An increase in the vote cast for Hitler in the presidential election on Sunday is not to be expected, is the opinion expressed by Jewish leaders here to the J.T.A. today, because the revelation of the Prussian and Bavarian Governments that the Hitlerists had planned a putsch for March 13th., to establish themselves in power by armed violence has frightened off a great number of people who are friendly to the Nazi aims but fight shy of anything suggesting civil war and bloodshed.
President Hindenburg is sure to obtain an absolute majority over both his opponents, Hitlerand the Communist candidate, Thaelman, they said. This, they said, is beyond question, in spite of the unexampled fury of the Hitlerist campaign, with Hitler touring all Germany by aeroplane, and addressing crowds in every city with the aid of vast sums, the source of which remains a complete mystery.
The J.T.A. representative has had an opportunity of seeing some of the confiscated Nazi documents, including Command Order 45 issued by the Nazi headquarters in Essen, dated March 4th., calling upon all members to submit to headquarters within four days a list of all Freemasons and all Jews whom they know to be living in the district, presumably to be dealt with on the lines of the Nazi programme for the Hitlerist “Third Regime”.
The fateful moment for German Jewry is not so much the presidential election, however, the Jewish leaders proceeded, but the elections to the Prussian Parliament, which are due on April 24th. Prussia is a more fertile soil for Fitlerism than other parts of Germany, they said, and it is to be feared that the Nazi Party in the Prussian Diet will emerge from the election as the strongest Party in the Parliament, and will then launch a decisive battle against Jewish emancipation in Prussia.
There is still hope, however, they added, that even in Prussia the disclosure of the plans for a Nazi dictatorship will make it impossible for the Hitlerists to obtain the support of any of the four reactionary Parties of the Right with a view to forming a Coalition Government, because however sympathetic these Parties may be to Hitlerism, they maintain, however, a policy of strict constitutionalism.
The Parties on the Government side are at the same time concentrating all their energies to defeat the Hitlerists and to make impossible any attempt at a putsch.
The Hitlerist wave has now undoubtedly reached its crest, it is added, and it must now begin to subside back to its old insignificance.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
