Page 163 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

150 The American Diplomats

the extremists to right and left have not yet learned their lessons: they
still do not realize that they should unite on the most fundamental issue,
the maintenance of a republican and parliamentary form of government.”
instead of collaborating, they continued in their old ways, endlessly “jock-
eying, bickering and bargaining.” Gordon singled out the distinctly right-
of-center People’s Party for special rebuke because it refused to compromise
with the “socialist doctrines” of the democratic left. 9
the Nazi leaders knew that the diplomats at the american embassy har-
bored serious misgivings about their movement, and they had persuaded
themselves that this was merely the result of misunderstandings. One day
after the september election, a party official called the embassy to request
a meeting at which a Nazi spokesman would explain the National social-
ist program and seek to clear up all misconceptions. Gordon could hardly
refuse, although he insisted on an “informal” gathering. On september 16,
arno schickedanz, the Berlin representative of the Völkischer Beobachter, the
leading Nazi newspaper, appeared at the embassy eager to set the record
straight. schickedanz seemed to be an ideal spokesman for National social-
ism. as a participant in Hitler’s failed putsch of 1923, he belonged to the
prestigious circle known as the “Old Fighters” (Alte Kämpfer), and he was
close to alfred rosenberg, a member of the party since the early 1920s who
was regarded as one of its “arch-ideologues,” the “philosopher” of the Nazi
movement. 10
schickedanz wasted little time before proceeding to the heart of his
mission, to correct the erroneous impressions in the West about Hitler’s
movement. schickedanz stressed that Hitler’s primary goal was to end the
economic depression in Germany, which had desolated the country. in his
view, the causes of Germany’s plight could be traced directly to the burdens
imposed by the treaty of Versailles and the insistence by the West that Ger-
many alone had caused the outbreak of war in 1914. His party, schickedanz
reiterated time and again, merely wished to secure fundamental changes in
the treaty and the abrogation of all financial obligations placed on Germany.
But he declared unequivocally that his party did not intend to achieve its
goals by force or, as he put it, by resort to “violent and illegal measures.”
Fear of military aggression by Germany was “absurd” given the restric-
tions on rearmament imposed under the treaty. schickedanz also rejected
the charge that Germany permitted the existence of various “semi-military
organizations, such as the stahlhelm and others” (the latter clearly a refer-
ence to the Nazi sa and ss). “Concluding his remarks in this field he said

association of War Veterans.