11. The Assumption of Power

Editor's Introduction

THE EVENTS OF January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of the Reich, affected all Germans, each in his own way. Unfortunately, few descriptions have come down to us of how the Nazi take-over was received by members of the population at large. The elections held in March of that year may be significant in this regard, for though they were conducted under mounting Nazi pressure, they were the last free elections for many years to come. The Nazis did not attain an absolute majority, receiving 43.9 per cent of the vote, but they did increase their strength. The results of these elections served to accelerate the National Socialist effort to absorb all of German political and cultural life.

Just how this was done is illustrated by two excerpts which convey the flavor of what was happening. Otto Knab's account of how the Nazis took over a small Bavarian town near Munich was published in Switzerland in 1934, when the memory of the event must still have been fresh. This was a town in which everyone knew each other, in which the temper of life was placid -- and, judging from the composition of the City Council, the prevalent political atmosphere was conservative. The irony which pervades the account of a revolution made by amateurs must not disguise the fact that they were successful, that they did take over the public life of the town, however harmless their actions may have appeared. For the National Socialist revolution did not storm the barricades, but arrived through a legal seizure of power and threw the might of the government of the Reich behind the aims of the party.

In Herne, an industrial city in the Ruhr Valley (in 1931 it had 98,400 inhabitants), the Nazis did not fare very well, even two months after Hitler's seizure of power. In the municipal elections of March 12, 1933, the NSDAP emerged as the largest single party, but only on the basis of a third of the total vote cast. The Catholic Center party came next -- only to be expected in a Catholic region -- and the Communists ran third: apparently a self-conscious working class still existed in this highly industrialized part of Germany. Their relatively bad showing need not have worried the Nazis, for the Reich government came to their aid; by the end of the year all rival political parties had been dissolved. Moreover, a new law on local government (1934) gave the party the decisive voice in appointing or firing mayors and aldermen.

Meanwhile the party proceeded to change the tempo of life in the city. Not only were street names changed and voluntary organizations taken over, but the Nazis employed methods which had served them well during their rise to power. A constant round of mass meetings, parades, and the flying of flags kept the population in a permanent state of excitement. A host of party-sponsored activities sooner or later involved every citizen with the Nazis whether he liked it or not. The city historian of Herne graphically describes the methods used to take over his town and the changed tempo of life which resulted. Though he writes much after the event (1963), he has only to list what actually took place for us to visualize what life must have been like during those stormy days of 1933.

The take-over on the local level was as bloodless as the take-over in the Reich as a whole. The proceedings of the City Council of Cologne at its first meeting after Hitler became Chancellor give little evidence of an opposition still physically present in the chamber. Konrad Adenauer and the Catholic Center party had ruled Cologne for sixteen years. Both vanished in the wave of enthusiasm for the Nazis. For until this meeting the Nazis had been a tiny minority on the City Council. The Nazi speaker, Joseph Grohe (b. 1902), was Gauleiter of the Koln-Aachen district of the NSDAP and "leader" of the Nazi aldermen. He was also a member of the Prussian State Diet. Indeed, Grohe had joined the party as early as 1921, and this speech was reprinted in a book published to celebrate his twentieth anniversary as a party member (1941). By that time he had served as Gauleiter for ten years, and he was to continue in that office until the collapse of the Third Reich. No doubt, this speech, indeed this council session, represents the highlight of his career.

For the average citizen it may well have been little things rather than the bigger political events that impressed the change upon his mind. Hermann Stresau, novelist and opponent of the regime, looks back upon a few such incidents.

All of these descriptions of what happened at the assumption of power are far from complete, but they should serve to give an impression of the take-over on the local level, where it affected each citizen most immediately and deeply. As far as the average citizen was concerned, the changes were instituted peacefully; nevertheless, they were ruthlessly complete. It was possible simply to go along, to swim with the current, and to slide into the Nazi pattern of life. Indeed, this was the path of least resistance, even if one had not voted for the Nazis in March 1933. Once a beginning had been made, everything else followed -- the Nazi cultural drive began to get hold of and to mold the population. What this meant we have seen in this book.

The working classes of Herne had voted Communist in considerable numbers as late as March 1933. But with their unions destroyed and their party proscribed, there was little left to stiffen any resistance they might have offered. Above all, unemployment had been done away with by the end of 1933, and this achievement spoke louder than the sentiments of bygone times. The old ruling classes of the Empire, a nobility which had successfully survived throughout the Republic, offered scattered resistance. A mass movement frightened their aristocratic sensibilities, and the Christianity to which they had a deep allegiance seemed menaced by the Nazi ideology. However, many of this class, led by the Princes of Prussia, who hoped that Hitler would restore the monarchy, joined the Nazi movement. Most took the view of the high-born lady, Baroness Richthofen, which is recalled by Erich Ebermayer in his memoirs. That lady had to defend her acquiescence in the Nazi regime to Ebermayer's mother, the wife of the one-time Chief Public Prosecutor of the Republic and, like her son, an opponent of all the Nazis stood for.

The attitude of Baroness Richthofen was by no means confined to members of her class; it provided a powerful rationale for the acceptance of evil, and not just in Germany. If there had been barricades instead of legality in 1933, men and women would have been forced to make more reasoned decisions. The legal assumption of power, however, allowed them to drift into the open arms of the Third Reich, finding themselves in an embrace from which there was no escape, except prison or exile. Conformity took precedence over personal friendships, however old and valued. Yet we must always remember that there were many who were enthusiastic for the new order, to whom the Nazi ideology seemed to give a new meaning to life.

Fellow traveler or adept, both found themselves partners in the most far-reaching attempt to impose a monolithic cultural pattern upon a modern nation which the Western world had yet seen. Throughout this book we have been concerned with the way in which this pattern was made to penetrate into the population, and with it the world view for which it stood. We can now see the Nazi assumption of power in its proper dimensions -- as opening the gate through which this Nazi culture poured down upon the people. That it struck so many responsive chords is perhaps the greatest tragedy of all. Men will rationalize, will allow themselves to drift into situations, but that millions should have identified themselves wholly and unconditionally with Nazi culture gives a seriousness to these documents which cannot be brushed aside as merely the creation of clever or successful propaganda.

G.L.M.

Our Town under the Swastika, by OTTO MICHAEL KNAB

If somewhere a situation arises which causes people to say: "There's something in the air," one talks strikingly little about this situation and about this air which brings forebodings of some ominous occurrence. Such was the case between March 5 and 6, 1933, in our little town on the lake. The mood was one of slight weariness, like the early-March cloudy sky. The elections, carried out amid the enthusiasm of January 30, were over. Some of those who never grow weary even dreamed about the possibility of a coalition. Nobody joined them in their fantasies. Something like a hangover (though no one would admit it) stuck to the remembrances of these election results of March 5. [1] Those who before had declared that one must give Hitler a chance -- maybe he will still make it, they would say, because otherwise we will have Bolshevism -- seemed to have become somewhat unsure of what was in the offing. On the side of the victors, on the Brown one that is, such a suspicious stillness prevailed that no one could see clearly what was to come.

Then, with the first announcements, the bombs exploded! There were rumors, quickly denied, spread anew, again denied, and eventually repeated as facts: there was a revolution in Munich. Now it was a matter of indifference whether Held had resigned or had been arrested, or whether Stutzel defended himself or not, or whether Epp had been appointed State Commissioner, whether he was already in Munich or only on the plane. [2]

The only important thing was that the Brown revolution had begun. What would happen now?

Timid persons recalled 1918. [3] Utterances like "arrest of hostages," "put them against the wall," "surrender arms," were heard. Threats which had been uttered during the election campaigns a hundred times now took on the shape of reality. What was in the making?

In the meanwhile, the National Socialist leaders of the town clung feverishly to the telephone. What they heard from the party offices was no more certain than the rumors that ran through the streets. Confirmation, denial, alarm, denial. Confirmation, denial, but finally a sure, hard fact: Alarm! The order was sent out all over the country.

"The swastika is to be raised above all public buildings. Resistance is to be crushed!" The public did not know about this order, but they saw the results of its execution. The twilight had not yet been wholly tinged with darkness, when the SA was already under arms.

"The SA under arms" represented not one but two conceptions. First, "the SA"! The "old fighters" were long known in the town; some were looked upon with pity, with understanding, some with tolerance, others with repulsion and disgust. The townsfolk did not know the others who had joined since January 30 and who now marched in the brown uniform. There were many young people especially. Now they were standing alongside the veterans, who had many fights behind them, palpitant with a lust for action.

"Under arms"! This was the second conception. In the cities where the SA was old enough to have been trained in the handling of guns, it must have been quite a military spectacle to see the Brown army equipped with all the accouterments of war. Here in the town the spectacle was of a military character only in the first ranks of the battalion; the other ranks looked more romantic than military. The marching went well, at least as far as one could judge in the darkness. The sudden wheeling to the right or left and the about-faces were reminiscent of recruits on the parade ground. At the order "Halt!  there was a picturesque potpourri, as in some movie scenes in which masses of Bedouins gesticulate wildly with rifles. Anyone who was not afraid to keep step with the marching executive committee of the revolution could hear the battle-scarred veterans giving all sorts of coarse admonitions to the young revolutionaries, such as: "Hold your rifle up, dummox!"

The only dangerous aspect about these goings-on was that the rifles were loaded with live ammunition. All that was needed was an unfortunate accident to set off this mostly untrained horde on a wild shooting spree. But who wanted to prevent a revolution in a little town? Therefore the SA marched under arms to carry out their first deed.

The District Office peacefully submitted to the violence and capitulated before the rifles; it hung a red banner with a black swastika from the skylight. An armed guard stayed behind for the security of the fluttering revolution. The mayor was not in the City Hall, but this too was of no importance. Whether he agreed or not, the banner would have been hoisted anyway. Again two guards stepped forward and placed themselves under the raised banner. By now several hundred people had arrived on the scene. They looked around here and there, like inspectors, and they asked one another what the name of the song was which the armed men were singing in celebration of their victory. Hardly anyone knew the song. It was the "Horst Wessel" song. One of the initiated explained: "They've just sung 'Lift high the banner' ('Die Fahne hoch')."

So much had the will of the people been fulfilled in this revolution.

But now there were not enough banners. That is, there were enough banners to fit in windows, but no big ones such as were proper for public buildings. But an order is an order! So they took the largest of the small banners -- it measured about one meter on each side -- and marched off with it toward the flagpole at the railroad station.

Again: "Attention!" Again: "Lift high the banner!" And the little red cloth hastily climbed up, ten times higher than its own length. It must have been quite lonesome up there for the little emblem of the great revolution. Thus the first victory had been achieved without bloodshed. The inn near the railroad station had become supreme political headquarters. Here the fighters met to drink toasts to their victory, while the older ones had some private scores to settle. They marched to the dwellings of the Red officials and took their first prisoners without encountering resistance. But it was only on the following day that people learned who had been beaten up, who had been delivered to Munich, whose houses had been searched. Outwardly everything looked peaceful, just as everything looks peaceful today. The burghers went to their regular tables in the pubs that night, even if they were not in their usual gay mood. A club meeting was held, but its members were somewhat distracted. Housewives were late in placing dinner on the table, and workers stayed home.

But armed guards stood at attention in front of three buildings in the town. But did they really stand, so to speak? At about ten o'clock that night two lads were leaning against an apartment building next to the City Hall, the collars of their civilian coats turned up, for the olive-green uniform coats of the SA had not yet been designed at that time. On their heads they wore the SA caps, signs of their revolutionary dignity, and on their left arms was the red band bearing the swastika. They were flirting excitedly with two well-stacked young women. It was a rather cold night. A cigarette might warm them up. So each of the lads stuck a cigarette in his mouth and the girls lit the matches, holding them under the noses of their heroes.

At this moment a man passed by. He was a member of the Stahlhelm, [4] hence not especially a friend -- indeed, the very opposite. He walked up to the guards, who were comfortably leaning against the wall, and stood there, his legs spread, and yelled: "You louts! Don't you know that you're not supposed to smoke and flirt while you're on guard duty?" As if a superior had reprimanded them, the heroes of the day dropped their cigarettes and went to fetch their rifles, which were leaning peacefully against the wall. And they went back to the City Hall, marching like soldiers.

The Stahlhelmer had long since disappeared. So had the ladies. The banner of the revolution waved above its guards, who were silent and tight-lipped -- until a gust of wind ripped the proud banner on the roof gutter, tearing it from top to bottom. It was wounded On the first day! ...

***

Earlier, our little town had had a Town Council. Today this institution is called the "Council of the Town." Not only clothes make the man, but also words. But before things had gone that far, two stages had to be passed through. First of all, the Town Council had to be formed legally in accordance with the results of the March ejections. Thus it was not racially pure, not yet all Brown. There were two Black-white-reds, two Reds, and four Blacks, opposing eleven Browns. [5]

During the first session there were clashes between Black-white-reds and Blacks, attacks by the Browns, and declarations of loyalty by those who were not Brown. Finally, in order to get rid of the former mayor in a nice way, he was appointed honorary mayor. But this is a story in itself and not without charm.

The example of the big cities was followed during the second session: the Reds were kicked out. This is how it happened: The two little men of the color, one of whom by the way had several weeks of concentration camp behind him, had so much character that they did not utter the greeting "Heil Hitler" and lift their hand in a salute as had become the custom during the opening ceremonies of the sessions. Had they done so, they would have been reviled for their hypocrisy. Since they did not do so, the new mayor poured a flood of invective On them and ordered them to leave the session once and for all in their own interest. They took their hats and left. Councillor Elert, a member of the German National party, ... had the courage to ask for the legal basis of such procedures. In very energetic terms he was told that National Socialist procedures, as revolutionary acts, did not require any legal justification. Besides, this was going to be done everywhere now and the laws justifying these steps would come later: he must realize that a revolution was going on, which certain persons obviously had forgotten.

At the third session the Blacks also disappeared. In accordance with an order issued by the Bavarian Minister of the Interior, Herr Wagner, they had been arrested all over the Land and had been released only after signing written declarations in which they agreed to quit the Bavarian People's party and give up their elective offices (in town, municipal, and Land governments). Thus a specific means was found for expelling each specific group. But the effects were deadly for all.

In the subsequent period the German Nationals were gradually coordinated with the Nazis and squeezed against the wall until they had become completely meaningless. Then they were accepted as guests in the Nazi groups and placed the Brown uniform over their Black-white-red souls as a cover. In Our town there was only One left. Thus did the day come On April 24, 1933, when the "Council of the Town" became racially pure along National Socialist lines....

***

It was high time that something was done about culture in our little town. During the years of struggle the movement had had no time to waste on such a luxury item as culture. Now, however, overnight, a man had been appointed whose job was to foster and promote culture. He was a kind of obscure character and his name was Rucke. Up to now nobody had ever heard of him, so he had to make people talk about him. There were about 120 clubs and associations in the town, about One third of which concerned themselves with cultural matters, not only those of the body but also those of the soul. There were music and choral societies, theater groups, and modest quartets, and folklore and literary circles.

Some of them were quite active. Since the city was near, hardly a week went by without the announcement of a concert or a lecture by some famous person. In addition, a large artists' colony was being established on the shores of the lake. Thus anyone who wanted to partake of the joys of culture could help himself freely. But even a cultural guardian of a town wants to do something on occasion. So he convened sessions for the purpose of discussing how another dozen performances could be added to the already existing fifty monthly performances, and how all the clubs and societies and their work could be united in one hand (centralization was now the last word) -- in a Brown hand, of course. For this purpose a new association was called into being, the National Socialist Cultural Community.

The first thing it did was to make an ass of itself.

The cultural guardian called for a public meeting and delivered a long speech. At the end of it everybody wondered: What exactly did he want?

Strangely enough, he allowed free discussion. So he was asked what his speech had been all about and just what new plans he had in mind. The cultural guardian, no lazy man he, freely admitted that this was exactly what he would like to find out from the people assembled there. He would like to get his plan, and an idea on how to launch something novel, from the discussions. The people in the audience were vastly amused by this, but they were shy with suggestions after seeing one of the local physicians being treated quite rudely. The meeting had one result at least. A sheet of paper was passed around and all those who wanted to apply for membership and were prepared to contribute fifty pfennigs monthly were invited to sign it.

Then the cultural guardian himself had some ideas. Since it seemed to him that German culture had been neglected in recent years, he started the first cultural evening with a talk on the topic: "Five Years in Rumania." His daughter sang and read Rumanian poems, which, of course, nobody understood, but everyone applauded vigorously. Later she performed a Rumanian national dance with some other girls -- I don't know whether it really was Rumanian. Finally he gave a two-hour lecture, during which he projected on the wall all the postcards he had received during his five-year stay in Rumania.

When the lights in the hall were switched on again the entire assemblage woke up with a fright, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

On Herr Rucke's second cultural evening, someone who had been in the Far East and Java told some fantastic stories which would have made Karl May [6] turn green with envy.

After this double debut of German culture the cultural guardian disappeared ingloriously and into his place stepped a certain Doctor Zweihauser. His first project was the elimination of the National Socialist Cultural Community, whose function was taken over by the Combat Groups for German Culture. The members reaped several advantages from this new arrangement. First, instead of paying fifty pfennigs monthly, they were now privileged to pay one mark every month. The real advantage was that the new society did not bother them with any kind of performances, save for the collection of the dues. Instead something new was being founded, the Group for German Performances, which was to bring true National Socialist theater to the people. One had merely to become a member of this organization and pay for a seat in the theater each month and everything else was in perfect order.

From Otto Michael Knab, Kleinstadt unterm Hakenkreuz: Groteske Erinnerungen aus Bayern (Lucerne: Verlag Raber & Cie., 1934), pp. 11-16, 23-25, 76-79.

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Notes:

1. See note, page 323.

2. On March 9, 1933, Hitler carried out a coup d'etat in Bavaria, deposing the government of Heinrich Held (1924-1933) and installing General Franz Ritter von Epp as commissioner with absolute power. Karl Stutzel was the Bavarian Minister of the Interior.

3. In 1918 a left-wing socialist revolution took place in Munich.

4. The largest German veterans' organization, a competitor at first to the Nazis for the allegiance of the German right.

5. The Black-white-reds were the members of the German National party (DNVP), who used the old colors of imperial Germany. The Blacks were the members of the Catholic Bavarian People's party. The Browns, or Brownshirts, were the Nazis.

6. Karl May (1842-1912) was a writer of adventure stories, the most famous of which dealt with the American Indians. Most Germans had read these "Wild West" stories in their youth.

The Changed Tempo of Life: The City of Hern

The life of the citizens had changed. Even old familiar streets now had other names. Thus Rathausplatz was now called Adolf-Hitler-Platz, Bebelstrasse became Hermann-Goring-Strasse, Otto-Hue-Strasse  became Schlageterstrasse, [1] Neustrasse became Franz-Seldte-Strasse, [2] Rathenau-Platz became Tosef-Wagner-Platz (when Gauleiter Wagner fell into disgrace it was renamed Hans-Schemm-Platz [3]).

Later the first part of Behrenstrasse was named Strasse der SA, Rosenstrasse became Willi-Woide- Strasse, and the first part of the old Shamrockstrasse became Gustloffstrasse [4] The citizens got used to the new names as they got used to everything else. It was a bad time for individualists, because the party and the state reached out their hands for all people. Anyone who was looking for a job or needed a passport, or even merely wanted to join a club, had to present his genealogical chart. Thus marriage- license bureaus and the parish rectories were kept quite busy. If two people wanted to get married they had to present a letter from the public health authorities stating that they were suitable for marriage. If there were certain illnesses in the family, this created enormous difficulties and led to investigations in accordance with the Law of July 14, 1933, for the prevention of hereditary diseases among the rising generation. New courts were set up, such as the Hereditary Health Court (for Herne-Bochum) [5] and the Entailed Estates Court at Herne, where the twenty-one entailed farmers who were still left over in Herne ultimately had to file appeals in cases dealing with their farms. The work book was an essential personal document in many professions. New authorities were called into being, such as the Draft Board and the District Army Command in the Masonic Lodge building on Hermann-Lons-Strasse, as a result of the establishment of the Wehrmacht, and the Reich Labor Service. On October 1, 1935, the first age groups of young people eligible for labor service were called up and the first age group eligible for military service moved out on November 1, 1935. At the same time, those born in 1913 and 1916 were mustered for labor and military service respectively on November 13.

The party itself displayed great inventiveness in interfering in all spheres of life. It simply controlled everything through its secondary organizations: no welfare activity could be conducted without the interference of the National Socialist Public Welfare Organization, no cultural event could take place without the Strength Through Joy. [6] New notions and slogans were always being coined in order to organize and to levy financial contributions, for such purposes as thanks offerings to the nation, National Labor Days, tributes to the prolific German families, thanks offerings to the workers of Germany, excursions for old party members, the banner of the DAF [7] National Socialist Model Factory ...

There were always new organizations and institutions, such as the Country School for Mothers, the Mother and Child Welfare Organization, Childrensland Camps, the Food-Supply Welfare Organization. Further: Winter Aid, the one-dish meal on Sunday, National Solidarity Day ...

And orders constantly rang out: "Display the flag!" and only the swastika banner was allowed to be displayed; the old Reich colors -- black, white, and red, much used at first -- were soon prohibited. There was always a reason for celebration, marches, and demonstrations. The course of the year took on a new rhythm. A cycle of festivities was arranged which was always being repeated. And the racial experts of the party already spoke reverently about renewing the myth. The traditional festivals had to take a back seat. Christmas developed into a feast of the winter solstice. The Hitler Youth no longer sang Christian Christmas carols, but "High Night of Clear Skies." All the while the propaganda machines went on working briskly, and the great hubbub and eternal thundering, the constant repetition of slogans (the one-dish meal on Sunday required at least six impressive admonitions in the newspaper) which accompanied this must not be forgotten. And in fact the events did unfold obtrusively and noisily and a plain sober description of them cannot give a proper idea of the fuss and fanfare that accompanied them.

From Herne 1933-1945: Die Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, edited by Hermann Meyerhoff (Herne, 1963), pp. 94, 96.

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Notes:

1. See page 94.

2. Franz Seldte was the Nazi Minister of Labor, formerly the leader of the Stahlhelm veterans' organization.

3. See page 265.

4. Wilhelm Gustloff was the Nazi leader in Switzerland. He was assassinated in 1936.

5. See page 90.

6. See page 342.

7. The German Workers' Front.

The Nazis Take Over Cologne

First City Council Meeting after the Assumption of Power, March 30, 1933

GROHE: [1] German men and women! Today, for the first time, the City Council of Cologne is meeting under the auspices and at the bidding of the national uprising of the German people. All of Cologne stands under the spell of our gathering. Tens of thousands are assembled in streets and squares so that they may experience this event with us over the loudspeakers. And additional hundreds of thousands are anxiously awaiting the press dispatches that will announce that the decisions of this meeting will be in harmony with the will of the overwhelming majority of the people of Cologne.

First we must thank the city administration of Cologne for the festive adornment of the hall in which we are meeting, so much in keeping with the importance of this day. We greet the coat of arms of our city of cologne. We bow our heads to those black, white, and red flags which once proclaimed Germany's greatness and glory to the world, and we look with pride and satisfaction at yonder Swastika banner which Adolf Hitler bequeathed to us and under which Germany's resurrection out of the abyss was prepared and was enabled to achieve the greatness of this day. (Loud applause.)

We see in this hall the portraits of our venerable General Field Marshal and Reich President von Hindenburg, and the German People's Chancellor and Fuhrer, who will lead us to national freedom and social justice: Adolf Hitler. (Shouts of "Bravo!" and "Heil!") With veneration for their personal greatness and for the greatness of their deeds, and with a pledge of unconditional obedience, we implore them both this day to accept honorary citizenship of our metropolis on the Rhine. (Loud applause.) It is a great hour that we celebrate today. The proudest, most heroic, and most industrious people in the world were torn apart and plunged into a gruesome abyss by the revolt of November 1918. The most exemplary people on earth became a conglomeration of selfish interest groups and a chaotic tangle of class hatred and obscurantist caste prejudice. A people of power and outstanding honor became the plaything of other nations and a victim of international capitalistic exploiters.

For us, the representatives of the people of Cologne, this fall from the greatest heights to the lower depths was even more painful and shameful, for the spirit of treason and fratricidal warfare of 1918 raised its head in our city. And as if that were not enough, the torch of separatism, lighted by our enemies, was first raised in our city and destroyed great values of national prestige and the feeling of Volkish togetherness.

Now the day has dawned for the re-establishment of German existence in Cologne. What the history of our city has so far never been able to record (without doubt, the result of the oppression and endeavors of our enemies) has now become reality: the people of Cologne have overwhelmingly avowed their faith in German Volkdom and in the national unity of a great German Reich. (Loud shouts of "Bravo!") And this, German men and women, we owe to the German Volksmann Adolf Hitler, who, from nothing and as an unknown among the millions of our people, began the battle against degradation and stupidity and who, in the face of countless difficulties, awakened in the German people the national revolution which we have celebrated with unbounded jubilation in these last weeks and days. We owe this revolution also to the many Germans, known and unknown, who in years of devoted labor left nothing untried in their efforts to help the idea of national honor and social justice to break through to victory. In this hour we also think of the thousands, and thousands of thousands, of National Socialist SA and SS men and other party comrades who, in constant disregard of their own personal interest, fought as soldiers of Adolf Hitler, and thus as soldiers in the rehabilitation of Germany, and who by their tenacity, courage, and fidelity ushered in the day of national renaissance. (Bravos and applause.)

We know that not all of our opponents acted against their better knowledge. In everything pertaining to their sense of honor, we esteem the German people too much to assume that most of them opposed the National Socialist movement out of malice. Rather, we are of the opinion that only a small fraction of our people -- and mainly those so-called German "citizens" who have nothing in common with the German racial community because of their alien blood values -- tried to thwart the rebirth of the German nation. We want, therefore, to take no revenge on those who heretofore have opposed us. We fully open our arms and the gates of our movement to receive and to include in our Volk community all who still have a feeling for the glory and heroism of the German past and for the necessity to re- stablish the German Volk community. (Loud applause.) In deep veneration, therefore, we bow our heads before our brothers who fell on the battlefield in the Great World War. To honor them let us rise from our seats and remember, with equal veneration and gratitude, those racial comrades who lost their lives as heroes of the national revolution in their unselfish battle for a new Germany and for a new greatness of our people. (Loud "Pfuis!" from the left. Shouts: "Stand Up!" "Outside with you scoundrels!" "Scoundrels!" The chairman rings his bell. )

I notice, German men and women, that you have risen from your seats in honor of our heroes, and I thank you.

German men and women! We are experiencing the most enthusiastic renaissance of the German people under the sign of the Swastika. The national revolution has been accomplished with a discipline and order unprecedented in German history. Let us draw the conclusion from the needs of our times and from the form in which the revolution was carried through. Just as the spirit of discord and self- interest has been overcome, so the period of the party state and party coalitions has likewise come to an end. (Loud applause. )

If the unity of the German people in its overwhelming majority was possible only in the spirit of Adolf Hitler and National Socialism, then the new Reich can be built only in the same spirit and according to the same principles.

Everybody has to come to terms with the fact that this has been the last multi-party election. [2] (Applause.) The new election scheduled four years from now will deal, as far as it is humanly possible to foresee, with the plan of a new constitution (Loud applause), which will eliminate the selfishness of classes and programmatic party faiths and instead will ensure a new Volkish state structure. (Applause.)

With the assumption of power, Adolf Hitler and his fellow warriors have once and for all overcome the system of coalitions and barter. (Stormy applause.)

Thus despair and wretchedness have been uprooted in accordance with the will of the majority of the German people.

In addition, we have established the basis for unleashing the constructive forces of the nation -- personal incorruptibility, strength of character, and competence for action and accomplishment -- and for gathering all, without regard to their previous political allegiance, into one force for honest and cooperative labor in the interest of the whole people. (Applause.) It is your task, German men and women, to accept the new way of life ushered in by us -- to obey our justified and proven will to create and to help us to realize our basic demands. Your previous efforts and your legitimate demands in the economic and cultural spheres, you will now find easier to maintain in the new Reich of Adolf Hitler and the Swastika than was possible in the multiparty state.

But we want to make it absolutely clear that we are determined to eradicate ruthlessly all those who endanger the people, and that we shall not under any circumstances permit corruption and the propagation of any special interests that are inimical to the common welfare. (Applause. )

As a matter of principle, we deny Marxists the right to any activity within Germany. (Loud and lasting applause.) Therefore the question can never arise whether Marxist parties should be admitted to the councils of the city parliament. ("True, true!" Applause.) Anyone who believes in the class struggle and is internationally oriented cannot at the same time claim that he is willing to serve the interest of our city and our people. ("True!")

Only the interests of our city and our people will be represented and realized in this Chamber. We confess that we have succumbed to the sentimentality that clings to the German people when today we merely exclude from politics those who are responsible for the misery of our people and who betrayed our country -- without at the same time calling them humanly and personally to account. ("Hear! Hear!")

Let us remember how thousands of our comrades who strove for nothing else but to save Germany were thrown out of work to starve, were tossed into jail, were beaten and murdered by the hundreds, how the National Socialist newspapers were suppressed, and how the refusal to make public halls available and the curtailment of the right of assembly were invoked to make the work of building a new and better Germany more difficult and even impossible. (Shouts of "Pfui!") Representatives of Social Democracy are still sitting here in this representative assembly, even though most of their leading comrades not only are accomplices in Germany's former shame but even today spread the basest slander against the new Germany abroad. (Stormy shouts of "Pfui!") These Social Democrats have good reason to lift their eyes in thankfulness that they have not received the treatment which they could rightfully expect in the light of their past deeds.

Just recall what Ebel had to suffer in this Chamber when he was our one and only council member. ("Hear! Hear!") Recall also how we were treated before the last election, when only three National Socialists sat in this Chamber, and how you curtailed our right to free speech and did not even allow us to present motions. (Shouts of "Pfui!")

Think of the malicious and mocking manner with which for years you tried to degrade us in the eyes of the people, and then measure, by our present magnanimity, the energy and human greatness which motivates us National Socialists.

We removed Herr Adenauer" from office, not because he was a member of the Center party, but because we recognized him as a man whose concepts of morality and character we fail to understand ("Hear! Hear!") and because his actions were absolutely detrimental to Cologne and the whole of Germany. (Applause.)

We cannot, therefore, acknowledge that any group of this Chamber which values honor, decency, and moral cleanliness seriously believes that it could rally to the defense of this man and his deeds. Identification with the person of the discarded Lord Mayor is an identification with the attitude and deeds of this man and consequently deserves the same judgment and militant hostility. ("Hear! Hear!" Applause.)

In this hour, we reavow the promises we made to the national-minded, Germany-conscious population to fulfill to the last letter everything we represented and asserted in the years of battle and opposition. (Loud applause.)

We stretch out our hand to all racial comrades of good will and bid them welcome as fellow workers in the accomplishment of our great German task. Together we will rebuild our Rhenish cathedral city into an ornament of German Volkish life and will make its administration a model of cleanliness and frugality. (Applause.)

Finally, we thank the new head of the city of Cologne for his ready and responsible work and for his great skill in the choice of his co-workers.

(The National Socialist members rise and break into spirited shouts of "Heil!" to the incoming Lord Mayor.)

We shall work closely with the new leader of our city and his administration and shall endeavor to create a cleaner Cologne and thus eventually add to the prestige and greatness of Germany. Long live Cologne! Long live Germany!

(Enthusiastic shouts of "Heil!" The assembly rises and sings the national anthem.)

From Peter Schmidt, Zwanzig Tahre Soldat Adolf Hitlers, Zehn Tahre Gauleiter: Ein Buch von Kampf und Treue (Cologne: Verlag Westdeutscher Beobachter, 1941), pp. 198-204.

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Notes:

1. See page 366.

2. The reference is to the election of March 1933. See page 323.

3. Konrad Adenauer was Lord Mayor of Cologne from 1917 to 1933.

Little Things Create Pressures, by HERMANN STRESAU

The German way or, rather, that which is German sits closer than ever on the body, it constricts one, and at times takes one's breath away. Hitler's rule is no longer the rule of Hitler alone. One could almost think he had become a secondary figure or, even, an advertising poster. But this does not change anything of that pressure.

It is hard to explain what this pressure consists of. Nothing happens to us personally. We hardly notice the party out here as long as we do not leave our forest. But on the way to Berlin one hears and sees many things. These are not always special events, but small, unimportant experiences which keep the feeling of pressure alive. For example, the following little event on a bus: It is evening, just before departure time. A short man sits in front of me. By profession he is a gardener and he has a part-time job as a night watchman in the settlement. I know him because Jackie once replaced him. He is a timid, rather simple-minded, talkative but completely harmless person. A tall, broad-shouldered chap wearing a black melon-shaped hat entered the bus. He had an unpleasant appearance and looked something like the way a policeman in civilian clothes looks in the movies. He sat down next to the short fellow and greeted him after he had called out a "Heil Hitler!" in a baritone voice to everyone in the bus. They talked about the weather, the frost, and the little gardener observed quite harmlessly: "Strict rulers don't rule for long." This is a popular saying that one can hear in almost every conversation touching on that kind of frosty weather. What did the fat fellow do? He bent forward, cleared his throat, and said with noticeable emphasis: "I don't quite understand what you mean by that, Mr. --." The little fellow obviously did not know how close he came to being thrown into a concentration camp.

Another time a young mother was sitting in the bus with her little girl, who was about four or five. She was standing on the seat and was looking at the world outside her window with great interest. A young SA man was walking up and down in front of the waiting bus. Suddenly the little girl said: "Look, Mommy! That man won't come in here, will he?" Horrified, the mother placed her hand on the child's mouth and warned her to be quiet.

This is called the Volk community....

To this must be added the turnover in generations: there are more and more people growing up who have had no experience of the war. They are oblivious of the experiences of the older generation and are apt to look upon war as a refreshing adventure or even as an opportunity to develop great virtues. I cannot so easily forget one morning in the library when a colleague and I, working on a catalog, got to talking about the war novels, most of them anti-war, which were at that time being published in great numbers. Without being dramatic, the two of us shared the opinion that war was a "swinish business," since we had taken part in the war and had had a belly full of war once and for all. At this point a little girl employee, who was still on probation, interrupted us and rather insolently asserted that there was something elevating about war. "How's that?" I asked her. The little girl who was not yet twenty, a beautiful, delicately built thing, and on top of this slightly deformed, baffled us. Why? Well, after all, war brings out the best qualities: a sense of sacrifice, comradeship, and courage. What was one supposed to say to this? My colleague grouchily advised her first to live through the whole "swinish business" herself. But one cannot refute the argument of an idealistic young girl this way. She will usually answer with a contemptuous, disparaging facial expression, perhaps even rightly so. I tried to explain to her: in ancient times there were epidemics, such as plagues and cholera, which also provided plenty of opportunities to develop human virtues -- readiness to help others, a sense of sacrifice, etc. I asked her whether because of these virtues we ought to regret that we have successfully exterminated these epidemics? The girl had no comment to make on this, but she did not seem to be overly convinced. At least she didn't offer the most stupid of all arguments, which some people have come up with: there have always been wars, therefore we will always have wars. The stupidity of this logic becomes apparent only when millions of people have paid for it with their lives.

From Hermann Stresau, Von Jahr zu Jahr (Berlin: Minerva-Verlag, 1948), pp. 94-95, 168.

Vanishing Friends, by ERICH EBERMAYER

Leipzig, May 9, 1933

One becomes ever more lonely.

Everywhere friends declare their faith in Adolf Hitler. It is as if an airless stratum surrounds us few who remain unable to make such avowals.

Of my young friends it is the best who now radically proclaim their allegiance to National Socialism. This is not to be denied. The two sons of the Leipzig art historian Wilhelm Pinder, two excellent young men of the first-class breed -- the younger one had closely attached himself to me for a long time -- are downright possessed Nazis. One can't even discuss things with them, because they believe. And there are no rational arguments against faith. They run around in the plain Hitler Youth uniform, radiant with happiness and pride. When today in the Schreber pool, our reopened Thomaner [1] meeting place, I made an attempt to have a talk with Eberhard Pinder, daring to express -- how weak and powerless one already is vis-a-vis this triumphant youth! -- the idea that perhaps our whole ancient culture, the patrimony of the intellectual and artistic values of the last four hundred years, would go under in the vortex of our time. And the triumphant little gentleman, naively and a little bit shamelessly, said: "And what if it does, my dear friend! This culture is really not so important! According to the word of the Fuhrer, the Thousand-Year Reich is already arising. And it will create a new culture for itself!"

My mother experienced something similar. She already had a radical falling out over politics with Baroness Richthofen, one of her closest friends. It was over the new flag. Frau von Richthofen demanded that she should now at last get a swastika flag made for herself. Mother indignantly rejected the idea, saying she would never think of such a thing, and if anybody forced her she would hang out "this rag from the toilet window." A beautiful, clear, and German language ... otherwise not customary among the ladies of high society.... The Baroness then took offense with an audible noise, and the old friendship broke up. Mother suffers from it more than she admits.

From Erich Ebermayer, Denn heute gehort uns Deutschland ...: Personliches und politisches Tagebuch, von der Machtergreifung bis zum 31 Dezember 1935 (Hamburg and Vienna: Paul Zsolnay Verlag, 1959), pp. 75-76. (Reprinted by permission of Paul Zsolnay Verlag and Erich Ebermayer. )

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Notes:

1. Thomaner were alumni of a famous Gymnasium in Leipzig.

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