A Week In Paris, Might Ease The Bite Of It
All I care is to smile, in spite of it.
As many of you know, I have spent the last several months working to get an estate sale published that features an abundance of German militaria. The collector, whose estate we are auctioning, had a staggering collection, in terms of size, scope, and depth.
While there are sections of the collection that contain militaria from the United States, with some English and Turkish, too, the vast majority is German, with the bulk of the German collection being on the Nazi Party.
A very large section of the German collection is comprised of books, we estimate something close to 4,000. About half of the books are WWII era books, in German, produced by the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP - Nazi). What I find most striking about the books, magazines, periodicals and other, specialty publications is, they are always propagandistic.
The first decade of Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei publications were, to my eyes, aimed at stoking class and race resentment in the working class of Germany. This trend held true until the NSDAP came into power in the early 1930’s, with the ultimate expression of that power being the appointment of Adolph Hitler to the position of Reichskanzler.
When the Nazi Party was wishing to stoke class resentment, the articles in the various publications were snarky in nature, and dismissive of whomever the targets were. The classic Bête Noire was usually the Jews, with other groups included, from wealthy industrialist, to Communists, to leaders of foreign countries.
Once the NSDAP hit the big time, with Hitler becoming the Reichskanzler, there was an immediate change in the tone, and direction, of the propaganda. Yes, the Jews (and others) were still being attacked, but now the emphasis was on the [obvious!!] legitimacy of the Drittes Reich.
The Nazi’s propaganda now switched to grand themes and expansive vistas that showed the German people an [obvious!!] unbroken thread that ran from the Holy Roman Empire, through the German Republic, straight into Hitler’s office in the Reichstag.
The Nazi’s pushed that theme hard, and nothing was allowed to distract from that perspective, which brings me to this book.
These two books are what’s known as a, “Cigarette Book”. A cigarette book, is a real book, in that it has a written story, with a perspective, a narrative, possibly even a plot, but with no illustrations or pictures, even though there are places for those. When you open up a new cigarette book, you will see blocks of text, but also large, blank spaces, where photos, or illustrations would go. Where do you find these pictures? In a pack of cigarettes, of course.
The publisher’s would partner with tobacco companies to create these books. The publisher took care of the story, and the tobacco company sold the pictures. Each page had a space for a picture, that blank space had a number that corresponded with a number on the back of a picture from a pack of cigarettes. You would need to buy a pack of cigarettes from a certain company, look inside the pack for a picture, and, if it was one that you needed for your book, you pasted that picture into the numbered space in your book.
These cigarette books where all over the place, covering themes from sports, entertainment, classic fiction, hunting, fishing, camping, etc. The Germans must have smoked like chimneys!
Which brings me back to these two books and the idea of Nazi propaganda.
Remember, everything that the Nazi’s published was propaganda, and these two books are no exception. These books are almost identical, and the interest lies in those differences.
Both books start out with a picture of Hitler, of course.
Both have the same dedication page…
Both books have the same date of publication, 10, November, 1933.
Both books begin with the origin story of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei…
Since this book was published after Hitler and the NSDAP came to power, both books show pictures of the glorious heroes of the Vaterland, bringing peace and prosperity to all (good) Germans.
Everything is grand in scale, triumphal in tone, implying the inevitable success of the Nazi Party.
Each book has this picture, which I would imagine, would be Hitler’s, Tinder profile pic.
Both books are nearly identical, but the interesting changes start on page 52.
Of the two books that you see at the top of this article, this is page 52 in the book on the right.
Here, we see a photograph of, Victor Lutze, the Chief of Staff for the Sturmabteilung (SA). The Sturmabteilung, are usually known as, “Brown Shirts”, owing to the colour of their uniform tunics. The SA, was created by the Nazi’s as an organization whose sole purpose was to protect Nazi rallies, beat up Communists, and intimidate just about everyone else. Victor Lutze, became the Stabschef of the SA in early July, 1934.
That date is significant, because, for many years, a different man was in charge of the SA. We can also find this man on page 52 of the Deutschland Erwacht book (the edition on the left - above).
Say hello to, Ernst Julius Günther Röhm. Ernst, was a Munich boy, a veteran of WWI (serving as a captain, wounded three times), and, like many WWI veterans, was not happy with the terms of the Armistice, the Weimar Republic that was established after the armistice, and the effect that all of this had on Germany. Ernst, was an early member of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; his party number was, 623. In fact, I think that Ernst was a Nazi, before Hitler was a Nazi.
Once Hitler became the party leader, he decided to organize a group of ideological fellow travelers who would protect Nazi meetings and disrupt other group’s meetings using violence. A goon squad, mentioned before as the Sturmabteilung (SA). Ernst Röhm, helped establish the SA.
Ernst, was a revolutionary at heart. He wanted to bust heads and take control of the government and was one of the leaders in what was known as, The Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. The putsch failed, Hitler, Röhm, and several other’s were tried and convicted of treason. Röhm, received probation, Hitler was sentenced to 5 years, spending 9 months in prison. It was during this time in prison that Hitler wrote Mein Kampf.
After Hitler was released from prison, he publicly eschewed the use of violence to gain political power, this caused a bit of a schism between Adolph and Ernst, because Ernst wanted to bust more heads, and Adolph wanted to get power without the use of force. Ernst, eventually dropped out of politics and, in 1928, took a job in Bolivia, as a military adviser.
Between 1928 and 1930, the plot thickens.
Since Hitler, head of the Nazi Party, had promised no more fighting, that left the SA, comprised of thugs, without much to do, or at least without much to do that they felt was worthy of them. The SA was transitioned away from being shock troops, to being foot soldiers. They were tasked with political grunt work, fundraising and going door to door. This did NOT sit well with many on the SA, cause Gangsta’s wanna Gangsta!
Between 1925 and 1930, there were several “revolts” amongst the SA, with the most serious being ones led by, Walter Stennes. Walter Stennes, was head of the SA in Berlin. He didn’t like the direction that the Nazi Party was taking, didn’t like the treatment of the SA members, and was quite vocal about it.
After a few unsuccessful revolts, led by Stennes, Hitler declared himself the “Supreme Leader” (Oberster SA-Führer) of the SA. Hitler had no intention of running the SA, so, in 1930, he asked Ernst Röhm to come back to Germany, to take control of the SA, as Chief of Staff (Stabschef).
Ernst agreed, flew back to Germany, took control of the SA, and effectively signed his own death warrant.
Ernst, had grand plans for the SA. He wanted to use the SA as the basis for the newly envisioned Wehrmacht, folding the current Reichswehr, into the SA and reorganizing the new military. Ernst was, of course, going to be the leader of this new Wehrmacht. This did not sit well with the commanding officers of the Reichswehr, nor with Hitler, either.
Hitler, had already put down some serious challenges from the SA to his leadership, and the prospect of having the SA with the authority of the military did not ease Hitler’s mind. The career military officers in the Reichswehr were in near open revolt at the idea of being forced t join a bunch of thugs and Hitler knew that if the officer corps bolted, his dream of the conquest of Europe would be dashed.
But, what was he going to do about, Ernst Julius Günther Röhm? Could Hitler get away with removing Ernst from the leadership of the SA? Possibly.
The problem was, Ernst was very popular with the rank and file SA.
Ernst, was openly homosexual, and from what I can gather, he salted the core of his cadre of officers with fellow, “Warm Brothers”. Gay, you say? Yes. Even though homosexuality was strictly verboten by Nazi doctrine, Ernst was able to get past any impediments, because of his long service to the party, and his friendship with Hitler. His service and friendship took him only so far, though.
In 1930, the SA had approximately 1,000,000 men in their ranks. Because Ernst was such a good organizer, and popular leader, by the end of 1933, that number had grown to nearly 4,000,000. How does one say, “Palace Coup” in German?
Consider that the German army was limited, by the treaty of Versailles, to a grand total of 100,000 men. Hitler had not yet begun to ignore the treaty’s provisions on weapons and training, so he was facing a potentially explosive situation. vis a vis the SA. By 1934, several close associates of Hitler, including, Göring, Himmler and, our friend, Victor Lutze, from above, began to point out to Hitler the potential power imbalance that Ernst Röhm and his SA represented.
4 million men, in an organization with known tendencies to revolt, under the leadership of a man, Ernst Röhm, who was known to be a bomb-throwing revolutionary, caused the Fürher, to institute what became known as, The Night of the Long Knives.
Starting on the 30th of June, 1934, the Gestapo, the SS, and Hermann Göring’s personal police force, rounded up Ernst Röhm, Gregor Strasser (nominally the #2 Nazi official), and possibly as many as 200 others, mostly SA members, believed to be loyal to Röhm, executing them. It was over by the 2nd of July.
In one, fell swoop, Hitler gave notice to the entire German nation that the use of violence, to achieve political ends, was back on the menu. Remember, it had only been a few years before this that Hitler had assured the nation that he would not use violence to achieve political power - another fucking, lying politician!
After Röhm’s death, Victor Lutze, was made Stabscher of the SA, and the next few years saw the slow dissolution of the SA into the Wehrmacht. Victor Lutze, was killed in a car crash, in 1942, and was given a lavish state funeral, at which Hitler was in very public attendance.
Which brings us, full circle, to the concept of Nazi propaganda.
When this book was originally published, 10, November, 1933, Ernst Röhm, was still in Hitler’s good graces. I have no idea how many of the Ernst Röhm books were actually published, but the Subject Matter Expert that we brought in to advise us, spotted this book, immediately, and told us the significance of the different versions. He said that this Ernst Röhm book was so rare that he had never actually seen one; we have two. At least two that we have found so far, there might be other’s that we haven’t, yet, unboxed.
In the same way that Stalin airbrushed Trotsky out of the picture, the Nazi Party re-wrote this Deutschland Erwhact book to remove all references to Ernst from history. There were four (or five?) photo’s of Ernst Röhm in this book, including one of Ernst and Adolph standing next to each other; all have been removed, all mentions of Röhm have been erased.
Yes, Nazi propaganda, after 1933, was intended to convey the idea that the Third Reich was the logical extension of the glorious empires that came before, that it was steeped in the most profound classical traditions and perspectives, implying that the German people were right to give the Nazi’s power, for they would bring about peace and prosperity. Fucking lying politicians!
The lesson the Hitler seems to have learned, form the likes of Julius Caesar and Robespierre, is, never let a man with a knife, stand behind you.
Fascinating. I am intrigued by this entire story and collection. I was just discussing with my wife the historical value of some personal collections, and this is a perfect example of this.
The book collector in me has to ask, what is the estimated value of a book such as this without the later changes?
Thanks for a terrific read - as always.
Fascinating history of these books, Darin. Wow.