Evening Star Newspaper, April 23, 1933, Page 69

e 'l 'WN “un Pt i 'y ';“l il ') n\;\. t,‘\,li | i b sl AR il { 4 l“‘ il a\ ifl \ L] 23, 1933. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL —— S AF [ L g I | An Interview with EMIL LENGYEL Author of "Hitler,” “The Cauldron Boils,” etc. BY HENRY W. LEVY. DOLF HITLER has I l been indorsed by the German electorate. He has received a blank check from nearly 20,000,000 Ger- mans to rule the Fatherland as he wills. For the first time since the revolution of 1918 the opponents of the republic on the right have won the support of a clear majority of the German people. “Hitler is thus Germany's dictator by the right of the electorate. The bad boy of Germany, the boy the neighbors fear, is on his own. “He is no longer the ‘prisoner of his cabinet’ as many observers be- lieved he was during the period from January 30, when he was appointed chancellor, until March 5 when he swept the country in the national elections. Adolf Hitler is today the unquestioned ruler of Germany's destinies.” It is Emil Lengyel, authority on Central European affairs author of “Hitler,” a full-length portrait of the Nazi leader published last season in America, who thus eomments on the new and strengthened position of Germany's chancellor. While Mr. Lengyel feels that Hit- ler is no longer merely the mouth- plece of his cabinet, he does not believe that Hitler, with his new- found authorization, will initiate as violent a program as some people fear. He believes that Hitler will give Germany a leadership that will not deviate far from the middle course. He believes, moreover, that Hitler's is a very unnatural alliance. There is bound to be dissension in his cabinet. This dissension, how- ever, because of his election strength, Hitler will be able to handle. What is more impor- tant is that there will be dissension in his owa perty, which is divided into many small fac- tions, mainly the conservatives, the capitalists and the ultra-radicals. Communist party, undoubtedly, will be unrecognized and outlawed, but it is un- Bkely that this action will provoke civil strife. A Communist uprising would be insane, for Hitler’s brown army is so thoroughly armed that it would make Mlttle fuss quelling any uprising, Communist or otherwise. “What the election did more than anything else,” Mr. Lengyel declares, “was to elevate Hitler to the command of his own cabinet. Before the clection he was considered to be just the nominal head of the coalition. “Surrounded by such reactionaries as Von Papen and Hugenberg, many believed that the chancellorship was but a sop to Hitler's pride and that the real control of the government pested elsewhere. The election changed that. “In accordance with the promise he gave o President von Hindenburg when he was ap- pointed chancellor, Hitler does not intend to make any effort to rid himself of Vice Chan- cellor Franz von Papen, Foreign Minister Kon- stantin van Neurath, Minister of the Interior and Agriculture Alfred Hugenberg, and other non-Nazi cabinet members. These men, how- ever, must now generally submerge their ideas to the chancellor's if they are to continue in the cabinet. “The sobering influence of these men will, though, temporize and cause a pause to the more volatile advice of Nazl leaders, both in and out of the cabinet. To forecast the future of Germany under Hitler it is well to note the backgrounds of the men who surround him. “As his vice chancellor and chief associate, Hitler has Von Papen, former chancellor, a re- actionary and Von Hindenburg’s chief check on the government. “Then there is Alfred Hugenberg, minister of the interior and agriculture. A powerful reac- tionary, the Nationalist party leader, owner of & large string of newspapers, the majority stockholder of the huge UFA Film Co. and a former steel magnate, he is anything but a Bocialist and a radical. “Baron Konstantin van Neurath, the foreign minister, has served in that capacity in the last three cabinets. A monarchist, he will continue the conservative foreign policy that has re- cently been Germany's. And controlling the army is Lieut. Gen. von Werner Blomberg, & soldier new to politics, a loyal subordinate of Von Hindenburg. “Close to Hitler, and associated with him since the early days of the Nazi movement, are the two Nazi cabinet members, Capt. Hermann Goering and Wilhelm Prick, and one of his most trusted advisors, Ernest F. 8. Hanfstaengl, Hitler’s press representative. " OERING, federal commissioner for avia- tion and Prussian minister of the inte- rior, i Hitler’s strong-arm man and liaison of- ficer with the outside world. Called the ‘ter- rorist’ because it is he who has muzzled oppo- sition from liberals in Prussia, Goering repre- sents the nervous impetuosity of the younger war element in the Nazi movement. “He is the driving power of the Nazis; com- plementing him is Frick, an older man, who stands for Nazi statesmanship. He is cold, unemotional and efficient—the perfect official. He is the parliamentary expert and leader in the Reich of the Nazis. “Hanfstaengl, Hitler’s ambassador to the for- eign press, is a high-powered, Americanized press agent, who is credited with having had a great deal to do with ‘putting Hitler across.’ The son of an American mother, he has been a key man among the ° ehind-the-scenes Nazis. “Hitler, it seems, has no program of his own. He carries his followers on a sentimental ap- — e —— — — — —— [ ’ i, g T3 T S Hitler, says this observer, has a chance for immortality in the present upswing in Germany. . .. “He may coast to glory by doing nothing; if he begins tampering, the nation will be pushed back” peal. He made no promises in his election cam- paign. He did not have to make any. “With penetrating insight into the psychology of his countrymen, he just harped on the hu- miliations and insults they have had to endure since the World War from their conquerors. And the passionately patriotic Germans, eager to avenge their country and their own feelings, were swept off their feet by the appeal. “The Germans, Hitler declared, were to have 2 new deal—but he did not tell them what the new deal would be. It is difficult to see how he could give Germany anything. b in office, especially Chan- cellor Heinrich Bruening, had done all they could to save Germany from ruin. They gave Germany an honest, efficient administration. They employed trained men to do the job. “Now Hitler comes along without a program, without trained men and with his intimate ad- visors political ignoramuses who were excellent in creating trouble but who are entirely at sea when it comes to constructive legislation. “These Nazis will be political babes in the hands of Hitler's more experienced cabinet members and advisors. Both as & result of political immaturity and expediency, the more fanatical of the Nazis will be held in check. “None of the wild legislation proposed at one time or another by Hitler'’s rabid followers— even if they are still in favor of it—has much chance. Hitler and his Nasis must ride the middle course. “There is really no such thing as National Socialism. It is just a name, an alliance of last resort between those who would repel in- ternationalism at any cost. It is an alliance against all liberal thought and particularly against Communism. IIBUT why should Hitler pick on the Com- munists? Have they caused all the mis- ery in Germany? He seems, now that he is in office, to have replaced the Jew with the Communist as the chief” target for his attacks. “Supposed to be the head of a Socialist party, even though his Socialism is tempered with na- tionalism, he has been promising his followers work and labor. Will they get it by killing a few Communists and outlawing the party? “Hitler has promised Germany a new deal. The government, according to the party plat- form, was to take over the super-cartels and trusts, banks were going to be nationalized even more than they are now. “But recently Hitler has been hobnobbing " with Hugenberg, for whom the workman is mere cannon fodder in the industrial warfare. The present Hitler government reminds one of Utopia; the lion and the sheep are living to- gether, but it seems to me that the lion is being intimidated by the sheep. “This will inevitably lead $o the breaking up of Hitler's Nationalist Socialist party. A large number of the Nazis are out-and-out Communists who have joined the Hitler party because they did not want to take their orders from Moscow in their fight for economic libera« tion. These people already resent Hitler's be= trayal of their cause. “Hitler’s best chance for a successful admine istration, fame and immortality rests in the present economic upswing in Germany. “If Hitler is opportunist enough to grasp the situation he may coast to glory in his chancellorship by sitting back, by doing nothing, by becoming a ghost. “There is in progress in Germany an undee niable regeneration. If nothing untoward oo« curs, this will, in the ngtural course of events, continue. “By just doing nothing, by letting the governe ment take care of itself, it is possible that Hit- ler may emerge a national hero, the man of the hour, the man who led his country out of the misery of depression. It is certain, though, that if he begins to tamper with the govern- :\:cnt Germany will be retarded, even pushed K. “Hitler is an opportunist, not a statesman. He is a good demagogue, a first-class agitator, That he may have, or suddenly develop as he progresses, certain hidden powers is not beyond the realm of possibility. But I doubt it. “He is, perhaps, the best speaker of QGere many and he has a certain animal vitality that es people off their feet, but he does mo§ to have the power to think things out to logical conclusion or to iay wise, longe plans of national scope.” The Polish Corridor Polish Oorridor, one of the problems of European peace and one of the points of German irritation, is & strip of land running from Poland proper to the free city of Dansig. Tt gives Poland an outlet to the sea by way of Dansig, but it drives a line through Germany in such a manner that Fast Prussia is cut off from the rest of Germany. As a result of this barrier or outlet, depende ing upon the viewpoint, Germans living in East Prussia must either face the inconven< ience of passing through the Polish border and customs guards, or reaching Germany proper by way of the sea. The corridor was set up by the treaty of Versailles, but since that time has grown to be a constant source of fear and Worry. A comparable condition would exist if New York City were a free city similar to Dansig and Canada were given a strip from the Cana- dian border down to New York, thus cutting off New England from the rest of the United States.