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

COUP D'ETAT BY INSTALLMENTS 585cabled to Hitler, 'in conjunction with local German Jews of German andAmerican citizenship,' declaring that they themselves 'protested stronglyagainst the anti-German agitation in America,' but, with a view towarding of? attacks, requested a 'statement on the future legal, political,and economic situation of the Jews in Germany.' At Hitler's behest anofficial in the Chancellery wired back: 'Chancellor Hitler thanks you foryour co-operation in the struggle against Jewish agitation. GermanJews, like all other subjects, will be treated according to their attitudetoward the national government. Defensive action of the NationalSocialist Party is necessitated by the challenging behavior of GermanJews abroad.' German Jews at home sent numerous messages abroad,requesting cessation of the boycott; Cyrus Adler, president of the JewishAgency and the American Jewish Committee, cabled to Berlin that noresponsible Jewish body in America had inspired the boycott, and thathe and his friends were doing everything in their power to oppose theagitation.This might already be called a result, even before the struggle hadbegun. The Jewish world power did not show itself very powerful; ifHitler was not yet strong enough to carry out his boycott, he was strongenough to intimidate and divide the enemy by a mere threat. Hastily thisstraw was seized. Hitler was able to maintain that the 'world Jew' hadalready capitulated; for the present, therefore, he could temporarilyabandon a plan that was temporarily impracticable, and postpone theeconomic annihilation of the Jews. To be sure, a demonstration boycottwas organized for April 1, as a kind of party holiday. S.A. men stoodoutside Jewish shops and barred admission, though occasionally arebellious public broke through. Hitler and his followers forciblypersuaded themselves that they had won a victory and silenced worldJewry; 'the foreign atrocity propaganda has abated perceptibly,' wroteGoebbels in his diary. The events soon contradicted him; but he wasfully aware that National Socialism was fighting for the world and notonly for Germany; and that this struggle would last a long time. 'We arefaced,' he wrote on April 2, clearly quoting Hitler, 'with a spiritualcampaign of conquest, which must be carried through in the wholeworld exactly as we have carried it through in Germany.