The Rise of the Third Reich

"Ms. Doctor" Schragmiller guessed right. Hersman wanted to build a highly independent intelligence agency. Because he knew that after Germany's defeat, the army would be shackled and the government would be tied up. Not only is it unable to possess strong military force for external warfare, but internal suppression will also become ineffective due to chaotic democracy. Internal suppression may sound evil, but more than a year of experience has taught Hersman that internal suppression Repression is also an important part of a country's combat effectiveness!

The internal collapse of the Second Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russian Empire was a reflection of the lack of internal suppression capabilities!

Although before the collapse of the empire, people's livelihood was relatively difficult, and food and coal quotas were dwindling. But compared with the sufferings suffered by Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union in World War II, the difficulties faced by Germany, Austria and Russia now are nothing at all. There are no bombs falling from the sky, industry and agriculture can basically be maintained, and no one seems to be starving to death.

In addition, the people in the Bolshevik-controlled areas of Russia are currently suffering much more as a result of the civil war than before the February Revolution. But Soviet Russia did not collapse because they had the All-Russian Extraordinary Committee to Purge Counterrevolution and Sabotage!

Historically, the Weimar Republic's internal repression capability was only slightly better than that of the Russian Provisional Government. Although it could suppress the uprisings of the Nazi Party and the Bolshevik Party, it could not prevent these two parties from possessing paramilitary forces and using them for elections and elections. Partisan brawls.

After realizing the importance of internal repression, Herschmann was determined to seize the opportunity before him and build the Stasi into a large and independent institution that he would firmly control in his own hands.

The goal is somewhat ambitious, and the path to achieving it is certainly tortuous. On March 22, 1918, when Hersmann received the official order to establish the Baltic State Security Service, this secret service organization, which would become a formidable and huge agency in the future, only had four members - the director. Major Hersman, Deputy Director Major Canaris, Training Director Schragmuller and Secretary Rosenberg.

"Today we will discuss the big principles first," Hersman said while drinking coffee and chewing bread while discussing the establishment of a spy organization with his two deputies.

"The first is independence, without which we can't do anything." Hessman emphasized, "The second is hugeness. The agency should be a huge organization, not a pocket-sized intelligence agency. It has many capabilities and will There are many members.”

"Third, the agency should have a doctrine to fight for, just like the Cheka..." Hersman pointed out that in Soviet Russia, the Cheka soldiers did not consider themselves a despicable secret police, nor would they His own actions were condemned by his conscience. Because they all firmly believe that they are fighting for the most noble cause in the world - the liberation of mankind. If the Stasi is to become an organization comparable to the Cheka in the future, then it must also convince its members that it is fighting for some noble cause.

"I think dynastic socialism could become the guiding ideology of the Stasi," Elsbeth Schragmuller immediately suggested. She is a college student studying economics and understands Marxism and Listism. The latter is the economic doctrine founded by the great German economist Friedrich List in the 19th century. “This is the only thing that can stand up to Marxism and liberalism!”

Contrary to Adam Smith's liberal economics, List's theory believes that the state should play an important role in economic life, and the state should lead industrialization and implement trade protectionism. List believes that the production of wealth is much more important than wealth itself. Therefore, the government should do everything possible to promote the country's industrial productivity, even using tariff protection and financial subsidies.

However, unlike Marxism, List did not advocate intervention in all areas of the economy. He argued that the state’s intervention or control can only be limited to certain areas, that is, “for those matters that individual citizens know better and are better at, the state does not overstep their authority; on the contrary, what it does is, even if individuals know something about it, they are better at it. Things that he cannot do on his own." Lister also specifically mentioned things that the country needs to do, including: protecting the country's merchant ships with the help of naval and navigation regulations; building roads, railways, bridges, canals, and seawalls. and other infrastructure; formulate patent laws and various regulations that are conducive to production and consumption; implement protective trade in order to promote the growth of the country's manufacturing industry, etc. In short, the mission of the country is to promote the growth of wealth and productivity, transform the country from barbarism to civilization, and evolve from weakness to strength.

Although Liszt's views were not taken seriously during his lifetime, they were also rejected by the mainstream of society at that time. However, after his death (committing suicide in poverty), he contributed to the economic take-off of the Second German Empire - in fact, most of the late-developing countries that achieved economic take-off in later generations followed List's route and succeeded. of.

After the German Empire's economy took off, in order to combat the threat of the labor movement, Bismarck began to implement a social welfare system during his administration and introduced more than 6,000 laws to protect workers. Germany became the country with the best welfare for its people in the world at that time.

The combination of List's state-led economic line and Bismarck's political philosophy that the state needed to take care of the people, coupled with Prussian militarism, was hailed as "dynastic socialism" by some German socialists. After the fall of the Hohenzollern dynasty, this doctrine was also called "National Socialism".

By the way: Prussian militarism, Lister's economic line and Bismarck's promotion of social welfare are actually a trinity. The authoritarianism of Prussian militarism was the political basis for promoting Listianism and social welfare, and the economic boom that Listism brought to Germany was the economic basis for militarism and social welfare. In the end, social welfare became militarism and Listerism. social basis of socialism.

After Germany's defeat, Prussian militarism suffered heavy losses and was unable to maintain its original authority. List's economic proposition lost an important foundation. Moreover, the German economy was devastated by the Treaty of Versailles and lost its economic foundation. Germany's social welfare system also collapsed. In the end, Prussian militarism was not strong enough to suppress the workers' movement. The complete collapse of the trinity of National Socialism resulted in the weakness and chaos of the Weimar Republic.

The consequence of the vigorous development of the workers' movement in the Weimar Republic was the growth of the German Bolshevik Party and the German National Socialist Workers' Party!

The reason for the economic miracle in the early days of the Nazis coming to power was actually the combination of the Nazi Party and Prussian militarism to form a new powerful authority and restore the "Trinity" of national socialism.

"Dynastic socialism...of course, I think we can call it national socialism." Hersman knew that the dynasty would soon be gone. He pondered and said: "In addition, we also need Greater Germanism and Europeanism. Greater Germanism is the pursuit of the ultimate unity of all virtues. This is the unfinished mission of the Franco-Prussian War! The root of the current crisis is also here, a split Germany is not enough to become the leading force in Europe! And Europe, which lacks a leading force, will be weakened by constant internal friction and eventually be replaced by the New World, forever losing its power to lead the world."

Hirschmann concluded: "The guiding ideology of the Stasi is to revitalize and unify Germany with national socialism, and then lead Europe with a unified Germany to make it a strong and united whole!"

"It sounds very attractive, at least I can't think of anything better!" Canaris nodded excitedly.

"That's it!" Schragmüller said, "Independent, large-scale, thoughtful... Let me mention one more thing, the mechanism must be mysterious!"

She thought deeply: "The agency must remain mysterious, invisible and intangible, but it is everywhere. This requires the strictest confidentiality system! For example, everyone in the agency should not reveal their real name as much as possible. The intelligence stations dispatched by the agency must operate covertly, and the agency must secretly develop informants in the Baltics and Germany..."

"Not bad," Canaris interjected. "The fear of the unknown is the greatest fear. To make the enemy afraid, we must become mysterious and ubiquitous."

"Yes! There are still enemies!"

Hessmann said to the two espionage geniuses with fascinated eyes: "The Stasi still needs enemies! Enemies can keep us united and make continuous progress!"

"Enemy? Who is the enemy?" Canaris asked.

“The Anglo-American liberal capitalism that dominates the world and the Bolsheviks who want to subvert us!”

——

This chapter seems a bit boring, but it must be written, otherwise everyone will only know the benefits of the National Society, and many people do not know what the National Society is and how it came about. More than 2,700 words written clearly should not be counted as water, right? Finally, I’m asking for recommendations and collections.