It had taken a lot of preparation. Bodenschatz had had to slip over the border without tipping off the Dutch. After that he had gone to Potsdam, to the Charlottenburg. This was a deal where autographed pictures of the Herr Reichskanzler were no more than pasteboard.
During a break from the deathwatch, as they sat at a table in another room where the staff was providing cold cuts and other quick foods, he had discussed the matter with Papen. "The election will be free publicity for Hitler," Papen said between bites of sausage. "Unless . . . unless we can call it off, somehow.
"But if we do . . . there is such a fetish of democracy these days. The Americans may call in their loans. The French -- God knows what they could do. Senegalese marching on Berlin?
"There has to be some way around this."
Manfred rolled the glass of wine in his fingers, looked at it, and said, "Well, there's always what he was saying."
Papen blinked. "Yes, there is that. A nice neat easy solution to our problems. It is unfortunate that quick and easy solutions so rarely work."
"If you want to create an all-encompassing solution that restores the world, I'll agree. All we want to do is get out of our current problem. We don't give Herr Hitler a candidate to run against. He is getting ready. Did you see the posters? The ones with his face against the all-black background? The ones all over the railroad stations? Don't tell me they can't plan ahead!
"I have Bodenschatz working out the details with . . . well, those who might be in a position to object."
Manfred drank down the last of the wine, got to his feet, and said, "Besides, how can the Social Democrats object! He was an assembly line worker -- they are getting one of their own!"
Papen sighed, "Yes, we must all make compromises."
And that was what Noske had said; the old man had more sense than his colleagues, or was more up to realizing what would work. "He worked on the assembly line, comrades! Down among the working class, down among our people! How many of our own leaders can say that? Never mind the 'republican' leaders, Herr Roosevelt in America, Herr Lebrun in France -- have they ever got their hands dirty in honest toil, worked with the ordinary working man?"
"Ebert would --" Wissell began.
"Ebert did it in the first place to stop the Bolsheviks!" Noske shouted back, cutting him off. "Now we have the Nazis ready to do it again. And I for one do not want to see 1919 all over again!"
He calmed down. "We are not compromising our ideals, our goals. We are agreeing to a form." Then he looked at Manfred. "We can't go back. We can't have just 1918 -- you know that."
Papen said, "Some constitutional reform will be needed in any case. It will all go over better in one package-deal."
"Change is inevitable," Dietrich said, speaking for his party. Of all the parties in his coalition, the State Party and the People's Party were the most alike, but Dietrich and the State Party had been at Weimar, while the People's Party had been against it. Dietrich had many good leaders but few votes, while since Stresemann's death the People's Party had been led by people more on the order of Dr. Dingledey. Naturally they should have merged; naturally they hadn't.
"But the right kind of change," Moldenhauer replied. "The right kind of government, one that has the ability to govern."
Stresemann had wanted that too, and had wanted what Manfred had sprung on them. Groener had wanted it; he would have kept Hindenburg in charge, but as Reichsstellvertreter. That had been a good idea. Back after the government had come to power, Manfred had expressed a desire to have Groener in the government, if nothing else to counterbalance Papen's poor reputation. No luck. Groener was discredited now, tired, fed-up; he had refused Noske's and Manfred's offers to rejoin the government. "I am done with all that!" he had said, angrily. So many had died, or quit in frustration.
"Herren, hadn't you better wind up this quibbling? We will have a great amount of preparation to make before we spring this surprise," Manfred said, and before anyone else could talk further he got up and went to the door. Saying "Have him come in," while suitable in practice, would not do well in image.
At least he had something in common with the man he brought in. They were both pilots. When Hugenberg saw them he shot to his feet, followed by von Braun and Moldenhauer. "Hoch! Hoch! Vivat!" he shouted, and they echoed him. "Your Majesty!"
The Prince smiled. "Well, not yet," he said.
"Herren Ministers," Manfred said, "Let us fulfill the intent of Ebert, the wish of Hindenburg, the dream of Stresemann, the plan of Groener, and place the leadership of the Reich in the person of the heir of Prussia, the man of the People, His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Louis-Ferdinand of Prussia!"
Fortunately his elder brother Wilhelm had married that woman and stepped down. (A "Wilhelm IV", or would it be "III", might not go over well nowadays.) The second son of the Kronprinz had a curriculum vitae that would do well for an elected politician; a spell working on the Ford assembly line, and it was research for his thesis for a Dr.Phil. He was covered on both sides; physical and mental.
It had taken negotiation all the same; the old Kaiser had been persuadable, when money was mentioned, and the former Kronprinz had startled Bodenschatz by stopping dead in the middle of the conversation, shivering like a wet hound, and abruptly saying, "Herr von Richthofen is entirely right. Tell him he has my approval and full support." It couldn't have been him anyhow, he had come out for Hitler at the last Presidential election, though he told Bodenschatz he had come to regret it.
Now Manfred was addressing the Reichstag with that same idea. "Herren und Damen, in accordance with the dying request of our honored Reichspräsident, I propose that we fulfill not only the wish of Hindenburg, but the intent of Ebert, the dream of Stresemann, the plan of Groener, and place the supreme leadership of the Reich in the person of the heir of Prussia, the man of the People, His Imperial and Royal Majesty Kaiser Louis-Ferdinand, German Emperor and King of Prussia!"
Now they were in for it!
For a moment the Reichstag seemed to hold its collective breath. Hugenberg shot to his feet, and the Nationalists and People's Party delegates joined him, to shout, "Hoch! Hoch! Vivat Louis-Ferdinand the Great, All-Highest Supreme Warlord of Germany!" It could be open now, not just in the privacy of a cabinet meeting, but before the whole world, and they wanted to get their message across in full form.
Then in a moment they were answered. Göring and Goebbels turned their backs, and the entire Führertreu delegation got to their feet and did likewise. Then they raised their arms in the Roman salute and bellowed, "SIEG HEIL! SIEG HEIL! HEIL HITLER!" One or two of the delegates got up and bolted for the door, perversely eager to be the first to tell Hitler that his election campaign just might be aborted.
They nearly got trampled in the other exodus. Torgler, the Bolshevik leader, bellowed, "Comrades, this is the death of democracy in Germany!" and then a cry of "WE WALK! TO THE STREETS! LONG LIVE KARL! LONG LIVE ROSA!" resounded through the Communist delegates as they got up. They fell over each other in their zeal to refuse to continue to grace this reactionary bourgeois parliament hall with their revolutionary proletarian presence.
Of course, outside, they would run into what would be the germ of the to be revived Regiment Fussgarde -- the arch-aristocratic Infanterieregiment Nr. 9, plus some veterans from the Stahlhelm, the whole led by a veteran of the Front, a man who had won the Pour le Mérite in an insanely brave instant when he had seized a drum and led faltering soldiers on a successful attack on a French strong point. That this hero was Prinz Eitel-Friedrich, uncle of the new Kaiser, was added lagniappe. Manfred still recalled that day in Poland when the Prince had lent him a horse; now he was returning the favor with interest.
General von Hammerstein had insisted on reinforcing the garrison of Berlin. "There will be blood in the streets, and an iron will must be available to strike its spillers down," he had said, melodramatically. Duesterberg had volunteered his men to help, and Manfred had suggested that the Prince, who had done well in
command during the War, even if he had been sometimes a bit too close to some handsome grenadier at night, should be in charge. "In England they have what they call 'honorary colonels of the regiment'," he had said, "A senior officer, one with a connection, who inspires the men to hold fast to their traditions." The Prince, hero of the regiment, would make such a good example.
Outside was secure, for the moment, he hoped. Inside needed to be secure. Herr Wels, of the Social Democrats (they had at least been able to get a Reichstagsvizepräsident who was one of their own) came slowly to the podium. "The chair recognizes the Herr Reichskanzler," he said once he completed his ascent.
Manfred stood up, waved a huge text, and said, "Herr Reichstagsvizepräsident, I wish to introduce the text of the amended Constitution for a vote by the Reichstag."
Wels took a deep breath and said all in one quick sentence, "Resolved that the Constitutional Amendment proposed by the Herr Reichskanzler as required in accordance with the new order of affairs be adopted all those in favor say 'JA' all those opposed say 'NEIN'."
"JA!" the members of the coalition roared out. "SIEG HEIL!" the National Socialists replied.
It had taken a lot of work to get that one quick ram-through. The cabinet had finally voted to accept the proposed all-in-one amendment to the Constitution. A percentage minimum for party representation in the Reichstag, dissolution of the Reichstag and new elections when the government fell, more limitations on emergency decrees, a separate listing of rights not to be abridged by the Reichstag under any circumstances, all the ideas that people had devised after seeing how the current state of affairs was just not working, those were boiled down into this document.
"All or nothing," Noske had said at midnight on Saturday. "We have to pack it into one amendment and support the entire change. All or nothing, and that way we all vote all."
Hugenberg had been dubious. "You say 'all or nothing', but I note we all give up something."
"That's politics," Manfred said. "We all give up a little something and get a little something in return."
Such as deleting part of Article 109. The prospect of Freiherr -- or even Graf -- von Hugenberg should well mollify the titan of UFA. But making emergency decrees passed only a unanimous vote of the cabinet, and the same for suspending a state that had failed in its duty, should keep the Social Democrats from being too dissatisfied.
Wels had summed it up, saying ironically, "Rather a Kaiser, by God's Grace anointed, than Berchtesgaden's Hitler, by himself appointed."
The party delegates had been rousted out at four in the morning and immured in various meeting rooms of the Reichstag building. Manfred himself had gone from room to room, speaking of their need to stand together in the face of the foes, and terrorizing them with lurid pictures of a Nazi civil war or Bolshevik uprising, both disguised as presidential campaigns. Thälmann would have run again, too, he noted.
Papen had the hardest task, rallying his dubious troops of the Center Party. "These measures are what we need to maintain order, the dignity of the Reich, and the unity of our people," he said, failingly. Or exhaustedly. Manfred made a point of thanking his loyal Franzchen, who had worked tirelessly to maintain the stability and unity of the government. On his way out, he noted, his mood made dark and cynical by the events, that Papen's prediction was becoming true, he was becoming skilled at shading the truth.
The cabinet all met again in the last few minutes before the opening of the ten o'clock session. "Can we keep a secret?" someone said.
"Ask Strasser," Papen had said, cheerily and everyone turned to stare at him.
"What the Hell have you done now?" Hugenberg said, his voice grating, and it looked as if he might unite with Braun after all.
"Why Herr Hugenberg," Papen said, his voice wounded. "Herr Strasser has pledged to support the new constitutional amendment. I reminded him of how the government had worked to bring about the era of German social unity he so desires, with his aid, and he was quite pleased at the thought of getting control of Mecklenburg, with your aid, Herr Hugenberg and of course ours. You are going not to let him down?"
Replacing the "German Worker's Party" that Röhm's followers generally called themselves, with the Center Party in the Mecklenburg coalition seemed a cheap price to pay. But, Manfred observed as this negotiation was played out in front of him, paying today might have more hidden costs tomorrow.
"Herren, we should all be in the Reichstag chamber by ten, so best we get a move on." he said.
And they had been, in time to watch the Nazis throw a tantrum and the Bolsheviks bolt. Prince Eitel-Friedrich and the men would keep the Bolsheviks from coming back in too quickly. Nothing so negative as outright stopping them. Besides, it was illegal to arrest a Member of the Reichstag. Thus said Article 37, and that remained unchanged. However, how did they know who might be a real Member of the Reichstag, returning on his lawful business as a representative of the whole people, and who might be a foreign Bolshevik, trying to sneak in and burn the place down? Papers would have to be thoroughly checked, and to do that with the proper attention to detail would take time.
They took time themselves. Despite the constitutional matter, there was some additional detail to be passed. An enabling law to permit the Reich states to choose whether or not to be republican. A law regularizing all that had been done since 1918. And one or two other minor matters that would not wait. And of course the matter had to be run past the Reichsrat.
Other details would have to be dealt with later. Manfred had compromised on the flag matter, for example. The country had already gone through that argument once. The Reich flag would remain the Republican red-black-gold, and the fleet and army would stick to their beloved red-black-white. The Deutchlandlied would be the national anthem, but for the Emperor there would be Heil Dir in Siegenkranz again.
"They don't play their national anthem for the American president," Manfred had said when the anthem issue had been raised. (Never mind trivia like saving the country from the Nazis, focus on important matters like the national anthem! he thought bitterly.)
"No, they don't," Papen had added, and at least there he spoke with authority.
"They have a different song. I heard it when I was there for the commemoration of the Wright Brothers' first flight, and went to a reception when the Herr President Coolidge arrived. 'Hail to the Chief,' it's called, they told me. We could do worse ourselves."
After the vote, Manfred went out to see the troops. A warm summer breeze blew across the plaza, and as he stepped through the great doors of the Reichstag, someone saw him and called, "The Herr Reichskanzler!"
An officer wearing the blue star at his throat with its crown of golden oak leaves shouted, "Attention!" and the line of soldiers defending the legislature snapped to attention, presenting arms. Manfred walked down the steps and approached the officer, who, he noticed, was wearing the current issue uniform. There might be a legal issue with that, but he suspected Noske would not object overmuch. When he got within the proper distance, the colonel -- or honorary colonel -- threw a stiff brace and saluted. "Herr Reichskanzler von Richthofen!" Prince Eitel-Friedrich said.
"Your Royal Highness," Manfred said, returning the salute. "I complement you on the bearing of your troops."
The Prince remained in his brace. "Ach, they're not as good as in the old days!" he said, and then chuckled as he relaxed. "No matter, let me present you to the men."
That evening the new American Ambassador, Herr Dodd, made an unofficial visit to the Reichskanzlei. His host had sent Bolko and Viktoria back to Schweidnitz with all the children when Hindenburg died, not wishing to have hostages to fortune if something went wrong during the proclamation. So he was alone, fretting.
Outside, on the Wilhelmstrasse in particular, the regular police and a large number of Nopos were out patrolling, and inside Manfred was listening with some concern for the signs of a Nazi march-past. The streets were quiet, and really he should have been expecting the Bolsheviks to go into action. Bu
t they had been subdued of late, and as a matter of fact the Bolshevik leaders had all disappeared after the vote.
The Ambassador was shown in and Manfred pointed to a chair. "Sit down, sit down, Herr Dodd. What can I do for you?"
The new ambassador was not quite like his predecessor. Indeed, the political police chief Herr Diels had expressed some concerns to Manfred about him and his family. But America mustn't be crossed up, or then they would be in for it, financially.
"Herr Chancellor, I have a question regarding this new situation in Germany . . ."
INTERLUDE
Abroad, Tuesday, August 7, 1934
"What about the situation in Germany?"
The aging one-armed (effectively) woodcutter at Haus Doorn put down his axe and took a deep breath before answering the question. "What do I think about the situation in the Reich?" Wilhelm II, once All-Highest Supreme Warlord of Germany himself, said. "I said it would not last for long, and I welcome the national renewal that has come to pass.
"Indeed, My grandson, being an obedient grandchild, asked Me for permission to assume the throne and repair the damage caused by the November Traitors, and I gave him My permission and My blessing.
"As for the man who made it all possible, I want Freiherr von Richthofen to know that he has My full and unquestioned support. He served Me and My House loyally in the War, and now he has done My House an even greater service."
The press had come to see the former Kaiser comment about the new one, and they weren't disappointed. They did not know about Hauptmann Bodenschatz's visit, which was just as well.
"What about the situation in Germany?"
"The honourable member should realize that His Majesty's Government have terminated their rights to intervene in the internal affairs of Germany, now that the terms of the Treaty which ended the late war have been revised," Sir John Simon, His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, said. "The Foreign Office has instructed Ambassador Sir Horace Rumbold to present the felicitations of His Majesty's Government to the new Kaiser."
A Man and a Plane: An Alternate Germany Page 24