wehr, so unlikely that the stage appears to be set for Chancellor Hitler to concentrate all executive power in Germany in his own hands.
If the reported plans of the Chancellor are true, and they are confirmed from a source close to the Hitler government, the time is approaching when the Reichswehr, the much discussed secret power in German life, will be compelled to show its hand. Observers close to the Reichswehr predict that Hitler’s course may not be so smooth if he attempts to seat himself in Hindenburg’s chair.
The German population has been warned by official broadcasts to expect the worst, and that the Reichspresident is not likely to pull through. At the same time the Propaganda Ministry forbade German newspapers to speculate on the succession to von Hindenburg saying that all this had been arranged.
Unconfirmed rumors persisted, however, that President von Hindenburg was already dead and that the Nazis were withholding the report until they could make their preparations for the transfer of power to Chancellor Adolf Hitler.
The Chancellor, it was said, was prepared to call a meeting of the Nazi cabinet and read a brief announcement concentrating in his hands the Presidency and the Chancellor’s office.
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.
