001253 GERMANY UNDER HITLER

By MILDRED S. WERTHEIMER FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SOCIALIST - lABO COLLECTION A vivid analysis of Germany today-its politi. cal and economic structure and the forces at present controlling its destinies. The author examines in detail the causes of the Nazi revolution and the measures taken by Hitler to realize the aims of National Socialism. Based on the laws and decrees of the Hitler government, this timely study coordinates and amplifies American impressions of Naziism.

WORLD AFFAIRS PAMPHLETS No.8 25c WORLD AFFAIRS PAMPHLETS • HE first aim of this series, published by the Foreign Policy T Association and the World Peace Foundation, is to assist the citizen in understanding the forces underlying contemporary international problems, and acquaint him with the results of re­ search in international relations. To this end, WORLD AFFAIl\S PAMPHLETS are necessarily less detailed and more interpretative than the factual research data published by both organizations. The authors alone are responsible for any judgments or inter­ pretations which may appear in this series; they will, however, be guided by the standards of objectivity and impartiality which characterize the Foreign Policy Reports and the Worlel Peacl Foundation Publications. The second aim of the series is to secure a greater degree of co­ operation between the various organizations dealing with foreign affairs. With this end in view, the publishers will consider meet­ ing the request of any organization which desires the preparation of a pamphlet on a given subject in the international field. WORLD AFFAIRS PAMPHLETS are sent regularly to members of the Foreign Policy Association and to subscribers of the World Peace Foundation.

February 1935 GERMANY UNDER HITLER

By MILDRED S. WERTHEIMER Research Associate, Foreign Policy Association

WORLD AFFAIRS PAMPHLETS No.8 1935

Published jointly by FOREIGN POLICY ASSOCIATION, NEW YORK WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION, BOSTON GERMANY UNDER HITLER

Copyright 1935 By FOREIGN POLICY ASSOCIATION and WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION The publishen tak.e pleasure in authorizinl{ reproduction of parts of this book.let provided that due credit is l{iVe11.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY J. J. LITTLE AND rYES COMPANY, NEW YORK CONTENTS

Introduction 5 I. Forces Underlying the Nazi Revolution 6 II. Rise of the National Socialist Movement 10 Who Supported Hitler and Why 12 III. The Nazi Revolution. 16 The Brown Terror 19 The Anti-Jewish Boycott 20 The "Cold Pogrom" 21 IV. Establishment of a Totalitarian State . 25 Organization of the Party 26 Political Structure of the Third Reich 29 The "Coordination of Culture" 32 V. Economic Structure of the Third Reich 35 VI. Nazi Foreign Policy 39 VII. Conclusion 46 GERMANY UNDER HITLER

INTRODUCTION

wo years have elapsed since Adolf Hitler became Chancellor T of the German Reich. In that brief period the entire political structure of the country has been fundamentally changed from a democratic republic to a dictatorship. All opposition to the National Socialists has been ruthlessly crushed; culture and education have been completely Nazified; a totalitarian state has been established in which the Nazi party and the Reich are legally one. The Ger­ man people have been politically unified, and a large majority have experienced a resurgence of national confidence. According to Hitler, "a Germany of honor, of freedom, of social happiness" has been created. During Hitler's two years in office the character of National Socialism has changed. Hitler remains the mass leader, almost the Messiah of the Third Reich. But as time goes on, nationalism is being emphasized far more than socialism, and economic power has been largely removed from Nazi hands and concentrated in the person of Dr. Schacht, Minister of Economics and president of the Reichsbank. The Third Reich is rapidly tending toward state capitalism. Moreover, the regular army-the Reichswehr-has established itself as the real power behind the Nazi front. The party itself is reported to be honeycombed with internal dissension, and rent by struggles of the various leaders for power and prestige. The interparty quarrels which weakened the Weimar Republic have become intraparty wrangles in the Third Reich. Nazi ideology remains a nationalistic religion permeating every aspect of German life and culture, and provides the fundamental philosophy in which German youth is being reared. 6 GERMANY UNDER HITLER

I

FORCES UNDERLYING THE NAZI REVOLUTION

1T N order to understand Hitler's rise to power, it is necessary II to recall the mental, physical and material suffering which the Germans have undergone during the past two decades. The roots of National Socialism, however, lie buried deep in past history. Situated in the heart of Europe with no natural frontiers except on the north, the territory which now comprises the German Reich was for centuries the battlefield of Europe. As a result the Ger­ mans, torn by internal and external strife, were the last great people in Europe to achieve national unity; and even after the foundation of the Empire in 1871, local patriotism and particu­ larism remained strong. Before the World War, German national feeling was peculiarly assertive, reflecting a subconscious feeling of inferiority characteristic of a people politically united but not sufficiently unified to take its national patriotism for granted. This manifested itself after the death of Bismarck in a zigzag diplomatic course which alternated between sabre-rattling and submissIon. Although in the German Empire the Reichstag was elected by universal male suffrage, its importance in governing the Reich was not great and much of the real power rested in the army, nobility and large landowners. The German middle classes, while numerically large, were politically apathetic. They had not fought successful revolutions for their political rights like the British and French bourgeoisie, and possessed no hard-won and there­ fore deeply prized heritage of democracy. The German proletariat, organized in the Social Democratic party, was unable to exert much influence on the political life of the country. The discipline of the army permeated the entire nation through universal mili­ tary service; the people were imbued with the spirit that "order FORCES UNDERLYING THE NAZI REVOLUTION 7 must prevail" and were accustomed to obeying their supenors without question. "This excellent people has no real sense of freedom," wrote Walther Rathenau in November 1914. "It loves authority, it desires to be governed, it resigns itself and wants only to obey." The Germans, especially the ruling classes, had been pro­ foundly influenced during the nineteenth century by their in­ tellectuals-historians, philosophers and writers. Hegel, in par­ ticular, left his mark on German history through his glorification of the state. "The State is God on earth!" he declared, and the "individual exists only to serve the state." Many Germans were convinced of the truth of Hegel's assertion that civilization is spread only by war, and that the triumph of civilization demands the suppression of less capable or less advanced races by more highly cultured ones. War and the doctrine of force thus became the embodiment of progress. Hegel, moreover, portrayed mankind as progressing through the ages, steadily although unconsciously, toward the Germanic perfection of the nineteenth century. Ger­ man historians, too, had developed the doctrine of the great "mission" of the German people, and their works lauded the Hohenzollerns, the glories of the German medieval period, German prowess in the crusades, and the deeds of the Teutonic knights. Belief in the "mission" of the German people was further strengthened by a new "science" of race which aided German nationalists in explaining the superiority of the German race over all others. In 1854 a Frenchman, Count Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, published his Essai sur l'inegalite des races humaines, which set forth the thesis that racial questions overshadow all other problems of history and hold the key to them. The inequality of races explains the whole course of human destiny, Gobineau argued. Asserting the inherent superiority of the "Aryan" race, he held that racial degeneration was the inevitable result of the mixture of Aryans with inferior races. Gobineau paved the way for the work of an Englishman, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, whose Foundations of the Nineteenth Century appeared in 1899. Cham- 8 GERMANY UNDER HITLER berlain's main thesis was the assertion of the superiority of the T eutons over all other races of the world, and his book became a best-seller in Germany and was popular with the Kaiser. It is impossible to estimate the extent to which such works as those of Gobineau and Chamberlain actually influenced his­ torical events, but they were doubtless of considerable importance in nourishing German national egotism, just as Hegelian phi­ losophy played a part in determining the authoritarian character of the German Empire. The German intellectuals, however, de­ veloped an intense and intolerant spirit of nationalism among the ruling classes, reflecting, as has been pointed out, a species of national inferiority complex resulting from the tardiness with which the Reich achieved national unity. Thus the concepts of extreme nationalism as well as the doctrine of the superiority of the German-Aryan race were present in German ideology even before the war. Their elevation to the position of primary principles governing the destinies of 65,000,000 Germans, however, is the direct result of the war, the Versailles Treaty, the weakness and ineptitude of the Weimar Republic, and the post-war policy of the Allies. National Socialism is not only a mass protest against the hardships suffered during and since the war-it is also a form of self-vindication for a proud people which, trained and educated in a militarized state, were defeated in a great war. The early post-war years in Germany were marked by the blackest disillusionment and discouragement. The Allied blockade, which was not lifted until after the signature of the Versailles Treaty, increased the sufferings of a people already starving and in the grip of revolution. The former German rulers had abdicated and the Kaiser had fled to Holland; the untried Social Democratic leaders who had taken over the government were faced not only with the necessity of saving the country from Bolshevism but of setting up a new democratic state. Added to this was the dislocation entailed by demobilization of the army. It was only with the aid of former officers of the imperial army that this demobilization FORCES UNDERLYING THE NAZI REVOLUTION 9 was carried through and the Left revolution crushed. The officials of the old regime, meanwhile, stuck to their posts and carried on the administration of the country. As a result, the Republic felt that it had incurred a great debt to these officials and officers, despite the fact that many of them paid only lip-service to the new regime and as time went on became openly antagonistic. The seeds of counter-revolution were thus planted even before the legal establishment of the Republic at Weimar on August II, 1919. The new Republic also received a staggering blow in the Versailles Treaty. The German people, expecting a peace settle­ ment based on Wilson's Fourteen Points, were thunderstruck by the terms of a treaty which imposed huge reparation payments, losses of German territory, occupation of the Rhineland and unilat­ eral disarmament of the Reich. The moral condemnation expressed in Article 231 of the treaty, which was interpreted as placing sole responsibility for the war on Germany and its allies, the Reich's loss of its colonies on the ground of German maladministration, and the demand that the so-called war criminals be turned over to the Allies for trial all seemed incomprehensible to the German people who had been told unceasingly that they were fighting a war of defense and who had believed Wilson's pronouncements. The Weimar Republic, which accepted the peace, was inextricably associated in the popular mind with the humiliation and disappoint­ ment engendered by the Versailles Treaty. During the years 1919-1923, while the struggling young Re­ public was endeavoring to consolidate its position and pull the Reich out of the chaos caused by war and revolution, its major task lay in the field of foreign affairs, and was concerned primarily with the reparation problem. This was the period of Allied ulti­ mata, rejection of German counter-proposals, Allied sanctions in the form of occupation of German cities, increasingly strict cus­ toms control and numerous abortive reparation conferences. Mean­ while, the German mark sank ever deeper in the mire of inflation. In January 1923 the French and Belgians occupied the Ruhr, Germany countered with measures of passive resistance, and by 10 GERMANY UNDER HITLER

autumn of that year the value of the mark had sunk to zero and the life savings of the German lower middle classes were wiped out. Moreover, the Rhineland separatist movement-supported by the French-seemed for a time to threaten the very unity of the Reich. Under these circumstances it was easy to win support for extreme nationalist movements of protest, and conditions in Ba­ varia during those troubled post-war years made that section of the Reich particularly fertile soil for such activities. Bavaria had had a short-lived Soviet regime, followed by a conservative govern­ ment; Munich had become the headquarters of German monarchist and militarist reaction and of the so-called volunteer corps (Frei­ korps) composed of unemployed ex-officers and soldiers. These groups were extra-legal and for the most part reactionary in char­ acter. Their influence may be traced in the abortive Kapp Putsch of 1920 and the murders of Erzberger and Rathenau, as well as many other political murders which marred the early years of the Republic.

II

RISE OF THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST MOVEMENT

OME of the Freikorps leaders were among the early members S of the National Socialist movement, which had its obscure birth in Munich when a group of six men met in the back room of a cafe in 1919. Hitler joined the group as its seventh member and almost immediately became its outstanding personality. In 1920 Hitler met Captain Roehm and General von Epp-both of whom were active in the Freikorps. Through Roehm, who at that time was a staff officer in the Bavarian Reichswehr as well, many army officers and soldiers joined the Hitler party, with the result that up to 1923 these men were apparently the backbone of the National Socialist movement. By 1923 Hitler had attracted the attention of General Luden- RISE OF THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST MOVEMENT II

dorff and the latter's nationalist followers. The·crisis caused by the occupation of the Ruhr and the attendant growth of ultra­ nationalist sentiment in Germany seemed to create the psychological moment for a Putsch. On November 9, 1923 the combined forces of Hitler and Ludendorff attempted a coup d'etat in Munich under Hitler's leadership, but it missed fire completely. The attempt has gone down in history as the Beer-Hall Putsch. As a result of this abortive coup, Hitler was arrested and on April 1, 1924 was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for treason. He was released nine months later, however, having made use of the time in prison to write his memoirs, Mein Kampf, now the bible of Nazi Germany. The unsuccessful Beer-Hall Putsch seemed to mark the end of Hitlerism as an active threat to the Republic. After his release Hitler reorganized his party and continued his agitation, but Ger­ many's improved economic and international position offered less opportunity for his efforts. After the stabilization of the mark, the Reich enjoyed a period of comparative recovery and prosperity from 1924 to 1928. It was then that the great influx of foreign loans to Germany took place. Furthermore, this was the era of improved international relations, the Dawes Plan, Locarno, of Germany's entrance into the League of Nations, and the partial evacuation of the Rhineland. Politically the amelioration was re­ flected by a decline in the strength of the nationalist parties. These four years of comparative calm proved to be merely a lull before the storm. German economic improvement had been largely brought about by the great amounts of foreign capital which had not only served to create an illusion of prosperity, but had made it possible for the Reich to meet and transfer reparation payments. The Young Plan reparation settlement, drafted in 1929, was predicated on the continuation and expansion of. world pros­ perity, which alone could assure the Reich a favorable trade balance large enough to meet its obligations. The world depression, which began even before the Young Plan had gone into effect, nullified the financial advantages the Reich had expected to secure 12 GERMANY UNDER HITLER from the Plan and eventually caused its practical demise. German acceptance of the Young Plan had freed the Rhineland from foreign occupation five years before the date stipulated in the Versailles Treaty, but in June 1930 when evacuation took place the Reich was already in the grip of the depression. As a result, the salutary effects expected from the Rhineland liberation failed to be realized. The National Socialists, of whom little had been heard during the years of relative prosperity-from 1928 to 1930 they had only twelve Reichstag seats-suddenly took the center of the political stage. At the general election on September 14, 1930, the National Socialists rolled up a total of 6,400,000 votes and elected 107 mem­ bers to the Reichstag. The Nazi landslide had begun, and by July 1932-the peak of the party's pre-revolution strength-the Nazi vote had more than doubled and 230 Hitlerites sat in the German Parliament.

WHO SUPPORTED HITLER AND WHY There were many causes for the tremendous Nazi increase, one of the most important having been the deepening depression; economic difficulties accentuated all the other factors contributing to Hitler's rise. The inner political difficulties in the Reich­ centering around unemployment and budgetary problems-created an increasing distrust and antipathy for the Republic and parlia­ mentary government. The Reichstag, with its multiplicity of par­ ties, seemed incapable of coping with the complex economic and financial problems confronting the country, while the situation of the people grew progressively worse. The electoral system, however, was partly responsible for the failure of parliamentary government in the Reich. Members of the Reichstag and of the local diets were elected according to the proportional system. Although this secured the representation of every shade of public opinion, it aggravated the normal German tendency toward variety in political views, resulted in the formation of more than a dozen and a half parties, and made government except by coalition impossible. The RISE OF THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST MOVEMENT

German voters, moreover, expressed their preference not for indi­ vidual candidates but for a party list, which made the system completely impersonal. In its zeal to set up a truly democratic state the Weimar Assembly, which drafted the republican con­ stitution, reckoned without the Germans' inexperience in self­ government, and indirectly contributed to the overthrow of the Republic. These difficulties, however, might have been remedied eventually, had the Germans not brought Hitler to power. An important element in the growth of Hitler's strength dur­ ing the years just before the Nazi revolution was the increasing support of the lower middle classes-shopkeepers, small business men, white collar employees, independent peasants and farm workers, rentiers and persons living on their savings and pensions. These people were ruined by the inflation and the depression. Their life-savings wiped out, their security for old age gone, they were rapidly becoming economically proletarianized. Imbued with a horror of socialism in any form, they were strongly nationalistic and, lacking democratic tradition, had for the most part never been actively concerned with politics. Hitler's appeal to these classes was tremendous. They saw in him a leader to whom they could transfer all their troubles. For these people were utterly bewildered by the sudden breakdown of their world, of all their conceptions of life and the complete disappearance of their security. They had been educated under the Empire to follow, not to lead, and re­ sented the responsibility which a democratic government places on the individual. They felt comforted by Hitler in their distress, deriving a sense of comradeship from the Nazi movement, the marching shoulder to shoulder, the flags and the pomp and cir­ cumstance. Hitler offered too a balm for their injured national pride by convincing them that the German armies had not lost the war. On the contrary, he told them, defeat had come only be­ cause traitorous Jews and Marxists at home had knifed their victorious armies in the back. Hitler offered an escape from the harsh realities of the present and seemed to promise a return of the ordered security of German life before the war, in a Reich GERMANY UNDER HITLER

which would once more be powerful, and not only the equal but the superior of all other nations. Besides the declasse bourgeoisie, Hitler's main support came from the younger generation. National Socialism was and is to a large extent a youth movement. The German birth rate during the years just before the war was particularly high and the chil­ dren born during that period, now adults between twenty and thirty, have undergone the severest hardships. They have never known the security which seemed largely a matter of course to their parents; they have experienced only war, revolution, and the difficulties of the post-war era. Their earliest recollections are of the war-lack of proper food, lax discipline at school and at home, and overwrought emotions everywhere. Then came' the uncer­ tainty of the revolution; hunger continued, intensified by the blockade which was not lifted until eight months after the Annis­ tice. Later, at a time when youth might have learned the value of money, came inflation. When they were ready to work, no jobs were available. As a result these young people became completely disillusioned and lost all hope regarding the future. Education and culture seemed of no value because even many who finished uni­ versity courses could find no jobs. Those who had international sympathies became Communists; the large majority, attracted by the glamor and the playing at soldiers connected with the Hitler movement, became National Socialists. They trusted implicitly in Hitler's promises that the Third Reich would introduce the social millennium; they believed firmly that the Fatherland had been be­ trayed by Jews and Marxists who were responsible as well for the humiliation of the "dictate" of Versailles. Having lost all faith in their elders, they considered that their turn had come to set the world right, and Hitler was their prophet, Petite bourgeoisie and youth rallied to Hitler out of despair mixed with idealism. A third group of his supporters, numerically insignificant but financially important, comprised captains of indus­ try. It is impossible to ascertain the exact relations between Hitler and the large German industrialists.. but mo~t observers, believe that RISE OF THE NATIONAL- SOCIALIST MOVEMENT IS the Nazis received considerable financial aid from these quarters. The industrialists saw in Hitler a means of crushing the strong German trade unions, breaking the power of the Socialists and destroying the Communists. Once the "Marxist menace" had been conquered, big business expected to be able to control Hitler. Despite the historical, psychological, economic and social cir­ cumstances which made the German people receptive to Nazi agi­ tation, the movement would probably never have achieved success without the unceasing, well-organized propaganda of Hitler and his lieutenants. From 1929 to 1933 the National Socialists staged meeting after meeting, many of them in out-of-the-way villages where few if any political gatherings had been held before. The stage management of all Nazi meetings was effective in the ex­ treme. Flags, bands, the marching of uniformed men, appealed to a people who react en masse to the spectacular, especially in a Republic singularly devoid of colorful ceremonies which had suc­ ceeded an Empire with its pomp and circumstance of kings, courts and army. Nazi agitation followed Hitler's theories, set forth in his auto­ biography, Mein Kampf, that in propaganda the end justifies the means, and that all agitation should seek solely to influence the masses. "Propaganda is not science," wrote Hitler, "the appeal must be directed to the emotions and only in a very qualified manner to . so-called intelligence.... Propaganda must confine itself to the simplest formulations and repeat them over and over and over again." Hitler wrote further, in 1924, in a prophetic vein: "What a means to an end this instrument of unlimited oppression and shameful degradation [the Versailles Treaty] could become in the hands of a government which desires to whip up national passions to the boiling point...." From first to last, Nazi propaganda was based on these princi­ ples. It denounced the Versailles "dictate" until national passions actually were whipped up "to the boiling point"; it railed against the Republic, its leaders, the Jews, the "Marxists" and the so-called "System"-an omnibus term, which covered all of these Nazi scape- 16 GERMANY UNDER HITLER goats and blamed on them the difficulties and sufferings of the German people. The party program, consisting of twenty-five im­ mutable points, furnished a vague indication of Nazi policy, but the party orators tempered their promises to their audiences, with the result that they promised all things to all men in a far-reaching and contradictory manner. In general, however, the fundamental tenets of National Socialism as formulated in the official program were extreme nationalism, intense anti-Semitism and vague eco­ nomic measures which the Nazis called "socialism."

III

THE NAZI REVOLUTION

V OR more than two years before Hitler came to power, Germany lL'1 was in a state of latent civil war. The Nazis, Communists and Republicans all had their private armies and much blood was shed in the struggle for "control of the streets" and the government. The Bruning Ministry (March 1930-May 1932) meanwhile gov­ erned entirely by emergency decrees, issued under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, and was able to win acceptance of its meas­ ures by the Reichstag only through the toleration of the Social Democratic party which regarded Bruning as a lesser evil than Hitler. After Chancellor Bruning had secured the re-election of President von Hindenburg in April 1932, the latter, influenced by his Junker friends and advisers-who feared that Bruning would attempt to break up their large, heavily indebted estates-sum­ marily dismissed the Chancellor and entrusted the government to Lieutenant-Colonel Franz von Papen. The latter managed to make himself unpopular with almost all classes of the German people. His high-handed methods, however, and particularly his forcible removal of the Socialist government of Prussia, did much to pave the way for Hitler. The Prussian coup on July 20, 1932, when a Reichswehr lieutenant and two men acting on orders from Papen THE NAZI REVOLUTION arrested several Prussian Ministers of State, was a foretaste of Nazi methods of governing. Above all, the supine manner in which the Socialist party-at that time in control of the powerful Prussian police-accepted the situation and merely appealed for redress to the German Supreme Court at Leipzig, indicated how weak the chief props of the Republic had already become. The German Social Democrats, long a thoroughly non-revolutionary party, sealed their fate by their very fidelity to civilized, legal, democratic methods. Their opponents were not so scrupulous. The Nazis, meanwhile, had been gaining steadily in strength at the expense· of all other bourgeois parties. In the July 31, 1932 general election they reached their high-water mark, polling 13,800,000 votes, or 37.9 per cent of the total. The following November, however, they showed a loss of more than two million votes, although remaining the largest party in the Reich. The Schleicher government, which took office on December 2, 1932, seemed to offer the harassed Germans a respite and a new oppor­ tunity to extract themselves from the political morass in which they were floundering. This hope was short-lived. General von Schleicher was himself forced out after only 58 days in office by the intrigues of big indus­ trialists and Junkers working on President von Hindenburg through Herr von Papen. These persons expected to use Hitler to crush the trade unions, Socialists and Communists, protect their own interests and stabilize the confused German political situa­ tion by giving the Nazis governmental responsibility. Thus Hitler became Chancellor. Only two other Nazis-Goering and Frick­ received ministerial portfolios. The other members of the Cabinet, including von Papen as Vice-Chancellor, were conservative Nation­ alists who were counted on to keep the Nazis under control and counterbalance them. Von Papen and his friends, however, reck­ oned without their new colleagues. Hitler's accession to power on January 30, 1933 marked the beginning of the so-called Nazi revolution. He had been appointed Chancellor of the Reich by President von Hindenburg in accord- 18 GERMANY UNDER HITLER

ance with the letter, if not the spirit, of the Constitution. But the methods by which the Nazis acquired complete control of the gov­ ernment, doing away with every form of opposition and establish­ ing themselves as the only legal political party in the Reich, con­ stituted a political revolution. The Nazis themselves call it a revolu­ tion, with the qualification that it was the most bloodless in history. Despite the fact that the Hitler government was supposedly a coalition of Nationalists and Nazis containing only three National Socialist ministers, it soon became apparent that the latter were the driving force in the cabinet. Backed by a party organization which covered every phase of German life and in reality constituted a state within a state, and uninhibited by legal scruples of any sort, the Nazis were able to dominate the government completely and put through the revolution. Their task was facilitated not only by Hitler's Chancellorship but also by the fact that his lieutenants, Frick and Goering, were respectively Reich and Prussian Ministers of the Interior and in a short time controlled the police throughout the entire country. The Reichswehr, the only important armed force in addition to the Nazi Storm Troops, remained true to its tradition of aloofness in domestic politics; and President von Hin­ denburg, commander-in-chief of the Reichswehr, made no move to use the army to check Nazi excesses. The Hitler government's first move after assuming office was to dissolve the Reichstag on February 1 and call new elections for March 5, 1933. The non-Nazi members of the Cabinet hoped thus to consolidate their own position and ride to power on the shoul­ ders of the Hitlerites. For that reason the Nationalists not only acquiesced in dissolution of the Reichstag but allowed the Nazis to carryon a major share of the election campaign, since it was uni­ versally recognized that they excelled in propaganda. The campaign as directed by the Nazis was used to stir up a great Communist scare in the Reich, culminating in the burning of the Reichstag on the night of February 27, 1933 by alleged Com­ munists. The Nazis stated that the Reichstag fire was the signal for a nation-wide Communist uprising. This accusation was utterly THE NAZI REVOLUTION unfounded, as was proven later at the trial of the German and Bul­ garian Communists arrested as incendiaries, who were eventually acquitted by the German Supreme Court. The Dutchman van der Lubbe, charged with setting the fire, was convicted and executed. The Reichstag fire gave the Nazis an opportunity to effect complete suppression of Socialist and Communist election meetings and press, arrest Communist leaders, institute a drastic censorship, and abolish all forms of personal liberty. A decree of February 28 re­ scinded, until further notice, all the articles of the Weimar Consti­ tution which guaranteed liberty of the person, freedom of opinion including freedom of the press, right of assembly, secrecy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communication, inviolability of dwell­ ings, and sanctity of private property. The decree further specified the death sentence, long or life imprisonment for particular crimes including high treason, poisoning, arson and conspiracy against the government. Its provisions, amplified or extended, are still in force in the Third Reich. As a result of this measure and of Nazi terrorism, no opposi­ tion campaign was possible in preparation for the March 5 elec­ tions. Even so, the Nazis polled only 44 per cent of the total vote, but as their Nationalist colleagues received 8 per cent, the govern­ ment obtained a small working majority. It should be noted that despite terror and suppression the Social Democrats managed to secure 18.5 per cent of the total vote, and the Communists 12.5 per cent, while the remaining 17 per cent was divided among the Catholic parties and the other middle-of-the-road groups. These figures demonstrate that before establishment of the absolute Hitler dictatorship the Nazis alone never secured the support of a majority of the German people.

THE BROWN TERROR The National Revolution, which proceeded in earnest after the March 5 elections, may be characterized as consolidation of com­ plete Nazi control of the Reich. The accession of the Nazis to power was accompanied by a reign of terror marked not only by 20 GERMANY UNDER HITLER abolition of constitutional guarantees but by systematic action against persons whom the Nazis considered enemies of the "new Germany," including all "Marxists"-Communists and Socialists; all "internationalists," including liberals and pacifists; and all Jews. Later even Catholics and Nationalists were not exempt. As early as February 24 Storm Troopers had been inducted into the police as auxiliaries, and from that time on the Nazis virtually controlled law and order in the Reich. The Storm Troopers, in fact, to a large extent took the law into their own hands, and despite a personal appeal from Hitler to refrain from acts of political terror, outrages against Jews, "Marxists" and liberals continued. Nevertheless, gov­ ernment officials attempted to convince the world that such ter­ rorization as had occurred was perpetrated by "Communist impos­ ters clad in Nazi uniform," or attributed it to spontaneous manifes­ tations of the "boiling soul of the people." In many statements government officials denied even the existence of a terror. The Nazis established concentration camps for political prisoners very soon after coming to power, and reports of terrorization and "pre­ ventive arrests" continued to be made abroad. World opinion was shocked by these excesses and large meetings of protest were held in the United States and elsewhere at which both Jewish and non­ Jewish leaders voiced their condemnation of Nazi actions. The Nazi leaders retaliated by using the German Jews as hostages to force cessation of anti-Nazi protests abroad.

ANTI-JEWISH BOYCOTT On the night of March 28 National Socialist party headquarters issued a manifesto proclaiming a national boycott of Jewish goods and Jews in the professions to start on April I, as a counter-action to the "lies and defamations of absolutely shocking· perversity which have been let loose about Germany." This official declaration stated categorically that "Communist and Marxian criminals and their Jewish-intellectual instigators, who managed in good time to escape abroad with their money, are now conducting a conscience­ less, treasonable propaganda campaign against the German peo- THE NAZI REVOLUTION 21

pIe ... from the capitals of the former Entente countries." The manifesto was accompanied by an official order organizing the boycott throughout the Reich. The boycott, originally proclaimed by the National Socialist party as distinct from the Hitler government, was actually carried out by the latter and limited to one day-April I. On that day all Jewish concerns, with the exception of banks and newspapers, were placed under guard by Storm Troopers from ten o'clock in the morning until midnight, and signs were pasted up announcing that "no German buys from Jews." In Berlin, at least, the regular police were inactive and "groups of Nazis with heavily weighted riding crops strode about...." Besides boycotting Jewish places of business, Storm Troop pickets kept Jewish judges, lawyers and jurymen out of the courthouses, and the offices of all Jewish profes­ sional men were picketed. While the Jewish boycott was a strictly official matter, the ter­ ror was apparently due in large part to individual actions by Storm Troopers, albeit without interference from the authorities. The Storm Troopers had been promised for a decade that once Hitler came to power they could revenge themselves on all their "ene­ mies," particularly the Jews. The anti-Jewish boycott was an earnest of the government's intentions to put into effect the Nazi program, of which anti-Semitism formed an important part relatively easy to carry out. It also provided an occupation for the Storm Troopers. Finding themselves within a short time in complete control, the Nazis concentrated much of their fury and surplus energy on the Jews, who offered a convenient scapegoat. By placing the respon­ sibility for spreading so-called atrocity stories on the Jews, the Nazis hoped to convince the German people that the reports of excesses perpetrated by Storm Troopers were false, and thus to clear themselves.

THE "COLD POGROM" National Socialist anti-Semitism is a racial, not a religious matter. The Nazis believe that only a "pure" German race unmixed 22 GERMANY UNDER HITLER

with "foreign" blood can make the Reich strong and respected. Nazi anti-Semitism is based on the premise that no Jew is a Ger­ man regardless of how many centuries he and his ancestors have lived in the Reich. As a corollary, all Jews must be excluded from positions in German public life and only "pure" Aryan Germans may possess the sacred soil of the Fatherland. The Nazis, more­ over, blame on the Jews-and the "Marxists," whom they accuse of being largely Jewish-all the mistakes of the Republic and the parliamentary system; they hold them responsible for Germany's defeat in the war and for all the hardships suffered by the Ger­ man people. The Jews, according to the Nazis, are the world enemy, responsible not only for Marxism but for large-scale capi­ talism; they hold the whip hand over the people through "interest­ slavery" and the Jewish "materialistic spirit" is the root of all evil. Only a Germany completely purged of these Jewish "parasites" can regain its rightful place as a great power. Nazi action against the Jews has not been confined to physical violence. Measures promulgated by the Hitler government shortly after its accession to power, and forming part of German law, are of more lasting importance than the terror, and have resulted in what amounts to a continuous "cold pogrom." On April 7, 1933 the Hitler cabinet issued a law for the restoration of the civil service, which formed the basis for most of the subsequent restric­ tive action of the Nazis against Jews, liberals, pacifists, Socialists, Communists and others regarded by Hitlerites as "enemies of the state." This law applies to all civil servants in the Reich, an inclu­ sive term; for in Germany, besides the regular officials, judges, court officials, most notaries, all teachers and professors, as well as employees of state, federal and municipal enterprises, are civil serv­ ants. The new law provides that officials who are of "non-Aryan" descent must be retired, and the term is defined as a person de­ scended from "non-Aryan," particularly Jewish, parents or grand­ parents. This is th~ famous "grandmother clause," for even one Jewish grandparent suffices to make a person a "non-Aryan." More­ over, the Aryan husband of a "non-Aryan" wife rates as "non- THE NAZI REVOLUTION

Aryan" himself. The law does not apply to persons who held office before August I, 1914, or who fought in the Wodd War at the front for the German Reich or its allies, or whose fathers or sons· fell in the war. Besides stipulating immediate dismissal of "non-Aryan" offi­ cials, the Civil Service Law contains· other far-reaching provisions. Officials may be dismissed from service because of previous politi­ cal activities which ofter no assurance that they will at all times act unreservedly for the national state. Membership in Left, liberal or pacifist groups, as well ·as previous anti-Nazi activities, consti­ tute "political unreliability." Officials deemed lacking in requisite education and training may be dismissed, and a further provision making it possible to transfer officials to lower posts has enabled the Nazis to demote "non-Aryan" and other officials who, because of war services, et cetera, could not be dismissed. As a result of these measures, any civil servant in whom the Nazis lacked confi­ dence, against whom they bore a grudge, or whose position some member of the party coveted might be dismissed on the ground that his politics in the past showed he could· not be trusted as an official of Nazi Germany. Since the spoils system had not existed in Germany, these changes ofter a striking contrast to imperial and republican procedure. The Civil Service Law and especially the Aryan paragraph became the model for a series of laws and regulations designed to "purify" German life of "Jewish influence" and coordinate every­ thing with National Socialism. These measures were said by the Nazis to be essential for the welfare of the state and necessitated because of the increasingly dangerous "alienization" of the German people by the Jews. This charge, however, must be considered in relation to the actual position occupied by the Jews in Germany before the National Revolution. Thus, according to the 1925 Ger­ man census, the total population of the Reich was 62>410,619, of which 564,379, or .9 of one per cent, were Jews. For the newly created class of "non-Aryans" there are naturally no figures avail­ able, although it has been estimated that they comprise approxi- GERMANY UNDER HITLER mately two million. The anti-Jewish Nazi measures thus apply to about 2 ~ million persons. Despite the relatively small percentage of Jews in the Reich, Hitler promised that once in power he would eliminate them root and branch. The boycott on April 1, 1933 was the first step in this direction; promulgation of the Civil Service Law was the second. The application of the latter measure has done much to bring about the desired end. Not only have all Jews been removed from public life, and most "non-Aryans" as well, but Jewish and "non­ Aryan" lawyers, doctors and dentists encounter grave difficulties in carrying on their professions. "Non-Aryan" teachers, professors, journalists, writers, artists, musicians and actors have been virtually barred from making a living. Most of them have been forbidden to engage in their professions, and nothing else is open. The situa­ tion varies in different parts of the Reich, depending on the whim and fancy of local Nazi authorities; in Franconia, for instance, where the notorious Julius Streicher, editor of Der Sturmer, reigns supreme, the condition of the Jews is worst of all. The same ap­ plies to Jewish businesses. Official policy from Berlin now discour­ ages boycotts against Jewish stores because of the adverse effect on the general economic situation, but in some localities it has become virtually impossible for Jews to do business. In others, the Jews are able to carryon. Besides the economic hardships inflicted on Jews and "non-Aryans," the education and training of the younger gen­ erations is made increasingly difficult. Higher schools and universi­ ties, under the law, admit only a certain number of Jewish students, limiting them to the percentage of Jews in the total population. Since this proportion is very low, the restrictions make it impos­ sible for most young Jews to secure an education which will fit them for the future. The Civil Service Law, which has played a large part in Nazi persecution of the Jews, has also 'been one of the important meas­ ures enabling Hitler to establish the complete dictatorship of the Nazis. With the possible exception of the Foreign Office, the Ger­ man bureaucracy has been purged of all dissenting elements. ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOTALITARIAN STATE

IV

ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOTALITARIAN STATE

ITLER has not only done away with all opposition to his regime, H he has also effected a complete political and structural reor­ ganization of the Reich. The Weimar Republic, whose constitution was generally regarded as one of the most democratic in the world, has been replaced by a highly centralized state in which the Reich government exercises both executive and legislative functions. Dur­ ing their first six months in office the Nazis banned outright the Communist and Socialist parties, wiping out the powerful German trade unions as well. The right and middle parties were also forced to declare themselves dissolved, and a law promulgated by the gov­ ernment on July 14, 1933 declared that the National Socialist was the only legal political group in the Reich. This law also prescribed severe punishment for attempts to form any new political party. Six months later-on December I, 1933-a further law stated that the National Socialist party "has become the carrier [Tragerin] of the government and is inseparably connected with the state." The political unity of the German people was thus achieved-at least on paper-although the struggle for power which had formerly been carried on under the banners of twenty-odd political parties continued within the Nazi party itself. Inter-party differences have been reflected partly in struggles between the various leaders for power, prestige and position. These battles have gone on continu­ ally behind the scenes, only occasionally bursting into public view. The leaders may be roughly classified as moderates and extremists: Goering, Schacht, Frick and the former Nationalists, von Neurath, Schwerin von Krosigk (Minister of Finance) and Gurtner (Min­ ister of Justice) belonging in the moderate category, while Darre, Ley, Streicher and probably Goebbels are the most outstanding extremists. GERMANY UNDER HITLER

ORGANIZATION OF THE PARTY Th.e National Revolution was made possible in large measure by the thorough organization of the National Socialist German Workers' party which covered every aspect of German life and even before the revolution constituted a state within a state. This organization is based on the "leadership principle," a fundamental tenet of Nazi ideology. Hitler is of course the supreme leader of the party, as well as of the state. His deputy, Rudolf Hess, who is also Minister without Portfolio in the Reich government, directs the party, always subject to Hitler's control. Under the leadership of Hitler and Hess there is a party executive committee-the Reichs­ leitung-composed of eighteen heads of as many party bureaus, and thirteen assistants or adjutants. The party offices thus repre­ sented cover every phase of activity: Storm Troops, party guard (S.S.), political organization, including the Labor Front, agricul­ ture, propaganda, law, press, foreign policy, youth, national defense and the Reichstag. It is, in a sense, another Reich central govern­ ment paralleling the official German cabinet. The state, which is governed at least in a measure by the party executive, is divided into thirty-five geographical sections, or Gaue, in Germany proper, including Danzig and the Saar, a thirty-sixth comprising Austria and a thirty-seventh called the "foreign division." Each Gau is under command of a so-called Gauleiter who is the party leader in his region and as such possesses almost supreme power in local matters. Under the Gauleiter, furthermore, there are large numbers of party officials who keep a watchful eye on all activities in the district. The party organization is divided and subdivided so that there is a Nazi official, called a Blockwart, literally for every city block. The civilian organization of the National Socialist party is paralleled by Hitler's private army, the Sturm Abteilung or Storm Troops, and the smaller but more select SchutzstafJel, or party guard. Both groups are organized on a strictly military basis which corresponds to the set-up of the regular army, the Reichswehr. All ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOTALITARIAN STATE

children and young people between the ages of ten and twenty are organized in the Hitler Youth (Hitler lugend) and the Ger­ man Girls' Association, and receive intensive training in Nazi ideals, drills and camp life. Besides these groups there is also the Voluntary Labor Service which is rapidly becoming compulsory for all young men and students. The Labor Service is drilled in military tactics, engages in public works projects, and serves as a means of relieving unemployment. During the years of agitation before the National Revolution, the Storm Troops "won the streets" for Hitler, and for many months after the Nazis came to power they were the most impor­ tant factor in subduing opposition. Responsibility for much of the terror in the Reich rests with the Storm Troops. Many of the Storm Troopers, however, were idealistic young radicals who believed in Hitler's vague socialism and expected the establishment of the Third Reich to bring the millennium; a large number, in fact, were former Communists. After the excitement of the first months of the revolution had begun to subside and Hitler let it be known that there would be no second revolution, there was a great deal of dissatisfaction in the ranks of the Storm Troops. As time went on, the Storm Troops were controlled more strictly; the secret police, or Gestapo, took over much of their former terroristic activity, and many Storm Troopers began to feel that they had been betrayed by their leaders. None of the promised "socialism" had materialized; many of them still had no jobs or prospects. The personal extravagances of many important Nazi leaders-al­ ways excepting Hitler-added fuel to the flames. The expensive automobiles, villas and banquets of Nazi officials in Berlin and, above all, in the smaller provincial cities enraged the rank and file of the party. Rumors of graft and misuse of party funds were rife. The Chief of Staff of the Storm Troops, Captain Ernst Roehm, apparently hoped to correct this situation and at the same time achieve his life-long ambition of leading a huge German people's army. Roehm had always regarded the Storm Troops as a first-line reserve for the regular Reichswehr, while Hitler looked on the GERMANY UNDER HITLER brown shirts primarily as his private force which should serve the party's political ends. During the spring of 1934 Roehm endeavored without success to gain Hitler's support for incorporation of a large number of Storm Troopers in the enlarged Reichswehr, a plan which the Reichswehr generals themselves strongly opposed. The generals favored a highly trained, professional army, like the Reichswehr, as opposed to a large "people's army." This basic difference of opinion in matters of national defense represents a controversy of long standing in Germany. It was intensified by the fact that the Reichswehr had little respect for the Storm Troops as potential soldiers, regarding them as the riff-raff of the nation and fearing the domestic consequences which might ensue should they be fully armed. The first open indication of the growing influence of the Reichswehr generals over Hitler was the announcement on April 21, 1934 that the Storm Troopers were to be given a month's va­ cation during July, while early in June Roehm himself was sent on "sick leave." On June 30 the world was suddenly shocked by news that Hitler and Goering had summarily shot Roehm and several other high Storm Troop leaders, prominent Catholics and conservatives, including General von Schleicher and the latter's wife, without trial or hearing. In a speech to the Reichstag two weeks later, Hitler justified this action by repeating that the exe­ cuted men had been plotting against his regime, and declared: "In that hour I was responsible for the fate of the German nation, thereby the supreme court of the German people during those twenty-four hours consisted of myself." This statement proved the complete absence of even revolutionary justice in the Third Reich. After the thirtieth of June, the Storm Troops were systematically purged and drastically reduced in numbers. Instead of the 2,500,000 Storm Troopers of whom Roehm delighted to boast, there are now said to be only so~e 800,000. Thus in the "classless" Third Reich, the masses-as represented by the Storm Troops-lost prestige and many of them are humiliated and bitter. On the other hand, the more exclusive party guard, or SS, seemed for a time to have ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOTALITARIAN STATE gained influence, although by the end of 1934 they too were re­ ported to have been disarmed and placed under control of the Reichswehr which is now supreme. Apparently the National Social­ ist party is also undergoing a thorough housecleaning which will probably leave it considerably smaller and, from Hitler's point of view, more reliable. After the June 30 purge, moreover, Hitler pub­ licly condemned the personal perversions of the murdered Storm Troop leaders, which had long offended many Germans and for­ eigners. Before June 30 such reflections on the morals of Roehm and his friends had been classed as "Jewish atrocity stories," equiva­ lent to high treason. Now the leader has ordered that Spartan sim­ plicity and puritanical morality must prevail.

POLITICAL STRUCTURE OF THE THIRD REICH In contrast to the Italian Fascist and Russian Communist par­ ties, which have always been small and highly selective, the National Socialist party, before the events of June 30, had been a huge mass movement organized with true German thoroughness down to the last detail. Backed by this all-inclusive party machine, Hitler was able in a relatively short time to change the fundamental structural bases of the Reich. The National Socialist conception of the state is a totalitarian nation in which the interests of the indi­ vidual are completely subordinated to those of the state. Every phase of life-public and private-must be coordinated with the state, and the individual exists only to serve the state. Democratic conceptions of government based on the will of the people, as expressed through parliamentary procedure, are anathema to the Nazis. They have substituted for the Weimar democracy a com­ pletely centralized regime based on the "leadership principle," ac­ cording to which one man-Hitler-is the supreme head of the state, with all power and all responsibility. The principal instrument through which the·National Socialist Revolution was effected was an Enabling Act, which may be re­ garded as a provisional constitution. The act was passed by a rump Reichstag on March 23, 1933-81 Communist deputies and 16 GERMANY UNDER HITLER

Socialists, all of whom had been duly elected, being absent from the session because they were fugitives abroad or had been impris­ oned by the Nazis. All the deputies present, except the remaining 94 Socialists, voted for the act and thus renounced their own legis­ lative powers. The Enabling Act provides that national laws can be enacted directly by the Reich government without participation of the Reichstag, even when such laws are not in accordance with the Weimar Constitution, which in effect is abolished-in spirit if not in law. Hitler thus has complete control of the Ger­ man purse strings and of foreign affairs; and the Reichstag, while it continues to exist, has no further power whatsoever. The Reichs­ rat, representing the German states and constituting an upper house, remained in existence until February 14, 1934, when the government decreed its abolition. Having acquired virtually unlimited power through the En­ abling Act, the Hitler government proceeded to make revolution­ ary changes in the relations between the Reich and its component states. As a result of various Nazi measures, Germany has become a completely unified and centralized state which offers a striking contrast to the federal character of the Empire and the Republic. Within the short space of a year, Hitler completed the task of German unification inaugurated by Bismarck with the proclama­ tion of the German Empire at Versailles in 1871. The German states, with the exception of Prussia, are gov­ erned by Reich regents who are personal appointees of Hitler. Prussia is becoming progressively more integrated with the Reich, while the sovereign rights of all states were transferred to the Reich on January 30, 1934. A year later the regents were given complete power in the states-which, it is reported, will be abol­ ished and redivided into some twenty provinces. The regents will then be able to disregard local party authorities who previously exercised large political influence. The death of President von Hindenburg on August 2, 1934 caused a further important change in the political structure of the Reich. On the night before the President's demise the Reich cabi- ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOTALITARIAN STATE net decreed that the offices of President and Reich Chancellor should be united, and specifically transferred the authority of the President to Hitler. It was further provided that Hitler should appoint a deputy leader, but up to the present he has not done so, probably due to political difficulty in making a choice. This decree came into force immediately upon Hindenburg's death, and Hitler now rules alone, unfettered by the restraining hand of the old Field Marshal. Twelve hours after his assumption of the Rdchsfuhrerschaft­ as the combined presidency and chancellorship is called-Hitler solemnly declared that all authority of the state must proceed from the people. He then announced that a plebiscite to ratify his action would be held on August 19. Hindenburg's death thus offered Hitler a splendid opportunity to demonstrate that, despite the bloody events of June 30, the German people were solidly behind their leader. The entire plebiscite campaign was directed toward transferring the prestige of the old Field Marshal to Hitler and was based on the slogan that "loyalty to the late President von Hindenburg implies loyalty to Hitler." As a result, almost 90 per cent of the German voters responded with "yes" on August 19. The fact that there was no alternative to the Leader's rule forced many people to vote "yes" from desperation rather than convic­ tion; pressure and intimidation played their part as well, but the outcome of the election must be considered as a personal triumph for Hitler rather than a test of the popularity of National Socialism. The most important result of Hitler's assumption of the man­ tle of the old Field Marshal was transference of the allegiance of the Reichswehr from Hindenburg to Hitler, which took place a few hours after the President's death. There is some doubt as to whether this development signifies that the army swore fealty to Hitler or whether Hitler was sworn into the Reichswehr. In any case the aloof position which the army supposedly maintained in matters of domestic politics during the past fifteen years seems no longer tenable, for Hitler and the National Socialist party are the German state. GERMANY UNDER HITLER

In addition to the political transformation of the Reich into a totalitarian state in which Hitler and the National Socialist party have entire control, the Nazis have altered the very conception of German justice. In the Third Reich justice is purely a political matter. Revolutionary tribunals, called People's Courts, were set up by a decree promulgated on April 24, 1934. Each of these courts has five members appointed by Hitler, two of whom are generally judges and three laymen. The chief jurisdiction of these courts is over cases of high treason, a broad term which under the April 1934 law includes not only actual treasonable acts but also "prepa­ ration for such acts." Penalties have been made extremely severe, so that distribution of banned newspapers-deemed high treason­ may be punishable by death or life imprisonment if the court so decides. In general the Nazis have abolished most of the guaran­ tees of justice which are to be found in other Western countries. People are imprisoned or sent to concentration camps without hearing or trial and kept there with no possibility of a legal appeal; members of the families of escaped political prisoners are often held as hostages; in the People's Courts choice of counsel for the defense must be submitted to the president of the court for ap­ proval, and such counsel may be ousted from the court at any time during the trial if the president of the court so desires. There is no appeal from the decisions of the People's Courts, which are in reality party tribunals.

THE "COORDINATION OF CULTURE" German political individualism has long been a byword-"three Germans represent four political opinions" runs an old adage-this idiosyncrasy having been largely the result of geographical position, historical events, and religious conflicts. The Nazis now boast that they have truly unified the German state and united the German people for the first time in history. The truth of this contention may be disputed at present, but there is no doubt that at least the younger generations of Germans will be intellectually standardized if the Hider regime remains in ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOTALITARIAN STATE 33 power for a long time. Uniformity, of course, is not synonymous with unity. It cannot be denied, however, that National Socialism has acquired a strangle-hold on German education and culture. The entire country, and particularly the youth, is rapidly being put into the strait-jacket of Nazi culture. In the Third Reich the schools have become primarily agen­ cies for political propaganda. Officials and teachers have been care­ fully sifted and weeded out, until at present the whole educational system is run by Nazis; the entire emphasis in educational policy has been fundamentally altered. Instead of the advanced modern methods of the Republican school system, the Nazis have rein­ troduced corporal punishment and the methods of the Prussian drill sergeant. Religion has been made a compulsory subject, but religious lessons apparently consist mainly in talks about Hitler and the glories of Germany. In their history lessons the young are told that above all they must reverence the German army as the emblem of Germany's highest achievement. The children have special "patriotic lessons" devoted to the Versailles Treaty, the crimes of the Allies, Jews and Marxists, and to the "great Germans," i.e., Barbarossa, Frederick the Great, Bismarck and Leo Schlageter-who was shot by the French in the Ruhr for resisting the occupation-in addition to the living Nazi heroes. Much time is devoted to very recent history, which is interpreted according to the "stab-in-the-back" legend. Besides an intensely patriotic, garbled version of the last twenty years of European history, the German children are taught the Nazi racial theories-anti-Semitism and the superiority of the German people. In the higher schools and universities the empha­ sis is the same. Students are given concentrated military drill through the Storm Troops and special guards; a period of service in the labor camps has been made compulsory, and lectures on Nazi theories-including Nazi biology-and the science of arms (Wehrwissenschaft) are now important branches of "learning." The tragedy of German scholarship is not only that so many of 34 GERMANY UNDER HITLER the Reich's justly famous scientists and scholars have been ousted and are now refugees abroad, but that German learning has been diverted into political channels. Nazi organization of culture is as complete as the control over education. Culture in general is under the supervision of Alfred Rosenberg, proponent of neo-paganism. All German cul­ tural activities except the educational system have been concen­ trated under the direction of the Propaganda Minister, Dr. Goebbels, in a so-called Reich Culture Chamber set up by law. This organization comprises seven separate "Chambers" including writers, press, radio, theater, motion pictures, music and the arts. The official explanation of this cultural set-up states that "... for the National Socialist state culture is the concern of the nation. It is the task of the state to fight against harmful forces within the cultural field and to assist valuable elements, judging these by the measure of feeling of responsibility displayed toward the national community. In this sense creative art remains personal and free. It is necessary, however, in order to carryon a policy of German culture, to unite creative artists in all their respective fields under the leadership of the Reich, so as to coordinate their efforts to a united and organized purpose.... The Reich, therefore, must not only determine the intellectual course but must lead and amalga­ mate the professional organizations." In other words, all cultural activities have become purely politi­ cal in the Third Reich and must be directed toward furthering Hitlerism. This means that "art for art's sake" no longer exists in Nazi Germany. Even more important is the fact that the press and radio are under complete control of Dr. Goebbels. As a result the German people hear and read only what the Nazis wish; and the newspapers have not only become dull and uninteresting, but cen­ sorship is so strict that the large majority of the people have almost no knowledge of what is really going on in the country. The mor­ tality rate among German newspapers has been very large and the circulation of those which survive is steadily dwindling. ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF THE THIRD REICH 35

v ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF THE THIRD REICH

A. LTHOUGH the Nazis have established a political totalitarian ~ state, their economic measures have proved less radical in practice than in theory. Nazi economics have always been vague, partly because politics and political tactics, according to Hitlerite ideology, must take precedence over economic policy. During the years of agitation preceding the National Revolution, however, Nazi speakers and writers promised captains of industry that the Nazis would break the power of the Marxists and the trade unions; the lower middle classes were won to Hitler because he promised them that "slavery to interest" would be broken, that he would wage war against "international finance and loan capital," and that production of goods would aim at supplying the necessities of life and not at securing the highest possible profits. Small shopkeepers were promised that the large department stores would be broken up, communalized and rented to them at moderate prices. The official program, furthermore, demanded nationalization of all trusts and distribution of the profits of large industries. Peasants and small farmers were promised that the large estates would be broken up for their benefit. The peasants were idealized by the Nazis as the principal reservoir of German strength and blood~ They proclaimed their belief that from Blut and Boden (blood and soil) would come the regeneration and salvation of the German people. Moreover, pro­ motion of the interests of the peasants, even at the expense of the industrial interests of the Reich, was designed to achieve the estab­ lishment of German economy on a national basis. The Reich was to be made nationally self-sufficient and entirely independent of the world for its food supply. It was thus to be prepared for "any eventuality"-including war. The most widely publicized doctrine of Nazi "socialism/' GERMANY UNDER HITLER

however, was the conception that the welfare of the individual must be subordinated to the good of society. This principle, accord­ ing to the Nazis, has motivated every measure which they have taken in the economic field. Despite the fact that many of their economic theories and much of their campaign agitation was strongly anti-capitalist, the Nazis have tinkered with the existing economic system since Hitler came to power without fundamentally altering it. The trade unions have been abolished and a political organization, known as the Labor Front, substituted which supposedly represents capital and labor­ all workers, manual and intellectual, including trade, business, in­ dustry and the professions. The maintenance of social peace, how­ ever, is in the hands of thirteen Labor Trustees, who are political appointees of the Reich government and whose authority in regu­ lating labor questions is virtually supreme. The Trustees are em­ powered to watch over the rights of both labor and management, and special honor courts have been established as a further protec­ tion. In individual plants the manager or owner is now the leader of his employees, and the latter are officially designated as "follow­ ers." The new German labor law which regulates the relations between capital and labor came into force on May I, 1934. It is an attempt to apply the fundamental principles of Nazi socialism: establishment of a classless state in which the welfare of society must prevail over individual welfare. Under this law strikes and lockouts are virtually prohibited; "malevolent incitation" on the part of labor is classed as a violation of the social honor and is punishable as such. Thus the workers have lost their right of col­ lective bargaining and wage contracts, and their ultimate safeguard against exploitation-the right to strike. Their well-being depends almost solely on the Labor Trustees, and the workers have no means of exerting pressure in defense of their rights although employers are in theory equally hampered in defending their interests against labor. While relations between capital and labor have been funda­ mentally altered, no real changes have been effected in the structure ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF THE THIRD REICH 37 of business and industry. The powerful employers' associations (Arbeitgeberverbande) have been dissolved, and a government de­ cree of October 24, 1934 has given the Labor Front some power to arbitrate in labor disputes. On the other hand, the "roof association of business," set up in February 1934 in an attempt to introduce . the Nazi "principle of leadership" into business, was reorganized by a government decree of December 4, 1934, allowing private business more freedom. The previous law had resulted merely in establishment of complicated bureaucratic machinery which im­ peded rather than aided the functioning of private business. The Reich government, moreover, has recently limited cash dividends to 6 per cent, and all earnings over this amount must be diverted into a forced loan which will be administered by the Gold Dis­ count Bank. Government control of business has become increas­ ingly severe through rationing of raw materials, strict regulation of all foreign exchange transactions, and concentration of complete power over the economic and financial life of the Reich in the hands of Dr. Schacht, who combines the functions of president of the Reichsbank and Minister of Economics. Thus the Nazis are apparently trying to steer a middle course, with the result that both capital and labor are dissatisfied; their policy is tending more and more toward state capitalism. Dr. Schacht has made a few minor concessions to the radicals, but these have been counter~ balanced by moves to the Right, so that neither side is content. In agriculture, however, the Nazis have introduced some fun­ damental structural changes, although the heavily indebted large estates have not been broken up, despite all previous promises. They have promulgated a measure known as the Hereditary Farms Law which applies to a special class-the independent farmers. The latter are regarded by the Nazis as the most important source of strength of the German people, and the Hereditary Farms Law is designed to transform the peasants into a "new nobility" and thus carry out the Nazi ideal of founding a strong class of independent farmers as a "blood reservoir" for the German people. The law applies to all estates less than 278 acres in area, from which a fam- GERMANY UNDER HITLER ily can secure a living. Upon the owner's death a hereditary farm must pass undivided to the eldest son or, if there are no direct male heirs, a near male relative. The heir is obliged to provide educational training as well as a living for his younger brothers and sisters until they come of age. The owner, who alone is en­ titled to be termed a peasant, must be a German citizen of Aryan descent and able to prove that none of his ancestors since January I, 1800 was Jewish or colored. Hereditary farms cannot be sold, mort­ gaged or attached for debts. As a result, the present position of these "new nobles" is financially difficult; their younger sons are disgruntled at having lost their inheritance and it is reported that "Jewish grandmothers" are considered an asset rather than a liabil­ ity. Furthermore, agriculture as a whole is controlled by an all­ inclusive organization called the Niihrstand or Food Estate, which is designed to regulate production, sale, prices and price spread of agricultural produce if this seems advisable in the interest of trade and the general well-being. The N iihrstand has been under the direct supervision of the Minister of Agriculture, Darn~, and has instituted a species of planned economy for agriculture. Prices and distribution of most foodstuffs have been regulated, and an attempt is being made to keep prices from rising. Nazi regulation of agriculture is motivated partly by the force of economic circumstances and partly by the desire to realize Autarkic-national self-sufficiency. It is a cardinal principle of National Socialism that the Reich must be made completely inde­ pendent of the outside world for its food supply. Even though Hitlerites publicly blame the German defeat in the war on Jews and Marxists who "stabbed the victorious German armies in the back," in reality they know that slow starvation at home was one of the main reasons why Germany lost the war. They are conse­ quently determined to rectify this weakness in preparation for any future war. Meanwhile, the German economic situation and espe­ cially the serious shortage of foreign exchange have served to inten­ sify German efforts toward national self-sufficiency. Primarily because of government work-ereation schemes and NAZI FOREIGN POLICY 39 intensive rearmament, Germany has been enjoying a moderate internal boom, most of the improvement being in industries manu­ facturing production goods. As a result unemployment has mark­ edly decreased. The total labor income, however, has increased only slightly and, measured in terms of real wages, has actually fallen, despite the fact that according to official figures more than 3Y2. mil­ lion people have been put back to work. The fall in real wages is due to a decided increase in the cost of living, partly as a result of the poor harvest, partly because of Nazi agricultural and finan­ cial schemes, and partly through the raw material shortage. For the internal boom, together with Dr. Schacht's policies, resulted in a substantial increase of German raw material imports, which low­ ered the Reich's already falling trade balance to a point at which imports exceeded exports. Moratoria on payments of German debts abroad, including the Dawes and Young loans, did not help the Reich's foreign credit, already damaged by distrust of Nazi poli­ cies-both internal and foreign. Germany has consequently been thrown to a large extent on its own resources, and the Nazis have undertaken an intensive campaign to furnish home-produced sub­ stitutes for all essential raw materials formerly imported from abroad. One result of this policy has been considerable hoarding of foodstuffs and textiles, and rising internal prices have motivated the appointment of a commissioner with dictatorial powers whose task it is to keep prices down. The entire Nazi recovery program has been endangered by the lack of essential raw materials.

VI

NAZI FOREIGN POLICY

HE German drive for economic self-sufficiency must be re­ T garded to a certain extent at least as part of Nazi "national de­ fense"-which is generally another name for war preparation. The immediate object of National Socialist foreign policy is the attain- GERMANY UNDER HITLER ment of equality-in armaments and status-and reestablishment of the Reich as a great power. The goal of Nazi foreign policy as set forth both in the party's official program and in Hitler's Mein Kampf-which is regarded as the most important guide to policy by the Nazis-is the union of all Germans in one great Germany. Hitler placed special emphasis, moreover, on the acquisition of new territory in Europe on which Germans might settle, and in order to attain this end the Reich, he said, must have military allies, for an "alliance whose aim is not war is senseless." No state, he declared, would want to ally itself with present-day Germany, which can give no military help; hence the immediate object of German foreign policy must be transformation of the nation into a strongly armed military state. "Oppressed peoples," wrote Hitler, "are never freed and unified in a common empire by means of flaming protests, but through a sharp, unsheathed sword. The forg­ ing of this sword and the securing of military allies is the task of the leaders of its foreign policy." Hitler envisaged Italy and Great Britain as the two future allies of the Reich. The French, he de­ clared, will remain the "inexorable, deadly enemy of the German people." Germany must turn its eyes toward the East, for only in Russia and the Baltic can the Reich secure the new territory to rectify "the false relation between our people and our land," and thus "free the Germans forever from the danger of disappearing from the earth or of becoming a slave people." These and many other similar statements of Nazi foreign political aims before the party assumed power offer a striking con­ trast to Hitler's speeches on foreign policy since he became Chan­ cellor of the Reich, in which he has attempted to reassure the world that Nazi Germany desires only "work and peace." Tim~ and again the Leader has stated that the Reich demands only security and equality, freedom, and peace with honor. After Ger­ many withdrew from the League of Nations and the Disarmament Conference on October 14, 1933, the Nazis staged a gigantic pleb­ iscite at which more than 90 per cent of the German people rati- NAZI FOREIGN POLICY fied Hitler's action in leaving Geneva. In voting "yes" they also registered their support of a governmental manifesto forming an integral part of the ballot, the first paragraphs of which stated: "The German government and the German people are united in the will to pursue a policy of peace, reconciliation and under­ standing as the foundation for all decisions and all negotiations. "The German government and the German people therefore regard force as an unsuitable means of settling existing differences within the European community of states...." In accordance with its peace policy, the Reich concluded a ten­ year non-aggression pact with Poland on January 26, 1934, which postpones the danger of armed conflict over the Polish Corridor and Upper Silesia. Whatever may have been Hitler's objectives in thus recognizing at least temporarily the inviolability of Germany's hated Eastern frontiers, the Polish-German pad seems to have re­ lieved tension in one of Europe's danger spots. By this action Hitler gained time for a settlement of the Austrian and Saar questions and the rearmament of the Reich. There is no doubt that Hitler sincerely desires peace for the present at least, but the ultimate aims of Nazi foreign policy as ex­ pounded in Mein Kampf have never been retracted; on the con­ trary, this book is still the bible of the Third Reich. Furthermore, despite the emphasis on need for more territory to support the present German people, the Nazis continue to bend every effort to increase the birth-rate. Germany, meanwhile, is rearming with great speed, in direct contravention of the limits imposed by the Versailles Treaty; of late Berlin has ceased to deny this fact. The Reichswehr has apparently become a short-service force of 3°0,000 men instead of the 100,000 enlisted for twelve years pro­ vided by the Versailles Treaty. It is an extremely well-trained and well-equipped army, for which the 3°0,000 Hitlerite special guards, 180,000 police-who have received military training-the Storm Troops which once numbered 2,500,000, and the hundreds of thou­ sands in the Voluntary Labor Corps form a trained reserve. The GERMANY UNDER HITLER

fact that Hitler's former private army has recently been disarmed does not detract from its potential value as a reserve for the regu­ lar army. The Reich budget, moreover, offers additional proof of German rearmament. The military and naval appropriations in the 1934-1935 budget show an increase of 223.2 million marks over last year's estimates, and the separate budget of the Air Ministry con­ tained an appropriation of 210.2 million marks for 1934-1935, as compared with 77 million for the previous year. The current budget also provided a further item of 250 million marks for the Storm Troops and Voluntary Labor Corps, as well as 190 million marks for police purposes. Despite the shortage of foreign exchange, Ger­ man imports of essential war raw materials have increased to an extent which cannot be entirely accounted for by the government's work-creation projects. In 1933 imports of iron were 152 per cent greater than in the preceding year; 32 per cent more iron ore was imported; 91 per cent more nickel; 100 per cent more nickel ore; 18 per cent more copper; roo per cent more chemical wood pulp; 20 per cent more bauxite. During 1934 the same trend continued, and steel production increased 104 per cent as compared with 1932. Abroad, Hitler's policy of "Nazification" of Germans beyond the borders of the Reich is proceeding apace. This policy has been successful in Danzig, which has a completely Nazi government, and in the Saar Valley where, despite the fact that the population is composed preponderantly of workers and peasants, a large pro­ portion of whom are Catholic, the plebiscite held on January 13, 1935 resulted in a smashing victory for reunion with Germany. Ninety per cent of the votes were cast in favor of the Reich, and on January 17, 1935 the League of Nations Council formally de­ cided that the Saar be returned to Germany on March 1. Thus despite the effect of the pre-plebiscite terror, the Saar vote must be interpreted as an expression of intense German nationalism. Even the economic disadvantages of reunion with the Reich made no difference; the Saar has shown unmistakably that it is German. N azification of Danzig and the Saar concerned territory with NAZI FOREIGN POLICY 43 indisputably German inhabitants, which before the Versailles Treaty formed an integral part of the Reich. The penetration of the Nazis in Austria is an entirely different matter. Not only did Austria not form part of the German Empire of 1871, but union of Austria and Germany after the war was categorically prohibited by the peace treaties. Nevertheless, union of Austria-which has 6,700,000 German-speaking inhabitants-with Germany is one of the primary aims of Nazi foreign policy. Hitler, himself an Aus­ trian by birth, deeply desires to consummate the Anschluss of his mother country with the Reich. Before the Nazi revolution there was a strong movement working for union in both countries. Fol­ lowing Hitler's advent to power, however, the Anschluss move­ ment assumed a different character, the Austrian Social Democrats and many Christian Socialists bitterly opposing it. Meanwhile, the Nazis undertook to "coordinate" Austria by undermining and overthrowing the Christian Socialist government of Dr. Dollfuss, the strongest bulwark of an independent Austria. For more than a year a Nazi terror ravaged Austria, finally culmi­ nating on July 25, 1934 in the murder of Dollfuss by Nazi assassins and an abortive Nazi Putsch throughout Austria. Failure of the attempted coup for which Dollfuss' murder was the signal was due partly to the fact that fewer Austrians rose to Hitler's support than had been expected but, above all, to Mussolini's prompt action in rushing troops to the Austro-Italian border to prevent seizure of power by the Austrian Nazis. The peace of Europe hung by a thread, and at the eleventh hour the Hitler government attempted to extricate itself from the Austrian situation, vigorously denying any complicity in the internal disturbances of that country. There can be no question that the Nazis were at least morally responsible for the murder of Dollfuss. Austrian Nazi terrorism, moreover, must be blamed on the Third Reich for, despite all German denials, the explosives and bombs used in Austria had come from Germany. The constant radio propaganda against the Dollfuss government which was broadcast from Munich to inflame 44 GERMANY UNDER HITLEIt the Austrian Nazis could not have been put on the air without the consent of the Hitler government, because the German radio is controlled absolutely by the Propaganda Ministry. The existence in Bavaria--elose to the Austrian border-of a so-called Austrian legion, composed of Nazis from Austria who had fled to the Reich, offers a further proof of how deeply Germany was involved. Finally, after the failure of the July Putsch, and the threat of Italian inter­ vention, Hitler took prompt and effective measures to wash his hands of Austria. His two lieutenants, Habicht and Frauenfeld, who had carried on the Nazi Austrian campaign, were immediately dis­ missed; the Austrian legion was dissolved; the radio broadcasts ceased; the Nazi terror in Austria stopped almost over-night; Herr von Papen was dispatched as German Minister to Vienna, charged with restoring friendly relations. Had Hitler really tried to keep the promise which he is reported to have made Mussolini in Venice on June 14-15, 1934-to cease agitation against the independence of Austria-the Nazi Leader might have been spared the diplo­ matic and international defeats which his Austrian policy has brought him. For the only result of the murder of Dollfuss was to bind Austria even more closely to Italy. Following so soon after the bloody purge of June 30, the Austrian debacle also served to intensify anti-Nazi feeling throughout the world. The Doll£uss murder seemed to show that Hitler did not hesitate to apply abroad the ruthless methods he had used at home. Except for its new friendship with Poland, the Third Reich appears almost completely isolated as a result of Nazi domestic and foreign policies. Poland, moreover, is still nominally allied with France, although this alliance has been weakened by the Polish­ German rapprochement. The Soviet Union, which since conclusion of the Treaty of Rapallo in 1922 had been on terms of close friend­ ship with Germany, has reversed its foreign policy, is cooperating closely with France, and has joined the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the Council. Italy was friendly to Fascist Ger­ many during the first eighteen months of the Hitler regime. Nazi NAZI FOREIGN POLICY 45 designs on Austrian independence, however, alienated Mussolini, and the Italian press has denounced the Third Reich. At· the same time a great improvement has taken place in Franco-Italian rela­ tions. This development was retarded by the Marseilles assassina­ tions, when King Alexander of Yugoslavia and the French For­ eign Minister, Barthou, were shot by a fanatical terrorist. But on January 7, 1935 France and Italy drew up a series of agreements which constitute a far-reaching rapprochement between the two countries. In the Rome pacts, as they concern Europe, France and Italy agreed to consult in case of a new threat to Austrian inde­ pendence. They also recognized the necessity of a multilateral un­ derstanding between Austria and its neighbors-Germany, Czecho­ slovakia, Italy, Hungary and Yugoslavia-in which these states would undertake to respect their mutual frontiers and pledge non­ interference in each other's domestic affairs. These pacts represent a definite shift in Italian policy away from Germany and the re­ visionist camp, which is further emphasized by a supplementary convention declaring that France and Italy will consider German rearmament illegal as long as no agreement on the subject has been reached between the Reich, France, Italy, the United States and Great Britain. Franco-British conversations in London, termi­ nating on February 3, 1935, further underlined the intention of the former Allies not to countenance unilateral modification of the dis­ armament clauses of the peace treaties. The London conversations, however, envisaged a "general settlement freely negotiated between Germany and the other powers." Germany's right to equality was thus definitely recognized. At the same time, the contemplated "general settlement" includes German adherence to an Eastern Locarno guarantee treaty and to a Central European pact of non­ interference. Hitler's peace protestations are thus accepted at face value for, should the Chancellor refuse to sign these agreements and suit his actions to his words, he will be held responsible for failure to relieve European tension. GERMANY UNDER HITLER

VII

CONCLUSION

HE most important questions raised by the establishment of T the Third Reich are, first, whether the Hitler dictatorship must be regarded as a relatively permanent phenomenon and, second, whether its policies are likely to lead to peace or war. Prophecy is obviously impossible, as well as dangerous, but a careful study based on all available information must lead to the conclusion that, barring unforeseen accidents such as the death of Hitler, there seems to be no immediate prospect of an overturn of the Nazi regime. The National Socialists hold all or nearly all the trumps: government has been centralized in Berlin; party and state are one; the government controls education and all forms of public information services-press, radio, movies and theater; and the German people have been completely regimented. A new spirit of confidence fills the hearts of many Germans who feel that through Hitler they have regained their self-respect. While Hitler seems securely in the saddle, there are serious rifts within the party itself which might lead to another purge and eventually weaken the resistance of the regime. Intra-party quarrels are accentuated by the lack of any safety valve for public opinion in the Third Reich. Many Germans are beginning to resent constant interference by the state in their private lives and Nazi organization and control of all phases of German life has caused a great increase in bureaucratic red tape, with attendant delays and difficulties. The repressive measures against Catholics and Protestants have also disturbed numbers of people who are politically Nazis but cannot accept the neo-paganism of the "Ger­ man-Christians." The church opposition has managed to survive up to the present; it must be regarded, however, as a strong moral CONCLUSION 47 force rather than a rallying point for political action against the regime. The Nazi revolution was accompanied by an almost religious fervor and hope for the future. Now that the first flush of enthu­ siasm has waned, it has become increasingly evident that a des­ perate struggle is proceeding between the moderate elements in the party, which have proclaimed that the revolution is over, and the radicals, who are bitterly disappointed because the Nazis have not yet effected fundamental economic and social changes. The late Captain Roehm-a conservative at heart-apparently attempted to capitalize this dissatisfaction among the Storm Troopers. The purge of June 30, however, did not eliminate discontent or solve the fundamental social and economic problems which helped to wreck the Weimar Republic. Meanwhile, Hitler's personal hold on the German people re­ mains tremendous, and even those Germans who profess to be disillusioned with National Socialism remain loyal to the Leader. This is due partly to the fact that there seems to be no alterna­ tive to Hitler. All outstanding personalities who might have be­ come a potential menace to his regime were ruthlessly shot on June 30. Most Germans were led to believe that Hitler's pmmpt action on that date saved the country from civil war, and he emerged personally strengthened by that bloody week-end. But Hitler's hold is due also to that innate characteristic which makes the Germans splendid followers and poor leaders. Although Hitler and the National Socialist party appear to be in absolute control of the Third Reich after two years of Nazi rule, the real power is becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of Dr. Schacht and the Reichswehr. Schacht is economic dictator of Germany, with virtually complete control over the Reich's economic and financial destinies. The purge of June 30, 1934 and the reorganization of the Storm Troops which followed broke the latter's power and fundamentally altered the mass character of the party. The army has consequently emerged as the only armed force in the Reich. In contrast to the situation when Hitler took GERMANY UNDER HITLER

office, his power no longer rests on his private army, the Storm Troops and special guards, but on the regular army. This fact, plus the dissensions within the ranks of the Nazi party which has inevi­ tably weakened the latter, must lead to the conclusion that there are three primary sources of power in Germany today: Hitler as the mass leader; the army; and Dr. Schacht, the economic ruler. The Nazi party, on the other hand, is apparently devoting itself more and more to control and Nazification of culture and the propaga­ tion of nationalism as a religion. The centrifugal effect of any domestic dissension is counter­ balanced by the centripetal influence of foreign affairs. The Ger­ man people have been told-and have believed-that the whole world is against them, a conviction which the events of the last twenty years do not seem to have disproved. They are convinced that they are encircled by an iron ring, and that the other powers are merely waiting a favorable opportunity to destroy them. National patriotism in the masses has been kept at fever pitch by the foreign "menace," and in the supreme test would doubtless outweigh all other considerations. Although the Nazis have made great strides in rearmament,­ particularly in the air, Germany is probably not yet ready to fight a war on several fronts. The rapidity with which Hitler endeavored to wash his hands of all responsibility in the Austrian imbroglio after the murder of Dollfuss offers proof of this. The Reichswehr, moreover, will doubtless continue to act as a brake so long as the generals consider Germany inadequately armed. Few if any gen­ erals are National Socialists, but Hitler has given them what they desire-rearmament-and they need him. This dependence, how­ ever, is mutual. For the immediate future at least all these factors, plus the imposing array of foreign powers determined to preserve the status quo, seem to weight the scales in favor of peace. WORLD AFFAIRS PAMPHLETS No.1. THE WORLD ADRIFT. By Raymond Leslie Buell. ·'The clearest, most quietly objective summary of the present world situation, with least distortion by personal bias or tendency to prophesy."-The Survey. No.2. SOVIET RUSSIA, 1917-1933. By Vera Micheles Dean. "It is by all odds the best brief summary of the Russian experiment that I have seen."-Prof. Heber Harper, Columbia University. No. J. AMERICA MUST CHOOSE. By Henry A. Wallace. "A pamphlet that is seemingly destined to be regarded as a famous statement of the economic course before the United States."--Current History. No.4. WHAT ECONOMIC NATIONALISM MEANS TO THE SOUTH. By Peter Molyneaux. "By no means an unworthy companion to Mr. Wallace's America Must Choose • •• Mr. Molyneaux's viewpoint remains as suggestive as it ia reasoned."-New York Herald Tribune. No.5. THE SPIRIT OF MODERN FRANCE. By Helen Hill. "A really admirable achievement in the pamphlet form ... In those few pages Miss Hill has given precisely the sort of illumination that a pamphlet can give."-New York Herald Tribune. No.6. CONFLICTS OF POLICY IN THE FAR EAST. By George H. Blakeslee. "I think nobody has written anything comparably clear, concise, and temperate. Dr. Blakeslee tells the whole story."-Newton D. Baker. No.7. EUROPE: WAR OR PEACE? By Walter Duranty. A sketch of the European scene country by country interwoven with conclusions at once sound and refreshingly original. Paper copies, 25c; cloth copies, 50c Subscription to 10 issues, $2.00 (paper); $4.00 (clotb) Special rates will be quoted for quantities Foreign Policy Association, Incorporated and World Peace Foundation 8 West 40th Street, New York, N. Y.