Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

102 DER FUEHRERmany. The name of the army, 'Citizens' Defense' (Einwohnerwehr),stated clearly that this body was directed only against the 'Red' enemywithin; against the Communists first, but possibly also — this was moresecretly whispered — against the republican regime of the Reich.But many of the leaders would not admit this, would not even believeit. They claimed that the real purpose of the Citizens' Defense was to bea protection against the enemy without; not just against the far superiorFrench army on Germany's western frontier, but against Bolsheviks inthe northeast; against Lithuanians, who wanted to take away theGerman city of Memel and later really did; especially against the Poles.If the Berlin government tried to do away with these illegal troops and'free corps,' their leaders would have accused the government ofdepriving the country of its last remnants of protection; and quite a fewof them would have been sincere. Even a man like Rohm, as much as hehated the new state, expected that one day his army would fight theenemy on the border of the Reich.It was Hitler, and almost Hitler alone, who had a much clearerconception of the political situation and the immediate issue. He insistedon the absolute necessity of fighting the new state first, of overthrowingthe republican government before undertaking any ventures against theforeign enemy. 'Civil war — no foreign war' — this formula of Hitler'spolicy shows that he really was a man with a political idea. The foreignenemy itself, to be sure, did not want to take any risks. The Alliesdemanded that this army be dissolved, as contrary to the provisions ofthe Treaty of Versailles. With the consent of England, French andBelgian troops occupied the cities of Duisburg and Dusseldorf on theRhine, March, 1921, and England subjected Germany to a killing exportduty. A great English paper, the Morning Post, wrote that this policywould tear the German Reich apart once and for all, and prevent it fromever again becoming a menace to all Europe. The so-called Londonultimatum (May 5, 1921) set the total sum of the political debt to bepaid by Germany as indemnity for war damage to the Allies, at 132billion mark.,. Lloyd George, the British premier, said: 'We wish to stateclearly once and for all that the German responsibility for the war willbe treated as a "cause jugee."'