THE END OF THE _HAKENKREUZLER_
At a political meeting held shortly after the expulsion of the Jews Dr.
Schwertfeger said that now, when the foes of the Aryan spirit no longer
resided in Austria, there would be an automatic approximation of the
various party groups, and a modification of political antagonism.
He seemed to have been right. Almost annihilated by the results of the
last election, dumfounded and staggered by recent events, robbed by the
expulsion of their greatest minds, best journalists, and most spirited
leaders, the Socialists remained silent and decided not to come out of
their forced retirement for the time being. And the variance between
the principles of the German Nationalists and the Christian-Socialists
actually began to disappear.
After the expulsion all Vienna was transformed into an armed camp of
_Hakenkreuzler_. Practically every man, woman, adolescent and child
wore the emblem that was displayed on all the posters, flags and
standards. But when things came to such a pass that every “drunk” and
pickpocket was wearing it, when the police mentioned regularly that
“the prisoner wore a _Hakenkreuz_,” then the more intelligent people
began to discard it, soon to be imitated by the middle class and the
masses.
It was not long before it became evident that all the parties, the
Christian-Socialist as well as the Social-Nationalist, had as their
common basis the portrayal of the Jew as an evil spirit, a bogeyman,
and a scapegoat. Now that there were no Jews or people of Jewish
descent in Austria this no longer attracted the public, and party
politics became even more stupid and boring than before.
Misery, unemployment, and the cost of living increased, and demagogues
were at a loss to find someone to blame. For now the rich were good
Christians, as were also the exploiters and usurers, (though the latter
were not to be mentioned, for that would have been an admission that
Christians, as well as Jews, could be profiteers and usurers).
Formerly the _Hakenkreuzler_ had attracted notice and aroused the
masses with their posters. Bosel and other Jewish plutocrats had
been called the rulers of Austria, had been reviled as vampires and
oppressors. But now Bosel was living in London, and the _Hakenkreuzler_
posters had become so colorless that no one bothered to read them any
more.
One after the other the papers that displayed the _Hakenkreuz_
suspended publication; _Hakenkreuzler_ meetings no longer drew an
audience, no more money poured into the party treasury, and the leaders
found themselves in a pinch when they could no longer fleece rich Jews,
and when there were no more Jewish banks to give them money. For the
Christianized banks did not need to contribute--and could not have done
so had they wished, for their situation became worse every day.
The leaders of the _Hakenkreuzler_ made a last effort to save
themselves and their slowly dying party. On enormous posters and a
million leaflets they informed the populace that it was again the Jews
who were to blame for all the misery of Vienna. It was international
Jewry, said they, that was shooting poisoned darts into Austria from
foreign countries, that was hatching vengeance, that was forcing down
the krone and, through the powerful organization of Freemasonry, was
draining Austria and isolating her from international life.
For three or four days these “revelations” served as topics of
conversation--for three or four days the starving, desperate, jobless
people stopped before the posters and shook their fists. Then they
began to shrug their shoulders and to call the whole business nonsense.
For the simple reason that even the most stupid of them could see that
Austria was absolutely powerless against such a “plot” of international
Jewry. In the old days they could have marched from a _Hakenkreuzler_
meeting to Leopoldstadt, drunk with enthusiasm, and secretly hoping
to plunder and burglarize a little on the way, to thrash a few Jews
and break some windows. But now, when there were no more Jews in
Leopoldstadt, such a demonstration would have been entirely senseless,
and the formerly so tolerant and kindly police now would surely have
cut down the looting demonstrants without much ado.
Thus it happened that one day the principal organ of the
_Hakenkreuzler_ made the melancholy and yet defiant announcement
that it would suspend publication; incidentally, it revealed
the heart-rending fact that at the last great assembly of the
_Hakenkreuzler_ there had gathered only twenty persons in addition to
the officers and the waiters.
Dr. Schwertfeger had been right: Political opposition was becoming
less vivid, was disappearing almost completely. But for an entirely
different reason than he had believed. It was because of a total lack
of motive power, and because the Jews had taken with them all the dash
and spirit of politics.