Germans Proud of Hitler

As a result of Chancellor Adolf Hitler's Reichstag speech, Germany today is proud of her leader and proud of herself, and the anxiety with which the world listened to that speech merely enhances that pride.

Gone are the days, the press points out, when German envoys had to wait in the antechambers of foreign powers and when German proposals and protests were met with ironic smiles.  When Herr Hitler speaks the world listens, and that in itself is registered as a token of the distance, from armed weakness to world power, that Germany has covered under Chancellor Hitler in six years.

At the same time, official quarters, the press and a good part of the public were also eagerly listening today to the world echo that the speech evoked.

The press, largely because the public likes to that too, puts the main emphasis on how, with his declaration that he believes in a long peace, Herr Hitler confounded "warmongers" and their "war hysteria," and some newspapers already see Herr Hitler as challenging Prime minister Neville Chamberlain's peace laurels.

Despite many breathing a sigh of relief, Herr Hitler has put the problem of colonies at the feet of the world.  This problem may well need to be solved dutifully and soon.

Hitler demands the colonies taken from Germany to be returned.  Despite the assent given by the British on other matters, they refuse on this.

With the rumors that have come out of Germany about their military might and the mechanics, German correspondents seem puzzled by reports from international reporters.

In any case, all German newspapers proceed from the fundamental thesis laid down by Chancellor Hitler that Germany has too little living space, and, therefore, a new division of the world now is in order.

Hitler speaks to Reichstag on 6th Anniversary

Today, Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany, went to the Reichstag. His speech was to mark the sixth anniversary of the Nazi rise to power. In the speech, he made aspersions to his ascendence to prophethood:

In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it.

He continued on with his diatribe against the European Jewry after bringing up what has been referred to as the "Jewish problem". He also brought in the Bolsheviks, another target of increasing hatred by Hitler and many within the Nazi power structure.

...if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevizing of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!

Probably the worst of his remarks toward Jews came before this:

Europe will not have peace until the Jewish question has been disposed of. The world has sufficient capacity for settlement, but we must finally break away from the notion that a certain percentage of the Jewish people are intended, by our dear God, to be the parasitic beneficiary of the body, and of the productive work, of other peoples.

As expected, the Reichstag applauded his remarks enthusiastically. It seems that Hitler is promising the destruction of the Jews should they lead Europe into war. An interesting promise considering that Hitler seems to be the warmonger.

President Hindenburg Dead

President Paul von Hindenburg, 86, died today at approximately 9 AM local time, in Neudeck, East Prussia, of Lung Cancer. Herr Hindenberg served as President since 1925. He named no successor. Currently, Adolf Hitler is the Chancellor.

Hindenburg was born in Posen, Prussia, on October 2, 1847. His lineage was that of an aristocrat. In fact, his full name, not often used in public, is Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg. He was a direct descendant of Religious leader Martin Luther.

Hindenburg fought in the Army during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. He was present in Versailles when the German Empire was formally proclaimed on January 18th, 1871. He also served in the Honor Guard in the Military Funeral of Emperor William I in 1888.

He was General of the Infantry and retired from the Army in 1910 only to be recalled in 1914 with the outbreak of the Great War.

Though Hindenburg was a noted monarchist all his life, he and a staff member Wilhelm Groener, persuaded Kaiser Wilhelm II to abdicate for the greater good of Germany. This was an episode of Hindenburg's life that brought him considerable guilt and embarrassment.

From his Army career, he was decorated with some of the highest medals available in the Wehrmacht notably the Iron Cross, the Military Order of Max Joseph, the Order of the Black Eagle and the Pour le Mérite, a Prussian decoration nicknamed the Blue Max and dating to 1740.

Hindenburg became President on May 12, 1925 and took his oath to the Weimar Constitution seriously. He was known for the dignity and decorum he brought to the office. He kept himself above the sniping German politics of the era and seemed to operate more as a constitutional monarch then an elected official. In fact, he was nicknamed the Ersatzkaiser, or Substitute Kaiser.

He won re-election in 1932 though by then was in poor health and of considerable age. After that, he dissolved Parliament twice as politics flared. The new National Socialist Party, or Nazi, had received an enormous amount of the vote. After the Machtergreifung in early 1933, the Reichstag was burned possibly by Communist Party members. Hindenburg signed the Reichstagsbrandverordnung, or the Reichstag Fire Decree, on February 28th. This suspended civil liberties such as that of the Press, Assembly ant Communication Rights.

Hindenburg was a family man. He married Gertrud von Sperling, also an aristocrat, who preceded him in death. From the union there were three children, duaghters Irmengard Pauline and Annemaria and one son Oskar.

Reichstagsbrandverordnung!

In response to the fire at the Reichstag, after being asked by newly appointed Chancellor Hitler, President Hindenburg issued a decree yesterday suspending several German Civil Liberties. It goes into effect immediately and would be so until further notice.

The decree, officially called Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat (Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State), suspends Article 48 of the German Constitution. Many of the Liberties that have been suspended are the freedom of opinion, Habeas Corpus, Freedom to assemble, Freedom of the press, Freedom, Privacy of Postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications, and warrants being necessary. In addition, property rights have been restricted and the government's ability to confiscate property have been loosened.

In the further articles 2 and 3 of the decree, the Reich government was granted powers normally accorded federal states. Further articles 4 and 5 set out strict penalties such as capital punishment for arson to public buildings. Article 6 of the declaration stated that the decree went into affect at proclamation.

The fire occurred six days prior to scheduled parliamentary elections. This election was set after Hitler's appointment to the Chancellorship. He urged the President to dissolve the Parliament and set these elections.

Reichstag Burns

In Berlin tonight, the Reichstag building burned. It appears to be a case of arson. A Dutch man by the name of Marinus van der Lubbe as found without a shirt in the building. it is believed that the man has recently arrived in the country to carry out this arson attack for the Communist Party.

Berlin firefighters were alerted to the fire at 2200 hours, Berlin time. Within an hour the building was gutted but the fire was extinguished.