For Life

Ever since he purged his Party in blood, Realmleader Adolf Hitler has shown a jittery eagerness to receive from as many Germans as possible great oaths of personal fealty. The whole Reichswehr from privates to generals cried "I swear by God this holy oath!" (TIME, Aug. 13). So has the Navy, the brownshirt Storm Troops, black-pantalooned Special Guards, the police. Finally last week Realmleader Hitler decided to take no further chances on the unsworn loyalty of the Germans who now know him best, his Cabinet.

Not even to Paul von Hindenburg was ever sworn such an oath as the Cabinet, at Adolf Hitler's behest, last week decreed all Federal ministers, State ministers and State governors must take. The Cabinet then arose and loudly swore:

I swear to be loyal and obedient to the Leader of the German Realm and People, Adolf Hitler; to exert my powers for the welfare of the German people; to obey the laws conscientiously; to fulfill my duties impartially and with justice to all men; so help me God!

Bubbling with elation, Dr. Hans Lammers, Secretary of State to the Realmleader, announced that Adolf Hitler now considers himself German Chief Executive for life (i.e. German emperor in all but name). Addressing the Berlin Civil Service Academy, Dr. Lammers advised them that "Cabinet ministers are now responsible only to the Leader and no longer to the Reichstag. The new fealty oath eliminates the possibility of a minister voting against the Leader."

According to State Secretary Lammers, the present German Constitution signed at Weimar in 1919 may now be considered a negligible scrap of paper. "The Leader does not want Germany to have a documentary constitution," explained Dr. Lammers. "The State must reach deep into the life of the individual. The present laws regulating the life of the German and his personal liberty are only a beginning. The fundamental purpose of our State is the creation of a new type of human being. No constitution is needed since all responsibility rests with the Leader, Adolf Hitler."

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