rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich-william-shirer-pdf

VERSAILLES, WEIMAR AND THE BEER HALL PUTSCH 59the traitors of the Fatherland, down with the November criminals! That mustbe our slogan.” 94All through the first months of 1923 Hitler dedicated himself to making theslogan effective. In February, due largely to the organizational talents of Roehm,four of the armed ”patriotic leagues” of Bavaria joined with the Nazis to form theso-called Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Vaterlaendischen Kampfverbaende (WorkingUnion of the Fatherland Fighting Leagues) under the political leadership ofHitler. In September an even stronger group was established under the nameof the Deutscher Kampfbund (German Fighting Union), with Hitler one of atriumvirate of leaders. This organization sprang from a great mass meetingheld at Nuremberg on September 2 to celebrate the anniversary of the Germandefeat of France at Sedan in 1870. Most of the fascist-minded groups in southernGermany were represented and Hitler received something of an ovation after aviolent speech against the national government. The objectives of the newKampfbund were openly stated: overthrow of the Republic and the tearing upof the Treaty of Versailles.At the Nuremberg meeting Hitler had stood in the reviewing stand next toGeneral Ludendorff during a parade of the demonstrators. This was not by accident.For some time the young Nazi chief had been cultivating the war hero,who had lent his famous name to the makers of the Kapp putsch in Berlin andwho, since he continued to encourage counterrevolution from the Right, mightbe tempted to back an action which was beginning to germinate in Hitler’smind. The old General had no political sense; living now outside Munich, hedid not disguise his contempt for Bavarians, for Crown Prince Rupprecht, theBavarian pretender, and for the Catholic Church in this most Catholic of allstates in Germany. All this Hitler knew, but it suited his purposes. He didnot want Ludendorff as the political leader of the nationalist counterrevolution,a role which it was known the war hero was ambitious to assume. Hitler insistedon that role for himself. But Ludendorffs name, his renown in the officercorps and among the conservatives throughout Germany would be an asset toa provincial politician still largely unknown outside Bavaria. Hitler began toinclude Ludendorff in his plans.In the fall of 1923 the German Republic and the state of Bavaria reacheda point of crisis. On September 26, Gustav Stresemann, the Chancellor, announcedthe end of passive resistance in the Ruhr and the resumption of Germanreparation payments. This former mouthpiece of Hindenburg and Ludendorff,a staunch conservative and, at heart, a monarchist, had come to the conclusionthat if Germany were to be saved, united and made strong again it must, atleast for the time being, accept the Republic, come to terms with the Allies andobtain a period of tranquillity in which to regain its economic strength. To driftany further would only end in civil war and perhaps in the final destruction ofthe nation.The abandonment of resistance to the French in the Ruhr and the resumptionof the burden of reparations touched off an outburst of anger and hysteria amongthe German nationalists, and the Communists, who also had been growing instrength, joined them in bitter denunciation of the Republic. Stresemann wasfaced with serious revolt from both extreme Right and extreme Left. He hadanticipated it by having President Ebert declare a state of emergency on thevery day he announced the change of policy on the Ruhr and reparations. FromSeptember 26, 1923, until February 1924, executive power in Germany under