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

HINDENBURG'S STICK 477had formerly been so strong, among them the party of the late GustavStresemann, vanished almost entirely. Hugenberg's GermanNationalists, who alone supported the cabinet of the barons, had hardlya trickle of the people behind them — unless the two and a half millionvoters who sent forty German Nationalist deputies to the Reichstagcould be called 'people.' The fragments of the shattered bourgeoisparties now piled up like a mountain beneath Hitler's feet. But themountain was neither firm nor high enough. Hitler occupied a largesector of parliament, with two hundred and thirty out of a total of sixhundred and seven members; no one was stronger than he. But he wasfar from being stronger than all together. The elections had the samemonotonous outcome that had been repeated for years: the majority wasagainst Hitler, but it was for nothing at all.'Der Fuhrer is faced with grave decisions,' wrote Goebbels in his diarytwo days after the apparently overwhelming victory. 'Should he proceedlegally? With the Center? . . .' For the Center alone could give him themajority he lacked. By the Tegernsee, in a charming mountain regionsouth of Munich, Hitler and his henchmen held anxious deliberations onthe consequences of their dangerously incomplete victory. 'Der Fuhreris deliberating with us,' Goebbels reports, 'but' — and this is the way heis doing things — 'he has come to no final conclusion. The situationmust first ripen. At any rate, the party must not shrink back from gravedecisions. Something must happen.'Only one thing must happen: Hitler had to be definitely victorious. Inthe eyes of the German people, he was committed to swift, completesuccess, otherwise it would be the end of him. 'In Berlin we have lost alittle due to the Red campaign of lies,' wrote Goebbels in his diary onthe night of the elections. 'Inference: we must take power!' And if theNational Socialists did not take power within a reasonable time, theycould speak to the hearts of the enormous audiences and be allegedly athousand times in the right against an allegedly unjust government —there would be no further purpose in voting for them. Hitler had trainedhis electorate in cynicism; now came the cynical answer.The S.A. men whetted their long knives — and this almost liter-