Document Description Vol. Page 3180-PS 3234-PS 3235-PS 3236-PS terial Gazette of Reich and Prus- 892 V 918 938 938 939 3237-PS Bormann Order of 14 February of the Fuehrer........ V 939 3239-PS 3240-PS 3242-PS 3243-PS 3244-PS Bormann Order of 3 September 940 941 941 944 Beginning of the 5th Year of National Socialist German 920 1086 VIII 52 VIII 209 VIII 770 18. FRANZ VON PAPEN A. POSITIONS HELD BY VON PAPEN. (1) Awarded the Golden Party Badge by Hitler, thereby becoming member of NSDAP (2902–PS; Das Archiv vol. 48, p. 1614). (2) Member of Reichstag, 1933–1945 (2902-PS). (3) Reich Chancellor, 1 June 1932 to 2 December 1932, acting pro-tem between 17 November and 2 December (2902-PS). (4) Vice Chancellor, 30 January 1933 to August 1934 (?) (Papen admits holding office only to 30 June 1934; he also admits that decrees published on 1 and 2 August 1934 carry his signature as Vice-Chancellor, but claims this was either mistake or forgery) (2902-PS). (5) Special Plenipotentiary for the Saar (13 November 1933 to 30 June 1934) (2902-PS). (6) Negotiator of Concordat with Vatican (concluded 20 July 1933) (2655–PS). (7) German Ambassador at Vienna (26 July 1934 to 4 February 1938), continuing thereafter to arrange Berchtesgaden meeting between Hitler and Schuschnigg and to participate in meeting itself (2902-PS). B. AS EX-REICH CHANCELLOR AND PROMINENT POLITICAL LEADER, VON PAPEN USED HIS PERSONAL INFLUENCE TO PROMOTE THE ACCESSION OF THE NAZIS TO POWER. (1) When von Papen began these efforts he was well aware of the Nazi program and Nazi methods. The official NSDAP program was open and notorious. For many years it had been published and republished in the Yearbook of the NSDAP and elsewhere. The Nazis made no secret of their intention to make it the fundamental law of the State. The first three points of this program forecast a foreign policy predicated upon the absorption of "Germanic" populations outside the boundaries of the Reich, the abrogation of Versailles treaty limitations, and the acquisition of "Lebensraum." Points 4 to 8 foretold the ruthless elimination of the Jews, and the 25th point demanded "unlimited authority" of the central regime over the entire Reich as a means "for the execution of all this” (1708–PS). Hitler and the other leaders of the Party repeatedly reiterated these views before 1933. Hitler himself subsequently pointed out that there was no excuse for misinterpreting Nazi intentions: * "When I came to power in 1933, our path lay unmistakably before us. Our internal policy had been exactly defined by our fifteen-year-old struggle. Our program, repeated a thousand times, obligated us to the German people. I should be a man without honor, worthy of being stoned, had I retracted a single step of the program I then enunciated "My foreign policy had identical aims. My program was to abolish the Treaty of Versailles. It is futile nonsense for the rest of the world to pretend today that I did not reveal this program until 1933 or 1935 or 1937. Instead of listen |