View source for User:Jean Po/Boxheim Documents

The '''Boxheim Documents''' are [[Coup d'état|coup]] plans drawn up on August 5, 1931 by judge and [[Nazi Party]] member [[Werner Best]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Picaper |first=Jean-Paul |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Ces_nazis_qui_ont_%C3%A9chapp%C3%A9_%C3%A0_la_corde/KGzLDwAAQBAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=%22documents+de+boxheim%22&pg=PT187&printsec=frontcover |title=Ces nazis qui ont échappé à la corde |date=2017-11-08 |publisher=L'Archipel |isbn=978-2-8098-2339-4 |page=187-188 |language=fr |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>,<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Fulda |first=Bernhard |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Press_and_Politics_in_the_Weimar_Republi/isMUDAAAQBAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=%22boxheim+documents%22+food&pg=PA186&printsec=frontcover |title=Press and Politics in the Weimar Republic |date=2009-01-08 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-954778-4 |page=186-187 |language=en |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hanfstaengl |first=Ernst |date=2022-07-19 |title=Chapitre X |url=https://shs.cairn.info/hitler-les-annees-obscures--9782262099305-page-259?lang=fr |journal=Tempus |language=fr |page=259–300 |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>,<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Payen |first=Guillaume |date=2016 |title=6. Le vent qui souffle du côté de Berlin (1927-1933) |url=https://shs.cairn.info/martin-heidegger--9782262036553-page-236?lang=fr |journal=Biographies |language=fr |page=236–292 |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>

Their name refers to the Boxheim farm in [[Lampertheim]] near [[Darmstadt]] in [[Hesse]], where members of the leading bodies of the Hessian Nazi Party met several times in the summer of 1931.

The publication of the document in the autumn of 1931 caused considerable controversy.

== Context ==

=== Brüning Cabinet ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1989-0630-504,_Heinrich_Brüning.jpg|thumb|Heinrich Brüning, [[Chancellor of Germany|Reich Chancellor]] from 1930 to 1932]]
In the autumn of 1931, [[Reich Chancellor]] [[Heinrich Brüning]] (''[[Zentrum Party|Zentrum]]'') governed the Weimar Republic mainly by ordinances, under [[Article 48 (Weimar Constitution)|Article 48]] of the [[Weimar Constitution]].

=== Fall of the Brüning Cabinet ===
Under pressure from [[Reich President]] [[Paul von Hindenburg]], the Chancellor formed a new cabinet on October 10, 1931. The NSDAP and the ''[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Stahlhelm]]'', a paramilitary veterans' organisation, immediately organised major [[Harzburg Front|demonstrations]]. Brüning then began working with the NSDAP in anticipation of the [[1932 German presidential election]]. The project of taming the NSDAP was the brainchild of [[Reich Interior Ministry|Interior Minister]] [[Wilhelm Groener]] and [[Kurt von Schleicher]]. However, this aim was viable only if [[Hitler]] kept his political action within a legal framework, as he had committed himself to doing at the end of September 1930.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Gotthard Jasper |title=Die gescheiterte Zähmung |date=1986 |publisher=Suhrkamp |isbn=3518112708 |page=63-72 |language=de}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gerhard Schulz |title=Von Brüning zu Hitler |date=1992 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=3110135256 |location=Berlin |page=601-608 |language=de}}</ref>

=== Opposition to the NSDAP ===
[[Carl Severing]] and the Hesse Interior Minister [[Wilhelm Leuschner]] opposed to this policy of taming the NSDAP and wanted to prosecute the party for [[Treason|high treason]] and to ban it.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gerhard Schulz |title=Von Brüning zu Hitler |date=1992 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=3110135256 |location=Berlin |page=601-608 |language=de}}</ref>

== Publication of the documents ==

=== Communication of plans to the Party hierarchy ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-B22627,_Dr._Werner_Best.jpg|thumb|Werner Best in 1942]]
Werner Best initially communicated his plans in August and September 1931 to the Hessian NSDAP and the national party bodies. However, they attracted little interest, and Rudolf Hess dismisses these as a "young fool's joke".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jürgen Matthäus |title=Enzyklopädie des Nationalzosialismus |date=1997 |publisher=Klett-Cotta |location=Stuttgart |page=400 |language=de |chapter=Boxheimer Dokumente}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Martin Loiperdinger |title=Hessen unter dem Hakenkreuz |date=1983 |location=Francfort sur le Main |page=434 |language=de |chapter=Das Blutnest vom Boxheimer Hof}}</ref><ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Dummejungenstreich}}</ref>

=== Publication by Wilhelm Schäfer ===
The publication of the documents came at a later stage. [[Wilhelm Schäfer (German politician)|Wilhelm Schäfer]], who had taken part in several meetings at the Boxheim farm, had gradually distanced himself from the NSDAP.

Werner Best had forced him to resign as a member of the [[Landtag of Hesse|Landtag]] because Schäfer had provided an inaccurate [[Curriculum vitae|''curriculum vitae'']] to the Party, and Best's apartment was searched by [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] members. Schäfer left the Nazi Party and handed over the Boxheim Documents to the Frankfurt police on November 25, 1931.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Tilman Koops |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/bru/bru3p/kap1_1/para2_58.html?highlight=true&search=boxheim&stemming=true&pnd=&start=&end=&field=all#highlightedTerm |title=Akten der Reichskanzlei |date=1982-1990 |publisher=Boldt Verlag |location=Boppard |language=de}}</ref>

=== Perquisitions par Leuschner ===
Schäfer's information provided Leuschner with a way to prove the illegal nature of the NSDAP. On November 25, he ordered several searches and arrest warrants for suspect NSDAP members in [[Darmstadt]], which provided evidence about the veracity of the documents. Leuschner then passed this evidence to the press.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Martin Loiperdinger |title=Hessen unter dem Hakenkreuz |date=1983 |location=Francfort sur le Main |page=434 |language=de |chapter=Das Blutnest vom Boxheimer Hof}}</ref>,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carl Misch |date=November 26, 1931 |title=Das Boxheimer Dokument |url=http://zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/index.php?id=dfg-viewer&set%5Bimage%5D=1&set%5Bzoom%5D=default&set%5Bdebug%5D=0&set%5Bdouble%5D=0&set%5Bmets%5D=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de%2Fzefys%2FSNP27112366-19311126-0-0-0-0.xml |journal=Vossische Zeitung |language=de |page=1}}</ref>

=== Suites ===
Schäfer was shot dead in July 1933. Best, accused of the murder, was acquitted in 1950.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 18, 1933 |title=NAZI WHO REVEALED COUP PLAN IS SLAIN |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/07/18/archives/nazi-who-revealed-coup-plan-is-slain-dr-wilhelm-schaefer-told-the.html |journal=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref>

== Content ==

=== Fate of the original documents ===
The originals of the Boxheim Documents are not accessible and have been in a [[Moscow]] archive since the end of World War II.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Ulricht Herbert |title=Best |date=1996 |publisher=J.H.W. Dietz Nachf. |location=Bonn |page=115 |language=de}}</ref>

Werner Best himself released a [[Self-publishing|self-published]] version in May 1932, accompanied by supporting comments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Werner Best |title=... wird erschossen |date=1932 |location=Mayence |language=de}}</ref>

The most commonly used version is based on a publication made in 1953 by the weekly ''Das Parlament''.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 18, 1953 |title=Die Boxheimer Dokumente |journal=Das Parlament |language=de |page=2}}</ref>

=== Description ===

==== Organization of the documents ====
The Boxheim documents contain several draft decrees, as well as a draft of an appeal to the population, in the event of a conquest of power. Their title reads: "Draft of the first declaration of our leadership following the fall of state authorities, for the victory over communism, for a region united in a single administration."<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Entwurf der ersten Bekanntmachung unserer Führung nach dem Wegfall der seitherigen obersten Staatsbehörden und nach Überwindung der Kommune in einem für einheitliche Verwaltung geeigneten Gebiet.}}</ref>

==== Takeover of the government ====
{{Quote box
| title = Boxheimer Dokumente
| quote = The previous holders of state power, both in the Reich and in the country, have ceased to exist as a result of the events of the last few days (weeks). This actual change has created a new legal situation, as in November 1918. The power to regulate currently rests solely with the . . . (SA, Landeswehren, etc.). Their leadership therefore has the right and the duty to seize and exercise the orphaned state power in order to save the people. It does this in the name of the German nation, for whose future alone it is responsible for the fulfillment of its task and for the choice of its means.
{{hidden begin||ta2=center|contentstyle=margin: 1em auto;}}''Die seitherigen Träger der Staatsgewalt, im Reiche wie im Lande, sind durch die Ereignisse der letzten Tage (Wochen) weggefallen. Durch diese tatsächliche Veränderung ist wie im November 1918 ein neuer Rechtszustand geschaffen. Ordnende Macht steht zur Zeit allein bei den . . . (SA., Landeswehren o. ä.). Ihre Führung hat deshalb das Recht und die Pflicht, zur Rettung des Volkes die verwaiste Staatsgewalt zu ergreifen und auszuüben. Sie tut dies im Namen der deutschen Nation, vor deren Zukunft allein sie für die Erfüllung ihrer Aufgabe und für die Wahl ihrer Mittel verantwortlich ist.''{{hidden end}}
| author = Werner Best
| source = Boxheimer Dokumente
| align = left
| width = 50%
}}
Best hypothesizes a communist revolt against the government. He compares it to the [[November Revolution of 1918|November Revolution]], and says it would bring about "a new state of law."<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|einen neuen Rechtszustand}}</ref>. The SA would then take the reins of the state: "Instead of the highest state authorities (ministries), there are the leaders of the... (SA, ''Landwehren'', etc.) that I represent."<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Payen |first=Guillaume |date=2016 |title=6. Le vent qui souffle du côté de Berlin (1927-1933) |url=https://shs.cairn.info/martin-heidegger--9782262036553-page-236?lang=fr |journal=Biographies |language=fr |page=236–292 |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref><ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|An die Stelle der obersten Staatsbehörden (Ministerien) tritt die Führung der … (SA, Landwehren o.ä.) vertreten durch mich.}}</ref>

==== Suppression of opposition ====
For the sake of the people, armed Nazi groups would have to seize power and declare a [[state of emergency]]. These groups would exercise unlimited [[executive power]]. All political opponents would be imprisoned "preventively" and immediately in [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] that would be quickly set up.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Fulda |first=Bernhard |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Press_and_Politics_in_the_Weimar_Republi/isMUDAAAQBAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=%22boxheim+documents%22+food&pg=PA186&printsec=frontcover |title=Press and Politics in the Weimar Republic |date=2009-01-08 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-954778-4 |page=186-187 |language=en |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bernt Engelmann |title=Einig gegen Recht und Freiheit |date=1998 |publisher=Steidl |location=Göttingen |page=165 |language=de}}</ref>

"The principle is to punish resistance with [[Death penalty in Germany|death]]"<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Widerstand wird grundsätzlich mit dem Tode bestraft}}</ref>, including any disobedience to the new decrees resulting from the coup. Anyone who does not hand over the weapons in their possession within 24 hours will be shot, as will [[public officials]] who go on [[Strike action|strike]] or commit [[sabotage]].

[[Court-martial|Courts-martial]] must be set up "to avoid the appearance of arbitrariness."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jean-Marc Dreyfus |title=Les rapports de Berlin |date=2016 |publisher=Fayard |isbn=2213665982 |location=Paris |pages=244}}</ref>

==== Economic policies ====
In addition, the project provided for extensive [[expropriations]]. All food stocks should be recorded on lists and delivered on demand: "any sale or exchange of [[food]] shall be prohibited."<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|jeder Verkauf und jede tauschweise Veräußerung von Lebensmitteln ist verboten}}</ref>

A moratorium on [[interest]] and [[Renting|rent]] payments and on property seizures, which had become very common during the [[crisis of 1929]], would be introduced and a fundamental right of access by the state to all private property would be introduced: "until there is a regulation to the contrary, there will be no more private income."<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Es gibt bis zur anderweitigen Regelung kein Privateinkommen mehr}}</ref>

In addition, a general compulsory work service should be introduced for all Germans over the age of 16: "The [[right to food]]... depends on the fulfilment of the service obligation"<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Der Anspruch auf Ernährung … ist von der Erfüllung der Dienstpflicht abhängig.}}</ref>. Since [[History of the Jews in Germany|Jews]] were excluded from labor service, this implicitly meant that they would not receive any [[Rationing|food ration]].<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Fulda |first=Bernhard |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Press_and_Politics_in_the_Weimar_Republi/isMUDAAAQBAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=%22boxheim+documents%22+food&pg=PA186&printsec=frontcover |title=Press and Politics in the Weimar Republic |date=2009-01-08 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-954778-4 |page=186-187 |language=en |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-20 |title=Jews to Be Starved out if Hitlerists Come to Power: Boxheim Documents Were Authentic Official Statement |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/jews-to-be-starved-out-if-hitlerists-come-to-power-boxheim-documents-were-authentic-official-statem |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Inspiration for the documents ===
Best's formulations have parallels with the draft emergency constitution he was familiar with and which [[Theodor von der Pfordten]], shot dead by police during the [[Beer Hall Putsch]], had drafted in 1923.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wojak |first=Irmtrud |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Arisierung_im_Nationalsozialismus/f-UWAQAAIAAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&bsq=boxheimer+Theodor+Pfordten+Best&dq=boxheimer+Theodor+Pfordten+Best&printsec=frontcover |title="Arisierung" im Nationalsozialismus: Volksgemeinschaft, Raub und Gedächtnis |last2=Hayes |first2=Peter |date=2000 |publisher=Campus Verlag |isbn=978-3-593-36494-0 |page=46 |language=de |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>

== Reactions ==

=== Germany ===

==== Government ====
The government tried to present the case less dramatically: the day after the documents were published, Chief Reich Prosecutor Karl Werner declared that the violent measures contained in the plan were in no way directed at the current government, but at the possibility of a [[Communism in Germany|communist]] uprising, and stressed that he himself had not ordered the searches.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Tilman Koops |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/bru/bru3p/kap1_1/para2_58.html?highlight=true&search=boxheim&stemming=true&pnd=&start=&end=&field=all#highlightedTerm |title=Akten der Reichskanzlei |date=1982-1990 |publisher=Boldt Verlag |location=Boppard |language=de}}</ref> Brüning states in his memoirs that he had encouraged Werner to downplay the affair.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heinrich Brüning |title=Memoiren 1918–1932 |date=1970 |publisher=DVA |location=Stuttgart |page=463 |language=de}}</ref>.

The [[Reich Ministry of Justice]] also took the view that the offence of high treason was not established on the basis of the documents, since it presupposes the intention to overthrow the government by violence, and that did not apply in the case of a communist putsch.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gerhard Schulz |title=Von Brüning zu Hitler |date=1992 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=3110135256 |location=Berlin |page=601-608 |language=de}}</ref>

==== NSDAP ====
The party press initially reported that the documents were forgeries. [[Hermann Göring]], commissioned by Hitler, hastened on November 27 to reassure Groener, indicating that Best's plans had no connection with the party leadership, which "remains as before, and as he has expressed and sworn quite often, in the strictest course of legality."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johannes Hürter |title=Wilhelm Groener |date=1993 |publisher=Oldenbourg Verlag München |page=318 |language=de}}</ref>

Hitler, who in private spoke friendly with Best and jokingly called him "bird of ill omen"<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Unglücksraben}}</ref>, however, clearly distanced himself from him in an interview with the foreign press on December 4. In particular, he declared, in view of the 1932 presidential election, "a party which can count on 15 million voters really has no need to undertake illegal action."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gerhard Schulz |title=Von Brüning zu Hitler |date=1992 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=3110135256 |location=Berlin |page=601-608 |language=de}}</ref><ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Eine Partei, die mit 15 Millionen rechnen könne, habe es gar nicht erst nötig, einen illegalen Schritt zu unternehmen.}}</ref>

The party members who had taken part in the Boxheim discussions were all provisionally suspended, and an internal investigation was conducted by [[Hans Frank]] without any results. On December 9, however, Hitler deemed it necessary to prohibit any discussion of the forms and modalities of a Nazi seizure of power, an offence punishable by expulsion from the party.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ilse Maurer |title=Staat und NSDAP 1930–1932 |last2=Udo Wengst |date=1977 |publisher=Droste Verlag |location=Düsseldorf |page=258 |language=de}}</ref>

==== German press ====
The publication of the documents provoked widespread protest in Germany, from the Communist press to the conservative one. Demands were made for the author of these plans to be brought before the ''[[Reichsgericht]]'' for high treason.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erich Heyk |title=Geschichte der Weimarer Republik |date=1959 |location=Stuttgart |page=418 |language=de}}</ref>.

{{Quote box
| title = Hesse's bloody plans
| quote = For these people, governing means shooting other people. Their imagination is filled with scenes of executions. The lust for power is, for them, synonymous with the lust for murder.
{{hidden begin||ta2=center|contentstyle=margin: 1em auto;}}''Regieren heißt für diese Leute, andere erschießen zu lassen. Ihre Phantasie ist ausgefüllt mit Hinrichtungsszenen, Lust an Macht ist für sie gleichbedeutend mit Lust an Mord.''{{hidden end}}
| author = Wilhelm Leuschner
| source = Vorwärts
| align = right
| width = 25%
}}

The social-democratic newspaper ''[[Vorwärts]]'' commented on 26 November 1931 in an article entitled "Hesse's bloody plans"<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Die Blutpläne von Hessen}}</ref> how it showed the fundamentally brutal nature of the Nazi Party.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=[[Heinrich August Winkler]] |title=Der Weg in die Katastrophe |date=1990 |publisher=J.H.W. Dietz Nachf. |location=Bonn |page=448-449 |language=de}}</ref>

[[Carl von Ossietzky]], editor of ''[[Weltbühne]]'', called the documents "the executioner's fantasies of a Hessian judge",<ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|Henkersphantasie eines hessischen Gerichtsassessors}}</ref> with which "the street would be handed over to the hooligans and the SA's army of cutthroats, which would bloodily suppress any opposition, immediately labelled a [[Paris Commune|Commune]]."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=[[Carl von Ossietzky]] |date=December 1, 1931 |title=Der Weltbühnen-Prozeß |journal=Die Weltbühne |language=de |page=803-811}}</ref><ref group="trans">{{Lang|de|die Straße der Hooligan- und Halsabschneiderarmee der SA-Kommandeure ausgeliefert [würde], die jede Opposition als ’Kommune’ blutig unterdrücken}}</ref>

=== Abroad ===
British [[chargé d'affaires|''chargé d'affaires'']] in Berlin [[Basil Newton|Sir Basil Newton]] informed the [[Foreign Office]] that the Nazi movement was planning a dangerous revolutionary takeover.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hermann Graml |title=Zwischen Stresemann und Hitler |date=2001 |publisher=Oldenbourg Verlag München |page=180 |language=de}}</ref>

French Ambassador [[André François-Poncet]] hoped that the scandal resulting from the revelation of these documents would put an end to the dangerous policy of taming the NSDAP, but he doubted that it would be the case. He summed up the situation on December 3 to [[Foreign minister of France|Foreign Minister]] [[Aristide Briand]]: "The Boxheim affair has complicated, worsened and strained the state of affairs in Germany. It is an additional element that contributes to the impotence and widespread fear."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Claus W. Schäfer |title=André François-Poncet als Botschafter in Berlin (1931–1938) |date=2004 |publisher=Oldenbourg Verlag |page=154 |language=de}}</ref><ref group="trans">{{Lang|fr|L'affaire de Boxheim a compliqué, empiré et tendu l'état des choses en Allemagne. Elle est un élément supplémentaire qui contribue à l'impuissance et à la peur généralisée}}</ref>

== Criminal prosecution ==
[[File:Leipzig_Reichsgericht.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Reichsgericht|''Reichsgerichtt'']]<nowiki/> in [[Leipzig]]]]
Judge Werner Best was suspended from state service and high treason proceedings were opened against him on November 30. Leuschner unsuccesfully asked for a [[public trial]] because he hoped that it would reveal the NSDAP's violent aims of seizing power.

On October 12, 1932, Best was [[Acquittal|acquitted]] by the court, which alleged a lack of evidence. Best had consistently stated in court that the National Socialists would only intervene in the first event of a communist coup.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Christian Striefler |title=Kampf um die Macht |date=1993 |publisher=Propyläen Verlag |location=Berlin |page=298 |language=de}}</ref>

== Historiography ==
[[Karl Dietrich Bracher]], in a 1955 study, considered Best's sketches to be good evidence of the "radically [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] position" of the lower members of the Nazi Party, who disavowed the leadership's policy of legality as opportunistic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karl Dietrich Bracher |title=Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik |date=1984 |publisher=Droste Verlag |location=Düsseldorf |page=381 |language=de}}</ref>

[[Erich Eyck]] indicated in 1959 that the Boxheim documents were indeed an act of high treason, and that Best's argument before the court was based on an assumed cynicism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erich Eyck |title=Geschichte der Weimarer Republik |date=1959 |location=Stuttgart |page=418 |language=de}}</ref>

For [[Heinrich August Winkler]], the interest of the Boxheim Documents lies not so much in their programmatic virtue, but in the reaction they provoked in the bourgeois elites of the [[Weimar Republic]]. He compares the "nonchalance" displayed by the public prosecutor's office and the Reich government to the zeal with which they pursued critics from the left and concludes: "The treatment of the Boxheim documents showed to what extent sections of the judiciary and the high bureaucracy had already sided with the final victory of National Socialism long before Hitler's actual seizure of power."<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=[[Heinrich August Winkler]] |title=Der Weg in die Katastrophe |date=1990 |publisher=J.H.W. Dietz Nachf. |location=Bonn |page=448-449 |language=de}}</ref>

Christian Striefler agrees with Best's argument and regards the documents as a mere "preventative reflection on the behavior to adopt in the event of an actual communist takeover," which many Nazis believed would allow them to "achieve their goal more quickly."<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Christian Striefler |title=Kampf um die Macht |date=1993 |publisher=Propyläen Verlag |location=Berlin |page=298 |language=de}}</ref>.

Best's biographer [[Ulrich Herbert]], on the other hand, believes that the scenario of a leftist putsch outlined in the documents is only a ploy, which "gives the fantasies of violence of the right a garment of legality, by making dictatorship a defensive measure, and by associating brutal and radical action with the conservation of the forms of law."<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Ulricht Herbert |title=Best |date=1996 |publisher=J.H.W. Dietz Nachf. |location=Bonn |page=115 |language=de}}</ref>.

== Notes and references ==

=== Original text ===
<references group="trans" />

=== References ===
{{Reflist}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Germany|Politics|History
}}{{Translated page|de|Boxheimer Dokumente|version=192305698}}{{Translated page|fr|Documents de Boxheim|version=219331129}}

* {{Cite web |title=Boxheimer Dokumente |url=https://dfg-vk-darmstadt.de/Lexikon_Auflage_2/BoxheimerDokumente.htm |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=dfg-vk-darmstadt.de}}
{{Portal|politique|République de Weimar|nazisme|années 1930
}}

<nowiki>[[Category:Politics of the Weimar Republic]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Nazi Party]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:1931 in politics]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:WikiProject Germany articles]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:Attempted coups in Germany]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:1931 in Germany]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[Category:20th century in Hesse]]</nowiki> <nowiki>[[Category:Anti-communism in Germany]]</nowiki>