5 January 2025

The Indianapolis Times blanketed the front page of the July 3, 1934 edition with coverage of Hitler rise to power. Because there was so many stories on that one front page, I broke it down into several pages. You can read about the other stories of that day here.

France Aided Nazi 'Revolt,' London Hears

Anti-Hitler Conspirators Dealt With Paris, Is Report.

By Frederick Kuh
United Press Staff Correspondent

LONDON, July 3 - Charges by the Hitler government that the late General Kurt von Schleicher and his fellow conspirators were dealing with an unnamed foreign power received substantiation today from the diplomatic representative of an important European power.

"On the basis of sensational information now available," he told the United Press, "the Schleicher conspiracy designed to overthrow Hitler had wide ramifications, and indications point to connections in France." (Von Schleicher and his wife were slain in Berlin on Saturday while resisting arrest.)

The official German version of the plot failed to name the nation alleged to have been involved, although the entire account was regarded as a thinly veiled reference to France. The report was ridiculed abroad, and the French government, after demanding that Hitler name the power, issued a categorical denial of any association with the alleged co[n]spirators.

Journalist "Go-Between"

The diplomate, who claims to have inside knowledge of the affair, however, goes so far as to claim that a "well-known German journalist in Paris acted as the go-between with Von Schleicher and the French authorities."

He believes that the revelation of this evidence induced the aged President Palu von Hindenburg, as a matter of patriotism and pride, to dispatch his telegrams to Hitler and General Herrmann Goering, condoning the wholesale executions in Germany and sanctioning the ruthless suppress of the "conspiracy."

As further evidence of French pre-knowledge of the conspirators' plans, he pointed to the report that Foreign Minister Louis Barthou told the foreign minister of another European power in Geneva recently that France was unwilling to grant the Hitler government the arms concessions it demanded at the present stage of affairs, because the days of the Hitler regime were numbered.

Named Von Schleicher

The diplomate also charged "on reliable information" that Mr. Barthou had mentioned Von Schleicher, in confidence, as the ringleader of the group that would oust Hitler.

He recalled, as well, that during the days of his own chancellorship, Von Schleicher conducted certain secret negotiations with the French general staff, and that he rapidly was approaching an understanding when he was forced to yield his chancellorship to Adolf Hitler.

France Denies Plot

PARIS, July 3 - The French government continued to insist today that "neither directly nor indirectly" did it have any connection with Kurt von Schleicher or with any other members of the anti-Hitler conspiracy.

The government take the attitude that Hitler's charges were laid for the purpose of inspiring mass support for his program of exterminating his enemies, and to furnish an excuse for the events of the last week-end.