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

HINDENBURG'S STICK 471— that is, King of Prussia — and this part of his heritage was nowadministered by the enemy in the gray palace. The conflict betweenPrussia and the Reich was intolerable to Hindenburg. In this he wasentirely at one with Papen, but Schleicher's mind was not made up soquickly. What Papen wanted was to suspend the Prussian governmentby force; and this was his first great disappointment to Schleicher. Forthe Reichswehr Minister had invented Papen in order to avoid thenecessity of governing by force; his wish was that in Prussia theNational Socialists and the Center should form a majority governmentin good democratic style. For the moment this had failed, but after theReichstag elections of July 31, it would doubtless succeed; for theCenter would not continue forever to uphold the present Prussiangovernment.To be sure, this government would at once have ceased to be aminority government if the Communists became reasonable; if theygave up the idea that Hitler must come to power. Wilhelm Abegg, thePrussian state secretary, attempted on his own responsibility to bring theCommunists to their senses. He invited two Communist Reichstagdeputies, Torgler and Kasper, to see him and tried to persuade them togive up their sabotage in Prussia. The Communists did not say yes andthey did not say no.But Abegg did not suspect how shaky the ground beneath his feet hadalready become. Since the fall of Bruning, an intangible but ubiquitousand corrosive conviction that Hitler would soon come to power hadpenetrated every pore of the public consciousness. The most convincedwere to be found in the great silent army of men who are seldom openlyconvinced of anything, but who always adjust their business, theircareer, and, in this epoch of race war, even their love, to theforthcoming political events. Business connections were broken,friendships severed, men and women broke off their engagements toJews. Many found it timely to wear the swastika in their buttonhole, forwhen the first booty was distributed, you had to be an 'old fighter'; longparty membership would be rewarded with employment, advancement,and loans from public funds. And so now the opportunists steppedforward with loud cries. But the party disapproved their suddenloudness and preferred to use these shady characters in the shade.Occasionally