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

474 DER FUEHRERadmitted and openly expressed aim of the Communists, not to save theGerman Republic, but to smash Social Democracy. The participation ofthe Communists in this struggle would have driven con-siderableneutral sections of the population to the side of the Reichs-wehr;particularly the Catholics, despite all their bitterness against Papen andHindenburg.And so there was no struggle. When Bracht appeared in Sever-ing'soffice at noon, Severing declared that he was 'ceding only to force,'meaning that he ceded. The two men had known each other well foryears and had worked closely together. They entered into conversationand agreed that the exercise of 'force' should take place at eight thatnight. At eight o'clock, Bracht returned, accompanied by PolicePresident Melcher, whom he had brought with him from Essen, and twopolice officers. Melcher, a good-natured fellow, wanted to shake handswith Severing; Severing held his hand behind his back and Bracht againinformed him that he was deposed. Severing repeated that he wasceding only to force, and passed through a door into his adjacent privatehome. Similar scenes occurred with other high officials of the Prussiangovernment. There was little seriousness about the form of this capitulation;but the objective grounds for it were serious; the expected result —to prevent a fusion between the Reichswehr and the National Socialists— was for a time achieved, but in the end was lost. Resistance mightnot have altered the outward course of history; but the fact that in thismoment between life and death the Social Democratic movementshowed only prudence and no strength was its undoing.Thus ended the short-lived Weimar Republic. Because of its failuresin power politics, it has generally been judged adversely. But this is notentirely fair. The reconstruction of defeated Germany after the war wasa significant achievement. The period saw considerableaccomplishments in literature, the arts, especially architecture, and theseachievements were filled with the spirit of the republic. It is hard todecide whether to count it as a weakness or a virtue of this republic, thatit allowed a freedom of speech and of the press which endangered itsdignity and security and was often shamelessly abused. In any case,under the Weimar Republic, the