8mm to the Left: A World Without Hitler
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Konrad Adenauer was a man whose loyalty to the Germany born in 1918 was only second to his loyalty to the land and people of the Rhine. This loyalty would be tested and tried at the hands of President von Lettow-Vorbeck and his enemies in the Reichstag, and, in the end, Adenauer’s moral convictions would not be enough to save the Republic. Whether he understood the steps which he would have needed to take—and if, in the end, he would have been willing to make the sacrifices which the salvation would have demanded—is a question lost to the annals of history.” - Excerpt from The Life and Death of Konrad Adenauer by Anne Frank, 1967 (Youngest-ever winner of the Goethe Prize for Literary Excellence with her autobiography “Child of a Jewish Soldier”, published 1948)
Hope and Compromise
Konrad Adenauer had never much liked the city of Berlin. It was a cold, austere sort of place in his opinion, nothing like the warm and jovial city of Cologne. The people, if possible, were even more so; unsmiling, overly-serious sorts of the Prussian variety, incapable of understanding the humour and camaraderie which permeated every stone of his place of birth. It was a wonder, in his mind, that two such peoples could emerge from the same source, and he lamented often that it was Prussia which had at last won out in the grand struggle for German dominance. How much better would it have been to be Chancellor in a city like Cologne or Bonn!
Ah, well, all of that was far in the past. Adenauer might not have held much personal appreciation for the Prussian Way, but that did not mean that he did not respect its importance to their nation. Von Lettow-Vorbeck was proving to be a living, breathing example of the values which had elevated Prussia to a premier position among the nations of Europe.
The German Chancellor took a bite of his
Mett—or, as the Berliners called it,
Hackepeter—and scribbled a few notes in the margins of the report in front of him. It concerned the recent upward spike in employment being witnessed across Germany, attributed largely to the public works programs begun under Brüning and von Schleicher. More than 2 million Germans had returned to work and it was only July of 1933; if the trend continued, there was hope that the 34% unemployment rate recorded at the start of the year could be down to the teens by late 1934.
It almost excused von Lettow-Vorbeck’s insistence that von Schleicher and Göring remain part of Adenauer’s cabinet following his assumption to power. Adenauer had given in, in the end, but not without squeezing some concessions of his own out of the man, especially near-complete freedom in determining the majority of other positions. He rather imagined that von Lettow-Vorbeck would not have been as lenient if many of their positions on matters did not overlap. Adenauer had hoped to possess greater freedom of action, akin to what Brüning had had, but von Lettow-Vorbeck had made it abundantly clear that he was no von Hindenburg and that Adenauer’s leash, while not constraining, was likewise not to be given much slack. With the SPD jackals opposing in the Reichstag, cooperation was a necessity.
“
'n Kaffee,” the Chancellor requested from the owner as he walked by. The man smiled and hurried off to fetch him the aforementioned coffee; like Adenauer, he was from Cologne, and it was a comfort to hear the Kölsch dialect amidst the Berliner nonsense.
Where was he? Ah, yes.
The SPD was raising a ruckus about the proposal for tax cuts for investors and the upcoming vote on the matter was due to be close. They believed that increasing privatisation would be bad for the common man; rubbish! The common man would be better off with more money in his pocket and a place to work, not endless handouts like the SPD planned for.
His eyes tracked the owner’s wife as she carried over his drink. “
Bitte schön,” she said in lightly-accented German, smiling broadly. Adenauer smiled back and took a sip of the coffee as she headed back.
There was the sort of person Germany needed more of. Czech, yes, but willing to work hard and earn their place in German society. If the SPD began their handouts, it would not be long before every jobless wanderer made their way into the Reich to live on German generosity. On this, Adenauer and von Lettow-Vorbeck were in complete agreement: Germany needed to be strong, and a strong Germany required strong Germans to defend it. Hard work, Christian values, and respect for authority would be the three pillars of the new Germany which they were seeking to build.
And who knew? Perhaps, in time, Adenauer might even come to consider the Prussian way as near-equal to the Rhenish one.
Maybe.
The success of the public works programs of 1932-1934 were a terrific boon to the von Lettow-Vorbeck government and compounded perfectly with the aura of unflappable stability which had been cultivated—at first accidentally and then later intentionally—around the war hero. The phrase “
Rückkehr zur Stabilität” (Return to stability) would appear under banners depicting the President in his old military uniform, oftentimes with the imperial flag flying in the background. This flag would be a point of heavy debate, with some seeing it as a time of German ascendance and others as a symbol of Prussian oppression. Following attempts to ban the flag in Prussia, von Lettow-Vorbeck would issue a decree fully elevating the
schwarz-weiß-rot (black-white-red) flag to co-official status within the Reich. While the national flag would not change, this decree was a clear and present show of support for those idealising the empire.
Imperial German Flag (Left); Weimar Republic Flag (Right)
The relationship between Weimar Germany and its imperial past was a complicated one, marred by distrust and bad blood on both sides of the debate. The Great War drew a metaphorical line through the collective memories of the population. Many veterans of the conflict found themselves in favour of the pre-1914 status quo, both out of legitimate preference for its style of governance and stability as well as due to the loyalty and patriotism which had been brought out during the conflict. Likewise, many of the intellectuals, housewives, and exempt-from-service individuals preferred the Republic, as these were the men and women who had lived through the bitter days of war and the Ludendorff dictatorship and recalled the harsh policies which had made life in the Kaiserreich unbearable for many.
Von Lettow-Vorbeck’s open support for imperial iconography unnerved many within even the Centre-leaning part of the Reichstag. Leaving aside the positives and negatives of the German Empire, true restoration of the monarchy and the associated laws and institutions which governed it was desired by an objective few. Among those was Adenauer himself, whose distaste for all things Prussian was most epitomised with his borderline loathing for the royal family and Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose arrogance, foolishness, and bellicose nature were seen as a direct cause of the war which had consumed and divided Europe. Adenauer had made his preference for the Republic clear at many stages, for, to his mind, all but Communism itself was preferable to the mad rambling of a tyrant king.
Von Lettow-Vorbeck and Adenauer would clash more than once over the role of imperial elements in modern society, be it from the usage of flags to the music which was played at large events. By far the most intense conflict which the duo would engage in would be in August of 1933, when the President attempted to resuscitate one of Germany’s bygone holidays as a way to inspire greater national pride.
The
Sedantag (Day of Sedan) had been a holiday created by the German Empire to honour the unification of the German states under Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1871, commemorating not the coronation of the first German Kaiser (which overlapped with the founding of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701), but the day when the fortress of Sedan had surrendered in the Franco-Prussian War and the Emperor of the French, Napoleon III, had been taken captive. It served as a major holiday until 1919, when the Weimar Republic abolished the holiday altogether.
The restoration of the holiday was an attempt to stir a greater feeling of national pride within the German people, something which many within the Conservative parties felt had grown too dim. Increased trade with the United States before the Great Depression and an increasing inter-connectivity with their neighbours had led to many German citizens no longer caring as much for ideas of glory and valour, in particular when issues of money and work were far more pressing. With the economy on the upturn and work flowing back into the nation, the President felt that now was the ideal time to rouse the slumbering German soul.
“You cannot possibly be serious!” exclaimed Konrad Adenauer. “You wish to restore the
Sedantag?”
“I do not understand your opposition to this matter,” the President countered, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. “The holiday was a fine example of German national unity and pride, one too-easily discarded by the Republic.”
“The holiday was a goad to the French and an ego-stroke to the Kaiser. We have no need of it in our Germany! And the Reichstag will never accept it.”
“The Reichstag has no bearing on this decision. I am the President, and this is merely a holiday. I will decree it and it will be obeyed.”
“You grow too free-handed with your decrees,” the Chancellor warned, expression tight. “You ignore the Reichstag to the peril of us all.”
“Have I not catered enough to the damned Liberal Reichstag? I allowed them to block Rhenish autonomy and cut subsidies for the Junkers. I even let them have their thrice-damned 44 hour work week! No! I am the President of the German Reich, and I am putting my foot down on this!”
“But the French—”
“To hell with the French! We are Germans, not Frenchmen!”
Adenauer drew himself up to his immense height, glaring down at the President coldly. “Will you be the one saying that when French boots once again march on Cologne?”
Von Lettow-Vorbeck
pff’d and waved a hand. “The French would not dare invading over so small an offense. They would not dare invading at all, hiding as they are behind their precious Maginot Line.”
“You are as careless as that imbecile Wilhelm II, throwing away our security over your fool Prussian pride!”
Fury flashed in von Lettow-Vorbeck’s eyes and he gestured towards the Chancellor with his pen. “Hold yourself very closely,
Katholiker. I have had men executed for less.”
Adenauer met his gaze unflinchingly. “There are no
Hottentots here, General, and your mistakes will not be left buried in an unmarked grave in Tanganyika. They will tear down this very nation.”
Von Lettow-Vorbeck’s jaw clenched tightly enough to pain. With a roar, he whirled and hurled the pen into the wall, where it shattered, leaving a vivid stain on the wallpaper. “Damn the Rhineland to hell and back!” he bellowed. He stood there, form hunched and panting like a gorilla, before his senses returned to him and he straightened. “I will not bend on this matter,” he declared in a harsh voice, glaring at Adenauer. “This is a matter of pride, yes, but it is one of our nation. The French will not define us or stifle our spirit!”
“You allow them to define you,” Adenauer countered. “Napoleon III will live on with every breath of the name ‘
Sedantag’.”
“Then grant me a compromise! One which will appease your precious French!” The President dropped violently into his seat, fists still clenched.
Adenauer lowered himself into the chair across from von Lettow-Vorbeck, considering for a moment. Finally it came to him. “
Deutschlandtag,” he declared.
Von Lettow-Vorbeck scowled.
“It commemorates the day the German people truly became one volk,” Adenauer defended as only a politician could. “It is the day our great unity—as you yourself once put it—combined into an unbreakable force. Where the Sedantag could be argued as a tribute to Prussian military accomplishment, this name speaks for us all.”
The President made a noise of… not agreement, exactly, but understanding and perhaps some reluctant acquiescence. “Perhaps,” he gave, as much of a surrender as a man of his pride could muster.
Adenauer resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Might I remind you that we already have a holiday to celebrate our unification?”
The look he got told him that he did not. “I will consider it,” von Lettow-Vorbeck decided on at last. “I assume it would be presumptive to anticipate your support in the matter.”
“Oh, not at all,” Adenauer replied, rising to his feet and straightening his vest with a quick tug of the hem. “You proved amiable to my concerns and the object of my greatest concern has been changed. What more could I want?” His faux-genial expression turned a bit harder. “I can be a tremendous ally, or a dangerous enemy,
Herr Präsident. Remember that.”
Without another word, the Chancellor turned and strode from the office.
Adenauer was sometimes nicknamed “The Rhenish Whip”, a reference to how one would tame a lion, in this case the Lion of Africa, von Lettow-Vorbeck, whom only Adenauer seemed capable of taking head-on. The two men were not that dissimilar in personality or ideology, and it was only their methodology which really inspired friction; Adenauer the consummate politician, taking every motion with caution; von Lettow-Vorbeck the ideal general, making bold strides and new directions when he saw an opening. They frustrated one-another to no end, but the reverse side of this friction was that the duo were a force of nature against their enemies.
Though 1933 did not feature any great change for Germany on the international or even broadly national level, it witnessed a large shift under the surface of the nation. The addition of Adenauer to von Lettow-Vorbeck’s government is considered in hindsight to be the greatest stroke of luck experienced by the President, as it gave him a politically-aligned, popular, and experienced voice which he had until this point been largely lacking. The introduction of the new
Vaterlandtag (Fatherland Day) holiday on the date of the former
Sedantag, the brainchild of von Lettow-Vorbeck under the temperate inflence of Adenauer, is a prime example of their cooperation birthing benefits for German society as a whole.
Regardless of the SPD’s plurality in the Reichstag and their blockage of several more contentious bills, they would be unable—and, at times,
unwilling—to block all new legislation emerging from the executive branch, especially when popular opinion supported it. In June, 1933, von Lettow-Vorbeck put forth a motion to create a series of
Kulturtarife (Culture Tariffs) to limit the so-called “Americanisation” which had spread throughout Germany during the 1920’s due to the influx of American loans and investment. Despite excess American influence being the goal, it would be used most prominently to target Soviet, Polish, and French influences within German society, in many cases removing films, books, and artwork which were felt to be “dangerous to German cultural identity”. Though this movement was opposed by many within the Left who saw it for the censorship it was, it received support from a public which largely blamed foreigners for the Depression. Von Lettow-Vorbeck would initially seek to close the bilingual German-Polish schools in Upper Silesia, but in the end Adenauer convinced him to let the schools be in order to not alienate the Catholic Polish population nor risk the anger of the Entente for potentially breaching the German-Polish Accord on East Silesia which had been signed by both powers following the Upper Silesian Plebiscite 1922.
This canny understanding of intra-party politics was one of the greatest skills which Adenauer brought to the table. The SPD might have been the largest party, but it was far from a homogenous unit, and it lacked the single-minded direction of the former Communist Party. In fact, it was the Communist Party’s former members in the SPD which made Adenauer’s work much easier, as their attempts to pull the SPD further to the Left made it easier for him to peel more Conservative members away. During attempts to negotiate larger tax cuts for large firms and industrialists in the most industrialised regions, Adenauer skillfully played the more Centre-Left Lower Silesian and Hanoverian representatives against their Far-Left comrades from Prussian Saxony. The ensuing rift badly harmed the SPD’s ability to form a united front against the proposal and in the end it was able to be passed only because of the support of those same Lower Silesian and Hanoverian SPD members, including Gustav Noske, one of the lead "Conservative Socialsts" running the the more Centrist subgroups of the Socialists.
Otto Wels, one of the two co-chairmen of the SPD and a long-time political rival of Adenauer, was no blunt object, either. He understood fully what the President and Chancellor were trying to do and opposed the Conservative backsliding which he was witnessing. His calls for unity and the triumph of individual rights and liberties were a stirring counter to Adenauer. It won the SPD their 44-hour work week and, in late 1933, Wels successfully won over the entirety of the DVP, as well as much of the Farmers’ Party as well as pockets of the Zentrum, to pass a law beginning a new phase of extensive land reform aimed at improving food production and, to a lesser extent, breaking the dominance of the Junker-class in Eastern Germany. The Junkers would decry this as “Settlement Bolshevism” and demand that it be vetoed, but Wels had countered with the threat of a Vote of No-Confidence against the President, and with the anger such a veto would stir up, von Lettow-Vorbeck would not risk it, not even touching upon his own lingering frustration with the Junkers for their complicity in the
Osthilfeskandal.
1933 was an era of new, somewhat hesitant hope. The end of Great War reparations had not miraculously fixed the economy, but it, along with positive results from the public works programs, gave Germans a renewed feeling of pride in their nation and faith in a better tomorrow. More money was entering public circulation and luxuries which had not been since in many years were returning, such as night clubs and cinemas. Studio Babelsberg, the lead German film studio, driven nearly to bankruptcy by the economic crisis, would reopen its doors in December as plans were drawn up for new films reflective of the new era. Unlike the vibrant, flamboyant pieces of the 20’s which had drawn from the booming Modernist styles, early 30’s productions were more cautious, human-focused tales of struggle and triumph.
One of Studio Babelsberg’s most famous pieces from the era,
Das Brausende Mädel (The Effervescent Girl) of 1934, told the story of a young Bavarian woman moving to Berlin in 1929 to become a journalist, only to be caught in the Great Depression. Unable to work or feed herself, she would be driven to prostitution and drugs, but would continue writing, eventually selling her memoirs and earning enough money to free herself and many other women in her position from the gutter and grant them a new life. The work is heralded as an early Feminist masterpiece and the crowning achievement of German actress Brigitte Helm, who played the protagonist. It was a huge hit in the Netherlands and Britain when it aired in 1934, though many cinemas within Germany refused to air it for its depictions of prostitution and implied same-sex relations between female prostitutes.
German Actress Brigitte Helm
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61wkkYOqHbL.__AC_SY300_SX300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
Youth associations would likewise see their own surge, though this was not solely a product of the public will and in fact was heavily promoted by the new government. Since the days of the Empire, youth groups had been a way to expose young children (mainly boys) to nature and personal fitness in an increasingly-modern and industrialised world. Following the Great War, these groups would grow in number and popularity, with activities like hiking, camping, and sports used to keep children occupied and communally engaged.
As the father of two sons and two daughters, President von Lettow-Vorbeck had a personal investment in this cause, and would soon bring the
Bündische Jugend (Federal Youth), the leading youth association, under the wing of the government when he created the new
Reichsministerium für Bildung und Kinderschutz (Reich Ministry of Education and Child Protection), whose job it would be to monitor not only the schools of the Reich, but indeed all facilities and programs geared towards children to ensure both quality and safety. Light pushback came from several of the Free States who claimed that this interfered with previous precedent which left the running of schools mostly to the individual states (within a few restrictions), but they were quickly assured that this new ministry did not have the power to control school curriculum, focusing mainly on the staff and disciplinary measures. Its power over the youth organisations would be more extensive, directing funding and numbers towards groups with Conservative leaders and promoting activities like hiking, canoeing, and shooting. The goals were twofold: To increase the public health and fitness of the next generation and to properly prepare young boys for a potential future in the military. In 1935 this ministry would absorb the
Jugendamt (Youth Office) and from then on would be the nation-wide authority on childcare and the front line against child abuse.
Parallel to these new 1930’s ideas grew the phenomenon of
Preußtalgie (Prussian nostalgia), first taken root following von Lettow-Vorbeck’s election and now rising to new heights as his Prussian leadership style brought jobs and wealth back to the people. In 1933, the Prussia Museum in Königsberg (located in the former royal palace in the city centre) reported a record high in visitors, a trend mirrored across the various estates and castles which had been converted to museums. This newfound fascination with German history was not exclusive to Germans; tourism to the Reich would rise as the economy and quality of life began to recover to pre-war standards and by 1934 Germany was the third most visited European nation by British and American tourists, exceeding Spain (but unable to surpass Italy or France).
1933 was the first year when the people of Germany could begin to raise their eyes from their troubles and look to the future. A new era was dawning, and Germany would shape it, one way or another.
Author's Note: Another chapter which feels a bit filler-y, but I felt that it is important to show some of the smaller changes and cultural developments.
The three-way struggle between Adenauer, von Lettow-Vorbeck, and the SPD is a dynamic which will define "Late Weimar" in this world's future, and in general it will be to the benefit of the average citizen because through this they will be able to achieve rights and privileges which would not have been possible otherwise, and in the long-run people like Wels and Braun will be heralded for their push for worker rights.
Without the Nazis, Weimar culture never suffers the violent death of our world, though it will still endure a lot of changes and growing pains due to the Great Depression and the new status quo which is developing. Likewise, without the Nazis seizing control over creative works, the 1930's of this world will see a lot of new art and film trends which never existed or took off in our world.
Lastly, I wanted to show how the personality of a leader can influence a nation. Von Lettow-Vorbeck is a loving father and husband, and so he will be more concerned about things to do with protecting his children than Hitler might have been. Given that he may very well have children of fighting age when a potential war breaks out, not to mention his own experience as a leader, he will be far less willing to throw men away (or give them bars of cocaine chocolate) than... others... would have been.
