From Blood and Iron (Peter Mason, 1984) pp122-4
Not until February 1933 did Gustav Krupp make up his mind to throw in his lot with the Nazis. Of course, his eldest son Alfried had been in the élite corps of the SS for a couple of years now, but Gustav regarded that as much a part of growing up as the fast cars, the women, and the wild parties at Riviera resorts. Many of his best people, including Schiller, were members of the Nazi party. A true son of old Karl was Schiller, with his two fine sons marching around with swastika armbands.
Most of the heavy Ruhr industrialists were backing Hitler financially, and Krupp’s rival steel baron, Fritz Thyssen, was in the forefront. But Krupp had so far been very circumspect. He had spread his contributions evenhandedly across the whole range of the anticommunist parties.
Even though the Nazis were the most popular and the most likely to hold the communists in check – they were beating them up in the streets almost daily – he was worried that their national socialism might be a form of socialism after all. And whatever else, he was not going to stand by and see Krupps socialized. Those brown-shirted thugs, the SA, were the real menace. Their leader, Ernst Rohm, was talking wildly about nationalization and taxing the profits of industry to help the workers. But on 20 February Krupp met Hitler, and inside an hour he had made up his mind.
The setting was in Berlin, at the house of President of the Reichstag, Hermann Goring. The audience: two dozen hand-picked leading industrialists. The speaker: Adolf Hitler, democratically elected Chancellor of the Reich, although only in a minority government, and staking all on a victory at the elections a fortnight ahead. The speech: a masterpiece.
Hitler, putting aside the pose of ranting demagogue, revealed himself as a powerful and persuasive thinker. He could see the viewpoint of the captains of industry as clearly as they could. And he made no bones about stating that he needed them as much as they needed him. It was evident that the Nazis offered the only sure bulwark against communism. As for the future, he asked, how could be hope to rebuild a strong and flourishing German state without the full support of the nation’s powerhouse, the great industries producing its coal and electricity, its iron and steel, its chemicals and the huge range of technical products for which it was unsurpassed?
He needed their support to carry on the struggle. But he could only seek it if he could guarantee industry the security and stability it required: stability of the currency; a disciplined labour force; freedom from trade union disruption. They must not become the victims of spiteful taxes aimed at the destruction of the very capitalist system that had made Germany great. Such taxes were promised by the communists: they had even been proposed by radical elements inside his own organization. His audience was aware that he was speaking of the brown-shirted stormtroopers, the Sturmabteilung or SA. He gave them a personal guarantee that he would not countenance such punitive measures: they would threaten the entire programme to which he had dedicated his life.
Krupp was greatly moved. As the senior industrialist present, he made a short speech of appreciation, and when Goring called for contributions he started off the tangible support by tossing in a pledge for a million Reichsmarks.
The next day, as the Nazi campaign swung into action, the magic name of Krupp became a key part of the massive assault by newspaper and radio. One week later, the Reichstag burned down. According to plan, Goring accused the communists: in the notorious Berlin trial, Goring’s fraud was exposed and he was reduced to stammering incoherence by the Bulgarian, Georgi Dimitrov, but the damage was done. In the elections on 23 March, Hitler romped home. With the aid of the centre parties, he achieved the two-thirds majority he needed to pass the law creating a totalitarian state. The Nazis could now make their own laws, without any reference to parliament.
The way was clear for them to build up heavy industry and to re-arm Germany for its imperial mission, just as Hitler had set out in Mein Kampf. Only one danger remained opposition from frustrated middle-class members inside the party. They were still insisting that the socialism in national socialism still sounded threatening. They had revelled in the destruction of the trade unions, the removal of the right to strike, and the forcible suppression of the left-wing parties. Now they wanted the other half of the bargain: political control of the army and constraint on big business.
The Nazi leaders came from the war generation and shared in the national phobia about being stabbed in the back. They determined on ruthless action. Their moment came a year later, in the summer of 1934. and it started with a Wedding in Essen.
Ostensibly Hitler arrived in Essen on 28 June to attend the Wedding of the local gauleiter. A more likely reason was to meet privately with Gustav Krupp. Earlier in the month, Ernst Rohm had sent four of his leading SA officers to force their way into Krupp‘s factory and address the steelworkers on the coming ‘second revolution’. Three million brown-shirted storm-troopers stood in readiness under Rohm’s command. Between the army and the SA hung Hitler‘s life. A council of war between Germany’s leading politician and its leading military industrialist was imperative.
After the Wedding, the visit to the steelworks and the private meeting with Krupp, Hitler and his cavalcade of black Mercedes Benzes headed south for the village of Bad Wiesse near Munich. In the dawn they arrived at the hotel where the storm troop commanders were sleeping, summoned there by the Fuhrer. They entered quietly. At a signal the bedroom doors were burst open by SS men with drawn revolvers. Hitler himself awakened his close friend Rohm and his blond young aide Count Spreti. They and the other SA leaders Were arrested and shot.
In July, Hitler came to the Reichstag to account for the events on that ‘Night of the Long Knives’. He explained how they had discovered a plot by Rohm and his henchmen to take over the state. His audience, at first silent and apprehensive, warmed to his tale and finally rose cheering to his climactic declaration: ‘In that hour I was responsible for the destiny of the German nation, and for twenty-four hours I was the supreme court of the Reich myself.’
A thousand revolutionary storm-troopers died that night. and the threats to the army and to big business had gone. Hitler was safely in the saddle. With such loyal allies as Krupp, the Cannon King, he would lead Germany to greatness.
Tgk1946's Blog 