“I would do everything I could to prevent it,” declared 34 percent. One-third of the adult population in West Germany today are active opponents of a new dictatorship: not a bad result.
But: According to the positions taken, it is “indifferent” to almost one out of five West Germans (over 16) whether a new Nazi party came to power, and 12 percent had no opinion at all to express. People with that reaction make perfect fellow-travelers. Together they make 30 percent of those asked, and combined with the declared Nazis, 37 percent. If you add to this the 29 percent that would be against having the power taken over by a new Nazi party, but would not do anything to prevent it—a deceiver of the people who of course fears only active opponents, could count on pretty good chances. A sad state of affairs.
The students that were asked what they would do if a new Nazi party arose today can be broken up into three groups:
THE BRAVE: “To the barricades! If that does not help, work in the underground. In little groups, giving out leaflets.”
THE PRUDENT: “Put a toothbrush in my pocket and beat it.”
THE SHREWD ONES (A small minority): “I’d support the man, to make the best of the situation.”
In order to weigh the chances of a “new Hitler,” it would be best to examine three points:
What are the old Nazis doing?
How many new Nazis are there, and how organized are they?
What influence among apparently harmless citizens do the teachings of the talented Dr. Goebbels, “Reichsminister for Public Education and Propaganda,” still have?
As we know, the old Nazis are doing all right for themselves: former Ministers (Oberlander), present Secretaries of State (Globke), former Federal Attorneys General (Frankel) and numerous judges and high police officials.
Unknown Nazis
Along with the old Nazis that have been known for a long time, or at least since a short time ago, there are those that are still unknown. On that subject Attorney General Bauer said in his interview:
“I don’t think we shall ever see the end of our work. One war criminal trial brings five other crimes out. It is an avalanche that never comes to an end. I don’t know how we are ever going to be able to get our hands on all these whole, half and quarter Nazis that there still are in Germany. The latest disgraceful affair in Wurzburg, where a young doctor unmasked five prominent citizens as old first-class Nazis and as a result had to leave the state, is a typical one.
“It is no cheerful task that my attorneys and I have taken on ourselves. We have a whole desk drawer full of anonymous threatening letters to prove it. Here and there our efforts are greeted with joy, but if you ask me whether we are popular among the population, the answer must be no. The Germans don’t want any more old Nazis and their deeds to be brought out into the open.”
And what about the new Nazis? On March 7, 1963 the Federal Ministry of the Interior published an extensive report on “Radical Right and Anti-Semitic Tendencies in 1962”. Of the many details given in it, the following are the most interesting:
There were fifteen right radical parties in 1962, as against twenty-two in 1959.
The total membership of these parties has gone down from 17,200 to 11,500 in the last three years. (Enrolled members in the Nazi Party; in 1931: 806,000). All the right radical youth organizations had a total of only 1000 members in 1932 (Hitler Youth 1932: about 100,000).
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution took up 205 “Nazi and anti-Semitic actions” in 1962: anti-Semitic statements, painting of swastikas, desecration of cemeteries and illegal pamphlets. In 1960 there were almost six times as many (predominantly in connection with the kidnapping of Eichmann in Argentina)
Almost half of those committing the actions were under thirty. In one-fourth of the cases the Ministry of the Interior lists them as mere “disorderly conduct.”
The Federal Minister of the Interior comes to the following conclusion:
“Radicalism of the right in the Federal Republic is in a state of continuing splitting and isolation.
“On the whole, there is no acute danger to constitutional order in the territory of the Federal Republic under existing political and economic conditions.”
This is a question that is challenged by those who do not believe that the poisonous Hitler-Goebbels heritage can be dismissed so easily.
Dr. Thomas Denier, Vice-president of the Bundestag, expresses an entirely different opinion. He believes that political parties have given up their spiritual and political goals. “Political thinking has adapted itself to the feeling of prosperity,” he says. “They (the parties) boast of being ‘people’s parties.’ Actually they have given up any and all clearcut goals, and promise all things to all men … Basic political questions—to say nothing of ideals—play a smaller and smaller part, and group interests a larger and larger part.
“These politically washed-out Germans are not at all resistant to a ‘strong man,’” he continued. “The glorification of De Gaulle on his triumphal journey through Germany was also in large part the glorification of a ‘Fuehrer’ with the great imperial gesture, regardless of the fact that he has wiped out democracy in his country.
Hitler’s Admirers
“In point of fact, we find everywhere the admirers of Hitler’s ‘accomplishments.’
“In six years Hitler built 3700 kilometers of superhighways,” they say. “The Federal Government has just got up to 970 kilometers in fourteen years.” Under Hitler, they tell us, there was no adolescent problem and no juvenile delinquency, but instead girls doing their year of service, enough nurses, Strength through Joy cruises and subways for every big city.
In some respects these people are right. But they are wrong or they lie when they act as though there were no reverse side to the coin. If you are ready to accept galloping inflation, to sacrifice freedom of speech and gradually all freedoms, to put barbed wire around innocent men and exterminate Jews with gas, then for that you can certainly have superhighways and girls doing a year of service. A competent dictator can do some things. But it calls for a Price. And the price is too high.
So far as the Jews are concerned, Attorney General Bauer said:
“You cannot get a German today to give his honest opinion about the Jews. To foreigners he will always bewail what happened to the Jews during the war, but under this thin surface coating there lurks a red-hot anti-Semitism, even though there is no Jewish problem in Germany.” (Bauer later denied the word “red-hot.”
A spokesman for the Federal Government explained on February 28, 1963 that as early as 1960, in connection with the Eichmann incident, the Government had shown in a White Book that there were no points of support for “any considerable portion of the German people holding anti-Semitic attitudes.”
The writer, James A. Huebschmann, wrote a letter to the Danish newspaper on this matter:
“Just who writes the White Book that is so often quoted? Where do they get their information? The White Book looks to me like calling the accused man up in court to testify against himself. Only an international, independent commission can cast light on this.”
In its report of March 7, 1963, on right-radical and anti-Semitic tendencies, the Federal Ministry of the Interior concedes that although the number of anti-Semitic actions has decreased—because of criminal prosecutions—still:
“Undoubtedly the decrease in publicly manifested anti-Semitism is not as a rule due to any change in the opinions of its supporters.”
If we put side by side the Government report made in March of this year, the less cheering results of the public opinion questionnaires, and the statistically imponderable, but deeply-rooted popular admiration for Hitler’s partial accomplishments, we get the impression:
There may not be a very great deal of Nazism in circulation in the body of the German people, but it is not so very little either. All the experts seem to agree that as long as the people have plenty to eat and plenty of jobs, Naziism is no danger.
But suppose that food gets a bit short? Suppose there is a depression, unemployment, banks close, the employment offices are crowded and the TV set goes back for non-payment. Even a Nazi party that turned up today, we found, would receive seven percent of members and thirty percent of fellow-travelers. What would happen after a crash?
Of the students asked, about half gave a man like Hitler a big chance in the event of a serious depression, a quarter gave him slight chances, and the last quarter gave him no chance, even with a depression and certainly none at all without a depression.
What should be done then? The only sure means, obviously, is to avoid a depression. And for the long run, to try to anchor democratic feelings deeper in all Germans than they have gone so far. We can see some hopeful signs.
Recent Report of Hitler’s Death Is False!
Recent newspaper reports from the Soviet Union have created the misleading impression that the Russians officially regard Hitler as dead.
THIS IS NOT TRUE!
The Police Gazette asked the Soviet Government to confirm the recent reports and learned that the minor Red Army officer who expressed this opinion to an American author, who was writing a book, was speaking only for himself and had no first-hand knowledge of the facts.
The Soviet position was clearly spelled out by the official statements made by Marshal Georgi Zhukov, Chief of Operations during the Battle of Berlin; Colonel-General Nikolai E. Berzarin, the Soviet Berlin Commander; Major-General Alexis Sidnev, who was Chief of Soviet Intelligence for Berlin; and Stalin himself.
Three weeks after the Russians occupied Berlin, Marshal Zhukov announced: “We have found no body that could be Hitler’s. Hitler had a good opportunity of getting away.”
Colonel-General Berzarin revealed that several bodies with Hitler’s name sewed in the clothes were found in the Reichschancellery, but not one was that of Hitler. In a radio broadcast, Berzarin stated: “My opinion is that Hitler disappeared into Europe.”
Major-General Sidnev, who, as the Red Intelligence officer conducted the on-the-spot investigation into reports that Hitler had committed suicide in the bunker, said: “No clue to support the theory of Hitler’s suicide was uncovered by Soviet intelligence.”
And when Marshal Stalin was asked point blank by a US official at the Potsdam Conference if Hitler was dead, Stalin with characteristic bluntness and brevity replied in one word: “NO!”
Another myth that has been given wide circulation is that Hitler’s dentures were found. This is not so! Colonel W. F. Heimlich, former Chief, US Intelligence, Berlin, reported to Washington: “No evidence has been found of Hitler’s death in Berlin … We had X-ray photographs of Hitler’s head which gave us expert clues as to his dental structure and even one tooth might have been sufficient to identify his body. None were found.”
After 20 Years in Hiding …
HITLER CAN NOW RETURN
How He Escaped and Has Eluded Capture
by HARVEY WILSON
It was 20 years ago, on April, 30, 1945, that Adolf Hitler mysteriously disappeared from his underground bunker in the Reich chancellery in war torn Berlin. He vanished, as Allied forces were encircling the city.
Rumors soon circulated that Der Fuehrer had committed suicide and his body burned in the Reich chancellery courtyard. But the truth, as Allied intelligence agents were to discover later, was that Hitler and his top aides had escaped. Reports of his death were a hoax.
An on-the-spot investigation conducted by Col. W. C. Heimlich, Chief of US Intelligence in Berlin, disproved the theory that Hitler had committed suicide. He reported to Washington that there was no evidence of Hitler’s death.
Just recently newspaper reports from unnamed European sources have stated that the Reds had found and removed Hitler’s body. These reports have no basis of fact and intelligence officials suspect that they are being circulated by Nazi agents to frustrate any worldwide search for Der Fuehrer.
It was Col. Gen. Nicholai F. Berzarin, Soviet Berlin Commander, who declared after he entered Berlin, “My personal opinion is that Hitler disappeared into Europe!” And he was the first Allied official to urge an immediate worldwide hunt for the missing dictator.
If the Reds had found Hitler’s body, Col. Gen. Berzarin would have been the first to know it!
Why Hitler Can Return
Today, top officials in the West German Justice Ministry concede that Hitler might be alive. They were prepared for it as they announced that the 20-year constitutional statute of limitations will expire May 8. After that date, no more Nazi war criminals will be brought to trial. Hitler, and his top aides, such as the notorious Martin Bormann, can then come out of hiding and safely return to Germany if they wish.
Apparently anticipating the protests, Heinrich Thiesmeyer, spokesman for the West German Justice Ministry, called on Intelligence services all over the world to deliver before May 8, Hitler and his chief aide, Martin Bormann, and 2,000 other Nazi fugitives still at large.
After that date, war criminals would not only be saved from prosecution in West Germany but would no longer be subject to extradition should they show themselves in foreign lands.
A top ministry official told the Police Gazette:
“The West German government is fully aware that no evidence of Hitler’s purported suicide was ever found.
“We also know that Col. W. F. Heimlich, chief of United States intelligence in Berlin at end of the war, and who conducted the official American army investigation, reported to Washington that Hitler had ‘every opportunity to escape.’
“And we have received reports from diplomatic and intelligence sources that Hitler and top aides, such as Martin Bormann, are alive and hiding out in South America.
“Under these circumstances, we wanted to officially state far in advance that the statute of limitations covering all Nazi war crimes expire May 8 of this year—so we could not be accused of having minimized or kept the date a secret.”
The West German official showed considerable annoyance over implications that the Bonn Government should be expected to find the Nazi fugitives.
“People seem to forget that after the war the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union each had their own military government ruling German territory,” this official pointed out.
“The Federal Republic of Germany didn’t come into being until Sept. 1, 1949, four years after end of the war,” he added.
“If the Allies were unable to round up all the fugitive Nazis that escaped through their fingers in the years they ruled Germany, how can we be expected to find them now?” he asked.
“We have done everything in our power to find and prosecute Nazi war criminals,” this spokesman said. “The West German courts have convicted 5,445 persons for such crimes.”
Of these 818 were sentenced to death; 486 have been executed.
“There are 750 cases still pending that will occupy the German courts for years,” he said.
“We are anxious to prosecute every case that is brought to our attention before the May 8 deadline,” the German official concluded.
Vigorous Protests
But that very May 8 date is vigorously protested. Gerhart H. Seger, now living in New York and a former German Reichstag member from 1930 to 1933, argues:
“The statute of limitations, in this case 20 years, is being applied on the date of Germany’s surrender, May 8, 1945.
“There is no reason to use that date. From 1945 to 1949 all Nazi criminals were tried by Allied Occupation courts, and the German sovereignty did not begin until the German Constitution became effective, May 23, 1949.
“It would be far more logical to count the 20 years of limitations from that date Instead of May 8, 1945.
“This would give the Federal Republic of Germany four more years of possible prosecution of Nazi criminals without changing or violating the constitution.”
Another outspoken critic of the move is Kurt Grossmann, spokesman for the major Jewish organizations in t
he United States on German Matters.
He charged bitterly that the decision “must shock anyone interested in the cause of Justice and also in the democratic development of the Bundes Republic.”
Grossmann pointed out that Dr. Robert M. W. Kempner, former United States War Crimes Prosecutor in Nuremberg, estimates there are about 10,000 Nazi murderers not yet prosecuted.
“These would benefit by the incomprehensible decision of the Bundes Cabinet,” Grossmann declared.
He contends that thousands of unknown “Nazi murderers” are still free because they have not yet been identified in war crime cases.
“The experience has been that when a Nazi is brought to trial, in defending his position he names the superiors, or other Nazis, that directed him to commit the atrocities.” Grossmann stated.
“In the 750 cases pending, most of which won’t be tried until after the statute of limitations expires, Nazis named by defendants as actual murderers will escape punishment.”
And this includes Hitler, Bormann and other top Nazis.
Are there mysterious forces at work behind the Bonn Government’s decision?
No less a personage than German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard himself favors extension of the statute. He said it is not bearable to let perpetrators of the most atrocious crimes go scot-free.
Dr. Erhard assured Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress which also protests the decision, that he, Erhard, would like to see the statute extended for 10 years.
“But I am bound by the decision of my cabinet,” he told Dr. Goldman recently.
Nazi Influence
Of the more than 2,000 known Nazi war criminals still at large, many of them hiding in South America, some exert considerable influence inside West Germany today.
It is believed that the powerful friends of these fugitive Nazis influenced the decision of the Bonn Government.
This becomes more apparent with admissions in recent months of high German officials that many top Nazis believed to have perished in the flaming ruins of defeated Germany have actually escaped.
Hitler Is Alive! Page 27