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

736 DER FUEHRERbeen the real cause of his overthrow; but Hindenburg doubtless had avague idea that the National Socialist period would not last forever inGermany. The National Socialists got wind of the contents of this letterand replied with a cry of fury, 'We will not tolerate the interference ofthe High Gentleman of Doom,' as Goer-litzer, Goebbels's closestcollaborator, put it. When a group of ladies and gendemen belonging toBerlin high society organized a public celebration of the ex-Kaiser'sbirthday (January 27, 1934), Goring's police broke into the hall anddispersed these faithful followers of Wilhelm II. Earlier than this, Hitlerhad made it plain that he did not intend to restore the monarchy. 'Whatis past does not come again. . . . The wheels of history cannot be turnedbackward. . . . This would not be desirable at all. ...' The dynasties ofGerman princes, he had said, had often 'given only mediocrities to thethrone'; or, 'Republic versus monarchy — a serious issue? Millionslaugh at it.' He had promised a great deal to credulous princes; foreignobservers had regarded Hitler as the herald of a future monarchy and didnot realize how serious he was when — as early as 1923 — he haddeclared that 'today the German no longer dies for the monarchy, butonly for Germany's freedom.'When the Reichstag assembled on the anniversary of the 'seizure ofpower,' Hitler took the opportunity to declare that the achievement ofthe German princes had been 'almost exclusively the selfish operation ofa ruthless power politics in favor of their own dynasties,' and if thesepolicies of the German princes 'did not definitely destroy Germany as anation, this was not the merit of the authors of these policies. . . .Therefore, I should like to register my protest against the recentlyreaffirmed thesis that Germany could be happy again only under herhereditary princes.' The future head of Germany, whoever he may be,'will be called to that office by the German people and will be obligatedto it alone and exclusively.'This meant that the future form of the German government would bedetermined by the National Socialists, by the dictatorship based on theplebiscite; and to remove the last doubts about this, a law was proposedat the same Reichstag session which gave the Reich government theimportant right — and thereby deprived parliament of it — 'topromulgate new constitutional legislation,'