Al-Ahram: A Diwan of contemporary life (515)
Germany over all
Like other newspapers around the world, Al-Ahram closely monitored the developments in Germany and the rise of Adolph Hitler in 1933. Certain that the events in Germany would have repercussions worldwide, the paper published an eight-article series over a month depicting the rise of Nazism. Professor Yunan Labib Rizk* relates the story
Hitler
|
On 31 January 1933 Al-Ahram announced that, at 10.30am the previous day, German President Field Marshall Hindenburg had summoned Nationalist Socialist leader Adolph Hitler to his office to appoint him chancellor and charge him with forming a new government. After listing the names of the new ministers, Al-Ahram goes on to describe the cabinet as "an extremist nationalist government combining three fanatical party leaders: Hitler, head of the Nazi Party, Hugenberg, head of the German Nationalists and Seldte, founder of the Stahlhelm Veterans Society. These were joined by a group of individuals notorious for their extremist principles, notably General Von Blomberg and Captain Goering."
Sensing the importance of this event the newspaper commented, "The rise of Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Mustafa Kamel in Turkey and Shah Pahlavi in Iran are manifestations of the evolution of contemporary society. This evolution, which has locked horns in a ferocious struggle with international socialism and similar movements, will have an impact on all humanity, of which we are a part. No one knows which of the two ideological camps will emerge victorious."
On 6 March, the front page of Al-Ahram emblazoned the news of the German parliamentary elections which had been announced in Germany the previous day. The Nazi Party had won 288 seats in the Reichstag, with the Socialists coming in a distant second at 120 seats. Hitler supporters described the results as "the day of the German awakening". A Nazi propagandist wrote, "Fires are ablaze on all hilltops, flaming arrows fly across German's borders and orations have been broadcast by wireless to the smallest hamlets, urging support for the Nazis and praising the passion they have fired in our breasts."
The article resumes, "As for non-Nazi Germany, it has fallen silent . Communists, Democrats and Socialists everywhere have disappeared from view. The Democratic Party, once the strongest party in the republic, watches impotently as its electoral posters and advertisements are being ripped off walls. Nazi and German imperial flags are everywhere. The workers' districts throughout the city [Berlin] are calm and not a flag flutters."
Like newspapers elsewhere throughout the world, Al-Ahram had its eyes riveted on developments in Germany during those months. Its interest was reflected in a series of eight articles, appearing between 12 February and 12 March, on "Hitler and the Nationalist Socialist Movement". The value of this series resides in the fact that it was written in the heat of events, at the moment of the rise of Nazism. It, therefore, has an immediacy in the many studies written following the defeat of Germany in World War II. These studies, moreover, were written in hindsight on the premise of the condemnation of the erstwhile masters of Germany, a condemnation that has been exaggerated in the international media, which is controlled by the Jews who hated Hitler to the core just as he hated them, a subject Al-Ahram did not ignore in its early articles.
The series opens with the observation that it was the general opinion that no nation was stronger in social body than Germany. "In spite of the fact that it faces the danger of Karl Marx, the prophet of socialism and the class war, Germany, in which he was born, realised before all other nations and more fully than all other peoples the benefits of cooperation and mutual support between the classes. This strong body had always availed itself of every modern social unit which it absorbed into its physique so that all elements together could work as one."
The writer, who was most likely Editor-in-Chief Daoud Barakat, also noted that the German government had always been militaristic in nature as was evidenced by the fact that even senior political officials would appear before parliament in military uniform. "This is why Hitler succeeded. He had founded a military order for his followers, even if they were never in the army."
The article concludes by asking whether the recent developments would help Germany regain its balance. It notes that many observers were sceptical about the ability of National Socialism to provide a strong and secure order that would enable Germany to thrive and to help humanity bring victory to civilisation. Apparently the writer felt that this answer was insufficient, which prompted him to take a deeper look into the Nazi ideology in his subsequent episodes.
One aspect of this ideology was a "fanatical nationalism", which was grounded in the notion of the inherent superiority of the Germanic race and epitomised in the slogan, "Deutchland über alles". "The sense of Germanic racial superiority has always assumed various forms. At times it manifested itself in science; at others in economics. More recently it has manifested itself in a militarism to which the Germanic nation continues to adhere to, on the philosophic principle that the fate of nations is determined by their resolve, their science and their literature." The Nazis based their claim to racial superiority on the writings of the French essayist Arthur Gobineau who, in the 1850s, distinguished between three classes of human beings: whites, yellows and blacks. The blacks he described as possessing all human flaws and vices and the whites as possessing all virtues -- "notably keen intelligence and an abundant love for life". The yellow people ranked in between "because they were cunning and lacked a sense of dignity". At the pinnacle of Gobineau's hierarchy was the Aryan race, which extended from India to northern Europe and was characterised by its "superior moral fibre and physical strength". Aryans were "tall, blond, blue-eyed, talented, inventive, self-disciplined, monarchical in their preferences of a political order and, moreover, not materialistic".
The second instalment of "Hitler and the National Socialist Movement" focussed on Hitler's hostility towards the "Israelites". Barakat cites the example of a British writer who argued that the Jews had held the intellectual and literary high ground in Europe and that it was therefore not odd that the Jewish and Germanic races were two forces that found themselves in confrontation. In addition to this inherent animosity, the British writer explains that "the Germans accuse the Jews of having engineered the revolution of 1919, and of having led Germany to the humiliation of the Versailles Treaty which some of them signed. Also, they head the Democratic Party which rivals the National Socialist Party and, on top of all this, they run the Communist Party."
Barakat also quotes Kaiser Wilhelm, the German emperor who, in 1923, wrote: "Our forefathers were not Jews in faith or creed. Rather, they subscribed to the Zoroastrian faith of Persia. We are, therefore, Aryans. As for Jesus, his contemporaries referred to him as the Nazerene or the Galilean, which indicates that he was not a Semite, because the Semitic Jews were not permitted to live in Galilee."
Finally, Barakat observes that Hitler had revealed his anti-Semitism openly following the elections that brought his party to power when he declared that he would not expel the Jews from Germany but that he would be jubilant if they left.
The Nationalist Socialist or Nazi Party, "which is rocking Germany violently", as the author writes at the beginning of the third instalment of this study, originated in Hapsburg, Austria in 1904. In 1912 the movement adopted a socialist banner, which following the Great War and the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire, coalesced with the movement's theory of Germanic superiority to give rise to the fundamental tenets of National Socialism. The second locus of development was in Bavaria with the creation in 1918 of the German Workers' Party, which, the following year, changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers' or Nazi Party -- the party that Hitler would eventually join. The third locus of the development was in northern Germany, where a party by the same name began activities that reached their peak in 1924. These three loci, writes Barakat, converged to form the mass movement led by the Fuhrer who announced the Nazi Party platform in 1926.
One of the main items in the Nazi programme was to collect all Germanic peoples into a "Greater Germany" consisting of Lesser Germany, Luxembourg, Holland, Belgium, German Switzerland and Austria. Within these bounds they would exercise the right of peoples to self-determination as stipulated under the Versailles Treaty. The Nazis campaigned, secondly, for the return of the colonies stripped from Germany under the post-war agreements "in order to enable the [Germanic] people to grow strong, prosper and multiply, using the colonies to absorb the increase in their population", as Barakat explained it. However the most significant tenet pertained to the racial purity of this region. "Only the purely Germanic blooded, regardless of faith, shall be permitted citizenship in Greater Germany." The two corollaries of this tenet were that all non-Germanic residents would be treated as "guests" who would be obliged to abide to special regulations that applied to all foreigners and that the rights to administer the affairs of the state would be restricted to citizens of the state.
The militaristic nature of the state the Nazis envisioned was embodied in the article of their platform that stated that Germany would have a nation-wide army, "which is to say that each man shall be a soldier and that all peoples would learn the martial arts". That this state would also have a tyrannical control of the press was indicated in the provision that "all newspaper editors and correspondents shall be citizens" and that "newspapers that prejudice the public welfare shall be banned". If the platform had not defined "public welfare" it soon became apparent that the provision applied to all opponents and critics of the Nazi Party and its politics.
It was little wonder that the Nazis should place such emphasis on the press. As "Hitler and the National Socialist Movement" pointed out, it was their primary instrument of propaganda. The article notes that the party's newspapers had increased from 15 in 1920 to 45 in 1930 to 49 dailies and 40 periodicals by 1933.
The author of "Hitler and the National Socialist Movement" found it curious that the Nazis adopted a socialist doctrine. In his fourth instalment, he explains that Hitler and his fellow leaders felt that they needed more than just the appeal to nationalist sentiments to draw sufficient support, for which reason they drew on some of the principles of socialism. He adds that in this, "the Nazis have not done anything new, for they were preceded by the Fascists in Italy when Mussolini introduced into his programme elements of communist theories." Such coopting of their opponents' ideologies was "a form of immunisation against the evils of pure communism and socialism".
The Nazi Party platform contained two provisions that pertained to the "socialist" component of its ideology. The first was, "All citizens are equal in their rights and duties. The first of these duties is for each individual to do his utmost, morally and materially, not to infringe against the will of the whole." The purpose of this provision, in Barakat's opinion, was to strengthen the grip of the Nazi leadership on the "throats of the people". The second provision read, "In view of the enormous sacrifices the nation offered during the war, both in blood and money, the amassment of wealth from the war must be considered a crime. We therefore demand the return of this wealth from those who amassed it, the transfer of ownership of all monopolies to the state and a government share in the profits of large companies. We further urge a merciless struggle against all whose business activities harm the public welfare."
But theory was one thing, practice entirely another. Al-Ahram relates that in 1930 Hitler visited the Ruhr, in which had been concentrated Germany's strategic coal and steel industries, to reassure prominent industrialists that the Nazis had no intention of targeting their interests. The National Socialists, he told them, would do all in their power after coming to power "to eliminate all obstacles to industrial development and to rescue imperiled private property".
The Nazis' vehement hostility to communism merged with their antagonism to the Jews. They held them both accountable for the chaos and degeneracy that had afflicted Germany in the post-war years. The party platform, cited in "Hitler and the National Socialist Movement", voiced its anti-communist position as follows: "we seek the creation of and support for a class midway between the upper class and the proletariat, in contrast to Marxist doctrine that holds that it is the natural order to eliminate this class."
Al-Ahram relates that the Nazis' antagonism to the communists had evolved by 1930 into "a battlefield in every town and village". It continues: "They clamoured in their clubs, raged in their councils and came to blows at the doors. Whenever the National Socialists held a rally they would shout out their battle cry, 'Germany, awake', to which the communists would counter, 'Moscow!'"
Interestingly, the newspaper remarks that several prominent industrialists had helped to fund the Communist Party, "in order to win the approval of Moscow in the hopes of filling their coffers with the proceeds from the products Moscow purchased from them". However, when Hitler offered the "powerful alternative", the industrialists transferred their support to him.
The fourth instalment concludes with some facts about the Nazi Party organisation. In effect, the author observed, it was modelled on the lines of a national government with civilian and military branches and thus constituted a state within a state. The military branch was organised into regiments. "Hitler has created an academy for youth that will assume the command of these regiments. The academy produces 680 graduates a year. This army also has its own school of aviation. In a recent Nazi Party bulletin, Hitler published an advertisement calling upon all youth who have had aviation training to register with the party so that their services could be called upon at the appropriate time."
The Nazi Party had an annual budget of 100 million Deutschmark. Barakat observers that although some of the sources of funding were obvious, such as party dues, entrance fees to speech rallies, income from sales of party posters and medallions, "which were very popular", these sources yielded no more than DM1.2 million a month. "However, the party's monthly expenses are in excess of DM5 million. The only explanation for the discrepancy is that the party has obtained financial assistance from wealthy industrialists and members of the nobility in order to support its fight against communism and socialism."
Contemporary readers of the "Hitler and the National Socialist Movement" series would have certainly wondered at what appeared as the Nazi Party's sudden and unprecedented success in the polls. The fifth instalment attempts to answer this question. In large part, the movement was a reaction to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, "under which Germany lost both territory and property and was forced to pay reparations, destroy its fleet, disband its army and enter into alliances with other nations". To compound these humiliations, the war had had debilitating effects on the German economy. "The naval blockade had sapped all resources as a result of which the country became encumbered in heavy domestic and foreign debts which can have a profound psychological impact on a people."
Another important reason for the Nazis' success was the mystique of their leader. "Hitler's name is on everyone's lips and many worship him. But those who know him are few." As Hitler would have been unfamiliar to most Egyptians at the time, Al-Ahram took it upon itself to offer a brief biography. Adolph Hitler was born in Braunau, in Austria-Hungary on 20 April 1889. His father, a minor customs official, died when he was 13 and his mother two years later. As a youth, "Hitler was keen to study sculpture and photography but his father forbade that." Following the death of his parents, he went to Vienna, where he entered into the service of a mason, and from there to Munich in 1920. Following the outbreak of war he joined the German army and was injured twice in the course of battle. He was discharged from the army in 1920 and in February the following year he joined the German Workers' Party and helped form the nationalist socialist army that mounted a major confrontation with the government on 9 November 1921. The army was defeated and Hitler was arrested and sentenced to prison. He was released in December 1925. The term in prison, Al-Ahram writes, only made Hitler "more audacious and more commanding until eventually the masses followed him like a shadow". The Fuhrer's success at mesmerising the crowds was, in large measure, due to his oratory skills. As Al-Ahram writes, "He was an eloquent speaker with a melodious voice, although his speeches were primarily intended to fire passions rather than address logic or the facts." The author adds, "Undoubtedly, this leader was endowed with considerable resolve and acumen so as to be able to build up that tightly structured organisation, accumulate that power centring on his person and compel the mighty who surrounded him to submit entirely to his will."
Al-Ahram devoted the last article in this series to the reactions elsewhere in Europe to the convulsions Germany was undergoing. In general, the newspaper observed, Europe was torn between several considerations. On the one hand, many believed that the Nazi Party would serve to obstruct the spread of communism from Russia to the rest of Europe. On the other they feared the spread of Nazi ideology and the prospect of renewed world war. "The logic of this party demands that all forces within its sphere be brought under its control and all others excluded. The effect of this will be to distort the vital balance of power in Europe. Whenever this balance is distorted through the superiority of one nation over another, the inability of one or two nations to restore a balance compelled all nations to rally together against the distorting power. Examples of this to be found are the Napoleonic wars, until balance was restored and, more recently, the Great War, in which 36 nations combined to offset the alarming new power of Germany."
Nazi militarism combined with the party's ideology of territorial expansion heightened the fears of possible war should that party acquire greater power. Already in 1933, a number of statements issued by Hitler had provoked considerable consternation. He had, for example, declared his intention to recover the Danzig Passage which had been ceded to Polish jurisdiction under the Treaty of Versailles. As for the Poles who lived there, "they can settle in any other territory. They can go to Siberia if they wish," Hitler declared. Hitler also believed that France should be effaced from the map, and that Italy and Britain should join him in that plan and divide with Germany the rest of the world. At the same time, Al-Ahram observed, Hitler hoped to win the support of the US and, in spite of his anti-communist leanings, Russia.
In all events, subsequent years proved that the rest of Europe had solid ground for its anxieties. Once Nazi Germany reestablished itself as a military power, it plunged the continent, indeed all mankind, into the conflagration known as World War II.
* The author is a professor of history and head of Al-Ahram History Studies Centre.
