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

164 DER FUEHRERGermany should work herself out of the bloody morass of civil war andreturn to the solid ground of order; if the Uprooted and Disinheritedshould regain a hold on life; if the general ruin were halted - Hitler haslost. Consequently, the war in the Ruhr must not be won, the civil warmust go on.When the French troops moved into the Ruhr, a storm of nationalpassion rose in Germany; the country was transformed overnight, unitedby a wild patriotic upsurge. But in Munich a lonely voice repeated: 'No— not down with France, but down with the traitors to the fatherland,down with the November criminals. That must be our slogan.' By thetraitors against the fatherland Hitler meant the parties which wereorganizing strikes for the fatherland in the Ruhr. Perhaps for the firsttime the Nazis heard cries of shame when they approached a massdemonstration with their swastika banners. Hitler stubbornly persistedin refusing to make common front with the 'traitors,' even in the Reich'sgreatest need; future history must not report that he had ever forgiventhem. It must go down in history that 'all these scoundrels had beencalled to account, that a divine judgment had broken over them whichwould be remembered for centuries to come.' Fear of a great nationalupsurge gave him the strangest ideas; he went so far as to accuse theJews of war agitation. In his newspaper, Dietrich Eckart wrote: 'It wouldsuit the Hebrews to lash us into an insane war against France — insanebecause obviously it would be lost with the swiftness of lightning.'Hitler shouted himself hoarse for civil war and scaffold, and no onewanted to listen. And so — at the end of January, 1923 — he orderedfive thousand of his storm troops to Munich, ostensibly to dedicate aflag. If he spoke with this background, people would hear him. He hadgiven his word of honor to Minister Schweyer not to make a putsch —why, then, this assemblage of five thousand Uprooted and Disinherited?The minister later described his own attitude: 'I attached no importanceto Herr Hitler's word of honor, because, in the handling of police power,one has no business giving or accepting words of honor.' Thegovernment forbade the parade — or 'party day,' as Hitler called it —out of hand.Hitler dashed to the police president and put on an indescribable