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

466 DER FUEHRERmemorandum to Goebbcls and Goring to look through and meanwhilewent to see Schleicher. The memorandum, which apparently displeasedHitler's critical lieutenants, never reached Schleicher; but in themeantime Hitler had let himself be ensnared by the general, evenwithout any exchange of documents. Schleicher promised that the S.A.would soon be permitted to function and that a National Socialist wouldbecome Premier of Prussia. According to the secret plan of the Papengovernment, this meant 'tying Hitler to responsibility,' without givinghim any real power; Hitler did not notice the trap, but said, beaming, toSchleicher that a tablet should be erected on the wall of the house withthe words: 'Here there took place that memorable conference betweenAdolf Hitler and General Kurt von Schleicher, by which . . .' When hereturned and reported, Goebbels was beside himself, and no doubtthought: he must never be allowed to attend conferences alone; it wasthe same way before the presidential elections — this can be read quiteclearly between the lines of his diary. The Prussian deputies, Kube andKerrl, were summoned, and Hitler was enlightened, no doubt as gentlyas possible; thereupon he hastily departed, and two days later hisrepresentatives, Goring and Kube, innocently told Papen and Schleicherthat they could agree to nothing definite, for their Fuhrer was absent andunfortunately ('Thank God,' wrote Goebbels in his diary) could not bereached.Papen grew distrustful and hesitated to lift the prohibition of the S.A.;both sides began to accuse each other of broken promises. Hitlerthundered at Goring, Goebbels, and Strasser over the telephone, orderedthem to see Schleicher and Minister of the Interior von Gayl, but thelonged-for three-line notice in the newspapers did not appear — andtwo weeks had passed since Hitler's handshake with Hindenburg. Onenight Goebbels assembled fifty S.A. men in his office. They put on theirbrown shirts, their brown breeches, their high boots, and then the fiftyof them marched straight through the city, went into the cafes. Not apoliceman ventured to arrest them, and the fifty felt like bold lawbreakers,great revolutionaries. It did not occur to these warriors thatwith their millions they could seize the right of the streets without anyquestion; that they could flood the whole country with their browncolumns re-