Third Reich?

In the Red House, President von Hindenburg's comfortable, unpretentious summer home in Neudeck, East Prussia a solemn assemblage gathered last week. There was old Paul, grimly upright in his chair; Chancellor Franz von Papen, looking more like a startled police dog than, usual; bald, ever smiling Defense Minister von Schleicher; a few assistants. Gravely the old Field Marshal reached for a pen and signed a document which, informed observers believe, had been drawn up the week that Chancellor von Papen took office:

". . . For the term during which this decree remains in force the Chancellor of the Reich is appointed Federal Commissioner for Prussia. In this capacity he is empowered to remove members of the Prussian Ministry from office. He is further empowered to assume for himself the official duties of the Prussian Premier and to entrust other persons with the conduct as Commissioners of the other Prussian Ministries. . .

". . . With the publication of this decree the executive power passes to the Minister of the Reichswehr [Minister of Defense] who may retransfer it to the commanding officers. . . .

". . . For execution of the measures requisite for restoring public serenity the entire police force of the designated district [Berlin and the province of Brandenburg] is put under the person clothed with executive power.

". . . Crimes for which the penal code inflicts life imprisonment, namely: high treason, incendiarism, causing explosions or floods and damaging railway lines shall be punishable by death. Similarly capital punishment may be inflicted in a case of lesser treason, for inciting to riot and committing acts of violence in connection therewith. . . ."

Armed with this historic document, the aristocratic "Cabinet of Monocles" moved next morning with the precision of the old Imperial Army which they are so eager to recreate. The entire Socialist Cabinet of Premier Otto Braun of Prussia was declared deposed. Socialist Minister of the Interior Karl Severing showed fight, refused to leave the Wilhelmstrasse except by force. A squad of steel-helmeted soldiers arrived, their officers carrying clanking sabres in the old manner. Karl Severing reconsidered.

Other squads went to police headquarters and arrested Police President Albert Grzenski and his chief assistants, Vice President Bernhard Weiss and Major Heimannsberg, and marched them off to Moabit Jail charged with conspiring against the new government. They were later released. Communist headquarters were raided, a half-dozen newspapers were temporarily suppressed.

Parallel. To understand what was happening in Prussia and Germany last week, suppose the U. S. was composed of 17 instead of 48 states, of which one state, say New York, stretched from Maine to Montana and far into the South, and contained over 50% of the population, with a state police force only a little smaller than the regular Army. Suppose New York City was the capital of this state and of the nation and suppose that of the other 16 states only two were of any importance; a southern, Catholic, reactionary state, still talking Secession, representing Bavaria, and a central, industrial state representing Saxony. Then picture President Hoover, one week before a national election, suddenly throwing the entire New York State Government out of office, assuming the Governorship himself, declaring martial law and doubling the size of the U. S. Army by attaching to it the New York State Police. Precisely parallel was what happened in Germany last week.

Test. The states of Bavaria and Baden and the ousted Cabinet of Prussia all introduced suits in the German Supreme Court at Leipzig last week challenging the legality of the Schleicher von Papen putsch under the German Constitution. Embarrassed judges pondered over the week-end and then, to the surprise of few, decided in favor of the Cabinet. Even so, Chancellor von Papen was not quite sure enough of himself to offend the southern provinces unnecessarily. With Minister of the Interior von Gayl he hurried to Stuttgart, assured the Premiers of Bavaria and Baden that he had no intention of abolishing their states' rights, that martial law in Prussia was an emergency measure entirely and would probably be lifted "in a few days." Fervently he promised to abide by the results of the July 31 elections.

What It Meant. On the surface the Junker dictatorship was a triumph for "Handsome Adolf" Hitler and his followers. For months the Fascists have been demanding the right to parade in uniform. They now have won the right. They have demanded the dissolution of the Prussian Cabinet and the nationalization of the schupos (Prussian police). They now have that too. and the Junker government has harried the Communists in a way to warm the cockles of every Fascist heart. But was it a Hitlerite victory? Wrote the London Daily Express:

"It is a gamble of the first magnitude ... an amazing act of resolution for a man of von Hindenburg's great age to have staked all in making von Papen--an untried man--dictator just to keep Hitler from power."

Added Karl von wiegand, No. 1 Hearst correspondent:

"The elation reflected in Hitlerite circles yesterday with von Papen's coup, today turned to gloom with the realization that they are unlikely to replace von Papen and General von Schleicher in power after the July 31 elections. . . . One of Hitler's lieutenants told me: 'Von Papen is picking all the plums and reaping all the glory that in reality belong to us.' "

Day by day, yellow, smiling Kurt von Schleicher whose private passions are for French red wine and smoking-car stories, emerged more clearly as the real man at Germany's helm. By last week's decree he was vested with all executive power. Many newspapers wagered that fortnight hence he will be Chancellor of Germany.

Third Reich. Wildly elated were the German princelings, who saw their coronets settling back on their cropped heads. In Spandau, Berlin suburb, Pudgy Prince August Wilhelm, fourth son of the Kaiser, made an enthusiastic Hitlerite speech:

"My father will soon be home again and a third Reich is in sight!" Recent changes are unimportant compared to those that are coming. Prussia's iron fist has again been raised and her enemies will soon be scattered."

Bruening. Meanwhile a new Reichstag election (which will cost the impoverished Government about $5,000,000) was only a week off and the Republic's bravest champion, pale ascetic former Chancellor Bruning, was vigorously campaigning, attracting the most enthusiastic crowds he has had in years wherever he spoke. Left-wing Socialists, his adversaries for years, were ready to vote for him to stop either von Papen or Hitler. Most observers rated his chances slim for next week, but by no means out of the German political picture.

At the last Reichstag election (September 1930) the three chief parties won the following number of seats:

Social Democrats (Bruening) 136

National Socialists (Hitler) 110

Communist 78

Adolf Hitler has certainly gained more than 26 seats' worth of votes since, but dopesters found the figures practically useless as a gauge for next week since the men in the saddle, the von Papen Junkers, have no vote-getting political organization at all, and will prove unwilling to hand the Chancellorship to handsome Adolf should all their followers vote for him.

*First Reich: Bismarck's Empire. Second Reich: The Republic. Third Reich: a second Empire.

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