propaganda "a people can be duped into seeing Heaven
and conversely the most wretched
life as
In the choice of his means the demagogue
The
as Hell,
paradise." is
absolutely unscrupu-
"less
educated" masses open
up unsuspected possibilities in the political knows the soul of the people. Lying becomes
a science in his system.
lous.
He
credulity
considers
it
and decency of the
are
which
more
will
make
it
credible, since the
easily corrupted in the very
consciously
and
him who
a
very correct principle that in the size of the factor
struggle for
deliberately
plicity of their souls, they
lie
there
is
always a certain
broad masses of the people
depth of their
souls,
than they are
bad. Therefore, with the primitive sim-
more
easily fall prey to a big lie
small one, because they themselves
tell
many
small
lies
than to a
but would be
— HITLER
I06
ashamed
to
tell
NO FOOL
IS
big ones. Such an untruth will never occur to
them and
they will never think of the possibility of such a monstrous boldness of the most infamous falsification on the part of others, and even after the clarification of the falsification they will
will accept at least
infamous
lie
any
long doubt and vascillate and
sort of cause as true; for that reason the
most
can never be wiped out entirely.
The burning
which was intended
of the Reichstag in Berlin,
create the atmosphere for the
open
to
terror of the Nazis, later revealed
the entire significance of this recipe.
Even today many Germans
cannot believe that the Nazi Government burned the Reichstag in order to arouse the middle-class voters and win the elections.
very thought that his Government should commit a crime
is
The
intol-
erable to "the primitive simplicity of soul" of the unpolitical Ger-
man. But
that the criminals themselves should
the innocent
—the
Communists,
to grasp that exceeds the
whom
sit
in
judgment over
they accused of the deed
power of imagination of even
politically
experienced men. Even a Europe which had experienced war and revolution was not used to such methods of fighting. Hitler had
guessed correctly. not to
The
fall
prey to
topic with
The
lie
was too infamous
for part of the people
it.
which Hitler begins
his practical political agita-
Munich is naturally not the delicate issue of the people's commonweal. This would have been embarrassing, for the "uncultured" workers always wanted to know what the commonweal meant in terms of wages, labor unions, the length of the work
tion in
day, the right to strike. Discussions of such touchy questions in-
volved the risk of alienating either the workers or business. Hence Hitler concentrates
upon
and upon
with which he
a lecture
a field with as
which he
already helped to educate the Reichswehr. of his repertory
is
rectly that at that
is
more
familiar
an army propagandist had
The
piece de resistance
the Peace Treaty of Versailles.
He
observes cor-
time the masses regarded denunciations of the
HOW
DID HITLER
Treaty if
as
COME TO POWER?
IO7
"an attack upon the Republic and a sign of reactionary,
not monarchial views." Nevertheless, Hitler decides that his party
must attack the Treaty;
he
for,
nately curry the favor of the masses,
of the Treaty, he
feels,
its
master.
it is
precisely
on the
[National Socialist
issue easily
German Workers'
become a flunkey of pubHc opinion, but must
Party] should not
become
and
indiscrimi-
mass resistance can be most
that
NSDAP
broken down. "The
must not
says, the party
It
must not be the servant of the masses but
their
lord!"
But Hider was soon
to learn that
Reichswehr than the "misled
With
the
first
sentence,
Brest-Litovsk ? Brest-Litovsk!" it
was
easier to "nationaHze" the
which contained the
one could hear the stereotyped until
it
proletariat."
criticism of Versailles,
back in reply: "And
interjection hurled
Thus
the
crowd roared again and again
gradually became hoarse or the speaker finally gave
attempt to convince.
One
up any
could have beat his head against the wall in
despair over such a people!
Indeed, this was the
way
the
German
people at
first
when Weimar
reacted
a Nationalist tried to fool them into believing that the
Republic was guilty of the Peace of Versailles. Not that they had in any as
way acknowledged the Versailles Treaty to be just, and not, tries to make it appear, that they did not want to under-
Hider
stand "that this dictate meant a hitherto unheard-of robbery."
What
the workers wanted to express with the cry "Brest-Litovsk" was their indignation over the hypocrisy of the
German
ImpefiaUsts in
representing the Versailles Treaty as a terrible injustice, after they
themselves had fought for years for the annexation of territory and in the Peace of Brest-Litovsk
had
dictated the
same
tions to a defeated Russia. Hitler, the ImperiaUst,
protest against a peace of extortion. "Marxist
cruel condi-
had no
work
right to
of destruction
^
HITLER
I08
NO FOOL
IS
and the enemy's poisonous propaganda had deprived diese people of
all their
reason," Hitler complains.
were imbued with a nobler sense of
They had fought
experienced.
On
the contrary, these people
justice
than Hider had ever
against Versailles
and
against Brest-
Li to vsk; they fought against imperiaUst war in any form and under
whatever
flag
it
appeared.
The way Hider
breaks
and speaks
down
the resistance of his audiences
propaganda. First of
characteristic of his
all,
is
he changes his topic
meetings on "The Peace Treaties of Brest-
at future
Litovsk and Versailles."
He
"had learned a lesson of great impor-
tance at that time; that
is:
To
reply out of his
hand
stride the
at the beginning!'
weapon
For
this
of the
in his future speeches first of all the generosity with
German Army had
torious I
contrasted the
and showed the
which the
vic-
treated the Russians.
two peace
really
enemy'
reason he describes
treaties,
compared them point
for point,
boundless humanity of the one as contrasted with
inhuman cruelty of the other, and the result was a triumphant one. At that time I spoke on this topic at meetings of two thousand people, where sometimes the gaze from thirty-six hundred hostile eyes struck the
me. Yet three hours
later I
saw before me a swelling mass
filled
the most sacred indignation and the most boundless wrath. great
lie
had been torn out of the hearts and minds of a crowd number-
ing thousands, and in
The really
with
Again a
its
historical truth
place a truth is
had been planted.
distinguished from Hitler's in that the
boundless humanity of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty contained
the following conditions for Russia
:
Cession of 290,000 square miles,
an area one-and-one-half times as large as the whole of Germany, with a population of approximately total
fifty
million or one-third of the
population and with one-third of the entire railway and com-
munication network and 75 per cent of the iron production. In was to pay war reparations amounting to six billion
addition Russia
marks. That
German ImperiaUsm
did not harvest the fruits of
HOW
DID HITLER
the dictate
The
to
is
collapse
its
and
COME TO POWER?
be ascribed not so
much
to
its
to the resistance o£ the Soviet
magnanimity
as to
Government.
four hundred eyes which at these meetings did not look
daggers
at Hitler
belonged to the "Hall-Defense," an armed gang
which accompanied him everywhere breaking of any opposition. Out of the
IO9
for his protection
it
and
for the
developed the notorious SA,
Storm Troops of the Nazi Party.
He rades
party
invariably selected only
whom
young men
for this purpose,
"com-
knew from army days, others, newly won young members, who had from the very beginning been taught and I
trained to realize that terror can be broken only with terror, that
on
this earth the
success."
Any
courageous and decisive had always achieved
heckling was immediately answered with clubbing
and expulsion. With "the most brutal
decisiveness" they
throw themselves upon anyone who had the nerve the Brest-Litovsk Treaty
to
were
to
answer that
was not a document of the most boundless
humanity. They were "trained for attacks Hitler's
and
language becomes
lyrical
be carried out blindly."
to
when he
describes these terrorist
gangs in action.
How the eyes of my boys used to glow at me when I explained to Like a swarm of hornets they them the necessity of their mission. flew upon the disrupters of our meetings, without regard for their preponderance, no matter how great, without regard for wounds and bloody .
sacrifices,
He
.
completely imbued with the great thought of clearing the
for the sacred mission of our
describes
between
.
some
SA ^nd
way
movement.
of the
memorable great meeting-hall
battles
workers, in which the Nazis naturally always
smashed the cowardly Red majority
to bits.
That on more than one
occasion his boys were saved only through rear exits and police
cordons;
that
the
reactionary
judges
of
counter-revolutionary
Bavaria invariably sentenced to severe prison terms "the Reds" as
no
HITLER and
the attackers;
that his
wehr, from which a great cler of the heroic
But even
gangs found
Munich PoHce
tector in the
we
if
their
IS
NO FOOL
most sympathetic pro-
President Poehner and in the Reichs-
many
them came
of
—
the chroni-
all this
epoch of the Nazi movement does not mention. read with the proper
poetic descriptions of the
magic of
He
continues to exist in them.
amount
of skepticism Hitler's
his speeches, a kernel of truth
succeeded in getting thousands to
turn out to his mass meetings and in bringing them under his influence.
was, however, not the workers, but chiefly people from
It
the lower middle class
was not only the
why
felt
drawn
But here somebody
attracted them.
simply,
who
to his
And
movement.
spectacle of the hysterically shouting fanatic
Germany, Hitler screamed
at
them, concretely and
finally told
times were so hard for them.
them.
speculators are enriching themselves
it
which
The Entente
The Jews and
is
pillaging
stock-market
on your misery! The Marxists
have betrayed Germany to international Capital! In the famous Program of the "unalterable" points, the
The Program the
first
all
consisting of twenty-five
of the Nazis attains
contains a series of national
category
inclusion of
NSDAP,
demagogy
and
social
its
pinnacle.
demands.
To
belong: annulment of the Versailles Treaty;
Germans
in a Greater
Germany on the basis of the German colonies;
right of national self-determination; return of the
establishment of a national army, instead of the "troop of mercenaries"
gram
which the Treaty of
Versailles
upon the exclusion
insists
of
all
demands. Naturally the ProJews from citizenship
In their drawing power, however, the national demands short of the social
demands, which were cut
to
the most pressing needs of the lower middle class
War
were
profits
incomes"
to
to
fit
the
rights.
fell
far
mood and
and the workers.
be confiscated by the State;
all
"unearned
be eliminated; big corporations to become the property
of the State;
and large
demanded
to
it,
estates,
where the
interests of the nation
be expropriated. Capital punishment for usurers,
HOW
COME TO POWER T
DID HITLER
Speculators,
and other
parasites
ation of department stores
by the workers in the
The language
is
upon
III
the
German
and subletting
people! Expropri-
to small dealers!
Sharing
profits of industry!
radical;
many
of the
demands
are extremely
popular. In spite of this Hitler did not succeed, either before his
Putsch in 1923 or up to the in exerting a noteworthy
moment influence
power in 1933, upon the German workers'
of his rise to
movement. The organized and experienced German workers have turned their backs with contempt upon the social demagogy of the anti-Semitic apostle of incitement, just as they have turned
down
his
chauvinism.
The masses and
came predominantly from the urban to him in greater swarms economic condition became, the more they saw
of his followers
rural middle classes,
the worse their
and they came
themselves betrayed by the Republic.
was the
movement;
Many
The
raging inflation of 1923
high-point in the development of the National Socialist
first
was the second. Nazi regime have drawn the conclusion on
the depth of the crisis of 1932
observers of the
the basis of the middle-class origin of
its
followers that the entire
regime has a middle-class character. They saw in fascism the victory of the middle classes, threatened with social annihilation, over the
workers
Big Business. Recently, however, most of them
as well as
—through the
have learned better
acts of
an unparalleled aggressive
imperiaHsm, through the economic degeneration of the "victorious"
middle capital
and through the powerful concentration of wealth and in Nazi Germany. It would not have needed the x:onquest of class,
Austria, Spain,
and Czechoslovakia
to recognize in National Social-
ism the new German ImperiaHsm. The entire history of National Socialism points to the forces which stood behind Hitler.
—at the Munich Putsch and at Hitler's Chancellor—they became clearly recognizable. occasions
On
two
appointment
as
HITLER
112
The Putsch
IS
NO FOOL
of igi^
After the overthrow of the Soviet RepubUc, Bavaria became the center of
German
reaction. All the conspirators against the
Weimar
Republic opened headquarters there. Bavaria teemed with
illegal
Rightist organizations, local vigilante groups,
and Freikorps— all
more
Among them
or less closely allied with the Reichswehr.
were
the Oberland (Upland), the Reichsflagge (Reich Flag), the Reichs-
War
kriegsflagge (Reich
Organization),
erich
Flag), the Organisation Escherich (Esch-
the
Wiking (Viking), the Bluecherbund und Reich (Bavaria and Reich),
(Bluecher League), the Bayern
and many Republic
among
others. All
the
were waiting
armed
he controlled a
political party.
now
an informer, but
it
Hermann
living
disposal. to the
unique position
higher
officer in the
now became
no
poUtician, as
Reichswehr, and the retired
Goering, an aviation
officers'
as
SA,
could, of course,
and well-known
officer
during the
War and
by shady business transactions, placed themselves
had connections
SA
Roehm
leader;
at his
introduced Hitler
The sub-corporal Armed Forces. He
corps of the Reichswehr.
high up as the Chief of the
socially eligible
previously closed to him.
tion the
a
understood his value as demagogue. Captain
Goering became the
Association,
The Reichswehr
a party leader
Ernst Roehm, an active
now
won
nationalist groups. Besides the semi-military
longer use Hitler,
Captain
for the opportunity to give the
death blow. Hitler had already
its
and received
He
and money began
invitations
from
circles
addressed the Bavarian Industrial to
come
in.
In the midst of the
infla-
Nazi Party acquired the Voelkjscher Beobachter, then an
independent nationalist weekly. Hitler has never given any accounting of the sources of his finances, not even to his party. That quantities
of foreign
French francs
money poured
—has
in to
him
—
dollars,
pounds,
lire,
been attested by witnesses in court. So,
even
too,
it
has been found that the party salaries of high Nazi functionaries
HOW
DID HITLER
COME TO POWER?
were paid during die
II3
inflation in Swiss francs.
Hitler's prestige as National Liberator.
never taken oifense at
The
None
of this hurt
possessing classes have
this type of international solidarity.
Ludendorff, the most famous general after Hindenburg, formed
an
with the sub-corporal and brought him additional
alliance
As
prestige.
early as ,1923 Hitler
was regarded by Reaction
Bavaria and beyond as the coming man, the one
who would
in
cleanse
democratic Berlin, the "Prussian pigsty."
His party was growing; Reichswehr arms were the SA.
The
new wave trembled
at the disposal of
Ruhr district loosed a The Government in Berlin
entry of French troops into the
of nationalistic
at the political
lapsing currency,
now
less
passion.
and economic consequences of the
col-
sure than ever of the sphinx-like Reichs-
wehr.
The Bavarian Government only: von Kahr,
upon
whom
consisted at that time of one
man
supreme emergency powers had been
von Lossow, Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr in Bavaria and Colonel von Seisser, Commissioner of the Bavarian Police. This trio was busied conferred. His chief collaborators were General
with preparations for a coup
d' etat of
its
own
against the Republic.
them and gave his word of honor that he would not strike independently, but would wait for the command of the Government. Seisser, for his part, tried to come to an understanding with the Supreme Chief of the Reichswehr in Berlin, General von Seeckt, who, however, would not commit himself. Von Lossow also hesitated. Before he undertook the treacherous venture, he wanted to be 51 per cent sure that it would be a go. Hitler urged; he sent Ludendorff to Lossow; he himself dealt with von Kahr; he was impatient. Police President Poehner was on his side; his SA stood ready; Ludendorff would march at the head of the Putschists. After a conference with the Bavarian Government, on Hitler negotiated with
November
6,
1923, in
which von Kahr opposed immediate
action.
HITLER
114 Hitler determined to act for himself,
He
honor.
word
NO FOOL
IS
no word of
of honor or
was suddenly afraid diat the high and mighty revolu-
him down. They had needed him to now they wanted to yield him no share in the spoils. So, on the evening of November 8, with the SA under Goering's command, he burst into a meeting of Munich were plotting
tionists
drum
to let
the masses together, but
upper-class people that
and
had been
called
by a leading businessman,
which Herr von Kahr was about
at
to
the Republic. Revolver in hand. Hitler Leisser into an
anteroom and implored them
They promised, were
New
After the
with Hitler
Armed
freed,
and
and Kahr
as
left
a speech against
and
to support his Putsch.
the meeting.
Government had been announced
Provisional
as political leader,
Forces,
make
led Kahr, Lossow,
Ludendorff
Chief of the
as
German
Governor of Bavaria, and while Hitler
was passing the night in the beer progress of the "Revolution,"
hall waiting nervously for the
Kahr and
his aides betrayed
him and
declared his party dissolved.
Confused and desperate because of conflicting reports about the attitude
of
his
allies,
"Triumphal March"
he
nevertheless
to start the next
ordered
sand National SociaHsts, with Hitler and Ludendorff
were stopped by a few policemen, to their
surprise— with
gone on the
Among
bullets.
first
The Fuehrer
fled.
the sixteen dead
who
fell
No
Putsch had
before the Feldherrnhalle were:
two craftsmen, a
bank
butler,
officials,
three engi-
and a head waiter.
of casualties gives a true cross-section of the social composi-
tion of Hitler's party. Industrial workers there
is its
The
—much
rocks.
neers, four salesmen, list
at the head,
with warnings, then
a judge, a retired captain of cavalry, three
The
scheduled
the
morning. But the two thou-
less
were none.
informative than the history of the origin of the Putsch
legal aftermath.
The
Berlin
Government found
in bringing action against Hitler.
Any
great difficulty
idea of punishing Luden-
HOW
DID HITLER
dorfl,
who had
COME TO POWER?
also
II5
Kapp Putsch, was minimum punishment o£ five
been involved in the
the question. There was a
out o£ years*
honorary imprisonment for high treason, but the Bavarian judges
would be wiUing
declared that they i£
the Reich
to pass sentence
Government pardoned him
after six
on Hitler only
months.
The Gov-
ernment promised.
many have wondered why a man, convicted of high man who had sacrificed sixteen lives in his attempt to
Perhaps treason
—a
—was
permitted to con-
tinue his political activities in prison by writing
Mein Kampf. The
overthrow the Republic by force of arms
writing of this book was, however, only one of the prisoner's
With
activities.
he received
who
political friends
reconstruction of the outlawed
The
raphy.
furnished
The
how he twice visited Hitler in him a new nationalistic military
sort of reading matter
prisoner,
in the
is,
months,
acted
He
had
Germany.
most of the time in Stairs
his first
be
sure,
Thus it
the
Weimar way
dealt in this
from "only the most honorable
who had
interests.
been a leading figure
Route
to stay in jail for the
to
strict solitary
and
last
demo-
whole sentence,
five
confinement.
Power
Hider, the politician, has learned
was
and fellow-
Soviet RepubHc, did not find any clemency in
years,
The Bac\
promised.
To
not selfishly but for the vested
cratic
It
as
poet and writer, Ernst Toller,
Munich
his political friend
as his private secretary. Besides all this,
arch-enemy.
who had
traitor
motives," that
its
free
were uncensored; he could get any
he wished; and
after six
Republic dealt with
The
his letters
Rudolf Hess, acted
he was pardoned
with a
had the use of two rooms; he was
prisoner
go about the town;
reports of the
in his autobiog-
tells
Landsberg and discussed with
to
him with
movement. Roehm,
Story of a Traitor,
organization.
many
the full knowledge and consent of the authorities
much from
the
Munich
Putsch.
attempt to gain poUticai power by an armed
HITLER
Il6
From now on he
uprising.
game and
will
keep to the democratic rules of the
practice high treason only
and
the great industrialists
NO FOOL
IS
on a
strictly legal basis, like
the generals of the Reichswehr.
Republic cannot under such circumstances suppress his party.
The Time
him. The dollar-sun which rose over Germany
after
the stabilization of her currency will shine but a short time.
The
will
work
for
Versailles Treaty, the
World War, istic
about Germany's sole responsibility for the
lie
the burden of reparations, offer material for national-
agitation for a long time to come.
for the
when
moment, have no
special use for
they need him. For he has
The
great capitalists
him, will turn
drawn
to
who,
him again
this lesson, too,
from
his
He can count on "the best people" only so long as they need him. He must play politics in such a way that he is indispensable to them. No danger will threaten him from the pitiful
Putsch experiences
Weimar Republic he need
The
:
so long as the workers, the only real strength that
each other's throats.
fear, are at
reconstruction of the
go by (1924-28) before the
Munich
defeat.
it
Nazi Party was
difficult.
Four
years
has overcome the worst consequences of
The economic
recovery of
Germany and
the
period of the Briand-Stresemann rapprochement were not a cHmate favorable for chauvinist revenge. Internal party dissension used a great deal of energy. In the elections of
May,
1928, the
Nazis
up
won
only 12 seats out of 465 in the Reichstag. (The Social Democrats
won
Communists 54 seats.) But the fact must not be overlooked that in 1928 the party was more firmly behind Hitler than was the old immature movement 153, the
of 1923. His authority as leader
was now uncontested. The
Frei-
korps had either come under his banner or simply disappeared
from
political life.
He
had found a group of able Heutenants. One
of them,
young Joseph Goebbels, an ambitious but unsuccessful
scribbler,
second only to Hitler in demagogy and oratory, was put
in charge of
the
Berlin district.
Then
there
were the brothers
HOW
COME TO POWER?
DID HITLER
Gregor and Otto
Strasser,
II7
who had been
fled the
was no longer that
country after the Putsch, returned,
in danger,
he had made
Roehm
post as
left his
now
that he
and brought Hitler valuable connections
Sweden and
in
up
North Germany. Goering,
the party organization, particularly in
who had
successful in building
Army
Italy. Later, at Hitler's request,
Instructor in Bolivia,
which he had
accepted in disappointment over the course of events after the
came back
Putsch, and
to take over the
financial status of the party
had
also
command
improved.
of die
Two
and most powerful industrial kings of the Ruhr and Thyssen, were now among his patrons.
SA. The
of the richest
district,
Kirdorf
In the middle of 1929 came the second great chance of Hitler's life.
Exactly ten years before, the Bavarian Reichswehr had dis-
covered
him
an anti-Semitic propagandist.
as
was repeated,
Now
advancement
time in the sphere of big poHtics. This time
this
it
who appreciated his quaUties as demagogue, but the focal point of German monopoly capitalism itself. Dr. Alfred Hugenberg, the leader of the German Nationalist was not
few reactionary
just a
officers
Party and one of the Titans of heavy industry, brought Hitler into his orbit.
As one
German League,
most
of the
the continuation of the
War
until the
and
new
lines of resistance for
suffer a defeat.
even while
Looking
German
far
were
had forced
people had been
War
he had begun to
German
ahead he began
soldiers
of the Pan-
German
bled white. But even before the end of the
prepare
members
imperialist
influential
this arch-reactionary
still
Imperialism, should to
losing their lives for
Peace without Victory." In the inflation he acquired
means
it
buy up newspapers
all
"No
of the
of forming public opinion that he could lay his hands on:
newspapers, weeklies, monthlies, film corporations, advertising and
had built up the most powerGermany. In his hatred of democbe outdone even by Hitler. But though he had
distributing agencies; in ten years he ful
propaganda apparatus in
racy he
was not
to
all
HITLER
Il8
command
means
of incomparably greater
and though
opinion,
for
NO FOOL
IS
fabricating public
his influence as leader of the
German NationRuhr
Party reached from the manufacturing plants in the
alist
district
activities class.
Junker
to the
was
This
limited.
estates in the East, his sphere of political
He
could mold only the politics of his
sly little reactionary
He
in motion.
own
to set the masses
did not have the political passion of a Hitler; and
he was too well lectuals as the
was not the man
known
to workers, peasants, artisans,
and
intel-
symbol of the reactionary rich of Germany. Hugen-
berg as friend of the workers? Hugenberg posing as a democrat, to say nothing of a sociaHst? Everyone
The
would have laughed!
opportunity which put the idea of a political alliance with
Hitler into Hugenberg's head
came during
the struggle of the reac-
Young Plan and against Stresemann's conciliatory policy toward France. The extreme Right wished to organize a mass movement against the acceptance of the Plan which, for the tionaries against the
first
time,
tions. this
was
The
to
determine the amount of Germany's war repara-
reactionaries
needed the great
purpose. But the fight against the
nationalistic
drummer
Young Plan was
for
actually
only the occasion, not the inner cause, of the alliance between
Hugenberg and cated that a
new
Hitler.
That such an
Nazis had been entered upon.
had
lost its
One
alliance
was made
at all indi-
era of co-operation between Big Business
The
and the
socialism of this workers' party
horrors for capitalism.
should not, however, imagine that the relationship between
Hider and Hugenberg was a simple one. Their union was not based on love alone. These two partners distrusted each other and each hoped somehow
to deceive the other. Intrigues
and maneuverings
were carried on without end. Monopoly capitalism, the impelling force of imperialism, needed for the
moment
Hitler's masses of
loyal adherents in order to liquidate the social gains of the Republic, to shatter the labor unions, to carry
on rearmament, and
to
break
HOW
DID HITLER
COME TO POWER?
II9
the bonds of the Versailles Treaty;
monopoly
capital for
its
money,
this respect the interests of
and of ever,
and
perfectly well that after the Republic
classes
and
was a
political,
called,
whether
it
it
would be an
haps a monarchy police
would be
for long years the
and
social,
"National Rebirth" of Germany.
might be
One
affair
tempo,
cultural content of the
thing was clear
Whatever
:
it
was not
yet certain
old-style military dictatorship,
with per-
a dictatorship.
as decoration
—or
But
SA and SS would
and the Stahlhelm^'^ or the
Nazi bureaucracy would have
at
be the
or a
civil servants
control of the
would aim
it
fascism; whether the Prussian
instruments of the terror; whether the old
the economic poHcy
them would
power within the ruhng
fight for
outcome would determine
its
and the
the form,
and
had been crushed
was not merely a personal
carry out the program. This it
trade,
by inspiration, were one. Both, how-
they would have to settle with each other as to which of
between two individuals;
power. In
political
Hugenberg, the imperialist by
Hitler, the imperialist
knew
Hitler for his part needed
influence,
new
Government; whether
world commerce or
self-suffi-
ciency; whether an independent or co-ordinated Christian church
would enjoy governmental backing; whether the racial issue would whether it would be made the core of the new ideology
exist at all or
—
of the State
all this
would depend upon whether Hugenberg and
the forces represented by him, or whether Hitler
would
gain the upper hand.
finally
It is
democracy, the workers' movement, the
would
disappear.
exploitation.
last
and
his party,
true that in either case
remnants of
civil liberty
There would be no further organized opposition
Germany would be transformed into
to
a gigantic barracks.
Nevertheless the interests of the two partners were not identical. Hitler
knew
only too well that the
lowing, he was done
card and
sell
for.
He
moment he
was much too
lost his
mass
fol-
clever to waste his best
himself unconditionally to Hugenberg.
He
reserved
for himself complete political freedom of action. In the course of
HITLER
120
IS
NO FOOL
three years, the "National Front" between Big Business
Nazis went
to pieces
sensed any danger of being dropped by his powerful his salvation in a ruthless attack
to use the
on them.
He
propaganda apparatus that he had
funds for bombarding "the
talists'
traitors," "the
and the
on more than one occasion. Whenever Hitler
built
up with the
capi-
people,"
"the
register
social
he saw
allies,
did not then hesitate
moneybags," and "the country-club reactionaries." In
demagogy he was unhampered by any direct identification with the owning classes. His masses of adherents were the only asset he could trade on. He had to keep them under all circum-
his social
stances. It
was therefore necessary
classes as the
who
middle
to appear to the
who was
not the tool of any
fought only for the welfare of the great
sham
In this
him always
one and only unselfish servant of the nation,
national revolutionist
but
for
as the
class interests,
German
people.
front against Big Business lay one of the reasons
why
the liaison with Reaction did not cost the Nazis the sympathies of the lower middle class. "See
would
agitators
how
he
tells
them
the truth," Hitler's
say triumphantly in their meetings.
"When
power, the rich people can't walk over you as they do in
he
this
is
in
Jew
Republic."
One had
other observation occurs at this point.
utterly disappointed the
class,
once
it
became
hopes placed in
clear that the Social
of the fight for a socialist
Germany
Once it
Social
Democracy
by the lower middle
Democrats were making
a miserable horse-trade,
and
that
they were losing one position after another to the old reactionary forces, the alliance
with these forces no longer harmed the prestige
of the "revolutionist" Hitler. tion. It
It
even enhanced his power of
gave the "son of the people" the attributes of decency and
legitimacy as well as poHtical prestige.
SA
attrac-
and SS, of
aries, of
dissipation
Rumors
of murders by the
and immorality of high Nazi function-
plans for wholesale assassinations, seemed to be without
HOW
DID HITLER
foundation
COME TO POWER? German
the guardians of
if
121
morals, the generals, the
church dignitaries, and the respectable women's clubs considered
him
socially acceptable
man
generation has never been able to part entirely with
illusions of the
the
politically trustworthy.
enough trump cards
couldn't lose by
it.
Moreover,
had not forgotten the
The campaign
older Gerits
fond
the world.
it
was the only way he could win.
bitter lessons of the
against the
with Hugenberg.
to risk a tie-up
Young Plan
Munich
its
Putsch.
but the National
failed,
Front remained in existence and continued parties
The
good old days when everyone could find work and
German name was honored throughout
Hitler held
He He
and
attacks
upon those
which had turned Germany into a "Young-Colony." The
Plan provided a superabundance of material for agitation. Germany
was
to
treason!
pay reparations for more than
Not only you but your
fifty years.
children
"National high
and your grandchildren
have been enslaved," raged the unleashed Hugenberg-Hitler propaganda. By auto, radio, airplane, the struggle was carried into the remotest village. Finally, the coffers of
High Finance were com-
pletely at the disposal of the Hitler organization.
Now
the Nazis
could demonstrate what modern demagogy was able to achieve. In a single year sixty National Socialist newspapers
The
appeared on the market.
functionaries
and
periodicals
of the party,
who
formerly for the most part had served without pay, became full-time employees. Their financial dependence upon the party leadership strengthened the Leader-Principle more than anything
Thus
it
is
else.
not surprising that Hitler's alliance with the most
powerful and reactionary Big Business groups harmed him but little,
even within his party.
took place. Otto Strasser,
It is
true that a series of
who had
minor mutinies
once been a Social Democrat,
dared to point out the dangers of the political course and to say
something about treason against sociaHsm. Without Hitler threw
him and
his small
group out of the
party.
much
A
ado.
revolt in
— HITLER
122 the Berlin
SA, which forced
way
its
also successfully
NO FOOL Head-
into Goebbels' Party
quarters and smashed everything to bits
found— Hitler
IS
—Goebbels
put down.
He
was not
to
be
had the money; he
had the power.
The
NSDAP now grew with lightning
influence of the
the elections of September 800,000 votes of 1928
—6,500,000
Reichstag instead of
12.
1930,
14,
and
it
received
speed.
—instead
At
of the
sent 117 representatives to the
In an unparalleled sweep
it
became the
second largest party in Germany. Only Social Democracy with 8,500,000 votes
The
and 143
was
seats
still
numerically stronger.
show that it was definitely not to the industrial workers that Hitler owed this victory. The combined vote of the Social Democrats and Communists had increased. A loss of 600,000 Social Democrat votes was more than offset by an increase of 1,400,000 Communist votes. "Marxism" had not been smashed, but the center parties had suffered heavy losses. The new Nazi voters were bolters from the moderate center parties and election results of 1930
who had
people
never voted before.
How political
minded
the entire
population had become can be seen from the ratio between the actual
and the
to vote
went
eligible voters.
Eighty-two per cent of those qualified
to the polls.
Most important among the reasons for Hitler's gains was the crisis which began at the end of 1929. Propaganda and demagogy alone do not suffice even with the heaviest financing
economic
—
to explain the Nazis'
prepared crisis its
soil
phenomenal growth. For
and the right
political climate
shook the economic and
very
foundations.
that
an especially
were necessary. The
political structure of the
Unemployment rose to over The Government's
Foreign credits were withdrawn.
Republic to six
million.
vaults
were
empty; Government authority was rapidly vanishing. Bruening, appointed Chancellor under pressure of Reichswehr-General von Schleicher, did his best to destroy the last vestiges of democracy
and
HOW
COME TO POWER?
DID HITLER
I23
the people's confidence in the Republic.
Soon he reigned without
which lowered
the Reichstag by emergency decrees
salaries, raised
consumers' taxes, and decreased the already miserable unemploy-
ment
relief allowances.
In the eyes of the masses Bruening became
the Chancellor of Hunger.
The Republic intellectuals,
down
has sold you
hammered
National SociaHsts
at the
Day by day
the river!
unemployed,
at the
the
at the despairing
peasants ruined by bottomless prices, at the
small businessmen suffering from the drop in the consumer's pur-
chasing power.
Among policies
the workers dissatisfaction with the Social Democratic
became more and more
had degenerated
party
into
Bruening was lost
all
The
"socialism" of this
complete opportunism. For
Bruening's Emergency Decrees
had
noticeable.
it
all
the "lesser evil" for the Social Democrats.
still
fighting spirit.
their
of
took the political responsibility.
The Communists,
to
They
be sure,
increased their influence, but, confined to a sectarian poHcy, they did
not succeed in gaining the confidence requisite to launching a great united It
is
movement
1930 to 1933.
can
against Hitler
and Reaction.
not necessary to trace in detail the fast-moving events of It
has been done in innumerable books. If anything
democratic forces against the
illustrate the helplessness of the
assault of their enemies,
eighty-four-year-old
it
is
the fact that in the person of the
von Hindenburg, Imperial
Reichs-President
Field Marshal and descendant of a Junker family, the Republic saw its last
The story.
means of
salvation.
internal poHtical history of this period reads like a pulp
Intrigues
and counter-intrigues
pended upon winning Hindenburg's racy
had passed
alternated;
favor.
The
everything de-
fate of the
into the hands of a poHtical gang,
Democ-
headed by
Colonel Oscar von Hindenburg, the President's son, and by Dr. Meissner, Secretary of the Presidency.
HITLER
124
Bruening push
confidence of the Junkers
lost the
program, intended
a resettlement
to
NO FOOL
IS
when he attempted
to
overcome the agricultural
by breaking up some of the huge landholdings in Eastern Germany. Schleicher found the right successor in the retired
crisis
Cavalry Captain Franz von Papen, who, as military attache in Washington during the War, had become notorious in connection with the German dynamiting of American munition plants. His
good manners which
pohtical quahfications consisted of his
vated the aged President.
Rhenish tiously
he contributed his share
excellent
capti-
a family of big
connections.
Conscien-
downfall of the Republic. In
to the
he unconstitutionally ousted the Prussian Government,
thus annihilating the
prop of the Social Democrats. Von Papen who recommended Hitler to Hindenburg the most critical moment of their existence.
last
go-between
also the
and saved the Nazis
Out
and had
industrialists
July, 1932,
was
Von Papen came from
at
—
what motives he acted whether out of revenge upon Schleicher who had made him Chancellor only to let him down, or of
whether in the hope of using Hitler does
room
it
A
matter.
and
plots,
democracy
in
as his
democracy ruled by
financial scandals,
which
millions
is
of
tool— it
is
not clear nor
intrigues, tricks,
already on
organized
its
drawing-
deathbed.
workers
look
A on
paralyzed while a small clique in the palace of an old Imperial
General decides their future, After
von Papen's
maker," had to
fall.
exists
He
a rule of the
oration" with the labor unions the Nazis.
Thus he hoped
rule without Hitler.
"the
Chancellor-
in a last effort
with the idea of establishing a kind
flirted
—
of military dictatorship
Schleicher,
Government himself
to take over the
keep Hitler out.
only on paper.
General
Army
supported by a "collab-
and by the Gregor
to get a base
Strasser
broad enough
,for
wing him
of to
But the clique around Hindenburg persuaded
the Reichs-President that of cratic Prussian family,
was
all
a
people Schleicher, scion of an aristo-
dangerous innovator. Schleicher, Hke
HOW
COME TO POWER T
DID HITLER
Bruening before him,
fell as
I25
victim of the Junkers.
He
tripped over
Help Swindle. Hundreds improvement of small-scale agri-
the plan of exposing the so-called Eastern of millions appropriated for the
Germany had found its way into the pockets The small farmers got nothing like their
culture in East
big landowners.
of the share.
Schleicher had the documentary proof of the swindle and threat-
ened
to publish
it.
But the Junkers would not
ence with their sacred rights to the
They had
the ear of the Reichs-President.
A
had presented him with the former family burgs, lost long ago by the family
provided by Big Business. This
any
interfer-
taxpayers'
money.
tolerate
German
short time before they estate of the
Hinden-
and bought back now with funds token of affection could not
little
but enhance the President's feelings for the plight of the harassed Junkers. Schleicher's attack prietors
and
upon
the privileges of the landed pro-
with the labor unions were for
his suspicious dealings
Hindenburg "Bolshevism." Schleicher had eral," as the
Nazis called him,
political intrigue.
Bruening last
was
certainly
no
was
The
clear!
The National
President of the Reich
assured Gregor Strasser: "I give you
General that
I
cellor of the
German
30, 1933,
To
will never
Reich!"
—
"Office
Gen-
in rapid succession!
Socialist
At
"Revolution" could
—who one month before had
my word
of honor as Prussian
Bohemian sub-corporal Channow summoned Hitler on January this
and entrusted him with the formation of the Government.
assess
the role
assigned to Hitler,
it is
and circumstance of
moment
make
The
a brilliant expert of
fighter.
—Papen—Schleicher—consumed
the road
take over.
He
to go.
may have been
which Big Business and the Junkers had well to examine more closely the exact time
his "seizure of
power." Until the very
the ruling class wavered. It turned over the
not joyfully but with hesitation. For a while
it
last
Government
had hoped
that
von
Papen, one of them by birth and education, could handle the job of destroying the Republic.
While Papen was Chancellor, Big Busi-
HITLER
126
The
ness subsidies to the Nazis shrank.
became
NO FOOL imme-
visible
In the July elections of 1932, the Nazis reached their
diately.
maximum theless,
effect
IS
of 13,700,000 votes
Hindenburg refused
and 230
Never-
seats in the Reichstag.
to give Hitler the portfolio of
Chan-
to him as the leader of the make him only Vice-Chancellor under Papen. Three months later, at the November election, the
cellor,
which ordinarily would have gone
strongest party.
Nazis
lost
He
wanted
two million
votes
to
and
thirty-four seats in the Reichstag.
The Hitler Party suffered a tremendous loss in prestige when all of Germany looked on as the "Revolutionist" with the strongest party behind him was twice summoned by Hindenburg and twice left without the Chancellorship. The
On
turning point seemed to have come.
this occasion
forces
no revolutionary shouting could hide the
behind the scenes were deciding whether
was
what conditions the sub-corporal
to
at all
govern.
fact that
or under
The
party,
triumphant but a few short weeks before, began to crack up.
propaganda machine
ate
which could no longer be
up an endless amount of money
raised by wealthy individual friends, but
only by Big Business organizations. Hitler was
If
they did not continue to pay,
lost.
My
In Goebbels' diary. entries for the
Deep
Its
—sums
Part in Germany's Fight,^^ the following
December days
of 1932 are to be found:
depression throughout the organization.
One
feels so
worn out
one longs for nothing but a few weeks' escape from the whole business. 'Phone
call
from Dr. Ley [Leader of the German Labor Front]: The
situation in the party
The
Christmas reigns in the life.
getting worse
is
from hour
to hour.
year 1932 has brought us eternal ill-luck. Outside the peace of
The
past
was
alone, pondering over
my
and the future looks dark and gloomy;
all
streets. I
sad,
am
at
home,
chances and hopes have quite disappeared.
For hours, is
the Leader paces
obvious that he
is
up and down
thinking very hard.
He
the is
room
in the hotel. It
embittered and deeply
HOW
DID HITLER
wounded by
COME TO POWER?
this unfaithfulness
127
Gregor Strasser
[of
who was
gone over to Schleicher]. Suddenly he stops and
to have
party once
to pieces,
falls
shall shoot
I
reported
says: "If the
myself without more ado."
A
dreadful threat, and most depressing.
Goebbels
calls
the financial situation in
and
ebbtide, debts
December
and on top of
obligations,
impossibility, after this defeat, of digging
hopeless. this,
all
up money
"Only
complete
in large
sums
anywhere."
mood
This was the
one month before rescue
was the
it
of the party
came
to
and
power.
its
highest leaders exactly
The man who came
irrepressible retired cavalry captain,
to
von Papen.
its
He
arranged a secret meeting between the desperate Fuehrer and the
man
Cologne banker von Schroeder, a
in the close confidence of the
big industrialists of the Rhine and Ruhr.
made
bels
A
few, days
later
Goeb-
the following entry in his diary: "Finances have very
suddenly changed for the better."
When try
the
money began
had decided
tions
to
to flow again,
it
meant
with the unions and whose "bolshevist economics" had made
him suspect. The Schroeder Bank had
excellent connections with the "City,"
London's financial center. English influences
much
may have
played a
greater role in Hitler's appointment than the world knows.
two most
Schleicher and Hammerstein, the the Reichswehr, were
known
"Eastward-Orientation," toward
A
that heavy indus-
back Hitler against Schleicher, whose negotia-
to
influential generals of
be favorably disposed toward
making a bid
for Soviet friendship.
highly dangerous course for England. In a paid drummer,
Finance, Industry, and Landowners beUeved they had a reliable
more
agent than in military dictators with "national-bolshevist"
leanings.
One
of the methods
deserves
some
which won
attention because
it
for Hitler the Junkers' confidence illustrates so
well his social dema-
:
IS
NO FOOL
the twenty-five Points of the "unalterable"
Program
HITLER
128
gogy.
Among
of the National Socialists, there
is,
as already pointed out,
has to do with landownership reforms. fessed to be the party of the
A
political party
one which
which pro-
working people naturally could not
ignore the- fact that with more than 5,000,000 agricultural units in
Germany,
owned more than 37 per cent of does not have to be a Bolshevik to consider
34,000 big landowners
One
the total acreage.
unhealthy such an enormous concentration of ownership, which to
a great degree Bulgaria,
slovakia,
is
remnant of the
a
Czecho-
feudalistic past.
Rumania, Hungary, Poland, and the
Baltic
border states have, since the War, been forced to undertake a more or less serious redivision of the land.
Land-reform was part of the
program of every German party which wanted
to be considered
progressive.
We
demand
a land-reform to
meet our national requirements; the
enactment of a law to expropriate without indemnity land for the
common
welfare; the abolishment of land taxes;
and the prevention of
speculation in land.
Thus we read But
agrarians,
Nazi
in the unalterable
as early as
was able
fairy story.
1928 the Deutsche Zeitung, organ of the big to publish
an
official
announcement by Hitler
In the light of the mendacious interpretations made by our enemies of the
Program
Since the
of the
NSDAP
NSDAP,
the following statement
is
necessary:
recognizes the principle of private property,
it
is self-
evident that the phrase "expropriate without indemnity" can refer only to the creation of legal
of the
to expropriate,
possibilities
which was not acquired lawfully or
commonweal. This,
is
therefore,
if
necessary, land
not administered in the interests is
directed primarily against the
Jewish land-speculation companies.
Thus
a social
demand, however vague, has been turned
anti-Semitic issue.
With
into an
unfailing class instinct Hitler has always
HOW
DID HITLER
COME TO POWER?
I29
considered private property in the means of production to be sacred,
has always warned the members of his
movement
they sympa-
lest
thize with the Marxist brand of Socialism.
In the discussion which preceded the expulsion of Otto Strasser,
he refuted
Strasser's
Don't you
and
circuses;
able to count tion of a
any
Socialism":
the great mass of workers wants nothing but bread
see,
We We
will never be
any extent.
you
are,
motivated by
has no understanding for any ideals.
it
on winning the workers
new
class of
masters
who
to
are not, as
on compassion, but who
ethics based
on grounds
"German
want
a selec-
are absolutely convinced that
of superiority of race they have the right to rule,
and who
can ruthlessly uphold and maintain this mastery over the broad masses.^^
This language the Junkers and big industriaHsts understood better than the eternal chatter of reforms
Another
factor
—the
and
socialism.
threatening changes in the development of
the Social Democratic and
Communist
Parties
—must
have exerted
upon come to power. From Communists gained 1,400,000 votes which to a great degree came from former Social Democrats. Compared with 1928 the number of Communist voters was almost doubled. With 6,000,000 votes it became the third strongest party in Germany and was well on the way to overtaking the Social Democrats. some
the decision to let Hitler
influence
1930 to 1932 the
Social
Democracy
fusion, the
in decline, the Hitler-mobilized masses in con-
Communists gaining
—such
a situation could not con-
tinue. In the next crisis millions of Social
might go over
to the
Democrats and
Hitlerites
Communists. Three years of hunger, unem-
ployment, despair, and boundless demagogy had heaped up an
enormous amount of prevented by
all
political
means.
Now
it
But not without guarantees.
dynamite.
was
To
A
landslide
had
to
be
Hitler's turn.
the very
end the ruling
classes
could not free themselves from the thought that Hitler was unpre-
HITLER
130
—^and
dictable— not a gentleman like themselves
NO FOOL
IS
dangerous
that
elements were concealed in his movement. So they surrounded
with
a
favorite
cordon
of
dependable,
him
men. Hindenburg's
trustworthy
Roehm
von Papen was made Vice-Chancellor. Not
or Goer-
ing, but the Prussian General von Blomberg got the Reichswehr
von Neurath, a
Ministry. Neither Rosenberg nor Ribbentrop, but professional diplomat of the old school, Office.
berg.
moved
The Ministry of Commerce was safe in The Stahlhelm leader Seldte became
into the Foreign
the hands of
Minister
HugenLabor.
of
The Treasury was taken care of by Count Schwerin-Krosigk. To make it foolproof, Hindenburg let it be understood that no changes could be undertaken in the Cabinet without his personal consent.
We
have him on a leash! So thought the Hugenberg crowd, the
Reichswehr bureaucracy, the landed
He
can
move
in
the Democracy.
one direction only
One month
families, the Reichs-President.
—against the Left,
later the
the workers,
Reichstag burned.
The
terror
began.
Today
it
looks as though the leash has not withstood the strain.
Hindenburg
is
dead
—even
his testament the
to their advantage; Schleicher
and Gregor
Nazis have
falsified
have been mur-
Strasser
dered by Hider; von Papen escaped the same fate by a hair's breadth.
Neurath was squeezed out of the Foreign
Office
by Ribbentrop. In
Hugenberg's Ministry of Commerce reigns Funk, Hitler's economic adviser.
The Commander-in-Chief
with Goering
made
at his side as
of the
armed
forces
is
by Goebbels, the despised Mephisto of the Third Reich.
be sure, Franz Seldte, the former Stahlhelm leader,
still
Ministry of Labor, and Count Schwerin-Krosigk
now,
Tax
Hitler,
Chief of the Air Force. Propaganda
Collector in the Ministry of Finance.
The one
prived of his steel helmets without which he
ment.
The
other
tries
is
haunts the as before,
has been de-
not even an adorn-
desperately to give the less
financial structure of the
is
is
To
and
less
orthodox
Third Reich some appearance of
solidity.
HOW It
and its
DID HITLER
COME TO POWER?
^3^
the Hne, that he seems that Hitler has conquered right down is to regain Imperialism no other will determine how German
Place in the Sun.
He
and no odier?
FOUR
How
"The
Does Hitler Carry Out His Program?
movement depends upon
future of a
the intolerance, with true one,
and carry
which it
its
the fanaticism, yea
followers represent
it
as the only
through, despite other similar move-
ments."
Mein Kampf Savior of Civilization
Of
T
his idol, Karl Lueger, Hitler says admiringly that he under-
"how to make use of all the already existing means of power, make existing powerful institutions favorably disposed toward him and to draw from such old sources of strength the greatest stood
to
own movement."
possible use for his six years of his
to heart the teachings of his master.
might seem
Hitler's road to
Government show how well
at times as
To
the superficial observer
though Hitler, Hke a
lenging the whole world at once. Actually, he
who
prepares and times his actions at
care.
Two
flict
weapons whose
of our age help
Germany
him
power and
the pupil has taken
mad is
bull,
were chal-
shrewd
a
tactician
home and abroad with
effectiveness
grows out of the
in a singular
as well as outside.
manner
The
it
great
social con-
to attain his vicis
the spectre of
"Bolshevism" has become one of the most misused
political catch-
tories in
first
Bolshevism.
132
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
words o£ our time.
comes from the history of the Russian labor
It
movement. "Bolsheviki" was the name given the left
they
wing
won
word
was
by the Bolsheviki, and
led
meaning
history of the
first
and
which
term "Bolshevism"
State, the
friends of the
construction.
up images
calls
name
to
has taken
To
adversaries
its
represents,
Third International, the sum
only successful theory and practice of
total of the
tion
which united
parties
International, the
over the world. Inseparably bound to the
all
Workers'
and
to the followers
is
since their revolutionary
by those workers'
form the Third (Communist) political
(Boh he
for more.) Since the Russian October Revolution
principles are recognized
on a
to the followers of
of Russian Social Democracy, led by Lenin, because
the majority of votes at a Party Convention.
the Russian of 1917
I33
it
of willful lawlessness
socialist revolu-
a symbol of terror
is
and general chaos.
All serious observers are united in the beUef that in 1932 there
Communist
was hardly a chance
for a
reasons are already
known
the lower middle class
revolution in
The working
to us.
had turned away from
securely in the hands of reactionary officers.
it;
Germany. The was split;
class
the
Army was
The upper middle
and Junkers were in no way intimidated, but rather on the sive against the Republic.
of Hitler's
most powerful
And
yet the fear of Bolshevism
necessities of
as a result of
man
was one
aides.
Throughout the world capitalism has reached and nervousness
class
offen-
its
a state of irritability
obvious failure to supply the vital
without disastrous
crises
has remained of the proud conviction of
its
and
collapses.
Not much
youth that through free
competition the ever-increasing welfare of humanity was guaranteed.
There
is
no
intelligent capitalist
governments must intercede in
who
their nations'
does not realize that
economic
life
in order
to alleviate the devastating effects of depressions, the chronic un-
employment of
millions, the pauperization of the
the plight of the intellectuals.
The
middle
class,
and
representatives of "rugged indi-
— HITLER
134
vidualism" are gradually dying
IS
NO FOOL
But reactionary groups have
off.
moment given up the struggle against reform measures, even though they may acknowledge them to be necessary. If govnot for one
ernment has
to
inaugurate reforms, then
own government. They themselves want and who is to give, and they want to have
it
should be
to decide
at least their
who
is
to receive
be assured that they will
to give as little as possible.
In
all
progressive legislation—be
the protection of youth, the
it
most modest agrarian reform, or a more humane penal code they see an attack upon their world, their morals, their possessions.
When
in
America a democratic President
is
called a
Com-
munist because he supports rehef for the unemployed, govern-
ment help for the farmers, or Labor's right to organize, one can imagine what role the Red herring, the scare of Communism and Bolshevism, must have played in a country like Germany, over which the shadow of a social revolution had already passed. As the Savior from Bolshevism, Hitler was certain of the wholehearted support of Big Business. In January, 1932, a year before he
was entrusted with the Government, he of Western
Even
if
Germany
there are
Germany today who assert that we National work they are mistaken! If it would be no more Germany, no bourgeoisie! The
many
question Bolshevism or ago!
Take
in
—
no Bolshevism would have been decided long
the weight of our gigantic organization off the scales of
national events
would
magnates
in Duesseldorf:
Socialists are incapable of constructive
were not for us there
told the industrial
and you
will see that without us, even today Bolshevism
tip the scales.^^
For the master of the
art of
propaganda and demagogy,
was and God-
it
easy to give such a horrifying picture of a Godless, starving,
enslaved Soviet Russia that fearing Protestants
and
many
Catholics,
of the peasants, of the
were ready
to
throw themselves
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
into the
arms of anyone
similar fate.
With
who promised
to protect
the spectre of Bolshevism Hitler
between the workers and the lower middle
Above
all,
as
I35
them from
made
classes
a
the breach
wider.
still
"Bulwark against Bolshevism" he succeeded
in gain-
ing the backing of great sections of the Christian churches.
Those who beHeve thing from as the
went
in appeasing fascism
German
Nazis had crippled
after all their other
had warned against
might have learned some-
their chief
enemy, organized
opponents in turn. In Mein
the Government-inspired campaign against
sacred. Otherwise
and
Kampf
Hitler
he should not be a
if
think
judgment on a church
fair to pass
Kampf, CathoHcism: "To the
institutions of his people
become a reformer, it
labor, they
a repetition of the Bismarckian Kultur
political leader, the religious doctrines
must be
As soon
domestic developments since 1933.
he has the
politician
stuff for it."
He
but should
did not then
as such, "if
once in a
while a degenerate in priestly garb runs afoul of the moral code in a vile manner."
up
With such
a righteous
man, himself brought
who gave the Church its due and who would uproot Communism, the Vatican was eager to sign a concordat.
a Catholic,
Godless
That was
in 1933, soon after Hitler
time his position was not secure.
became Chancellor. At
The agreement with
the
that
Pope
him at home and abroad. It "co-ordinated" twenty German Catholics and helped smooth over foreign criti-
strengthened million
cism of torture and murder in the prisons and concentration camps.
A
few years
later the
Nazi
press suddenly
pubHshed sensational
reports of moral crimes of degenerates in priestly garb, of sexual
among Catholic monks, of the treacherous smuggling money out of Germany by Catholic nuns. In campaigns which
perversion of
lasted priests
weeks the immorality and the high treason of Catholic were paraded before the people in monster public trials. A
new Kultur Kampf National Socialist
lies
is now on, fought with the weapons of and unscrupulousness. More than eight thou-
HITLER
136
sand Catholic monks and lay brothers, according to
were brought
IS
NO FOOL
official reports,
by step the Catholic Church
to trial. Step
being robbed of the rights Hitler had guaranteed
it
now
is
Con-
in the
cordat. Catholic youth organizations have been dissolved; Catholic
parents have been so intimidated that they are taking their children
The
out of parochial schools.
leader
"Catholic Action,"
of the
Ministerial Director Klausener, along with several of his collaborators,
was shot by the SS
in the blood
XI did not deter Church is hardly
purge of 1934. The famous
moment. Hundreds of ministers who refuse to use their pulpits for Nazi propaganda have been paying for their daring in prisons and concentration camps. Encyclical of Pius
The
Protestant
The best-known among them, trine of salvation
was
to
bring
learned too late that the
him
his Evangelical faith. Hitler is the
no other gods before him
better ofF.
Pastor Niemoeller, started out as a
He
faithful supporter of Hitler.
the Nazis for one
—this
new
doc-
into irreconcilable conflicts with
Lord thy God. Thou shah have is
the First
Commandment
of
National Socialism. Protestants and Catholics were desirable aUies the battle against
in
must become
Marxism, against "Bolshevism."
Religious persecution in the Third Reich
is
this
they
directed not only
and not primarily against the Christian Doctrine sure,
Now
faithful Nazis.
as such.
To
doctrine cannot very well be used by a system
be
which
declares the conquest of other Christian peoples a mission set for it
by Providence and which places allegiance
and Race above allegiance
The Nazis cannot
to
to Fuehrer,
State,
Christian teaching and humanity.
afford to allow anyone to have a
shadow of
doubt about their mission. In fanaticism and intolerance they see the
only guarantee of their continued existence. But above
all,
they can under no circumstances put up with any organization
which might become the center of mass opposition against regime.
When
today a
German
their
attends services at the Evangelical
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
Confessional Church or attends CathoUc mass,
137 it is
former days, merely a matter of worship, but
in
act.
Whether he wants
to or not,
no
longer, as
also a political
he indicates thereby that
ception of the nature of religion and of the function of the
not that of the Nazis,
is
"People's Church,"
and that he
it
must "by
all
means subordinate the
of brotherly love to the idea of national honor."
As soon
Church
National Socialist
chief theorist. Hitler's close friend Alfred
whose
Rosenberg, writes that
rejects the
his con-
as Hitler felt strong
ideal
^*
enough, he tore up his agreement
with the Pope. With what end in view he had signed the Concordat at
an
all, is
apparent from a remark of Rosenberg's concerning
agreement between the Vatican and Mussolini, which
earlier
had served the Nazis Through
as a
model:
the Concordat of 1929 Catholic priests are deprived of the
right to political activity; the Catholic "Pathfinder" organizations, too,
have been dissolved, in order not to allow the development of a State within the State. Since the Vatican has approved this step for
can no longer
raise
Italy, it
any fundamental objection to similar measures by
other governments.^^
In the "totalitarian" Hitler State
ment
to decide
where
it
will
draw
it
is
entirely
activity. "Totalitarian" itself signifies
political
siders all
and sundry
subordinate to
its
human
fields of
authority.
Who
up
to the govern-
and
the line between religious
life,
that the State con-
endeavor, and behavior
can prevent the Nazis from
upon
seeing in the preaching of brotherly love an attack
their
own
doctrine and institutions?
But in foreign
spite of all that has
countries
Christendom.
"It
happened
is
Germany,
fascists
in
the savior
of
should never be forgotten," writes Father
in his weekly Social Justice (April
Axis
in
continue to celebrate Hitler as
3,
CoughUn
1939), "that the Rome-Berlin
the great poHtical rampart against the spread of
Com-
HITLER
138
munism. As
such, the Rome-Berlin Axis
NO FOOL
IS
serving Christendom
is
manner." The Bolshevik scare continues
in a pecuHarly important
to serve in the field of reHgion, as in international politics, as the trail-blazer of fascism.
With
Red herring
the
He
Hitler conquers Europe.
need only
confront the English and French bourgeoisie with the threat that
with him the only dependable
dam
against
Communism
and he can squeeze any imaginable concessions out of fearful for their existence.
"me
will
fall,
capitalists
By blackmail tactics, by the ultimatum made his greatest conquests without
or Bolshevism," he has
firing a single shot.
His invincibiHty Hes in the quaking of the
Chamberlains and the Daladiers lution in
Germany,
at the
thought of a
socialist revo-
Spain or wherever fascism might expe-
Italy,
They react exactly as did the frightened German Asked to choose between fascism or a possible popular
rience a defeat.
middle
class.
uprising, they blindly choose fascism.
The
poHtical attitude of the English
Government toward Japa-
nese aggression in Manchuria, Mussolini's conquest of Ethiopia,
miHtary occupation of the Rhineland, his annexation of
Hitler's
Austria and Czechoslovakia, Hitler's and Mussolini's intervention Spain, MussoHni's seizure of Albania
in
was dominated by
of these
only
Communism
British
—
its
attitude
a single thought: In a
toward
all
new world war The
can win. Democracy grows weak with age.
Tory Government moves toward the road of surrender, German Republic did. The Red herring is devour-
exactly as the
ing
i
it.
Just as
it
was the
class interest of the
the Junkers that brought Hitler to class
make
interest of his
the
in
if
bourgeoisie and
Germany,
it
is
the
English and the French bourgeoisie which
triumphs in Europe possible. Therein
his success. Hitler
they are,
German
power
lies
the secret of
and Mussolini would not be the cynical
they did not
make
pirates
the most of their historical role as
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
"Saviors of Civilization."
"What
is
his Reichstag address
on January
Italy
is
fascism has done for the preser-
as yet incalculable," Hitler said again in
vation of civiHzation
Germany and
I39
31, 1939.
"Upon
the solidarity of
founded the salvation of Europe from
its
threatened destruction by Bolshevism." Liberator
and Revolutionist
The warning est
against the deluge of Bolshevism
Hitler's sharp-
is
but not his only weapon in carrying out his plan of conquest.
The
struggle over the re-division of the world
century, integrally tied
up with revolutionary
social nature. Inseparable
from
Hitler, the
is,
in the twentieth
desires of national
and
Communism-Killer,
is
Hitler the "Revolutionist," the "Protector of National Minorities," the "Liberator of Oppressed Nations."
In the projected National Socialist world-empire
group of
nationalities.
Germans,
Poles, Serbs,
lives
a motley
Hungarians, Czechs,
Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, Turks, Bulgarians, Russians, Ukrainians,
Jews, and others exist as scattered national minorities within foreign states.
Migrations and, more than
that, political borders
have created
this
Babel of languages and nationalities in Southeastern Europe.
The
Paris Peace Conference at the
end of the World
the political reorganization of this territory
on
War
attempted
the basis of the
right of nationahst self-determination.
But the Peace Conference did not
solve the minority problem,
partly because of the designs of French-English Imperialism. Ger-
many was cally allied
to
be surrounded by a ring of independent
with France, which were to block any
states, poHti-
new German The Soviet
attempt at expansion toward Southeastern Europe.
Union, on the other hand, was
to
Western Europe by a chain of border against Bolshevism by
be cut off from Central and states.
The
no means originated with
idea of a bulwark Hitler.
However, no international commission, even with the
best of
HITLER
140
IS
NO FOOL
could have solved the nationality problem solely on
intentions,
the basis of plebiscites. Self-determination remains but an
phrase
if
it
nomic reforms. Even the most democratic of Czechoslovakia,
knew
How much
these post-War states,
conscious discrimination against
its
more
justification
there for dissatisfaction
is
the part of the Ukrainians in Poland, the Hungarians in or the Bulgarians in Yugoslavia! Since 1919 in Eastern
enough
eastern Europe, to
blow up
spark to
set
all it
political
off.
than half of the to
total
From an economic and
is
extremely strong.
Germany, and Germany its
industrial
products.
With
holds
the geographic advantages.
is
building up a monop-
equipment
for their
the annexation of Czechoslovakia the
When
to stop Hitler's military fortification of the
dominant influence
More
export of countries Hke Yugoslavia and
oly position by bartering
its
Rumania,
and South-
dynamite has again accumulated
Hitler has decided to apply the match.
all
on
Europe. National self-determination needs only a
mihtary point of view alone his position
Rumania goes
minorities
and cultural autonomy or of government
in questions of political relief.
empty
not accompanied by far-reaching political and eco-
is
farm
German Army
France took no steps
Rhine,
it
lost to
Germany
How much
miUtary aid to
more difficult it Poland, Rumania, or
Utilizing to the full Germany's economic
and military prepon-
will be for
France
in the Balkans.
to bring
Yugoslavia in the future!
derance. Hitler bores from within in the states he threatens. desire
among German
minorities in Poland, Lithuania,
Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Slovakia is
not
astonishing
triumphs,
in
of National
view of Socialist
to "return
Hitler's
home
to the
uninterrupted
agitation,
The
Hungary, Reich"
series
of
and of the profound
national conflicts in those states. Numerically these minorities are
not negligible. In Poland there are probably over a million Ger-
mans, in Hungary and in Yugoslavia each half a million, in
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
Rumania
three-quarters of a million.
Many
I4I
of them, with their
great faithfulness to tradition and their narrow clannishness, are
material for potential "Fifth Columns"; their formidability naturally increases with Hitler's influence.
The Nazi's in their expansion do not depend merely upon German minorities. To the Hungarians in Rumania or the Croats in Yugoslavia they come as liberators from the Rumanian or Serbian yoke. They have already "saved" the Slovaks from the Czechs. Only one minority, the most oppressed of
all,
does not
Germans in the Southern Tyrol, whose language Mussolini forbids, whose tradition he destroys, whose affection for the homeland he persecutes as high treason.
interest Hitler.
The
That
is
the 250,000
Axis, the collaboration with "the great
Alps,"
is
more important
for the Savior of
of a few hundred thousand Germans. expelling the province.
The
German
knows no
ImperiaHsm. In
nationalities
the fate
accepts Mussolini's decree
sentimentalities.
military conquest of the territories
are to be incorporated in "Greater
Hitler
South of the
population from this old German-Austrian
Imperialist
The economic and
He
man
Germany than
critical
Germany"
situations
is
such
which
not enough for
newly annexed
might become dangerous foreign elements within
Nazi Germany. Hitler has not forgotten how
in the
World War
the Austro-Hungarian conglomerate of nationalities cracked up.
He knows
what
in the rear of a
it
means
to
have eight million embittered Czechs
German Army
facing East. "Pacifying" by blood
and terror the conquered territories, or those yet to be conquered, must go hand in hand with the actual winning over of a part of the population to National SociaHsm.
whose support Hitler can gain the peasants, and
The most important
class
in these agricultural countries are
upon them the Nazis concentrate
their propa-
ganda. In Southeastern Europe, where the peasants' fight for land
is
HITLER
142 the
at
of
root
the social
the Nazis
struggle,
Jin^-^'^iberators. Anti-Semitism facilitates their role.
NO FOOL
IS
pose as peasant-
The
Jews, by a long
development, have been forced to concentrate upon trade
Thv
historical
l\
and a few of the professions closed to them.
Hence
—
other vocations having been
all
in countries
with a
relatively large
Jewish
population, such as Poland or Rumania, the Jewish lawyer, cattle
made
buyer, and peddler can easily be the peasant as the symbol of
the
Jew becomes
sharpers and exploiters. Fighting
all
the hated landowners, the corrupt
Once we
rious bankers.
Hungary, the Nazis
tell
government
rule in Poland,
the peasants,
well as capitalist exploitation. the land they
synonymous with fighting
the poor peasant
to
work; then the
to appear in the eyes of
Then
the usu-
officials,
Rumania, Yugoslavia and
we
will clean out feudal as
own
the peasants will finally
"interest slavery" of the
banks will be
broken; then the industrial and cultural development which has
been shackled for centuries will advance in giant peasants are
gained
all
little, if
Hitler's
totaUtarian
mate
Imperialism conquers not only with
One
to touch.
air-
of the most tragic spectacles of
the sight of the fascist powers capitalizing
aspirations for national
fascists
them because they have
cashes in on social abuses and injustices which
It
democracy refused is
to believe
the
anything, from Anglo-French "protection."
planes and tanks.
our time
more ready
the
And
strides.
and
social
freedom
—the
on
legiti-
sight of the
posing with considerable success as the friends and pro-
tectors of oppressed nations
and exploited
classes.
Here
it
becomes
most obvious that fascism cannot be fought successfully merely on -J|(^
ideological grounds.
The hope
for a better life will always
the "liberator" welcome, regardless of
"Military
Of
all
make
his reputation.
Economy" the surprises
which National Socialism
ing on the world, there
is
is
constandy spring-
probably none that aroused more specu-
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM? than
lation
"economic miracle." Even people
its
now and
Hitler's policy of conquest
and hope
I43
to his
who condemn
then point with admiration
domestic achievements. Did he not bring about
order and recovery in a surprisingly short time to a country torn
by
political conflict
and confronted with economic collapse? Did
he not do away with unemployment and give the working people an economic security which the democracies are faiUng
them?
them
Hitler's foreign
but at
say,
poHcy
home he
for the solution of social
The Nazis
is
barbaric
to give
and criminal, one hears
has entered upon
new
constructive roads
and economic problems.
They enuwould do to raise the Hving standards of the people if they only had the raw material, the territory, the "living-space," which other great powers possess. "If we had the merate
all
Ukraine,
screamed
industriously encourage such thinking.
the things they
we would make a at the Nuremburg
paradise out of Germany," Hitler
Party Congress in 1936 amid the
thunderous applause of his audience. In every speech he peddles the argument that
Germany
is
"a people without living space."
He
compares Germany's population per square mile with the population per square mile of the Soviet
Union, America, or the British
Empire, and demands that something be done to correct the
How
proportion.
successful his
argument has been so
by the widespread notion that Hitler can be bought
and
far off
is
dis-
shown
from war
that further territorial concessions will release the explosive
power of the Third Reich
like
steam out of a valve. As
yet,
how-
grown with every conquest; he mobilizes aggressive. The more more he rants that he belongs to the "have-nots." Can
ever, Hitler's appetite has
ever
more
feverishly
he has the
and becomes ever more
he never be appeased?
To make
a fundamental distinction between the internal
external policy of a
one
policy. If
it
government
is
naive.
A
and
government has but
adopts a program of conquest and domination
.-V^
HITLER
144 abroad,
Surely
no coincidence
is
it
that
three great imperialist aggressors
Germany,
—have
and now rule with
cratic institutions
Germany,
And
and Japan.
Italy,
home,
institutions at
surely
guided in
vv^
its
Hitler's
to alleviate the
What
Hitler has done in
underprivileged, people,
its
has been able to do
it
much what he
is
on the road
has put
state
which
the opinion expressed that there are
—that
the
it
will lead.
how
parallels
Could
it
Of
between Nazi
states.
Frequently one hears
of the
basic differences
Third Reich
completely organized under an all-encompassing plan; that
is
also
German
businessmen are losing their independence and are becoming employees of the
he
to find a surprising resem-
no longer any
economy
fortifications.
to socialism after all?
draw
Union and
blance in the economic systems of both
tually
not
is
picture.
He
has done, but
and, even more, where
the Soviet
economies
whole
a "miracle."
work, and, from a
to
has become quite fashionable to
Germany and
is
armaments, highways, and
not so
be that Hitler-Germany
in their
a
financial bankruptcy, he has extracted at least
billion dollars for is
reveal the
Germany
unemployed back
But the wonder
it
its
all
tliat
democratic
cannot be separated from his foreign
policy
was confronted with
late
—the
demo-
foreign relations by the instincts of a wild beast.
internal
six million
retain
to
misery of
Only taken together do they
twenty
their
all
no coincidence
it is
effort
encourage the cultural progress of
to
policy.
and Japan
methods not only
terrorist
government which puts forth every
y'.
Italy,
destroyed
Czechoslovakia, Albania, and parts of China; but also
Austria,
and
NO FOOL
attempt to enforce an iron suppression at home.
will
it
IS
vir-
State. Private property, so the story goes,
has long ago become a fiction in
Germany;
nally; in reality the State does as
wishes with private capital and
it
is
it
exists
only nomi-
when and where capital is to be invested, but also to bring. The independent businessman as well as
decides not only the profit
it
— HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
the free market
and
we
and
free labor, uncontrolled price
the regulators of the system talism,
I45
hear, have
—
all
profit as
these essential elements of capi-
been replaced by the
of a state
dictates
bureaucracy.
There
no doubt that the economic order of the Third Reich
is
outwardly resembles
less
and
which we have been used something
to.
Whether
new
fundamentally
the capitaHsm of free competition
less
or not for that reason
—perhaps
—
socialism
it
is
another
is
question.
All the cultural, economic, and political innovations of Hitler-
Germany have one thing tion. From the education
everything
they
war prepara-
serve
Farm
Bill" to the "Schools for Leaders,"
airplanes to the adulteration of bread
subordinated to one end.
is
all
of youth to the building of state high-
ways, from the "Hereditary
from the production of
common:
in
Germany must win
the
next world war. It
the
was therefore unavoidable that the Nazi State should subject
economy
entire
to
minute regulation and should
seriously with the rights of the individual capitalist.
interfere
Those who
see
any government interference in business or in any pubHc prop-
in
erty a sign of socialism
might today take up the famous Social
Democratic slogan of 1919-20 and shout that socialism
march throughout
One need the social
"By
not
know much
sociology
and economic system
their fruits ye shall
know
that
Economy," and by spiritual,
this they
and economics is
them."
have built and are continuing to build
all
is
on the
the world.
being
set
The Nazis
at a feverish
understand "the
total
understand
to
up
in
call
Germany. what they
tempo "MiHtary mobiUzation of
moral, physical, intellectual, economic and technical
forces of the entire people's
serves the total
war
commonweal."
^^
The
total
mobiUzation
—the war which will be fought with
all
weapons
HITLER
146
and
in all fields. It
is
to
of the world. Military
to
its
totality,
New
economy" that
its
outward forms of
man, drafting even the
to
itself it
is
due
weaknesses peculiar to
German
dimensions, which leave the "war
of the Kaiser-Reich far behind.
economic sphere, but that
is
nev\^
the thoroughness of Hitler's
reflects
as well as certain
indeed are
does not confine
it
by the
resemblance to a planned economy
Its
which in turn
war preparations capitalism.
NO FOOL
make Germany the master of Europe and Economy and socialism have as much in
common as do prison and freedom. Many observers have been misled Military Economics.
IS
New,
also,
is
the fact
government interference
in the
invades the private Hfe of every Ger-
child of ten into
the attempt of the Nazis to
make
its
service.
But not new
a virtue of necessity.
The Achilles heel of German economy is its lack of raw material. The highly developed German industries have always been dependent
upon foreign raw
tional material for
German
materials. Hitler's
armament and
tremendous need of addi-
the simultaneous curtailment of
exports produced an endless chain of government inter-
ventions in the form of rationing and apportioning, of regulating exports prices.
and imports, of directing
The
necessary
capital investment
and of fixing
English or American armament industry can take the
raw
and
materials
accessories
from the market without
immediately creating a serious shortage. So
far,
present British
rearmament has been carried out with the understanding ernment orders should
interfere as
little
of private business. "Business as usual"
motto during the
had
to
modify
it
first
as the
that gov-
with the interests
was Chamberlain's unheroic
phase of British rearmament, although he speed and the extent of his armament pro-
gram grew. But German
capitalism, so poor in
never afford such luxury, even
The
as possible
if
it
wanted
raw
material, could
to.
Spartan frugality, which the Aryan philosophy of Ufe
teach the
German
people,
is
is
to
but a reflection of the bitter necessity
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
to feed the
Moloch of the war
The German
needs.
industries at the expense of civic
who
workers,
are told
Goering that they should prefer cannons the head
when
I47
by the well-padded
to butter, hit the nail
on
they characterize Nazi-heroism with the ironic
statement: "Military posture takes the place of the winter overcoat."
The
apparent incongruity between the Third Reich's desire for
self-sufficiency
on the one hand and
hand vanishes
if it is
of a country poor in all
raw and
possible sources of material
up the gaps
on the other
for conquests
understood as the totalitarian war preparation
as best they
accessory materials.
and
reserves for
By mobilizing
war and by
filling
can with substitutes, the Nazis arm them-
World War them not an end in itself. Mass many ways less satisfactory substi-
selves against a repetition of the disastrous effect of the
blockade. Self-sufficiency
is
for
production of expensive and in
the country. If today the Hermann Goering Works opens up mines which had been abandoned for decades
tutes impoverishes
Iron
because
it
did not pay to operate them,
and labor expended
to extract
it
means
that the capital
one ton of iron must be greater than
in countries with richer deposits of ore.
The more
successful Hitler's
second Four-Year Plan, to which he has assigned the task of making
Germany of the
self-supporting through the
last existing
stitutes, regardless
omy
raw
materials
of costs
most painstaking
utilization
and the production of new sub-
—the worse off Germany's national econ-
will be, the higher the cost of production, the smaller the
consumer's share. Such an economic policy even an heroic National
SociaHsm cannot carry on for the pleasure of the Apostles of Blood
and
Soil. It
can be justified only by the hope of a final success that
more than pay for all Once we have Rumanian
will
the temporary hardship oil,
Danish
butter — we
we
will
have plenty; then you can loosen your
the
German
people.
and
self-denial.
Hungarian wheat, Ukrainian
ore,
don't need to stint ourselves any more; then belts,
the Nazis
tell
HITLER
148
But
meantime, Military Economy snatches the control of
in the
the entire national
armament
NO FOOL
IS
life.
The enormous need
new
of capital for the
works, the transfer of entire branches of industry
Germany,
the vulnerable border-regions to the center of
from
the con-
standy rising costs of "self-support," force the Government to draw net of regulations ever tighter.
its
Forced concentration of trade,
and decline of the workers'
whip of
the
capital, elimination of
total
mobiUzation.
small business and
living standards
The demands
of the
go on under modern army,
navy, air force, and fortifications can be met only by the technical
equipment of big industry. Whether they want Nazis have
to strengthen the
or
to
not,
the
preponderance of the huge industrial
plants over the medium-sized
and smaller
ones.
And
even
among
the big industrialists, there are certain groups, the masters of heavy
who on
industry,
the basis of the indispensability of their factories
war must be shown preference
for
and
materials
in
the
assignment of raw
labor.
Since Hitler has been in power, the capital investments in Ger-
man Is
industry have constantly risen.
not this the best yardstick for measuring the progress of Ger-
man economy under
our leadership, ask the Nazis?
investments
belching
signify
smokestacks,
Do
growing
not these industries,
numbers of employed, rising purchasing power of the people and general prosperity? There is only one factor they lose
increasing
sight of: that this
omy — a
Hitler
is
merely a matter of the
rise
of Military Econ-
boom.
At an ever-growing percentage new investments controlled by the
Government.
might argue that Roosevelt with
opponent of the
pump-priming
is
New
and Deal
well launched
same road. But the difference between the New Deal's economy and the Nazis' total mobilization precisely the difference between democratic and fascist aims. In
upon
the
intervention in national is
An his
are inspired
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
Germany
the available capital
is
I49
directed into industrial channels
Nazi
to serve w^ar. In 1938, for example, according to official tistics,
Economy) were
to Military
1933;
sta-
the investments in capital-goods industries (which are vital
whereas
amount
three times the
investments
in
increased only one-third in the
taking control of the
money and
ing the flotation of
new
invested in
consumer-goods
the
same
industries
Through
period.
a pains-
through prohibit-
capital market,
and
stock issues, through forced loans
raw material and through a foreign-trade control, the Nazi Government sees to it that all available resources are used for the war machine.
obligatory investments, through alloting
The term
available
elastic.
is
The
less
sumer goods production, the more there
needed for con-
capital is
be used for war
to
products. This simple truth determines the Nazis' attitude toward the people's standard of living. Siegfried Lines.
Drawing
One
cannot eat guns, airplanes, and
would purchasing power
six million workers into industry
under normal conditions lead to an increase in
demand for consumer goods. As a consequence, idle would flow into light industry, which would hold out the promise of good profits. But it is just this that Military Economy must avoid; its aim is war and not the well-being of the people. "Don't you think that we would raise wages if we could!" exand
a rise in
capital
claimed Rudolf Hess, the Fuehrer's lieutenant, in his address in Halle, in
1937.
"The command could
wages 50 per
Raise
all
much
popularity by such a
Because raised,
we have
cent!
We
easily
enough be given:
in the leadership
command. But why
a conscience. For
we know
would gain
don't
that
but no one could prevent the corresponding
we do
it?
wages can be rise in prices
which must follow."
Such a statement contains but a
half-truth:
chasing power of the workers would lead to a
consumer goods
if
their supply
A
rise in the
pur-
rise in the price of
were not increased accordingly.
HITLER
150
This the Nazi Government does not want of importing the it
would have
to
raw materials
to do.
it
would have
much-needed apartment houses. Funds destined
for
to
party's "historical mission"
living standards of the
People's
is
such that
for Mili-
it
The
with the
conflicts
whenever the question of raising the
German
people comes up.
Nazis must decide against the
their cause, the
to use
be utilized for pubHc welfare.
socialism of this Workers' Party
The
war machine,
import butter and wool; instead of using building
Economy would have
tary
For then instead
so necessary for the
materials for the construction of fortifications,
them
NO FOOL
IS
To
be true to
interest of the people.
Commonweal demand for labor is insatiable. After having German domestic workers to return to Ger-
Military Economy's
forced thousands of
many from Switzerland, England, Holland, and Scandinavia, the now recruiting farm hands from Italy, Hungary, and
Nazis are
Czechoslovakia and skilled metal workers from the United States
and Canada. They have long the
German women's realm
number
of
employed
women
rose
from
is
the family.
of
women employed
1,840,000.
A
compulsory "year of service" for
in
The
total
5,200,000 in 1935 to 6,400,000
1938;
in
view that
since revised their former
of activity
from
industries,
1,400,000
women makes
to it
impossible for a girl under twenty-five to enter a college or to take a job without having
worked one year on a farm.
But the guardians of the German family do not stop here. Child labor has again been legalized.
Young
people over sixteen
may
again be required to put in up to nine hours of night labor; ado-
between fourteen and sixteen may be required
lescents
eight hours until ten o'clock in the evening;
fourteen
may
conditions)
The
to
work
and children under
be required to do light work (under good hygienic
up
to five hours a day.
ten-hour day has generally replaced the eight-hour day. For
— HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
I5I
important industries the number o£ working hours can be increased
The "Decree concerning
to twelve.
the securing of required labor
for purposes of special state-political significance"
signed in February,
Every worker can
1939, puts
labor
any time be shifted
at
which Goering
under miHtary
any place
to
discipline.
do work
to
considered important for national safety. In time of war the decree will certainly be extended to include all
Four- Year Plan has
"The
security of national defense has forced
one which
my
work. The dictator of the
measure in
justified the
it
was no pleasure
for
me
fellow working comrades, of
to sign.
making
did not hesitate:
line of reasoning
German for the
forests.
I
to issue a decree
When
it
when
his order to cut
it
barrier in the West,
introduced compulsory labor."
he used in
was a matter,
the Reich safe,
was a matter of building an insurmountable I
Nazi fashion:
typical
me
down
same
the
It is
the beautiful
Preparation for the war of world conquest
justifies
Nazis any despoliation of Germany and the German people.
Together with longer working hours goes the speed-up. Today,
under the direction of the German Labor Front, the huge Nazi
company union which
workers and employees must
all
intensified efficiency drive
in figures of accident
1936 to 1937, the
is
and health
number
The
the effects of
Even
Its
Within one
statistics.
officially
an
join,
on labor can be read
effects
from
year,
of shop accidents, of injured
workers whose cases were to 95,200.
on.
and
sick
recognized, rose from 86,700
physical capacity of the workers,
Aryan undernourishment,
undermined by
strained to the utmost.
is
One of their leading {The German National
the Nazis are beginning to be alarmed.
periodicals,
Die Deutsche
Economy) wrote y
V ol1{swirtschaft
a short time ago:
In recent weeks, there has been a
series of
symptoms of
overstrain
of workers in industry. First, a grippe epidemic took proportions
indicated heightened susceptibility to disease through nervous cal exhaustion.
Second, in
many
factories there
is
which
and physi-
excessive stimulation
HITLER
152
NO FOOL
nervous tension during working hours. Third, the number
as a result of
of excused absences
symptoms
IS
from work has
risen sharply.
carefully, because the last thing
We
we want
must watch those is
a falling ofi in
production.-^
The
production begins to a
mere appendage
until
when drop. Never before was the worker so much the machine as under Military Economy. Not
exhaustion of the workers gets
to
official
attention only
they have lowered the people's living and working condi-
where productivity
tions to the point
is
seriously affected, have the
Hitler Socialists reached the limit of exploitation. This Umit alone decides the
ment
amount
industries.
of capital
The Nazi
and labor "available"
for the
arma-
The
diver-
theoreticians say so openly.
armament and
sion of the nation's resources into
the resulting
deterioration of the living standard of the population can be con-
tinued
"if
necessary, until near
begins," writes the
the point
where physical decay
Nazi Professor Karl Burkheiser.^^
Lengthening of the working-day, introduction of child labor, speed-up,
woman and
and the importation of foreign workers do
new German
not satisfy the needs of total mobiUzation. In case of war, millions will have to be ready to
fill
the places of the
workers drafted into the Army. Mihtary Economy seeking
and
new
labor reserves
and
finds
them
is
in "the less economical
for that reason nationally less desirable shops," as
spokesmen puts
it.
petitive struggle has
It
cannot even afford
incessantly
to
one of
its
wait until the com-
squeezed out the small businessman.
It
orders
their elimination.
From
1935
to
1938 the
number
of independent cobblers has
decreased from 161,000 to 141,000; before the end of 1939, the liqui-
more small shoemaker-shops is planned. The Reich Ministry of Labor reported that up to the beginning of 1939 more than 100,000 men have been transferred from their bake-, butcher-, tailor-, and barbershops into industry. In the retail dation of 25,000
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
trade, the
men,
As
same process
is
going on. The number of radio
down from
for instance, has been cut far
back
I53
as February, 1937, the
sales-
70,000 to 32,000.
Frankfurter Zeitung reported
"a suggestion to close up unprofitable one-man enterprises in order
workers for the purposes of the
to use these craftsmen as skilled
...
Four- Year Plan.
It is
estimated that there are from 500,000
to 600,000 such enterprises."
Article
16 of
Nazi Program
the "unalterable"
one of
their organs, the
sections of the so-called
Deutsche VolJ{swirt, has middle
class are living
warn
to
for
"the
Nazi
rule
calls
creation of a healthy middle class." After six years of
that "large
from hand
manner which is almost critical." Whoever sees in the freezing of prices and wages,
to
mouth
in a
of entire branches of trade to
new
in the closing
investment, in the assignment
of labor to particular plants, in the decrees against migration
farm
to
city
—whoever Nazis
desire of the
the
shadow and
tration
sees
in
these measures
to organize a
for the substance.
He
from
nothing but the
planned economic system, takes that the concen-
fails to realize
centralization of capital, the
crowding out of small
enterprises by Big Business, the further polarization of the
German
people into a few "Leaders" and a "following" of millions, have not been prevented, but accelerated by such government intervention.
Hitler has not aboHshed private property in the duction.
When
Military
Economy
means of pro-
has required the condemnation
of private property, he has usually paid adequate compensation.
He
employs expropriation without indemnity only
"punishment" for
anti-fascists
and Jews,
just as
as
a political
he grants special
who have "outstanding merits for the National Socialist State." The profit system is still intact in Nazi Germany. This trivial difFerence between Hitler's People's Com-
economic privileges
monweal and
to those
the economic system of the Soviet
Union
is
made
HITLER
154 light of
by those
the two. Is
it
who
NO FOOL
IS
discover a fundamental similarity between
only, as they affirm, a matter of a difference in the
label?
Let us pick up any financial news item on
German Big
Business
connected with MiHtary Economy: Wireless to
New
The
Yoi\ Times.
Berlin, June 3, 1939.
At
the shareholders' annual meeting at Frankfort
directors of the
I.
the maintenance of the 8 per cent dividend.
55,180,000 marks against
marks was written
During the
on June 23 the
G. Farben [TThe German Dye Trust]
off
Net
54,853,329 marks in
will
recommend
profits in 1938
were
But 135,718,466 for plant against only 105,250,296 marks in 1937.
six years of the Hitler
1937.
regime the Dye Trust passed
out more than three hundred million marks in bonuses and divi-
sum is From 1933
dends, and this as reserves.
entire chemical output vastly increased total
The
tliat
to
its
total profits set aside
1937 the Trust raised
from one-third
volume
to
its
share of the
more than one-half of
for the country
a
.^^
Secretary of State in the Reich Ministry of Economics, Rudolf
Brinkmann, had there
only a fraction of
is
some
to
admit in his speech of November
justification in the
the big are
complaint of
2, 1938,
that
German businessmen
growing bigger and the small and middle-sized
independent enterprises are weakening and passing away. According to the annual report for 1938 of the semi-official Reichs-KreditGesellschaft, profits
from
an institution owned and directed by the Reichs'Ban\,
made by
5.5 billion
corporations in industry
marks
and commerce increased
in 1932 to 14.2 billion in 1937.
passed corporations' profits at the height of the 1929,
when
They even
boom
in 1928
sur-
and
they had been 13.5 billion marks and 12.7 billion marks
respectively. In the first nine
months of 1938 the taxable
profits of
the corporations rose again 20 per cent over those of the corre-
sponding period in 1937. In 1928, the best year for German business
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
I55
War, 33463 corporations with a capital stock of more than one million marks each made a total profit of 2.5 billion marks. Three hundred and ninety big corporations out of the 33,463 after the
accounted for
1.3 billion
marks
profit out of the 2.5 bilUon,
an aver-
age of 3.6 million per corporation. In 1936, the reduced number of 29,434 corporations
made
a total profit of 3.7 billion marks.
them were 573 corporations whose marks, an average of
4.1
profits
accounted for
Among
2.3 billion
million per corporation. In 1936, the profits
of these big corporations were 48 per cent higher than at the peak of prosperity.
In 1928 4,977 persons in
Germany had an annual income
marks and more. The
100,000
total
income of
this
of
category of
taxpayers was then one billion marks, or 6.5 per cent of
all
taxable
wage earners which is in a number had fallen to 1,686, and their
personal income (excluding the income of separate category). In 1932 their total
income
to
0.3
billion
marks, or
personal income. In 1936 their total
income
to
14
billion
5.2 per
number had
marks, representing
cent of
all
taxable
risen to 5,692, their 10.3 per cent of all
taxable personal income.
More
recent statistics are not yet available. But there
slightest
is
not the
doubt that they will show only further concentration of
wealth in the upper
class.
In the "Marxist" era the Government, to avoid a general eco-
nomic
had taken over great blocks of leading bank and stocks. The transaction was merely a subsidizing of
collapse,
industrial
private business with taxpayers'
money. The Reich paid
far
more
than the market value of these securities and then put them away in a
drawer in expectation of better times. This was the socialism
When
of the
Weimar
owned
70 per cent of the 140 million capital stock of the Gelsen-
Republic.
Hitler
kirchener Bergwerksverein (a mining
came
to
power, the Reich
company belonging
to the
Steel Trust), 70 per cent of the 80 million capital stock of the
HITLER
156
Commerz-und
IS
NO FOOL
Privatbank, 88 per cent of the 150 million capital
stock of the Dresdener Bank, 38 per cent of the 130 million capital stock of the Deutsche Bank. All of these shares have in the
time been returned to private hands again. enterprises have been able to
mean-
The banks and
buy them back with the
big
profits they
have made under Hitler's regime. Returning the monopolies to private ownership
is
one of the by-products of
this strange
"economic
bolshevism." It is
the
no
how few
than surprising
less
personnel
of
changes have occurred in
Germany's top-ranking
families.
They
are
a
hardy bunch. The old names that loomed big in the days of the
War,
Pan-German League, and the inflation are still at the list. Take Thyssen Jr., for example, who
the
head of the exclusive
introduced Hitler to Rhenish-Westphalian industrialists and who, together with Kirdorf, carried through the decision that for each
ton which the Coal Syndicate sold, the
NSDAP.
fifty
pfennig was to go to
His father was one of the firebrands of the Pan-
German League, who as early as September, 1914, had demanded of the German General StaflF the annexation of French iron mines. Thyssen of the
and
Jr. is
war
also
the
chairman of the United
industries.
one of the
Steel
Works,
the heart
Old Kirdorf, another intimate of the Fuehrer bosses in the Pan-German League, was Hon-
orary President of the Steel Trust until his death in July, 1938.
Thyssen's partner
is
Geheimrat Voegler, who in 1917 wrote the
"United German Iron and Steel Manufacturers'
Memorandum" the entire
to the
General
Staff,
strictly confidential
demanding
the annexation of
French coal and iron regions and pointing out the
importance of these deposits for a future war. In the Board of
Hugenberg and
the
Herr von Schroeder.
He
Directors of the Steel Trust there are besides:
Rhenish banker Stein, whose associate is
the
same von Schroeder
January, 1933.
to
whom
is
von Papen brought Hitler
in
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM
The
twenty-eight Board
members
I57
?
more
of the Steel Trust hold
than four hundred directorships on the boards of mining, chemical,
and machine-building corporations. Even
in the giant utilities, like
Power Company, which, like most Germany, is pubHcly owned, the gentlemen
Rhenish-Westphalian
the
public
utilities
in
of heavy industry are reigning. Voegler of the Steel Trust
Chairman
of the Board of the Rhenish-Westphalian
pany, and
among
members we
the other Board
also
is
Power Com-
find Thyssen
Jr.
again.
Krupp, the owner of the "German armament smithy" in Essen, has a seat on the Board of Directors of the government-owned
German
He
Railroads and on Hitler's
at the
is
same time a stockholder
dries, the Dillinger
in the
Upper
Corporation.
Silesian
Foun-
Foundries in the Saar, the Germania Dockyards
Chemnitz Automobile Corporation, the
in Kiel, the
Works
new Motor Road
in Schweinfurt,
Ball Bearing
and the Berndorf Metal Works in Austria.
His empire extends from the North Sea
to the Saar,
from Austria
to the Rhine.
But, one
may
object, the
Hugenbergs may be
as
Krupps and Thyssens,
wealthy as they like
—that
^erhaps is
them with it
would be
and has been doing
mean
doesn't
they have any political influence. If Hitler wanted expropriate
and
the Voeglers still
to,
he could
a stroke of his pen. better simply to note
what Hitler
for the past six years, rather
upon what he could do. By suppressing the workers'
actually
than to specu-
late
organizations, by introducing the
Leader-Principle into every private business, by trampling under foot
all
civil
liberties,
by taking the most aggressive imperiaHst
course and subordinating the entire these,
economy
to that
he serves the interests of the old Imperialist
end
—by
circles of
all
Ger-
many. His domestic and foreign policy miraculously coincides with theirs.
He
sees in the
Krupps and the Thyssens, according
to his
HITLER
158
own
words, the representatives of the best
mission
lies
in ruling.
How
German
IS
NO FOOL
race,
when he made Thyssen and Voegler members
obvious
whose
highly he values their quaUties became of the
Reichstag and Voegler's son the Leader of the "Hitler Youth" in the Ruhr.
Herr Reisman-Grone, formerly a member of the Pan-
German League and owner he made First Burgomaster
of a Rhenish-Westphalian newspaper,
of Essen. Reisman-Grone's son-in-law.
Dr. Otto Dietrich, was one of the
He now
Hitler and heavy industry.
first
intermediaries
between
Chief of the Reich Press
is
Service and Minister in Hitler's Cabinet. Krupp's daughter married
an
SA
officer,
and
it
must have been a high point
the SA, the "fighters" against the Trusts,
"the
aisle at
wedding of
Justizrat Clauss, the
the old with the
in the lives of
when they formed an new Germany." Even
former Chairman of the Pan-German League,
has been invited into Hitler's Reichstag.
An
especially fine
example of Hitler socialism
of Emil
Georg von Stauss
member
of the Prussian State Council
is
the appointment
as Vice-President of the
—Herr
von
Reichstag and
Stauss,
who,
as
Director of the Deutsche Bank, as President of the AnatoHc and the
Bagdad Railroad Company,
as
General Director ot the Euro-
pean Petrol Union and of the German Petroleum Corporation, had led the
The
economic advance of the Kaiser-Reich into the Near East.
construction of the Berlin-Bagdad Railroad
was
his favorite
dream. In 1935, the weekly Militaer-Wochenblatt analyzed in retrospect the significance of the plan as follows:
The Bagdad
Railroad, this gigantic project of the Deutsche
with a rising Germany behind
it,
meant
for this
Germany
Bank
not only the
domination of Central and Southeastern Europe, but also the opening for this country of the
further policy,
Persia
undreamed
economic resources of the Near East and of
of perspectives.
From
still
the point of view of trade
even India would be endangered once Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and
had found
access to
German commerce.
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
In 191 8 Herr von Stauss tough. Herr von Stauss that he has
remained
is
lost
the battle.
I59
But an
imperialist
is
not discouraged, and his interests show
faithful to his favorite idea
—the
Not only is he armament firms, such as
Rumanian, Caucasian, and Iranian
oil.
conquest of
member
a
of
the Bavarian the Board of Directors of big Motor Workers, the Rhine Metal-Borsig, Siemens, etc., but he is also President of the German Air-Hansa Company, which runs,
among and
others,
an
mail and passenger service between
air
and Afghanistan. Besides, he
Syria, Iraq, Iran,
is
Germany
Chairman of
the Board of Directors of the Bavarian Lloyd Steamship Lines,
which, together with the Danube Steamship Company, dominates river transport
on the Danube. In May,
1938,
two months
after the
start work upon the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal which, according to an official report, is to facilitate the exchange of Ruhr coal for the metals and other raw materials of Austria and the Balkans.
occupation of Austria, the Hitler Government decided to
The
Essener National Zeitung, Goering's paper, divulges the pur-
pose of the
new
into Asia."
A
canal with the headline:
line of
communication
is
"By way
of the
now under
"which, upon completion of the Rhine-Danube Canal,
region by
way
of the
and
to the Indian
In the Board of Directors of the is
to
make
industrial
Rhine and the Danube through the Black Sea,
to Iran, even to near-India
Canal, there
is
from the West German
possible a direct water route
Danube
construction,
Ocean."
Company which
is
^^
building the
also a representative of the Stauss-controlled
Bavarian
Lloyd.
Will von Stauss be luckier the second time ?
whose aims the German people bled the eUte in the Third Reich the "Aryan race
The same gentlemen once before are of masters." as well. still
still
Not
for
—
only the old industrial magnates, but the Junkers
Their huge
estates are
still
intact
and the "Eastern-Help"
is
going strong. Between 1931-32 and 1937-38, 562 million marks of
:
HITLER
l60
government subsidies have been given ture.
When
Hitler
The
spent.
whom
came
to
rest, four-fifths
did they give the
All in
all,
subsidies.
to eastern
power, 115 million of of
NO FOOL
German
this total
agricul-
had been
was distributed by the Nazis.
it,
government
the 562 million marks, 35.5 million or 7 per cent
to 10,931 units
To
money?
41,435 agricultural units participated in the
Of
IS
"under hereditary
size," that
is,
went
to very small farms;
marks or 42 per cent went to 27,477 units "within hereditary farm size," that is, to middle and big farms; 288.8
237.4 rnillion
marks or
million
farm
51 per cent
size." In short, three
half of
all
the
went
to 3,027 units "over hereditary
thousand Junker families got more than
money earmarked
for subsidies to "eastern
German
agriculture."
Domestic colonization,
too,
presents
no
threats to the Junkers
anymore. Between 1919 and 1932 the Weimar Republic's ment, timid and insufficient as average of 4,000
new farms on
the crisis of 1929, the tion. So,
it
it
resettle-
had been, had created each year an approximately 100,000 acres. After
government had given the matter more
had estabUshed
atten-
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
want the Germans
Hitler does not
to look
l6l
for "living space"
Germany.
inside
show
Hitler need not
berg for their earlier
daily gratitude to a
political
them by carrying through
and
Thyssen and
a
Hugen-
He repays He may per-
financial assistance.
his imperiaUst
program.
Germany. But as master armament industry and the Junkers,
sonally consider himself the sole master of
of
Germany he
strengthens the
the greatest trusts
and
greatest landowners
—the symbols of German
mihtarism and imperiaHsm. Surely he would cotton, wool, shoe
of Hamburg, and not More than anything
least the
lower middle
would
that
else,
whether the Fuehrer imperialist policy.
Hke
also
to
humor
the
and clothing manufacturers, the big merchants
likes
it
or not, he
The demands
class
bolster
position.
But
the prisoner of his
is
of Military
and the workers.
his
Economy
dictate his
actions.
In Mein
Kampf
he had written the proud words: "The State has
nothing to do with any particular economic conception or economic development."
The barons
realistic ideas of
they were to play in
"One
it.
In
had more
of heavy industry, however,
the "national rebirth" of
Mein Kampf
does not die for business
Germany and
Hitler
had
of the part
said heroically:
—
only for ideals." In his Reichstag
address of January, 1939, however, the needs of Military
"We must
broke through in his cry: those needs
up
as the natural
ones of a people without living space
must not deceive anyone. The has
little
to
do with the
Economy
export or die!" That he dressed
living space of National
SociaHsm
idyllic picture that Hitler paints of the
community of peasants and workers "who through their mutual work enable each other to live." For fascism, more living space means more workers to be exploited, more soldiers to be commanded, more raw materials to be turned into machines of destruction.
When
fascist
fascism conquers a country,
economy upon
it.
it
digests
it
by forcing a
Every time the monster devours a victim,
HITLER
l62 it
becomes bigger and more
Saar, Austria,
and raw
trial
and mountainous
new
weeks
after
as
regions."
may
it
Munich,
Vol^swirt, wrote: "In winning the
materials, has acquired
Thus, incredible of
Two
NO FOOL
and Sudetenland the Reich, already lacking
tory
sity
terrible.
Der Deutsche
Schacht's organ,
IS
in terri-
mainly overpopulated indus-
^^
sound, the Nazis announce the neces-
conquests to compensate for the old.
Hitler's Socialism
The
Economy
further Military
required to keep the collapsing.
A
artificial
of officialdom
and red tape
and growing
strains.
and counter-decisions,
and a corresponding hypertrophy
indicate deep-seated conflicts of interests
"At a recent enquiry conducted by a South
West German Chamber
of
Commerce among
with 100 to 200 employees each, of the total clerical
is
German economy from
flood of laws, decrees, decisions
prohibitions, control commissions,
more stringency
advances, the
structure of
it
was found
work was devoted
small manufacturers
that
up
to 75 per cent
to the fulfillment of control
requirements," says a special report on Germany, published by the
The Banker
English monthly
The high Nazi
of February, 1937.
are infiltrating into the executive posts of
officials
Big Business. Big Business representatives are being appointed gov-
ernment
There
officials.
is
a
growing personal union between the
bureaucracy of the State and that of the giant corporations. There is
also a corresponding
officials.
growth
in the "best circles."
A
January
symptomatic of the
"fixing,"
23,
1939,
is
among government
in corruption
"In Berlin everything has a price"
is
a phrase to be
heard
decree of the Reich Ministry of Finance of
and racketeering
is
scale
on which bribing,
going on. The decree holds
it
neces-
sary to forbid to "all employees of the Reich Finance Administration
any
activity
with or without recompense outside of their duties
in matters pertaining to the authority of the
Reich Finance Adminis-
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM?
163
tration." It also forbids the acceptance of presents or favors,
but with
the modification that this does not refer to "social relations based
upon draw
real reciprocity."
the line.
The
The
Only the
People's
Commonweal knows where
to
leaders are entitled to graft.
expense and nuisance of the top-heavy bureaucracy, the rising
taxes to cover at least a part of the tion, the
measures taken against the
of inflation, are naturally
cost of
flight of capital
cumbersome
who do
especially to those
enormous to
war produc-
and the
many German
threat
capitalists,
not share in the Hitler boom. Dissatis-
and finds
faction has taken hold of all social strata
expression in the fear of the end of the journey
answer National Socialism knows
is
more
violence
common
its
—war.
The
only
and more
demagogy. Military
and
police forces are ever growing. After taking in the
Austrian and Sudeten-German contingents, the
Navy and
now
Airfleet
police there
is
Its
the "inner enemy."
There
the
German Army,
two million men. Besides the regular
the SS, originally organized in 1923 as Hitler's per-
sonal bodyguard.
service.
totals
It
chief function today
are the general SS, the
SS Shock-Troops "for
watch and destroy all
There
branches of the
SS Communication Division,
special assignments," the
the Secret State Police, the responsible to Hitler.
to
is
has fully equipped units in
SS Field
Police,
SS Skull and Crossbones, personally
are besides the National Socialist Motor-
ized Corps, the National Socialist Air Corps, and the
SA
and
SA
Reserve.
The
fear that
edge of
any
close contact
their actual living
with the people and any knowl-
and thinking might dampen the morale
of the Elite Guard, creeps through the educational rules of the SS.
In isolated Leader Schools called ordensburgen, which are built
and
set
apart like medieval cloisters, the
young
Blackshirts are
They
are selected only
drilled in the teachings of National SociaHsm.
from
families that can trace their
Aryan
origin back to the year
HITLER
164
They
1750.
the
marry only
are permitted to
IS
women who
NO FOOL
can present
same untainted pedigree. The quarters of the Skull and Cross-
bones are changed
at
between them and the service in their
short intervals to prevent any fraternizing
population.
civil
hometown; they
They
are never
are never used for
on duty alone; there
always one to watch the other. They are the guaranteed 99
^
is
per
cent pure murderers.
The
Leader-Principle had to be adjusted to the growing
demands
Mein Kampf, Hitler Germanic Democracy; election of the
of the dictatorship. In the original edition of called
it
"the principle of
Fuehrer, but absolute authority for him." In the current edition of
he defines
his book,
it
as "the principle of the absolute
authority." This revision
was not
for the sake of style. It
Fuehrer
meant a
fundamental change in the structure of the Nazi Party and of other mass organizations in the Third Reich. inally
wrote that "the chairman of a
and that
all
local
While Hitler
group
is
all
orig-
to be elected"
the Leaders of the party are to be chosen by the
mem-
"The
chair-
bers themiselves, in later editions he issued the order:
man of a local group is to be appointed by the next higher Leader. The same principle is to hold for the next higher organization, the county or the province. The Leader is always to be appointed from above."
The
masses of people, the stupid herd of sheep, must be pre-
vented from having the slightest influence upon the government
and
its
direction; governing
is
exclusively the business of the Fuehrer
and the nobles who surround him. All organizations, not only the Party, the SS, and SA, but also the
"National Food Estate," an obligatory association of
all
agricultural
producers and distributors, as well as the Labor Front (and recently the
Evangelical
Common
Church!)
are
them
their
to all of
is
the broadest possible base, they
built
upon
the
Leader-Principle.
pyramidal structure. Resting upon
grow narrower and narrower
until
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM
Government
they end in the
They
apex.
165
?
Hke everything in
serve,
the Third Reich, the purpose o£ domination, mass control, and
war
preparation. In the social composition o£ their governing bodies, too, they
and
resemble a pyramid.
peasants, are the
their party
work
Nazi
At
an "honorary
as
the very base,
faithfuls, poorly office."
Higher up
the middle class element becomes stronger. is
working
absolutely unpolluted by
Where
among
The
of a petty
The
Goebbels?
official.
"Doctor,"
he
as
Streicher, the ruler of Franconia,
is
called,
of
coming from
Party's families.
Dr. Frick, Minister of the
Interior,
General von Epp,
officials.
Count Helldorf, the Police President of
Berlin? Offspring of Junker families. Dr. Ley? at least
the
From merchant
or Police-General Daluege? All sons of
Have we
Commonweal?
Goering? Son of a high
show-off intellectual. Hess and Rosenberg?
the ruler of Bavaria, or
pyramid
class elements.
entrusted with responsible positions in the People's
official.
in the
around the apex
air
and sons of workers who have been
are the workers
The Fuehrer? Son
the workers
paid or carrying out
—wait
a minute!
found one ? The Leader of the Labor Front boasts a simple peasant family. If
it is
true, it
must have
been an extraordinary lucky chance that enabled the son of a poor peasant in pre-War university.
By
peasant origin.
had
to dismiss
his
Germany
manner
Degree from a
The Dye Trust, which employed him him for chronic drunkenness.
The Nazis know what ment with
to get his Doctor's
of Hving, one could hardly guess his
great aims
dangers
lie
must constantly
before Hitler,
in their isolation. try not to lose
its
"A moveconnection
with the broad mass of the people," Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf,
For
this reason,
he places
as
much emphasis upon
the maintenance
upon the organization of his armed forces. must never be left to himself. He must constantly be exposed to the observation and influence of the Nazis. He must not be given time to come to his senses. As a tiny cog in a
of a mass following as
The German
citizen
HITLER
l66
NO FOOL
IS
huge machine, with the omnipotence of the State held constantly before his eyes, he must reaUze that as an individual he is nothing, and
member
as a
which tomorrow
The
child
who
is
now
ization at ten leaves
Labor
Service.
mobiUzed
of a
nation, as a citizen of an
will rule the world, he
it
Long
is
Empire
everything.
required to join the Hider Youth Organ-
at the
age of eighteen to be drafted into the
Army,
before he enters the
SA
the
gives
him
mihtary training. After two years of service in the Army, he
SA
becomes a member of the paid work, he must in a factory
or
join the
first
SA
Reserve. If he looks finally for
German Labor
Front.
As worker
he receives a card which prohibits him from shifting by permission of the Government. "Strength Through
jobs except
Joy" takes care of his leisure time. His private
"Block Warden,"
close supervision of the
who
the Air Raid Defense has the right to enter his
Only death
German
will wrest the
citizen
from
life
is
under the
as a functionary of
home day
or night.
Hitler's loving care.
With the amount of labor and capital spent for armaments and war preparation Hitler could have made a paradise of Germany. Instead, he transformed
it
becomes more and more
Nazi economist and an
into a
huge barracks. His "sociaHsm"
spiritual, a
mental
editor of Hitler's
bruch, sees sociaHsm already established: its
belief in
The
newspaper, Nonnen-
"The German
people, by
^"
a pleasant
is
attitude, a faith.
National SociaUsm, has spiritually taken possession of
the economy."
This
own
Unfortunately,
it
way
of expropriating the trusts
did not seem sufficient
when
and Junkers.
Hitler had to take
possession of the economies of foreign countries.
The upon
three widely publicized benefits bestowed by
the lower middle class
workers and white radio
set,
people's
"the
car,"
collar
people's
and the
better
Nazi
socialism
paid categories of
workers are the introduction of a cheap receiver,"
of
and of cheap vacation
a
cheap automobile, "the
trips
on board "Strength-
HOW
DOES HITLER CARRY OUT HIS PROGRAM
Through-Joy"
away more powerful
are taking
in to foreign
The
people's receiver
so constructed that the
is
can hear only stations within a very limited radius.
listener
—and
The
boats.
167
?
news
very useful
broadcasts.
—for
sets to
The
ization
people's receiver
which
owned by
is
for
war and,
at the
the
same time,
ing purchasing power into the proper channels.
German
Germany's motor-
serves a twofold purpose. It furthers
and preparation
good enough
is
Goebbels' propaganda and enlightenment.
people's car, built by a plant
Labor Front,
The Nazis
prevent listeners from tuning
leads exist-
The man who buys
the car (on an installment plan financed by the compulsory contri-
butions of
all
workers and employees
money to spend on tary Economy does
now
to Ley's
other consumers' goods
not want.
How
Union)
will
have
it, is
another question. Rubber, gasoline, and
important for war and therefore
who
long the proud owner
paying for a car not yet produced will be able to enjoy
he gets
restricted.
less
whose production Mili-
oil
is
once
it,
are vitally
Joseph Werlin, director
of the Daimler-Benz Works, one of Germany's biggest automobile factories,
wrote the other day in Der Deutsche Vol^swirt that "the
use of automobiles for purely personal pleasure
may have
be
to
limited."
The finally,
significance of the boat trips with Strength
became
clear
intervention returned
from Spain. Then the Nazis,
parable brazenness, told
Legion
Through
Joy,
beyond a doubt when the German army of
how
in their incom-
they had transported the
to Spain, disguised as tourists.
Of
Condor
course, they will use their
troop transport ships to take vacationing workers, small business-
men, shopkeepers, and employees navia. It
makes
friends,
its
to the
Mediterranean or Scandi-
strengthens "national unity," and
cheap, too. Capitalism has not spoiled the working masses. are grateful for
two weeks of sunshine. But the
is
people's car in the
new Strength-Through-Joy cruiser Robert Ley instance destined for The Day —not for pleasure.
garage as well as the are in the last
it
They
— HITLER
l68
To German
ears certain
inseparably
bound up with
1917-18 the
German
words terrible
like turnips or
was one of those
ingredient.
There
is
marmalade
people virtually lived on turnips.
ersatz products in
no war
yet.
NO FOOL are
memories. During the winter of
of an indescribable nature took the place of butter It
IS
Marmalade
and margarine.
which worms were the
best
But the consumption of marmalade
has increased 400 per cent since Hitler socialism
came
to
bless
Germany. Another word means something pagne.
The
story
is
to the
German
people
cham-
in the following table:
Consumed Germany
Bottles in
Year
(in millions)
1913
Four times champagne.
as
12.1
1933
5-5
1934
10.3
1935
12.2
1936
14.5
1937
19-9
1938
24.0
much marmalade consumed;
four times as
much
FIVE
Wm Hitler Win?
"The
satisfaction of the
members
of a national
body emanates in
the long run not exclusively from theoretical phrases, but rather
from the goods
of daily
life
received by the individual
the resultant conviction that a peoples' in
commonweal
and from represents
achievements the interests of the individual."
its total
Mein Kampf
The Changed World
Situation
Hitler and
have
Six years
centration
his party
a long time. It
is
now is
been in power more than
six years.
an eternity for the prisoners in the con-
camps and the dungeons of the Third Reich,
for the
driven from their homeland or waiting for an opportunity
Germans
more than two thousand days and nights of constant mortal danger for the men and women who continue with from
to escape
unswerving Six years
it.
It is
loyalty the struggle against fascist barbarism. is
but a short time.
One Thousand
sees itself
moving with
new war. What do
Years. terrible
these six years
Probably no one
is
It is a
Third Reich that
nightmare to a world which
for Hitler?
How much
nearer
his goal?
more surprised 169
in a
speed toward the catastrophe of a
mean
have they brought him toward
only a prelude to a coming
who believes
period of grandeur for the Nazi will last
It is
at Hitler's success
than the
HITLER
170
Fuehrer himself. The son of Alois Schicklgruber thing.
He showed
no
talent as a painter,
The war
for
which he had longed
architect.
neither glory nor advancement. In 1919 he that he
less
depended
for
NO FOOL
IS
failed in every-
no qualifications so
was
as
an
much brought him
so lonely
and
friend-
companionship upon the mice in
his
Mein Kampf, he used to feed morning hours. Shortly before his thwarted Putsch November, 1923, he confessed only this modest ambition:
barracks which, as he describes in in the early in
"All
movement continue, that it be placed on a basis, and that I make my livelihood as chief of the Beobachter." ^^ In 1932, when he wanted to run for the
desire
I
is
that the
sound business VoelJ{ischer
man
presidency of the Reich against Hindenburg, the
without a
country trembled in fear of deportation. Goebbels has disclosed that
month before the "ascent to power," the Fuehrer thought of The iron superman, endowed with an unshakable will,
a
suicide. exists
only in the legends of Nazi history.
One need
not rely on information from the Fuehrer's friends or political hopes and ambitions. It Mein Kampf. The book shows how quickly and far beyond his expectations came to him. The ques-
enemies to trace the curve of his is
in the pages of
easily victories
tions
which Hitler has there placed in the foreground have already
to a large extent
been answered. Not that Mein
How
because of political developments.
dated which
As
the
sets forth the subjection of the
maximum program
been carried out
—or
of the Nazis
working toward the solution of
Only of
which declared
a
war
outdated
world
to
Nazi
culture!
remains valid until
a
good part of
his
road and
tasks, the difficulties of
his followers a
historical interest
is
it
has
Nazi movement has been destroyed.
until the
But Hitler has already traveled have stunned him and
it
Kampf
can a document be out-
now
is
few years ago.
are those sections of his
to the death
now
which would
upon organized
book
labor, parlia-
mentarianism, freedom of thought, progressive education, independ-
WILL HITLER WIN ent science carried
—in
upon "Jewish Bolshevism." Hitler has the letter. Hundreds of thousands o£ his internal
a word,
them out
enemies
I7I
r
to
who opposed
the rebirth of
German
Imperialism, have been
shot "while trying to escape," beheaded for "high treason," sentenced
imprisonment
to life
The
at
hard labor, or driven out of the country.
nation has been "united" with terror and propaganda.
Only of
historical interest also are Hitler's ideas of
how
to use
the conflicting imperialist interests of England, France, and Italy to
remove Germany from her
and England,
as
—that
freedom"
isolated position.
With
the help of Italy
he foresaw, he has regained Germany's "national
is,
Germany to particiThe union with Austria, which
the freedom of Imperialist
pate again in imperialist robberies.
Hider in the opening sentence of Mein Kampf regarded as a life task, is now remembered as only the beginning of his redivision of the world.
How
long ago
it
called the strongest military
seems that France could rightly be
power of Europe and
Today
has lost some of
the Treaty
of Versailles!
in Central
and Southeastern Europe;
fortified
enemies, in
its
As Alps
Rhineland; its
it is
cut of?
its
closest allies
from others by a
faced on three sides by three united fascist
African and Far Eastern possessions are in danger: and
military preparation
the Fuehrer looks
—built
mous
it is
it
the guardian of
and
has long been overtaken by Germany.
down from his
in sheer rock
difficulties
it
"eagle's nest" in the Bavarian
by three thousand workers, with enor-
at great cost
—he can view his Reich with the
proud feeling that he has increased his area by 63,000 square miles
and the number of
his subjects
by
18,000,000.
lated within the short period of six years
Such
victories,
accumu-
and won without any
serious fight, are extraordinary indeed.
The Europe
of today
is
not the Europe of Mein
and Hitler himself has contributed most
to
its
Kampf any
more,
changes. In carrying
out a successful imperialist program, he at the same time destroys the very world political situation
which made
possible his success.
HITLER
172 It
IS
NO FOOL
was the very weakness of German Imperialism which enabled to separate England from France and which, on the other
him
hand,
made
it
seem advisable
to British
and French Imperialism
to
encourage Hitler's arming for an attack upon the Soviet Union.
Today, however, not France, but Germany
power
ist
in
no longer
is
the strongest imperial-
Europe from a miHtary viewpoint. The
feels
menaced by France, but by
the
Empire
British
Berlin-Rome-Tokyo
Every further sapping of France's strength by Germany
triangle.
simultaneously means the sapping of Britain's strength inevitably drives the British closer to the French. In
stage of Hitler's policy of expansion reached
its
Munich
peak
and
also,
—and
the
first
its
end.
Until then his actions in the field of foreign policy were mainly directed toward his
first strategic
goal
—the isolation and weakening
He relegated to the background the German demand for colonies. He reconciled despised and hated Poland, then "entirely at the mercy of France." He made his rapprochement with Italy. He
of France.
undermined the economic and poUtical influence of France in the Balkans.
During
this entire
period he enjoyed the
tacit
acquiescence,
the direct encouragement, of the British reactionaries.
Long
if
not
before
he scrapped the military clauses of the Versailles Treaty, the British
Government knew
that he
was preparing
for the
move by
feverish
rearmament. Questions by uneasy oppositionists in the House of
Commons were
always given vaguely reassuring
replies.
When
Hitler in March, 1936, decisively violated the Treaty by sending his
army
exerted
its
into the Rhineland,
Government not only French Government from taking
the British
influence to prevent the
counter-measures, but soon afterward sealed the nullification of the military clauses of Versailles by concluding a naval agreement with Hitler, in
which
it
permitted
him
to construct types of warships,
including submarines, previously forbidden to Germany. Imperialists
believed
it
The British German
extremely clever to confine the
WILL HITLER WIN
173
r
Navy to one-third the size of the British. They wished to strengthen Germany against France as well as against the Soviet Union, but within certain limits. Here again we meet the grandiose notion that Hitler could be canalized. What Chamberlain had in mind at Munich was the diversion of German Imperialism toward the East, in orderly gentlemanly stages, according to the tried pattern of the British robber barons.
The
which Hitler advanced can be
incredible rapidity with
gauged by the changes
German
imperialisms.
directed not so
much
between the British and
in the relations
Today
the barrage of
Nazi propaganda
said to have answered, "I
would
I alter
actually
make
In Mein
saw a
so.
the
nations,"
who
^*
he had
flattered the
German
Empire
to the last
proponents
of
a
did not
If Hitler
attributed to him, he
might well have
England
had lauded the youthful vigor
readiness to defend her
the
is
would write every word as it is; only one chapter on England. I would write just
remark
Kampf
possible ally; he
ridiculed
Mein Kampf,
—the
the contrary of the view expressed therein."
done
is
against France as against England. Hitler
himself, asked about his present attitude toward
chapter
best
in
which he
of England's
drop of blood; he had "league
suppressed
of
sought to utiHze the national independence move-
ments in the British colonies in order
to
undermine the
British
Empire.
Then he had
written:
"How
difficult it is to defeat
Not
England we
mention that
Germans have
learned well enough.
Teuton prefer
in spite of everything to see India under British
rather than any other domination."
He
to
had thought
of the "hopes for a fantastic uprising in Egypt.
give our
German rummy-players
end under the well-aimed
companies and
—in
fire
a hail of deadly grenades."
as
a
just as Httle
'holy war' can
the pleasant sensation that
others are ready to spill their blood for us to a helUsh
The
I
reality, it
now
would lead
of British machine-gun
HITLER
174
Such declarations are unlikely
Moslem
confidence in the effect
would be painful
interests
now
were
to lead to
depicts to the
to
NO FOOL
IS
produce in Germany today
much
policy of the Berlin-Rome Axis. Their
German
and German
the collision of British
if
The England which
war.
people
is
the fascist press
once again that of "Perfidious
Albion," the country of unheroic moneybags, of the senile toothless lion.
Goebbels
now
calls
the English people
and cowardly." At present there
is
very
little
"dumb, in
treacherous,
Nazi propaganda
about the "bolshevist menace," but a great deal about the "treacherous Christian democracies," referring of course to England, France
suddenly accuses Chamberlain of plot-
and the United
States. Hitler
ting to encircle
Germany, and
What
Or
his plans?
Hitler revised
Neither.
remains the destruction of the Soviet Union and
the annexation of Tories'
Has
has British reaction become anti-fascist?
Hitler's final goal
the
cancels the naval treaty.
has brought about this sudden change?
its
richest regions,
benevolent neutraUty in
despite all the partial successes of
and he could be
certain of
such an undertaking. But
German ImperiaUsm,
this final
goal has receded farther than ever before. In his judgment of the Soviet Union's possibility of survival, Hitler has
made
his greatest
blunder. His prophecies of the imminent collapse of the gigantic state in the east, his
demonstrations of the inability of the Russian
people to govern themselves without the assistance of a
German
ruling class, read today Hke the babbling of an idiot. His hatred for the Soviet
Union completely warped his judgment. Mein Kampj, Hitler answered those who favored
In 1926, in
German-Soviet understanding with the scornful declaration
Germany own one
does not want an ally which "even today does not single factory in
which a
really
a
that
call its
working automobile can
be produced."
How the
first
simple
it
then seemed to Hitler to deliver a death blow to
workers' and peasants'
state.
But time has worked not only
WILL HITLER WIN for Hitler. "really
Today
175
?
in Soviet factories not only are automobiles,
work," produced but tanks and heavy
which Dur-
artillery as well.
Kampf was
ing the period that has elapsed since Mein
written,
Soviet industry has supplied 500,000 tractors to a mechanized and collectivized agriculture. It has developed airplanes
many
an iron and
Germany
steel
flights to the
itself
and approximately twice
Union
army and an
United
States. It has built
up
industry with an output only slightly behind that
Britain. In the production of oil
the Soviet
surpasses
far
as large as that of
and other
air fleet superior to
United States
as
essential
Germany.
raw
possesses
It
Great
materials
today an
The country whose now ranks second only
Germany's.
industrial strength Hitler ridiculed in 1926 to the
set
world's records and which have twice successfully crossed the
North Pole on non-stop of
which have
an industrial power.
This change in the international position of the Soviet Union,
which Hider
failed to foresee,
orientation of
is
the principal factor behind the
Germany's and England's foreign
policy.
With
new the
growing strength of the Soviet Union precluding any immediate expression of the "urge toward the East," Hitler
is
compelled to
him into direct conflict Empire. Germany resumes her drive
seek other avenues of expansion. This brings
with the
interests of the British
toward the Near East and India, pursuing once more the course taken by the Kaiser on the eve of the World War. Together with his Italian partner,
Hider now challenges Anglo-French control of
the whole Mediterranean area; he co-operates with Japan against British interests in the
Far East; he begins
to press
Germany's
claims for colonial possessions. Nazi agents are active in Holland,
Denmark, and Belgium
—
all strategically
located
from the viewpoint
of British miUtary security. Dozens of airdromes have been built in
Northwestern Germany from which planes can be launched against English
cities.
Thirteen years ago Hider ridiculed the
German
philisdnes
who
HITLER
176
dreamed of fomenting
revolt
in
British
NO FOOL
IS
but today he
colonies,
follows their recipe and, in collaboration with Mussolini, the Arabs fleet,
and other
British colonial subjects.
beginning once again
Thus
He
at all points Hitler
is
in
Mein Kampj.
"rummy-players";
for
the
stirs
up
building a huge
to challenge British naval
supremacy.
compelled by the logic of the interna-
tional situation to revert to the Kaiser's policies
condemned
is
He
which he
so bitterly
can only follow the advice of the
forces
which
German
unrestrained
Imperialism has evoked are far more potent than the fine theories
which the
To for
"liberator of
Germany" once spun.
be sure, there always was in Hitler's timetable a day marked
an accounting with Britain
too.
But
it
was relegated
as far as
Once France was destroyed and the Soviet Union dismemGermany might be strong enough to take the skin of the
possible.
bered,
British lion.
"England
will lose India
.
.
sword of a powerful enemy',' reads a Kampj What then seemed to Hitler one .
prises of a far future
is
.
of the
But
lies
most
Mein
difficult enter-
today a point in his immediate program. Six
years of British "appeasement" have convinced
Empire
subdued by the
if it is
cryptic sentence of
on the road of
him
that the British
least resistance.
Hitler's successes in foreign policy, great as they
may
appear,
cannot hide the fact that he has failed to achieve his primary objectives:
France and alliance with Britain against the
isolation of
Soviet Union. Far from separating his potential enemies, he has
driven them closer together. Great Britain, always reluctant to enter
Continental commitments and always striving for the weakening of the Soviet Union, to
is
now
compelled for the sake of
guarantee the borders of European
states
and
its
to
own
security
move toward
rapprochement with Soviet Russia. Even Chamberlain and fellow-Tories are forced to
make
at least a gesture
his
toward an alliance
with Moscow. Similarly the French Government, which only a short time ago had minimized the importance of the Franco-Soviet Pact
WILL HITLER WIN? and refused Union, lective
So time
is
177
to enter into military conversations
now
agreement against Nazi aggression.
fearful it
is
Britain of further
has pledged to throw
German
all its
attacks that for the first
military
might behind Poland,
Rumania, Greece, and Turkey, in the event feels
endangered and
France,
now
fight in
to
with the Soviet
pressing Britain to accept the Soviet terms for a col-
calls
on her
assistance.
any one of them
And
Britain
the event of aggression
increasingly favors Britain, France,
the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo triangle,
opponents of the
at least
fascist bloc.
imperialist adventure
popular opinion
is
little
as against
doubt in the
politics that in a
war the
moral and economic support
Thus Germany's very
to the
successes in
have evoked the spectre of "encirclement"
which Hitler has always dreaded: a of the most powerful
States
and the Soviet Union
minds of most students of international United States will give
Denmark, Holland,
against
and there
and
determined
virtually linked in a military alliance, are
Belgium or Switzerland. In the United
What
that
possible
anti-German coaUtion
states.
alliances has Hitler acquired in return?
He
has
won
the
support of two great powers, Italy and Japan, and of a small group
weak satellite states, whose loyalty to Germany remains somewhat questionable. Italy, Hitler's strongest ally in Europe, is a country with a comparatively weak heavy industry, poor in essential raw materials, and impoverished by its costly miHtary campaigns in Ethiopia and Spain. Furthermore, the ItaUan people, including large of
sections of the ruling fascist circles, are not overfond of the alliance
with Germany and are disinclined to
sacrifice
themselves for the
aggrandizement of the Third Reich. Mussolini, even
if
cannot ignore these sentiments; and the Duce himself
and
practical
gendeman who would not
in order to save his
has
its
hands
full
own
skin.
hesitate to
it
still
a cynical
abandon Hitler
Germany's Far Eastern
with China; and while
he wished, is
ally,
Japan,
has considerable
HITLER
178
nuisance value, Japan
Germany
assistance to
Measured rials,
in
The
NO FOOL
scarcely in a position to render decisive
is
in time of war.
terms of
financial resources,
states are
IS
man
power, industrial strength, raw mate-
and military equipment, the anti-aggressor
enormously stronger than the BerHn-Rome-Tokyo
triangle.
strength and the stability of the nascent anti-aggressor coali-
tion cannot, of course, be
They depend
also
on the
measured in terms of these sincerity
and determination of the
aggressor states, which in turn depend in these countries are in power.
factors alone.
Tory
upon what
Chamberlain
politicians like
and Simon, Daladier and Bonnet can
scarcely
regarded as
be
unwavering opponents of aggression and fascism. As long champions of "appeasement" remain in power, there ance against a
new Munich. As
anti-
political forces
is
as these
no
assur-
and Czechoslovakian
the Spanish
events demonstrated, international agreements and the canons of international law are
or the Duce.
The
no more sacred
them than
to
French Governments was due in no small measure revulsion against
Munich and
the
growing demand
resistance against aggression. It did not
French
to the
Fuehrer
and
recent shift in the foreign policy of the British
reactionaries
mean
had been converted
popular
to the
for a policy of
and
that the British
to
principles
the
of
democracy. Hitler's
Dilemma
In analyzing the dynamics of in
mind
German
expansion,
have actually intensified Germany's economic seizure of Austria has given Hitler plants coal
we must
bear
that Hitler's successes not only have failed to solve, but
and
if
difficulties.
If
the
some iron ore and munition him some
the conquest of Czechoslovakia has yielded
and arms
the other vital
have not given him enough
iron, oil,
chromium, manganese, tungsten,
lead, or
factories, they
rubber, copper, nickel,
raw materials which the war economy
of the
Third
.
WILL HITLER WIN?
I79
Reich so desperately demands. Both Austria and Czechoslovakia lacked their to
own
supplies of these materials
and were compelled
import them. Furthermore, both of these annexed
territories
had
highly developed consumers' goods industries, the raw materials for
which they these
also partly
two countries
purchased abroad. Thus, the conquest of
intensified
Germany's raw material shortage and
contributed to the dangerous disproportion between the inflated sectors of
its
industries
working
for
war and those engaged "only"
in the production of consumers' goods (and therefore put on a diet)
The change
Germany's foreign trade balance from an export
in
surplus of 442 million marks in 1937 to a deficit of 493 million in 1938,
further draining off the country's meager gold supply,
largely
due
demands
to the additional import
is
and
of Austrian
Czechoslovakian industries, which under Nazi rule are losing their foreign markets.
At
the present
moment,
Third
the masters of the
new difficulties by stripping window frames, and copper
Reich "solve" these
Czechoslovakia of
iron fences, steel
wire. It
question of time before they
come
for the
bronze church
is
only a
bells.
Certainly the Nazis themselves did not believe that the seizure
of Austria and Czechoslovakia
were quite content
would
solve their problems.
They
to leave such illusions to the "appeasers" in the
now
democratic countries. Nazi spokesmen tion of a general "redistribution" of
frankly raise the ques-
raw material
resources through-
out the world; their demands go far beyond the return of Ger-
many's former
colonies. Hitler's ambitions for a redi vision of the
world make the Kaiser's dreams appear quite modest in comparison.
Thus foreign
the logic of Germany's MiHtary
program seems
to lead directly
Economy and
of Hitler's
toward war. For nobody will
beHeve that the realization of such colossal ambitions can be achieved peacefully.
Even
the Chamberlains will be compelled at
to balk at Hitler's insatiable
demands.
Any
serious
some point
breakdown
of
the anti-aggressor coalition, any treacherous attempt to save "peace
HITLER
l8o
by a
in our time"
moment
new
capitulation
for his "lightning
shown
brutahty he has
whole
NO FOOL
might convince Hitler
war" has come.
in his
IS
career.
He
will lead
"The
it
that the
with the
search for a quick
no Umitations which might delay victory must be imposed on the employment of force," writes General Horst von Metzsch, an expert of the German War Ministry whose specialty is decision requires that
the study of the effects of
"No
limitations
of
principle
modern war on
which might delay
Hitler's
war
strategy.
French and English children
German enemies But
if
powers
victory."
the civilian population.
This will be the guiding
includes the poisoning of
It
as well as the slaughtering of all his
that he can lay
hands on.
a firm and determined coaUtion of the world's strongest
resists
further
German Army with
Nazi aggression and confronts Hitler and the the prospect of certain defeat
they
move—
a single
demon-
if
what then?
Nobody stration
assume that
will be so credulous as to
by the
democratic powers would make
He
cherished philosophy and political goal. his aggressive speeches; he
might express
Hitler abandon his
might
for a while cease
his readiness to enter into
conversations regarding limitation of armaments; he might try to reconcile British public opinion tion
of
submarines;
maneuvers
renew
by a temporary halt in the construcregard
but he will
for gaining time, awaiting a
all
these
measures as
more favorable moment
to
his imperialist mission.
Let us suppose, however, that a firm anti-Hitler front once and for all prevents the
Fuehrer from carrying out his foreign program.
There are those who
believe that
military action the difficulties
he will basis
try,
and
if
which
will be able, to shift
Hitler
his
fails to
solve through
war program has
created,
German economy from
a
war
back into normal channels.
This, of course,
would be
a gigantic task, involving the complete
reversal of everything that Hitler has preached
and practiced
since
WILL HITLER WIN
lOl
T
the inception of the
Nazi movement.
fundamental
German economy,
shift in
German culture
would mean not only
life,
It
race ruling the globe, of the
a
but a basic change in every
molded until now to would dissipate Hitler's
sphere of social and cultural
dreams of a world Reich.
It
fit
Hitler's
vision of a
Aryan masters imposing their It would mean a return to
on benighted backward peoples.
the "nonsense" of peaceful co-existence with the various nations.
more than doubtful that the Nazis could survive the consequences of such an abandonment of all their endeavors, no matter It is
how skillful ing
they might be in obscuring
German
to the
it
old program.
To
capital into the
its
significance or in present-
new
people as merely a
expression of Hitler's
begin with, Hitler would have to stop the flow of
war
industries
to shut down most of the huge now employ millions of workers.
and
arms and munitions plants which
He would have to demobilize part of his armed forces. Thus he would immediately confront the problem of finding employment for the masses of men and the accumulations of capital, until now absorbed by Military Economy. According to the estimate of Hugh S.
Hanna
of the
and possibly
less
U.
S.
tion] are productively activities
Department of Labor,
than 70 per cent [of the
"less
than 75 per cent popula-
German working
employed and must support the unproductive
of the remainder." ^^
The unemployment
directly
and
immediately created by an end of Hitler's unproductive MiUtary
Economy would go the
more
acute form.
boom, with
It
than
i
Nazi Germany would then
as the
Weimar
would meet the
crisis,
to publish
per cent in gold, and with
it,
its
face
Republic, but in a far
unhidden by
a depleted treasury, with a national debt so
Nazis do not dare
that the less
into millions.
same economic problems
a
cannon
enormous
with a currency covered by
raw material
reserves con-
verted into useless armaments.
The
political
repercussions
would be immediate. Until now,
Hitler has been able to enjoy the support of Big Business and at
HITLER
l82 the
same time
to
NO FOOL
IS
maintain a large popular following because he
appears as the apostle of a Greater Germany.
program which won the support of both the and the small shopkeepers,
It
was
his foreign
Ruhr
industry
of the Junkers of East Prussia
and the
titans of
small South-German peasant. But once Hitler's promises of a world
Reich exploded, his internal position must undergo a profound change.
With
the unifying force of his foreign
would be compelled
to
make
more
a
Big Business and the masses of the
German
In the sphere of internal policy there
is
program gone, he
open choice between
or less
people.
only one effective means
of mobilizing the people behind Hitler: a serious effort to improve
the hving conditions of the workers and the lower middle class in city
and country. Such a course would bring Hitler
flict
with the vested
promoted the
interests.
interests
On
the other hand, a
of Big Business
into direct con-
program which
and the Junkers would
rapidly lead to a disintegration of Hitler's mass following.
Hider's whole outlook, his poHtical record, his connections with
German
would indicate that in such an eventuality he would follow the normal course of reactionary statesmanship. If he were to cease making cannon, he would in all probthe rulers of
ability still refrain
unUkely
from granting the people
that Hitler
and the Thyssens
business
would
butter. It
is
extremely
Krupps German economy and
revise his honest belief that the
are the ordained lords of
that the "stupid herd of the people"
must be ruled by the Leader-
Principle.
Faced with millions of unemployed released from the armaments factories.
Hitler
would undoubtedly attempt
works and other measures at the
same time would
ship with Big Business. national crats,
"monuments,"
an
in
try to
undertake public
mass support, but
maintain his close working relation-
He would erect
to
effort to retain
new
and construct more roads
build
more
of his pseudo-classic
palaces for favored
for those
who
Nazi bureau-
can afford automo-
WILL HITLER WIN? But such a program would be confined within
biles.
by
183
basis of his
of the
power and which he
German
no more of
nation.
imposed
limits
Hitler's desire to preserve those capitalist forces
which
are the
believes necessary for the existence
Such a public works program would provide Germany's unemployment problem than
a solution for
similar efforts in other capitalist countries. Furthermore, not even
Goebbels' propaganda can successfully cover roadbuilding with the
same glamour empire.
The
a crusade for "national liberation"
as
necessity of fitting his domestic
of Big Business would inevitably lose
His
ability
stripped of
to
him some
maneuver would be
much
program
restricted,
and world
to the interest
of his mass support.
and he would be
of his personal prestige.
But some observers believe that Hitler would go much beyond a public works program and might even decide to embark on the path toward socialism. All those in the present
many certainly
who
see,
or profess to see, a similarity
economic system of the Soviet Union and Nazi Gerenvisage no
difficulties in
such a course.
Some Ameri-
can and European writers express the opinion that Hitler holds such vast
power
that he
would encounter no
lishing socialism, should he decide to
do
serious obstacles in estabso.
—the sworn enemy of — miraculously Socialism, of the "Jew and Marxists" were converted Let us assume, for the moment, that Hitler
to a socialist viewpoint. If
living of the
German
Business, to break
carry out even the lose the support
up
he attempted
to raise the standards of
people, to curtail the profits of
German Big
the large landed estates of the Junkers, to
first steps
toward socialism
—he
would
and incur the enmity of the ruling
put him into power, and whose
interests
he has served.
certainly
classes
On
which
the other
hand, he could not possibly gain the support of the "internal
enemy," of the German workers.
could not undo the persecu-
He
could not convert the bitter hatred of
and oppressed
into sympathetic support nor bring
tions of the past six years.
the persecuted
He
a
HITLER
184 to life the thousands
he has murdered.
He
NO FOOL
IS
could not revive the
trade-unions which he has destroyed, without evoking powerful
working
forces
the
jails
ing
own
for his
To embark on
destruction.
a socialist
program, Hitler would have
and concentration camps and
class;
to
open
work-
release the leaders of the
he would have to revive the democratic rights which he
has destroyed; he would have to permit the reorganization of the trade-unions he has suppressed; he the reactionaries
who now
occupy
would have all
to drive out of office
leading posts in the Govern-
ment and Army; he would have to break the power of the Thyssens and Krupps, and of the Junkers. Can one possibly believe that leaders of the Nazi party who come from the upper middle class, that leaders of the Reichswehr, who come from the German aristocracy will follow Hitler in a program directly contrary to their own interests?
When Roehm
and
his
followers dared to consider a
"second revolution" in the interests of the lower middle
program
from
far
Socialism
—they
Socialist
seriously,
move
The
—
it is
To anyone who
pauses to consider the prob-
unthinkable that Hider would or could possibly
in that direcdon.
Internal
With scale
class
violent death.
the antithesis of everything that Hitler has advo-
is
cated and fought for.
lem
met
his
Enemy
program of foreign expansion blocked, and with
program of genuine domestic
question, Hitler can be certain that his "internal
Even today Nazi and
picture of "law
terror has failed to
enemy"
sell
to foreign
tourists,
is
Beneath the apparently placid surface of German spread unrest
will
and an
active organized opposition.
Nazi newspapers publish
grow.
wipe out the opposition. The
order," of a completely unified Reich,
Nazis so successfully
a large-
reform out of the
social
in obscure posiuons
which the
a superficial one. life,
seethes wide-
Almost
two or three
daily the line items
WILL HITLER WIN?
185
reporting the execution or the imprisonment of
"high treason" or other
activities
executioners' axe, the steel whips of the
the
swamps where
Germans
guilty of
The
against the Third Reich.
SS guards, slow death
prisoners are forced to work,
all
in
the terrors of
The
the Gestapo have not broken the spirit of the "internal enemy." fight against Hitler continues.
As long
him
as Hitler's struggle for "national liberation" gives
easy victories, and consequently popular support, the active opposition
is
necessarily confined to a minority of people with convictions
strong enough to risk the dangers of torture and death. But this opposition will certainly
grow
both foreign and domestic this point.
Even
in proportion to Hitler's failures in
affairs.
Past experience has demonstrated
Hitler's foreign victories, in so far as they reveal
the dangers of his course, have a two-sided effect. If
on the one hand
they appeal to the "national aspirations" of a large section of the
German
growing anxiety that
people, they simultaneously arouse
the final outcome of Hitler's course will be catastrophic war.
Munich,
same time
Hitler's greatest victory, led at the
striking manifestations of unrest
and
paper correspondents noted that the
German army
demonstrations of the
opposition.
to the
most
American news-
German crowds
greeted the
in the streets of Berlin with
anxious silence, eloquently expressing their fear of war. For the
underground movement, the September for the first time
an opportunity
crisis
Germany provided
in
to reach people
who
had
until then
been completely under Nazi influence.
The growing
fear of war, the effects of Military
standard of living, social
and
reform already have cost him
workers
who had few
Economy on
the
Hitler's failure to carry out his promises of
illusions
much
popular support.
The
about their fate in the Third Reich
have had no reason to revise their skepticism. Their resentment against the virtual slavery in
which they
overtime and inferior foodstuff expresses
live,
itself
against speed-up,
in passive resistance
at
IS
NO FOOL
many
factories.
HITLER
l86
work
that has led to a decline in the output of
Lately, incidents of spontaneous
mass opposition against the Nazi
regime have occurred. At the end of April, the workers of one of the largest
armament
Rheinmetall in Duesseldorf, received the
plants,
speech of the Labor Front District Leader with jeers and anti-Nazi cries.
The
repercussion of their action in other factories in Duessel-
management
dorf was so great that the
of Rheinmetall put
up a
punishment any further discussion
notice threatening with capital
of the events in the plant.
The lower middle sionment.
It
arms. But
all
class in the cities
had thrown
itself
most
undergoes a painful
disillu-
enthusiastically into Hitler's
the foreign "victories" cannot hide the fact that
economy narrows
war
the basis of existence of the small businessman,
deprives his shop of necessary
raw
materials, his shelves of con-
sumers' goods, subjects his business to the costly supervision of
him with
arrogant bureaucrats, burdens tributions,
and demands
that
taxes
he carry on
and "voluntary" con-
for the sake of "Greater
Germany." Discontent and unrest are widespread. Their causes are various.
They range from most
the narrowest interests of special groups to the
vital interests of the entire people. Dissatisfaction
may have
its
source in the deterioration of consumers' goods or in the barrenness
and regimentation of
spiritual
and
cultural Hfe. It
may be
aroused by the indignation over compulsory labor or the Jewish
pogroms.
It
may grow
living of the
people.
It
may
Nazi
manifest
worship or in the
out of the striking contrast between the high
leaders
and the
itself
in the
grumbHng
self-denial they preach for the
demands
for
freedom of
religious
of housewives against the officially
from bread to potatoes, from Even now, before the decisive battle. foreign successes. Under no circumstances
imposed change from meat
to fish,
butter to marmalade-substitute.
Hitler feels the cost of his
could he hope to lead a united nation into a war of aggression.
— WILL HITLER WIN?
The mood
of the
187
German
Germany. Despite
outside of
people all
strongly affected by events
is
Germany drown
Hider's efforts to insulate
against outside influence, to suppress foreign newspapers, to
out foreign broadcasts, to prevent Germans from traveling abroad the
German
people react sensitively to the opinions and actions of
foreign countries. Diplomatic negotiations to cement an anti-Hitler alHance, a message
from Roosevelt, an appeal from
undistorted report of provocative sion. If
if
doubts about Hitler's course were transformed into
the conviction that he anti-fascist
is
leading
movement, now
foolish to
Germany
a potent
army threatening Hider's
Only such a
political force
organized
to ruin, the
small force, would become
if
rule.
could overthrow Hitler.
It
would be
assume that the Nazi regime would collapse automadcally
through the sheer weight of economic
As long
modern times has done force strong enough to
so.
living standard of the
German
manage
an
their impres-
an overwhelmingly powerful coalition of nations blocked
Hitler's path,
a vast
British labor,
Nazi maneuvers make
as there
is
stop him. Hitler can
people,
No
difficulties.
regime in
no organized poUdcal further lower the
still
and German industry can
raw material than now. The difficuldes of the Nazi economy must be transformed into polidcal difficulties for the whole Nazi system before it can be to stagger along with
successfully attacked
less
and brought down.
of the great majority of the ized, to
even
German
It will
require the efforts
people, unified
overcome the powerful armed
and well organ-
forces of the
Nazi
dictator-
ship.
At
present, the chances for such a revolution
foreign observers
seem
slim.
Most
tend to beUeve the Hider regime unshakable
Germany suffers a crushing defeat in war; and many inside Germany share this opinion. They see a Nazi bureaucracy numberunless
ing millions and an omnipotent State whose power and authority
cannot be challenged.
The
face of the
Nazi front looks impene-
:
HITLER
100 trable.
But
IS
NO FOOL and
history should have taught us to distrust the face
what
discern carefully
is
going on behind
it.
Otherwise
unprepared for great events; such sudden changes
we
to
will be
as the collapse of
Czarist Russia, of the Kaiser, or, for that matter, of "ever-lasting"
American prosperity
will not be understood as turning points in a
contradictory development, but as miraculous
and inexplicable
inci-
dents.
True, the higher Nazi bureaucracy seems today firmly established
and unlimited
in
its
power.
permeating the privileged
has succeeded to a large extent in
It
classes
the Nazis pay the price for
it.
and in sharing
In
their privileges.
But
Mein Kampj Hider had warned
against opening the National Socialist Party to political profiteers
The more and
tions
material, successful
a
movement has
until
to offer in the
the greater will be
jobs,
finally
party
in
its
accept him.
done
With
such
numbers
him an
that
have overrun a
honest fighter of
movement and
older
that the
new-
however, the "mission" of such a movement
this,
is
for.
as if they
Nazi Party rather than by
bitter
the
human
for inferior
undesirable intruder, determinedly refuse to
Today, these sentences read the
easily accessible posi-
the political opportunists will
days will not be able to recognize the old comers, seeing in
form of
attraction
thoughts in the
German
to the "old fighters" of the
SA.
its
were written by a
highest boss.
reader, especially
He
if
critic
They must
of
incite
he should belong
sees the lucrative positions
taken
up by the "March-Hares," by those who jumped on the bandwagon only after victory was certain. He sees the rapid advancement of the big industrialists' sons in the party and the rapid advancement of the high party functionaries in private business.
It
attention for ever that the "union between the old
many" goes on racy in
cannot escape his
and the new Ger-
form of a participation of the high bureaucthe exploitation of the people. Phrases and promises are in the
WILL HITLER WIN?
189
knew
not enough, as Hitler himself once
ment might appear contains
it
all
The Nazi movewhich the
the conflicting elements of a class society
commonweal"
"people's
very well.
to the outsider as a monolithic bloc; in reality,
The
actually represents.
conflict
between
these elements can never stop.
Whoever
and succumbs should
power of the Nazi
despairs over the stupendous
to a feeling of the hopelessness of
mind
call to
the fate of the
SA. Originally
it
and most important Nazi military organization.
army during
veritable
Chancellor, increased
demand made it.
numbered membership
it
its
600,000
when then
into a
and the
early
Hitler was appointed
men. In the summer of
to 3,000,000. It
largest
grew
felt
1934,
talked of a "Second Revolution," which, after
It
would break
out,
interests
caught with his
—that
social
class
had
"Marxism"
the domination of the Robber-
Barons and Junkers. In such talk the lower middle
and
it
strong enough to
the fulfillm.ent of the promises that National Socialism
had been wiped desires
was the It
the Nazi's "period of struggle"
days of Hitler's rule. In January 1933,
rulers
any resistance
class
voiced
whose imagination Hitler had
and national demagogy.
When
its
first
their leaders
challenged the power of the Reichswehr, they came to a terrible end.
In the June purge of 1934
were shot cal
backbone of the
men.
500,000
It is
Roehm and hundreds
command.
at Hitler's
SA
has been broken.
allowed to march
Today
at the
parades and birthday celebrations; and
plunder Jewish
German forces.
stores,
people."
What
It
But
is
still
good enough
it
numbers again
big raUies, the victory
it is still
a useful instrument
of terror against the illegal organizations of the Social Democrats.
of his lieutenants
Since then the miUtary and politi-
to
Communists and burn synagogues,
and enact the "spontaneous outbursts of the it
no longer belongs
has destroyed
effect of the contradictions
its
to the elite of the
armed
value for the Nazi dictatorship
between demagogy and
the interests of the lower middle class
truth,
is
the
between
and those of monopoly
capital.
HITLER
1^0
From
October 1939
all
Germans who have completed
IS
their military
service will be organized in special "defense detachments,"
detachments will be incorporated in the
saw
porters
in this decree a sign that the
Actually, the decree liquidates the that will recall to a
its
SA
re-
has returned to favor.
as a separate organization. All
former grandeur will be the old name attached
longer have anything in
common
with Roehm's "old fighters."
base of Hitler's dictatorship
slow as
and these
SA. Some newspaper
organization whose membership and leadership will no
new
The
SA
NO FOOL
it
may
is
contracting,
and
appear today, will gain speed and
this process,
momentum
in
proportion to the bankruptcy of Hitler's foreign and domestic policy.
no short cut to freedom and democracy for the German The Germans themselves must put an end to the shame of having their good name soiled with the deeds of savages. They alone
There
is
people.
can prove that the all
man who now
and organizational
their constructive
plans,
is
not of their
own
to learn to fight the fascist
resistance they
showed
in
they were defending their will
have to overcome
common
son to their living.
The
millions of to learn
abuses
choosing.
all their
industrious efforts,
talents for his
The German
enemy with the same courage and will of the World War as long as they believed fatherland from foreign aggression. They
all their diflFerences,
desire for peace
so irrelevant in compari-
and freedom and humane
greatest social force in the anti-Nazi front
German
murderous
people will have
workers. Theirs
from the mistakes of the
is
is
the twenty
also the greatest responsibility
past, to unite to
win the millions
of the lower middle class for an irresistible People's Front.
Any genuine welcomed by
the
support from the outside world will certainly be
German
anti-Fascists.
But such
assistance,
rendered in peace or war, must be genuinely democratic. Versailles,
defeated Hitler.
whether
A
new
imposed by British and French Imperialism upon a
Germany, would overthrow Hitler only
to create a
new
WILL HITLER WIN German
fascism can be destroyed only by destroying the social
order that breeds tion
is
I9I
?
Germany
Only for the forces of imperiaUsm and exploita"Have Not" nation. Only for an economic system
it.
a
which produces an "overpopulation" whenever the means duction cannot be employed to the profits of their owners
many
a "nation without territory."
ImperiaHsm originate in the
raw
last instance in the
and consuming power of
the producing Hitler's task
The dynamic its
is
Ger-
German
discrepancy between
present economic order.
overcome the discrepancy by conquering new
to
is
forces of
of pro-
by adding new foreign markets, by chaining new
materials,
millions of workers to capital's chariot.
The German
people's
making themselves
task
is
to
overcome the discrepancy by
the masters over the
using their industries for their
own
means
of production, by
needs, by establishing their
welfare as the goal of their peaceful and collective efForts.
mans
are a strong
and talented people. Once they enriched the
ture of the world.
fascism
may
enable them to be the
will yet rise in their
was
That they were among the
for a time
power
to
first to
first to fall
put an end to
wipe out the memory that
besmirched with blood and barbarism.
own
The Gercul-
prey to it.
their
They name
FOOTNOTES
Footnotes
Rudolf Olden, Hitler. Querido Verlag, N. V. Amsterdam, 1935. Trans-
1
lated
from the German
by Covici-Friede, 2
Pan-German 10.
An
edition, p. 33.
New York,
American
edition published
1936.
Party, not to be confused with
Pan-German League. See
anti-Semitic, nationalistic political party in Austria-Hungary.
In decline before the
War; did not
Hapsburg
survive collapse of
Monarchy. Party, founded by Karl Lueger, anti-Semitic Burgo-
3 Christian-Social
master of pre- War Vienna. It later After the
War
came under Catholic
influence.
the strongest opponent of the Austrian Social Democratic
Schuschnigg its leaders. Introduced a in 1934 and surrendered to Hider Austria in Fascism Catholic brand of Seipel,
Party.
Dollfuss and
in 1938. Since dissolved. *
Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler. Europa-Verlag, Zurich, 1939. Translated from the German, p. 238. American edition published by A. Knopf,
New
York, 1936.
Names popularized by the Nazis for they accept as legitimate: The First which Empires German the three of the German Nation" (962-1806); Empire Roman "Holy Reich—The Third Reich (1933-....). The The Reich (1871-1918); The Second
^ First,
Second and Third Reich.
terms are often misunderstood as signifying (i) the Kaiserreich of 187 1, the Weimar Republic of 1918, and (3) the Hitler Reich (cf., for (2)
instance,
William N. Loucks and
nomic Systems,
New
^
Olden,
'^
Freikorps. Illegal
York, 1938.
J.
Weldon Hoot, Comparative Eco-
p. 595).
op.cit. pp. 56-58.
actionary
and
armed detachments organized
after the
War
nationalistic officers, students, etc. to fight the
195
by
re-
Weimar
FOOTNOTES
196 Republic.
The
Germany
set
Freikorps refused to recognize the
fare against Poland, Lithuania
tection of the
Govermnent and the Heiden,
borders of
and Latvia, committed
army
acts of terrorism
Ruhr and enjoyed the proReichswehr (German Army) and all reactionaries in the
against the French occupation
®
new
by the Treaty of Versailles and carried on regular war-
in the
judiciary.
op.cit. p. 84.
^Paris-Midi, February 28, 1936. ^^
Pan-German League, tions
during the
whose
a political organization
War had much
common
in
imperialist aspira-
with Hitler's program of
world domination. Main champion of a "Peace through Victory" during the War. See Mildred S. Wertheimer,
New ^^
Spartacus-League.
Name
of a left revolutionary
from the German
Social
Democratic Party during the
into the ^^
The
Communist Party
of
^^ Hussite, a follower of
burned
movement which split War and grew
Germany.
flying ass of the original edition of
metaphors of the Fuehrer, was in
^*
The Pan-German League,
York, Columbia University, 1924.
Mein Kampf, one
later editions
of the
famous
transformed into a bird.
John Huss, the Bohemian reformer
who was
alive as a heretic in 14 15.
Freemasons.
An
international secret fraternal order
mainly belong to the comfortable middle
class.
whose members
Many
of Mussolini's
democratic opponents were Italian Freemasons. Mussolini persecuted
them
for political reasons.
to-do enabled
him
But the
fact that
to claim that his
many
of
movement was
them were
well-
revolutionary
and
anti-capitalist.
^^
Night of the long knives. The Nazis announced beforehand a general massacre of their opponents once Hitler came to power.
and three nights
would be turned over
for three days
and SS. The burning
of the Reichstag
terror, the
^^ People's
Nazi version
of the St.
was the
signal for
up
SA
an organized
officials
to deal with all political offenses against the
Their hearings are
Germany armed
Bartholomew Night.
Courts. Nazi juries consisting of Nazi
officers set
to the
secret, their sentences final.
and
Army
Third Reich.
FOOTNOTES ^^
197
Wolfgang Kapp, a Prussian
German League, high
State
closely connected
Army circles and the He represented the
Republic.
stand the fine arts of
official,
propagandist of the Pan-
with the reactionary bureaucracy,
Junkers, tried in 1920 to overthrow the
who did not
pre-fascist reactionary,
demagogy and mass
under-
betrayal.
^^ Clark, op.cit. pp. 66-67. 1^
Captain Ehrhardt. Naval
officer
during the War. Prototype of the
Freikorps-Fuehrer, supported the Kapp-Putsch by marching into Berlin
with
his
marine brigade of 5,000 heavily armed men. The Reichswehr under General von Seeckt let Ehrhardt and his rebels go
Command
free, declaring that
Ehrhardt had given his word of honor not to make
any further move against the Reich Government. Ehrhardt later took part in Hider's Putsch in Munich in 1923 and in many other counter-
The Republic never
revolutionary enterprises.
failed to
pay him his
Government pension. 20Stahlhelm (Steel Helmets), a semi-military organization under the political leadership of the German Nationalist Party, led by Alfred
Hugenberg. For a while in Stahlhelm was 21
22
dissolved
close co-operation
when
My
the Nazis
with the
came
SA and
SS, the
to power.
&
Blackett,
Ltd., London, 1935. p. 205 fl. Otto Strasser, Aufbau des deutschen Sozialismus (Building
German
Dr. Joseph Goebbels,
Part in Germany's Fight. Hurst
Socialism). Heinrich Grunov,
Prag. L, 1936. p. 122.
Adolf Hider's vor Westdeutschen Industrie-Fuehrern im Industrie-Klub zu Diisseldorf" (Address of Adolf Hider before the West-
23 "Vortrag
ern
German
Industrial Leaders in the Industry-Club at Diisseldorf).
Miinchen, 1932. 24
p. 28.
Alfred Rosenberg, Der Mythus des
XX.
Jahrhunderts (The Mythos of
608. the 20th Century). Hoheneichen-Verlag Miinchen, 1936. p. 25
Alfred Rosenberg,
26
State Richard Thoma, Die Staatsfinanzen der Vol{sgetneinschaft (The
op.cit. p. 609.
Finances of the People's Commonweal), Tiibingcn, 1937. 27
Quoted from Herald-Tribune, April "Nazi Economics and War."
17,
1939:
Edward H.
Collins,
FOOTNOTES
198 2^
Karl Burkheiser, Grenzen des Staats\redits (Limits of State Credit), Berlin, 1937. p. 64.
^ Max Co.,
Ascoli and Arthur Feiler, Fascism for
New
York, 1938.
^^
Esscrwr National Zcitung, Sept. 17, 1938.
2^
Der Deutsche
^' Fritz
Norton &
Vol^swirt, Oct. 14, 1938.
Nonnenbruch, Die Dynamische Wirtschajt (Dynamic Economics),
Zcntralverlag der ^^
Whom? W. W.
p. 261.
Heiden,
NSDAP,
Franz Eher Nachf., Miinchen, 1936.
p. 11.
op.cit. p. 131.
von Wiegand, "Hider Foresees His End!" Hearst's International combined with Cosmopolitan, April, 1939. Hugh S. Hanna, Congressional Record, March 3, 1939.
^•^Karl
^^
1
Modern Age Books On Germany and Related Topics If
you
to you,
you
will be interested in the special
tions listed in
Our
book or gained information from it which was of value group of Modern Age publicathe pages which follow.
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have been deluged with manuscripts dealing with the subGermany, or with topics which are directiy or indirecdy related to the European situation in which Germany plays the key role. Many of these books were worthy of publication, but the five volumes ject of
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Reich, and the
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which is important to all of us, for the training which young Germans get might well affect the future ^the very near future of young Americans. The New Inquisition by Konrad Heiden is another beautifully written and accurate book, a description of the whole Jewish problem, the pogroms of 1939 and the reverberations of those pogroms in Germany and outside. Secret Armies, by John L. Spivak, exposes Nazi activities on our own doorstep, after first showing us the tactics which were unfortunately so successful in Czechoslovakia, which are now being exposed in France and England, and which will be increasingly exposed in this country, Mexico and Latin America. We think it is pertinent to list two more volumes, both published in the summer of 1939; Air War, by W. O'D. Pierce, and Military Strength of
—
—
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"Whoever has the youth has the future," said the cunning master of Germany many years ago, when he was still an obscure Austrian ex-corporal. This book damningly shows how far he has gone toward warping pliable Here is a saddening record and that bodes ill for generations to come; family life poisoned and destroyed; a once proud school system debased; babes in arms pressed into a sinister system of regimentation that allows no child to draw a breath save by leave of the State. Miss Erika Mann is peculiarly qualified to draw this picture of anguish with bold and unsparing strokes. Herself a member of the war generation of German youth, she knows at first hand the life of young people under
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the Empire, the Republic, and
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The daughter
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Writing at white heat and yet with magnificent restraint, Konrad Heiden unfolds what is unmistakably the real story of the Jewish persecutions in Germany and of the November pogroms which sent waves of revulsion through the whole of the civilized world. This book would be unbelievable were
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—
—
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