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

744 DER FUEHRERservers. This is because those who act rarely know exactly what theywant. Only three months later, it looked as though Himmler had beenbought by Goring in April and thus detached from Rohm; but Rohmhimself may have believed at that time that the growing power ofHimmler, whom he had first elevated and who was his subordinate,would be his own power, too. Moreover, he knew that his ownhumiliation and dissatisfaction were the humiliation and dissatisfactionof the party; when he grumbled and made demands, he did it at bottomfor Hitler; even if he was troublesome, it was only — as he saw it —because of excessive zeal and excessive loyalty. Even if Hitlersometimes liked to scold him, there was nothing to show that he wouldeventually 'trample him' as Hess had prophesied.But in May, it became clear that Hindenburg would not live muchlonger. Increasing senility had even earlier gradually removed theeighty-seven-year-old man from the actual business of government.This left the National Socialists more freedom than they would haveobtained from the President in his better days. But his imminent deathput them in the greatest embarrassment: the problem of his successionhad to be solved.Strangely enough, it did not occur to many well-informed people thathis successor could be Hitler. This idea was farthest removed from thePresident himself. At the beginning of May, he wrote a politicaltestament which later, after its publication, bore the date of May 10; in ithe cast a retrospective glance over his life; he declared that the Empirehad to be restored; referring to the immediate present, he gave 'myChancellor, Adolf Hitler, and his movement' high praise for theirachievement, but explicitly avoided designating the Fuhrer as hissuccessor. More than that, the whole tenor of the document clearly gavethe impression that Hindenburg did not wish Hitler to be the futurePresident of the Reich — nor did Hitler later call himself President. Thewriter of this testament may have been even more explicit about this inpassages which were suppressed before its publication.Soon rumors began to circulate that Hindenburg wanted a 'ReichRegency' after his death, a regime with a leader of greater authority thanHitler had. It was said that the Regent should be a