Description:

ADOLF HITLER REPORTS TO PRESIDENT PAUL VON HINDENBURG
ADOLF HITLER (1889 - 1945) Fuhrer of Germany and Nazi Party leader, Hitler's bloody rise to power, his military seizure of most of Europe and North Africa and his genocidal racial policies culminated in suicide in his Berlin bunker as Russian troops approached. Deeply hypocritical, very fine content T.L.S. on his 'Der Reichskanzler' letterhead, 4pp. 4to., Berlin, July 15, 1933 to German President PAUL VON HINDENBURG (1847-1934). In part: '...Dear Mr. Reich President!...I have instructed Herr [Hitler Youth leader Baldur] von Schirach to get in touch with Herr Admiral von Trotha and to request an interview. I sincerely regret the incidents themselves. I know that Herr von Schirach is also personally completely distant from them. But among the German youth there is such a great longing for unity that their overwhelming mass does not understand why the youth movement should continue to be fragmented. I think, Herr Reich President, that one can only be happy about that...The unfortunate German fragmentation and disunity, the hereditary evil of our everlasting disunity, would not then have been able to cause such damage as we can see in the countless sad examples of our history. After almost six months of conducting government business, I am pleased to report to Your Excellency that a large number of difficult tasks have been partly solved and partly tackled. What I am happiest about is that we managed to settle the conflicts with the two churches through treaties. I owe the conclusion of the Concordat...primarily to the excellent work of Vice-Chancellor Herr von Papen. No less great is the final overcoming of the German party fragmentation. Apart from a few incidents, the state authority is unmistakably making rapid progress. Likewise the pacification of our economic life. The number of unemployed has fallen by around 2 million in six months. Even if a large part of this is to be expected from the annual seasonal upturn in the labor market, a million people remain who have also found employment...I am convinced that the successes will not be lacking. The foreign policy situation is the only one that remains unsatisfactory. I hope, however, that with patience, restraint and perseverance, success will not be lacking in the long run. The cabinet itself is filled with excellent spirit in its work and in its inner cohesion, so that it is a pleasure to belong to this association of able men. One last big piece of work was done yesterday in a session that lasted until midnight. 42 bills were passed. As of today, most of the gentlemen are going on a short vacation. I also wanted to inform you, dear Mr. Reich President, that I was about to start my own vacation. I intend to make a large number of official visits in the coming weeks and will try to receive a number of foreign politicians and journalists, perhaps in this way having a positive influence on the formation of public opinion in other countries. But I would also like to say that I am available to you, dear Mr. Reich President, without interruption and at any time...I can always be reached via the Reich Chancellery. By wishing your Excellency the best rest and I wish you good health, before the end of the first six months of the new government's activities, I feel compelled to express my deepest thanks to you, dear Mr. Reich President, for the gracious trust that has made this work on our people possible for all of us....' Signed in black ink at conclusion. Some faults, including folds bisecting signature, some soiling with slight blurring of a slight bit of text, clipped corners and file holes, but on a whole, still about very good. Hitler was clearly hiding a great deal from the aged Hindenburg as to what lay behind his 'successes' of the previous month. The 'concordat' he speaks of was an agreement signed five days later by the future Pope Pius XII, on behalf of Pope Pius XI and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of Hindenburg. The treaty guaranteed the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany, with the proviso that when bishops take office, they are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Governor or President of the German Reich and also requires all clergy to abstain from working in or for political parties. The German Protestant churches were likewise restricted, and in any event most church leaders were primarily concerned with blocking state and ideological interference in church affairs. Hitler's disappointment with his foreign policy progress likely lay in his failure to obtain freedom from the onerous terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Three months after writing this letter, he would withdraw Germany from the League of Nations and start rebuilding his military, using other countries' refusal to disarm as a pretext. But perhaps most striking are the laws Hitler boasted of having passed the previous day, July 14, 1933. They included the banning of all competing political parties, a law ordering the sterilization of those with hereditary disabilities, and a law providing legal basis for the seizure of assets of emigrants leaving Germany (and widely used against Jews). Among Hitler's other deeds in the previous six months was the organization of boycotts against Jews, the Gestapo was formed and Himmler was made leader of the police, and labor unions were dissolved. No doubt Hitler's condescending attitude was meant to compliment the old general and powerless figurehead and lead him to believe he still had power...

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June 14, 2023 10:00 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

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