Hitler

by Brendan Simms

  35. Speech, 26.6.1927, RSA, II/1, p. 388; Speech, 12.3.1927, RSA, II/1, p. 183; Essay, August 1927, RSA, II/2, p. 501; Speech, 2.4.1927, RSA, II/1, p. 228.

  Part Three: Unification

  1. Hitler to Winifred Wagner, 30.12.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 587.

  Chapter 7: The American Challenge

  1. See Vanessa Conze, Das Europa der Deutschen. Ideen von Europa in Deutschland zwischen Reichstradition und Westorientierung (1920–1970) (Munich, 2005).

  2. Reinhard Frommelt, Paneuropa oder Mitteleuropa. Einigungsbestrebungen im Kalkül deutscher Wirtschaft und Politik, 1925–1933 (Stuttgart, 1977), p. 15.

  3. Originally published 1924, here in Heinrich Mann, Sieben Jahre. Chronik der Gedanken und Vorgänge. Essays (Frankfurt, 1994), pp. 174–85.

  4. Quoted in Jürgen Elvert, Mitteleuropa! Deutsche Pläne zur europäischen Neuordnung (1918–1945) (Stuttgart, 1999), p. 87.

  5. Thus Victoria di Grazia, Irresistible Empire: America’s Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe (Cambridge, Mass., 2006); Mary Nolan, The Transatlantic Century: Europe and America, 1890–2010 (Cambridge, 2012), pp. 76–103.

  6. Alf Lüdtke, Inge Marssolek and Adelheid von Saldern (eds.), Amerikanisierung. Traum und Alptraum im Deutschland des 20. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart, 1996); Mary Nolan, Visions of Modernity: American Business and the Modernization of Germany (New York and Oxford, 1994); Anselm Doering-Manteuffel, Wie westlich sind die Deutschen? Amerikanisierung und Westernisierung im 20. Jahrhundert (Göttingen, 1999).

  7. Philipp Gassert, ‘Amerikanismus, Antiamerikanismus, Amerikanisierung’, Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 39 (1999), pp. 531–61.

  8. See Wolfgang Schivelbusch, The Culture of Defeat: On National Trauma, Mourning and Recovery (London, 2003), p. 389.

  9. Thomas J. Saunders, Hollywood in Berlin: American Cinema and Weimar Germany (Berkeley, 1994), especially pp. 117–44.

  10. Speech, 14.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 836.

  11. Speech, 30.3.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 760; Speech, 19.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 844; Speech, 19.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 843; Speech, 2.12.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 566.

  12. Speech, 17.4.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 789; Speech, 2.12.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 563; Speech, 15.1.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 615.

  13. Speech, 19.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 843.

  14. GT, 29.8.1928, I/1/III, p. 73.

  15. For an overview of the Nazi view of Europe see Thomas Sandkühler, ‘Europa und der Nationalsozialismus. Ideologie, Währungspolitik, Massengewalt’, in special edition of Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History, 9, 3 (2012), pp. 428–41.

  16. GT, 20.3.1924, I/1/I, p. 109.

  17. Quoted in Fein, Hitlers Weg nach Nürnberg, p. 161.

  18. Thus Daniel Roos, Julius Streicher und ‘Der Stürmer’, 1923–1945 (Paderborn, 2014), pp. 181–2.

  19. GT, 6.12.1929, I/2/I, p. 32; GT, 22.6.1928, I/1/III, p. 42; GT, 30.6.1928, I/1/III, p. 46; GT, 1.7.1928, I/1/III, p. 46.

  20. Thus Frank-Lothar Kroll, ‘Die Edition von Hitlers Reden, Schriften und Anordnungen’, in Horst Möller and Udo Wengst (eds.), 50 Jahre Institut für Zeitgeschichte. Eine Bilanz (Munich, 1999), pp. 237–47, especially pp. 244–5, and Wolfram Pyta, ‘Die Hitler-Edition des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte’, Historische Zeitschrift, 281 (2005), 381–94, especially p. 386.

  21. Quoted in Hamann, Hitlers Bayreuth, pp. 165–6.

  22. E.g., Speech, 9.4.1932, RSA, V/1, p. 47; Speech, 17.10.1932, RSA, V/2, p. 68; Speech, 27.10.32, RSA, V/2, p. 123.

  23. Second Book, RSA, II/A, p. 70 (all subsequent citations from this volume are from the Second Book); Speech, 17.4.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 783; Speech, 6.8.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 443; RSA, II/A, p. 14; RSA, II/A, p. 15; Speech, 3.3.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 735; Speech, 6.8.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 447.

  24. Speech, 25.6.1931, RSA, IV/1, p. 418; Speech, 16.10.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 521; Speech, 16.11.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 546; Speech, 10.12.1927, RSA, II/2, pp. 577–8; Speech, 3.3.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 733; Speech, 2.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 828; RSA, II/A, pp. 124–5; RSA, II/A, p. 125; RSA, II/A, p. 87.

  25. RSA, II/A, p. 86. See also Stefan Kühl, The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism (Oxford, 1994), p. 37.

  26. WA, pp. 145–6.

  27. RSA, II/A, p. 92.

  28. See Johnpeter Horst Grill and Robert L. Jenkins, ‘The Nazis and the American South in the 1930s: a mirror image?’, Journal of Southern History, 58 (1992), pp. 667–94, especially pp. 671–2.

  29. Hitler to Magnus Gött, 2.3.1927, in Hoser, ‘Hitler und die katholische Kirche’, p. 489.

  30. RSA, II/A, p. 14; Speech, 2.12.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 566; Speech, 15.1.1928, II/2, p. 615.

  31. Hess to Klara and Fritz Hess, Munich, 18.12.1928, HB, p. 395.

  32. Article, 29.12.1928, RSA, VI, p. 343; Speech, 26.4.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 796.

  33. RSA, II/A, p. 38; RSA, II/A, pp. 105–6; Speech, 26.4.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 795; Speech, 3.3.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 721.

  34. RSA, II/A, p. 20.

  35. Speech, 29.2.1928, RSA, II/2, pp. 681–7; Speech, 29.2.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 700 (BVP and Jews); and Speech, 21.3.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 751 (BVP closeness to Jewish sexual deviant).

  36. Alfons Beckenbauer, ‘Wie Adolf Hitler durch eine niederbayerischen Grafen zu einem Wutausbruch gebracht wurde. Aus den unveröffentlichten Memoiren des Joseph Maria Graf von Soden-Fraunhofen–zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des monarchischen Gedankens in Bayern während der Weimarer Zeit’, in Verhandlungen des Historischen Vereins für Niederbayern, 103 (Landshut, 1977), pp. 5–29.

  37. Speech, 21.11.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 555; Speech, 10.12.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 580; Speech, 11.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 835; Speech, 2.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 810; Speech, 12.1.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 599.

  38. Speech, 2.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 828.

  39. RSA, II/A, p. 6; RSA, II/A, p. 7; Speech, 3.3.1928, RSA, II/2, pp. 722–3; Speech, 17.4.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 788.

  40. Speech, 17.4.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 780; Speech, 3.3.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 732.

  41. Figures in Horst Rössler, ‘Massenexodus: die neue Welt des 19. Jahrhunderts’, in Klaus J. Bade (ed.), Deutsche im Ausland–Fremde in Deutschland. Migration in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Munich, 1992), pp. 148–50. See also James Boyd, ‘The Rhine exodus of 1816/1817 within the developing German Atlantic World’, Historical Journal, 59 (2016), pp. 99–123.

  42. Monika Blaschke, ‘“Deutsch-Amerika” in Bedrängnis. Krise und Verfall einer “Bindestrichkultur”’, in Bade (ed.), Deutsche im Ausland, pp. 171 and 176.

  43. Lieselotte Overvold, ‘Wagner’s American Centennial March: genesis and reception’, Monatshefte, 68 (1976), pp. 179–87.

  44. Udo Sautter, ‘Deutsche in Kanada’, in Bade (ed.), Deutsche im Ausland, p. 185.

  45. See Karen Schniedwind, ‘Fremde in der Alten Welt. Die transatlantische Rückwanderung’, in Bade (ed.), Deutsche im Ausland, pp. 179–85.

  46. RSA, II/A, p. 8; Speech, 3.3.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 730; Speech, 14.4.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 777; Speech, 26.4.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 796; RSA, II/A, p. 85. See also Günter Moltmann, ‘Nordamerikanische “Frontier” und deutsche Auswanderung–soziale “Sicherheitsventile” im 19. Jahrhundert?’, in Dirk Stegmann, Bernd-Jürgen Wendt and Peter-Christian Witt (eds.), Industrielle Gesellschaft und politisches System. Beiträge zur politischen Sozialgeschichte (Bonn, 1978), pp. 279–96, especially pp. 293–4.

  47. Speech, 18.1.1928, RSA, II/2, pp. 632–3; RSA, II/A, pp. 79, 8, 78; Speech, 15.1.1928, RSA, II/2, pp. 613–14.

  48. Article, 3.11.1928, RSA, III/1, p. 202.

  49. Speech, 18.1.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 633. The date in the copy of the original document is illegible, but it is clear that 1918 is meant. I thank Dr Klaus Lankheit of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich, one of the original editors, for this information.

  50. Speech, 6.8.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 445; RSA, II/A, p. 95; Speech, 6.8.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 455.

  51. RSA, II/A, p. 78. For Hitler’s attitude to Coudenhove-Kalergi see also Dina Gusejnova, European Elites and Ideas of Empire, 1917–1957 (C
ambridge, 2016), pp. 195–6.

  52. RSA, II/A, p. 91.

  53. RSA, II/A, pp. 88–2.

  54. RSA, II/A, p. 90; RSA, II/A, p. 27; Speech, 2.5.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 808.

  55. Hess to Ilse Pröhl, 8.3.1928, HB, p. 391; Hess to Klara and Fritz Hess, 18.12.1928, HB, p. 395; Speech, 21.8.1927, RSA, II/2, p. 497; Speech, 29.2.1928, RSA, II/2, p. 691.

  56. RSA, II/A, pp. 60, 119, 123, 129, 182 et passim.

  57. RSA, II/A, p. 60.

  58. RSA, II/A, p. 82.

  59. Paul Rohrbach, Die deutschen Kolonien. Ein Bilderbuch aller deutscher Kolonien (Dachau, 1912), p. 3 et passim; Friedrich Ratzel, Wider die Reichsnörgler (Munich, 1884), pp. 10–11, 15–16, 23 et passim. I thank William O’Reilly for these references and for his help in understanding the phenomenon of German emigration to the United States. See also Woodruff D. Smith, ‘“Weltpolitik” und “Lebensraum”’, in Sebastian Conrad and Jürgen Osterhammel (eds.), Das Kaiserreich transnational. Deutschland in der Welt, 1871–1914 (Göttingen, 2006), pp. 29–48, especially pp. 31 and 47.

  60. RSA, II/A, pp. 34, 60, 123 (quotations) et passim. Manfred Weissbecker, ‘“Wenn hier Deutsche wohnten…” Beharrung und Veränderung im Russlandbild Hitlers und der NSDAP’, in Hans-Erich Volkmann (ed.), Das Russlandbild im Dritten Reich (Cologne, 1994), pp. 9–54.

  61. RSA, II/A, pp. 103, 149, 147, 113, 114.

  62. RSA, II/A, pp. 149–50.

  63. GT, 19.1.1928, I/1/II, p. 317; GT, 22.1.1928, I/1/II, p. 317.

  64. Wolfgang Schieder, Faschistische Diktaturen. Studien zu Italien und Deutschland (Göttingen, 2008), p. 235.

  65. RSA, II/A, pp. 126–9.

  66. RSA, II/A, pp. 135, 186.

  67. RSA, II/A, p. 32.

  68. RSA, II/A, p. 181.

  69. GT, 5.7.1929, I/1/III, p. 281.

  70. Speech, 16.11.1930, RSA, IV/1, p. 111.

  71. Thus Thacker, Goebbels, pp. 97–9.

  72. Turner, Big Business, pp. 69, 95 (quotations, pp. 66 and 70).

  73. See Fein, Hitlers Weg nach Nürnberg, p. 160.

  74. Hamann, Hitlers Bayreuth, p. 177.

  75. See Turlach O Broin, ‘Mail-order demagogues: the NSDAP School for Speakers, 1928–34’, Journal of Contemporary History, 51 (2016), pp. 715–37.

  76. Michael Wala, Weimar und Amerika. Botschafter Friedrich von Prittwitz und Gaffron und die deutsch-amerikanischen Beziehungen von 1927 bis 1933 (Stuttgart, 2001), pp. 122–51. See also Philipp Heyde, Das Ende der Reparationen. Deutschland, Frankreich und der Youngplan, 1929–1932 (Paderborn, 1998), pp. 35–75.

  77. Hannah Ahlheim, ‘Deutsche, kauft nicht bei Juden!’ Antisemitismus und politischer Boykott in Deutschland 1924 bis 1935 (Göttingen, 2011), pp. 82–90.

  78. Fritz Reinhardt, Deutschland erwache! (Herrsching am Ammersee, 1930), p. 5 et passim; Fritz Reinhardt, Menschenexport in Sicht (Herrsching am Ammersee, 1931), especially pp. 2–4. I am very grateful to Darren O’Byrne for drawing these texts to my attention.

  79. Hitler to Josef, Count Soden Fraunhofen, 7.11.1929, RSA, III/2, p. 445.

  80. See Gerhard Paul, Aufstand der Bilder. Die NSPropaganda vor 1933 (Bonn, 1992), pp. 84–9.

  81. Thus Hermann Balle, ‘Die propagandistische Auseinandersetzung des Nationalsozialismus mit der Weimarer Republik und ihre Bedeutung für den Aufstieg des Nationalsozialismus’ (PhD dissertation, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 1963), pp. 166–71 (quotations on 167 and 170).

  82. GT, 29.5.1929, I/1/III, p. 257.

  83. Article, 9.4.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 156.

  84. Thus Turner, ‘Hitlers Einstellung’, pp. 89–117, especially p. 97. See also Peter Krüger, ‘Zu Hitlers “nationalsozialistischen Wirtschaftserkenntnissen”’, Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 6 (1980), pp. 263–82.

  85. Barry Eichengreen, Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919–1939 (Oxford, 1992), especially pp. 241–6; Charles P. Kindleberger, The World in Depression, 1929–1939 (London, 1973), pp. 108–27; Harold James, The German Slump: Politics and Economics, 1924–1936 (Oxford, 1986).

  86. Here I disagree with Gerhard L. Weinberg, ‘The world through Hitler’s eyes’, in Weinberg, Germany, Hitler and World War II, p. 50, and Andreas Hillgruber, ‘Hitler und die USA, 1933–1945’, in Otmar Franz (ed.), Europas Mitte (Göttingen and Zurich, 1987), pp. 125–44, especially p. 129, where Hillgruber advances no evidence for his claim that the 1929 crash was a watershed for Hitler’s view of the United States. Enrico Syring, Hitler. Seine politische Utopie (Berlin, 1994), pp. 103–4, has it right.

  87. Speech, 10.1.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 8; Article, 29.1.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 44.

  88. GT, 3.4.1929, I/1/III, p. 219; Article, 11.1.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 14; Article, 11.1.1930, RSA, III/3, pp. 12–13; Article, 8.2.1930, RSA, III/3, pp. 81–2; Speech, 7.4.1931, RSA, IV/1, p. 267. On 8.3.1930 (Article, RSA, III/3, p. 122), Hitler did express a fear of Russian armaments.

  89. Fein, Hitlers Weg nach Nürnberg, pp. 175–6.

  90. For Coburg see Albrecht, Die Avantgarde, pp. 172–4. For Wagner see Ulrike Haerendel, ‘Vom “Hitlerputsch” zur Gleichschaltung. Münchens Weg zur nationalsozialistischen “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” 1923 bis 1935’, in Fritz Mayrhofer and Ferdinand Opll (eds.), Stadt und Nationalsozialismus (Linz, 2008), pp. 171–2. See also Clemens Vollnhals, ‘Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in München 1925 bis 1933. Förderer und Gegner’, in Richard Bauer et al. (eds.), München–“Hauptstadt der Bewegung” (Munich, 1998), pp. 157–65.

  91. Donald R. Tracey, ‘The development of the National Socialist Party in Thuringia, 1924–30’, Central European History, 8 (1975), pp. 23–50, especially pp. 42–3.

  92. Article, 1.2.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 58.

  93. Hitler to unknown recipient, draft, 2.2.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 61.

  94. Thus Karsten Rudolph, ‘Nationalsozialisten in Ministersesseln. Die Machterübernahme der NSDAP und die Länder, 1929–1933’, in Christian Jansen, Lutz Niethammer and Bernd Weisbrod (eds.), Von der Aufgabe der Freiheit. Politische Verantwortung und bürgerliche Gesellschaft im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1995), p. 251.

  95. Oron James Hale, ‘Adolf Hitler: taxpayer’, American Historical Review, 60 (1955), pp. 830–42, identifies 1929 as the turning point (p. 836). See also Wulf C. Schwärzwäller, Hitlers Geld. Vom armen Kunstmaler zum millionenschweren Führer (Wiesbaden, 2001), pp. 112–56.

  96. Hoser, ‘Thierschstrasse 41’, p. 148.

  97. Stratigakos, Hitler at Home, pp. 18–20.

  98. Edgar Feuchtwanger, Als Hitler unser Nachbar war. Erinnerungen an meine Kindheit im Nationalsozialismus (Munich, 2014).

  99. See Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 142.

  100. Thus Hess to Klara and Fritz Hess, Munich, 18.12.1928, HB, p. 395.

  101. See Hamann, Hitlers Bayreuth, p. 185.

  102. GT, 20.7.1930, I/2/1, p. 202.

  103. See Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, passim.

  104. GT, 19.10.1928, I/1/III, p. 105.

  105. Heike B. Görtemaker, Eva Braun. Leben mit Hitler (Munich, 2010), p. 21.

  106. GT, 6.12.1929, I/2/1, p. 34.

  107. Quoted in Conradi, Hitler’s Piano Player, pp. 81–2.

  108. WA, p. 33.

  109. GT, 6.12.1929, I/2/1, p. 34.

  110. WA, p. 5.

  111. WA, p. 58.

  112. GT, 25.11.1928, I/1/III, p. 131.

  113. Thus WA, p. 175.

  114. WA, p. 178.

  115. GT, 6.12.1929, I/2/I, p. 33.

  116. GT, c.22.11.1929, I/1/III, p. 378.

  117. See Hitler to unknown recipient, 2.2.1930, RSA, III/3, pp. 60–61 (quotation on p. 61).

  118. For long timeline see Syring, Hitler. Seine politische Utopie, p. 101.

  119. WA, p. 8.

  120. Weale, The SS, pp. 39–46.

  Chapter 8: Breakthrough

  1. See Paul Köppen, ‘“Aus der Krankheit konnten wir unsere Waffe machen.” Heinrich Brünings Spardiktat und die Ablehnung der französischen Kreditangebote 1930/31’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschich
te, 62 (2014), pp. 349–76, especially p. 371.

  2. Article, 21.2.1931, RSA, IV/1, p. 212; Appeal, 26.5.1930, RSA, III/3, pp. 207–9; Article, 21.2.1931, RSA, IV/1, p. 214.

  3. GT, 30.1.1930, I/2/I, p. 75; GT, 22.2.1930, I/2/I, p. 93; GT, 4.3.1930, I/2/I, p. 102.

  4. Article, 24.5.1930, RSA, III/3, pp. 204–6.

  5. GT, 20.3.1930, I/2/I, p. 114; GT, 2.4.1930, I/2/I, p. 123; GT, 8.4.1930, I/2/I, p. 143; GT, 29.6.1930, I/2/I, p. 186; GT, 28.3.1930, I/2/I, p. 119.

  6. GT, 28.4.1930, I/2/I, p. 144.

  7. See Patrick Moreau, Nationalsozialismus von links. Die ‘Kampfgemeinschaft Revolutionärer Nationalsozialisten’ und die ‘Schwarze Front’ Otto Strassers 1930–1935 (Stuttgart, 1985), pp. 41–8.

  8. E.g. Witness Statement, 25.9.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 440.

  9. Daniel Siemens, Stormtroopers: A New History of Hitler’s Brownshirts (New Haven and London, 2017), pp. 57–8.

  10. Thus GT, 30.8.1930, I/2/I, pp. 228–9.

  11. Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 193–5.

  12. MK, I, footnote 72.

  13. Memorandum, 15.12.1932, RSA, V/2, p. 274.

  14. Speech, 5.8.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 300.

  15. Article, 30.8.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 376; Article, 6.9.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 383.

  16. GT, 3.9.1930, I/2/I, p. 232.

  17. Speech, 2.7.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 259.

  18. Speech, 2.5.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 176; Speech, 11.6.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 223; Speech, 10.8.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 311; Speech, 6.6.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 219. See also: Decree, 6.3.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 118; Speech, 2.5.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 175; Speech, 16.6.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 230; Speech, 18.8.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 351.

  19. Speech, 24.2.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 106; Decree, 6.3.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 116; Speech, 24.7.1930, RSA, III/3, p. 290.

  20. See the figures in Fein, Hitlers Weg nach Nürnberg, p. 194.

  21. See Jürgen W. Falter, ‘Die Wähler der NSDAP 1928–1933. Sozialstruktur und parteipolitische Herkunft’, in Wolfgang Michalka (ed.), Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung (Paderborn, Munich, Vienna and Zurich, 1984), pp. 47–59; Richard F. Hamilton, Who Voted for Hitler? (Princeton, 1982), pp. 3–8 et passim; and Childers, The Nazi Voter, pp. 119–91.