Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 (164 page)

25 
A copy of the contract of employment prepared between the Free State of Braunschweig and the writer Adolf Hitler in BA Koblenz, N1128/27. For documentation surrounding Hitler’s citizenship see Rudolf Morsey, “Hitler als Braunschweigischer Regierungsrat,” in
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte
, 8 (1960), pp. 419–48; see also Gunnhild Ruben,
“Bitte mich als Untermieter bei Ihnen anzumelden!”: Hitler und Braunschweig 1932–1935
, Norderstedt, 2004, pp. 42–52.

26 
Morsey, “Hitler als Braunschweigischer Regierungsrat,” p. 442.

27 
Goebbel,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 228 (entry for 26 Feb. 1932). See also ibid., p. 230 (entry for 1 March 1932): “He’ll have to present himself as ‘Government Counsel Hitler.’ Well, well.” At Baldur von Schirach’s wedding with Henriette Hoffmann on 31 March 1932, where Hitler and Röhm served as best men, he signed the registry as “Government Counsel Hitler.” Note by Henriette von Schirach, “76 Jahre Leben in Deutschland” (1989); BayHStA München, Nl. H. v. Schirach 3.

28 
Heinrich August Winkler,
Der Weg in die Katastrophe: Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der Weimarer Republik 1930 bis 1933
, Berlin and Bonn, 1987, pp. 512f. On the clashes over the candidacy within the political Right, see Volker R. Berghahn, “Harzburger Front und die Kandidatur Hindenburgs für die Präsidentschaftswahlen 1932,” in
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte
, 13 (1965), pp. 64–82.

29 
Thea Sternheim,
Tagebücher.
Vol. 2: 1925–1936
, ed. and selected Thomas Ehrsam and Regula Wyss, Göttingen, 2002, p. 394 (entry for 16 Feb. 1932).

30 
Quoted in Klaus Schönhoven and Jochen Vogel (eds),
Frühe Warnungen vor dem Nationalsozialismus: Ein historisches Lesebuch
, Bonn, 1998, pp. 245f.; see Martin Döring,
“Parlamentarischer Arm der Bewegung”: Die Nationalsozialisten im Reichstag der Weimarer Republik
, Düsseldorf, 2001, pp. 322f.; Winkler,
Weimar
, p. 446.

31 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 226 (entry for 24 Jan. 1932).

32 
Ibid., pp. 230f. (entry for 1 March 1932); see Gerhard Paul,
Aufstand der Bilder: Die NS-Propaganda vor 1933
, Bonn, 1990, pp. 95f.

33 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 29, pp. 138–44 (quotation on p. 142).

34 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 229 (entry for 28 Feb. 1932).

35 
Quoted in Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 32, p. 153n1.

36 
Quoted in ibid., doc. 34, p. 166n1.

37 
Hitler to Hindenburg, 28 Feb. 1932; ibid., doc. 30, pp. 145–50 (quotation on p. 147).

38 
Ibid., doc. 39, p. 191; see ibid., doc. 29, p. 144; doc. 32, pp. 160f.; doc. 35, p. 172; doc. 36, p. 181; doc. 41, p. 199; doc. 43, p. 202; doc. 45, p. 214. On this element of Hitler’s election strategy see also Pyta,
Hindenburg
, pp. 671f.

39 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 32, p. 157; see ibid., doc. 34, p. 169; doc. 36, p. 179; doc. 39, p. 191; doc. 41, p. 199; doc. 43, p. 201; doc. 45, p. 213.

40 
Quoted in Wolfgang Horn,
Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung: Die NSDAP bis 1933
, Düsseldorf, 1980, p. 347n66; see Paul,
Aufstand der Bilder
, p. 97.

41 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 235 (entry for 6 March 1932).

42 
Ibid., p. 237 (entry for 9 March 1932). See also ibid., p. 241 (entry for 13 March 1932): “Hitler just called from Nuremberg. Everyone is confident of victory. He is too.” On 29 Feb. 1932, Wilhelm Frick had written to his sister Emma: “We’ll have to use all our strength if we’re to be victorious. Our prospects are quite good.” BA Koblenz, N 1241/7.

43 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 46, pp. 219–22 (particularly pp. 219f.).

44 
See Jürgen Falter, Thomas Lindenberger and Siegfried Schumann,
Wahlen und Abstimmungen in der Weimarer Republik: Materialien zum Wahlverhalten 1919–1931
, Munich, 1986, p. 46.

45 
See Horn,
Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung
, p. 349; Winkler,
Weimar
, p. 449.

46 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, pp. 241f. (entry for 14 March 1932).

47 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 47, pp. 223–5 (quotations on pp. 224, 225).

48 
Dietrich,
Mit Hitler in die Macht
, pp. 62f.

49 
Ernst Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters
, Munich, 1970, p. 271.

50 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 50, pp. 239–45 (quotations on p. 239).

51 
See Wolfgang Stribrny, “Der Versuch einer Kandidatur des Kronprinzen Wilhelm bei der Reichspräsidentenwahl 1932,” in
Geschichte in der Gegenwart: Festschrift für Kurt Kluxen
, Paderborn, 1972, pp. 199–210; Willibald Gutsche,
Ein Kaiser im Exil: Der letzte deutsche Kaiser Wilhelm II in Holland
, Marburg, 1991, pp. 138–40. On this episode see also Pyta,
Hindenburg
, pp. 674–8; Gerhard Granier,
Magnus von Levetzow: Seeoffizier, Monarchist und Wegbereiter Hitlers. Lebensweg und ausgewählte Dokumente,
Boppard am Rhein, 1982, pp. 173f.; Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 252 (entry for 31 March 1932), p. 253 (entry for 1 April 1932). Heinrich Class, the chairman of the Pan-Germanic League, also called upon the ultra-nationalists to vote “unanimously” for Hitler in the run-off election: Class to Hugenberg, 19 March 1932; BA Koblenz, N 1231/36. In a lengthy letter to Hitler on 20 March 1932, Hugenberg justified his decision to remain passive in the run-off election by claiming that Hitler’s candidacy had no chance of success and by citing the NSDAP’s repeated violations of cooperative agreements reached in Bad Harzburg. BA Koblenz, N 1231/37. See also Hugenberg to Crown Prince Wilhelm, 27 April 1932; ibid.

52 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 59, pp. 258–61 (quote on p. 258).

53 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 243 (entry for 16 March 1932), p. 246 (entry for 21 March 1932).

54 
Dietrich,
Mit Hitler in die Macht
, p. 70; see Krings,
Hitlers Pressechef
, p. 119. “To his great regret” Hess did not accompany Hitler on his “flying tour” because the Führer wanted him “to keep an eye on things” at Munich party headquarters. Ilse Hess to the parents of Rudolf Hess, 9 May 1932; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 49.

55 
Adolf Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 5: Von der Reichspräsidentenwahl bis zur Machtergreifung April 1932–Januar 1933. Part 1: April 1932–September 1932
, ed. Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, 1996, doc. 7, pp. 20f.; see Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 255 (entry for 5 April 1932).

56 
See the apt analysis in Paul,
Aufstand der Bilder
, pp. 204–10 (quotation on p. 208).

57 
Brigitte Hamann,
Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth
, Munich and Zurich, 2002, p. 214. See also Rudolf Hess to his parents, 23 Aug. 1928: “He has a great aversion to flying…He has a strong feeling that one day something will happen to him when he’s flying.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 41. See Hess,
Briefe
, p. 418 (dated 4 May 1932); Adolf Hitler,
Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims
, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, pp. 191f. (dated 9/10 Jan. 1942). In Hans Baur’s account (
Ich flog Mächtige der Erde
, Kempten im Allgäu, 1956, p. 81), Hitler’s “lack of faith in air travel” came from his first-ever flight around the time of the Kapp Putsch, during which the pilot had to make an emergency landing.

58 
See Dietrich,
Mit Hitler in die Macht
, pp. 79–82.

59 
Sefton Delmer,
Die Deutschen und ich
, Hamburg, 1963, pp. 146–8. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 212: “Hitler usually took the left- or right-hand front seat and dozed off, or pretended to. Or he would stare silently out the window or at a map. When people tried to attract his attention, he would bury himself in a newspaper or some notes.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

60 
See ibid., p. 151; see Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 5, part 1, p. 270n2. On the margins of a campaign event in Gera on 26 July 1932, Hitler’s entourage also “lashed out at the crowd in a number of places.”

61 
Ibid., doc. 8, pp. 21–5 (quotation on p. 23).

62 
See the bills from 1 Sept. to 4 Sept. 1931, 10 Sept. to 13 Sept. 1931, 3 Dec. to 6 Dec. 1931, 10 Dec. to 13 Dec. 1931, 2 March 1932, 21 March to 22 March 1932, 28 April to 2 May 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557. For the article in
Welt am Montag
see Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 11, pp. 27f.n12.

63 
See the speech in Schwenningen, 9 April 1932: ibid., doc. 28, p. 47. See ibid., doc. 25, pp. 42f. (dated 8 April 1932); doc. 20, p. 38 (dated 7 April 1932). Hitler’s declaration of 7 April 1932: ibid., doc. 19, pp. 36f. See also the affidavit by Rudolf Hess on 13 April 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/328; Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 253 (entry for 2 April 1932): “The Hitler bill for 4,000 marks at the Kaiserhof is an unpleasant matter. Of course it’s fake. I’m going to read them the Riot Act. The Kaiserhof will give in.”

64 
Falter
et al.
,
Wahlen und Abstimmungen
, p. 46; Winkler,
Weimar
, p. 453.

65 
Sternheim,
Tagebücher
, vol. 2, p. 399 (entry for 11 April 1932).

66 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 259 (entry for 10 April 1932). See also Hitler’s public declaration on 10 April 1932, in which he claimed that “a great victory has been achieved.” Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 30, p. 49; and Hitler’s interview with Sefton Delmer from 10 April 1932: “ ‘It is a great victory for us,’ he said to me, his eyes shining with delight.” Ibid., doc. 33, p. 51.

67 
Goebbels,
Tagerbücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 260 (entry for 12 April 1932).

68 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 39, p. 62n2.

69 
Ibid., doc. 45, p. 75 (dated 18 April 1932); doc. 57, p. 91 (dated 22 April 1932).

70 
Falter
et al.
,
Wahlen und Abstimmungen
, pp. 101, 91, 113, 94, 89. The architect Troost noted in his diary on 27 April 1932: “[Hitler] arrived in a fine mood, overjoyed at his success in the local elections.” Timo Nüsslein,
Paul Ludwig Troost 1878–1934
, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2012, p. 103.

71 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, pp. 267f. (entry for 25 April 1932).

72 
Pyta,
Hindenburg
, p. 683.

73 
See Brüning,
Memoiren
, pp. 541f.; Pyta,
Hindenburg
, p. 687.

74 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften Anordnungen
, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 52, pp. 246–51; doc. 53, p. 251–3 (quotation on p. 252).,

75 
See Hürter,
Wilhelm Groener
, pp. 339–45; Winkler,
Weimar
, pp. 449f., 454; Dirk Blasius,
Weimars Ende: Bürgerkrieg und Politik 1930–1933
, Frankfurt am Main, 2008, pp. 39–41.

76 
Harry Graf Kessler,
Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926–1937
, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 410 (entry for 16 April 1932). Similarly, the Foreign Office declared after Hitler’s retreat, “Hitler’s bark is worse than his bite.” Detlev Clemens,
Herr Hitler in Germany: Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen des Nationalsozialismus in Grossbritannien 1920 bis 1939
, Göttingen and Zurich, 1996, p. 223.

77 
Peter Longerich,
Die braunen Bataillone: Geschichte der SA
, Munich, 1989, p. 154. See Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 261 (entry for 15 April 1932): “The ban on the SA is a done deal. But we’ll get through it.”

78 
Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen
, vol. 5, part 1 doc. 36, pp. 54–6 (quotation on p. 56). See Hitler’s interview with the
Evening Standard
, 18 April 1932: “The prohibition of the storm troops cannot last for ever; it is only a temporary measure.” Ibid., doc. 37, pp. 57–59 (quotation on p. 57).