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

476 DER FUEHRERSoviet Russia, was no partner to Papen's 'occidental' ideas and thereforeunable to admit the necessity for a stronger German army. TheDisarmament Conference, assembled in Geneva since February, 1932,adjourned on July 23, without acceding to Germany's claim to 'equality';the United States, England, and even Italy took the French side.In a remarkably short time Papen had succeeded in making an enemyof the working class, weakening the unity of the Reich, and now thisdiplomatic fiasco! Five days before elections, Schleicher stepped up tothe microphone and apologized to the German people for thegovernment he had invented — this was the veiled meaning of hisspeech. 'I am no friend of military dictatorship,' he affirmed. 'I regardthe dictatorial government of the armed forces in Germany as absolutelyimpossible. . . . The government,' he said, audibly carping at Papen,'must be supported by a strong popular sentiment. . .' In between heannounced that Germany, whatever Geneva might decide, would dowhat was necessary for her defense, 'revamping, not enlarging,' theReichswehr. What embittered him most, said he, was the talk about a'plot of junkers and generals' in Germany, for 'the Reichswehr is not aforce to protect any classes or interested persons, and no more does itwant to protect any obsolete economic forms or untenable propertyrelations.'This challenge to capitalism and feudalism sounded strange in themouth of the leader of the Reichswehr; it was widely quoted, debated,interpreted. But it hardly penetrated the ear of the masses which wasfilled with the roaring noise of Hitler's gray Junkers plane. More thanever these masses regarded the flying voice of thunder as the secretruling power. Papen seemed not more than a proxy; he sat half invisiblein his chancellery; his weak, strained voice over the radio made peoplethink of a little man standing on tiptoes. What they saw were the bandsof the S.A. men, protected by the police, and the Junkers planedescending from the clouds.And yet — these intimidated masses did not give Hitler a majority inthe elections of July 31. The Social Democrats lost a little, but theCommunists regained more, almost doubling their strength; and theCatholic Center with its working masses remained un-scarred. True, theold middle-of-the-road bourgeois parties which