Background: This was one of a series of mass pamphlets published by the Nazi Party in 1932, appearing during the first round of election campaign for the Reich presidency in which Hitler opposed Hindenburg. The Nazis had a problem. Hindenburg was a hero, one they also respected. They could not attack him. Instead, this pamphlet presents him as an honest patriot, trying to do his best, who has been misled and misused by the Social Democrats. And the pamphlet did have a strong argument. It was peculiar for the Socialists to support Hindenburg, who stood in contrast to just about everything the SPD represented. However, they saw him as the only way to preserve the Brüning government, which depended on Hindenburg's willingness to allow him to rule by decree, given that the Reichstag was incapable of any action.

I have included all of the illustrations.

This was #7 in a series of pamphlets published by the party propaganda office. I do not know much about the author, Heinz Franke. He did write several other pamphlets around this time, and was one of Goebbels's staff in Berlin. He was also editor of Wille und Weg, the party monthly for propagandists that began publication in 1931.

The source: Heinz Franke, Warum Hindenburg? (Munich: Eher Verlag, 1932).

Fighting Pamphlet Nr. 7: Pamphlet Series of the Reichspropaganda-Leitung of the NSDAP

All rights reserved!

Why Hindenburg?

"An especially vile trick " (Das freie Wort, Social Democratic discussion organ of 17 January 1932)

That's what the Social Democratic Jew Ernst Heilmann — of dubious reputation because of the Barmat scandal —  said of the NSDAP because it was not willing to support Brüning's attempt to extend Hindenburg's term for another seven years, since the System's support in the Reichstag was tottering. The Jew Heilmann is angry about that and spouts obscenities, since the National Socialists saw through the attempt by the bankrupt System parties to hide behind the old field marshal, and therefore did not vote for Hindenburg.

It is simply grotesque that the social democracy, of all things, is distressed by the lack of support of the national parties for Hindenberg's re-election. The same social democracy that dumped all kinds of the worst and crudest filth and dirt on the old field marshal during the election of 1925. Back then, those party hacks were willing to use any form of insult and maliciousness to fight the general from the World War. Yet today, these same honorable men want to pretend they are Hindenburg's protectors and friends. They believe that the people have forgotten the statements and declarations that the Black and Red parties made to the masses in 1925. It is painful for System parties to be reminded of those days.

How did things look seven years ago?

The Hindenburg Election of 1925

The first round of the Reich presidential election of 29 March 1925 had these results:

The election was inconclusive, since none of the candidates had the necessary majority. (In the first round, a candidate must have more votes than all others together if he is to be elected.) In the second round, the national parties united behind General Field Marshal von Hindenburg, while the Center, Democratic, and Social Democratic parties supported the Center Party's Marx, and the KPD stayed with its candidate from the first round, Thälmann.

As was to be expected, the Reds, and also the Center Party, conducted the election campaign in a typically Jewish-Marxist manner, using hateful, personal attacks on the opposing candidates. In a crude manner impossible to surpass, the honorable old field marshal was buried in piles of filth by the Red and Black press.

It is interesting and instructive to compare the outbursts of the System parties in 1925 and 1932. One thereby recognizes the deep dishonesty of the System press in all its loathsomeness.

Center Party 1925

In the Reich presidential election of 1925, the Center Party competed with the Jewish Democrats and Social Democrats in inventing slanders against that same general field marshal.

The Center Party issued a leaflet with the title: "Why am I not voting for Hindenburg?" It stated:

Not Hindenburg, because 1: Since the revolution, he has done nothing for the people;

Not Hindenburg, because 2: He lost the World War in the West and therefore has responsibility for the huge war debts;

Not Hindenburg, because 3: He was partly responsible or the fact that we did not make peace in 1917, which would have been easier on us;

Not Hindenburg, because 4: He is a military man, not a statesman, who has never been active in public life;

Not Hindenburg, because 5: We certainly respect him as the victor over the Russians in East Prussia, but we also know that he was not able to handle the French and their allies in the West;

Not Hindenburg, because 6: He has said himself that he has never been concerned about politics, and repeatedly refused to be a candidate for the Reich presidency;

Not Hindenburg, because 7: The name Hindenburg is a symbol of war to our neighboring enemies. Who among us wants a new war today?

Not Hindenburg, because 8: He is an evangelical Protestant who can command soldiers, but not govern a whole people; one cannot even be a chimney sweep if he has not had training and practice;

Not Hindenburg, because 9: Hindenburg is an old man of nearly 80 years; he would have to have an assistant as Reich President, which would cost the people more money. — It is a crime of the German nationalists that they do not allow the aged Hindenburg to enjoy the retirement he earned as a soldier; it is a crime of the German nationalists that they want to force the aged Hindenburg to swear an oath to the constitution that, in the depths of his heart, he does not recognize, for even today Hindenburg is sworn to the Kaiser who deserted his people and army and fled to a foreign land."

Therefore, it concluded, "each Catholic voter who still has sound human understanding can only vote for the best statesman of our day, Wilhelm Marx!"

After Hindenburg's election victory, the Center Party newspaper Kreuznacher Zeitung wrote:

"Hindenburg's election

The fortunes of war decided in favor of those in Berlin who declared that they were willing to conduct the election campaign with the "absolutely crudest' methods." They did what they promised. They have done everything possible along the lines of nastiness, vileness, lies, and slander.

Formerly, one termed the German people the people of philosophers and writers. We fear that in the future, if one judges the German people by the conduct of this election, the judgment will be: For the leader: a people of fanatics, of liars and hypocrites, for the led: a people of fools and idiots lacking all character.

Can Hindenburg be happy with a victory that resulted from the absolutely crudest methods? He himself said that at 78, he was too old for the office, and was also not suitable, since he had never concerned himself with political matters. Hindenburg was pressured into becoming a candidate through the absolutely crudest methods by those controlling him from behind the scenes; he probably would have been happy if he had not been elected. When, however, Hindenburg takes office in a few weeks, he will within the first few days realize that he is entirely incapable of mastering the job. If Hindenburg is an honest man, as his supporters claim, his honesty will compel him to give up an office which he is neither physically nor intellectually capable of filling.

That part of the German people that wants peace and economic growth can demand this step from Hindenburg; if he does not take it, the Reichstag must force him to do it, for a Reich President who cannot fulfill the duties of his office is surely against the constitution.

The Reichstag can depose a Reich President who violates the constitution.

Hindenburg has performed great services for the fatherland, but the greatest of them would be to renounce his office, which came to him only through lies and deception, through falsehood and hypocrisy, through fanaticism and infernal hatred.

Hindenburg is an honest man, and therefore cannot and may not accept the office."

That was seven years ago.

And today?

Center Party 1932

The Center Party paper Germania published an articled titled "Hindenburg's Candidacy: The National Goal is to Unite the People in a Battle for its Existence" on 16 February 1932 in which it said:

"The whole German people, insofar as it has retained a healthy sense of its true national duties in the midst of all the political controversies, will greet Hindenburg's willingness to run as a liberating act." "For me there is but one true national goal: To unite the people in a battle for its existence, to call forth the full devotion of each German in the ancient battle for the preservation of the nation." That is what Hindenburg said in his declaration. "The 13th of March will demand a clear statement from each German as to whether he affirms or denies this goal."

In the same issue, we read an article titled "The People's Front":

"There is no German more or better suited than Hindenburg to be the sure refuge and safe gathering place of the nation in a time of greatest danger for the fatherland... The battle that will be waged for him has but one goal: To bring together the national strength of our people into a great, unified front that, under Hindenburg's leadership, will lead Germany through the vast misery of our day into the path of freedom."

That is obvious hypocrisy!

But the epitome of partisan political deceit, without a doubt, appeared in the Center Party's Germania on 18 February 1932. This splendid example of the Center Party's cunning hypocrisy deserves to be preserved in full for posterity:

Der Führer, Nr. 48, 18.2.32

Black-Red Scoundrels

The Center Party and the SPD on their presidential candidate

During the Reich presidential election, the Volksfreund (24 April 1925) and the Badische Beobacher (25 April 1925) published the following caricature of Hindenburg:

[The cartoon shows Wilhelm Marx slaying the dragon of inflation, while Hindenburg brings it back by printing worthless paper banknotes. "Opponents of Inflation can only vote for Marx."]

And today, these sorry characters want to vote for this same Hindenburg as a so-called "people's candidate"? Give their chicanery the appropriate answer!

"We Have Made Our Choice"

The People's Party Leader Calls for Electing Hindenburg

The German people must choose its head of state. It must elect a protector of the constitution, one who will guarantee order, a symbol of a unified will.

This noble and heavy task can only be accomplished by a personality who stands above the separating and divisive bickering of political opinion, one whose greatness and independence result not from being the follower and servant of a single political group, but rather from being the leader and representative of the whole of the people. More than anyone else, these characteristics are incorporated in the current Reich President,

Field Marshal von Hindenburg.

Those who have been, or might be proposed as counter candidates, in view of the situation, cannot be an affirmation, but rather the negation of the German will for unity — in the best case an irresponsible weakening of it.

The heroic figure of Hindenburg has been tested in war and peace, in times glorious and dark. He enjoys unique respect both at home and abroad. In contract, his opponents, chosen for partisan reasons and burdened by partisan politics, sink into insignificance. Their path to power is through rabble-rousing and demagoguery. They would exercise power through incompetence and violence.

The attempt to save the German people from this election failed. The partisan near-sightedness of certain circles has forced this important matter into the depths of partisan squabbling and egotistical calculation — despite the will of the best and most responsible elements of the nation. We missed a unique opportunity to unite our domestic peaceful forces to face the world.

In conscious opposition to such turmoil, and confident of the agreement and support of countless people's comrades outside our ranks, we members of the German Center Party affirm our support of Hindenburg, regardless of all political and religious barriers. We do this for reasons of statesmanship and the unity of the spirit of our people. With joy and determination, we declare him our candidate, convinced that we can do no greater service to the recovery of our common fatherland in peace and freedom. Ignoring all that separates us, 13 March will be an affirmation of the unified patriotic will of our people, an affirmation of our spirit of community.

We therefore call on our friends in the cities and countryside to realize the importance of this election and the magnitude of their responsibility. Rise or fall, peace or war, construction or destruction depend on the wisdom and strength of character of the leadership, on intellectual and moral maturity, on the consistency and impartiality of the man in whose hands will be placed the responsibility for Germany's fate in these grave days.

We have made our choice. He is the worthiest ever born to a German mother for this time of need. Germany's recovery is bound to the name Hindenburg. For us, he is the ideal of German brotherhood and German unity, the guarantee of a happy future.

His victory will be Germany's victory!

Berlin, 16 February 1932

Signed: Dr. Kaas, Chairman of the German People's Party"

The separatist Kaas calls for a "united will"!

Can one imagine greater insolence?

In 1919, this famed chairman of the Center Party openly called for separatism and worked with his friends in the Center Party to give up the Rhineland. Kaas is notorious because of the telegram that was sent to the Center Party leader Trimborn in March 1919 that called for establishing a republic along the Rhine. We present the telegram in its original form:

This "honest" man who had to stand before the state's attorney for high treason wants to teach the German people about its national duty.

This same Kaas, who hypocritically claimed in his 1932 proclamation that "We have made our choice. He is the most worthiest ever born to a German mother for this time of need." — did not refrain in 1925 from insulting this "worthiest" man in the crudest way:

"A man who has never in his life been involved in politics.

A puppet of the Hohenzollerns.

A man whose honorable name is shamefully misused by a German clique.

The signal of war!

Hindenburg represents the constant economic and political crippling of Germany from abroad, and therefore the worst economic damage with such bad results as inflation and unemployment.

Hindenburg means war!

Hindenburg means the rule of the Prussian Junkers!

Hindenburg means the oppression and impotence of the of all the people's productive classes!

Hindenburg means: Enemies all over the world!

Proposing Hindenburg is a frivolous game by the Right.

Abroad, people are saying: 'A crazy action, the loss of the Third Battle of the Marne.'"

Nonetheless, this separatist leader Kaas is a worthy representative of the System patriots. Such a person puts Field Marshal von Hindenburg on his party's shield.

The Democrats in 1925

The democratic Jewish press, of course, did not hold back in piling filth nd insults on an honorable old officer. A few examples of the work of those Galician press reptiles:

Vossische Zeitung

9 April 1925

"...The catastrophic impression that Hindenburg's candidacy has had in America is becoming clearer and clearer; ... German-Swiss concerns ... A happy day for Poincáire ... Bad impression in England ..."

14 April 1925

"It would be false piety if one were to put this experienced man of war in a position in which he would be helpless against every influence..."

24 April 1925

"... It would not be a sign of hostility if those abroad saw Hindenburg's candidacy as a protest, and it would also not be a sign of hostility if a Hindenburg victory would be greeted abroad not only with regret and anger, but also with laughter ... Being ridiculous can be fatal."

26 April 1925

"Republicans, stop the election of the marshal of civil war."

Berliner Morgenpost

10 April 1925

"All of Germany's enemies rejoice, all of its friends are dismayed."

15 April 1925

"...If Hindenburg comes before the nation with the claim to be the highest official of the nation, then the protection that one has so far allowed him to enjoy can no longer be granted, but rather memories will be awakened of our misfortune, and of the responsibility of this man, who calls for the judgment of the nation when it is not needed ... It is as if all the wounds broke open again and the graves, before which millions of German mothers stand, opened again. 1,808,555 dead!"

Jews for Hindenburg

19 April 1925

"For black marketers to loaf about
And for patriots to starve,
To unite the whole world again
Against one foe,
To make the rich grow richer
And for children to die of hunger,
All that you can count on —
Just vote for Hindenburg!"

And seven years later?

The Democrats in 1932

The Vossische Zeitung wrote in issue #77 of 15 February 1932:

"The mass meeting at which Hindenburg accepted the nomination to run for a second term of office is a truly historic moment... Thus speaks a man in whom the best characteristics of the old army still live... Hindenburg has a life of accomplishment and fame behind him... But he knows that no one shines over the German lands more than he, who is a true national representation of the joining together of all forces... When a man such as Field marshal von Hindenburg, who is respected and admired around the world even by former enemies, speaks of submitting to being a candidate, that must touch the heart even of the most determined party fanatic... He who supports Hindenburg does not ask about the advantage or disadvantage for his own party, but rather what Hindenburg is and what he wants to do... The Left does not think of claiming Hindenburg for its own. It knows that he is rooted in the past and will never deny his sense of tradition... The election campaign will be brief, but since it cannot be avoided, at least let it be conducted in an honorable manner."

Vossische Zeitung, Nr. 78 of 16 February 1932:

"Field Marshal von Hindenburg decided to accept the nomination because he wished to put an end to the blatant and tactless attempts of the radicals of the Right to make his candidacy a matter of political cattle trading, attempts that were made repeatedly despite his firm rejection of them. The attempts awakened the fight instincts of this old soldier. Hindenburg is running not only because of a sense of duty, but because of the challenge."

Berliner Tageblatt, Nr. 78 of 16 February 1932:

"The louder and more furious the cries from the throats of the National Socialists become, the more sympathy, trust, and thankfulness all honorable friends of the fatherland will have for that monumental figure who stands in the way of this greedy, brutal, threatening, and violent storm that is capable only of destruction... [T]he parties, public circles, and persons who, despite their various views, have joined the democratic ranks do not for a moment claim Hindenburg as the carrier of their banner. Over the past seven years, they have come to have confidence in his absolute loyalty, they have learned to respect his gnarled but upright character, have realized with thanks that he has an unshakable will to be the greatest defender of the constitution, but they also know how different his worldview is from theirs. They see in him the strongest guarantee for the safety of the state against destruction and civil war, as something of a strong tower against which the howling demagogues must fail... Those who call themselves the enemies of the today's system were invited, flattered, treated as if they were the only ones who counted among those voting for the president, offered the seat of honor. They did not want it."

Berliner Tageblatt, Nr. 77 of 15 February 1932:

"By accepting candidacy for the Reich presidential election, the Reich President justified the confidence that a large part of his voters of 1925 placed in him. Hindenburg now stands before the voters as a people's candidate... His statement contains nothing that suggests that he has accepted any kind of condition that would require a change of direction, although the Stahlhelm's official statement this afternoon suggested that. Hindenburg's statement is absolutely clear. It can be understood only as saying that, however much he may have in common with his former military comrades in the Stahlhelm, he rejects any sort of political condition from their side on which their support of his candidacy may depend."

Social Democrats in 1925

The Social Democrats surpassed everyone in this noble battle in throwing filth at the venerable field marshal of the World War. Vorwärts thundered and raged about the presumption of a general, a Junker, to be the successor of the Social Democrat Ebert in the Reich President's seat.

Vorwärts wrote:

"A catastrophic president... He busies himself by polishing his medals... Save the republic! Two million dead admonish us: Never again Hindenburg!"

Whenever Vorwärts dislikes an opponent, the noble paper uses the term "catastrophic politician." At the moment, the Socialist party hacks use this method against the evil Nazis.

7 Years ago!

"Now you know what German loyalty is." (Vorwärts, 18.4.25)

[The cartoon shows Hindenburg and Tirpitz walking past a begging war veteran.]

"A particularly vile trick!"

That's what the SPD-Jew Ernst Heilmann called the National Socialist refusal to support an extension of the Reich President's term of office.

Herr Heilmann!

How, then, would you describe that miserable, nasty insult that a dirty rotten fink published on 18 April 1925 on the occasion of Hindenburg's election in your official party newspaper Vorwärts?

Herr Heilmann!

The German people will know what to say to you and your "iron" party in the Reich presidential election about this "particularly vile trick!"

Vorwärts also wrote in 1925:

"... The new pilgrimage is to the Haarmann Building [Haarmann was a mass murderer], the place where 30 people died. The good citizen stands outside and shudders, goose bumps on his back and goose bumps in his soul, with a bloodthirsty monster in the soul and curiosity in the eyes, to see where Haarmann once lived... the street is filled with cars, coaches and people, and everyone asks: 'Were did Haarmann live?' Germans from every Gau of our fatherland... And only thirty people!

People also gather in front of the villa in the Hindenburg district where the old general lives, the one who sent hundreds of thousands of people to a useless death in his offensives. Here, too, one has that titillating feeling of horror, a trembling of the lip, as one tries to strike a blow against France. The beer drinkers are excited. How promising the future looks, and what parallels to the past. [I can't quite figure out this paragraph. If you can, let me know. Here's the original: ""Aber ebenso stauende Menschen vor der Villa im Hindenburgviertel, wo der alte General wohnt, der in allen Offensiven Hunderttausende von Menschen in den Tod getrieben und nutzlos geopfert hat. Auch hier dieses herrliche grausige Gefuhl, die Gänsehaut auf der Lippe, mit der man siegreich Frankreich schlagen will. Und Gänsehaut auf der Bierleber. Welche Zukunftsaussichten und welche Parallelen."]

Let the old gentleman in Hanover sleep, and give him a fair of fancy pants! But let everyone vote for Wilhelm Marx.

... Hindenburg's candidacy is a threat to peace... His election would bring great misery to the German people... Germany's currency would be endangered once again. He who votes for Hindenburg is voting for a new inflation..."

One of the most revolting items in this area comes from the main organ of the Bavarian Marxists, the Münchner Post. In its 23 April 1925 issue, it insulted the then candidate of the national opposition as a "Jewish offspring," claiming to reveal the fact that Hindenburg's great uncle had been a Hebrew.

Two days later, the same Münchner Post thundered in an election call:

"Strike a blow against the greatest military loser in world history, strike a blow against Hindenburg and you will also be striking the stubborn military which defended the shameful Prussian election law [which set up categories of voters with varying degrees of significance] that denied equal political rights to you, while at the same time you were bleeding in the trenches. If Hindenburg had any political sense at all, if he had the slightest idea of international political and economic relations, he would never have let himself be talked into candidacy. Those on fat pensions, those who profited from inflation, those who opposed revaluing the currency, they are the ones who will benefit from a Hindenburg victory."

One can see that the Red Socialist party hacks' screams about inflation are nothing new. Back then, the Red gutter journalists accused Hindenburg of responsibility for inflation. Today it is supposedly the Nazis. The same old filth.

The old Social Democratic President Bock wrote an open letter to Hindenburg in which he said:

"Field marshal! Your acceptance of the presidential nomination of the German national rightist block proves once more that age does not protect one from foolishness."

No less than Karl Severing, the Prussian Minister of the Interior, who the Social Democrats are so eager to claim as a great statesman, wrote on 12 April 1925:

"'National Labor'. By Karl Severing, Prussian Minister of the Interior.

... A policy of revanchism and saber rattling would only bring the working class new misery and new enslavement. That must be stopped."

Back then, the SPD used every possible method to fight the hated field marshal. The Reichsbanner did not even shy away from accepting 300,000 Reichsmarks from France to use for election propaganda against electing Hindenburg Reich President, the funds detouring through the German Peace Society.

This riff-raff fought Hindenburg with French cash.

And now?

Social Democrats 1932

Now this same Social Democracy is saying that it is "a particularly vile trick " that the Nazis are not voting for Hindenburg. Today, the Social Democratic party hacks see the old field marshal as their last hope. Vorwärts wrote on 21 February 1932:

"A lack of Social Democratic votes will mean, with mathematical certainty, the victory of Fascist Reaction. Unless something happens at the last minute to completely alter the political situation, the slogan of the Social Democrats has to be vote for Hindenburg."

In 1925 the Social Democrats lied to the masses by saying that Hindenburg meant war. In 1932, the same party hacks are claiming that Hindenburg is the guarantee of peace. Now Hitler means war. But the lies and swindles are not helping the Social Democratic functionaries much any longer. Members of the SPD have gradually had their eyes opened; they no longer believe everything in their newspapers. One presumed too much in recent years. Building the battle cruiser and the policy of toleration have made some old comrades suspicious. Social Democratic workers, who have had to swallow a lot from their party in recent years, have become skeptical. They see how the Red party hacks ignore one party program point after the other, things they formerly preached. Those few who still support the SPD ask, with good cause, the reasons for the continuing changes by their "leader"-comrades.

The Reason behind the Black-Red Coalition

The reason that the Black-Red coalition supporting Hindenburg's re-election is the absolute and total bankruptcy, the obvious failures of the System parties, in every area of foreign and domestic policy.

Foreign Policy Failures

The policies of the Black-Red System parties have thrown the German people into the deepest hole that a people has ever been in.

The revolt of 9 November 1918 took the weapons away from the fighting troops. Today the guilty parties, and in particular the Social Democratic Party, want to deny their great crime against the German people, the stab in the army's back. Their attempt is in vain, since the broadest circles of the German people know the guilt social democracy bears for the subversive and destructive activity that finally led to 9 November. But even then, the war had not yet been lost. None other than the current Reich Minister General Groener testified under oath at the "stab in the back trial" that it would have been entirely possible for the German army in the fall of 1918 to establish an impregnable position behind the Rhine, thereby forcing the utterly exhausted enemy to an acceptable peace.

[The illustration caption: "Hindenburg had to defend himself before the System parties in 1919." The picture are of members of the committee before which military commanders testified.]

The Social Democrats, however, made an armistice without regard to the cost. Social Democratic functionaries feared, and not without reason, that a strong, unified, and well-led army would quickly put an end to the Red spook in the homeland. That is why the Social Democratic representatives pushed for demobilizing the troops with feverish energy.

They thereby put their own survival ahead of the good of the whole people. This hurried dissolution of the army, pushed by the soldiers' councils, cost the German people the eastern territories that were so important for its economic prosperity. Poland quickly seized important territories left by the troops, and thereby created a done deed that the impotent revolutionary government accepted.

It is lying impudence when a Marxist party hack, one of those people who betrayed us by surrendering the East to Poland, presents the field marshal as the protector of the German East.

After the stab in the back and the armistice came the acceptance of the peace treaty and the lie that Germany bore sole responsibility for the World War. The murderous slave dictate of Versailles and the outrageous war guilt lie bear the signatures of a Social Democratic and a Center Party minister.

In fall of 1919, the Marxists, along with the Center and Democratic parties, carried their insolence so far as to set up a "Parliamentary Investigative Committee" to try so-called "war criminals." The old and honorable figure of the field marshal was hauled before this investigative committee, and had to answer questions from the Marxist Jew Oskar Cohn.

Things change over time!

1919: Hindenburg is a "war criminal."

1919: Hindenburg has to appear before these Marxist scoundrels, and be spit on by the red gutter press as a "war criminal."

1932: Hindenburg is a "savior."

1932: These same honorable men have the impudence to hide behind Hindenburg's candidacy, misusing the venerable field marshal for their partisan political purposes.

Besides the chains of the dictated peace treaty, the German people were tortured by reparations, which grew with every new agreement — the London Agreement, the Dawes Pact, and as the culmination of the dictate, the Young Plan.

"War Criminals" in 1919

Helfferich, Hindenburg, and Ludendorff (right) on the way to the parliamentary investigative committee hearings in November 1919

The Black-Red fulfillment parties accepted it all without condition. If someone in Germany dared to oppose this unconditional nonsense of accepting everything and to point out the terrible consequences of such irresponsible politics of the moment, or even appealed to the people to oppose it — as the NSDAP did in the case of the Young Plan — the System politicians accused him of being a "politician of catastrophe."

Domestic Failures

The System parties failed utterly in foreign policy, but their bankruptcy in domestic policy was even greater.

Not a single one of the promises that the Red party hacks fed the masses over the decades was kept. The whole revolutionary comedy has turned out to be one great betrayal of the workers.

Social Democracy's revolution of 9 November 1918 betrayed German workers. There was no great idea, not a single great man, and therefore no great liberating act. Instead of freeing the people from Western capitalism, the Red System party hacks in Germany turned them over to international Jewish financial capital.

Social Democratic functionaries settled in nicely into capitalism. The System hack developed, Jewish parasites dug themselves in, and an enormous swamp of corruption spread across Germany. Sklarz, Parvus-Helphand, Barmat, Kutisker, the Sklarek brothers, these are only the best known of the legion of Marxist-Jewish System crooks.

Confidence in the rule of law was undermined when, for example, a man of conviction like the Schleswig-Holstein farmer Klaus Heim was sentenced to seven years in prison and every request for clemency was rejected — even though not a hair of anyone's head was harmed by his bombs — while the Galician black marketer Julius Barmat received only 11 months in jail, and was pardoned after 5 months.

As a result of Marxist mismanagement of the economy, there was a great shortage of money. The Red party hacks tried to deal with this by printing more banknotes, which led inevitably to the inflation of 1923.

The crime of inflation plunged thousands upon thousands of hard-working German families into the deepest poverty and bitterest misery. People who had starved themselves for decades in order to stash away a few coins were robbed of what little they had, reduced to poverty in their old age. Inflation destroyed the purchasing power of the middle class.

The purchasing power of the masses was destroyed when the Black-Red System parties unconditionally accepted the reparations treaty. Mass misery ruled in Germany, and the unemployment rate climbed constantly, for the peace treaty and the reparations agreements destroyed German industry. Inflation destroyed the middle class, the reparations nonsense ruined the prosperity of the broad masses.

That is all the work of the Black and Red System patriots. They have deceived and betrayed the German people.

The masses today realize this enormous fraud, and demand loudly and forcefully an accounting from the Red party hacks.

The terrified and trembling System politicians see only one way of rescuing themselves from the betrayed masses of the people. They have long since buried their own will for battle and victory; they will probably be entirely content if they can keep the evil Nazis from power. They have become rather modest, these "wild" revolutionaries of 1918. They lack their own men whom they could present as leaders of the people. Therefore they have to seek help wherever they can find it.

For years now, the SPD has quietly tolerated the "middle class" Brüning government that it once supposedly fought so hard, swallowing each emergency decree that reduced even more the meager standard of living of German workers. They feared new elections, and the judgment of the betrayed masses of voters. In this popular election of a Reich President, this bankrupt party that betrayed the workers no longer even dares present its own candidate. It is ready to unconditionally accept any candidate proposed by the Center and Democratic parties — all because of a blind fear of National Socialism.

That is why Social Democracy is ready to support Hindenburg, which it fought in the most offensive ways seven years ago. It sees in him the pillar of the system, a protector of its government of party hacks.

In 1919, the SPD hauled the field marshal before their investigation committee as a "war criminal." In 1926 they slandered him as the "general" of civil war, and in 1932 they praise him as "savior."

What a wonderful piece of theatre!

They have, in any event, good reason to see Hindenburg as a reliable support of their rotten, crumbling system.

Against the clearly expressed wishes of the people, as shown in the Reichstag election of 1930, Hindenburg has supported and propped up Brüning's government.

With his signature, Hindenburg has supported the Young Plan that destroyed the German economy, and supported the reparations-paying policies of the System parties.

The top picture shows "a meeting in the Reichstag restaurant," the bottom a disabled war veteran.

Hindenburg approved and signed Reich Chancellor Brüning's emergency decrees that reduced the support of German workers to the barest minimum, and plunged disabled war veterans into the bitterest poverty and misery.

Hindenburg tolerated and approved the crippling of the German freedom movement through political emergency decrees that eliminated freedom of the press and opinion.

Hindenburg banned old soldiers and his former comrades from wearing their honorable brown and field-gray uniforms, which particularly affected the national freedom movement.

Hindenburg tolerated and protected the terror and slander of Marxist government offices against the men who, despite hatred and bloody terror, made his election possible seven years ago.

The Great Illusion

The field marshal has accepted candidacy from the men who, seven years ago, attacked him in the most hateful ways, and is ready to run on behalf of those who opposed him in 1925. Hindenburg accepted candidacy with honest, plain, and simple words. No German will doubt that the venerable general spoke from honest conviction.

Yet these plain words are a great tragedy! They reveal the great illusion of the German middle class of the

unity of the German nation!

In his election proclamation, Hindenburg said:

"Should I be elected, I will continue to serve the fatherland with all my strength, loyally and conscientiously, to strive for freedom and equality abroad and

for unity at home."

A great illusion is concealed by these words, namely that at the moment there is not a German people that one could unify.

We are still not a People!

As long as there are still millions of people in Germany who hold to the Marxist insanity of class struggle, the German people will be unable to find its way to unity.

As long as there are governments in Germany that tolerate the treasonous and subversive activities of Bolshevists in Moscow's pay, there is no possibility of a united German people.

As long as Germany lacks a people, all the talk of unity is in vain.

One can never build a united people by talking about unity.

A united people can only be built though action. Through eliminating the doctrine of class struggle and excluding those who preach it.

A united German people can only develop in a National Socialist state of national honor and social justice.

And only in a National Socialist state characterized by a people's community can that which we all long for develop:

a new German people!

Everything else is empty talk,

The great danger is that in all this talk about unity, the real danger that threatens the German people in Bolshevism, is underestimated. As the result of the great betrayal of the workers by Social Democratic party hacks, and the total failure of the System, Bolshevism has become a grave danger to the future of the German people.

Led by Jewish puppet-masters and cunning journalists, the KPD has lured some of the workers betrayed by the SPD with its promises. The KPD uses its boundless agitation against any kind or ordered state to turn the commune of its supporters into enemies of the state. Using insane agitation of hatred and murder, the KPD's leadership wants to create a murderous atmosphere that makes any discussion between National Socialists and Communists impossible. They want to prevent their supporters from learning the truth about Communism and its leaders.

The System tolerates communist rabble-rousing against the state, just as it tolerates murderous communist rabble-rousing against National Socialists.

The System alone bears the guilt for the rise of the Bolshevist danger, for its toleration has paved the way for communism

As long as such an intolerable situation exists in Germany, all the talk about unity is nothing but a dangerous illusion. If this System remains in control the bolshevist danger will continue to grow enormously, until one day catastrophe will fall on Germany. It will be a catastrophe of incredible scope.

Bolshevism in Germany means nothing other than

The system has not, and cannot, see the danger. It is necessarily the pathfinder for Bolshevism.

Therefore, a responsible German today cannot vote for Field Marshal von Hindenburg.

Any non-National Socialist Reich President — even Mr. Hindenburg — is, whether he wants to be or not, nothing but a pathfinder for Bolshevism!

German people's comrade, that is what is at stake in the Reich Presidential election!