Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-09-01
Hitler's Heirs.

Amid the surface calm which has
prevailed in Germany since the con-
vulsive events of the past few months,
attention is now being given to the
question of the Hitler successorship in
the event of Der Fuehrer's sudden
incapacity or disappearance from the
scene he at present bestrides. The
Nazi party will meet in national con-
vention at Nuremberg next week, and
the expectation is that the leader
chancellor will take occasion to indi-
cate his plans.
Germany awaits with eagerness not
only the announcement of Hitler's
choice for the vice chancellorship,
vacated by the transfer of Col. Won
Papen to the special ministership In
Vienna, but also the possibility that
the omnipotent head of the state will
reveal some semblance of his scheme
for perpetuating the Nazi dictatorship
when he is no longer there to domi-
nate it. Unofficial reports credit Der
Fuehrer with the intention Of ap-
pointing Rudolf Hess, now deputy
leader of the National Socialist party,
as vice chancellor. He is q trusted
and idolatrous henchman OF Hitler,
dating from Munich beer putsch"
days in 1923, and the man upon whom
the Nazi overload is said mainly to
have relied in deciding upon the
blood purge" of June 80 this year.
The leader chancellor could count
upon thick -and-thin adjutant in the
person of Hess and upon a devoted
party support under his direction.
Looking ahead, Hitler is said to be
toying with the idea of a triumvirate
to carry on after him. Suggestions in
this connection have gone so far as to
bring into popular discussion the
names Of the men upon whom the
responsibility might be thrust. They
are Herr Hess, Gen. Hermann VIII
helm Goering, premier Of Prussia, and
Gen. Werner Won Blomberg, minister
of defense in the Reich cabinet. Such
an arrangement would have certain
obvious advantages.
Through Hess it would bring the
National Socialist party more directly
into the administration of the gov
eminent and emphasize the unity of
the party and the state. Through
Gen. Won Blomberg it would make
the army part and parcel Of the ma
tional high command. While the
triumvirate plan apparently has the
future, rather than the present, in
mind, 1t also has in view an ar
rangement whereby Hitler would share
with his principal coadjutors the bur-
dens of rulership. Commentators in
Berlin point out that the scheme has
the additional advantage of satisfy
ing VIGOROUSLY conflicting ambitions
among Der Fuehrer's higher satellites,
while leaving his personal supremacy
unchallenged.
The circumstance that Hitler is be-
ginning to contemplate the necessity
Of providing for a successorship has
an indisputably sinister aspect. On
its face it denotes an admission of
possibility that for some reason or
other the leader chancellor's days may
be numbered 1t is bound to stimu-
late among the German people, even
though they are barred from giving
expression to so revolutionary a
thought, that Hitlerism itself may be
on its last legs. Certainly the trucu-
lent talk in which DR.. Schacht, eco
nomic dictator and Reichsbank presi-
dent. is now indulging with respect
to Germany's shattered financial posi-
ton would indicate that the Nazi
state is resting on sands that could
easily shift it into ruin.