“Our God of Grace often gives us a second chance, but there is no second chance to harvest a ripe crop.”
~ Kurt von Schleicher
The means with which the Red Front, a relatively tiny organisation, was able to organise was largely due to their acquisition of existing stocks of weapons that workers that seized during the Ruhr rising three years earlier. Hitler had been briefly in the revolutionary takeover of large parts of the Ruhr in the wake of the Kapp Putsch, as had many other Red Front members. When the putsch had been defeated the revolts died down, but many workers kept or hid their weapons. Hitler’s organisation abilities had been able to build a force of dozens of armed men and women, with the aim of building the organisation with the capture of French weaponry and the rallying effect of violent resistance against the French. Despite the seizure of weapons in the castle raid, the French reprisals in its wake were a far greater boost for Hitler’s ragtag movement.
As the ancient fortress burned, the French soldiers present took their own acts of revenge on the town’s inhabitants, with ad hoc firing squads killing dozens for suspected acts of violence. Red Front cells began to arise independently, along with individual acts of resistance, disconnected organisationally and arguably ideologically but still bearing the name "Red Front". It was a name that soon came to the attention of Berlin and Paris.
In the month of October, the Red Front killed at least twenty five French troops, with the death of over two hundred German civilians being the French response. It is unknown how many of those killed were members of the Red Front, or even suspected of being so. It did not take long for both French and German attitudes to degenerate back to a warlike state. Whenever Stresemann protested what appeared to be overt French reprisals, the French accused Stresemann’s government of supplying the Red Front. They did not know that Stresemann wasn’t sure of that himself.
~ Shaun Williams,
Weimar's Rise and Fall
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“Don’t swagger, it’s unbecoming.”
“Yes sir.”
As he paced through the corridors of the Reichstag alongside his superior, Kurt Von Schleicher couldn’t help but feel the halls of power were almost as chaotic as the streets outside. General Von Seeckt and himself were no strangers to political intrigue, but the disorganised manner in which the republic was run made him sneer. These people had made Germany weak, he was working to make Germany strong once again, and yet he had to answer to them?
Where was the justice in that?
The German officer was canny enough to know that there wasn't any to be had. The Reichswehr would continue to support the democratic institutions for as long as it was convenient and no longer than that. The Reichswehr remained weak, and the alternative to working with the democrats that he despised was even worse.
The communist threat remained a viable cause for concern, that was what they were here to discuss today. He'd just come back from the Soviet Union but for as long as Germany was isolated there were few other alternatives to dealing with them. The Soviets were a threat, but they were also an asset. German communists deserved no such distinction. They were the enemy, and as long as they remained a danger to Germany the Reichswehr would work with anyone opposed to them. Even if it was the poor excuse for a government whose leader they were due to meet.
Von Schleicher had only ever seen pictures of Gustav Stresemann. In the flesh the man was somewhat different, his face was wracked with stress and it appeared his portly frame was still somewhat diminished. The look in his eyes continued to display a keen intelligence, but there was desperation in his impression.
“Gentlemen.”
“Chancellor”
“Our communist problem is threatening to destroy Germany. I hope you aren’t contributing to this in any way.”
“No Chancellor”
“I hear your friend has been spending a lot of time with communists recently? Has he developed a fondness I wonder.”
Von Schleicher kept tight lipped as his superior spoke.
“I’m afraid that information is privileged Chancellor,” Stresemann smirked at this, “but the Reichswehr doesn’t recruit communists.”
Von Schleicher wondered if that could remain true. He thought back to the party the Bolsheviks had held for the German delegation, there were a large number of men who would be staying in Russia for quite some time, they would make Russian friends, some would probably be more than friends, he made a mental note to try and see if the Soviets could be persuaded to avoid any such fraternisation outside of the specified agreements. Russian communists could be tolerated for the moment, German communists would never be.
“They say this Hitler fought in the war.”
We have been checking the previous records Chancellor, and there is mention of a Hitler. Apparently got into some trouble for himself in 1915. His unit deserted just before the end of the conflict, he was likely with them.”
“Well at least we could use that against him” Stresemann muttered to no-one in particular, “He didn’t stay on?”
“No, it appears he went to Munich and participated in the Bolshevik takeover of the city. After it was retaken a woman identified him as having moved some vagrants into her house. He was jailed until he escaped during in March 1920.”
“Yes, there was a lot of chaos that month.” Von Seeckt did not respond, his own ambivalence over whether or not to support Kapp’s Putsch was well known. Von Schleicher supposed that there were democrats who saw the Reichswehr’s temporary allegiance to republic for what it was. He would give Stresemann that much.
“Yes sir, that’s when we believe he moved to the Ruhr to help the uprising there”
“Gentlemen, I hope that I don’t have to underline how important it is that you’re giving me all of the facts. If we make it clear to the foreign powers that this isn’t anything to do with us then we might just have a way out of this crisis. If it turns out you’ve been deceiving me and that this Hitler is secretly an agent of yours, or is in contact with any agents of yours, the French won’t just stay in the Ruhr. They’ll march all the way to Berlin!”
“They won’t be able to do that soon.” Not if everything goes well in Russia, he added mentally
“That doesn’t matter, we need more than that. We think we may be able to negotiate a deal with the Americans for them to lend us some dollars to deal with our debts,
“We understand that sir, but we can assure that this Hitler has had no connection with the Reichswehr. We don’t even think that Trotsky is in contact with him, although we can’t confirm that.”
Stresemann’s eyes narrowed at that.
“It would be very concerning, gentlemen, if the Bolsheviks are exploiting our arrangement to try and spread communism in this country.”
“We’ve ensured that that’s impossible Chancellor. The Reichswehr has defeated the communists whenever they’ve risen up, whenever the republic has called for us.”
Von Schleicher detected a tone of resentment in his superior’s voice, it appeared that Stresemann had sensed it too. For three years the unspoken truce between the Reichswehr and the Republic had held. Now, with Germany at her weakest, both had to work together regardless of resentments.
Stresemann sat down at his desk with a sigh, the man was clearly tired, “I thank you for you reassurances and for your time, gentlemen,” he muttered wearily, “but now I must get on” The Chancellor motioned to the door dismissively and the officers made their exit. Their car journey from Wilhelmstrasse to Bendlerstrasse was a tense one,
“I don’t know how much longer we can tolerate this farce,” Von Seeckt muttered, his subordinate nodded. “They’re still necessary, Stresemann’s apparently on the brink of something big, securing American money to try and get the economy out of the hole and the French off of our backs. Surely that makes him innocuous for the moment?”
“I don’t doubt the man’s clever but his time as an asset to the country will end soon, and those Social Democrats…” Von Seeckt scoffed, “their representatives are little men who are no match for French pressure. They’re ambitious busy-bodies who must have their fingers in every pie, like Stresemann. He is cleverer than most of them, but when it’s possible to clear out the whole circus he’ll have to go as well.”
Von Schleicher looked out at the street, to see KPD posters being put up once more after they had so recently been torn down.
“I fear we’ll have to stick together for a while longer, especially whilst this Hitler’s around.”
“Hitler’s a fanatic, and that’s how we’re going to get him on our side,” Von Seeckt smiled, “After all, there’s more to the Soviet Union than Trotsky.”
As their car pulled up at the offices of the War Ministry, the two officers began to hatch a new scheme.
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The painting is
The Grey Man Dances by George Grosz
