PLOTS AND PURGES IN NAZI GERMANY
Waldeck, R. G.
Plots And Purges In Nazi Germany By R. G. WALDECK ^PHE recent attempt on Hitler's life, coupled with L the abortive revolt of the German generals, emerges BS (ne o'i the most important events of...
...Then, by facing the western threat with Germany's full force, they could increase their bargaining power visa-vis the Anglo-Americans...
...Above all, they wished for a quick armistice on the Eastern front...
...Churchill replied, "Yes...
...And the masses, now reduced by air bombardments to utterly primitive living standards, may prove a docile flock for such Marxist shepherds...
...Many fled across the borders...
...At any moment, they knew, Himmler might receive full powers over the Army—a contingency to be prevented at all costs...
...This may explain some of the reserve in British reactions to the news of the purge...
...Whether ov not the plot proceeded exactly as the facile Goebbels has described, it is now clear that some such attempt was made and that the conspiracy included high personalities of the German officer caste...
...In both cases, the Army won victories...
...From the first, the Russian campaign sat badly with most of the Generals, but by 1944 they saw the absolute necessity of bringing it to a quick conclusion, regardless of means...
...This stems not only from the well-founded fear of a two-front war, but also from Potsdam's political concept of a great "East Bloc...
...The middle and upper classes were weakened by the Nazi revolution and the war...
...They now face possible destruction at the hands of the Nazis...
...It is clear now that this crisis represented a veritable show-down between the two great centers of power in Germany : the Army and the Party...
...The assassination was hastily and badly planned...
...Beck was the undoubted leader of the affair...
...In other words, the aim of the purge may well be the elimination of not only the recalcitrant Generals, but of all upper and middle class leadership which might offer competition either before or -after the war...
...The efficient and homogeneous old traditions of Potsdam had obviously deteriorated...
...Moscow too fails to display as much enthusiasm as America...
...Churchill was asked in the House of Commons whether His Majesty's Government was aware of the possibility of Germany going Communist...
...A ravaged France and an exhausted Italy, not to mention the wretched Balkans, are ail predisposed to political and economic disruption...
...They can hardly maintain the old prewar order without the support of a stable Germany...
...He had to spare many prospective victims because of the presence of foreign observers...
...Yet their responsibility for the failure cannot be entirely placed on the Generals' shoulders...
...Fromm, whose rank corresponded roughly to that of the late Gen...
...In short, the trail of the purge points in the direction of the end of bourgeois, middle-class civilization in Europe...
...The deeper reason lies in the fact that the Generals had nothing to offer the German people...
...This process, of course, might be interrupted if the German military machine suddenly collapsed...
...A clarification of the unfortunate Unconditional Surrender formula might still prove a help for any potential military plotters who might survive Himmler's purge...
...It is the failure of Britain and America to propose any more hopeful alternative than Unconditional Surrender that ensured the Generals' inability to sway the troops and civilians...
...Gen...
...This problem had already caused two crises: one in 1934, and one in 1938...
...The announcement of a reward for the capture of the conservative Goerdeler, a former Mayor of Leipzig, is a straw in the wind...
...For Himmler may use the Army purge as a pretext for widespread civilian liquidation...
...While one may feel satisfaction at the debacle of a caste which collaborated with the Nazis, nevertheless our propaganda, which has stressed the identity of Potsdam and the Party, appears to have been misguided...
...No matter how great the guilt of Potsdam, only Potsdam could lead a popular revolt against the Nazis...
...Today, Germany is a closed cage—nobody can escape...
...Also, if the Party should completely dominate the Army, the prospects for a satisfactory postwar settlement of Germany seem far less favorable...
...Party And Army The Generals believed the elimination of Hitler to be desirable for two principal reasons...
...Whether or not the left-wing Nazis personally like the Russian Communists, it is a fact that many of them used to be members of the German Communist Party...
...But when closely examined the implications of this internal German struggle do not appear as encouraging as at first believed...
...Ley's class-angled speech promising punishment for the "blue-blooded pig-dogs" is significant...
...There is a tradition in the Reichswehr that by the nature of geopolitics, Russia and Germany must eventually stand together against the West...
...Many figures in industry and the Foreign Office, among Catholics and Junkers, may receive the ministrations of Himmler in coming months...
...It should be recalled that in the 1934 "blood purge," the Nazis cast their net far to the Right as well as to the Left, inside and outside of the Party and of the Army, everywhere in the liberal, Catholic, and Socialist world...
...But Swedish sources report that his active instrument was Gen...
...Additionally, the Generals were grappling again with an old problem—how far could the Party dominate the Army...
...After all, many of Napoleon's marshals—Ney, Murat, Massena, etc.—.were of humble origin, rose from the ranks, and gave the Napoleonic machine a great revolutionary push...
...For the Moscow of 1944 can see disadvantages in a Germany in the throes of Communist revolution...
...The Russian leaders know only too well how little one can do with a country in such a condition...
...In 1934, Himmler had rather incomplete files...
...The best hope now is that military defeat— and the news daily brightens this prospect—will overwhelm the Nazis before they can do their literal worst...
...It must be realized that Potsdam, i.e., the Army, has always inclined toward friendship with Russia on strategic and political grounds...
...Plots And Purges In Nazi Germany By R. G. WALDECK ^PHE recent attempt on Hitler's life, coupled with L the abortive revolt of the German generals, emerges BS (ne o'i the most important events of the war...
...Accordingly, Beck, Fromm, et al...
...Much hope has been placed on possible damage to this machine by the purging of many Generals...
...The newly-elevated SS-Generals, while lacking the stern professionalism of the Junkers, have the furor teutonicus which may be just what the Nazis need at this juncture...
...Or again, even if such a move of political warfare were to be made, it might prove too late to shorten hostilities...
...acted...
...This new ascendancy of the Nazis holds sinister possibilities...
...The fact that the officer whom the plotters chose to occupy the government ministries in Berlin first submitted his orders to Goebbels shows that at least a part of the Army had become more Nazi than Potsdam...
...McNair in this country, commanding officer of the ground forces...
...This underlines the gravity of the plot in the Reichswehr...
...They want to draw on a peaceful and orderly Europe for their own postwar reconstruction...
...The Kremlin, from its long revolutionary experience, may well see that a Communist Germany means a Communist Europe...
...Sinister Possibilities Our public opinion is a bit too blithe about the Generals' predicament...
...It marks another step in the disintegration of Germany...
...But in the Summer of 1944, the prospect looked gloomy for the Generals...
...Such violent division in the ranks of the enemy is, of course, gratifying...
...Himmler is a police genius, perhaps the greatest since Napoleon's Fouche...
...Recently Mr...
...It is not unrealistic to anticipate a complete social revolution in Germany...
...Yet such hopes may be too optimistic...
...It would be surprising if today he has not a complete dossier of every potential oppositionist...
...But they recognized that the removal of Hitler was a pre-requisite for the desired armistice with Russia...
...The Nazis may do the same now, with greater thoroughness...
...The failure of the ptitsch reveals clearly the essential weaknesses of the Generals' position...
...They have not far to go to become German National Communists...
...Unless dry rot has affected the German fighting machine more profoundly than is now visible, the consequences of the officers' putsch may even prolong the war...
Vol. 8 • August 1944 • No. 35
