So it begins

January 1932. So begins my account of the rise of Nazism, or perhaps more appropriately, of Hitlerism, in Germany.

The main purpose of this journal is to document the changes I see occurring in German politics and foreign affairs. Keeping this journal is dangerous for me and my work. It might be dangerous as well for my mother, father, brother, friends and sources. However, I feel a desperate need to chronicle these chaotic, often frightening times.

My name is Albrecht von Haar and I am the editor of the Periodical of the Society for Geography in Berlin. I am unmarried and live and work at 23 Wilhelmstrasse, Berlin. My official residence is located on the top flat of the PSGB office building.

My father is Karl von Haar, Professor General of Political Geography at Munich University. He is generally credited with the concept of Geopolitics – which is the notion that a nation is an organism in need of breathing and breeding space. In Germany’s case, this particular idea has been interpreted by many as a God given right for Germany to expand eastward through the Slavic countries and beyond to the Russian steppes.

At this time I am particularly interested in closely following Adolph Hitler, an Austrian-born rabble-rouser who has become a household name in Germany and appears to enjoy fashioning himself after Italy’s Fascist Mussolini. Hitler’s fascist political party has infested the Riechstag, made the parliament a laughing stock and he has now moved from Munich to an apartment in Berlin, just down the street from my apartment, where he holds court as if he is already Reich Chancellor.

Hitler has a large army of militant fascist followers. Some estimate the number to be 200,000. If so, his personal army rivals or exceeds the current size of the Reichswehr, the German military, as permitted by that damned Versailles ‘treaty.’

I don’t know Hitler personally, but I know that after a slow start in the 20′s he has risen rapidly in German politics in the past two years, slowly building up his ultra-nationalist and racist political party. He is head of the NSDAP – The National Socialist German Workers Party, also known as the Nazi Party. Last fall he garnered over six million votes in local elections. Old man Hindenburg is still Germany’s  head of state, but Hitler and his group of ruffians are rapidly making inroads. It seems Hitler learned from his unsuccessful violent attempt to overtake the government in 1923. Now he is wrapping his hands around the Wiemar Republic’s neck and slowly strangling it, lawfully, by  winning elections and filling seats in the Reichstag.

I am fairly well acquainted with Rudolph Hess, one of Hitler’s lieutenants, and personal secretary. My father has known Hess since teaching in Munich before the putsch. I met Hess several years ago and discovered we are both Anglophiles and discovered a common liking for horoscopes and ancient runes. But more on that later. We have had many discussions about foreign policy, the British Empire, and Germany’s future. He is not a brilliant man, but he has Hitler’s ear and I hope to use that to my advantage. We meet in Berlin at least once a month to discuss Germany’s future and the Nazi role it that future. I’m hoping that I can use Hess to get to Hitler or at least the inner circle.

With the rise of the Nazi’s, I see a storm gathering on the horizon. Just yesterday, Hitler said that if he became head of the government, he would stop paying war reparations. This stance does not sit well with France or England. Many fear a Hitler government could lead to terrible conflict in Europe once again.

Enough for now, I am off to take a stroll in the nearby Tiergarten with my friend Ada Ortrun. Afterward, I plan to see Fritz Lang’s “M.” I will go see it alone, as the film may be too frightful for Ada’s sensibilities. I hear it is still playing in a theater on Friedrichstrasse.