882.00/2933

The Ambassador in Germany (Sackett) to the Secretary of State

No. 2236

Sir: In amplification of my telegram No. 29 of March 6, 11 a.m.,14 I have the honor to report that in the Reichstag elections on March 5 the Nazis have won an unprecedented victory, having polled 17.2 million votes, or 44 per cent of all the votes cast. The Hugenberg Nationalists polled only 3.1 million votes, or 8 per cent. The two parties combined obtained 52 per cent of all the votes cast, and, with 340 seats out of a total of 647 seats, they will have a clear majority in the new Reichstag. The participation by the electorate was approximately 88.5 per cent, the highest in German parliamentary history. In Prussia, where simultaneous elections were held for the State Diet, the Nazis and Nationalists polled together about 52.5 per cent of all the votes cast. With 254 seats out of 474, they will now also have a clear majority in the Diet.

The Nazis made substantial gains in every one of the 35 electoral districts comprising the Reich, the greatest gains being in the South German States, where they managed to double and triple their following. In eight of the 35 districts, the Nazis polled more than 50 per cent [Page 207] of all the votes cast. In the predominantly agricultural districts of East Prussia and Pomerania, they obtained 56.5 per cent.

In the Reichstag election in November of last year, the Nazis lost two million votes. Last Sunday, four months later, they not only regained the ground lost in November, but managed to obtain an additional three and a half million votes. Hitler’s gains were recruited chiefly from the army of habitual non-voters and also from practically all other parties. An examination of the election returns clearly shows that about four million persons who usually stay away from the polls must have voted this time for the Nazi party and that about 400,000 persons, who formerly supported parties of the moderate Right, and more than one million Communists, shifted to the Nazis.

As reported in despatch No. 2187 of February 13, 1933, page 6, the Hugenberg Nationalists entered the election as “Kampfblock Schwarz-Weiss-Rot.” Hugenberg, Vice-Chancellor von Papen, and Stahlhelm leader Seldte headed the new ticket. However, despite the new label and the advantage of having three members in the Cabinet, who shared with the Nazis the use of the radio and other Government facilities of propaganda, the Nationalists barely managed to retain ground. It is widely believed that without von Papen they would have fared even still worse. While the Hugenberg press acclaims the result of the elections as a “great national victory,” an ill-concealed undertone of resignation is clearly discernible. The Nationalists realize that they will have little to say in the Third Reich and this realization mars the rejoicing over the decisive defeat of democracy in Germany.

Though the Center Party, with 4.4 million votes as compared with 4.1 million in November, withstood the Nazi attacks, it has lost the pivotal position which it held in the Reich and in Prussia for many decades. For Hugenberg this is perhaps a greater triumph than the complete elimination of the Social-Democrats. The Weimar coalition, in which the Center played a dominant part and which governed Prussia practically without interruption during the past fourteen years, until the appointment of a Reich Commissioner last summer, will now have only about 30 per cent of the seats in the Prussian Diet. This situation is a result of the huge Nazi gains and the weakening of the Left parties.

With 7.1 million followers, the Social-Democrats managed to poll 18.2 per cent of all the votes cast as compared with 7.2 million, or 20.4 per cent in November. Their heaviest losses were in Prussia and other sections of Germany where their entire press and campaign activities were prohibited, thus depriving them of all means of replying to the Nazis’ chargé that all of Germany’s ills were attributable to the Left parties. In the Reichstag and in the Prussian Diet the Social-Democrats will still be the second largest party, but the preponderance of the Nazi [Page 208] strength in both parliaments will practically reduce the Social-Democratic deputies to a negligible political factor. In both parliaments the Nazis are, for the first time, stronger than the two labor parties of the Left combined.

The Communists lost approximately 1.1 million votes, their biggest losses being in Prussia, where their following has been reduced by about 800,000 as compared with the Reichstag election in November of the last year. Many incline to the view that the Communist losses presage the beginning of the end of this radical party. While the Communist Party has doubtless been weakened, the fact that it managed to retain over 80 per cent of its following, though deprived of all means of appeal to the voters and with practically all of its leaders in prison, would seem to indicate that Communism in Germany has by no means been decisively defeated, at least not for the time being. The fact cannot be ignored that, despite their heavy losses in Prussia, the Communists gained six seats in the Prussian Diet, having polled about 316,000 votes more than in the Prussian election in April of last year.

The greatest surprise of the election was the Nazi gains in the South German States and the lack of resistance capacity displayed by the Bavarian People’s Party which, like the Center Party, was generally regarded as invincible. Though the losses of the Bavarian People’s Party were comparatively slight, the political constellation in Bavaria has been completely changed by the phenomenal Nazi gains. In Upper Bavaria they managed to increase their following by 200 per cent, and in Lower Bavaria by almost 300 per cent. A similar trend is reported from Württemberg and Baden. For the first time the Nazis have become the strongest party in the South German States, which, almost up to the time of the election, were regarded as the chief bulwark against the Nazi wave.

The tactics of defending states’ rights, and even the prospects of a restoration of the popular Wittelsbach dynasty in Bavaria, failed to check Hitler’s irresistible appeal to the Bavarians. As a result of the Nazi gains in the South German States as well as in Prussia, the Mainlinie, the German Mason and Dixon line, has practically ceased to exist. The Nazi landslide will make it possible for Hitler to pursue a uniform policy throughout the Reich, unhampered by the opposition of state governments with which preceding governments in the Reich had to contend.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this election is that an antidemocratic party, with avowed dictatorial aspirations, has managed to obtain power by means of the secret ballot, which constitutes the very foundation of democracy. If Hitler wishes he can govern on constitutional grounds. By expelling the entire Communist delegation from the [Page 209] Reichstag for a large number of sessions—under the existing rules of procedure this should be a comparatively easy matter—the 81 seats held by the Left radicals can be practically eliminated, thereby giving the Nazi Party alone a majority in the Reichstag. For constitutional amendments, however, a two-thirds majority is required, and the cooperation of the Center Party is still indispensable.

From the standpoint of stable political conditions, it is perhaps well that Hitler is now in a position to wield unprecedented power and still, at least formally, observe the Constitution. Indications are not lacking that if the Nazis had failed with the support of the Hugenberg Nationalists to obtain a clear majority, they would not have hesitated to violate the Constitution in order to remain in power. A presidential crisis may have become unavoidable, as President von Hindenburg would then have been faced with the unpleasant alternative of either condoning a breach of the Constitution or of defending it with the aid of military force.

While the freedom of the polls was safeguarded—the unusually high participation by the electorate shows that few people failed to exercise their right to vote—the election of March 5 can not well be regarded as a free election. The terrorist methods which the Nazis adopted in the campaign, and especially the suspension of the most elementary liberties, without which a civilized state is hardly conceivable (see despatches Nos. 2211 and 2223 of February 27 and March 4, 1933, respectively), deprived the election of its fundamental character of a free expression of the will of the people. If in a forthcoming general election in Poland or Czechoslovakia the German minority were repressed and intimidated as the Left and Middle parties were in Germany in this campaign, the Nazis would doubtless be the first to raise loud protestations.

However, the fact remains that Hitler has won an unprecedented triumph. Democracy in Germany has received a blow from which it may never recover. Germany has been submerged under a huge Nazi wave. The much heralded Third Reich has become a reality. What form this Third Reich will finally take is not yet clear in these critical days of political confusion and uncertainty.

The preliminary official returns are attached herewith.15

Respectfully yours,

Frederic M. Sackett
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