80 YEARS AGO:1933: The Rise of Hitlerism
Author(s): S. H. ROBERTS
Source: AQ: Australian Quarterly , JUL-SEP 2013, Vol. 84, No. 3 (JUL-SEP 2013), pp. 2431
Published by: Australian Institute of Policy and Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/24363552
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The
TheRise
Rise
of of
Hitlerism
Hitlerism
Warn.
ARTICLE BY: PROFESSOR S. H. ROBERTS
As Christ in his twelve j ART,CLE BY: PR0FESS0R s"H"ROBERTS
disciples raised a stock
w
hether Hitlerism col
faithful unto martyrdom, j K ■■ V lapses within the next
whose belief shattered the ■■ m few months or whether
great Roman Empire, so
it contributes some
thing permanent to
in Germany to-day, we are ! European life, there can be no doubt that
experiencing the same thing. ! *is the most significant move in Germany
. since the war. A great revolution has been
Adolf Hitler is the true wrought and has shown the fallibility of
Holy Ghost. certain bases of the German structure
hitherto deemed infallible. During March
Hans Kerrl. of this year, Adolf Hitler - former corporal
24 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY ■ JUL-SEP 201 3
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THE RISE OF HITLERISM
in the List Regiment of the Royal Bavarian [when Hitler seized dictatorial power],
infantry, an unemployed Austrian archi- Von Papen continued to govern by
tect - brought about changes far beyond utilising Section 48 of the Constitution,
the dreams of Bismarck or William II, and it an emergency-provision enabling the
behoves us to enquire into the nature of President to issue overriding edicts should
a movement or a state of mind that can the needs of public order and safety
produce such results. demand them. But he and "his six men"
Last June [1932], the Weimar were distinctly unpopular and made a tacti
Constitution [Germany's Constitution after cal blunder in refusing to compete with
WWI], for long the ideal of theorists and the emotional showmanship of Hitler-an This feeling SOOn
the bane of administrators, proved itself omission that led to a striking failure in the
unable any longer to serve as the basis of elections of July 31 and November 6 [1932]
linked itself on to the
80 YEARS AGO:193
public life in Germany. It had always meant and to the replacement of von Papen by general pessimism in
a divorce between power and politics; his henchman, General Kurt von Schleicher,
now, it led to a Reichstag out of touch with on December 3.
actual affairs and incapable of nominating a psychological
a ministry commanding a majority of votes. mnlnicp Hrfrl
With the resultant discrediting of parlia
mentary institutions went a discrediting of of defeat and
those moderate parties - the Centre and
the Radical Socialists - who pinned their
11 General von Schleicher ought
really to have been an Admiral for his
faith to such institutions.This
feeling
soon
military genius
lies in shooting
under ^HMMNp||M MMpMplPM arrangem
linked itself on to the general pessimism
in post-War Germany - a psychological
malaise bred of defeat and harsh treaty
water at his political friends. | j|
- Hermann Goring 11932]
arrangements, suckled in the philosophy
of Oswald Spenglerand his Untergang,
matured in the inflation-collapse, strength
ened by the false hopes aroused in the Yet the new Chancellor fell a month and
revivalist movement of 1925-6, and given a half later on January 28,1933; because
final form by the international weakness of of a political misstep he was compelled
Germany. to resign. Thus, by the merest fluke of
Such a feeling proved an apt breeding- a political intrigue round the person of
ground for movements attacking the [President Paul von] Hindenburg, the way
State, especially when the world economic was opened for Hitlerism. Due to the failure
crisis [of the Great Depression] resulted of the July and November elections to
in six million unemployed and a turn to result in the formation of a majority gov
Communism.Toend the drift the then- ernment, Hindenburg reluctantly named
Chancellor of Germany, Colonel Franz von Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, in the
Papen, representing the pre-War tradition hope the appointment would resolve the
of impersonal public service, formed a country's political stalemate. What the
Presidial Cabinet on May 31,1932, and, Nazis could not gain for themselves was
seven weeks later, displaced the legally served to them on a platter by the folly of
elected Socialist government of Prussia and the reactionaries,
thus placed two-thirds of Germany under At this moment, Hitlerism was facing
a Reich Commissioner. In this way, he disintegration. Hitler had made his great
evolved both the aims and the methods of bid for political power in the July [1932]
the subsequent revolution of March, 1933 elections, but had been unable to increase
JUL-SEP 2013 ■ AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY 25
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THE RISE OF HITLERISM
His greatest strength
lay with the embittered
ex-soldiers and with
those youth who, down
to the age of twenty, had
been enfranchised by
the Weimar constitution
and whose malnutrition
in the war-years of
their infancy was now
expressing itself in an
almost insane lack of
political balance
the number of votes he had obtained in
programme is useless, my friends; each of
the Presidential elections of the previous
you already knows in his heart just what we
March and April. He hoped to take advan
shall do when we get into power." Offering
tage of the Presidial Cabinet's unpopularity opportunity to all and greatness to his
in the election of November but instead
adopted country, he insisted only on the
lost 35 seats and two million votes. For the pledge that his supporters should "take
next six weeks, he drifted in the deepening up the fight against the destroyers of our
German Fatherland," and dinned into their
"twilight of Hitlerism."
To understand this position, we have to
analyse the nature of the National Socialist
ears that they were "the greatest people
on earth, the finest representatives of that
movement. After the war, as a young man Aryan race that God Almighty intended
should rule the earth."
of thirty, Hitler had joined the smallest of
the many political parties of
Germany and had revealed
himself a striking public
speaker, with an undoubted
hypnotic appeal to his audi
ence. In 1919, he was number ■
7 in a party of seven members,
but, within six years, he had
27,000 followers and, in ten
years, 178,000.To accomplish
this, he talked and ranted in
the most emotional fashion,
appealed to the lowest feel- BftglsSKqLaMi. 1
ings of racial and religious bias,
and established a dictatorship
amongst the disillusioned of all
classes. He rose on the scum
13
<
IMAGE: © WiksCom ons
of the universal discontent ®
and gathered the most incon
gruous elements together in
his Nazi movement. He exploited men's
weaknesses and perhaps the adversary
He proceeded from hate to hate and,
working his audiences into a state of unbal
who termed him "the most logical practi anced fury, inveighed against the Treaty
tioner of human insanity" came the nearest of Versailles, most foreigners, all Jews, all
to an explanation of his methods. He had
Communists, and many Southerners. His
no programme. At each of his tumultu
ous meetings he cried, "Discussion of our
greatest strength lay with the embittered
26 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY JUL-SEP 2013
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ex-soldiers and with those youth who,
THE RISE OF HITLERISM
down to the age of twenty, had been
enfranchised by the Weimar constitution
and whose malnutrition in the war-years of
their infancy was now expressing itself in
an almost insane lack of political balance.
The doctor who declared that the war
blockade of Germany was the cause of
Hitlerism came very near the truth!
In 1919, he was number 7 in a party of seven
members, but, within six years, he had 27,000
organised the private force known as the
Brown Army, now estimated-at 600,000
followers and, in ten years, 178,000.
These soldiers and boys came together
in a part-military, part-mystical fervour and
men. In this organisation, the S.A. (Sturm
Abteilung) were the crux, their sub-groups,
whether he could permanently weld them
groups, storms, storm-bands, and standards
together. The strength of his "army of the
forming a hierarchy that covered every
disillusioned" had first been shown in the
military district in Germany and soon
1930 elections for the Fifth Reichstag; and
rivalled the similarly organised Stalhelms
in evidence. But this was not enough, and,
towards the end of 1932, when the par
liamentary rise of Hitlerism seemed to be
checked, divided counsels arose within the
indeed, that Reichstag, opening with the
of the Nationalists and the Reichsbanner
party and the sections of Gregor Strasser
entrance of 117 noisy Hitlerites in uniform
of the Catholic Centre. All manner of men
and Captain Hermann Goring became
and closing with police charges in the
found themselves wearing the brown shirt
Tiergarten, was an epitome of conditions in
and the swastika-armband - the ex-service
the new Germany.
men, the romantic and disillusioned boys,
Aided by propaganda on a scale hith
idealists who longed for the regeneration
erto
of Germany, the dreamers and the milita considered grotesque, Hitler moved
openly antagonistic. Strasser, the National
Organisation Manager of the party, was a
former Bavarian chemist who had devel
oped one of the keenest political minds
rists, many workers and unemployed, from
and strength to strength, until his party
included a million active members at the
especially all who were exasperated by the
beginning of 1932. The elections of that
failure of Parliamentarism, all who thought
that Germany was in the mire, and allyear,
whowhile outwardly a testimony to his
feared the rising tide of Communism. strength, were in reality a check, and it was
It was the vote of these last three
evident that he had to advance beyond
sections that swelled Hitler's numbers,the stage of urging the people to rely on
vague aspirations. Hitherto, he had been
although many who voted for him
were not so much his adherents as the content to invoke his destiny, create a
opponents of his opponents. His was legend, and invite or bully the people to
a movement in which many disparateplace themselves in his hands. Emotional
elements were temporarily linked and rodomontade had been his prime appeal,
and, where this had not succeeded, the
given cohesion by the emotional fervour
of a minority: it remained to be seen
He exploited men's
weaknesses and perhaps
the adversary who termed
him "the most logical
practitioner of human
insanity" came the nearest to
an explanation of his methods.
terrorism of Nazi bands had already been
IMAGE: © Recuerdos de Pandora/Flickr
JUL-SEP 201 3 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY 27
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THE RISE OF HITLERISM
Many who voted for him were not so much his
adherents as the opponents of his opponents
in Germany, and now wanted a moderate
every town in Germany, their boxes rattling
unparalleled movement of propaganda,
programme of peaceful evolution.
side by side with those of the Communists.
in which press-censorship, government
Goering, ex-commander of the
At no time since Bruning disbanded the
control of all broadcasting, suspension of
Richthofen air-squadron, was essentially
Brown
an Army in May, 1932, were their
constitutional rights, and outright terrorism
attacker and stood for a spectacular and,
fortune so depressed, and experts were
all played important parts. Nationalists and
if need be, brutal dictatorship. After much
agreed that the rift opened in the January
Nazis were alike agreed on the necessity of
wavering, Hitler "holidayed" Strasser and
squabbles would ultimately engulf the
Nazi
such
a campaign but, despite the silenc
his moderate supporters and tied himself
party - it was passing through the twilight
ing of their opponents and every known
to the Juggernaut propelled by Goering,
preparatory to the blackness of night.method of pressure and force, the Hitlerites
Goebbels, Frick, and Frank.The internecine
This was the position when his oppo
could command only 17 Vi million and the
Nationalists 3 1/3 million votes out of a
struggle, however, had adversely affected
nents sacrificed von Schleicher on January
total of 40 million in the elections of March
28 and when, for lack of an alternative,
the party in many ways and, in particular,
Hitler was made Chancellor, but so shack
the triumph of the extremists had alarmed
5 - or 288 and 52 seats respectively in a
the manufacturers who had hitherto been
led by the occupation of key-posts by total
his of 647.
unwanted Nationalist allies that he was
one of the mainstays of the Nazi's funds.
Hitler had already intimated that he
Threatened by bankruptcy, the Nazis were
really a "Chancellor in Chains." February
would continue in power whatever the
reduced to collecting on the streets ofsaw the development of an absolutely
results of the poll, so that, in reality, now
that the Nationalists were not needed so
much, Germany was in the hands of an
organised minority, never more than 42
per cent, of the people and depending on
FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER I. 1939
HOW EXPERTS VIEW STRATEGY
.HUWM)
a few hundred thousand Storm troops in
the Brown Army. Yet their achievements,
however questionable from a constitu
tional point of view, form an amazing
chapter in the history of modern Europe.
It is interesting to note that one of
Hitler's arguments was that the changed
position brought about by the March
elections should at once be met by an
alteration of the State governments in
conformity with the changed vote and
utterly regardless of the State-elections 2
formerly held. Another argument was |
that the figures in the States most friendly 5
disposed towards the Nazis should be g
taken as the normal vote, for deviations ®
from this norm were due only to the g
inroads of the Communists and other IMAGE:©Wiik Com ons
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ant facta*-. Probable lint, of attack an land atoa arc Indicted. Oormany. Siegfried tine and Pranee'a *
Inet Una would be ccpcctcd ta etateineto each ether. PaSah raatotenae an the aaet may take the atten
af half the Carman army far aix aaantha ar marc, the experta aay.
28 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY ■ JUL-SEP 2013
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THE RISE OF HITLERISM
anti-social forces. Finally, it was asserted
that the great sweep-over of Prussia in the
municipal elections (after the Reich and
State vote of March 5) represented the new
feeling of the German people and should
be extended to the municipalities of all
parts of Germany, on the assumption that
elections there would lead to the same
result. Such arguments as these best show
the present state of constitutionalism in
Germany.
The next few weeks revealed a despot
ism fascinating in its completeness. No sign
of dictatorship was wanting - rival forces
like the Red Front and the Reichsbanner
were declared illegal: Communists, even
elected deputies, were imprisoned: when
the gaols were filled, opponents of the
governments were sent to concentration
camps; newspapers were suspended
(even the august Berliner Tageblatt came
under the ban) or compelled to print Nazi
propaganda (resulting in the strangest
transformations): the Reichstag was purged
of the parties of the Left and practically
ignored after it had passed a bill abnegat
ing most of its rights to the Chancellor:
capitalists were controlled: trades-unions
were put down and informed that they
must come under a State-organisation ;
land-laws were changed in order to favour
Experts were agreed that the rift opened
in the January squabbles would ultimately
engulf the Nazi party - it was passing
through the twilight preparatory to
the blackness of night.
a peasant-proprietary and the educational
system was given a crude Nazi-basis. The
treatment of Jews, free workers/and inde
pendent University-professors was so harsh
as to arouse world-wide indignation, and
The position in this last respect should
hold against him the many bombastic
be carefully surveyed, for it is here that
utterances that had been necessary in his
combined with certain patriotic manifesta
Hitlerism may meet its final test.Those
tions to create an opinion abroad distinctly
unfavourable to the Hitlerites.
foreigners who believed that Hitler would
organising days were far outnumbered by
the others who saw in his virulent national
be chastened by office and hesitated to
ism a menace to world-peace. They viewed
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THE RISE OF HITLERISM
his many attacks on the Treaty of Versailles,pointed to the overwhelming superiority
on the Polish Corridor, on the isolation
and efficiency of her forces. Hitler's answer
of Austria, and on the military prepared was to attempt to limit his bolder state
ness of France as deliberate statements ofments to home-consumption and, while
Those foreigners who
believed that Hitler
would be chastened
by office and hesitated
to hold against him
the many bombastic
utterances that had
been necessary in his
organising days were
far outnumbered
policy, and not as the heated and oratorical
allowing them to stand within Germany,
outpourings of the moment. They remem
to deny them through the agency of the
bered his famous electoral speech while foreign press-correspondents. He also
disavowed various demonstrations and
flying over the Corridor, the threats to
smash the Treaty-restrictions, the repeatedincidents as the work of irresponsible sec
insistence on conscription for labour and tions of his followers, acting without orders.
military purposes, the frontier incidents on
But neither of these pretexts sufficed, and
the Rhine, the provocative references to
the pressure of the Nationalist Foreign
the Austrian Anschluss [Annexation] - and
Minister, Baron von Neurath, a trained
wondered if Germany had not set the clock
diplomat who had previously been at the
back to 1914.
Court of St. James, constrained him to a
One of the main reasons for Hitler's
more moderate policy.
success had been the German desire to
by the others who
saw in his virulent
nationalism a menace
to world-peace
IMAGE: © Go gle Images
This delicate balance offerees is very
make the Third Reich "a power in the sun
evident in Germany's reactions in recent
again" - to rally to the cry, "Deutschland,
Awake!" "Better three million dead than the
first carrying opposition almost to the point
months to the Disarmament Conference,
continued impotence of the Fatherland," it
was said, and Hitler's lieutenants referred
of wrecking the Conference and repeatedly
publicly to the spirit of Potsdam as regen
to rearm, and, at the last moment (when
erative and to the spirit of Locarno as
confronted by the opposition of practically
announcing in home-papers her intention
decadent. The pageantry represented by
[General Erich] Ludendorff's Death's-Head
Hussars Uniform seized upon the German
mind, and the country plunged deep into
an orgy of processions and military displays
until grave warnings were sounded abroad
that Germany had lost in two months the
hard-earned diplomatic gains of the previ
ous 200 months.
Edouard Daladier, speaking as Premier
of France, pointedly justified his country's
realist foreign policy in recent years and
declared that the eastern frontier-scheme
of fortifications was so near completion
as to be impregnable; and his ally, Poland,
Edouard Daladier,
speaking as Premier
of France, pointedly
justified his country's
realist foreign policy
in recent years and
declared that the
eastern frontier
scheme of fortifications
was so near completion
as to be impregnable;
and his ally, Poland,
pointed to the
overwhelming
superiority and
efficiency of her
forces.
30 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY JUL-SEP 2013
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THE RISE OF HITLERISM
AUTHOR:
Robert
RobertHenry
Henry
Roberts
Roberts
was was
born born
in 1901
inin1901 in
Victoria. In the 1930s he became an interna
tional analyst
analyst and
andpublic
publiclecturer,
lecturer,
wrote
for
tional
hehe
wrote
for
the
the Sydney
Sydney Morning
MorningHerald
Heraldand
and
during
during
World
World
War
War IIII he
hewas
wasthe
the
newspaper's
newspaper's
warwar
corre
corre
spondent.
spondent. Prior
Priorto
tothe
thewar
warRoberts
Roberts
met
met
many
many
of
andand
attended
theirtheir
rallies.
of Nazism's
Nazism'sleaders
leaders
attended
rallies.
1937 this
this led
led to
to his
his most
mostnoted
notedbook,
book,The
The
In 1937
House
inin
/AQ
House that
that Hitler
HitlerBuilt.
Built.Like
Likehis
hisarticle
article
AQhis
his
work
work forewarned
forewarnedof
ofa aprobably
probablyworld
world
war.
war.
every other European State, even of an
After the war he became Vice-Chancellor of
Italy alarmed by the Anschluss move
the University of Sydney developing its inter
ment!), accepting the British Plan as a basis.
national standing and expanding it into a
Similarly she has just signed the Four-Power
modern university. He was knighted in 1965
Pact, abandoning warlike settlement of
and died in 1971.
disputes for ten years.
This does not, of course, affect the
German claim for a revision of the Versailles
Treaty [the result ofWWI] and it is, indeed,
conducted against his various opponents.
must disturb the peace of Europe. The
inconceivable that any German should
He raised his party on the hatred of all
who outcome is that Hitler - a figure
probable
give up this claim.The Nazis are resolved to
wished to keep Germany down: he won
doubtfully balancing the jarring elements
secure a rectification of Germany's frontiers
his place at the elections by a hatred of
in a movement grown beyond his com
and a restoration of some of her colonies,
Communism: he gave the further sop of
prehension - will be forced into the policy
and still make the reunion of the ninety
moderation at home as he has been
a hatred of Semitism: and throughout,ofhis
million Teutons in Europe one of their main
abroad.
underlings played the note of hatred to
the In other words, his movement will
objectives. The only recent change is that
peace-makers. But, unless he gains time
be ultimately represented by the Strassers
the antagonistic grouping of public opinion
the Feders rather than those neces
by directly attacking Central Germanyand
and
abroad has made them realise that these
thus provoking the South beyond endur
sary elements of a forceful transition, the
objectives are jeopardised by Nazi activity
ance, or unless he takes a more direct stand
Goerings and the Goebbels.
in other directions, and that even those
in the old fight between industrialists and
foreigners who believed in the justice of
ED:
agriculturalists, he must solve this question
Germany's contentions regarding the Treaty
of foreign policy.
Gregor Strasser was Hitler's rival in the
would not feel inclined to make conces
He has promised his adherents a regen
early Nazi party. Gottfried Feder was a Nazi
sions to such a government as that of Hitler.
eration of Germany abroad, and their
Hitler, in short, finds himself in a quandary.
economist; it was a lecture of Feder's that
present fervour demands an intransigeant
drew Hitler into the Nazi party. In 1934
Terrorism cannot permanently keep him
policy; yet this means instant diplomaticStrasser was murdered during the Night
in office in Germany, and he has almost
isolation, and, in world-councils, Hitler,
of the Long Knives, and Feder began to
exhausted the campaigns of hate he has
willingly or perforce, has found himself withdraw from politics.
forced into "the Locarno-path" on which he
has so often opened the vials of his oraThe only alternatives are its disruption,
torical wrath. It is a delicate situation, which
and spells more suffering for Germany,
or is
its success in its more hectic form, which
perhaps the ultimate irony of Hitlerism
in the combination of a Goering-Goebbels
means the triumph of pre 1914 ideas
policy at home and a mediatory policy
and the resultant disturbance of Europe's
abroad.The dilemma is beyond solution
peace. That is why the internal events of
and leads to the inevitable conclusion that
the next few months in Germany will so
either Hitlerism must change its nature
directly affect the rest of the world, for weal
or for woe.
by accepting the above compromise or
Terrorism cannot permanently keep him in office in Germany, and he has
almost exhausted the campaigns of hate he has conducted against his various opponents.
JUL-SEP 2013 AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY 31
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