Evening star., 1939-10-18
White Paper B|ames
War on Marriage
OF Won B|omberg
Prompted Hitler to Rely
On Yes Mems Advice,
Henderson Says

10 - S-<SVsSSf
Henderson Says
BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, Oct. ia Government
white paper limited that the mar
riage of Germany's then war min
lister, Marshal Warner Won Blom-
berg, to his stenographer on Janu-
ary IL, 1898, started a chain of
events which precipitated the pres
ent war.
Sir Neville Henderson. in another
account of his ambassadorship in
Berlin, told the British foreign
secretary, Lord Halifax:
I'm my report on the events of
1888, I drew your lordship's atten-
ton to the far-reaching and un-
fortunate results of the Blomberg
marriage.
II am more than ever convinced
of the major disaster which that
in itself-minor incident involved,
owing to the consequent elimina-
ton from Herr Hitler's encourage of
the more moderate of his advisers,
such as Field Marshal Won Blomberg
himself, Baron Won Neurath, Gems.
Fritsch, Beck and Others"
Hitler Witnessed Wedding.
Won Blomberg's marriage to the
blond Erika Gruhn, a carpenter S
daughter, was witnessed by both
Hitler and the No. 2 Nazi, Col. Gen.
Hermann Wilhelm Goering.
Col. Gen. Werner Won Fritsch,
then commander in chief of the
ReichsWehr, was said to have acted
as the spokesman for the officers
corps in protesting to Hitler that
the marriage was socially "impos-
Sible."
The result was that Hitler as
Suhed personal command of the
armed forces and ousted Won Blom-
berg, Won Fritsch and l3 other high
ranking officers in general shake
up OF the socially-conscious corps.
Won Fritsch, who remained in the
army without command, was killed
September % in the siege of War
saw-a siege which Sir Neville now
intimates might never have occurred
had it not been for the Won Blom-
berg affair in which Won Fritsch
took so prominent a part.
Beck Resigned Last Year.
Gen. Ludwig Beck resigned last
October because he refused to see
eye to eye with Hitler, it was re-
ported on the Austrian and Czecho-
Slovak occupations.
Baron Konstantirs Won Neurath
lost control of the German foreign
policy at the time of the general
army reorganization. and eventually
was relegated to the position OF
protector of Bohemia and Moravia
in former Czecho-Slovakia.
Sir Neville's report to Lord Hall
fax added that after the Won Blom-
berg denouement of February, last
year, Herr Hitler became more and
more shut of from external influ-
ences and law unto himself"
Hitler decided upon war without
consulting any advisers, Sir Neville
said, observing, The tragedy of any
dictator is that as he goes on, his
encourage steadily and inexorably
deteriorates. For lack of freedom
of utterance, he loses the services
of the best men.
Surrounded by Yes Men.
"All opposition becomes intoler-
able to him. All those therefore
bold enough to express opinions
contrary to his views are shed one
by one, and he is in the end sur
rounded by mere yes men whose
f1attery and counsels alone are en-
durable to him."
He commented that Herr Hitler
and National Socialism are the
products of the defeat of a great
nation in war and its reaction
against the confusion and distress
which followed. = 1t would be
idle to deny the great achievements
of the man who restored to the
German nation its self-respect and
its disciplined orderliness.
The tyrannical methods which
were employed within Germany
Itself to obtain this result were de-
testable but were Germany's own
concern"
Invasion Discussed.
OF the Polish invasion Sir Neville
said:
Millions of Germans had begun
to long for a more peaceful exist
ence. Guns instead of butter were
becoming more and more unpopular
except with the younger generation,
and Hitler may well have wondered
what might happen to his Nazi revo-
luton if its momentum were allowed
to stop.
Moreover. the financial and eco
nomic position of Germany was
such that things could scarcely con-
tinue as they were without some
form of explosion, internal or ex-
ternal.
"Of the two alternatives, the most
attractive from the point of view
OF his growing personal ambitions
and those of the clique nearest to
him was war.
1T is scarcely credible that he
would have acted as he did if bloody
war, rather than bloodless victory,
had not seemed a fairer prospect
for him."