Evening star., 1934-07-22
BY ALBIN y. JOHNSON.

come evident until late Sum-
mer and early Autumn, when the
economic and political crises which
are hanging over Herr Hitler. like an
svenging nemesis. will crystalline.
The "Blutbad, wherein the Fuehrer
and his two faithful (?l followers.
Gen. Goering and Propaganda Min
lister Dr. Goebbels washed away an
incipient Nazi opposition and their
personal enemies and political rivals.
is beginning already to assume its
true proportions.
While it is still impossible to know
the number of victims-the executed
and suicides run from 40 to 200 and
the imprisoned Storm Troop leaders
anywhere from 1000 to 6.000-one
thing is certain-that is that the i'm
mense majority were Hitler's stanch-
est supporters. In mad moment
the Fuehrer destroyed the one or
ganization which could have main
tanned him in power and placed him.
self virtual prisoner in the hands
Of the disdainful ReichSwehr.
The game of Won Papen. which
started when the Prussian Junkers
stroy the Weimar constitution and
the German republic. is nearing its
end. The last move was 10 make
Hitler destroy himself.
Hitler Not Menaced.
1t is widely admitted that at no
time, as a result of the plotting"
Of Capt. Roehm, Heines, Ernst and
other Storm Troop leaders, was Hitler
personally menaced. The S. A. lead
ers we're fighting against the in
fluence of Won Papen, the Richswehr,
the industrialists Thyssen and Krupp,
Won Eohlen, and other reactionaries.
Even the Won Schleicher-Strasser
combination did not envisage de-
stroying Hitler. They, too, wanted
TO establish a social-military govern
ment with Hitler as its figurehead.
1t was the group now in power
the Won Papenists, the Won Blom-
berg-Von Fritsch-Von Hammerstein
Reichswehr- -monarchist clique - who
wanted to get Hitler completely un-
der their control. In accomplishing
this they used Gen. Goering and DR..
Goebbels, the former at heart a con-
servative monarchist and the latter
a clever propagandist, but otherwise
characterleSS.
Harassed by insidious influences
and poisoned by his advisers, Hitler
completely lost his head when he
ordered Roehm and his comrades
shot. He had nothing to do with
the assassination Of Gen. Won Schlei-
cher and his wife, DR.. Klausener.
leader of the Catholic Action, Herr
Won Bose and others Of Won Papen's
encourage. They fell victims to
Goering's personal animosity and po-
litical rivalries. As for Gen. Won
Kahr and Won Lossow. who a decade
ago stamped out. Hitler's and Gen.
Ludendorffs abortive Munich Boer-
halle putsch, they we're victims of
the Fuehrer's long memory. In 1880,
at the famous Leipzig trials of Lieut..
Scherniger, Reichswehr officer sem
fenced to prison for disseminating
Na1 propaganda in the ranks of the
regular army, Hitler promised that
heads will roll in the sand" before
his star of destiny had set. The
murder of Won Kahr and Won Losnow
was fulfillment of that threat. Why
Lieut.. Scherniger also should have
lost his life, after years of service
to Hitler's cause, is one of the many
paradoxes of the recent massacres.
On Verge Of Breakdown.
Neurasthenic and on the verge of
nervous breakdown, Hitler now does
not know where to turn. Doctors
under orders from the unseen powers
that pull the strings in Germany to-
day-have ordered the Fuhrer to take
long rest. If he does not, they say,
he will go to pieces. And If he does,
he will be completely surrounded by
Reichswehr officers who have not the
least respect for him. Gen. Won
Blomberg. Won Fritsch and Won Ham
merstein are entirely different from
the worshiping Nazi storm troop
leaders on whose shoulders Hitler
climbed to power. AS prisoner of the
Reichswehr-which had dominated
every German government since the
establishment of the republic-Hitler
will be general without an army.
Gen. Goering, whose strength rests
in the S. S. (Schultzstaffel or Black
Bodyguards) and the Berlin police,
and also in the Gestapo, the secret
police for Checka of the NaA regime,
which is under the command of his
henchmen, Mai Walter 3uch, the
Brown Butcher" and Herr Himmler
is waiting for the toga to fall from
Hitler's trembling shoulders. Gen.
- sv-N@
Papen'S shoes as vice chancellor. but
for the moment that maneuver seems
to be blocked President Won Hin
denburg has "come back to life" long
enough to play another card for the
reactionaries.
But Goering can we'll bide his time.
He is the white-headed boy Of the
monarchists and industriaIists. And
as for Goebbels, even the right con-
siders him traitor who sold out his
left-wing comrades, Roehm. Heines
and the others, for a mess of potage.
1t is doubtful if even Hitler respects
Goebbels. His weakened apology.
which appeared in the Nazi press
after the cleanup" wherein he
sought to explain away certain dis
paraging remarks he had made
against the Reichswehr officers on
June 27, has caused big laugh" all
over Germany. Goebbels probably
will be the next to go and when he
is gone nobody will even miss him.
He has thoroughly "debunked" him
self.
One thing now Is certain. The
Na1 movement. as originally con-
ceived and delineated in the NaZ
bible, Hitler's "Mein Kampf," is dead
dead beyond all hope of resurrec-
ton. Leaving aside their moral de-
ficiencies. Capt. Roehm, Ernest Heines
and other group leaders, we're the soul
of National Socialism Gregor Stras-
ser, for the last two years in political
retirement, was one of its best brains.
All are now dead. Lieut.. Scherniger
and Manfred Won Killigen and Storm
Troopers Schmidt and Schneidhuber
were its charter members and heroes.
National Socialism's S soul lies buried in
their unmarked graves.
Gen. Won Schleicher and his wife,
Won Bose and DR.. Klausener. the
~ pracf1nv,f ~ nayar{a. ton Kahr