Background: By 1932, the Nazi Party’s regional units (Gaue) generally published their own newspapers. I here translate the articles on the first page of an October 1932 issue of Rote Erde (Red Earth), the Nazi newspaper published in Bochum. The articles give interesting examples of Nazi propaganda for the period shortly before Hitler took power. I also translate several interior articles that present Nazis as innocent victims of the Marxists. This issue appeared ten days before the 6 November 1932 Reichstag elections, at which the Nazis lost some votes. This issue was kindly given to me by Neil Hever.
The source: Rote Erde, issue of 27 October 1932.
Vote for List 1
Bochumer Nationalzeitung — Beobachter für Hagen und das Sauerland — Dortmunder Nationalanzeiger
Publisher: Josef Wagner, M.d.R [Member of the German Reichstag]
Official daily newspaper of Gau Westfalen-Süd of the NSDAP
(From our Essen office). Essen. 27 October. Although the leading men of the chambers of commerce in the Rhine-Ruhr area present themselves as “nationally” minded, nearly all have openly supported Papen’s [Papen was the current chancellor] anti-social policies. The Essen Chamber of Industry and Commerce supported the Papen regime at a large general meeting. They did have a few suggestions, but stressed that they were in no way a criticism of Papen’s great accomplishments.
The Essen Chamber of Commerce has never been willing to criticize any government. One example suffices: During the Reichstag debate on the Dawes Plan [an international agreement on German World War I reparations], this group sent a telegram to the government that stated: “We do not only support the Dawes Plan, we demand the Dawes Plan.” The chamber was in a frenzy about the Dawes Plan, and supported it throughout the district.
It really should have been a bit more careful, for the main proponent of the chamber’s Dawes Plan frenzy was
the Georg Hirschland Bank
(owner: Simon Hirschfeld). It has a branch in New York, and all the banks were in a frenzy about the Dawes Plan because it involved a loan of 400 million marks, from which both German and American banks earned money. Hirschland is a Jew, a notary, one who aspires to the upper class, and the little Joseph Goldschmidt of the west. Goldschmidt drew as many high officials and politicians as he could into his net by loaning them money for speculative purposes. The result was that when his empire collapsed, the politicians saw to it that the uncovered (i.e., vanished) assets were guaranteed by the Reich, which meant the taxpayers paid for this rotten speculation.
Hirschland, too, understood how to secure important people as customers. For example, he made an enormous loan to a director of the Coal Syndicate. As the shares sank, his debts grew. Three months ago, he had to give up all his cash, his house, his car, his horses, in short all he had, worth about a million marks. He is still deeply in debt to Hirschland, and half of his salary will go directly to Hirschland for many years.
According to the press in Essen, J., the first director of the coal syndicate, is also indebted to Hirschland as the result of speculation. It is therefore no surprise that the coal syndicate does a large percentage of its business with Hirschland, which the other banks are complaining about.
Hirschland, however, is the chief of Papen’s propaganda in Essen, particularly in the chamber of commerce. He is supported by numerous other Jews and half Jews: Cosmann, Simon-Dölken, Freudenberg, etc.
Unfortunately, no one knows how many other members of the chamber of commerce are secretly in Hirschland’s debt. One does know that the banks almost forced leading corporate directors to engage in speculation. Many made heavy investments in their own firms to increase their control, and thus were drawn into the financial collapse. The deceased general director Winkhaus (of Hoesch, Neuessen) lost almost his whole fortune after he borrowed money to purchase shares in Hoesch, although it is not clear if he borrowed the money from Hirschland. In any event, the curse of the stock market is once again proven.
The chairman of the Essen Chamber of Commerce, Tenglemann, however, is general director of the Gelsenkirchen Mine, the majority ownership of which passed from Flick to the Reich. The Reich is already sending a commissioner (from Flortow) to Essen to examine the salaries of high officials from Gelsenberg, Tengelmann and all the other directors are fully dependent on the Papen government. It is therefore no surprise that the Essen chamber of commerce, under Tenglemann’s lead, praises Herr von Papen. But that means nothing to the people.
The German people can see from this, and many more, examples how Jewish-capitalistic channels make public relations for Herr von Papen’s government. On 6 November, the working people of the Ruhr will see to it that people like Hirschland and Goldschmidt will not only be made incapable of further harm to the productive German economy, but that they also will be finished once and for all.
(Wire dispatch from our Berlin office) [The situation discussed in this article was rather complicated. Hindenburg, as president, had dissolved the socialist-led government of Prussia in July 1932, appointing Chancellor von Papen Reich Commissioner for Prussia. This was brought before the German supreme court in Leipzig, which basically affirmed the “Prussian coup.”]
Berlin, 27 October. The excitement over the Leipzig decision has not subsided. One can even say that it will intensify.
Each of the two parties declared itself the winner, following the lovely motto “Sometimes he’s ahead, sometimes I’m behind.” That is the most interesting aspect of the Leipzig decision. The old black & red Prussian government lost, as did the Papen-Bracht government.
Both sides seen to be agreed that they do not want to fight about it. If appearances do not deceive, things will continue as they have been going. The von Papen-Bracht government’s move to the left can become public. The black and red cabinet met yesterday in the Prussian welfare ministry. At the same time, the Reich Chancellor and Reich Commissioner was trying to shoot a buck on the property of his wife’s relatives near Bitterfeld. One has to admire Herr von Papen’s calmness. His friends do not share it.
It is rather surprising when a newspaper like Ullstein’s B.Z. am Mittag writes: “The situation the von Papen government finds itself in is more difficult than ever, which gives the elections of 6 November greater importance than one first thought.”
The paper further confirms our view that the von Papen-Bracht system and the Braun-Severing system [the deposed leaders of Prussia] are reaching an understanding. It writes: “Neither side can always give a cold shoulder to the other. Both sides will have to respect the decision of the high court and come to terms. As difficult as that will be, working against and at cross purposes to each other would be even worse...
One has the impression that, all coolness aside, the von Papen camp does not want to deny that those in the “commissioner’s camp” are being very cautious about giving up anything by taking the first step toward agreement. One is apparently afraid that an agreement could cost one too much power.”
Since the Ullstein paper has relatively good connections with both the “old” and the “new” systems, this comment is most valuable.
One must ask, however, if these plans have any chance of success.
Neither of the battling parties has any claim to power any longer. Both have no support with the people, both are building governments in the air.
The only movement that has the right to leadership in the Reich as well as in Prussia is the one that has the support of the broadest range of the German people: Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism.
The battle can become a farce if the Prussian parliament does form a government. Both groups will have to vanish, returning to the coffin from which they rose, without any mandate from the people.
And this is true not only of the potential display of brotherhood, but also for Reich President von Hindenburg.
Even at the risk of an official denial — denials do not frighten us any longer — that the Leipzig decision has thrown the Reich President into the deepest distress. This distress will be directed entirely against the man who told the Reich President that the court in Leipzig would decide entirely in von Papen’s favor. Once before, Hindenburg had the feeling that he had not been presented with things as they actually were. He changed chancellors as a result. Given what we hear from the presidential palace, this time his feeling of having been mislead is a few degrees higher than it was then!
The ghosts of the past may be trying to pretend that they are still alive, but the Norne [the Nordic goddess of fate] is ready to cut the thread of their lives. What belongs to the past should not be exhumed from the grave.
Victory belongs to life and the future!
Even today, one can, without exaggerating, assert that the question of Hitler and his so-called opponents Papen-Hugenberg has already been decided in the Führer’s favor.
Initially, clever press management and insidious agitation on the part of the German National Party members won public sentiment to the cause of Herr von Papen and Hugenberg, but it has already suffered frightfully along the entire line. Even those circles close to the Reich chancellor have found the hair in the soup, and have more or less openly commented that the current chancellor is in a very shaky position. Attentive observers and students of such matters note that things are following the usual course. Use up, then throw away what has proved not to be useful; that is a political principle that always determines “personnel policies”!
Papen’s weakening naturally carries with it the frustration of Hugenberg’s hopes and plans, since he and his party had totally relied on von Papen. There is already a “twilight of the gods” atmosphere around him and his camp.
How far the forces around von Papen and Hugenberg have fallen in so short a time! They make laughable attempts to attack the NSDAP by talking about someone who has left, or even been thrown out of, the party, someone who with great intellectual exertions of some kind has “left” the party, presenting the public with, he thinks, “an earthshaking political event.” After one has studied the reasons given, one can only smile in pity, since they display a total lack of logical and intellectual judgment.
What can one say when people overcome by rage and depravity send anonymous letters to National Socialist leaders that insult them and their movement, then close with praise for von Papen and the “great” Hugenberg. These documents are all proof of the other side’s inferiority complex, its feeling of inferiority over against the NSDAP. They make one proud of the greatness of the movement that one is fighting for.
In the face of all the noise surrounding von Papen and Hugenberg, how powerful is the self-assurance and clarity of Adolf Hitler! Neither he nor his associates think, even for a moment, of using the methods so beloved by the other side. Our language is clear and without pity, but factual. Hitler’s thoughts display the deepest conviction and certainty about how things really are, with a unique idealistic force. Over all that towers his deep connection to everything that concerns our people.
He recently published an “open letter” in the Völkischer Beobachter. [The Nazi Party’s daily newspaper]. His critical, and positive, comments about Herr von Papen and his government’s activity show such deeply powerful statesmanship and economic understanding that one can, without exaggeration, consider him one of the most powerful minds in the field of politics.
One has to consider it an insolent overestimation of one’s own abilities when a member of the ruling club, Walther Schotte, makes the miserable claim in his pamphlet “Papen, Schleicher, Gayl” that: “the leadership of the NSDAP is not yet ready to assume power.” It may be that we are not such experts in intrigue as some members of the ruling club; however, Hitler and his staff are far superior in statesmanship to these “fine gentlemen.”
In every regard, Hitler shows that he is a leader in the truest sense of the word. In the hardest battle, he bears the greatest load on his shoulders. In every situation, he displays the greatness of an unshakable will and devotion to an idea, cause, and people. The words of the great Prussian king apply to him: “I am the first servant of my people.” Hitler’s leadership is displayed in his powerful and creative intellect, bound with a preference for action in every areas.
On 30 October, this man will speak to many thousands in Westphalia. And in this land of labor and earnestness, there is tremendous understanding of the greatness of this man. Love and admiration come only rarely to expression from the children of this red earth. But one thing is clear:
This coming Sunday, Hitler will be greeted with unprecedented jubilation, for his steadfastness, his strength of character, his striving forward, attracts Westphalians. This land of labor and of deep souls stands firmly and loyally to the Führer of Germany’s future!
Vienna, 26 October. (Our own correspondent) The inhuman, bestial Marxist wave of murder rages through the land. No day passes without new reports of murderous attacks on S.A. and S.S. men, or on Hitler Youth members, by murdering bandits of the “Iron Front” or by Moscow’s hirelings. At any time of the day or night, bloodthirsty beasts in human form cold-bloodedly murder decent people who do not want to hear about Marxist insanity.
In recent days, the terroristic and bloody acts of the red murders have increased enormously. Our fallen S.A. comrades in Vienna are hardly buried before there are new reports of gruesome deeds by Vienna’s Marxists. On Sunday, the twelve-year-old Hitler Youth boy Josef Grün attempted to visit the graves of fallen S.A. men at the Ottakringer Cemetery. He was attacked by a man with an “Iron Front” badge and received severe internal injuries, from which he later died in the hospital.
The hatred that the Jewish bodyguards in Austria, the Schutzbund, have for German workers in the NSDAP is shown by the fact that they have repeatedly desecrated the graves of our murdered comrades. Wreaths have been stolen and the banners on them were dirtied with the Sklarek arrows of the “Iron Front.” [The Sklarek brothers were Jews involved in a major German financial scandal. Three arrows were the symbol of the Iron Front.]
The German population in Vienna is outraged by the most recent bloody deed and by the moral depravity of Austrian Marxists.
Berlin, 27 October. (Our own wire service) Yesterday, a horde of communist bandits bestially attacked two Hitler girls. The red scoundrels approached the girls in a crude manner. When the girls rejected their obscene advances, they were brutally attacked. One girl was thrown to the ground and injured so seriously that she lost consciousness and had to be taken to the hospital.
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