Evening Post. FRIDAY,MARCH 24, 1933. THE MAGIC OF HITLER

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 70, 24 March 1933, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY,MARCH 24, 1933. THE MAGIC OF HITLER

With three weeks of Germany's electioircampaign still to run Herr Hitler was said by the "Spectator" of February- 10 to be "increasingly revealed as the prisoner of the Hindenburg nominees in his Cabinet" but "resolved to get a clear majority in the next Reichstag at almost any cost.". Yet even then the prisoner theory seemed to have less substance in it than the determination of this magnifident, agitator, whom the President had so often put in his proper place before, to subordinate the power of the President himself to his iron • will. During his first fortnight of office the Chancellor tad, as the "Spectator" recorded in the same paragraph, suppressed the "Vbrwarts," one of the leading papers of Europe, for no graver offence than the publication !of the official manifesto of the Socialist Party. He had also persuaded the President, after the Prussian Diet had rejected a motion for its dissolution, to accomplish the same object by deposing the Prussian Ministers and putting Dr. yon Papen and others in their place, iin- spite of the decision of the Supreme Court at Leipzig which had frustrated.a similar attempt on the part of the Papen Government as illegal. ■An immense advance towards a Hitler dictatorship was recorded five or six days before the election when another •of these (decrees put Germany virtually under martial law by rescinding "personal liberty^ freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, the holding of meetings, the forming of associations, and privacy of letters and telegrams and telephones."

Even in the necessarily condensed form of our cabled reports it was obvious that lirUe had been left of German freedom when the time came to vote, and that to talk of a free election was ludicrous. "But the details now available by mail, of course, deepen the impression. The gravity of the. dissolution of the Prussian Diet as a challenge to the authority tff. the Leipzig Tribunal and not merely a blow at the Constitution; but at the foundation of.'all law was, for instance, put very forcibly by the "Berliner Tageblatt" as follows1:—

Such, a step, which is. without precedent in any civilised country, is bound to undermine the authority and prestige" of the law in this country,for if it has teen possible to ignore a decision signed by the President of the State. Tribunal—the highest Court in the land-^-What value can. henceforth be attached to the decisions made every day in ordinary legal affairs?

The new powers given to the Government for dealing with the Press included the following:—

Any daily paper may bo proliibited for four weeks. Other periodicals for sis months. If, however, a daily paper is prohibited twice within the three months following its first suspension it may be prohibited for six monthsin the case of periodicals they may bo prohibited for one year. No paper under a different title, may be substituted for one which has been prohibited

The comment of the "Berliner Tageblatt" upon this Press decree was that it "empowered the Government to exterminate completely any paper."

The Tageblatt" itself, as we were informed on March 13, has since been

suspendedand all copies seized, because while citing (sic) the* masterliness of the Nazi coup it deprecated silence about unjustifiable actions, including unauthorised arrests.

ere. *.!> as Solomon ,says, "a time to keep-silence, arid a time to speak." More specifically the prophet Amos says:'- .-: <■ \" ■.■•■'...--.. ;

The prudent .shall -ioop silence in that time, for it-is an evil time,. If the "Tageblatt". has not. • now learnt the proper time for a prudent man to keep silence when a Nazi Government is in power we' trust that it will master the lesson soon enough to escape" assassination. Is' it to be wondered, at that with the aid of such decrees as these, some of them of "doubtful legality and all supported by' wholesale arrests, free shooting, and a general terrorism, official and unofficial, the Nazi leader has established a tyranny more personal, more arbitrary, more far-reaching, and more cruel than the last of the. Kaisers ever exercised? And it is by such means that not only Hitler, who even as a private citizen claimed for his party the fight to murder political opponents, but even Hindenburg, who for "about seven years has ruled wisely, calmly, and constitutionally, are Jioping to effect—the words are those of the President himself—the "moral regeneration for a united, free, and proud Germany"! It is of course possible for a lawless tyranny to enforce uniLy of a kind, and those who like lhat sort of thing may even be "proud" of JL. But when lie described ihe resull as

"free," the aged President suggests that his judgment has succumbed to the magnetic power of his Chancellor and the vague hopes that it has inspired.

The secret of Herr Hitler's great power over the people appears to lie in their desperate condition, his sublime confidence in himself, his great gift of popular oratory, and the boldness and the vagueness of his promises. The Germans are a politically inexperienced, uncritical, and emotional people, and in the depths of their distress they have eagerly swallowed the eloquent promises of a prophet who has magnificent visions 'and a faith which is untroubled hy any sense of responsibility for the means of realising them. The Berlin correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian," to whom this article is already under obligations, draws a striking contrast between the German and the British attitude to the point last mentioned.

It -would be amusing, ho -writes (weekly edition, February 10), to see what kind of reception would be given to a British Prime Minister if he were to promise in an "address to the nation'? to abolish unemployment after four years—and without even stating how he was going to set about it. And yet that is precisely what Herr Hitler promised Germany—Germany with her 6,000,000 unemployed—in his wireless speech last week. Such a thing could have happened only in Germany,.where so much of the political life is built up on. emotions and superstitions. . . . So many a man suffering from the trado depression will no doubt give Hitler a _ chance on March 5. The election will test the power of superstition in Germany—and the people's capacity to believe in magic.

The triumph of Hitler means that German superstition has won the day. The popular faith in his magical powers will be disappointed, and the sooner, the. better for all concerned. It would be well for Europe if her fears were as certain to be proved groundless as the hopes of Germany. ,