862.00/3509
The Ambassador in Germany (Dodd) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 28.]
Sir: I have the honor to submit a survey of public feeling and of the present internal situation such as it appears to me to exist in Germany, and particularly in the political center of Berlin, just prior to Hitler’s long-awaited Reichstag speech.
There is no doubt but that the present moment is distinguished by a recession from the spirit of solidarity evoked by the Saar plebiscite and by the declaration of universal conscription. Against the National Socialist pretensions of unity constantly proclaimed in the controlled press, may be opposed the hard facts of a tug-of-war between moderate and extreme elements in the Cabinet, a bitter struggle between government authorities and branches of the Christian Church, misgivings and uncertainty among the middle classes formerly the bulwark of National Socialism, active discontent among large classes of workers due to a declining standard of living, and finally, a feeling amounting almost to despair among the unemployed.
The picture that may be given of the higher state and party posts perhaps resembles most of all a pyramid of minor dictators functioning beneath the final but, often until the last moment, withheld authority of the Führer at the top. Each appears to be fighting for supremacy in fields which impinge upon each other in their far-reaching effects on German life and which in some cases involve the making of individual financial demands which sap in measurable degree the resources of the State. As minor dictators may be named Dr. Schacht, Economics Minister and head of the Reichsbank, Herr Rosenberg, head of his own Party foreign office and high priest of Nazi doctrine (Weltanschauung), Goering, in the Air Ministry, Dr. Goebbels, in the propaganda Ministry, and General von Blomberg, with that most expensive item of all, the defense services. On broader lines, a division exists between the conservative elements as represented on the one hand by Dr. Schacht, Minister for Foreign Affairs von Neurath, and Finance Minister von Krosigk, supported on occasion by von Blomberg, and on the other hand, extreme Party elements whose outstanding exponents (although they do not always work in inner harmony) may be said to be Herr Rosenberg, Dr. Goebbels, the respective heads of the S. A. and S. S., and to a possibly less degree, Minister of the Interior Frick and Minister of Education Rust.
Until quite recently Dr. Ley, of the Labor Front, and Baldur von Schirach, Leader of the Hitler Youth, might have been counted among the minor dictators. Grandiose ideas and a mounting tendeney [Page 267] of these organizations towards expense seem to have been responsible for measures designed to clip the wings of these two leaders, the law described in the Embassy’s despatch No. 1936 of April 20, 1935, submitting these organizations, among others, to the financial supervision of the Party Treasurer apparently having been passed with this purpose in view. The Labor Front seems, moreover, to have been brought under Dr. Schacht’s control by the law providing for the creation of a joint economic and labor council (described in the Embassy’s despatch No. 1919 of April 9, 1935). Widespread rumors of wholesale corruption in the Labor Front have led to reports that Dr. Ley has now declined in political influence and may be even marked for eventual elimination.
Recent events suffice to discredit any notion that the Churches are partisans to the unity claimed by the Nazi State. Matters appear to have taken a critical turn in the Evangelical Church, it being learned that a compromise proposal just recently worked out between Dr. Frick and Dr. Marahrens, providing for the recognition of the latter’s Confessional Church administration, was almost literally swept into the scrap basket by the Führer. The Confessional Synod is planning to hold a meeting in Augsburg May 22 with the idea of evoking, in the cause of Church freedom, the historical association of that city with the Reformation, and of defying the State to put its most prominent leaders in prison.
Large sections of the middle classes, while they cannot be called actively hostile are nevertheless undermined by disturbing doubts. About the only people who pay any close attention to foreign affairs, they are not entirely free from vague but instinctive doubts that the Führer’s foreign policy may not eventually lead to war. The delay in following up the original declaration of conscription with precise regulations or a clarifying statement, has led to all sorts of speculations concerning the demands in the way of service that may be made upon the older and younger men. While public order and massed discipline enforced by the National Socialists are a welcome change to the disturbances of democratic days, the lack of individual legal security as manifested in the activities of the Secret Police and in star-chamber court proceedings, are decidedly not. Taxation, Party contributions, and a general rise in the cost of living despite government efforts at price control have caught this class in their toils. The recent decision to convert the promised rebate of the house tax into a kind of forced loan has throttled hopes of relief in this direction, while, on the other hand, house-holders have gradually seen ordinary articles of use put beyond their reach. This was strikingly demonstrated in a recent exhibition of furniture for popular sale where a quite ordinary dining-room set was shown priced at 600 marks. The Frankfurter Zeitung complained that very few people in Germany [Page 268] could now afford to pay so much for furniture. The current rise in food prices is more than seasonal, particularly with regard to fresh vegetables of which there is a shortage caused by the lateness of this year’s crops and by difficulties because of exchange restrictions of importing them from abroad.
While it is undoubtedly true that many workers are benefiting in overtime pay from a boom in industries connected with rearmament, very great hostility is rife among the less favored workers, particularly those that the National Socialist State claims to have “rescued” from unemployment. Laborers put to work in the various enterprises created by the Government to relieve unemployment complain that in effect they receive no more than the unemployed on the dole, inasmuch as immediately they take over their new jobs they become taxable and are rendered liable to Party levies. With regard to the other workers generally, while their wages have not declined but remain “frozen” to a fixed level, their standard of living has deteriorated greatly owing to forced contributions, and price increases. The German workers, whom the former trade unions probably made the best educated working class in the world, find, moreover, little consolation in the Labor Front which has substituted marches and speeches for more intellectual recreations. Communist leaders claim that in all of the six million former unemployed they have positive sympathizers and potential fighters who stand ready to strike, with secretly procured arms, at a favorable opportunity. These leaders themselves discount, however, the possibility of organizing under the vigilance of the Nazi police system an uprising of their own, but assert they will be prepared to take advantage of any disturbance caused by possible splits within the Party; they also live in the hope of a war which would offer them the chance to carry out sabotage.
Little recognition of the extent of popular discontent can be found among the average run of Party members who read only Dr. Goebbels’ press and are probably the worst informed people in Germany with regard to internal events. A certain realization of present conditions seems, however, to have pervaded high Party and Government circles. During the last month or so, a strong undercurrent drive has been made by the secret police against Socialists and Communists. Reports of court condemnations, which would give an indication of the degree of extant opposition, have been carefully kept out of the papers. Communists, however, state that while they have lost such well-known leaders as Torgler and Thâlmann, some of their best, but less well-known men are still active. The reorganization of the S.A. into a militant political soldiery is of some significance in this connection. Lutze, the Chief of Staff, is quoted as saying that he is reducing its membership to about 500 or 600 thousand, that he is having difficulty, however, in finding such a large number of men politically reliable, [Page 269] but that when the S.A. is reorganized “it will march,” a new assault being necessary in his mind against certain new elements of “freshness” among the population. Incidentally it is learned that Lutze’s announced aim of making the S.A. a favored and elite body (see Embassy’s despatch No. 1939 of April 24, 193515) is causing not only dissatisfaction in army circles but also jealousy in the ordinary rank and file of Party workers.
Overtopping all of these developments is the constant pull between conservatives and radicals, touched upon before. While the radicals frequently succeed in forcing the adoption in principle of an extreme measure, the opposite influence has so far been successful in causing restraint to be exercised in the actual execution of the measure, as witness the recent press ordinances described in the Embassy’s despatch No. 1955 of May 2, 1935, and the consequences thereof, mentioned in the Embassy’s despatch No. 1974 of May 11, 1935. The possibility seems to be stronger, moreover, that Himmler, Leader of the S. S. and head of the Secret Police, may soon be put under the jurisdiction of the Minister of the Interior, a transfer greatly desired by the conservatives following the recent police kidnappings over the border, although Himmler’s followers are inclined to depict the suggested move as a promotion that may eventually lead to his taking over the Ministry.
The attitude of such political weather vanes as Goering and von Blomberg (who on occasion toys with Nazi doctrine) is difficult to define, although there is no doubt but that the majority of the higher officers in the Defense Ministry may be safely listed on the conservative side. Their position against the party radicals at the moment is said to be comparatively weak and they fear their strength may be further threatened by the admission to the army through conscription of politically-trained masses of youths. They appear moreover to be considerably disturbed by the Nazi’s failure so far entirely to placate labor, one high officer going so far as to say that a war at the present time would be impossible on the grounds alone that the unrest at home might well lead to sabotage. From the military point of view, the abolition of the Labor Front and the revival of the trade unions in close alliance with the army, an idea apparently cherished by the late General von Schleicher, would be an ideal solution.
Such is the situation as it appears at present. While the tension seems to be greater than it has been for quite some time, it would be rash indeed to predict trouble for the near future, particularly as there seems to be no one rallying point for opposition. The Party radicals have apparently been kept at bay by admonitions concerning the seriousness of the international situation. In recent measures [Page 270] proposed and adopted there are signs at hand that they are chafing at the bit. Certain observers believe that if Hitler’s speech fails to produce an appeasement of the international difficulties, the radicals, urging the futility of holding back further, and driven from behind by the growing discontent among the population, may gain the upper hand over Hitler and break loose in extremist action.
Respectfully yours,
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