Banned in Berlin on election day this week was the flag of Germany:
black, red & gold. When a Prussian Deputy tried to fly his country's flag. Berlin police
made him take it down. The Deputy's country—the German Republic—was
dying if not dead. Meanwhile out of the ballot box another Germany was
being reborn. Its flag— black, white & red—the onetime Imperial
Hohenzollern colors, flew in every street, floated majestically from
Government buildings and was flaunted everywhere by shouting, cheering
throngs. Goosestepping as smartly as when they were members
of Germany's Imperial Army, and with several Hohenzollern Princes
in their ranks, 20,000 Stahlhelmers paraded down Unter den Linden.
Strangely enough, no monarchical restoration loomed. Chancellor Adolf
Hitler had merely gone to the German people under borrowed colors, had
won a thundering cataclysmic victory with catchwords as loose as his
slogan: “Rebirth or Bolshevism!” Not dazzled by a promised “new deal” , Germans, hoping that somehow he
will bring back “the good old times.” turned out in such numbers on the
brilliant, balmy Election Sunday that 88% of the electorate cast
ballots—an all-time record. Stay-at-homes got no peace from the
Government radio which sternly commanded every few minutes: “Do your
duty! Get out and vote! Cast your ballot for the Government parties!
Do it now!” The Returns. From two elections the same day Germans received these significant returns : The Reichstag New Former Change *NationaI Socialists 288 196 +92 Nationalists 52 54 -2 Socialists 120 121 -1Communists 81 100 -19 † Catholic Centrists 73 70 + 3 Bavarian Populists 20 20 < 3.4%> Splinter Parties 18 < 2.8%> 23 -9 The New Prussian Diet National Socialists 44.6% Nationalists 9 % Socialists 16.9% Catholic Centrists 14.4% Communists 13.45Splinter Parties 1.7% Thus the Government parties won a clear majority in both Diet and
Reichstag. Moreover, if the Communist votes are nullified by Government
decree , Chancellor Hitler's Nazis by themselves will
have absolute majorities, can tell Dr. Hugenberg and Vice-Chancellor
Franz von Papen to go to the devil. Jubilant, the Nazis celebrated on election night by seizing the
Municipal Government of Hamburg, a “free city” which is legally a
State of the German Republic, contains more than 1,000,000 inhabitants.
On telegraphic orders from Berlin grim Nazi Storm Troops rushed upon
Hamburg's Socialist Mayor. Dr. Karl Petersen, who promptly resigned.
The flag soon broken out above Hamburg's City Hall was neither the
Republican nor the Hohenzollern banner. Having won the election under
borrowed colors, the Nazis hoisted the Nazi flag: red. with a black
swastika in its round white bull's eye.
