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

DEFEAT 439They had a right to be solemn. Since the Feldherrn Halle in 1923, theyhad not gambled for such high stakes, and Hitler knew perfecdy wellwhy he had hesitated. Against his better judgment he suddenly foundhimself engaged in a bitter struggle with that Herr President, withoutwhose permission the revolution could not take place; or rather againstthe three or four officers in the Reichs-wehr Ministry who guidedHindenburg's will. But Schleicher could not so easily be diverted fromhis aim — as his friend Franz von Papen had formulated it — : to 'forgethese glowing masses,' to 'put each man in his proper place and educatethe valuable material'; at least not by the irritating accident of a passingelection campaign. In tones overflowing with righteousness, Groener, atSchleicher's behest, declared to the surprised Reichstag: 'The repeateddeclarations of the National Socialist leader and his profession oflegality show that he is endeavoring to exclude illegal elements from hisparty. And the Reich Court has expressly established this fact. Thesefacts have decided me no longer to deny the honorable right of nationaldefense to the members of the N.S.D.A.P. . . .' (February 24, 1932). Amagnanimous gesture! In spite of the bitter struggle, Schleicher,believing himself to be immensely shrewd, took all pretext forcomplaint away from Hitler. If anyone had made a mistake, it was, inhis opinion, Bruning, who had dragged Hindenburg into this fight.It was a three-cornered batde; not only a struggle between Hindenburgand Hitler. Both had to fight against a third party — the partywhich for decades had wielded the strongest political influence inGermany, especially in Prussia.Hindenburg had fought heroically to make his own life as comfortableas possible; even before the World War, he had demanded a higherpension on the ground that a head injury limited his ability to work. Hehad never striven for the unusual; but when at an advanced age it fell inhis lap, he installed himself comfortably in his undeserved greatness. Heenjoyed the advantages of a lofty position, and basked, none tooappreciatively, in the blind love of an unsuspecting people. In 1925,when he was elected President for the first time, he haggled over hissalary like a good business man, and secured almost double what theSocial Democrat Friedrich