Page 175 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

162 The American Diplomats

Germans had been cowed into supporting the authorities, dodd concluded
that the outcome nevertheless showed that very many Germans revered Hit-
ler and that the overwhelming vote of confidence he had received meant
that “he is now the undisputed ruler of Germany.” dodd was convinced that
many people supported the Nazis largely because they approved of their
foreign policy. Hitler and his subordinates certainly interpreted the electoral
victory as approval for their audacious moves on the international scene. the
Nazis were confident that they would succeed in pursuing their bold policies
because, in their view, “the men who hold the reins in other countries are
of an inferior caliber, and, if faced with a momentous decision, are certain
to make concessions to Germany rather than take the risk of involving their
countries in another war. it is the same line of reasoning with which the Na-
zis operated against the Weimar regime in Germany, and their phenomenal
success in the field of domestic politics only tends to enhance the inherent
danger of such logic.” dodd predicted that if the Nazis succeeded in their
foreign policy moves, they would be able to divert attention from domestic
problems and would then remain in power for a long time. 42

nazism and the christian churches

in implementing the principle of “totality,” the Nazis placed high prior-
ity on the integration into the New Order of the two principal Christian
denominations, the Protestant (or evangelical) and the Catholic. the dip-
lomats in all three democracies paid close attention to this development,
but the reports of american officials in Germany were the most systematic.
Hence the treatment of the ongoing conflict between the Nazis and Chris-
tianity is included in this section, but the reader should keep in mind that
the governments of the major democracies were kept abreast of it.
On april 21, 1933, Chargé d’affaires Gordon sent a dispatch to Washing-
ton on the initiatives that the government had already taken to weaken the
Christian churches, and thus again drew attention to the radical and in many
respects bizarre aims of Hitler that amounted to a sweeping repudiation of
cardinal tenets of Western civilization. For the next four years, american
diplomats in Germany sent a stream of reports to Washington on the evolv-
ing conflict, and in view of the Nazi government’s efforts to keep the details
of the campaign against Christianity from the public, it seems that at least
during the early stages of the rift, senior officials in the state department
were better informed on this subject than the German people.