hitler

196Winter of 1931 would have ended – the worst Winter since1809, the Germans said – if he had not loomed so formidablybehind the republic. The Reichswehr would not desert itsformer war-lord and as long as the army had no truck withthe reactionaries, a Nazi dictatorship by force of arms wouldbe dead before it was born.Besides, Herr Bruening made skilful use of his war reputationagainst Herr Hitler‟s youthful associates who were bloodthirstyin their oratory against the Chancellor, but who hadbeen only “milkthirsty,” when the Chancellor was garneringhis laurels in the trenches.If Providence had entered the producing field it couldnot have found two characters so fundamentally different asBruening and Hitler. No greater contrast could be imaginedthan having the Chancellor on a platform facing the Nazidemigod.“I have been reproached,” the Chancellor once declared,“for keeping silent too often. The duty to work conscienciouslyfor all appears to me superior to the duty to talk, andI am confident the German people will take its stand on theside of matter-of-fact earnestness.”To an audience spoiled by Hitler‟s dramatics, Bruening‟spassion for facts and figures seems unexciting and cold. Hisvoice is monotonous and he seldom uses gestures. Reasonis not a good vote-getter when nations are stampeded andBruening is neither a fanatic nor a dishonest man to thinkthat at his word of command the earthquake can be stopped.Judging by Nazi standards, Bruening is German‟s worstpolitician. He makes no attempt to sugarcoat bitter pills