Address at the Opening of the Winter Relief Campaign
(September 30, 1942)
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A portrait of Adolf Hitler
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My German
countrymen and countrywomen! It is now a year since I was last able to speak to
you and to the German people from this place. In retrospect, it is in many ways
to be regretted, first because I myself very much regret not being able to
stand oftener before the nation, and second because I am naturally afraid that
my speeches thereby are becoming worse rather than better, for in this regard
practice is necessary. My time is unfortunately much more limited than the time
of my worthy adversaries. Naturally he who can travel around the world for
weeks at a time, with a broad sombrero on his head, wearing a white silk shirt
here, and some other outfit there, can naturally occupy himself much more with
speeches.
All this
time I have really had to be busy managing and doing rather than speaking.
Besides, I cannot of course speak every week or every month. For what am I to
say? What has to be said will be said by our soldiers. Moreover, the subjects
on which I might speak are naturally more difficult than the subjects of the
discourses of my adversaries, who are accustomed to send their numerous chats
over the world from the fireside or other places. The subject matter of my
possible speeches is more difficult, for I do not deem it proper to occupy
myself now with the shaping of things for the future. I consider it more
appropriate for us to occupy ourselves with that which the immediate present
demands of us.
Naturally it
is very simple to concoct an Atlantic Charter. This nonsense will of course be
valid for only a few, very few years. It will simply be cast aside by hard
facts. For other reasons also it is somewhat easier for our opponents to talk,
for now they have suddenly discovered our party program after many years of
vain effort. And we now see with astonishment that they promise the world for
the future just about what we have already given our German people and for
which we, in the final analysis, were involved in a war by the others.
It is very
witty, when, for example, a President says: "We wish in the future that
everyone should have the right not to suffer from want," or something
similar. To this one can only say: It probably would have been much more
simple, if this President, instead of plunging into a war, had used the whole
working strength of his country to build up useful production and to care for
his own people, so that want and misery might not reign and 13,000,000 people
might not be unemployed in a region which has only 10 people per square
kilometer to support. These men could have accomplished all these things.
When they
now appear and suddenly represent themselves to the world as saviors, and
declare, "In the future we will see to it that there shall be no want, as
in the past; that there will be no more unemployment, that every man will own a
home"-these owners of world empire should have been able to do that in their
own countries long ago-before we did it ourselves. They suddenly discover
nothing but the basic principles of the National Socialist program.
Now when I
hear that a man says-I believe it was Mr. Eden, but one really doesn't know
what nonentity is speaking over there-when he now says, "This is the
difference between the Germans and us: the Germans have a faith and we also
have a faith; but the Germans believe in something in which they don't believe,
while we believe in something in which we really believe-." To that I can
only say: If they truly believe in what they profess to believe, they should
have been able to acknowledge this belief sooner. Why have they declared war on
us? For their aims are certainly not very different from our own.
We have not only
believed in something, but have also acted upon what we believed in! And now we
believe that we have to strike the enemy until final victory is won. That is
what we believe-Naturally, we cannot reach common ground with these people over
the concept of "belief."
He who
believes, for example, that Namsos was a victory, or who believes that
Andalsnes was a victory, or who believes that even Dunkirk was quite the
greatest victory in the history of the world, or who believes (it is all the
same to me) that any expedition that lasts 9 hours is an astonishing and
encouraging sign of a victorious nation-with such a one we, with our modest
successes, cannot of course be compared. For what are our accomplishments as
compared with these? If we push forward a thousand kilometers, that is really
nothing-an absolute failure!
If we, for
example, in the last two months-it is really only for two months that war can
be carried on sensibly in that country-have pushed to the Don, down the Don,
finally reached the Volga, attacked Stalingrad-and we shall take it, too, you
can depend on that-that is nothing at all. If we push on to the Caucasus, then
that also is nothing. If we occupy the Ukraine, if we get the Donetz coal into
our possession, all that is nothing. If we are getting 65 or 70 percent of
Russian iron, that is nothing at all, absolutely nothing. If we actually open
up to the German people, and thereby to Europe, the largest grain area of the
world, nothing. If we secure for ourselves the sources of oil there, that is
also nothing. All that is nothing.
But when
Canadian vanguards with a small English tail as appendage come to Dieppe and
manage to hang on there-one may say painfully-for nine hours-to be destroyed in
the end-that is an encouraging, an astonishing sign of the inexhaustible,
victorious power which is the British Empire's own! In contrast to that, what
is our air force, what is the performance of our infantry, what is the
performance of our tank arm, what by comparison is the accomplishment of our
engineers, our railway construction troops and so forth, of our whole gigantic
traffic system which has opened up and re-built half a continent in a few-one
may even say months? That is nothing!
U-boats,
also nothing, of course. Even back in 1939 they were nothing. At that time
Churchill came out and said: "I am able to give you the good news that the
U-boat danger may be regarded as disposed of once and for all. We have
destroyed more U-boats than the Germans had altogether. Or-one moment-that was
not, no, that was not Churchill; that was Duff Cooper. But as I said, each one
of these is a bigger swashbuckler than the other, and you are constantly
getting them mixed up.
The fact
that we have thrown them out of the Balkans, that we conquered Greece, that we
occupied Crete, that they have been chased back in North Africa, all that, too,
is nothing. But if, let us say, a few men land anywhere at all to take us
unawares at a lone advance post-then those are deeds, those are
accomplishments. Anyone who thinks that way will never understand our beliefs.
But if the English really believe in what they pretend to
believe-seriously-then one can only be sorry for their intelligence.
In any
event, in contrast with these deeds, of course, they also have claims on the
future. They say: "The second front will come!" When we moved
eastward, they said: "The second front is already under way! Attention!
About face!" We, however, have not stood at attention, and have not
about-faced, but have calmly marched forward. In that connection I shall not
say, though, that we have done nothing to prepare for a second front. When Mr.
Churchill says: "We wish now to leave it to the Germans to ponder in their
anxiety where and when we shall open it." I can say to Mr. Churchill
merely: "So far you have never caused me any anxiety."
But he is
right in saying that we must ponder. If I had an opponent of stature, of
military stature, then I could calculate pretty closely where he would attack.
But when one faces military idiots, one cannot know, one cannot know where they
will attack. It may be the craziest sort of undertaking, and that is the one
unpleasant thing-the fact that in the case of these mentally sick or
perpetually drunk persons one never knows what they are really up to.
For this
reason we must naturally be prepared everywhere, and I can give Mr. Churchill
assurance-whether or not he chose with cleverness and military shrewdness the
first spot at which he wished to start the second front; opinions in England
are already divided on this, and that will be evident on all sides from now
on-that it does not matter where he is looking for the next spot. He can call
it good luck anywhere if he can remain on land for nine hours.
In my eyes,
the year 1942 already has behind it the most fateful trial of our people. That
was the winter of '41 to '42. I may be permitted to say that in that winter the
German people, and in particular its Wehrmacht, were weighed in the balance by
Providence. Nothing worse can or will happen. That we conquered that winter,
that "General Winter," that at last the German fronts stood, and that
this spring, that is, early this summer, we were able to proceed again, that, I
believe, is the proof that Providence was content with the German people.
It was a
very difficult and a very hard test and trial, you all know that. And in spite
of that, we not only got over that most difficult time, but we managed very
calmly to organize the attacking divisions, the Mot (Motorisierte, or
motorized) and tank formations anew, which were designed to initiate the
resumed offensive. This offensive is now taking its course not in the manner
which our enemies may have imagined. Is it not necessary, however, that we
should proceed according to their formula, because up to now these formulas have
certainly not been very successful.
I believe
that if we look back we can be satisfied with the three years that we have left
behind. It was always a very sober goal that was set up. Often very daring,
where it had to be daring. Deliberate, where it could be deliberate. Cautious
where we had time. Careful where we believed we had to be very careful-but we
were also very bold where boldness alone could save us.
For this
year we had laid out a very simple program. First: Under all circumstances to
hold what had to be held. That is, to let the others advance where we ourselves
did not intend to go forward, as long as they want to advance. To hold
unflinchingly and wait to see who will be the first to weaken.
Second: To
attack relentlessly where the attack is necessary. The goal here is very clear:
destruction of the right arm of those international plotters of capitalism,
plutocracy, and Bolshevism. It is against the greatest danger which ever
hovered over our German people in modern times that we have defended ourselves
for over a year now and against which we must proceed.
And here we
set ourselves some goals, and I may mention them quite briefly, just in the
form of catchwords, to make you aware, and to make every German aware, of what
was accomplished in these few months. The first goal was the safeguarding of
our dominating position on the Black Sea by the final mopping-up of the Crimean
Peninsula. Two battles, the battle for Kerch and the battle for Sevastopol,
served this purpose. If in these three years our opponents, I dare say, had
achieved only one single such success, we would not be able to speak with them
at all, because they would not be on the earth, but floating in the clouds.
Blown up by nothing but imagination.
After we
brought that into order, it appeared necessary to us that a bubble which
existed at Volkhov be removed. It was pinched off and the enemy destroyed or
taken prisoner. Then came the next task, preparation for the break-through to
the Don. Meanwhile, the enemy at this time selected a great operational
objective, namely, of breaking through from Kharkov to the bank of the Dnieper,
in order in this way to bring about the collapse of our entire southern front.
You will
probably still recall with what enthusiasm our opponents followed these
operations. They ended in three battles with the complete annihilation of more
than 75 divisions of our Russian foe. After that followed our attack in our own
great offensive. The goal was: First, to take from the enemy his last big wheat
regions. Second, to take from him the last remaining coal which can be made
into coke. Third, to move up to his sources of oil, to take them, or at least
to isolate them.
Fifth (does
not mention any "fourth"-Ed.) the attack was to be carried on to cut
off his very last and greatest communication artery, namely the Volga. And here
the goal set was the region between the bend of the Don and the Volga, and the
locale set was that of Stalingrad, not because this locality bears the name of
Stalin-that is altogether a matter of indifference to us-but exclusively
because this is a strategically important point. And since in general we
realized that with the elimination for Russia of the Dnieper, Don, and Volga as
communication lines about the same thing results for Russia or even worse, that
would result for Germany if we should lose the Rhine, the Elbe, the Oder, or
the Danube. For, on this gigantic river alone, the Volga, in six months about
30,000,000 tons of goods are shipped. This corresponds to a whole year's shipments
on the Rhine.
This is cut
off and has been cut off now for some time. The occupation of Stalingrad, which
will also be carried through, will deepen this gigantic victory and strengthen
it, and you can be sure that no human being will drive us out of this place
later on.
Now, as far
as the further objectives are concerned, you will again understand that I do
not speak of them because they are objectives which are being pursued at the
present time. Mr. Churchill is talking about that. But the moment will come
when the German nation will have had these further objectives made fully clear
to them.
But I must
now tell you a seventh (there is no mention of any sixth-Ed. Note) thing: That
we set as another task for ourselves-naturally, the organization of this
gigantic territory which we have occupied. For we did not care to say that we
have marched so and so many thousand kilometers, but in reality we aim to make
this vast territory secure for the conduct of our war and, in a wider sense,
not only for feeding our people and safeguarding our raw materials, but for the
support of all Europe.
To this end,
first of all, traffic had to be put in order. The English too have achieved
things in this sphere. For example, they have built a railroad from Egypt to
Tobruk, which now serves us in extraordinarily good stead even though they
finished it in a fairly short time. What does it count for in comparison with
the railroads which we must build? And, indeed we wish to build them not so
that they should be useful to the Russians, but for ourselves.
There are
tens and tens of thousands of kilometers of railroad lines which we now put in
operation again, or have put in operation long since, thanks to the energy and
efficiency and devotion of many tens of thousands of German soldiers, railroad
engineering troops, men of the Todt Organization, other organizations and so
forth, of the Reich Labor Service, for example.
This vast
net of communications, which today is already operating again for the most part
on German rail gauges, was completely destroyed. Not only hundreds, but
thousands of bridges had to be built anew, blasted sections had to be removed,
crossings had to be rebuilt. All that happened within a few months and, making
allowances for circumstances, will be completed within a few weeks.
Now, my
party comrades, you will understand one thing. There are people, on the side of
our opponents, who say: "Why do you stop suddenly?" Because we are
prudent, because-let us say-we do not first run to Benghazi or still farther,
in order then to be obliged to run back again, but because we stop somewhere
long enough to establish our lines of communication. Naturally people who do
not have military schooling will not grasp this. For this reason they have not
been successful. All those, however, who have even the slightest military
schooling, will grant that the area which we conquered in a few months is
absolutely unique in world history.
And I say
this also because there may be also among us some smug old reactionary, who
suddenly says: "Indeed, what is the trouble? They have been at a
standstill for a week now." Yes, my dear old smug reactionary, you're on
the wrong track. Why don't you go there yourself and try "regulating
traffic?" The German people, I know, has in its entirety unlimited
confidence in its military leadership and the achievements of its soldiers. It
knows very well that there will be no pause without reason.
We are not
only bringing our communications into order, but we must build roads, for the
blessed land of the proletarians and the peasants unfortunately has no roads,
or only fragments of roads. So these must be built. The first really tremendous
roads there are being built by our organizations. In many regions roads must be
laid out through swamps, regions in which it was formerly believed that
communication was altogether impossible. If somebody now remarks: "Well,
the Russian manages to get through,"-well, he is a kind of swamp man
anyway. That we have to admit. He is not a European. For us it is simply somewhat
harder to move forward in this morass than it is for this nation born in the
morass.
Secondly,
behind it we are organizing our agriculture also. Proof: the territory is to be
opened up after all, and that isn't so simple either, for it isn't a question
of what is sown and what is reaped but it is a question of practical value
coming into evidence here. That means that these products are brought to the
railway over endless stretches; that they can be loaded; that we can readjust
part of this whole agriculture; that thousands of tractors which are damaged or
eliminated be replaced or repaired, or that some other substitute be found for
them.
And I can
only tell you, that what has been accomplished here is really tremendous. While
the front is fighting up ahead, some soldiers are fighting a few kilometers
behind the front with the sickle and the scythe. They are already tilling the
fields again, and behind them are our Labor Service Girls and their
agricultural organizations.
And when
some blockhead-I can't call it anything else-take Duff Cooper or Eden or some
such fellow, if you like-says: "That was a big mistake for the Germans to
have gone into the Ukraine, to say nothing of the Kuban region," then he
will see whether we made a mistake in going into these wheat regions.
The first,
if only modest results of this action we were able to impart to the German
people already to our good fortune-I may well be permitted to say. But you may
be convinced that we are only at the beginning. The whole past year was one of
battle. A horrible winter. And now we are fighting again. But even during this
coming year this region will be organized entirely differently and the English
can depend on that. We now understand how to arrange this.
And finally
farther behind that follows the organization of general economy, for this whole
economy must be gradually brought into operation. Thousands of businesses and
factories, canning factories and so on, mills and so on, all this must be
brought back into operation. It has all been destroyed.
And behind
all this is mining. This also must be exploited. In order to do this one must
have electric current, and I can tell you if you could see how we are working
there and what we are creating there and how we know precisely, on such a day
this work will be done, and on such a day this electric power will be added;
how we produce on this predetermined date so and so many thousands of tons of
coal per day, and on another predetermined date so many thousands of tons. We
no longer need to transport coal from Germany to the east, but on the contrary,
we are going to build up our own industrial states there. . . Then you would
understand that even at a time when apparently nothing is being done,
nevertheless tremendous things are being achieved.
And then
there is the liberation of the populace from the oppression of a Bolshevik
power which spiritually, even today, holds millions of people there in a state
of despair, and one may well say, of fear, of which one can hardly have any
idea in Germany and other countries. It is the fear of the Commissar. It is the
fear of the G. P. U., the fear of the whole regime, which still fills millions
of people. All that will gradually be eliminated and is being eliminated, and
there are many regions where the whole population is already working with us by
the millions, and there are other regions in which it is already fighting in
our ranks and on our side.
The result
of this whole gigantic activity, which I have only been able to point out to
you with a few sentences, are tremendous. While in the north of Europe, in the
west, and on all other fronts we are on the defensive, we are here fulfilling
one of the greatest prerequisites for the organization of Europe for war and
for this war.
Of course
you know that our enemies are constantly accomplishing miracles,-uh-of course
there is not a tank that they build which isn't the best tank in the world, of
course there is not a plane which isn't the best in the world. When they build
a cannon, one measly cannon, then it is the cannon par excellence, the most
amazing cannon in the world. They make a new machine gun or a new automatic
pistol. It's a marvel, this pistol. They say this new pistol is absolutely the
biggest invention in the world.
Then if you
take a look at this junk you can only say that we wouldn't even put it in the
hand of a German soldier. In everything they are far superior to us. Of course
they are ahead of us in their incomparable generals. They are ahead of us in
the bravery of their individual soldiers. Of course, any Englishman can handle
three Germans just like that. Only unfortunately he can't find them, can he?
They are
superior to us in their equipment. What is a German tank worth against an
English one, to say nothing of an American one, and so on? What is a German
plane worth against one of theirs? But at any rate, the great heroes of this
war, they will some day be written down in history on our side. And in this,
history will only be honoring justice and truth.
And then on
our side there is the further development of our alliances, the cooperation
with our allies, first and foremost with our oldest ally, with Italy. Not only
on one front do we fight jointly, but on a whole series of fronts. And that is
good, for it shows that all the hopes of these enemies who believe they can
dissolve this alliance are idiocy, are madness.
We know very
well what would happen to our two countries, indeed, we learn from the goals
set by these enemies, from the crazy and idiotic goals they set up, what the
fate would be of the German and the Italian peoples, but we know, beyond that,
what the fate of Europe would be, if that other world could ever win a victory.
If they say
today "Yes, of course, we would then take over the protection of Europe
against Bolshevism," then I can only say in reply: "England had
better see to it that she knows how to protect herself against
Bolshevism." We do not need her protection! We got rid of Bolshevism
within, we shall also get rid of it outside. That we have proved.
But if, in a
country, archbishops hold sacred Masses and have on one side of their altar
cloth the Bolshevik symbol, then I see a black fate for that country. We know
better what that leads to. The English will find that out yet. Perhaps fate
will punish them just as it once punished the old Germany for thinking it could
deal with these people. Germany and Italy, just like Spain and a whole number
of other European nations, such as Rumania and so on, have taken care of the
problem. Whether the other world will also take care of it is still to be
revealed by this war.
But that
this other world will not take care of us, of that you may be assured. If we
take together all of our allies and those who are fighting on our side,
Rumanians and Hungarians, Croats and Slovaks, and above all the Finns in the
north, and then the Spaniards and so forth; when we take them all together,
then we can really say that this is already a European crusade today.
And then
there are the Germanic volunteers of our Armed Elite Guard and the Legions of
individual European states. It is really Europe which has gathered together
here, just as it did in olden times against the assaults of the Huns or the
Mongols.
And now
also, since I spoke to you last, Japan has likewise entered this war. Of course
it too has only suffered defeats, and of course, the Japanese generals are
absolutely no good as against these incomparable heroes, these famous generals
of England, to say nothing of America.
MacArthur!
What kind of general is that! What is a little Japanese against him! Only these
Japanese took Hongkong, and they . . . ah . . . made themselves masters of
Singapore, and they took possession of the Philippines, and they are installed
in New Guinea, and they will take complete possession of New Guinea, and they
occupied Java and Sumatra.
But of
course all this is nothing against the endless victories which England and
America have won there. Battles, naval battles, such as the world has never
seen before. Only Roosevelt will of course not say a word about the losses, in
no case will he express himself normally, and never say what he thinks. We
certainly know these heroes too well. It is today really a worldwide alliance,
not only of the have-nots, but of all the peoples who are fighting for honor
and decency, and who are determined to get rid of this vilest coalition that
the world has ever seen.
In speaking
of that I must come to something else. I have already mentioned that as early
as 1939 neither Churchill nor Duff Cooper had completely destroyed the German
U-boats. There were no more U-boats. And then from time to time reports kept
coming again and again: "But now they are finally eliminated." Since
then their success, supported by the heroic efforts of our air force
formations, has grown greater from month to month.
Now our
adversaries explain: "We have enormous defense resources. We have new
methods. The British and American genius has invented entirely new machines,
with which we will tame this danger." I can tell you one thing: The German
genius does not rest either. We also are working. Our U-boats have exceeded all
previous accomplishments by far, and I can assure the gentlemen that this will
not change. We are remaining uninterruptedly up to date, of that you can rest
assured. Also uninterrupted is not only continued construction but especially
new construction of weapons. Up to the present we have appeared every year with
a new weapon, which has been superior to the enemy's. It will continue to be so
in the future.
Therefore we
can also, if we examine the collective result, confirm that the last months of
this year have also been successful and that those in the future will surely
also be successful. Now of course besides the second front, they have another
method. The man who invented bombing warfare against the innocent civilian
population declares that soon this bombing warfare will be expanded very
strongly against Germany.
I would like
to express one thing here: In May, 1940, Mr. Churchill sent the first bombers
against the German civilian population. I warned him at that time and for
almost four months but of course in vain. Then we struck and indeed so
thoroughly did we strike, that he suddenly began to cry and declared, it was
barbarism and it was terrible. England would take revenge for it. The man who
has all of this on his conscience! If I take no note of the war-monger general
of this war, Roosevelt-the one to blame for all of this-he (Churchill) was the
one who then dared to represent himself as innocent.
Again today
they are conducting this warfare and I would like to express one thing here:
The hour will come this time also in which we will answer. May both of the
chiefs of this war and their Jewish backers not begin to squirm and whine if
the end for England is more horrible than the beginning.
On the first
of September, 1939, we made two pronouncement in the Reichstag session of that
date: First, that now that the, have forced this war upon us no amount of
military force and no length of time will ever be able to conquer us; and
second, the if Jewry is starting an international world war to eliminate the
Aryan nations of Europe, then it won't be the Aryan nation which will be wiped
out but Jewry.
They have
drawn nation after nation into this war. The men who pull the strings of this
demented man in the White House have managed actually to draw one nation after
the other into this war. But to just the same degree a wave of anti-Semitism
has swept over nation after nation. And it will move on farther. State after
state that enters this war will one day become anti-Semitic.
In Germany
too the Jews once laughed at my prophecies. I don't know whether they are still
laughing, or whether they have already lost the inclination to laugh, but I can
assure you that everywhere they will stop laughing. With these prophecies I
shall prove to be right.
The historic
successes of these last months have been so stupendous that it is really
necessary to think of those to whom we owe these successes. For we read in the
newspapers of great victories, of great battles of encirclement; but often for
weeks we also read nothing at all except that "the operations are progress
in," or "the operations are progressing favorably," or
"such and such fronts are quiet" or "on other fronts attacks
have been repulsed." My comrades, you have no idea what is concealed under
the simple words of the communiqué of the Highest Leadership of the Armed
Forces. The communiqué must remain terse. In it we must try to find an
equilibrium in order to view the actual deeds with regard to their importance
in relation to the whole.
That does
not mean merely that the fighting, where it is wholly unimportant measured by
the events of the war, is easier for the individual German soldier than where
it is a matter of very great decisions. It is always the man and his life that
has to be taken into consideration. Often there are hundreds of thousands of
brave soldiers of all service branches-the infantry, the army, engineers,
artillery, squadrons of the Armed Elite Guard, squadrons of the air force or,
at sea, our warships, on the surface and under water-all of them, at such a
moment, often for days at a time, must risk their lives, and you then read
nothing more than "Defensive fighting," or "Attacks of the enemy
repulsed," or "Enemy who broke through destroyed," or "A
break-through accomplished," "Advance in such-and-such a
region," "Crossing of such-and-such a stream," "Capture of
such-and-such a city."
You do not
realize what is hidden beneath these words in the way of human heroism, and
also of human pain, and suffering, and we may say, often anxiety too,
naturally, deathly anxiety on the part of all those who, especially for the
first time, are placed before the trial of God in this highest court.
All that
reads simply, and is nevertheless infinitely hard. It similar to the situation
in the World War when many soldiers returned home and were asked; "How is
it really?" And then finally they had to realize it cannot be explained to
someone who has not experienced it. One cannot tell him. He who has not lived
through it himself doesn't know what it is; he does not understand it, one
cannot tell him about it, and it is for this reason that many remain silent
altogether and say nothing, because they have the feeling: "You just can't
describe how it really is." And this is especially true when one has a
barbaric, bestial opponent, as the one in the east, an opponent of whom one
knows that he knows no pardon, an opponent who recruits not among men but
actually among beasts.
There is infinite
suffering, infinite devotion, infinite heroism, infinite energy behind all
these dry statements. When you read that so and so has received the Knight's
Cross, that is a very brief description which is published in the local,
probably in . . . press. But what this description embraces in detailed
achievement, the great mass of our people will not be able to conceive.
It is
impossible for the individual to know exactly what it means when a pilot shoots
down 30, 40 or 50 planes, when he shoots down 80, when he shoots down 100;
those are not 100 battles, because in them oftentimes he risks his life a
thousand times; or when he finally shoots down 150, or 180, or 200 planes that
is more than were ever shot down in the last war.
Or when
U-boat commanders attack again and again, when commanders of the same U-boat
carry out their assignments again and again, mine-sweeping units perform their
assignments, it is always an uninterrupted service which one can only mention-I
might say-in one sentence,-a service of many weeks and months of continuous
devotion of their lives against a sentence which is then printed in a
newspaper.
If we keep
this in mind, then we must realize that with all that the homeland is doing, it
cannot thank its soldiers anywhere nearly enough. And that doesn't apply only
to our soldiers; it applies to all the soldiers of the other nations allied
with us who are fighting on our side.
And here
there is something else to be mentioned, namely that the German Army does not
carry on its fighting, say, like the English. We don't always send others to
the places that are especially dangerous, but we regard it as our duty, as a
matter of course, yes, and as an honor for us, to bear this burden of blood
ourselves in full, honest measure. We have no Canadians and Australians to pull
the chestnuts out of the fire for us, for we are fighting beside our allies as
loyal, absolutely honorable associates.
But we
consider all this also necessary, for out of this battle, perhaps the most
difficult in our history, there will come in the end that which always hovered
before us National Socialists who came out of the first World War, namely, this
great Reich of a community of the people bound close together in sorrow and
joy.
For this war
does really bring to birth one great bright aspect-namely, the great
comradeship. What our party always strove for in peace, to form a community of
the people out of the experience of the first world war-that is now secured.
All the
German racial stocks carry their share. Otherwise the founding of the Greater
German Reich would have been only an act of constitutional law. As it is, it is
an eternal document signed with the blood of all . . . a document which no one
can destroy now, against which all the talk and babble of our enemies will be
completely ineffectual, but above all a document which gives this State not
only its form of authority, but its inner substance. You will also note, if you
read the Knight's Cross citations, the simple man, the corporal or the
non-commissioned officer, along with the sergeant-major, with the lieutenant
and with the general, and, if you see the promotions of our young officers,-the
National Socialist community of the people here begins to make its appearance
to its full extent. There are no longer any birth certificates.
There is no
former station in life, there is no conception of capital, there is no origin,
there is also no more of our so-called education of former times. There is only
one standard of value, that is the standard of the upright, courageous,
faithful man; the capable man, the determined and daring man who is fit to be
the leader of his people. In reality an old world has been torn down. From this
war arises, established by blood, the community of the people, the hope of the
old National Socialists after the last war, who were able to transmit our creed
to the nation.
And that
perhaps is the greatest blessing for our people in the future, that we will
come out of this war improved in our community and absolved in our community and
absolved of so many prejudices, that after this war it really will be proved
how right the party program of our movement was and how correct, moreover, our
entire National Socialist approach was, because one thing is certain: No
bourgeois state will survive this war. In this case everyone sooner or later
will have to declare where he stands.
Only the one
who is able to weld his people to a unit, not only politically but also
socially will come out of this war as the victor.
That we
National Socialists laid this foundation, we owe, I personally owe, to the
experience of the first World War. But, because the Greater German Reich has to
fight this second war through, to that it will, one-day, be able to attribute a
reinforcement and a deepening of this program.
That is why
I am convinced today that they, the last remnant of a past from which they have
learned nothing, who are hoping somewhere, by idle talk, or in one way or
another, to experience some day, perhaps, a new dawn of their class world, will
come to grief and suffer shipwreck.
World
history will push them aside, as if they were not there at all. It is
ridiculous even to fight against this fate. And besides, as a soldier returning
from the Great War, I once expounded this world philosophy to the German people
and created the foundation of the Party.
Do you
believe that some German would be able to offer the soldier returning
victoriously from this war another Germany than the National Socialist Germany
in the sense of a real fulfillment of our ideas of a true community of the
people? That is impossible. And in the future that will surely be, perhaps, the
most blessed benefit of this war. Special expansion is not the decisive thing,
but the decisive thing will be the filling of this space with a closely-knit,
strong people, which must recognize this to be the most essential principle.
Among this
people not only does every soldier carry the marshal's staff in his knapsack,
and indeed not only in theory, but truly, but also among this people every single
fellow citizen finds the road open, which his genius, industry, bravery, effort
or preparedness in general might open to him.
I would like
at this moment to refer to the homeland front. It also has to endure hardships.
The German worker is working hard. Last spring, when the question arose of
bringing out new defense weapons, I had the experience of noting how in
numerous factories workers not only worked 10 and 1l hours a day, but even
renounced their Sundays for weeks and weeks and weeks, with the one thought
only-to give the front weapons.
I must point
out, that in general the German worker accomplishes tremendous things and that
he is true to the present state, to its leadership, and above all to his
soldiers, to his comrades and labor colleagues. I must, however, point out that
just so does the country population fulfill its duty-that millions of German
women have aligned themselves into this labor process, that the peasant women
today accomplishes the work of two men.
And finally
I must point out that even our professions which require mental activity have
sacrificed themselves fully, that here also millions upon millions sacrifice
everything, in spirit and in thought, inventing and working in order to arm the
nation and in order never again to give the front the example it gave in 1918.
Therefore,
if I can say to the homeland today that it can be perfectly at ease, whether in
the east or the west, in the north or the south, because the German front of
our soldiers stands immovable, then I can say to the front, in exactly the same
way: German soldier, you may rest assured; behind you stands your homeland,
which will never leave you in the lurch. And that is no empty phrase. The good
ones among our people from all strata of life are being welded together more
and more into an indissoluble community, and this community will again reveal
itself particularly, in the great relief work that we have to carry out this
winter.
I have
already pointed out often, that it would easily have been possible for us to
take another road, but we did not do so because of the simple realization that
it is better to acquaint the individual compatriot himself with the tasks which
fall to the country and thus affect this individual, but above all to remind
the more fortunate persons of the suffering of the less fortunate ones, to show
them by continuous propaganda all that must still be done in order really to be
able to speak here of a community of the people in the true sense of the word.
It is not here a question of lip-service, but to this end every individual must
devote all his means, willingly to serve this community, and no one has any
right to exclude himself from this work, especially at a time when millions of
others have to defend the community with their blood.
I address
this appeal to the entire German people in the name of its soldiers
particularly and of all others who sacrifice themselves in the armament
factories or on the land or anywhere else.
But in this
hour I want to assure you of one thing: namely, that we shall mercilessly
destroy every saboteur of this community. Just a few weeks ago an English
newspaper, in a lucid hour, wrote very correctly for once that one should not
laugh at the German Winter Aid Collections (Winterhilfswerk). It said that it is
true that if in England one person enriches himself at the expense of the
others he gets at most a few weeks or months in prison and then lives better
than any soldier at the front can live, but that anyone who commits a sin
against the community in Germany is practically on the way to the grave. This
newspaper is right.
At a time
when the best of our nation must serve at the front and must serve there with
their very lives, there is no place for criminals or good-for-nothings who
destroy the nation. Whoever profits on the things designated for our soldiers,
can count on being ruthlessly eliminated. Whoever profits on that which so many
of the poor amongst our people have sacrificed for our soldiers shall not
expect to find any grace.
Every German
must know that everything he gives to his soldiers or to the suffering homeland
really reaches those who deserve it or who were meant to have it. And above all
no habitual criminal shall have the illusion that a new crime will save him
beyond this war. We will take care that not only the decent fellow will die at
the front but that under no circumstances the criminal or indecent fellow at
home will live through this period.
I do not
wish that a German woman, who perhaps has to go home from her place of work at
night, constantly has to watch out anxiously that no harm will be done to her
by some good-for-nothing or criminal. We shall eliminate these single cases. We
have eliminated them and the German people owe it to this fact, that there is
so little trouble now. I believe that I am acting in the spirit of the
preservation of our community, but above all the spirit of the front. The
soldiers demand the right that while they are risking their lives out there,
their families, their wives and their other relatives be protected at home. At
this moment I also have to assure the front of something else, of the boundless
bravery with which this German homeland on its part too accepts and endures the
war even where it strikes them and strikes them with dire severity.
I know a
city, a Frisian city. I wished to evacuate it a long time ago, because it was
attacked time and again. I wished to take the children away, and the women, in
order to bring them to safety. It was out of the question. Again and again they
went back to their city and they could not be taken away, although this city
has suffered so severely.
Here, too,
countless deeds of heroism were accomplished, not only by men but also by
women. And not only by women but by boys who have hardly reached the fifteenth,
sixteenth or seventeenth year. They set to work with their whole beings, in the
knowledge that they are one single community in this war, consecrated to one
another, and know very well that either all must survive victoriously together
or be destined for extermination together.
If a soldier
did not know that, you could not expect him to risk his life under these dismal
circumstances. Conversely, the homeland, too, must know it, so that it will
measure its own contribution accordingly.
And,
therefore, I expect that the new Winter Relief will be an especially strong
document of this indissoluble community spirit so that the nation will thereby
give the whole world a testimonial, something besides a stupid lying,
plebiscite; a testimonial of their sacrifice, in which they declare: "We
stand behind our soldiers, as our soldiers stand before us. And we both stand
together before our people and before our Reich and under no circumstances will
we ever capitulate.
"Let
our adversaries conduct this war as long as they are able to do so. What we can
do in order to beat them, we certainly will do. That they ever will beat us is
impossible and out of the question."
Nationalist
Socialist Germany and the states which are allied with her will come out of
this war with a glorious victory as young nations, as real peoples' states.
