Readings on Fascism and National Socialism Part 8

Neesse states that the party has two great tasks--to insure the continuity of national leadership and to preserve the unity of the _Volk_:

The first main task of the party, which is in keeping with its organic nature, is to protect the National Socialist idea and to constantly renew it by drawing from the depths of the German soul, to keep it pure and clear, and to pa.s.s it on thus to coming generations: this is predominantly a matter of education of the people.

The second great task, which is in keeping with its organizational nature, is to form the people and the state into the unity of the nation and to create for the German national community forms which are ever new and suited to its vital development: this is predominantly a matter of state formation. These two tasks, one of which deals with substance and the other with function, belong together. It is as impossible to separate them as it is to split up the party into organism and organization, form and content.[65]

Huber (doc.u.ment 1, _post_ p. 155) describes the tasks of the party in similar terms. He states that the party is charged with the "education of the people to a political people" through the awakening of the political consciousness of each individual; the inculcation of a "uniform political philosophy," that is, the teaching of n.a.z.i principles; "the selection of leaders," including the choice and training of especially promising boys to be the Fuhrers of the future; and the shaping of the "political will of the people" in accordance with the Fuhrer's aims.[66]

The educational tasks of the party are stressed by Beck, who develops the idea that the _Volk_ can be divided into three main groups, "a supporting, a leading, and a creative cla.s.s."[67] It is the duty of the leading cla.s.s, that is, the party, from which the creative cla.s.s of leaders is drawn, to provide for the education of the supporting cla.s.s.

Every member of the body of the people must belong to the politically supporting cla.s.s, that is, each one who bears within himself the basic racial, spiritual, and mental values of the people ... Here no sort of leading or creative activity is demanded but only a recognition of the leading and creative will ... Only those are called to leadership in political life who have recognized the community-bound law of all human life in purest clarity and in the all-embracing extent of its validity and who will place all the powers of their personal lives with the help of a politically moral character in the service of the formation of community life ... From the politically leading cla.s.s arise the politically creative personalities. These are the mysterious elemental forces which are beyond all explanation by human reason and which through their action and by means of the living idea within them give to the community of the people an expression which is fresh, young, and eternal. Here is the fulfilment of the highest and purest political humanity ...

The education of the socialist personality is essentially the forming of the politically supporting cla.s.s within the German people and the encouragement of those political tendencies which make a man a political leader. To educate to political creativeness is just as impossible as to educate to genius. Education can only furnish the spiritual atmosphere, can only prepare the spiritual living-s.p.a.ce for the politically creative personality by forming a uniform political consciousness in the socialistic personality, and in the development of politically creative personalities it can at the most give special attention to those values of character and spirit which are of decisive importance for the development of this personality.[68]

Goebbels in _The Nature and Form of National Socialism_ (doc.u.ment 2, _post_ p. 170) emphasizes the responsibility of the party for the leadership of the state:

The party must always continue to represent the hierarchy of National Socialist leadership. This minority must always insist upon its prerogative to control the state. It must keep the way open for the German youth which wishes to take its place in this hierarchy. In reality the hierarchy has fewer rights than duties! It is responsible for the leadership of the state and it solemnly relieves the people of this responsibility. It has the duty to control the state in the best interests and to the general welfare of the nation.[69]

Dr. Frick, German Minister of the Interior, in his chapter in _Germany Speaks_ indicates the exclusive position of the party in the Third Reich:

National Socialist Germany, however, is not merely a unitary state: it is also a unitary nation and its governance is based on the principle of leadership ...

In National Socialist Germany, leadership is in the hands of an organized community, the National Socialist Party; and as the latter represents the will of the nation, the policy adopted by it in harmony with the vital interests of the nation is at the same time the policy adopted by the country ... The National Socialist Party is the only political party in Germany and therefore the true representative of the people ...[70]

To Dr. Ley, the party is identical with the Fuhrer. As he wrote in the _Angriff_ on April 9, 1942 (doc.u.ment 6, _post_ p. 184), "The National Socialist Party is. .h.i.tler, and Hitler is the party."

The role of the party in legislation, in political matters, and in the appointment of Government officials is indicated by the Fuhrer's decree of May 29, 1941,[71] as amplified by the order of January 16, 1942, concerning its execution.[72] (Doc.u.ment 9, _post_ p. 212). This order provides that all legislative proposals and proposed laws and decrees, as well as any proposed changes therein, must pa.s.s through and receive the approval of the Party Chancelry.

_2. Party Membership_

Details concerning the qualifications and duties of party members are contained in the _Party Organization Book_ for 1940 (doc.u.ment 7, _post_ p. 186).

Membership is finally confirmed by the issuance of a membership card or a membership book. Anyone who becomes a party member does not merely join an organization but he becomes a soldier in the German freedom movement and that means much more than just paying his dues and attending the members' meetings. He obligates himself to subordinate his own ego and to place everything he has in the service of the people's cause. Only he who is capable of doing this should become a party member. A selection must be made in accordance with this idea.

Readiness to fight, readiness to sacrifice, and strength of character are the requirements for a good National Socialist. Small blemishes, such as a false step which someone has made in his youth, should be overlooked; the contribution in the struggle for Germany should alone be decisive. The healthy will naturally prevail over the bad if the will to health finds sufficient support in leadership and achievement. Admission to the party should not be controlled by the old bourgeois point of view. The party must always represent the elite of the people.[73]

German blood is one of the prerequisites for party membership. The _Party Organization Book_ for 1940 (doc.u.ment 7, _post_ p. 186) also states, "Only those racial comrades who possess German citizenship are eligible for admission."[74]

Party members shall not exceed ten per cent of the German population of the region. "The ideal proportion of the number of party members to the number of racial comrades is set at ten per cent. This proportion is to apply also to the individual Province [Gau]."[75]

_3. Pledges and Symbols of Allegiance_

Party members take an oath of loyalty to the Fuhrer in the following terms: "I pledge allegiance to my Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. I promise at all times to respect and obey him and the leaders whom he appoints over me."[76]

(a) The Hitler Salute

A pledge of allegiance to the Fuhrer is also implied in the n.a.z.i salute, which is usually accompanied by the greeting, "Heil Hitler."

The phrase _mit deutschen Gruss_, which is commonly used as a closing salutation in letters, is another form of the Hitler greeting. _Knaurs Konversations-Lexikon_ (_Knaur's Conversational Dictionary_), published in Berlin in 1934, contains the following definition:

_German greeting_, Hitler greeting: by raising the right arm; used by the old Germans with the spear as a greeting of arms _[Waffengruss]._ Communal greeting of the National Socialists; introduced into general use in 1933.

That this greeting was used by the n.a.z.is as early as 1923 is demonstrated by a photograph which appeared in _Das Buch der NSDAP, Werden, Kampf and Ziel der NSDAP_ (_The Book of the NSDAP, Growth, Struggle, and Goal of the NSDAP_) by Walter M. Espe (Berlin, 1934), ill.u.s.tration 34 (doc.u.ment 10, _post_ p. 214).

In the same book (page 23 in the supplement ent.i.tled "_Die NSDAP_") the following distinction is made between the usual n.a.z.i greeting and the Storm Troopers' salute:

While the German greeting consists merely in raising the right hand in any desired manner and represents rather a general comradely greeting, the SA salute is executed, in accordance with the specifications of the SA service regulations, by placing the left hand on the belt and raising the extended right arm.

The SA salute is to be given to all higher ranking leaders of the SA and the SS and of the veterans' organization which has been incorporated into the SA, as well as to the Army and the national and security police forces.

The comradely German greeting is to be exchanged between all equally ranking members of the SA and the SS and members of a corresponding rank in the Army, the police, the veterans'

organization, the German air-sport league, the Hitler Youth, the railway guards, and the whole membership of the party so far as they are distinguishable by regulation uniforms.

(b) The Swastika

Early in its history the n.a.z.i Party adopted the swastika banner as its official emblem.[77] It was designed by Hitler himself, who wrote in _Mein Kampf_:

I myself after countless attempts had laid down a final form: a flag with a background of red cloth, having a white circle, and, in its center, a black swastika....

As National Socialists we see our program in our flag. In the _red_ we see the social idea of the movement, in the _white_ the nationalistic idea, and in the _swastika_ the fight for the victory of Aryan man and at the same time for the victory of the idea of creative work, which in itself always was and always will be anti-Semitic.[78]

The swastika banner came into general use after January 30, 1933 as a symbol of allegiance to the Hitler regime, but not until two years later was it made the German national flag by the Reich flag law of September 15, 1935.[79] Another law, decreed on April 7, 1937,[80]

specified that:

The insignia which the NSDAP, its formations, and a.s.sociated organizations use for their officers, their structure, their organization, and their symbols may not be used by other a.s.sociations either alone or with embellishments.

It is interesting to note that party regulations forbid members to use pa.s.sport photographs in which they appear in party uniform or wearing party insignia and that party members are forbidden to discuss foreign policy with foreigners unless they are officially designated by the Fuhrer to do so. The pertinent regulations read:

_Pa.s.s Photos on Identification Cards_

Members of the NSDAP must not use pa.s.s photos which show the holder of any identification card in a uniform of the party or of any of its formations. It is also forbidden to use as pa.s.s photos pictures which show the person wearing a party b.u.t.ton.

_Conversations With Foreigners_

It is forbidden to all party members to engage in discussions of foreign policy with foreigners. Only such persons as have been designated by the Fuhrer are ent.i.tled to do so.[81]

The Totalitarian State

The Weimar Const.i.tution, although never formally abrogated by the n.a.z.is, was rendered totally ineffectual by two basic laws, promulgated within two months after the seizure of power by the party. The first of these was the "Decree of the Reich's President for the Protection of the People and State" (doc.u.ment 11-I, _post_ p. 215), issued February 28, 1933, the day after the Reichstag was burned down. It suspended "until further notice"[82] articles of the Weimar Const.i.tution guaranteeing essential democratic rights of the individual. Thus, according to article I of this decree, "restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press, on the right of a.s.sembly and the right of a.s.sociation, and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications, and warrants for house-searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed."[83] The abrogation by the n.a.z.is of these fundamental rights of democracy has never been repealed or amended. In fact, this decree represents the presupposition and confirmation of the police sway established throughout Germany by the n.a.z.is.[84]

The second basic law, known as the "Enabling Act," the "Law To Remove the Distress of People and State," of March 24, 1933 (doc.u.ment 11-II, _post_ p. 217), swept away parliamentary government entirely. By abrogating the pertinent articles of the Weimar Const.i.tution, it enabled the n.a.z.i Cabinet under Hitler's chancelorship to appropriate money and legislate without any responsibility to the Reichstag or any obligation to respect the Const.i.tution.

The dissolution of democracy in Germany was sealed by the unification of the authoritarian n.a.z.i Party with the German state. Soon after the party came to power in 1933, steps were taken to effect and secure this unity. The process is described by Huber (doc.u.ment 1, _post_ p.

155) as follows: