Hitler Gradually Consolidated Power, Part Three

 For Part Two, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/05/hitler-gradually-consolidated-power_20.html

Little more than a month after President von Hindenburg thanked Hitler for taking action against Ernst Röhm and the SA, the 86 year old president died. The day before Hindenburg's death, Hitler had the German Cabinet agree to a law combining the chancellorship with the presidency (notice how well having conservatives in the cabinet worked... FOR HITLER!). With this new law, when von Hindenburg died, Hitler became the supreme commander of the armed forces, the "Reichswehr," which he soon renamed the "Wehrmacht." Hitler was now truly "der Führer" ("the leader") of Germany. By March of 1935 Hitler openly announced conscription for the army, which was as good as his tearing up the military limitations imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty. Hitler was now well on his way to becoming an even more dangerous man, as he was a man with an expanding military force under his control.    

By March of 1936 Hitler was ready to test the waters on an aggressive foreign policy move. After the end of what would come to be called "World War One," the Rhineland part of Germany in western Germany was demilitarized; that is, no troops or fortifications were allowed in the area. On March 7, 1936 Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, thus demonstrating that the region was once again a militarized area of Germany, and symbolically extending a "middle finger" to the French and British, who stamped their feet and shook their fists, but actually did nothing. Hitler's popularity rose. 

In early 1938, Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, married a much younger woman. Hitler and Hermann Göring attended the wedding; but afterwards, it was reported that the young woman had a police record, with the implication being that she was a prostitute (the police also had evidence her mother had been a prostitute). This was all played up to be a major affront to Hitler, and von Blomberg was asked to have the marriage annulled, something he would not do. Göring threatened to make the information on the woman and her mother available for release to the public. Von Blomberg resigned to avoid a total scandal. Hitler did not appoint a new commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, he simply took over the position himself. Hitler was now both supreme commander and commander-in-chief. 

Within days of von Blomberg's resignation, the commander-in-chief of the army, Colonel-General Werner von Fritsch, faced charges that he was homosexual. Von Fritsch resigned, but he chose to go before a court to argue his case, and he was acquitted. Hitler appointed Colonel-General Walther von Brauchitsch to replace von Fritsch.*
      
In March 1938, after various maneuverings, German troops and Austrian border guards removed barriers from the Austro-German border, allowing German troops to move into Austria. Not long thereafter, Hitler crossed the border into his native Austria to cheering crowds. Austria was incorporated into Germany. Britain and France did nothing. Hitler was more popular than ever among Germans.  

Meanwhile, within the German government, Franz von Papen, the vice chancellor (Vizekanzler), and one of those "conservatives" appointed to help keep a check on Hitler, was lucky to remain alive after the "purge," although he was arrested. Afterwards Hitler sent him to Vienna as his ambassador. By the way, von Papen was fluent in English (and I "believe" French). Alfred Hugenberg, another conservative, was both the Minister of Economics and the Minister of Agriculture and Nutrition/Food (Reichsminister für Wirtschaft, Reichsminister für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung). Hugenberg was a leader of the German National People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei),** a partner of the Nazis in the coalition government, but within just a few months of Hitler becoming chancellor, Hitler and the Nazis went after the DNVP, and Hugenberg drew critical attention when the backward looking government minister publicly advocated for German colonies in Africa. Hugenberg resigned in June of 1933 and he was replaced as Minister of Economics by Kurt Schmitt (an insurance executive and a member of the Allgemeine SS, "the General SS"), and by Walther Darré as Minister of Agriculture.*** Konstantin von Neurath, a conservative, was in the diplomatic service of Germany for a number of years and he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs (Reichsaußenminister) before Hitler was appointed chancellor, a position von Hindenburg kept him in when the president appointed Hitler as chancellor. Over time, Hitler moved more and more aggressively in foreign policy, and by late 1937 he laid out a plan for war at a meeting with Field Marshal von Blomberg (commander-in-chief of the armed forces), Colonel-General von Fritsch (commander-in-chief of the army), Admiral Raeder (the commander-in-chief of the navy), Hermann Göring (commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe/air force), Foreign Minister von Neurath, and Hitler's adjutant Colonel Friedrich Hossbach (usually written as "Hoßbach" in German). Blomberg, Fritsch and Neurath all had concerns about Hitler's war plans, and Blomberg and Fritsch were replaced within two months (see above), and Neurath was replaced right after that. His replacement was Joachim (von) Ribbentrop, an arrogant man who had been a wine salesman.****  

* Von Fritsch is not in any way a sympathetic figure. He believed a lot of the anti-Jewish nonsense espoused by Hitler, Himmler, etc, and he continued to support Hitler after his own resignation. Von Fritsch served during the Polish Campaign in September 1939, and he was killed by gunfire in Warsaw during the battle for the Polish capital.

** The "DNVP," as it was commonly known, was a reactionary political party, which had many anti-Jewish supporters, racists and even supporters of bringing back Kaiser Wilhelm II. Even before Hitler took power, some of the DNVP party members switched to the Nazis.

*** Darré was heavily involved in the "Blut und Boden" philosophy; that is, "Blood" equals "race/ethnicity," specifically, "Nordic/Germanic," and "Soil" equals "land/territory (of the Nordic/Germanic people)." Interestingly, Darré had partial French and Spanish ancestry, besides German and Swedish. In the Nazi/White Nationalist marches in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, marchers periodically chanted, "Blood and soil." Counter protesters outnumbered the Nazis, but the President of the United States, Donald Trump, publicly said, "There were good people on both sides." He has periodically whined that some people call him "a fascist," but we see and hear, what we see and hear, you fascist!

**** While I don't recall all of the details at the moment, Ribbentrop's name was somewhat controversial, as I believe he later added the "von" (designating nobility), and I'm relatively certain he was not born with that designation. Ribbentrop was not all that well liked by the other Nazi leaders, especially Göring, who, as I recall, was able to irritate Ribbentrop by raising the subject of his family name, or by deliberately leaving out the "von" when mentioning the name. 

WORD HISTORY:
Crony-This word is related to "chronicle" and "chronic," words derived from Greek, borrowed by Latin, then passed to Latin-based French and eventually borrowed by English. While not a word from many hundreds of years ago, it goes back to transliterated Greek "khronios," which meant "long lasting, enduring," which was derived from transliterated Greek "khronos," which meant "time." The origin of the Greek form is not known. It developed from Greek "khronios" in the mid 1600s at Cambridge University, initially as, "chrony" with the meaning, "long time friend," and it only later developed the negative meaning, "close associate or subordinate to a criminal boss or in a criminal enterprise."

Hitler Gradually Consolidated Power, Part One

First... Adolf Hitler did not "seize" power. Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany very legally on January 30, 1933 by President Paul von Hindenburg, a major German military figure and field marshal during the "Great War" (later to be called "World War One").*//** Hindenburg was an old time conservative, and he had resisted appointing "the Bohemian corporal," as he referred to Hitler at least on one occasion. He also appointed more traditional conservatives to the cabinet, with the idea that they would "control" Hitler. But with Hitler as chancellor, he and his Nazi inner circle began to outmaneuver the conservatives and to circumvent the German constitution and to consolidate power for himself and for the Nazi Party in general. Conservative opposition began to melt, as more conservatives became complicit in Nazi rule, if not outright accomplices. Does this sound familiar Americans?

In the Reichstag election of November 1932, the last truly free German election before Hitler became chancellor, the Nazis received 33% of the vote, a drop from 37% in the prior election, but the Nazis still remained the largest German political party in terms of the number of votes. After Hitler was appointed chancellor on January 30, 1933, new elections were authorized for March 5. On the evening of February 27, the Reichstag building in Berlin was reported to be on fire. Police arrested a mentally unstable Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe, who admitted he set fire to the building. The Nazis screamed "communist conspiracy," and some other known communists were arrested and put on trial with van der Lubbe. Hitler got President von Hindenburg to sign a decree to "protect" against a communist conspiracy. The decree suspended virtually all civil liberties in Germany, including freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Further, the decree turned over many state powers to the national government.*** The law essentially gave the Nazis a free hand to arrest about anyone who opposed them by accusing the person of being a communist. "Generally," the German courts were still outside Nazi control. While van der Lubbe was convicted of the Reichstag fire, and then beheaded, the other main communists were acquitted, a verdict by the judge that led Trump... I mean Hitler, to establish a new Nazi court, the People's Court (German: Volksgerichtshof), to get around the not yet Nazified constitutional courts.

To be clear, the situation with the Reichstag fire has been, and still is, contentious. Van der Lubbe admitted to starting the fire by himself, but there are those who feel the fire was too big for one person to start, and that van der Lubbe had help, either from the communists, or from the Nazis, who, some quite logically believe, wanted an incident to provide them with a reason to crack down on opponents prior to the approaching election. There have also been theories that Hermann Göring, who was then the president of the Reichstag, had helped to plan the fire and to provide aid by sending Nazi stormtroopers through a tunnel that connected his office and residence to the Reichstag, which were across the street from one another. Whether such a tunnel existed, I don't know, but regardless of who started the fire, or who participated in the fire, the Nazis used the Reichstag fire to full effect. On election day the Nazis stationed Stormtroopers throughout the country. Even the strong arm tactics could not win the bastards a majority, and the Nazis received just shy of 44% of the vote. Less than three weeks later, the Reichstag was to vote on what is usually called "the Enabling Act" in English (German:  "Ermächtigungsgesetz"). The law allowed Hitler and the cabinet to make changes to the German constitution WITHOUT the consent of the Reichstag. Because the law changed the constitution, it needed support from two-thirds of the delegates, with two-thirds of the delegates needing to be present. All Communist delegates had been locked up after the post Reichstag fire decree and this removed a block of "no" votes. Still, Hitler lacked votes to get to the necessary two-thirds affirmative vote, and he turned to the Center Party, a Catholic-based political party. After Hitler's promise to protect Catholic religious practices and Catholic schools, the Center Party, although skeptical about Hitler's promises, voted with the Nazis and the Reichstag became irrelevant for the rest of the Nazi era. Hitler periodically used the Reichstag as a forum for important speeches, and to rubber stamp his policies, but it actually held no importance.

By the way, the fire destroyed much of the main meeting hall in the Reichstag, and thereafter, meetings were held in the nearby Kroll Opera House (German: Krolloper), and if you've seen photos or films of Hitler speaking to the Reichstag, almost all of the films and photos were taken in the Kroll Opera House, not in the actual Reichstag building itself. The Kroll Opera House was badly damaged by bombing during the war and it was torn down a few years after the war ended. The damaged Reichstag building remained, and it was a focal point in the fighting between Soviet and German troops in late April and early May of 1945, during the street fighting in Berlin, but it was not used for any legislative meetings until after German reunification in the 1990s. When Berlin was divided into "occupation zones" after World War Two, the Reichstag building was in the British zone, essentially right on the line with the Soviet zone. The (Communist) East German government erected a wall to divide Berlin in the early 1960s, "officially" to keep other people "out," a propaganda ploy that fooled no one. The Reichstag building was substantially renovated in the 1990s and it has kept its name, "Reichstag Building," but since the post World War Two years until the present, the German national parliament is called the Bundestag; that is, the Federal Parliament or Diet.

This is a picture of the Reichstag from a postcard I bought in Berlin back in the mid 1980s. The infamous "Berlin Wall" and Communist East Berlin was right behind the building. 

* The German president was the head of state; the German official, elected by a vote of the German people, who represented Germany in public ceremonial events. He also had the tremendous powers to appoint the chancellor and cabinet ministers, to dissolve the Reichstag (the German representative parliament) and to call for extraordinary national elections for delegates to the Reichstag (Note: this means the president could call for elections to be held outside the normally scheduled election dates). He was also the supreme commander of the armed forces, a very substantial power, as the army, especially, was held in very high regard in those days in German society, as the army was limited by the Versailles Treaty to 100,000 men, meaning that likely EVERY soldier was a veteran of the Great War. The chancellor of Germany was the head of the German government and its various departments (called ministries in German terminology and in many other countries, too).

** Hitler and the Nazis always wanted to present themselves as "strong," and the idea of "seizing power" was part of that effort, with the further idea that they were "revolutionaries," wanting to overthrow the then constitutional German government, and to prevent the Communists from taking power. The failed Nazi putsch (coup) of November 9, 1923, which was truly an attempt to "seize power," became a sacred event to the Nazis year after year, and a virtual holiday to them, complete with a Nazi banner carried during the coup attempt, and a solemn ceremony officiated by Hitler. You would likely be hard pressed to find elsewhere so much time and effort expended in celebration of a failure, but it was a failure Hitler and the Nazis turned to their advantage; thus, covering up just what a colossal failure it had actually been. A similar effort was made with the expression "seizure of power" ("die Machtergreifung"), which in reality, was simply the legal appointment of Hitler as chancellor by President von Hindenburg, but the terminology was used to make it sound strong and to show it as the realization of the putsch from 1923. As Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels said, "Truth isn't truth" ... oh wait, Rudy Giuliani said that.       

*** Germany had a federal system; that is, a system where the states had many powers delegated to them and where the national government had other powers for the entire country. By allowing the national government, then under Hitler's authority, to control many powers within the individual states, the Nazis took control of much of the authority in all states, including in those states where they were in a distinct minority. 

WORD HISTORY:
Cough-While the ancient origin of this word is uncertain, its "likely" an Old Germanic attempt to imitate the "sound of the act of coughing, throat clearing, forcefully expelling air from the mouth or gasping," as "kokh." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cohhetan," meaning, "to cough, to make noise by forceful expulsion of air." This then became "coughen," with the "gh" pronounced similarly to "ch." The noun developed from the verb (between 1200 and 1300?). Words spelled with "ough" in them gradually began to change in pronunciation, as English speakers got further away from the more guttural sounds of before. As with "laugh," "cough" came to be pronounced as if "coff." Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German "keuchen" ("to wheeze, to huff and puff, to gasp for air"),^ Low German "seemingly" does not use a form in modern times, but it once had "küchen" (cough, clear the throat), Dutch "kuchen" ("to cough, to clear the throat"), Swedish "kika" (breath heavily, but its use seems to be limited today).

^ German also has "hauchen," meaning, "to breath (through the mouth)." It's a word not used by everyone, but initially it carried the idea of "to breathe audibly through the mouth," and it was spelled with a beginning "k." While I'm not totally certain, it could well be another form of the modern German form "keuchen" (once spelled "keichen"); thus, this would make it, too, a relative of English "cough."        

Traudl Junge, Working For Evil, Part Three/Final

In both her book and her interviews, Traudl Junge relates a number of anecdotes about life so close to Hitler, including his obsession with his female German Shepherd, Blondie. In her interviews she said that Hitler was detached from the ruin he was bringing to Germany, let alone to other nations, and that, when she once  mentioned to him about the destruction in Munich (she was from Munich) from air attacks, he just started spouting his usual slogans about how he would retaliate against his enemies once he regained the upper hand. She noted that, as far as she could recall, Hitler never saw a bombed out German city or area of a city, as he kept the curtains drawn in his private train and when he went to Berlin, the train would arrive in the darkness of night and the chauffeur would travel on streets with little or no damage. This is the sign of a man hiding from himself.

Traudl Junge spent much time telling of the final days of Hitler in his Berlin bunker, located well beneath the Reich Chancellery complex. His long time mistress, Eva Braun (pronounced like  "brown," not "brawn") joined him there. About a week before his death, Hitler told the women to get ready to leave Berlin, as a plane was going to take them to southern Germany. He admitted the war was lost. Two secretaries left, along with a number of other personnel, but Traudl Junge and one other secretary, Gerda Christian, as well as Eva Braun, chose to remain in Berlin. Traudl told of how during lulls in the fighting for Berlin, she, Eva and Gerda Christian would venture above ground and out into the garden part of the complex. They once came upon a fountain statue of a woman much to Eva's liking. Upon returning to the bunker, Eva told Hitler of the statue, and, with Soviet troops only a few blocks away, she asked if he would buy the statue for her if he won the war. Now, you've got to admit, that's pretty bizarre, BUT he answered her! He told her the statue was government property and that he couldn't just buy it and give it to her for her own private garden, but she asked if he would make this one exception just for her. These people were NUTS! 

Also along those same lines, as the war approached its end, some of the Nazi leaders still played cutthroat politics in an effort to grab more power. As the Soviets closed in, Hermann Göring, Hitler's designated successor, sent a telegram from southern Germany to Hitler stating that with Hitler surrounded in Berlin, and with the likelihood of his losing the ability to communicate orders to the military and to the nation, that if a reply to his telegram was not received from Hitler by that evening, he would assume Hitler no longer had the ability to communicate orders, and that he, Göring, would assume power as Hitler had specified several years before. The telegram was not anything unreasonable, and at first, according to Junge, Hitler too seemed to have accepted it as such. Then Martin Bormann convinced the fanatical, furious Führer that Göring's act was high treason. Hitler became violently upset and ordered Göring's arrest and possible execution.* Then came word from a British radio broadcast that Heinrich Himmler, the powerful head of the dreaded SS, and a murderous nutcase if there ever was one, had entered into negotiations with the Allies through a neutral party. Hitler had another serious temper tantrum, as the man he called "mein treuer Heinrich" (my true or loyal Heinrich) abandoned the fanatical, furious Führer too. He ordered Himmler's arrest and execution.** For good measure, Hitler ordered the arrest of Himmler's adjutant, Hermann Fegelein, who was Eva Braun's brother in law (he was married to her sister, Gretl, who was like 8 months pregnant at that time). Eva's brother in law notwithstanding, Fegelein was then executed. Even in the final days of his life, with the Russians just a block or two away, Hitler spread death over essentially meaningless things.

Junge noted, Hitler had told her he would never be captured alive, and in preparation for that situation, he had received cyanide capsules from Himmler. With Himmler's peace negotiations Hitler became suspicious that the poison Himmler had provided would not be sufficient to take his life; the fear being that Himmler might try to trade "a live Hitler" for his own safety, so Hitler had it tried out on his dog Blondie, and it was found to be potent, as the poor dog died immediately. Hitler married Eva Braun and he told Traudl Junge he wanted her to take some dictation from him. It was his last will and testament. Traudl said at first she thought something like, "Now we'll hear the real reasons for everything, the truth," but instead, Hitler spouted his usual nonsense, including blaming Jews for the war. Not long after she typed the dictated notes, Hitler and Eva committed suicide. Traudl Junge was part of a group that tried to get through the Soviet lines to the Western Allies. Some of the group were killed, others were captured, but Traudl got through, only to turn around and return to Berlin before getting to the Allies. I believe she said she hoped to be able to get a train to her parents in southern Germany. Instead, she ended up in Soviet captivity for about a year and a half.

Traudl eventually made it home and she worked at a number of jobs over the years, but she also learned what Hitler and the Nazis had done during their time in power. She said initially she felt no particular connection between her life and the terrible events that had transpired, that she had just been a secretary and had not known about the atrocities, but then one day in Munich, she saw the plaque commemorating Sophie Scholl for her resistance to the Nazis,*** and she realized that some Germans DID try to learn about what had been going on. For the rest of her life she had emotional troubles, as she struggled to deal with her role in the tragedies wrought by Hitler. Her guilt feelings got to the point they were not rational, as she even blamed herself for the initial Nazi persecution of German Jews in 1933, when she was only 12 or 13 years old. She said she took some consolation in the knowledge that millions of other Germans had been swayed by Hitler, but that it was just not enough to soothe her conscience. She died of cancer in 2002, age 81. As I've "preached" here at times, Traudl Junge came to realize, too late, that once you let fascists in, you don't get them back out easily, and that people from all walks of life can become susceptible to their hate and destructiveness. Stopping the advance of fascism starts with our own self evaluation and then the determination not to fall under the spell of simplistic solutions or hate filled slogans and rants by radio or television personalities trying to worm their way into our lives and minds. They lay the groundwork for fascist politicians to gain control. Traudl Junge's message was, "Pay attention to what's going on around you! Don't think it has nothing to do with you."   

* Martin Bormann was one of Hitler's closest and most powerful associates during the war, when his power grew tremendously. He controlled who got in to see Hitler and he saw all correspondence before it got to Hitler's desk. The German public knew little about Bormann, although he was almost always by Hitler's side from 1941 until the very end. With loads of captured Nazi documents available after the war, historians came to realize that the little known Bormann was one of the most powerful Nazi leaders, besides Hitler himself. For more on Bormann, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/09/german-leaders-of-nazi-erabormann.html

** Himmler did not fall victim to his fanatical, furious Führer, but rather he was captured by the British awhile later. He committed suicide while in their custody. For more on Himmler, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/10/german-leaders-of-nazi-erahimmler.html 

*** In early 1943, Sophie Scholl, her brother, Hans, and a friend, Christoph Probst, were arrested for distributing leaflets at the University of Munich urging Germans to resist the Nazis and the war. They were "tried" before a Nazi court and then beheaded. There are several memorials and honors to this young courageous German woman and to the other Germans who tried to fight evil, and who gave their lives doing so. A 2003 poll of Germans showed Sophie and Hans Scholl are viewed as some of the most important Germans in history, and another poll of Germans placed Sophie as one of the greatest women of the 20th Century. Germans have learned the lessons the hard way, others should pay heed to the German experience.

Photo is from the paperback edition of "Bis zur letzten Stunde" (Until the Last Hour) by Traudl Junge, with cooperation from Melissa Müller, published in paperback in 2003 in German (there have been English language editions also), although there have been various printings since the original paperback. This is the 8th German paperback printing from 2011 from List Taschenbuch.

WORD HISTORY: 

Turf-This word for "grass covered area" goes back to Indo European "darbh/dorbh," which meant "clump or tuft of grass." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "turb," which meant "grass covered surface/area." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "turf," with the same meaning. Some dialects had "torf" and "tyrf," but eventually English kept "turf" as the standard spelling. In post World War Two American English the word was used for "a neighborhood dominated by a gang;" that is, "their turf." Common in the other Germanic languages: Low German Saxon has "Torf/Törf," which means "peat" (soil with dead and decomposing plants, as the area of northern Germany and northern Europe had bogs/marshes, where such was common), standard German has "Torf," also meaning "peat," as the word came into standard German from Low German; Dutch and West Frisian have "turf" (peat), Danish "tørv"  (peat), Icelandic has "torf" (sod), Norwegian has the compound "gresstorv" (sod, turf) and Swedish has "torv" (turf, peat).

German Leaders Of The Nazi Era: "Göring"

"Political Leaders" Part One/A "Göring"

I'm doing this in response to a suggestion by a regular reader. The information on each of these leaders is from memory (unless otherwise noted), and comes from the many books and articles I've read over many, many years, plus from documentaries I've seen during that period, which is now closing in on five decades. As I so often note here, if something interests you, please check online sources for more information, or, better yet, go to your local library and see what books and articles they have on the subject of interest to you. I've simply picked out a few of the top German leaders from the Nazi era, and there were many more, but it is always important to remember about that time, that Hitler was THE final authority on EVERYTHING. The whole Nazi system was built around him, and he continued to assume more and more power over the years. While Hitler is seen as the all powerful dictator, he was not much of an administrator, being somewhat lazy, by many accounts, especially in the prewar years. He preferred to set out "themes" then taken by his underlings, who translated their interpretations of these themes into actions. That is likely the reason why no direct order has ever been found with Hitler's signature on it, directing the extermination of Europe's Jews. He did however talk about such, even publicly, as he did in a speech to the Reichstag just months before the war began in 1939. In that speech, he said that if war came to Europe, it would not result in the victory of "Jewry" ("Judentum"), but instead it would result in the destruction of the Jewish race in Europe ("die Vernichtung der jüdische Rasse in Europa).* It can't be much clearer than that, so don't buy the nonsense from Hitler apologists who say he knew nothing of the death camps and mass executions of Jews.

Hermann Göring (also: Goering, but less common)-Göring was a genuine hero as an ace pilot in World War One. He was highly decorated, and in fact, he became the commander of the same unit of the famous Baron von Richthofen, popularly known as "The Red Baron" ("der Rote Baron," in German), not long after the Baron's death. Since his name was quite familiar to the German public, there's no question that Göring's joining the Nazi Party gave it a certain credibility. Göring became the president of the Reichstag (parliament), and he became the head of the revived German Luftwaffe (airforce) under Hitler. If you compare pictures of Göring from World War One with those taken through the years thereafter, you can see he lived a pretty good life, as his waist line expanded tremendously. He loved the benefits of power, and when German forces occupied various countries, but especially France, he grabbed many great works of art for himself.

Severely wounded in the thigh during the attempted Nazi takeover of Germany in 1923, Göring became addicted to the morphine used to ease his pain, and his addiction was a chronic problem throughout the rest of his life, with periods where he kicked the habit, and periods where he returned to drug use. Göring's jovial personality was popular with the German people, seemingly even when the severe air raids began during World War Two, and, as head of the Luftwaffe, he bore responsibility to protect Germany from Allied bombers. Early in the war, Göring "supposedly" said something to the effect, "You can call me 'Meier' if any bombs are dropped on _______."** It wasn't long before Germans began referring to him as "Herr Meier," so there must be some truth about Göring's statement. Göring must also bear a good deal of the blame for the eventual surrender of German forces at Stalingrad, as he assured Hitler shortly after the Red Army surrounded the Germans there, that the Luftwaffe could supply the army inside Stalingrad, something that did not happen. While Hitler may have kept the army there anyway, Göring's assertion certainly solidified Hitler's position of not permitting his forces to breakout of the encirclement. Hitler publicly named Göring as his successor on September 1, 1939 (the day of the German invasion of Poland). Göring is really a mixture of political leader AND military leader, and he was first a general, then Hitler promoted him to field marshal, then to a special rank created only for Göring, "Reichsmarshall" ("Marshal of the Reich").

In the waning days of the war, with the Russians advancing inside Berlin and Hitler hidden deeply away in his bunker beneath the German capitol, Göring, who was in southern Germany, sent a message to Hitler asking about succeeding him. In the message, Göring noted that he realized that Hitler may not have had the ability to respond under the circumstances, and that if he, Göring, didn't receive an answer within so many hours (I just forget the time Göring used), that he would assume Hitler was incapacitated in some way, and that he, Göring, would assume the role as Hitler's successor, as Hitler had ordered in 1939. Göring's message was entirely proper, and according to accounts from survivors who were in the bunker, Hitler seems to have seen it as such, AT FIRST. Hitler's deputy, Martin Bormann, however, supported by Joseph Goebbels,*** Hitler's propaganda chief and personal foe of Göring, told Hitler that Göring's message was an ultimatum, and that Göring was trying to seize power. Ah, excuse me. Helllllllooooooo!!! Seize power of what? A destroyed nation on its knees? It just shows how nuts these guys really were. Hitler exploded and ordered Göring to be stripped of all ranks and offices. He also ordered Göring's execution. With the Russians only blocks away, Hitler was still consumed by such nonsense. The execution order was never carried out, and Göring was captured by American troops. He was put on trial at Nuremberg and mounted a defiant defense. Interestingly, Göring was in the midst of a drug bout when captured, and Allied doctors not only cleaned up his "habit," but reduced his huge hulk to a more manageable size. With a clear mind, this all served Göring well during the trial, as he was shown to be highly intelligent, but his crafty defense didn't save him, and he was condemned to "death by hanging" ("Tod durch den Strang, " literally "death through the rope," and "Strang" is indeed closely related to English "string"). Just a couple of hours before the sentence was to be carried out, Göring took poison and died in his cell. There have been many theories as to how Göring got the poison, and if interested, that might be something you will want to check on, as an American officer at the prison is one of the possible people involved.

Finally, during episodes of drug use, Göring's behavior was reported at times to be bizarre, and many people who knew him commented or wrote about such after the war. Some devout supporters denied many of the scandalous stories about Göring, but I believe there is more than a little basis of truth to most of them; not everyone could have been lying. While I mentioned Göring's jovial personality, it MUST be noted, he could be absolutely RUTHLESS, at times. To his credit, he did try to stop the war from breaking out in 1939, just prior to the invasion of Poland. In my opinion, he was enjoying power too much. He didn't want to jeopardize all the fun by a war that could, and eventually did, end badly (obviously, from his point of view).

* For the entire passage, see "Hitler-Reden und Proklamationen" ("Hitler-Speeches and Proclamations") Band (Volume) II, page 1058, from Hitler's speech to the Reichstag on January 30, 1939.

** It is tough to pin down the exact quote of Göring, and I left the space blank, because some say he mentioned Berlin, others the Ruhr (the major industrial region of Germany), and still others, Germany.

*** Goebbels and Bormann will be covered in Part One/B of this series.

WORD HISTORY:
Singe-This word for "to lightly burn around the edges or tips of something, often hair," has an uncertain origin. It "may" be a Germanic invention, or perhaps more specifically a West Germanic invention (English, German, Low German, Dutch and Frisian are West Germanic), and some believe it is actually related to "sing;" the connection being the sort of "hissing" sound made when something is singed, but I'm not completely sold on that, but don't laugh, words take on meanings in strange, even comic, ways at times. Anyway, West Germanic had "sangjanan," which meant "to burn, scorch." This led to Old English "sengan" (also spelled "sencgan"), which had the "lightly burn" meaning first noted above. Later it was spelled "sengen," before the modern version. German has "sengen," Dutch has "zengen," both also meaning "to singe, to scorch." Frisian had a form, "sendza," but apparently it died out. Icelandic once had "sangr," which also meant "burned," but was this a borrowing from West Germanic? (Icelandic is North Germanic) Or is this a tie to Old Germanic? By the way, "singeing," with the "e" intact, while it looks odd, is the proper spelling, in order to distinguish it from "singing."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Thirty-Six

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part One/B
"War Comes To Europe" Part Two

Many historians view September 1, 1939 as the beginning of World War Two, but it is important to remember, Japan and China had been fighting off and on since the early 1930s, and Japan and its satellite entity, Manchukuo (a part of Manchuria), also came into conflict with the Soviet Union in that area. In 1939, Germany and Japan were "loosely" connected by an anti-Communism pact, which they had signed in the latter part of 1936, and it wasn't until 1940 that they became true military allies. Also in 1936, Germany and Italy had signed a "friendship pact," known commonly as "the Rome-Berlin Axis," which later gave the two countries and their other allies the name, "the Axis powers." This pact was expanded in May 1939 as much more of a military alliance as "the Pact of Steel" between Germany and Italy.

With the invasion of Poland by Germany, and with both Britain and France allied to Poland, you might think there would have been a swift declaration of war on Germany by Britain and France, but that was not the case. While the public, many legislative members, and some cabinet members in both countries wanted an immediate declaration of war on Germany, the more prominent government leaders hesitated, and instead issued a warning to Hitler, that he must withdraw his military forces from Poland before any large-scale talks on Danzig or the Polish Corridor could begin. In an attempt to add weight to the statement and to placate the public and certain government members, they included in the "warning," that if Germany did not withdraw her forces from Poland, Britain and France would honor their alliances with Poland, with the implication being, they would declare war on Germany. There was some diplomatic activity attempted through Hermann Göring, who, while close with Hitler, and indeed his designated successor,* was opposed to the invasion of Poland, because of the possible war with Britain and France. Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, now criticized even by members of his own political party for lack of a declaration of war, faced the reality that Hitler had to be confronted militarily. Laying Göring's diplomatic effort aside, Chamberlain issued a direct ultimatum to Hitler to begin to withdraw German forces from Poland, or Britain would declare war within a couple of hours. No answer was received from Hitler, and Chamberlain announced that Britain was at war with Germany. France followed with a similar ultimatum and the consequent announcement of war. A general European war had erupted; it was September 3, 1939.

The irony to all of this was, Britain and France had chosen NOT to help Czechoslovakia over a matter far more egregious, the German occupation of March 1939. They now went to war over what they themselves felt was a justified German grievance, the city of Danzig.

In Germany, Hitler was a bit stunned that the "little worms"** had taken a stand against him. Göring said, "If we lose this war, then may heaven be merciful to us."***

* Hitler formally named Göring as his successor in his speech to the Reichstag on September 1,  1939 when he said: "Should something happen to me in this struggle, then my first successor will be party comrade Göring" (German: "Sollte mir in diesem Kampf etwas zustoßen, dann ist mein erster Nachfolger Parteigenosse Göring.")

** About a week before the attack on Poland, Hitler said about the British and French leaders, "Our enemies are 'little worms.' I saw them in Munich," in reference to the Munich Conference which began the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. ("Unsere Gegner sind kleine Würmchen. I sah sie in München.")

*** "Wenn wir diesen Krieg verlieren, dann möge uns der Himmel gnädig sein."

WORD HISTORY:
Panzer-This word, borrowed from German, came into usage in English during the World War Two era, and it has been used in reference to German tanks ever since, including in books, on television and in movies. The ultimate origin of its ancestor is unknown. It goes back to Latin "panticem," which meant "belly, stomach," whose nominative form was "pantex." This was inherited by Old French, a Latin-based language, as "pance," which then spawned "panciere," which meant "armor or mail^ to protect the abdominal area." German borrowed the word (1200s or 1300s???) as "panzier," and later, in its modern spelling as "Panzer," the notion of "armor" remained, although the "stomach, belly" idea died out in German. "Technically" it does not mean "tank," although usage in both German and English has certainly made it synonymous with "tank," but the actual German word for tank is "Panzerkampfwagen;" German being known for stringing words together as one "super word," and it means, "armor(ed) battle wagon/vehicle." Now you know why they just say "Panzer." For those studying German, it is masculine; thus, "der Panzer."

^ Mail, not the "letter" kind, but rather "armor, chain mesh," used by the knights of old.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Eleven

The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part Two/B-1
"A Beer Hall in Munich; the Beer Hall Putsch"

For those interested in more detail, and the various participants, there are lots of books and articles about this famous attempt to bring Hitler to power. Here are just the basics:

Hitler had courted the support of General Erich Ludendorff, the former German military leader during the Great War (later called World War One), who was firmly positioned on the far right of the political spectrum. In November 1923, Hitler and the other Nazi leaders, along with Ludendorff, decided to overthrow the Bavarian state government, and thus begin a series of government takeovers that would culminate in the takeover of the national government in Berlin. The whole thing was patterned after Mussolini's "March on Rome," which had occurred about a year earlier.*

Hitler's Nazi Party was headquartered in Munich, where beer halls, large and small, were often used for political speeches and meetings. One of the larger beer halls was the "Bürgerbräukeller," which could accommodate several thousand people. In November 1923, one of the Bavarian state leaders was giving a speech at the beer hall in the evening. Hitler and his inner circle, along with several hundred armed Nazi Stormtroopers,** charged into the hall and proclaimed that a revolution had begun. The Bavarian police and the German army, in spite of Ludendorff, remained loyal to the government. Without the support of either, especially the army, the "Putsch" was doomed. The next day, in an effort to revive the "revolution," Ludendorff and perhaps as many as 2000 Nazis, including Hitler and the other leading Nazis, marched through Munich, where a group of soldiers and armed police blocked their passage. There was firing from both sides and sixteen Nazis lay dead or dying, as well as some soldiers and police. Hitler fled, but Ludendorff continued to march forward through the gunfire, as no one in the government forces chose to fire on the general. Hermann Göring was seriously wounded in the upper leg, but managed to escape.*** Hitler was later arrested and was put on trial for treason.

Next..."Trial and Punishment Brings Fame"

* Thousands of Mussolini's Fascists, in an effort to show their strength, converged upon Rome from all over Italy during about a one week period in October 1922. At the end of the one week, the King of Italy, fearful of a bloody civil war, asked that Mussolini form a new government. The King, Vittorio Emanuele III (Victor Emmanuel), was the head of state, and remained as such, although docilely, throughout Mussolini's more than 20 years in power. It was only Italy's miserable performance in World War Two and war weariness by the Italian public that finally moved him to action, and he eventually dismissed Mussolini in late July 1943.

** The Nazi paramilitary force was called the "Sturmabteilung," or "SA," for short. Like its close relative, English "storm," German "Sturm" also means "storm in the sense of  'assault,' " besides the violent weather event. "Abteilung," in the military sense means "detachment," and depending upon usage, even "battalion." The SA is usually referred to as "Storm Troopers" in English, and even "Brownshirts," after their brown uniform apparel.

*** Göring's treatment with morphine for the severe pain led him on an intermittent, but life long, dependence on the drug.

WORD HISTORY:
Putsch-It is used in English primarily in reference to Hitler's failed "Putsch" in Munich. It is another word for "coup;" that is, an attempt to overthrow a government. It goes back to the 1400s and Swiss German dialect "bütsch" or "pütsch," which meant "hit, shove," and it seems to just have developed as an imitative word. That means humans try to put certain sounds or actions into words. "Crash" may well be one of those words, too. The dialect word spread throughout German, but without the umlaut; that is, the two little dots over the "u." It came into use in English during the 1920s, but gained usage later, as stories and articles about Hitler were common place during and since World War Two.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Ten

The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part Two/B-1
"Hitler & The Nazis March Toward Power"

Benito Mussolini is important to Hitler's rise simply because his Italian Fascist Party, which was very similar to the German Nazi Party, came to power in Italy in the early 1920s. Mussolini had been a member of the Socialist Party earlier in his life, but he began to alter his thinking on socialist concepts, moving toward a more "collectivist" idea of people from all walks of life having to join together for the good of the "state;" that is, the nation. So, nationalism trumps individual rights and self interest. In the post-World War One era, this basic concept was a growing view among many people in various parts of the world. The Bolshevik take over in Russia sent shock waves throughout Europe. Similar communist movements quickly developed in many countries, including Italy and Germany, scaring the absolute hell out of the upper classes, industrialists, and many middle class people. In those times, many of these people were willing to accept left-leaning programs to keep far more radical ideas from taking hold, especially things like confiscation of private property and major forced restructuring of societal wealth. In Italy, Mussolini and his paramilitary forces came to be seen by middle and upper class people as their defenders against the Communists, even though there were socialist-like elements in their program. These ideas and the appeal to Italian nationalism brought many working class and lower class people into the fold, as nationalism trumped self-interest.*

In Germany, the Nazi Party gained ground with the upper classes and business people, who also began to see the Nazis as a counter-balance to the communists. Gradually these people began to give money to the Nazis. This helped Hitler to promote the movement, and also to take on even more paramilitary forces to combat German Communist Party paramilitaries in the streets of German cities. Nazi leaders, like Hermann Göring, only reinforced the notion to middle and upper class people that the Nazis were a party of heroes who would stand up to the Communists.** This notion would only grow stronger.

Next..."A Beer Hall in Munich; the Beer Hall Putsch"

*Once in power, Mussolini naturally began to implement policies according to his beliefs, implementing "corporatism," as it was called, but it is a subject beyond these articles. The main thing to remember is, Italian fascism did provide a certain blueprint for fascist groups in other countries, including Germany and Austria, where a Nazi movement also took hold. ("Corporatism" was/is the collective organization of segments of society that are then "managed" by the state.)  

**Göring was a genuine hero as a pilot in World War One. He was highly decorated, and in fact, he became the commander of the same unit of the famous Baron von Richthofen, popularly known as "The Red Baron" ("der Rote Baron," in German), not long after the Baron's death. His name was quite familiar to the German public. There's no question that Göring's joining the Nazi Party gave it a certain credibility.

WORD HISTORY:
Marshal (mare + shalk) Part Two-The word "shalk," obviously not a word in common modern English usage, goes back to Old Germanic "skalkaz," which meant "servant." Indo European likely provided the root for this word, but what that root was, I do not know. The Old Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "scealc," also meaning "servant," and which later became "shalk." Now, some people believe Germanic already had the compound which has become modern "marshal," which is simply the combination of "mare" + "shalk;" and which originally meant "a servant who tended horses, a groom." It "seems," however, that while English had the two component words, it hadn't put them together into a word. If there was such an Old English word, it apparently died out. Meanwhile on the Continent, Old High German had put the two words together as "marahscale," with the general meaning of "servant who tended horses," and this is one of the reasons some believe Germanic already had the compound, BUT Old High German essentially developed AFTER the dialects that became English had left the mainland. Old Saxon, very closely related to Old English,  also had a compound, "marahscalc." Old Saxon was the Germanic dialect of the Saxons who remained in what is now northern Germany, after a large number of their kin migrated to Britain and helped to found England. Most believe "marshal" came to English via the French dialect brought to England by the Normans when they invaded, and then ruled, England, which had "marescal." This dialect had gotten the word from Old French, "marescal," which had inherited the basic word from Latin "mariscalus," which had borrowed the word from Frankish (a Germanic dialect) "mahrskalk/marhskalk." It had come to mean more than just "horse servant" in Latin and its offspring Old French. Horses were extremely important, and the word came to be applied to a man "in charge" of horse care; a "commander" of sorts. This eventually came to be extended to also mean "a military commander," a meaning also carried to England by the Normans. The word begins to show up in English in the 1200s. Of course later on, it came to be used as "field marshal," and, especially in America, as "a leading law enforcement officer." The word also gained a verb form in the 1500s, as in "we will marshal our forces;" that is, "our forces will be commanded to a particular location and be readied for battle."