Adolf Hitler today is the unchallenged idol of the German people and his removal, forcible or otherwise, from the German political picture would precipitate a condition of indescribable chaos.
Although he left Germany the day before Hitler’s bloody “purging” of Nazi leaders, Charles Denby Jr., Philadelphia attorney and son-in-law of U. S. Senator David A. Reed, said yesterday that the better informed classes in Germany, particularly business groups, had been uneasy for weeks.
Mr. Denby, who arrived in New York on the Europa Thursday, spent three weeks in Germany.
The possibility of a restoration of the Hohenzollerns to the monarchy, he said, is very remote, and is viewed approvingly by but a small segment of the German nation.
“I don’t think that anyone in Germany had the slightest apprehension that the ‘purging’ as it is called here, would take place when it did,” Mr. Denby said, “When I was in Germany in December and January, the more conservative and better-informed people were uneasy, but their fears had no focus. They had the feeling that Hitler didn’t have sufficient control over the more bloodthirsty of his lieutenants, and that the party leaders in the provinces would break loose from the central authority and assert their power in their own local communities.
FEAR OF ANARCHY IS STRONG
“Fear of anarchy is too strong and I think it would be more accurate to say that they feared that Germany was drifting steadily toward a period of lack of governmental discipline.
“I was not in Germany when the events of late last month took place but even had I been, I am convinced that there would have been nothing visible to indicate the sub-surface events. In Germany, the discipline is so perfect, the censorship of the press so rigid, that the ordinary people simply don’t know what is taking place. They may sense it, and they may hear reports, but that is all, and superficially the life of the people remains normal and placid.
“My own impression, gained from conversation with the better informed groups is that Hitler will remain in power indefinitely. I don’t think that there is anyone who could or would want to displace him.
“He is the unquestioned idol of the German people. Their attitude toward him is actually that of idolatry, and if there is blame to be assigned, it is not attached to him, but to his associates. Even among the better informed, the principal criticism of him is that he is not strong enough as a man and as a leader.”
Speaking of the Hohenzollerns, he disclosed the surprising attitude on the part of those to whom he has talked that the former Kaiser’s family is not wanted.
“There is very little chance of restoration, mainly because hardly anyone wants that ‘Hohenzollern gang’ as they are called, back. If there were one eligible member of the royal family, he might be received as a ruler by a larger group, but the German people do not want to saddle themselves with the entire Hohenzollern family and all that such a restoration would mean.”
He said that some lines of business in the nation are enjoying a substantial recovery, notably that in automobiles, but that a severe drought, which has caused a shortage of hay and will cause a shortage of wheat, is going to cause the government trouble, principally because the necessity of importing such commodities will throw an additional and serious strain upon the foreign exchange.
“Agriculturists are in an unpleasant mood because of the drought, and also because of various price-fixing expedients that the Hitler government has imposed,” he declared.
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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.
