Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

WAR IN THE RUHR 163ported the passive resistance of Germany in the Ruhr by supporting theGerman mark. For the strike in the western provinces was a new andeven heavier drain on the mark; the strikers had to live, the employerscried out for indemnities. The campaign was financed by the Reichtreasury. At the bank windows the millions were no longer counted, thepiles of notes were measured with a ruler. At the beginning the markwas successfully pegged, but soon English aid proved insufficient. Themark slipped and crashed again, the passive resistance crumbled, theFrench held out the temptation of wages in good, solid francs, printedspecially for the Rhineland. In Germany secret patriotic establishmentsset to work, forging masses of these Rhineland francs to make themdepreciate. All to no avail. The French slowly succeeded in putting theRuhr back to work and carrying off the coal. With her passiveresistance, Germany had harmed herself more seriously than the enemy.Nevertheless, Germany developed in this 'Ruhr War' a power whichshe had not shown since 1918; for a short time she had been inwardlysteeled and united as she had not been since the outbreak of the WorldWar. To be sure, she was materially paralyzed and impoverished; shewas unarmed in comparison to France; but France, too, was permeatedwitli inner conflicts, the break with England was a source of deepanxiety. With all their hearts the French people rejected the Ruhr War— like everything which in any way reminded them of war. Hitler wellunderstood this: 'Today the disproportion between outward power andinner strength in France is greater than ever. France has only the momentaryweakness of Germany to thank for her present position ofpower' — again the profound insight into the weakness of the enemy towhich he has owed so many of his successes.But now Germany, in the Ruhr War, developed a force of will whichat the outset was highly effective. Never had Hitler been more afraidthan in those days when it looked as if his 'necessary' chaos mightsuddenly come to an end. What if Germany should overcome her innerweakness? What if the conquered country should unite and reorganize?What if Germany should recover her power — and all this withoutHitler? Here lay a true danger. If