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

486 DER FUEHRERdies for Germany, has all the right on his side; and anyone who turnsagainst Germany has no rights.'Hitler had landed in one of those situations where every gun goes offbackward, where bombs explode in the hands of the thrower, and thetrapper steps into his own traps. He got a sharp answer from Papen:Hitler, the Chancellor cried, did not have 'the right to regard theminority in Germany that follows his banner as alone representing theGerman nation, and to treat all other national comrades as free game.'He continued: 'I shall, if necessary, force recognition of the equal justicethat is the right of all German citizens. I am firmly resolved to stamp outthe smouldering flame of civil war.' Papen could say that because theflame began to lack fuel.If it is true that prosperity and depression follow each other in a nineyearcycle, then the time for prosperity had come again. The bottom ofthe depression had been hit in the summer and early fall of 1923; in latefall the recovery had begun; in vain Hitler had tried at that time to savethe chaos which he had helped to create. And now again, in the fall of1932 there were the first signs of recovery; reports that in someindustries there were more orders and more work to do; and these signsappeared exactly after the first signs of Hitler's forthcoming decline.The burden of international political debts had practically vanished; ithad become clear that there would be no war or warlike attempts to savethe tottering structure of the Versailles Treaty; Germany in particularwas confident that the specter of reparations was definitely gone.Papen, with all his faults a man of courage, seized the first opportunitywith a bold hand. Unafraid of unpopularity, he slapped themasses in the face because he firmly believed that this was the onlymeans to help them. To clear the streets of the unemployed, hopeless,lawless, and classless youth, an allegedly 'voluntary' labor service wascreated, mostly with the help of the Stahlhelm, but neither S.A. nor 'IronFront' were completely rejected. About 280,000 young men found work,although under hard conditions; for little more remuneration thanmilitary board and lodging, they built roads, drained swamps,straightened rivers. Then Papen did what Bruning had been afraid to do:he tried to encourage private enter-