Source: Domarus, pp. 154-158.
August 16, 1932
Question: is it true that, after the talk with Reich Chancellor von Papen, you did not wish to see Reich President von Hindenburg? Why did you then allow yourself to be moved to comply with Hindenburg's request for a visit after all?
Answer: As long as the present Reich Government has not resigned, the Reich Chancellor bears the responsibility for politics. This also applies in the event that a reorganization of the Cabinet is planned and the head of the Government is the one who is endeavoring to bring about that reorganization. Only at that point when the Government resigns does the responsibility fall upon the Reich President to then—if the Constitution is at all valid-institute the formation of a new government in accordance with it. I regard bringing in the Reich President in the course of forming a government as an instance of shifting the responsibility from the shoulders of the Reich Chancellor to the shoulders of the Reich President.
Incidentally, I did not travel to Berlin of my own accord. I was summoned. The Reich Government suggested to me that a new government be formed which as Führer of the National Socialist Movement I was forced to reject in the form proposed. I stated the requirements under which the National Socialist Party would be prepared to join the government. I was informed by the Reich Chancellor personally that these conditions had been rejected by the Reich President from the start. Thus I had even less reason to pay this visit, for I had not in any way attempted to force myself upon the gentlemen in Berlin.
Thus I stated that, in my view, the responsibility for the failure to reorganize the government was naturally to be borne by Reich Chancellor von Papen; that therefore it was out of the question for me to visit Hindenburg; and that I would only be willing to pay a visit to the Reich President if he had not yet made a final decision but rather desired to become acquainted for the time being with the various positions. However, as it was to become evident, this was not the case. The decision of the Reich President had already been made.
The fact that I nonetheless went to see the Reich President was due only to a message relayed by telephone to Minister Frick from the State Secretary of the Reich Chancellory, once more to the effect that the Reich President had not yet made such a decision. In reality, fifteen minutes earlier the Reich Chancellory had confirmed to the press the actuality of the decision of the Reich President, which had already been made, noting at the same time that my visit was to be accorded merely formal significance and could no longer have any affect.
The Reich President himself then also declared that his decision had already become final!
Question: Is it true that you abstained from presenting your position to Hindenburg?
Answer: It is correct that I abstained from presenting my position to Hindenburg, for the curious method I just described which was used to persuade me to visit Reich President von Hindenburg, coupled with the fact of the Reich President's final verdict, gave me no cause to make repeated use of the arguments I had already expounded to the responsible political leader.
Question: Herr Hitler, your Party scored a sensational victory in the Reichstag election. Never before has a party of comparable size existed in Germany. In every other country it would be a matter of course that the leader of the largest party be assigned the task of forming a new government. Why, in your opinion, doesn't Herr von Papen take the logical steps?
Answer: Certainly, in Germany it used to be normal that the leader of the largest party was given the task of forming a cabinet. More recently, though, statesmanlike capabilities appear to be determined no longer by the largeness but rather by the smallness of the parties. Since we National Socialists have become a large force, any politician who wants to become a master among these masters must either have ruined a party or, what is even more effective, no longer have any party at all behind him. Politics is thus no longer the art of the possible, but has become the art of the impossible. Incidentally, the Movement does not owe its present size to the patronizing support of traditionladen figures in our political life who are dying off. Therefore it will not draw its strength in future from these sources either.
Question: Herr Hitler, how do you think von Papen's Government will be capable of working if it can no longer count on the patient and passive behavior of the strongest party in Germany?
Answer: My dear Sir, you will have to address that question to Herr von Papen. For my part, I know in which way I and my Movement will continue fighting.
Question: In your opinion, what consequences will it have for developments in Germany if von Papen's Government does in fact continue to hold the reigns for some time?
Answer: I approached von Papen's Government, the members of which I had, for the most part, never met, as I have approached and will approach every government calling itself a national government. I will support or tolerate it at least as long as I can perceive in its governmental practice a strengthening of the national front and a weakening of the Marxist front. As soon as measures taken by the Government cause the national side to falter and the international side to be stimulated, I will reject it, regardless of which men are involved. Basically, it is my conviction that every government which does not have a solid weltanschaulich footing in a fundamental movement of its Volk must and will fail.
The governmental practice of the current Reich Government will, in my view, lead to chaos.
Question: Is it correct, Herr Hitler, that you have announced that the NSDAP will conduct the most rigorous opposition to von Papen's Government?
Answer: The National Socialist Movement is going into opposition against the current Reich Government. Just how rigorous this opposition is, will be determined by the size of the damages which would be incurred in the absence of an opposition. In this connection, the elections of July 31 have already clearly shown the direction in which von Papen's Government with the men presently in office will and must lead. Even a dictatorship is only conceivable when it represents the will of the Volk or has every prospect of being acknowledged in the near or foreseeable future as representing the will of the Volk. But I know of not a single dictatorship in world history which has succeeded in completely transforming itself into a new and recognized type of state which has not evolved out of a Volksbewegung.
Question: Don't you think that it would be better for the NSDAP to have one bird in the hand rather than two in the bush?
Answer: Nein. I will never give away a birthright for a song. In matters of principle, I would rather take on any fight and any persecution than ever be untrue to myself or the Movement. I believe that, in this degenerated and unprincipled age, it is important to show people that a movement is pursuing the goal it has set unerringly and unalterably, without consideration to momentary advantages or disadvantages to its leading figures. One cannot require heroism from a nation when its political leaders are ready to make any, even the cheapest compromise. This is tantamount to cultivating, from the top downwards, that spirit of lack of dignity in a Volk which then, even in the last fateful questions, regards an act of submission as being a "bearable" compromise.
Question: How did the leaders accompanying you in Berlin react to your decision?
Answer: My leaders would never have understood me had I acted any differently. Even if I make a hundred mistakes in practical matters, they would forgive me more easily for that than were I only once to deny the honor of the Movement or the principles of our struggle. Today more than ever before, they are behind me as a single man.
Question: Herr Hitler, how do you think your decision will be taken by the members of the NSDAP?
Answer: The members of the Party and my followers have heard from my own mouth a hundred times that I will never make compromises which are unbearable for the Movement. They know that I am willing at all times, if necessary, to give my life for the Movement. They know that hundreds of thousands of our comrades are doing the same thing and that thousands are making serious sacrifices. All that would be pointless if now suddenly the Movement could be lent out for a program other than its own. You ask what the party comrades and followers think? When I left Berlin that night, a large crowd of people surrounded my car and called out to me. I only remember two of the sentences, which I wish our banners would bear for all time: "Don't give in!" and "Stand firm!"
Question: How many acts of terrorism are being committed against your party comrades? According to my information, at the beginning of the year alone they numbered thousands. What does the Movement contemplate doing in order to protect its adherents from the daily acts of terrorism against the National Socialists still taking place under von Papen's Government?
Answer: The acts of terrorism practiced by the Marxist parties against our Movement now number tens of thousands. The number of dead is more than 300;211 the number of injured last year was more than 6,000, but in the seven and a half months of this year, this figure has already exceeded 8,200.
Countless comrades have been crippled and will remain so for the rest of their lives. In the past, our governments and the press—if I leave out very few papers, of which yours is one—have never taken any interest in these matters. At the most, if a National Socialist defended himself in order to save his life, he was made out to be the aggressor in the end and even sentenced on top of it. In this regard, I am not counting the terrible acts of persecution against the Party by the police which have, in a single city—namely Dortmund—finally been punished in court and thus been acknowledged as having taken place. On the day of the election, without warning, one of these red murderers slashed the throat of one of our comrades with a razor in broad daylight in Königsberg, for no reason at all. The poor man died a wretched death. The press, which normally makes a fuss about every single villain, took hardly any notice. Though, mind you, the bourgeois newspapers and the governments instantly came awake when calls for revenge came from the cup now filled to overflowing with indignation and wrath! Now that the party comrades who are in permanent danger of being killed have finally begun to retaliate, the value of human life has suddenly been discovered, but they do not now join forces against the red plague of murderers, no: they join forces against the "general political acts of terror."
You ask what we contemplate doing to stop this?
There is such a thing as a right of self-defense, and we will not be talked into giving it up for long by the stupid clichés of "law and order." This pitiful bourgeois prattle will not bring my dead comrade back to life, will not make a cripple healthy again, will not do any good to the injured. The National Socialist Movement has fought legally to the utmost, but unless this butchering soon comes to an end, I will be forced to decree a right of self-defense to the party comrades which will then—let there be no doubt—instantly do away with these red Cheka methods.
I may add that, at times like these throughout history, police regulations have always failed. No further proof is necessary to show that the situation in Germany today is no different.
Question: What do you view as the next steps for your Party?
Answer: The Party is fighting for power. Its steps are determined by the fighting methods of our opponents,
Question: Your Movement is not seriously regarded anywhere as reactionary or unsocial. How can it be that, despite this, the parties which are most rigorous in attacking von Papen's Government as the "Cabinet of Barons" for being reactionary and unsocial, today welcome the fact that this government is not being replaced by a National Socialist Government, i.e. by men who come from all classes of the Volk?
Answer: Oh, you are quite mistaken! Certain right-wing circles call us Bolshevists, and the Bolshevists in turn claim that we are reactionaries, barons, big-business capitalists, slaves of industry, and God knows what else. The fact that the enemies of the German Volk both at home and abroad are happy that no reorganization will take place in the Government is a great honor for the Party. The fact that they sigh in relief that I have not become Chancellor is a great honor for me. The Marxist enemies of Germany at home know, after having betrayed the German Volk for years, that the National Socialist Movement will in fact honestly look after the German working man. The bourgeois reactionaries know that we will replace their policy of weakness with a policy of national strength. Both suspect that the age of class and rank conflict is coming to an end and that the unity of the German Volk will once more be restored to it on the platform of National Socialist thought.