Page 38 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

The British Diplomats 25

to restore national unity. His most ominous statement touched on his own
political future if the Nazis did not receive a majority in the upcoming elec-
tions on March 5 for a new reichstag. “if the German people abandon us
in this hour,” he declared, “then—Heaven forgive us—we will follow the
road which we feel to be necessary in order that Germany may not perish.”
One day after the meeting, alfred Hugenberg, a right-wing politician who
served as the minister of commerce in Hitler’s government, made a similar
statement about retaining power regardless of the election returns. On
22
February 22, rumbold reported that it was widely believed that the elec-
tions of March 5 would be the last and that “the doom of popular represen-
tation has now been sealed.” 23
rumbold was especially troubled by the growing lawlessness through-
out the country, for which he blamed the speeches of Nazi leaders, which
in most civilized countries would be “regarded as deliberate incitements to
violence.” recently, the government had also put its stamp of approval on
political murder by staging an elaborate state funeral for the “Nazi gang-
ster” Hans eberhard Maikowski, who had murdered a Communist in de-
cember 1931 and was then himself killed in a street fight with Communists
on January 30, 1933. 24
despite his antipathy toward Jews, rumbold was appalled by Nazi ac-
tions against them. He looked down on Jews and wanted to avoid all con-
tact with them, but he did not favor their persecution—his prejudice might
be called “benign anti-semitism.” the Nazi government’s assault, legal as
well as physical, on the Jewish community, was quite another matter. He
pointed out that in recent weeks there had been “kidnappings, floggings
and other visitations,” and most of these attacks had been carried out by
men “who wore the Nazi uniform.” Many of the incidents were not even
reported in the press, and victims often remained silent “because they knew
that they have no means of obtaining legal redress.” rumbold considered
it necessary to dwell on this aspect of the new government’s conduct be-
cause “foreign opinion does not appear to have fully grasped the fact that
the National socialist programme is intensely anti-Jewish.” He stressed that
the measures against the Jews were not “directed against the Hebrew faith”
but were designed to achieve certain racial goals. For Hitler, the Jews were
“parasites of alien race” and he considered it necessary to purify the “Ger-
man blood . . . from this contamination.” rumbold predicted at this early
stage of Nazi rule that the authorities were likely to intensify this persecu-
tion, for “it is certainly Hitler’s intention to degrade and, if possible, expel
the Jewish community from Germany ultimately.” 25