The Chapel Hill weekly., 1933-08-04
Hitlerism in Germany

The folloectng passages are from an
article, "Sir Months of Hitlerism," by
Harrison BroVn, IN the Nation. Mr..
Broaon is British journalist wh0
spent four years IN Germany.
At the end of June Philip Scheide-
mann, first Chancellor Of the German
Republic, wrote in the New York
Times that Htler's Berlin is an in
cendiary torch with which criminals
and a group of mentally deranged are
playing around powder keg" A
week later the Nazi authorities, in or
der to cover themselves for the arrest
of the popular former Bavarian Min
lister of the Interior, DR.. Fritz
Schweyer, announced that Schweyer
had been guilty of treason. The
treason consisted in stating in a pri
vate letter to his late colleague, the
former prime minister of Bavaria,
that mo trace has been left of rights
and Justice, Of law and order. Divine
and human rights are being trodden
under foot, and degenerates profess
to be the moral regenerators of the
German people, while in reality they
have merely imposed their will on fel-
low humans by force, and, like wild
animals, have satisfied their egotis-
| teal instincts" The Nazis undoubt
edly owe most to their ruthless en-
ployment Of force and terrorism, but
ruse also played part in the early
days.
Adolf Hitler has set more than one
precedent. The most remarkable or
them must certainly be that he has
persuaded a great people to vote away
its freedom The path of history is
dotted with tyrannies, and seizures of
power have been common in most pc
riods, but never before has nation
enjoying full right of free speech
thrown out it's arms to tyrant and
voluntarily riveted the chains about
its own neck This in itself consti-
tutes the most striking proof of the
pathological condition of Germany to-
day. 1t does more, Of course; the
elections Of March S were at once
tribute to the superb technique OF Hit
ler's demagogy and reflection upon
the political intelligence of the Ger
man people.
The fer0city of the new hates in
Germany must be seen to be believed.
Those who have seen it will find moth
ing astonishing in the fact that young
men from relatively sheltered middle
class homes should have become such
menace to public order that Bru
ming dissolved their organizations and
forbade them to wear uniforms. Their
later development was even more
shocking, but the fact that the storm
troopers have earned a universal rep
utation for unmitigated blackguard-
ism is due chiefly to the characters Of
their leaders, who deliberately made
the Terror an organic part of the
system.
During one of last years elections
q poster fared from the walls OF Ger
many which depicted relief map OF
the country dotted with black crosses.
Across it was written the succlnct
title, "Hitler's Dritte~ Reich. During
the past six months the press of the
entire world has borne witness to the
terrible truth of that prophecy. Writ
ing over three months ago, the Berlin
correspondent Of the London Times
stated that what has been happen
ing recently amounts to diluted st.
Bartholomew's Night massacre"
Crimes have been committed whose
very magnitude stifle protest because
the civilized mind is stunned into in
credulity. 1t was weeks before the
atrocities of the Brown Terror became
known to the outside world, simply
because the editors of responsible pa
pers abroad could not believe that
even their picked reporters were not
being misinformed or carried away by
their own emotions. 1t must be cate
gorically stated that even today there
is no conception of the barbarism
which has prevailed and which still
continues. Still more difficult is it to