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

THE BLOOD PURGE 771was found in a woods near the town of Pasing. He was identified by apapal medal he wore around his neck; his face was a formless mass.Father Bernhard Stempfle lay with a broken neck and three bullets inhis heart in a woods near Harlaching, a suburb of Munich. WillySchmidt, the music critic, died only because his name was WillySchmidt; the murderers confused him with Colonel Schneid-huber'sassistant, Wilhelm Schmidt. The fiancee of Doctor Voss, a Berlinattorney who was Gregor Strasser's counsel, anxiously asked the policeto find her vanished lover; they replied, 'Do you really think he is stillalive?'People were murdered whose only crime was that they had had aquarrel over a copyright with Max Amann, Hitler's publisher. Peoplewere murdered to whom Hitler had promised his personal protection.Among those who were saved by Hitler in the last minute was Manfredvon Killinger.These murders extending beyond the S.A. circles would have beenimpossible if Hitler had not been absolutely sure of Blomberg's andReichenau's personal devotion. With von Schleicher fell their sharpestcritic and opponent; and Reichenau's joy at his death was proved a fewdays later when he declared that von Schleicher had long ago ceased tobe a soldier, that he was a born conspirator who had sunk so low that heeven had relations with the S.A. Blomberg would have approvedanything that Hitler did; the general blindly admired the Fuhrer. And soit was not surprising that on July 3, when Hitler reported to the cabineton the blood-bath, Franz Gurtner, his eternal silent guardian angel, whofourteen years earlier had been unable to discover the politicalmurderers of that day, stated now that there had been no murders at all,and introduced a law, immediately adopted by the cabinet, whichproclaimed that the deeds of June 30 were 'justified as a measure ofstate defense.' A congratulatory telegram arrived from Hindenburg.The following story was told about one of Gregor Strasser's boys. AFrenchman living in the neighborhood, who was superficially acquaintedwith the family, met him a few days after the murder of hisfather and could not resist asking him what he now thought of Hitler —who, by the way, was the boy's godfather. The boy