Hermann Goering
And so at last the struggle against Papen began. From a personal point of view we were sorry, for we thought highly of him as a patriot and a man ; but politically the struggle was an unavoidable necessity. And so in the very first decisive meeting of the Reichstag we had at once a sharp encounter. That famous scene occurred in which Herr von Papen wished to dissolve the Reichstag, but I, as Speaker of this Reichstag, sought to prevent him doing so.
lt was seemingly just playing with words a race with the second-hand of the watch, but in reality it meant that the National Socialists were steadfastly resolved to reach their goal. It was ultimately of no importance how and where he handed me the President's writ; what was important was that we resisted it with all our strength. Amidst the wild applause of our followers the Papen Cabinet retired and the Reichstag continued to sit. I knew that to go on sitting was only a pretence, but that, too, was unimportant. Here again what was decisive was that the conflict had taken place and the impossibility of continuing to play the parliamentary game was clearly demonstrated to the people. After a few months Papen fell, as had been foreseen. That had to be, for first of all he had then the whole National Socialist movement against him, and secondly he had the Minister for Defence, Schleicher, apparently on his side. But any Chancellor who has Herr von Schleicher on his side must expect sooner or later to be sunk by the Schleicher torpedo. At that time there was a joke in political circles - 'General Schleicher ought really to have been an Admiral, for his military genius lies in shooting under water at his political friends!'
Once more the people were presented with the spectacle of a Government crisis and once more the tension grew to breaking-point. Once more we have the same manoeuvring between the Kaiserhof and the Wilhelmstrasse, the same hither and thither. Would Hitler be Chancellor or not ? Once more we see all those forces running together which were united in their uneasy consciences and in their fear of Hitler being appointed. The ambitious General von Schleicher seemed at last to have reached the goal of his political career - 'Chancellor and Minister of Defence in one.' The next step could then only be dictatorship and his own omnipotence. But now that the General could no longer be a wirepuller in the background, now that he had himself to stand in the dazzling limelight of publicity as leading character on the political stage and was himself pulled and pushed by countless conflicting forces, it became apparent that he was in no way fit for his post. He himself imagined perhaps that he was an astute politician, but nevertheless he did not understand in the least the feeling of the people. And that is the vast difference between all the leaders of post-war Germany and Hitler. They all of them knew well their own parties, their clubs and associations, but they all of them more or less ignored the people; they did not take the people into consideration. Hitler, on the other hand, was the only one to stand with both feet among his people, and was therefore the only man entitled to represent this people.