The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-10-03

AbbS SSUSbBS NhI
 As an American newspaper
 correspondent in Berlin from iDlO
 tO IDl1, BlgFid Schultz saw at first
 hand the events that led from
 World WaP ! to World War IT.
 And she saw the behlnd.thes
 scenes preparation for the com.
 ing "waPsir- peace" that she warns
 may culminate in World War III,
 This ig the story Of 0eFmany's
 plans Co win the peace, plans that
 even now aFe being put into ef.
 feet
 VIII
 As he worrned his way forward, Hitler was bothered by his inability to launch the huge propaganda campaign Of his dreams He secured Munich, until he found the poets neWBpaperman, Dietrich Eekart, who knew oil about propaganda. He to, ionged for 6 Greater Germany and q man who could bring it about. When he saw Hitler entFaneed by his own vision Of himself Rs . great political leader, the poet Eekaft was the first to address him as "mein FeuhFer," my leader.
 Dietrich Eekart went to work to improve the grammar, the oratofy, and the education Of his Fuehrer. It was aFl advantage to the news. paperinan in the little town of Munich to be close to an intimate Of Q Black ReichBWehr leader who had enough money to procure him c newspaper Of his own, aB Roehfn did. The paper was a weekly by the name of the Voelkischer Boes bachter, Hitler bought it 6 short while later, partly with American dollars loaned to him by his half- American follower, Ernst Hanf. staengel,
 HItieF'B and EckaFtB pFopa- ganda campaign worked, By July, 1921, they had succeeded in getting their first hold on c German group outside Of Germany, by accepting the name Of the Austrian anti- Semitic National Socialist Party, Hitler became it's Fuehrer. Most of the original members had either resigned or had accepted minor posts. But Hitler had surrounded himself with friends: the student Rudolf Hess, the poet Dietrich Eek. art, the officer Ernest Roehn, the organizer oregor strasSer.
 The NaZis worked out Q Party ritual and Party histrlonics, to give the masses the circus performances which the Republic was too proud to provide. Finding bread for the mass. es, rather than circuBes, demanded the Republics whole attention, While his Storm Troopers paraded, Hitler continued his boring from within, going from one rival faction to the next, picking the members brains and leaving seeds Of ambition and distrust. Watching his success, Captain Roehm took him to, General Ludendorf as Q potential successor to Kapp.
 Hitler had studied everything written or said about Ludendorff. He appeared to glow with admira- ton for "the greatest man in the Fatherland. Hitlers awkwardness and shyness won both the general and his wife.
 Hitler first attempted open at- tack on a big. scale in November, 1923, when he ordered his hench- men to seize power and compelled General LudendorH to support him in the crdisis, using him as a bludgeon against his friends.
 Ludendorn never recovered the prestige lost during the Beer Hall Putsch and the subsequent trial. His increasing racial fanaticism further weakened him, until many observers forgot the tremendous work he had done to entrench his militaristic and industrial asso. ciates in irnpregnable positions.
 But Hitler gained by both the Beer Hall Putsch and the subse- qeutn trial. True enough, the Putsch had failed, but 1t also re- moved Ludendorf, his potential rival, into the background. Turn ing failure into a kind of victory. Hitler utilized the trial to gain not merely national but worldwide publicity.
 When the trial took place in 1924, the general situation had quieted down in Germany, following a time when every other day had provided . sensation - the marriage of the Kaiser in his miniature court in Holland, or arson, or a plot, or a minor war which threatened the peace of the world.
 To see General Erich von Luden. dorff, one-time quartermaster gen- eral of the Imperial German army, forced to defend himself in a Re- publican court, together with a half-illiterate agltator, foaming at the mouth in e cold, calculated ftry-this spectacle was a sensa- ton indeed. Some of the papers gave it the arnplest possible space. Most of them were democratic or- gans, and many of their writers were gifted German. Austrian, or Hungarian intellectual of Jewish origin. They believed that if they reported the statements of the ac- elAsed verbatim. inclding the ex- a1gerAtlcns and the boasts, they