Real Dictators - Adolf Hitler Part 7: The Day of Treason

Episode Date: May 4, 2021

In the final part of Hitler’s Early Years, the Nazi leader launches his very own assault on power: the Munich Putsch. Under cover of darkness, the SA prepare to storm locations across Munich. Hitler himself prepares to kidnap a senior politician. Will the Nazis take over Germany? Or will they fail and fade back into obscurity? For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The revolution lies in the air in 1923 because the political crisis in Germany just escalates. On the one hand, occupation of the Ruhr district, of the industrial heartland of Germany, by foreign troops, in this case of Belgium and French troops, and this is really seen as a kind of moment of national outrage in Germany. This really radicalizes things. And combine that with the escalating economic crisis in Germany. This is the moment of hyperinflation. This is the kind of moment where from one day to next, everything loses its value. And it is this moment of hyperinflation that explains why things get out of hand in 1923 and why people expect revolution to happen.

By the way, either from the left or from the right, revolution is on everyone's mind. Now is the time, now or never. Adolf Hitler knows there's a window of opportunity to strike and grab power. But if he's not careful, the chance will come and go. Germany is mired in political and grab power. But if he's not careful, the chance will come and go. Germany is mired in political and economic crises. But soon the finance ministry in Berlin will start getting its act together. The economic outlook will begin to improve. While people are poor and downtrodden,

Hitler's message has a chance of hitting home. But if people's lives get back on track, The message has a chance of hitting home. But if people's lives get back on track, they'll be much less likely to reach for extreme solutions. The time has come to launch the Munich Putsch. My name is Paul McGann, and this is Real Dictators. Germany was perhaps the strongest nation potentially in all of continental Europe. Somehow it had to be stabilized. So the Germans brought in a brilliant minister of finance to solve the problem.

He worked out some formula by which the value of the German, the new German currency would be linked to the value of the land, of the agricultural land in Germany. And somehow or other, miraculously, inflation began to end. As the economy began to be stabilized. Hitler had the sense of now or never. So he ended his indecision. He decided on November the 9th, the anniversary of the surrender at the end of World War I, he decided to march. But then things start to move more quickly

than Hitler initially thought that they would happen. It seems that Hitler initially thought he had far more time to build up this standing for him. But as he realized, as there is talk about revolution in there, he knows that he has got to move now. So if he wants to be Germany's Mussolini, if he wants to be Bavaria's Mussolini, he clearly feels now is the time. He's also aware that voices are being heard within his own parties, amongst his own supporters, that Hitler is all talks but no action. So he realizes that he really now has got to act.

The plan for the Nazis' Munich Putsch is to bring about revolution in stages. It'll start at the local level, in Bavaria's capital. Then they'll take it national. And the idea emerges that Mussolini had shown what could be done with extra-parliamentary action that's fueled by paramilitarism and high-minded patriotic idealism. The Nazis could take over the Bavarian government and then they could march all the way up onto Berlin and evict what they saw as being Jewish socialist government in Berlin. Germany was a federal system with strong state governments,

and Bavaria was a hugely important state, just like Berlin was the capital of Prussia. So Hitler started organizing. Power in the southern state of Bavaria rests in the hands of three people, known as the triumvirate. They are the head of the police, the head of the military, the head of the military,

and the state prime minister, a man called Gustav Ritter von Kahr. Hitler is confident he can get these men on side. Hermann Goering and Ernst Rohm have been schmoozing overtime, working to win the support of people within the establishment. If Hitler can win over the Triumvirate, he'll then have Bavaria's army and state police to add to the ranks of his own SA stormtroopers. The Prime Minister von Kahr is not as right-wing as Hitler, but he's not that far off. Von Kahr has been flirting with

the Nazis. They even considered him as a candidate to front the putsch. But he decided to keep his distance, and Hitler went for General Erich Ludendorff instead. Von Kahr may have gotten cold feet, but Hitler is confident that when push comes to shove, he'll join their team. And if the Prime Minister doesn't get behind the Nazis, then they'll kidnap him and force him to at gunpoint. Hitler gathered his associates on the east side of the river that goes through Munich. And it was all so fortunate that particular year, it was a long weekend, it was a holiday. And so the police were thin on the ground. That also helped. On the evening of November the 8th, 1923, a Mercedes winds its way through the streets of Munich. Inside sits the 34-year-old Nazi chief, Adolf Hitler, along with his closest aides.

Their destination is the Bürgerbräukeller, a large beer hall. Here, tonight, Gustav von Kahr is giving an address in his role as Bavarian Prime Minister. He'll be joined by the head of the police and the head of the army. So the whole triumvirate will be in the same building at the same time. And in the crowd, there'll be hundreds of boozed-up punters with right-wing proclivities. It's an evening tailor-made for Nazi hijacking. Everything has been building to tonight. Whichever way it goes, the Munich Putsch will be decisive.

The car arrives at the Bürgerbräukeller. Hitler steps out. Hermann Göring is also there with a retinue of brown shirts. General Ludendorff isn't here yet. The plan is for him to make a grand entrance later on, in Act 2. First things first. The plotters need to make it inside the building. Local police are on duty, patrolling outside the hall. Goering has done an impressive job whipping the brown shirts into shape. They are thugs at heart.

But at this crucial juncture they keep their discipline. Debarking their trucks they keep their heads down and move towards the entrance. Such is their composed, assured demeanour. The police assume they're just regular army units, here on official business. The first hurdle has been cleared. Hitler and Goering enter the building with a core group of 20 men, while the others surround the place. Outside the doors of the main chamber you can hear a pin drop. The stormtroopers shuttle forward. This is what they've trained for. They barge right in. Goering and his men head right to the far end of the beer hall.

They set up a machine gun on the dais. Then in marches the humble drummer, Adolf Hitler. In one hand, Hitler holds a pistol. He fires into the ceiling and declares the start of the national revolution. Then he shepherds von Kahr and his two colleagues off the stage and into an adjacent room. Hitler then finally just forces things. He tries to seize the moment and to also force the hand of the Bavarian establishment. He storms into a meeting.

He shoots into the air and says, you're all arrested. He's taking them to the back room and he is basically telling them, you join the revolution and we'll all do this together or else. Hitler has a gun on them, but the Bavarian triumvirate resist. Who does Hitler think he is?

Abducting government officials. Hitler needs to play his trump card. He picks up a telephone and he calls General Ludendorff. It's time to get over here as fast as possible. One of Hitler's aides makes another call, this one to Ernst Röhm. It's the queue Röhm has been waiting for. His men start to move in on strategic positions Army barracks, police stations, government buildings Right across Munich

In the beer hall, Göring is keeping the crowd warm While in the side room, Hitler continues to try and win round von Kahr But the Prime Minister won't budge Hitler, it seems, has seriously overestimated von Kahr's appetite for treason Hitler loses patience It's time to do what he does best seems, has seriously overestimated von Kahr's appetite for treason. Hitler loses patience. It's time to do what he does best. He steps back out into the main hall and takes to the stage.

Goering steps aside to leave the floor to his boss. For better or worse, this will be one of the most significant speeches Hitler has ever made. Hitler launches into a textbook tirade. He uses every rhetorical device at his disposal to turn the crowd his way. He appeals to their sense of patriotism, their duty to the fatherland. He insists that the Nazis are respectable. They're not trying to undermine the army or the police. It's the corrupt government in Berlin that are in their crosshairs. Within minutes, the atmosphere has totally changed.

One eyewitness will later claim that Hitler turns the crowd as one turns a glove inside out. Hitler leaves the stage to rapturous applause. He heads back into the side room to work on von Kahr some more. After Hitler's barnstorming rant, the Nazis are emboldened. The Putsch gets another shot in the arm and Ludendorff chooses this moment to arrive. The appearance of such a prestigious figure changes everything for the triumvirate. With this decorated general on the ticket,

suddenly this coup has the sheen of respectability that they need to get on board. They concede to Hitler's demands. So Hitler now has the leaders of Bavaria in his corner. It's a huge breakthrough. It's taken a little longer than planned, admittedly, but things are working out at the Berger Brueckeller. Across the city, however, it's a mixed picture. Ernst Röhm's men continue to move in on target locations. Some Nazi squads have succeeded in their task, taking control of military buildings and recruiting army and police officers to their ranks.

But it's by no means a clean sweep. Plenty of agents of the law are ready to fight these usurpers to the death. Moreover, word is starting to spread among the general public, and to most Bavarians, these are terrorists, plain and simple. A group of unelected paramilitaries who think they have the right to take over the government just because they want to. With armed standoffs across Munich, and outraids locals starting to rise from their beds, the putsch could go either way. It's a chess match, and the next turn on the board is Hitler's. From where he's standing at the Berger Bräukeller, everything seems pretty much under control.

He has no way of knowing at this moment in time how delicately balanced his revolution is. So you can perhaps understand the tactical decision that he makes. Hitler decides to leave Ludendorff and Goering in charge at the Beer Hall, while he goes to oversee the coup elsewhere in the city. He is the self-proclaimed Fuhrer, after all. He has to be across everything. This is a fatal mistake. The atmosphere in the beer hall is upbeat.

Everyone is on the same page now. Down with the Weimar government. Long live patriotic Germany. Hermann Goering is in his element. It's like being back at his World War I airbase. He's the toast of his men. They love him. How could they not? The drinks are flowing. The spirits are running high. No one is keeping an eye on Ludendorff.

And left to his own devices, the general is about to make a grave error. Prime Minister von Kahr reads the situation perfectly. He sidles up to the aging war hero. Let us leave, von Kahr suggests. It's getting late. We've given you our backing. Now let us head home. We'll pick this up in the morning. You can trust us. We won't betray you. Ludendorff sees no reason why not. Hitler's most high-profile hostage walks straight through the beer hall's double doors and out into the night. Von Kahr has played Hitler and hoodwinked Ludendorff. Now, he has absolutely no intention of going home obediently to his family. He didn't become Bavarian Prime minister by being a pushover.

Instead, von Kahr sounds the alarm. The moment Hitler accepts that the people he had arrested who had given him the award that he would support them, the moment he makes a mistake to take the award, he has lost the putsch. Because as a result of that, people are being arrested, and things don't really spread during the night. In a few brief moments the putsch has swerved violently off the rails.

When Hitler returns to the Berger Brueckeller, he's incandescent. The plotters are now marooned in no-man's land. They haven't kept the Bavarian bigwigs onside. But they've gone too far with the putsch to back out. Hitler's co-conspirators know better than to try to counsel him when he's in this mood. Eventually Hitler decides that they should all sit tight right here. The outlook will be brighter in the morning. The army and the police will surely come on side, with or without von Kahr.

Rome will come through with reinforcements. Better to lock down the beer hall and wait for assistance. Night becomes morning, and the promised reinforcements are nowhere to be seen. By now it's clear the would-be revolution has lost all momentum. Hitler's paramilitaries have failed to take a sufficient number of strategic targets. Prime Minister von Kahr is back in charge of his men. The city has not fallen in behind the Munich putsch.

A crowd made up of thousands of local citizens will soon gather and protest this affront to their democracy. So what to do? General Ludendorff pipes up with a simple suggestion. We will march, he declares. The following morning, Hitler and Ludendorff still decide to do a last stand. I think half driven by a hope that they can still change things, that somehow if they march through central Munich,

people and military units will join them and that that would allow them to still seize power. But I think also half driven by a realization that they have lost the push, but at least that they want to go down in flames and in heroism. The Nazis want to make sure that they are remembered as glorious martyrs. The reality is rather less flattering. The plan was to seize control of the Bavarian government, then march all the way to Berlin, gathering devoted followers along the way.

It's barely got off the ground. They're still stuck in the beer hall, nowhere near power in the capital. And now, all that's left is to leave the hall to march aimlessly through the capital. And now, all that's left is to leave the hall to march aimlessly through the city. They assemble just outside of the city center. They march through the city center. They march past the central square in Munich. They walk north towards the former royal palace. Death or prison awaits the Munich putschists. Marching through the streets worked for Mussolini in Rome,

albeit he had a specific destination in mind. It's not clear exactly where the Nazis are marching to, but if this is to be the last stand, then so be it. For citizens watching from the roadside, it must be a rather odd spectacle. That foul-mouthed orator Adolf Hitler, with the old war hero General Ludendorff, leading a brigade of banner-wielding fascists through the city. Suddenly the police show up. The security forces show up. They block their way. The entire force is marching in one street. They're not deployed. They're not scattered.

And suddenly the marchers face the police. The entire force is marching in one street. They're not deployed, they're not scattered. And suddenly the marchers face the police. The road ahead is blocked by the authorities. These policemen are armed and ready for a fight. And just as they reach the square where in 1914 Hitler had stood at the outbreak of the war, Bavarian police start shooting on them. It doesn't take much to disperse the Nazis.

Hitler falls to the floor. A bullet narrowly misses his head. Talk about a sliding doors moment. The police fire. Several of Hitler's fellow marchers are killed. The man who was next to him locked arms with Hitler and thereby pulled Hitler to the ground, probably saved his life. Later on, Hitler and Mein Kampf and later would always talk about himself and his 12 loyal deputies. Of course,

how many disciples did Christ have? Twelve. Hitler will spin this showdown with the police as a glorious instance of Nazi heroism. But in the moment, he and his followers scatter and flee for their lives. Well there's one exception. General Ludendorff marches straight forward, right towards the police. They can't bring themselves to fire upon a war hero. So they take him into custody instead. Hitler's followers call him the Great One, but right now, he's a little busy sprinting off into the Munich backstreets. Ludendorff is just marching through the fire because no one dares to shoot at Ludendorff, and the putsch is over.

Hitler, he's now being quickly pulled backwards and in a car whisked out of Munich. While Hitler escapes with a dislocated shoulder, Hermann Goering, the leader of the SA, is faring rather worse. Hermann is injured. There are shots in the groin area. There's bullets in the groin area. He takes refuge in a local house. And then Karen,

who was sick at the time, sort of gets off her sickbed, goes to find him, gets him to a doctor, and then they get him across the border into Austria. So the whole thing basically degenerates into what one observer called a Latin American farce. It started with these big ideas of taking over Berlin and it collapses into a pretty tawdry exchange of fire on a Munich street. It's a kind of episode that's very embarrassing really for the Nazis in terms of its optics. In the aftermath of the putsch, it seems remarkable the Nazis ever thought it could come off.

There was never really any chance that the putsch was going to succeed because even in Bavaria, the police mostly and the army mostly were resolutely set against the putschists. It was a complete and total fiasco. Miscalculation, arrogant to think that this band of thugs would possibly be able to take over the government. The entire putsch was a failure. Hitler's beer hole putsch was initially an unmitigated failure. Hitler thought that this was the end of it. He was suicidal in the days after the coup,

so he clearly thinks everything is lost. It seems that he has had his 15 minutes of fame. This is also how foreign diplomats, how they report Hitler, is they treat him as the guy who does his 15 minutes of fame. This is also how foreign diplomats, how they report Hitler, is they treat him as the guy who had his 15 minutes of fame and then went down in flames. Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring are on the run. Ernst Röhm, Erich Ludendorff and Dietrich Eckart are in custody. To add insult to Hitler's shoulder injury, the Putsch is not even reported in the press as Hitler's coup. The infamy, for now at least, belongs to General Ludendorff. It's also important to remember, by the way, that initially when the Putsch happened, people

described it as the Ludendorff Putsch. At best they described it as the Ludendorff Hitler Putsch. Ultimately the Nazis were never going to succeed without the guaranteed support of the army. And not just fringe officers like Ernst Röhm, the army en masse. This is a warning that Hitler will take on board. The military will remain a serious power broker all the way through the Nazi years. The army has a huge impact on Germany all the way through and Hitler's really always got to worry about the army It remains an independent power and of course that's the group who tries to kill Hitler

And in terms of the Nazi strategy it switches after the Munich Putsch to having to use the ballot box rather than purely relying on conspiratorial paramilitarism which had preceded the Putsch By the time 1933 comes Hitler makes sure that the army and the police are on his side for the takeover of power. So it's a very important lesson in some ways, periodizes the entire Nazi movement.

The Putsch has been a shambles, but the humiliation of defeat contains one absolutely vital lesson for Hitler. He will soon come to realize that he must change his whole approach. He will see clearly that the way to power lies not in seizing the government by force, but in subverting the democratic system to his own ends. Hitler will soon launch a brand new mission, to bring down German politics from within. And he realized that he had miscalculated. Hitler realized his strategy was wrong,

that he would never be able to stage a violent revolution like Mussolini, that he lived in a democratic system with a well-developed middle class with a very strong constitution, and he would have to work within the system to undermine instead of overthrow that system, to figure out its weaknesses and to leverage what power he had to destroy the system from within, to weaken it from within. Hitler will realize that he has perhaps underestimated his own political talents. By reaching straight for revolution, he's overlooked his own potential as a force in democratic politics.

On this new mission, to win elected office, Hitler will need to appeal beyond the violent politics of his Munich echo chamber. He'll need to make inroads in all the different German states, not just Bavaria, and in the countryside as well as towns and cities, with farmers and landowners as well as workers and soldiers. In just 10 years time, Hitler will have done exactly that, as he assumes office as Germany's Chancellor. His true rise to power starts right here, in 1923, in the ashes of defeat. Hitler has fled the Munich Putsch with his tail between his legs. Hitler has fled the Munich Putsch with his tail between his legs.

But that is not the version of events that will be passed down to the Nazi faithful. The unflattering facts will be smoothed over by Nazi propagandists. The Putsch will be celebrated each year as a foundational Nazi event. It will become an annual day of remembrance in the Nazi calendar. A mythical memory of the putsch will take root in Germany. Three years ago Dietrich Eckart took Hitler under his wing and started training him up. Eckart still thinks of his protégé with pride as he languishes in his own prison cell in the aftermath of the putsch. Eckart is soon released from jail. The judge lets him out on compassionate grounds. Years of alcohol and drug abuse have taken their toll.

Not long after his release, Eckhart dies of a heart attack. The former playwright has helped to create a monstrous character, one that will go on to terrorize the world, perhaps more than any other man in history. In public, Hitler will downplay Eckhart's influence on his development as a politician. But in private, he will acknowledge that he is indebted to his mentor. Hitler had every interest in writing his influence out of his story because Hitler wants to sell the story of himself as a kind of self-made man.

He wants to tell the story of the genius, the guy who had come out of nowhere. But we do know that it was under his leadership that Hitler really turned into kind of the leader whom we all know. So what next for Hitler and the Nazis? You'll find out soon. Here's a sneak preview.

Hitler wasn't arrested immediately because he and everybody else fled. He fled, he put on a disguise, he fled into Bavaria, and he was trying to make it across the border to Austria. An extraordinary game of cat and mouse will unfold as the authorities chase Adolf Hitler through the mountains, lakes, and forests. Finally, they will catch up with him.

So he was finally caught hiding out at the country mansion of one of his associates. They'll arrest Hitler. They'll put him on trial, charged with treason. The hangman's noose will beckon. But as we shall see, Hitler will turn this crisis on its head. His trial will turn out to be the making of him as a national figure. So Hitler's able to use his trial for the Munich Puts, turn it into a big propaganda spectacular. This was attempted treason, and yet rather than giving Hitler a stiff sentence, he's allowed play to the gallery. As he takes to the stand in his own defence,

Hitler will finally break out of his Bavarian bubble and rupture the nation's consciousness. At this moment, his march towards the roles of Chancellor and then Fuhrer will truly commence. Hitler basically just accepts that it was all him, even if it's not true. Hitler realizes it's great if everyone blames everything on him, because if they do so, he has finally become what he has tried to be for a long time, a nationalist leader. Reporters flocked from North Germany, and for the first time, Hitler had name

recognition. For the first time, he emerged out of his Bavarian following and became a national figure. A hero who may have failed, but as a man who would risk his life, risk his reputation for the sake of his nation. And that's what made him a national figure. That's all coming soon on Real Dictators. This episode marks the end of our mini-series, Hitler's Early Years. We'll return to the Hitler story in the coming months. We'll encounter more Nazi henchmen, including Rudolf Hess,

Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich. We'll follow Hitler's ascent to dictatorship, the horrors of his rule and his downfall. But for now we're taking a time out from Germany and turning our attention to dictators elsewhere. In the 1920s, on the western edge of Europe, 1200 miles away from Munich, another tyrant-to-be is finding his feet. Next time we'll bring you the extraordinary story of General Francisco Franco, a fascist dictator whose bloody legacy has

been largely overlooked. As the Globe's great powers formed up for two world wars, the country of Spain was locked in its own internal battles. He has very high-tech aid from Hitler. He has massive aid from Mussolini. And most important, he has the clandestine aid of the British government. Franco led his side to victory in the bitter civil war and orchestrated the White Terror,

a period of civilian repression that claimed hundreds of thousands of Spanish lives. The plan was to not only conquer, but to exterminate. Spain has to be cleansed of negative influences. Yet, despite his crimes, he ruled for decades, right up until 1975, when he died peacefully at the ripe old age of 82. How was Franco able to commit such atrocities and get away with it? Today, Spain may be Europe's holiday capital, but beyond the sun-kissed veneer lie sinister secrets.

General Franco and Spain's hidden past. That's next time on Real Dictators. Real Dictators is presented by me, Paul McGann. The show was created by Pascal Hughes. Produced by Joel Doudal. Editing and music by Oliver Baines, with strings recorded by Dory McCauley. Sound design and mix by Tom Pink, with edit assembly by George Tapp. Follow Noiser Podcasts on Twitter for news about upcoming series. If you haven't already, follow us wherever you listen to your favorite shows,

or check us out at realdictators.com. Tune in on Wednesdays for new episodes.