Chapter 65 Chapter Ten "It's Like a Dream" (8)

Schleicher's position was becoming increasingly untenable.By January 20, he was hostile to nearly every political party, left and right.His extremes are Papen's chances.Since his resignation, the former chancellor has regularly visited his neighbours, the Hindenburgs, to bring joy into their gloomy home.However, today he walked through the snow-covered presidential palace garden with a specific purpose.He didn't make the president happy. He gave him a detailed report on the meeting with Hitler at the beginning, and said that the conservative parties might merge.He suggested persuasively, why can't Hitler be Chancellor? ——As long as the government is in your hands, it will be fine!

The biggest obstacle was not the president himself, but the president's son - who openly despised Hitler.But Oskar's feelings were born of arrogance, not ideological difference.To settle their differences, Oskar accepted an invitation to meet at Ribbentrop's palatial home on Sunday evening, January 22. They decided that Oskar would go with his father's Secretary of State Messner.In order to keep secret from Chancellor von Schleicher, they first went to *?Watch a performance at the Russ State Musical Theater - where Wagner's early work, Aventure, is being performed.When the group arrived at the theater, the biting cold wind was blowing along the "Unter Linden" street.One of their talking points before the curtain rose was the Nazi demonstration hours earlier in front of the Communist Party headquarters.Schleicher allowed 20,000 brownshirts to march, but prohibited the counter-demonstration of the red elements. Later, he had to send a police force to protect the marchers with armored vehicles and machine guns.

During the intermission, Oscar and his wife greeted many acquaintances, making themselves conspicuous on purpose.But when the curtain fell and preparations were made for the final scene, Oscar and Meissner left through the side door, while the wives stayed put.They hailed a taxi and gave the address to the driver only after getting in.Since no car was found following them, they assumed they had deceived Schleicher's spies.Just in case, they got out of the car some distance from Ribbentrop's house and walked through the snow.After some twists and turns, they found Ribbentrop's residence.

Papen, Hitler, Goering and Frank were already waiting in the living room.The atmosphere is tense.After a while of awkward greetings, Hitler suddenly suggested to Oscar that they should go to the next room.Before Meissner could speak, the two had both gone out, and Ribbentrop had closed the door tightly.According to the younger Hindenburg, Hitler monopolized the conversation: only he, Hitler, could save Germany from the Reds; foot. An hour later, the two returned to the living room with solemn faces.Then all went into the dining room together for a light meal: a silver bowl of peas and bacon was brought to each person by a servant in gloves.Hitler drank mineral water, others champagne.Little Hindenburg and Meissner, who came last, were the first to leave.In the night, heavy snow fell.Once the taxi was on the road, Messner found his companion "unusually silent, saying nothing but the Nazis in politics. I have the impression that Hitler had successfully charmed him".Things could be simpler than that.Hitler may have threatened to create a scandal among high-level people with an open secret: as early as six years ago, the government had allocated an "Eastern Aid Fund" to help Juncker keep his fortune.According to this bill, President von Hindenburg not only got a lot of oil and water (it is reported that the amount is 620,000 marks), but also transferred his assets to the name of Oscar to avoid heavy taxes, and even the transfer fee was not paid. .These are all grounds for impeachment, and even if acquitted, Hindenburg's reputation would be discredited.

Papen had seen the impression Hitler had made on Oskar.After Oscar left, Papen pledged his loyalty to the Führer.He promised to support the Führer as Chancellor and vowed not to accept the post himself under any circumstances.After the secret meeting, Hitler and his party tiptoed into the garage.However, Schleicher's spies were not deceived.The next morning, Schleicher called Meissner with an ironic question: Did he enjoy last night's one-bowl dinner?General Schleicher was a master of intrigue, and he knew he had to act fast.He told Hindenburg that in order to control the Nazis he needed a "military dictatorship" and tried to persuade Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and stop the election.But Hindenburg, tired of Schleicher's endless plans, refused to take this emergency measure.

When news of Schleicher's proposal for a military dictatorship leaked out, both the Social Democrats and the Center Party called Schleicher the enemy of the people.Not only was his plan unconstitutional, it was "an open treason."To appease the naysayers, he made a public statement saying that he had no intention of violating the Constitution, which was not only futile but a grave mistake.This angered Huugenberg and the Nationalists, who immediately abandoned Schleicher. In view of the sudden turn of events in Hitler's favor, he returned to Berlin on January 27.Frustrated almost immediately by the intrigues in the capital, he told Ribbentrop that he was going away. "Joachim proposed to form a National Front with Hugenberg," wrote Frau Ribbentrop. "Hitler said he had told the Field Marshal and did not know what else to add. Joachim Advise Hitler that the last measure must be taken, the situation is not completely hopeless."

Hitler reluctantly agreed to a meeting with Papen that evening, but changed his mind when everything was arranged, on the grounds that he could not talk freely.He tentatively announced that he really wanted to leave the capital, but agreed that Ribbentrop would meet Papen on his behalf.That night, Ribbentrop managed to convince Papen that the only solution was to make Hitler chancellor.Papen conveyed this opinion to Hindenburg the next morning.The marshal could not make up his mind.For months, requests to make Hitler chancellor had flooded in.Not long ago, his son came to the same conclusion.Although his distaste for the "Czech corporal"—as he insisted on calling him—was still as strong as ever, it seemed clear that the old man was finally willing to take Hitler on.

At this time, Schleicher was holding a cabinet meeting: he told his ministers that he proposed to ask President Hindenburg again to issue an order to dissolve the Reichstag; if this failed, he would have to resign.He adjourned the meeting temporarily to meet with President Hindenburg.This meeting is only 10 minutes.Did Hindenburg agree to issue a statute dissolving Congress? "No!" In that case, Schleicher said, the only way out was for Hitler to form a government.Hindenburg said that Schleicher's government had failed to secure a majority and that he himself might be able to find a majority sufficient to stabilize Germany.He accepted the cabinet's resignation.And said angrily to himself that he wanted no further argument on this point.

Hindenburg seemed to be in limbo. "Whether I'm going to do the right thing, my dear Schleicher," he said, "I don't know, but I'll know soon when I get up there." He pointed to the sky. "I have stepped into the grave, and I am not sure whether I will regret what I have done when I go to heaven." "After this breach of trust, Your Excellency".Schleicher responded tartly, "Whether you'll make it to heaven, I'm not sure." Before dark, Papen came to the Oval Office with Oscar and Messner. Hindenburg again suggested Papen as chancellor, but all three advisers unanimously reiterated that the only possible choice was Hitler. "So, as annoying as it is, I'll just have to appoint the Hitler guy?" muttered the old man.He insisted, however, that the new government must consist of General Varner von Blomberg (whom he called "a lovable, fiery apolitical soldier") as Minister of Defence, with Papen as Deputy Chancellor .The question now was how to get Hitler to accept these candidates.

The next morning, Sunday, Papen met with Hitler, who agreed—but with his own demands: new elections and the issuance of an enabling law giving him Chancellor powers beyond those of the previous Kaiser.In the afternoon, Papen reported to Hindenburg that all parties had agreed to the new government.Only at this time did Papen mention Hitler's demand for a new general election, and it sounded reasonable.He emphasized Hitler's promise: this is the last general election. After hearing the news, Goering was overjoyed, and hurried to Goebbels' house (where Hitler was drinking coffee), and was the first to tell the good news to the Führer.According to Goebbels' diary, the three were so happy that they were speechless for a long time.Afterwards, they got up and shook hands warmly to congratulate each other.As the three formed a circle to shake hands, Magda Goebbels added to the cozy atmosphere by entering with a plate of freshly baked flan.Suddenly, Schleicher sent a letter saying that if Hindenburg nominated the Führer as chancellor, there might be a military uprising.The celebration was over at once.Hitler and Goering suddenly panicked.It never occurred to anyone to check with reliable followers in the Potsdam and Berlin barracks that the troops were on alert.Instead, Hitler immediately called the commander of the SA in Berlin and ordered him to immediately put all the SA in the area on alert.Who else should be warned?Hitler asked.He answered it himself: Papen, Oskar von Hindenburg and Meissner.When Goebbels and Goering hurried out to carry out their mission, Hitler hung up a phone call to a Nazi police major and instructed him to "use 6 battalions of police forces, ready to seize Wilhelmstrasse at any time."Finally, he informed General Blomberg, the elected Minister of Defense, who had arrived by train from Geneva, to rush to the Presidential Palace to be sworn in as soon as he got off the train in Berlin—so that he would be ready to suppress any rebellion.

Rumors of a military coup soon spread through the government, scaring the capital all night.The next morning—Monday, January 30—there was another great debate in Papen's mansion amidst the panic.Huegenberg, chairman of the Nationalist Party, strongly opposed Hitler's request for a new general election. It seemed that the new government was doomed again.Hugenberg lingered for a long time, and Papen shouted in despair: "If the new government cannot be established by 11 o'clock, the army will be dispatched. Schleicher may establish a military dictatorship!" Hugenberg asked, and the news came from Where did it come from?Papen shouted impatiently: "Little Hindenburg said it!" At this moment, a shout of "Long live" came from outside Papen's villa.Hitler and Goering came in.It was already 10:35 in the morning.Papen suggested that everyone go with him to the Chancellery.They walked through the snow-covered Chancellery garden and went to Meissner's office.Here they met other ministerial candidates.As the crowd waited to enter the Oval Office, Papen raised the issue of the election. "A general election?" Hugenberg tentatively declared, thinking the issue was settled.Hitler pulled him aside, but the Führer's persuasion provoked Hugenberg's loud objection.Hitler took the old man by the hand, trying to appease him, and assured him that no matter what the outcome of the election, there would be no change in the cabinet.The answer is still "no". Just then, Messner appeared. "Gentlemen, it's five minutes past the allotted time," he said. "Presidents like to be on time." Papen found that at the juncture of success his union was splintering. "Mr. Minister of the Cabinet," he begged, "do you want to risk the unity of the country, which has been so painstakingly negotiated? You can hardly doubt the solemn promise of a German!" Hugenberg continued to argue until an exasperated Messner hurried out with his watch. "President please don't keep him waiting any longer," he announced. "It's 11:15. The old man could leave office any minute!" Hitler took Huugenberg's hand again.This time, he pledged to consult with the Center Party and the Bavarian People's Party to ensure the broadest possible base for a parliamentary majority.Hugenberg said that the matter would be left to Hindenburg's decision-probably the watch in Meissner's hand induced him to say so.Hitler hastily agreed, but Goering shouted, "Now, everything is ready."As a result, everyone lined up to enter the President's Office. Out of boredom, Hindenburg did not personally appoint Hitler as Chancellor—the first time that he underestimated the chancellor.Nor did he make a welcoming speech to welcome the new cabinet, or even state his future tasks.The swearing-in ceremony was extremely brief and styled like a forced wedding.However, Hitler did not let such a historic moment pass in silence, and he gave a speech that surprised everyone.After solemnly swearing that he would uphold the Weimar constitution, he pledged to find a parliamentary majority that would save the president from having to sign an emergency decree.Also, he will solve the economic crisis and unite a Germany riven by pain and quarrels.He paused for an appropriate response from Hindenburg.But the Marshal, as if letting the troops disband, simply said, "Now, gentlemen, march with God!" Hanussen's prophecy, if it can be called a prophecy, was fulfilled.The man who couldn't even graduate high school, the man who failed to get into the Academy of Fine Arts, the man who was a tramp on the streets of Vienna, now, on January 30, 1933, became the chancellor of Germany.As he left the Oval Office in a trance, Hitler saw Hoffmann--it was Hitler who had brought the photo for the swearing-in ceremony.Hitler struck his head with his hand and shouted: "My God, I forgot about you, Hoffmann! I'm afraid it's too late now!" He didn't address the new cabinet due to rushing back to Kaiserhof .Standing in the car, he made his way through the ecstatic crowd—whose followers were hoarse. "We've won!" he yelled to his henchmen waiting at the hotel.People flocked up; he shook hands warmly with maidservants, with tycoons and rich men. The news received mixed reactions from people from all walks of life in Germany.Moderates were scared out of their wits; the average German thought it was better than last year's Reichstag chaos, anyway.Young idealists, dispossessed, suffering patriots, and racists, they all rejoice.Their dreams are becoming reality.In Munich, Egon Hanfstangl burst into the classroom and loudly announced the news. "Coot!" he yelled to a friend. "We're victorious! We're in power!" Then he remembered that Coote was a Jew.With a faint smile, Kurt replied, "I'm happy for you. I wish I were one of you." No one was more surprised by the sudden rise of Adolf Hitler than the brownshirts in Berlin.For years they lived in poverty, risking their lives on the streets of the capital, often against the wishes of the Führer.Now, their dream has been realized in one fell swoop.However, most people learned about the torchlight parade that night through the newspapers. Every able-bodied SA and SS member went out in uniform.Many people thought they would have trouble with the police again, but they were surprised to find that even the police were smiling, and some even wore swastikas.Holding torches, the stormtroopers set out from Thiergarten at dusk, marching to military music, and in good order, marched through the gates of Brandenburg.They were joined by thousands of Wehrmacht troops.Hour after hour they still marched down Wilhelmstrasse, singing the Wessel Forest Song and other war songs.They greeted Hindenburg first—he was standing in front of a window of the presidential palace; a moment later they greeted Hitler.Hitler stood at a window in the Chancellery, looking down at them affectionately. The trees on both sides of William Street were full of young boys; the children hung like "bunches of grapes" all over the iron fence.In the cold winter night, the fire stream illuminates the night, which is intoxicating; the drums are thunderous and deafening, and the warm atmosphere is getting stronger and stronger.All of this was rehearsed by the show master Goebbels.Even Hitler asked inexplicably: "In just a few hours, where did he get these tens of thousands of torches?" The little doctor also controlled the radio station.Through the live broadcast, the whole of Germany enjoyed the spectacle of the torchlight parade. Papen stood behind Hitler and watched the torchlight procession.He found that when the procession approached Hindenburg, people shouted respectfully to him; when they saw Hitler, they cheered wildly. "The contrast is very stark and seems to highlight the transition from a moribund regime to a new revolutionary force... It was an extraordinary experience, that never-ending cry of triumphant shouts of 'Hurr!cheer!Cheers to victory!It rings in my ears like a wake-up call." Hitler turned to talk to Papen, his voice choked up. "Herr von Papen, what a difficult task we have to do. We will never part before we are done. " On that drunken night, the lawyer Hans Frank also stood behind Hitler. "Only God knows how pure our hearts were that day," he said shortly before he was hanged. "If we were told future events, no one would believe them. The least It was me. It was a day of glory and happiness." Beneath the window, the victorious people burst into tears of joy. “Everyone felt the same—life would be better,” recalls a brownshirt who had joined Stennis in rebellion. "In reality, they have no reason to believe that life will improve, but they do. They have hope again. I don't think Germany can find another person who can give us hope, Trust and love." "Some of the strange feelings from that night have stayed with me to this day," wrote Merida Mahiman, who attended the march with her parents. "The extraordinary sound of footsteps, the spectacle of red and black flags, the dancing lights on people's faces, and the singing that was so lively and sentimental before, and so melodious today..." In most To foreign observers, this is an ominous sign. "A river of fire flows in front of the French embassy," wrote the French ambassador, François Bensey. "I watched this stream of fire with a heavy heart and a premonition." Hitler eats night crumbs in a hut with Hess, Goering, Goebbels, Roehm and Frank.He couldn't help talking non-stop: "Today, some foreigners say that I'm 'anti-Jesus'", he said, "My only 'anti' is Lenin." According to Frank, Hitler went on to say that he hoped that Hindenburg Pull it over to him. "Today, I told him that when I become Chancellor today, I will be as loyal to him as when he was my hero and I was his soldier. The old man is very happy to hear that." Hitler kept talking, breathless Turned the topic to communism. "Tonight marks the end of so-called 'Red Berlin'. People are 'red' only when there is no way out. People who often rely on the so-called wisdom of the people are always rude to the masses. The feelings of the people may vary. Or less, like a woman's feelings." Hitler was still talking as everyone walked through the garden. "This chancellery,' he said, "is like a cigar box.It's a shame to receive guests.We have to change it completely. " That night, Goebbels, who was full of joy, wrote in his diary: "It's really like a dream... like a fairy tale... A new empire has emerged. 14 years of hard work, and one victory. The German revolution has begun!" Few Germans woke up to this at night.Perhaps no one recalls the prophetic words written by Heinrich Heine less than a century ago: "The German thunder is truly German; it takes time. But it will come; the thunder When, it will sound like never before, as if it had never sounded in history. The time will come...a drama will be performed that will make the French Revolution look like a scene...There is no need to doubt it; the time will come. "