Part 1
CHAPTER 1 - FORMIDABLE TRANSFORMATIONS
CHAPTER 2 - THE ENEMY AT THE GATE
CHAPTER 3 - THE JEWS IN GERMANY
CHAPTER 4 - HITLER, THE VOTE WINNER
CHAPTER 5 - LIFE IN HITLER'S GERMANY
Part 2
CHAPTER 6 - Former Prime Minister, Lloyd George
CHAPTER 7 - THE BERLIN OLYMPICS, 1936
CHAPTER 8 - PEACE GETS THE NELSON'S EYE
CHAPTER 9 - THE 'RACE NATION' DECLARES WAR ON GERMANY
Part 3
CHAPTER 10 - WITH THESE 26 SOLDIERS OF LEAD - I WILL CONQUER THE WORLD
CHAPTER 11 - BUT BY JINGO WHEN WE DO
CHAPTER 12 - THE PEACEMAKERS
CHAPTER 13 - WAR! POLAND PROVIDES THE EXCUSE
CHAPTER 14 - TORAH! TORAH! TORAH - PLEASE!
CHAPTER 6
Former Prime Minister, Lloyd George
Faith and fulfilment: Our Führer is coming!
"I have now seen the famous German leader and also something of the great change he has effected. "Whatever one may think of his methods - and they are certainly not those of a parliamentary country, there can be no doubt that he has achieved a marvelous transformation in the spirit of the people, in their attitude towards each other, and in their social and economic outlook.
He rightly claimed at Nuremberg that in four years his movement had made a new Germany.
It is not the Germany of the first decade that followed the war - broken, dejected and bowed down with a sense of apprehension and impotence. It is now full of hope and confidence, and of a renewed sense of determination to lead its own life without interference from any influence outside its own frontiers.
There is for the first time since the war a general sense of security. The people are more cheerful. There is a greater sense of general gaiety of spirit throughout the land. It is a happier Germany. I saw it everywhere, and Englishmen I met during my trip and who knew Germany well were very impressed with the change.
One man has accomplished this miracle. He is a born leader of men. A magnetic and dynamic personality with a single-minded purpose, as resolute will and a dauntless heart.
He is not merely in name but in fact the national Leader. He has made them safe against potential enemies by whom they were surrounded. He is also securing them against the constant dread of starvation which is one of the most poignant memories of the last years of the War and the first years of the Peace. Over 700,000 died of sheer hunger in those dark years. You can still see the effect in the physique of those who were born into that bleak world.
The fact that Hitler has rescued his country from the fear of repetition of that period of despair, penury and humiliation has given him an unchallenged authority in modern Germany.
As to his popularity, especially among the youth of Germany, there can be no manner of doubt. The old trust him; the young idolise him. It is not the admiration accorded to a popular leader. It is the worship of a national hero who has saved his country from utter despondence and degradation.
To those who have actually seen and sensed the way Hitler reigns over the heart and mind of Germany, this description may appear extravagant. All the same it is the bare truth. This great people will work better, sacrifice more, and, if necessary, fight with greater resolution because Hitler asks the to do so. Those who do not comprehend this central fact cannot judge the present possibilities of modern Germany.
That impression more than anything I witnessed during my short visit to the new Germany. There was a revivalist atmosphere. It had an extraordinary effect in unifying the nation.
Catholic and Protestant, Prussian and Bavarian, employer and workman, rich and poor, have been consolidated into one people. Religious, provincial and class origins no longer divide the nation. There is a passion for unity born of dire necessity.
The divisions, which followed the collapse of 1918, made Germany impotent to face the problems, internal and external. That is why the clash of rival passions is not only deprecated but temporarily suppressed.
I found everywhere a fierce and uncompromising hostility to Russian Bolshevism, coupled with a genuine admiration for the British people with a profound desire for a better and friendlier understanding of them. The Germans have definitely made up their minds never to quarrel with us again, nor have they any vindictive feelings towards the French. They have altogether put out of their minds any desire for the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine.
But there is a real hatred and fear of Russian Bolshevism, and unfortunately it is growing in intensity. It constitutes the driving force of their international and military policy. Their private and public talk is full of it. Wherever you go you need not wait long before you hear the word 'Bolshevismus', and it recurs again and again with a wearying reiteration.
Their eyes are concentrated on the East as if they are watching intently for the breaking of the day of wrath. Against it they are preparing with German thoroughness.
This fear is not put on. High and low they are convinced there is every reason for apprehension. They have a dread of the great army, that has been built up in Russia in recent years.
An exceptionally violent anti-German campaign of abuse printed in the Russian official Press and propelled by the official Moscow radio has revived the suspicion in Germany that the Soviet Government are contemplating mischief." - David Lloyd George, Daily Express, 17.9.1936
WINSTON CHURCHILL:
"In fifteen years that have followed this resolve, he has succeeded in restoring Germany to the most powerful position in Europe, and not only has he restored the position of his country, but he has even, to a very great extent, reversed the results of the Great War. . . the vanquished are in the process of becoming the victors and the victors the vanquished. . . whatever else might be thought about these exploits they are certainly among the most remarkable in the whole history of the world." - Winston Churchill, 1935
". . . and the achievement by which the tables have been turned upon the complacent, feckless and purblind victors deserves to be reckoned a prodigy in the history of the world and a prodigy which is inseparable from the personal exertions of life thrust on a single man. . .
Those who have met Hitler face to face in public, business, or on social terms, have found a highly competent, cool, well-informed functionary with an agreeable manner, a discerning smile and few have been unaffected by a subtle personal magnetism.
Nor is this impression merely the dazzle of power. He exerted it on his companions at every stage in his struggle, even when his fortunes were in the lowest depths. . .
One may dislike Hitler's system and yet admire his patriotic achievement. If our country were defeated I should hope we should find a champion as indomitable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations." - Winston Churchill, 'Step by Step', p.143
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
"It was evident that Germany needed only a resolute and clear-headed leader to denounce the Treaty; declare her determination to assert her full equality with the Powers, and refuse to be disarmed, plundered and chastised under the pretext of reparations and 'war guilt', to rally to him every living soul whose native language was German, and at the same time take a great step towards peace in Europe by proving that neither France nor England nor the United States dare outrage humanity by attempting military occupation of her territory on the model of the old partitions of Poland; in short, that instead of Europe being plunged into war she would be dragged back from the brink of it by Germany.
Herr Hitler seized the hour and said the word, and France and England immediately climbed down, preserving their dignity by lecturing the Chancellor solemnly on his naughty behaviour as they descended.
Mr. Vernon Bartlett was soundly berated by the Foreign Office for imploring all lovers of peace to believe in the perfect sincerity of Herr Hitler's assurance that a free Germany would be a peaceful Germany, but 95% of the listeners who wrote to him wanted to have him appointed Foreign Secretary. When I said that Herr Hitler's action was right and inevitable, the storm of abuse that was about to bust on me was suddenly checked by Mr. Lloyd George saying exactly the same thing.
Europe breathed again. The beginnings of a British popularity set in for Herr Hitler as they had set in years before for Signor Mussolini, in spite of all the liberal protests, and it only remains to watch the results of the forthcoming general election in Germany, in which it is inconceivable that a single vote should be cast against him, even by the angriest German Jew or German Communist." - George Bernard Shaw. Playwright. 'The Observer' November, 5th, 1933
SIR ARNOLD WILSON, M.P.:
"Health statistics in Germany are satisfactory. Infant mortality has been greatly reduced and is considerably inferior to that in Great Britain. Tuberculosis and other diseases have noticeably diminished. The criminal courts have never had so little to do and the prisons have never had so few occupants. It is a pleasure to observe the physical aptitude of the German youth. Even the poorest persons are better clothed than was formerly the case, and their cheerful faces testify to their psychological improvement that has been wrought within them. Economic conditions in Germany, abstraction made of the influence exerted by rearmament, are steadily progressing. Unemployment has greatly decreased."
G.E.O. KNIGHT:
"Altogether, Herr Hitler has worked miracles for the new Germany. I anticipate that in a very short time, the Chancellor will have shown the world more than it ever bargained for in its wildest efforts to crush the new regime." - G.E.O. Knight, In Defence of Germany
JACQUES BAINVILLE, l'Action Francais:
"Is Hitler policy the result of his own unaided efforts? Or is it influenced by his counsellors? At bottom, this is more or less indifferent; then he who is capable of following sound advice is just as clever as he who gives such advice.
Hitler is undoubtedly lucky. Hitherto he has succeeded in everything, since even in his most impulsive moments he is a prudent calculator, and he shapes his foreign policy with the same bold imagination as he shaped the policy which was foreordained to make him the master of Germany's destinies.
Thus he is always ahead of other governments, who are invariably a day or an idea - let us hope not an army - behindhand. When our ministers were asked if they were prepared to negotiate with the Head of the German Government they replied evasively that they were certainly ready to do so, but only in full agreement with our allies. At that very time Hitler had already concluded his non-aggression pact with Poland.
Poland's leading newspaper writes; 'Hitler is the first German statesman who has found the right language at the right time. Hitler has always stressed that any treaty signed by him is worth fare more than the Treaty of Locarno. For Stressseman represented political parties which no longer existed, whereas Hitler enjoys the confidence of the whole of Germany expressed by the votes of over forty million electors.' "
AMERICAN MANIFEST DESTINY:
"These financial and industrial wonders had been performed without foreign loans. Of these miracles, Churchill gave this tribute: "Whatever else may be thought about these exploits they are certainly among the most remarkable in the whole history of the world." - American Manifest Destiny, Conrad Grieb. Examiner Books. N.Y.
DOUGLAS REED:
"Germans in their country are not less well cared for than the English people in theirs, but better. You are faced with a country immensely strong in arms and immensely strong in real wealth - not in gold bars in a vault of the national bank, but industry, agriculture, the thrift and energy of the work people, and the conditions of life they enjoy.
In German now they have a mighty organisation, equipped with full powers, for improving the lot of the work people in factories and workshops. Their engineers and social workers and artists go into the factories and see what needs to be done. They say that a shower room, recreation room, a restaurant, a medical clinic, a dental clinic is needed and these ere provided. They have a civic sense, a social conscience, a feeling of the community of German mankind - in spite of the bestial concentration camps - which you lack."
AND OF THOSE 'CONCENTRATION CAMPS' ANOTHER ENGLISHMAN REVEALS ALL:
"In August, 1933 there were seven thousand 'political prisoners' (Britain's prison population is in excess of 50,000) in Germany of which about 700 are Communists. Most were convicted of political crimes as we define them, but rather of anti-social behaviour and crime.
The discipline in the camp was of the robust kind. Every man had some kind of work to do, but this was not always enforced. The camp rose at 6.00am and all lights were out at 9.00pm. The meals consisted of breakfast, dinner, supper with meat served daily except on Fridays. There was a dispensary attached to the camp and a German doctor was in charge. Severe cases of illness were sent to the local hospital.
Various trades were carried on inside the camp such as carpentry, tailoring and shoemaking. Part of the camp was set off for bathing. Shower baths and facilities for sunbathing were shown to me. There was also a splendid sports ground.
The sleeping compartments consisted of wooden beds and straw mattresses, with three blankets for each prisoner. The working hours were from 7.00am to 11.30am and from 1.00pm to 6.00pm. A library was in the course of being introduced.
Visitors were allowed once a week, and were received in the dining room which accommodated some 300 people. There were apartments set apart for music and dramatic performances. In addition to receiving free board and lodging, each prisoner was drawing 10DM to 12DM per week, which represented his unemployment allowance pay.
Instruction in ethics, religion, the new form of government in Germany, history, languages, was given daily to those who desired to attend. There was little or no crime among the men in the camp. Good order prevailed among all classes. The guards ate the same food as the prisoners, and were subject to the same disciplines as the internees, although they were government officials. One of the guards was a prince of the House of Hesse.
Letters and parcels were subject to censorship. In not one case out of many thousands received had it been found necessary to destroy any parcel or letter forwarded. Newspapers were permitted and smoking allowed. When a prisoner desired to light his pipe or cigarette, he had to go to a guard detailed off to supply lights for the prisoners, as no matches were permitted prisoners.
Services were held every Sunday and the majority of the opportunity. No objection was raised by the authorities to my taking photographs of both camps and internees.
The men looked in splendid physical condition. Having heard so may dreadful stories of brutal treatment being meted out to Communists in this particular camp, I asked some of the men to confide in me and tell me the truth of those allegations. Not a few laughed at 'the bloody capitalist liars in your country.' I took fifteen men at random and asked them to strip in my presence. I wanted to see if they bore any marks of violence on their persons. I saw nothing indicative of bad treatment." - G.E.O. Knight, In Defence of Germany, (who was allowed complete freedom of movement in all camps)
THE MORAL MAJORITY:
"I think that it must be admitted that National Socialism has done a great deal for Germany. It has undoubtedly cleaned up Germany in the ordinary moral sense of the word. The defeatism, the corruption so manifest a characteristic in the days after the war has disappeared, at any rate from public view. It has given discipline and order and a sense of purpose to the great majority of young people who in earlier days did not know where to go or what they were living for." - His Lordship, the Marquess of Lothian, British Ambassador to Washington, June 29th, 1937
"The spectacle of Germany today is a tremendous experience. Fifteen years after the war in which the allied powers thought they had destroyed her, Germany is on her feet again. As compared with 1922 and 1931, when I last saw Germany, the change is miraculous. The people are confident, enthusiastic and courageous. They have recovered their morale. In 1931 the German people were going to pieces. But now they are themselves again, no doubt about that! The masses of the people are increasingly with Hitler. I have been fooling myself all along that this was not so, but now I know it is so." - John H. Holmes, Pastor. Community Church. N.Y Times, July 12th, 1935
"Last May, I returned, bringing my family for another sojourn, after two years spent in other European countries. I found a Germany which has advanced miraculously from the point of 1933. I found political solidarity, a wholesome tone in the life of city dweller and country dweller alike. I found living costs materially reduced and an unmistakable optimism on every hand. In every quarter I found the same answer to my questioning: Profound belief in the genius of the Leader, love and admiration for him as an individual. My observations have covered a wide range of social classification. I have talked with the humblest type of labourers, with merchants, professional men. I have yet to discover a dissenting voice to the question of loyalty to the Fuehrer. My two young daughters are attending German public schools and are receiving an education which in thoroughness could be equalled in few countries." - John L. Garvin. The Observer
CHAPTER 7
THE BERLIN OLYMPICS, 1936
SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION
Despite his unprecedented Olympic performance and the widely published - but false - story that Hitler had snubbed Owens after he won his medals, he returned home to face a racial struggle in his own country.
"When I came back, after all the stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country and I couldn't ride in the front of the bus," Owens said. "I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted . . . I wasn't invited up to shake hands with Hitler . . . but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either.
"Joe Louis and I were the first modern national sports figures who were black," Owens said. "But neither of us could do national advertising because the South wouldn't buy it. That was the social stigma we lived under."
The Hitler snub story is explained this way: After the opening day of the 1936 Olympics, the winners were escorted to the dictator's box to be congratulated.
But International Olympic Committee President Count Henri de Baillet-Latour of Belgium told Hitler he had no business congratulating any of the athletes. After that, Hitler left the stadium each day without congratulating anyone. The Tampa Tribune Tuesday, April 1,1980
Sixty-years of fanciful embellishment, ignorance and mischievous comment has created an image of National Socialist Germany that owes little to reality. A typical example of such distortion is woven around the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
This international event is often mentioned in the context of it being the Olympics at which the American Negro, Jesse Owens, 'humiliated Nazi Germany and destroyed the myth of Aryan superiority.' What are the true facts?
Jesse Owens, a fine athlete was the citizen of a country whose racism would have made Hitler blush. The contrast between the two countries would have been quite remarkable for this humble and likeable ex-cotton picker.
In Hitler's Germany, Jesse Owens could share a bus or tram ride with white people. Treated equally in all respects before the law, he could sit in a cinema next to whites, use public toilets, and dine in restaurants, stay in hotels without any discrimination being shown towards him. There was much that he could do in Hitler's Germany that was forbidden at home in the United States.
In the United States Negro athletes were required to eat apart from their white fellow athletes. If they were allowed to share the same hotel at all, which was unlikely, it would be necessary for them to use the tradesmen's back entrance.
There were no Negroes on any major league baseball team and there were no Negro swimmers. This was of course in the so-called enlightened north. In the southern states there was no possibility of a Negro being allowed to participate in any sport unless he competed solely with other Negroes.
For Jesse Owens, his days in Hitler's Germany must have been happy indeed. There he received a great deal of pre-Olympic media hype and the German people idolised him.
"Once at the stadium, the mere appearance of Jesse Owens neatly moulded head from some pit below the stands would cause sections of the crowd to break out in chants of, 'Yes-sa Ov-enss! Yes-sa Ov-enss!' - Richard D. Mandell. The Nazi Olympics
"Some mornings at the Olympic village the athletic hero of the hour was awakened by amateur photographers who flocked outside his bedroom window to click at the athlete before he could gather poise for one of his many appearances before the mobs in Berlin." - Richard D. Mandell. The Nazi Olympics
"Jesse Owens was cheered as loudly as any Aryan." - Lawrence N. Snyder; Jesse's coach. Saturday Evening Post Nov. 7th, 1936
THE HITLER SNUB MYTH
One of the common tales that is perpetuated in the media is that at the 'Nazi Olympics', Adolf Hitler snubbed Jesse Owens by refusing to shake his hand.
The reality is far different. Hitler on the first day of the Berlin Olympics did indeed shake the hands of several successful competitors from Germany and Finland. It was a mistake made in good faith. That evening the Fuhrer received a message from Count Baillet-Latour, President of the International Olympic Committee. It was respectfully pointed out to the German Leader that as he was merely a guest of honour at the Games, he should congratulate all - or none, in public at least.
Hitler, in common with all other national leaders before and since chose the latter as being the most sensible course. With 156 gold medals being awarded at various locations and times, it was not physically possible to personally congratulate every winner. Jesse Owens was not personally congratulated by the Fuhrer; nor were any of the other successful competitors, white or otherwise . . . at the request of the President of the I.O.C.
It is interesting to note that Jesse Owens own President Roosevelt, failed to honour this great athlete and did in fact refuse to meet him, despite there being no such protocol restriction imposed upon him.
But afterwards, Jesse Owens said: "When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticising the man of the hour in Germany."
Afterwards, Owens and his coach, Larry Snyder on arrival in London complained that they felt like 'trained seals'. They were subjected to a barrage of 'fraudulent publicity offers', so much so that they refused further engagements. Time proved Larry Snyder and Jesse Owens right. None of the offers came to anything but big name promoters like Eddy Cantor had received a great deal of favourable publicity.
Back home in the United States, Jesse Owens was treated like a freak and an animal. "Before curious crowds he raced horses (and won). He ran against cars, trucks, dogs, and baseball players with a head start." - Norman Katkov. Jesse Owens Revisited. The World of Sport, p.289
His was a thirties America that had seen 26 lynchings - all Negroes; an America where Negroes had to use separate public toilets and public transport; went to all-black schools, and couldn't mix with white people in restaurants, cinemas, hotels, stadiums, etc. Hitler's Germany and the German people must have seemed very welcoming by contrast.
FOR THE RECORD:
Hitler's Germany won a total of 101 medals (41 gold) and 223 points. Their only credible rival was the United States which though three times bigger in population won 40% fewer medals and points. (25 gold medals - 4 to Jesse Owens - and just 132 points). The U.S.A's size and its reliance on coloured athletes did little to reduce its humiliation, which in fact justified Hitler's claim to the potential of Aryan superiority.
Hitler's Germany (population 80 millions) won more gold medals than the United States, Great Britain, India, Canada, Argentina, France, and Norway together; a combined population of 1,160 millions: 14 times bigger than Germany's. If this is humiliation, perhaps we could do with a dash of it ourselves.
SUMMER OLYMPICS:
GOLD SILVER BRONZE POINTS HITLER'S GERMANY: 33 26 30 (181) UNITED STATES: 24 20 12 (124) FASCIST ITALY: 8 9 5 (47) GREAT BRITAIN: 4 7 23 (29) OLYMPIC ART POINTS: GERMANY (27) ITALY (11) BRITAIN (0) U.S.A (2)THE WINTER OLYMPICS:
GERMANY (15) BRITAIN (6) U.S.A. (6)
CHAPTER 8
PEACE GETS THE NELSON'S EYE
SIR HARTLEY SHAWCROSS:
"Step by step I have arrived at the conviction that the aims of Communism in Europe are sinister and fatal.
At the Nuremberg Trials, I, together with my Russian colleague, condemned Nazi aggression and terror.
I believe now that Hitler and the German people did not want war. But we declared war on Germany, intent on destroying it, in accordance with our principle of balance of power, and we were encouraged by the 'Americans' around Roosevelt.
We ignore Hitler's pleadings not to enter into war. Now we are forced to realise that Hitler was right. He offered us the co-operation of Germany; instead, since 1945, we have been facing the immense power of the Soviet Union. I feel ashamed and humiliated to see that the aims we accused Hitler of, are being relentlessly pursued now, only under a different label." - British Attorney General, Sir Hartley Shawcross, Stourbridge, March 16th, 1984 (AP)
COMPLETE DISARMAMENT OFFERED BY HITLER:
On May 17th, 1933, in a speech to the Reichstag, Hitler offered complete German disarmament, if others would do likewise. There was no response.
After October 14th, 1933, Hitler again put forward proposals which included arms limitation, particularly the elimination of weapons designed for use against civilian populations, and the preparation of a mutual non-aggression pact. France said 'non!' Others did not responds at all, and France, Britain and Russia increased their arms build-up.
On May 21st, 1935, Hitler sought to limit the dropping of gas, incendiary and explosive bombs out side of battle zones. He was also ready to agree to the abolition of the heaviest artillery and tanks, and to accept any limitation on the size of naval vessels. Again, there was no response save for France making an aggressive anti-German alliance with the Soviet Union.
On March 31st, 1936, Hitler formulated a nineteen-point peace plan that included the reduction of arms, and to bring aerial warfare under the protection of the Geneva Convention. His proposals were ignored.
The repeated rejection of Hitler's proposals to assure equitable peace in Europe would indicate that the Western powers were preparing for armed conflict against Germany, a conflict from which only the allies could benefit. Lord Lothian had predicted such a war in a speech on June 5th, 1934.
HITLER PREFERRED CONCILIATION:
"It must be possible for our two great people (Germany and France) to join together and collaborate in opposing the difficulties which threaten to overwhelm Europe." - Adolf Hitler, March, 1935
THE ALLIES, NOT HITLER, BROKE THE TERMS OF THE VERSAILLES TREATY
"It was not Germany that unilaterally broke the Versailles Treaty - it was unilaterally broken by those powers who could not decide to carry out in their turn the disarmament which was imposed on Germany and which, in accordance with the Treaty, should have been followed by them. The Versailles Dictate was thus rendered invalid in regard to the points at issue. . . The German Government, consequent on the failure of the other states to fulfil their disarmament obligations, have on their part renounced those articles of the Versailles Treaty which constituted a discrimination against Germany for an unlimited period of time owing to the one-sided burden this laid upon Germany contrary to the provisions of the Treaty." Adolf Hitler
"This Treaty brought in the first division of Europe, namely a division of the nations into the victors on the one side and vanquished on the other, the latter nations being outlawed." Adolf Hitler, Reichstag speech, Fourth Anniversary
"When the German people trusting to the promises made by President Wilson in his Fourteen Points, laid down their arms in November, 1918, a fateful struggle thereby came to an end for which perhaps individual statesmen, but certainly not the peoples themselves could be held responsible. The German nation put up such an heroic fight because it was sincere in its conviction that it had been wrongfully attacked and was therefore justified in fighting. . . the Peace Treaty of Versailles did not seem to be for the purpose of restoring peace to mankind, but rather to perpetuate hatred." Adolf Hitler
"Germany suffered most as a consequence of this Peace Treaty and the general insecurity which was bound to arise from it. The unemployment figure rose to a third of the number usually employed in the nation, which means, however, that by counting the families of the unemployed as well there were 26 million people in Germany out of a population of 65 millions faced by an absolutely hopeless future." Adolf Hitler
"The fantastic political and economic burdens imposed by that treaty have entirely disillusioned the German people and annihilated its belief in justice." Adolf Hitler
"Historians will one day record that never were the peaceful proposals of one man met with more hatred than mine. When Germany became the example to the world of the peaceful solution of social problems and economic difficulties, the hatred of the Bolsheviks and capitalists, the exploiters of nations, was turned against her. Only then did I turn to create the new German Wehrmacht." Adolf Hitler, 1936
HESS ON THE VERSAILLES TREATY
"The masses of the German people could not believe that a pledge so solemnly given by the supreme head of the United States of America could afterwards be openly ignored." Rudolf Hess, Stockholm
THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
". . . then I would point out that the League has never been a real league of peoples. A number of great nations do not belong to it or have left it. And nobody on this account asserted that they were following a policy of isolation. I should also like to call attention to the fact that up to now the outstanding feature of the League of Nations has been talk rather than action." Adolf Hitler, Reichstag speech, Fourth Anniversary
GERMAN COLONIES
"The German people once built up a colonial empire without robbing anyone and without violating any treaty. And they did so without any war. That colonial empire was taken away from us. And the grounds on which it was sought to excuse this act are not tenable. Moreover, Germany has never demanded colonies for military purposes, but exclusively for economic purposes. Therefore, as a matter of course our demand for colonies for our densely populated country will be put forward again and again." - Adolf Hitler, Reichstag speech; Fourth Anniversary
THE ARMS BUILD-UP AGAINST GERMANY CONTINUED APACE
"Czechoslovakia provided Soviet Russia with landing fields for aircraft, thereby increasing the threat against Germany." - Adolf Hitler
1936, Hitler sent notes to the British Government advocating outlawing bomber type aeroplanes and bombing as a means of warfare. Anthony Eden defended the bomber as an 'effective and humane police weapon,' in maintaining law and order among the unruly tribes in some of the British colonies.
On April 1st, 1936, Hitler's proposals for a European pacification plan for Europe were delivered to the Geneva League of Nations. His proposals included the prohibition of the dropping of gas, poisonous or incendiary bombs; the prohibition of dropping any bombs outside fighting fronts, the prohibition of artillery weapons over 12 miles from battle zones.
"The German Government hereby declare themselves prepared to accede to every such arrangement insofar as it is internationally valid."
He went on to say that he understood that Germany's economic prosperity caused problems, and put forward a proposal that soon, after steps being taken for mutual disarmament:
"There would be an exchange of opinions on the economic situation in Europe."
As with all Germany's proposals for arms limitation, non-aggression pacts, the confinement of weapons to battle zones, etc. these proposals were also ignored.
"As one who fought in the front line trenches to other front line soldiers throughout the world, as a Leader of the German nation to the leaders of other nations, I ask: Must this thing be? With goodwill and co-operation cannot we save humanity from this?" - Rudolf Hess
SPANISH COMMENT
"If the powers in Western Europe were not blind they would not hesitate to sign the Pact of Non-Aggression suggested by Germany; a Pact which guarantees the peace of Europe for a period of twenty-five years." - The influential Spanish newspaper, A.B.C., three months before the outbreak of war
"The ex-soldiers who are now in the German Government honourably desire peace and understanding. I appeal to the ex-servicemen and to men of goodwill in the governments of all nations to give us their combined support in striving towards this goal. In peace we desire to build in common what is destroyed in common through war." Rudolf Hess. Speech to ex-soldiers, Konigsberg
HITLER ON PEACE
"There is not a single German who wants war. The last war cost us 2 million lives and seven and a half million wounded. At such a price, this could not have been a victory even if we had won.
What European statesman today could effect a territorial conquest by means of war? Is it necessary to kill 2 millions in order to conquer a territory with 2 million inhabitants? For us that would mean sacrificing 2 million Germans - the flower of the nation's manhood - in exchange for a mixed population that is neither wholly German nor has much in common with Germany. Sound common-sense is opposed to such a war." - Adolf Hitler, Paris Soir, January 26th, 1936
"If the Germany of today takes her stand on the side of peace she does so not because of weakness or cowardice. She takes her stand on the side of peace because of the National Socialist conception of People and State. In each and every war for the subjugation of an alien people, National Socialism recognises a process which sooner or later will alter the inner nature of the victor - will weaken him and therewith render him vanquished in turn. Setting aside a mere transitory weakening of the enemy, the European states have nothing whatsoever to gain from war of any kind, except a trifling alteration of frontiers which could be entirely out of proportion to the sacrifices entailed.
The blood that was shed on European battlefields during the past 300 years bears no proportion to the national result of the events. In the end France has remained France, Germany Germany, Poland Poland and Italy Italy." - Adolf Hitler, 'The Thirteen Points', Reichstag Speech
"The German Government are ready in principle to conclude pacts of non-aggression with their neighbour states, and to supplement these pacts with all provisions aiming at the isolation of the war-maker and the localisation of the areas of the war." - Adolf Hitler, 'The Thirteen Points', Reichstag Speech
Referring to the original aims of the Geneva Red Cross Convention to work towards reducing armaments, Hitler stated his intention to extend this. ". . . In this instance the German Government have in mind to ban all arms which bring death and destruction not so much to the fighting soldiers but to non-combatant women and children. . . they believe that it will be possible to proscribe the use of certain arms as contrary to international law and to excommunicate from the community of mankind - its rights and its laws - those nations who continue to use them." - Adolf Hitler, 'The Thirteen Points', Reichstag Speech
"Three times I have made concrete offers for armament restriction. These offers were rejected. The greatest offer which I then made was that Germany and France together should reduce their standing armies to 300,000 men; that Germany, Great Britain and France, should bring down their air forces to parity and that Germany and Great Britain should conclude a naval agreement. Only the last offer was accepted as real limitation of armaments.
The other German proposals were either flatly refused or where answered by the conclusion of those alliances which gave Central Europe to Soviet Russia as the field of play for its gigantic forces."
"If the rest of the world entrenches itself in indestructible fortresses, builds enormous flying squadrons, gigantic tanks and casts huge guns, it cannot consider it a menace if German National Socialists march in columns wholly unarmed, thereby giving visible expression of the German feeling of national community and providing it with effective protection. . . the German nation and the German Government have not asked for arms at all, but only for equality of rights.
But if every other nation is allowed to have certain arms, we are on principle not prepared to allow ourselves to be excluded from this rule as a nation with lesser rights!
The German nation has more than fulfilled its disarmament obligations. It is now the turn of those states that have been increasing their armaments to fulfil their own obligations in the same way. Germany has as much right to security as other nations." - Adolf Hitler
"May the time not be far off when all other European nations will come to the realisation that the primary necessity is putting an end to the quarrels and strife of centuries and of building up of a finer community of all peoples is: The recognition of a higher common duty arising out of common rights." - Adolf Hitler
MY FIRST PROPOSAL:
"Germany demands at all costs equality with other nations, but it is prepared to renounce all further armaments if other nations will do the same. In other words, general disarmament down to the last machine-gun. This proposal was not even deemed worthy of the rest of the world as fit for a single discussion."
"I MADE A SECOND PROPOSAL:
Germany was willing to restrict her army to 200,000 men on the condition that other nations would do the same. This also was rejected."
I MADE A FURTHER PROPOSAL:
Germany was prepared, provided other nations wanted this, to renounce all heavy artillery, tanks, bombing planes and if necessary all types of aeroplanes. But this was also rejected."
"I WENT FURTHER and proposed to limit by international agreement all European armies to 300,000 men. This was also rejected."
I SUBMITTED STILL FURTHER PROPOSALS:
Limitation of all aircraft, abolition of air bombing and gas warfare, security for those in non-warfare areas, abolition of at least all heavy artillery and tanks. All these proposals were also declined. All had been in vain." Adolf Hitler
THE RHINELAND
The German re-occupation of the de-militarised Rhineland in 1936 is often held up as proof of Hitler's willingness to break his word. In fact, France was the first to break the Rhine Pact, and the Locarno and League of Nations Agreements too, by signing a Pact with the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, thereby collaborating in an aggressive military build-up encircling Germany.
Hitler reminded the French that as early as winter, 1935/36, the Soviet Union, with which France was collaborating, was mobilising the world's largest army, tank and air forces along eastern Europe's borders.
"Then a completely new state of affairs has been brought about and the political system of the Rhine Pact had been destroyed both in the letter and in the spirit. . . with a military pact with the Soviet Union exclusively directed against Germany and in violation of the Rhine Pact." - Adolf Hitler
In the same speech, Hitler offered "to negotiate with France and Belgium for the establishment of a bilateral demilitarised zone, proposed the conclusion of a non-aggression pact between Germany, France and Belgium for a period of twenty-five years, invited England and Italy as guarantors with the same inclusion of the Netherlands should they so wish. He at the same time offered agreements with countries to the east of Germany." Adolf Hitler, March, 1936
These proposals were rejected.
GERMANY PLEADS FOR PEACE
"I speak in the name of the entire German nation when I say that all of us most sincerely desire to root out an enmity whose sacrifices are out of all proportion to any possible gain.
The German people are convinced that their honour has remained pure and unstained upon a thousand battlefields, just as they see in the French soldier only their ancient but glorious opponent. We, and the whole German nation, should all be happy at the thought that we could spare our children and our children's' children what we ourselves as honourable men have had to watch in the long and bitter years and have, ourselves had to suffer. The history of the last one hundred and fifty years, with all its varied changes and chances, should have taught both at least one lesson; that important and permanent changes can no longer be purchased by a sacrifice of blood.
I, as a National Socialist, and all my followers, absolutely refuse, however, by reasons of our national principles, to acquire, at the cost of the life-blood of those who love and are dear to us, men and women of a foreign nation who, in any case, will never love us. It would be a day of untold blessing for the whole of humanity if the two nations once and for all would banish the idea of force from their mutual relationships; the German nation is prepared to do this.
While boldly asserting the rights which the treaties themselves give us, I will, however, declare equally boldly that in future there will be for Germany no more territory conflicts between the two countries.
After the return of the Saar Basin to the Reich it would be insanity to think of a war between the two states. For such a war there could no longer be, from our point of view, any reasonable or moral excuse.
For nobody could demand that millions of young lives be destroyed in order to correct the present frontiers. Such a correction would be of a problematical extent and even more problematical worth.
"The German nation has more than fulfilled its obligations with regard to disarmament. It is now the turn of the highly armed states to fulfil similar obligations to no less extent." Adolf Hitler, October, 14th, 1933
A LAST CHANCE APPEAL FOR PEACE
On August, 25th, days before the outbreak of war, Hitler made a generous and comprehensive offer of a final understanding with England. On August, 27th, 1939, an emissary, Dahlerus, took these proposals to 10 Downing Street for presentation to Prime Minister Chamberlain and Foreign Minister Lord Halifax. These proposals in essence were:
1. Germany would sign a Pact of Alliance with Britain
2. Britain would act as mediator with Poland for the return of Danzig and the corridor to Germany with Poland being allowed the use of the port of Danzig.
3. Germany would guarantee the sovereignty of Poland.
4. Agreement on Germany's confiscated colonies.
5. Adequate guarantees for the well-being of German minorities in Poland.
6. Germany would provide aid in the defence of the British Empire when called upon to do so.
Britain ignored these proposals choosing instead to guarantee Poland's unjust occupation and retention of territory given to her as 'victors booty' following the first world war under the terms of the Versailles Treaty.
"I hope that the outside world will realise that Hitler's government has no idea of steering towards war, even though this has often been asserted abroad. As Adolf Hitler himself has said, Germany has no need of another war to avenge the loss of her military honour, because she never lost that honour. Germany does not want war of any kind. Germany wants real and abiding peace." - Rudolf Hess
"I owe it to me position not to admit any doubt as to the possibility of maintaining peace. The peoples want peace. It must be possible for governments to maintain it. We believe that if the nations of the world could agree to destroy all their gas and inflammatory and explosive bombs it would be a much more useful achievement than using them to destroy each other." - Adolf Hitler
"National Socialist Germany wishes for peace because it recognises the simple fact that no war would be likely to substantially to ameliorate the state of distress in Europe. The distress would probably be made the greater thereby. . . If only the leaders and rulers had wanted peace, the people would never have wished for war." - Adolf Hitler
"The Fuhrer is one of the soldiers who fought in the trenches. I am one also. Nearly all the Fuhrer's collaborators are men who fought in the most terrible war of all time. We know what war is, and for that reason we are lovers of peace." Rudolf Hess
"The world which we are not harming in any way, and from which we only ask that it will allow us to go about our business in peace, has been submerging us for months under a flood of untruths and calumnies." - Adolf Hitler, 14th October, 1933
"The German Government has the honest intention to do everything in its power to discover and permanently set up such relations with the British people and State as will forever guard against a renewal of the only conflict that has ever been between two peoples." - Adolf Hitler, May 21st, 1935
"As far as concerns our two countries, there is no longer any point whatsoever in dispute between Great Britain and Germany. This, I believe, became clear to everybody after the conclusion of the German-English Naval Pact, on June 18th, 1935, which marks the first step on the road to a practical peace policy." Adolf Hitler, June 18th, 1935
Agreeing to limit German naval strength to just 35% of Royal Navy tonnage - in respect of her Empire commitment - and 15% below that of France, he said: "There has only been one struggle between these two nations, and the German Government has the straight-forward intention to try and form, and maintain, a relationship with the British people and State which will for all time prevent a repetition of this."
"The British Heir Apparent, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, recently uttered a word which has called forth a warm re-echo in our country. He said: 'No one is more fitted to stretch out the hand of friendship to Germany than we, the English ex-servicemen who fought them - and have forgotten all that.'
"I believe that I cannot better supplement this thought of our English comrades than by saying: We gladly grasp your hand in friendship."
BRITISH/GERMAN EX-SERVICEMEN FOR PEACE
"Through your visit you have found a road which ought to lead to an understanding between our two nations. That our people feel as we do has been proved to you by the welcome which the population of Berlin accorded you on your arrival. When we who had fought against one another have now come together this may be the beginning of relations which shall develop from country to country, from ex-soldier to ex-soldier. And just as we who are now comrades have forgotten the quarrel that once led us to fight one another as brave soldiers, so it is our wish that with the passing of the years our people will see those wounds healed which the war inflicted. You, my English comrades, used to call us Fritz when we were fighting against you, and we used to call you by your old soldier name, Tommy. May both our peoples so understand one another in the future as we, Tommy and Fritz, understand one another now." - Reich Leader, National Socialist War Victims Relief to a British Legion deputation visiting Germany
"There is a tremendous desire on the part of all German ex-servicemen for world peace. Their main desire appeared to be the closest possible co-operation between Great Britain and Germany. An Anglo-German organisation would perhaps be scarcely practicable, but this strong feeling for co-operation ought to be turned to good purpose. It is hoped in the not too distant future to have ex-servicemen throughout the world linked together in some way as to pursue the common objective of world peace. In Germany it is difficult to divorce ex-service matters from national affairs, because the present government is so largely composed of ex-servicemen.
"The youth of Germany is obviously being trained to regard peace as the greatest ideal, realising that the future of civilisation depends on its maintainance." - Major F.W.C. Fetherstone-Godley, British Legion Delegate. Daily Mail
"Our aim is to make our people happy once more by guaranteeing to them their daily bread. The work involved is great, and the world should leave us to carry it out in peace." Adolf Hitler, 22nd October, 1933
"We Germans don't like this war. We think it is needless and silly." - Joseph Goebbels, Daily Mail, January, 13th, 1940
"In this hour I feel it to be my duty before my own conscience to appeal once more to reason and common sense in Britain. I consider myself in a position to make this appeal since I am not the vanquished begging favours, but the victor speaking in the name of reason. I see no reason why this war must go on. I am grieved to think of the sacrifices which it will claim. I would like to avert them." - Adolf Hitler, July 19th, 1940 to the Reichstag
"After the victories against Poland and in the West, I again decided - and for the last time - to hold out my hand to England and to point out that a continuation of the war could only be senseless for England, and that there was nothing to prevent the conclusion of a reasonable peace. Indeed there were no differences between England and Germany except those artificially created." - Adolf Hitler, November, 1941
And this time the German government was still working for a negotiated peace and issued the following statement:
"It is quite certain that the peace which will follow the German victories will not be of the Versailles type but will be a peace for the benefit of all nations. The people of those countries occupied today will regain their freedom but in the common interests of all nations they will have to compromise with certain legalities and conditions." - Adolf Hitler
This was Hitler's last great peace initiative which was declined. Britain went on to suffer 350,000 dead, £25,000,000, 000,000 (in 1945 values), the loss of her Empire, Britain impoverished and beholden to American finance, middle Europe destroyed, and eastern Europe subjugated and enslaved by the Soviet Union; their erstwhile allies.
"I realised that the fight was not against enemy nations, but against international capital." - Adolf Hitler
"There you are! Unrestricted warfare in the whole Pacific Ocean, where America really doesn't belong! And when we make a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia which belonged to Germany for a thousand years, it is considered aggression." - Joachim von Ribbentrop, Germany's Foreign Minister from his Nuremberg cell
"Just imagine going to war over Danzig - such a world catastrophe, just to prevent Germany from getting a piece of territory that belonged to her, because Britain was afraid Germany was getting too strong." - Joachim von Ribbentrop, Germany's Foreign Minister
"Do you think gentlemen, that I am an idiot and will let myself be forced into war because of the question of the Danzig Corridor?" - Adolf Hitler
FRANCE ATTACKS GERMANY - GERMANY RESPONDS
On September 3rd, 1939, Britain and France declared war against Germany; the French piercing the German border and occupying German territory between the Rhine and the Moselle. Rather than retaliating, Hitler again offered peace on October 6th, which was again rebuffed.
Fearing that a prolonged defensive war in the West along similar lines to those fought at such appalling loss of life in the First World War, would leave Germany weakened and vulnerable to the Red Army waiting at Germany's eastern borders, Hitler was forced to counter attack in the hope that the defeat of France would bring Britain to the negotiating table.
On May 10th, with forces far inferior to those of France and Britain, Hitler finally decided to close Germany's front door. The French and British (BEF) armed forces were routed and a fortnight later retreated across the English Channel on anything that would float.
"A colossal military disaster." - Winston Churchill
"This is the end of the British Empire." - Anthony Eden
"Whilst as in all battles there were genuine tales of derring do which were reported with understandably a little embroidery, it was not until twenty-years after the event that Richard Collier recounted stories never rebutted, of anarchic servicemen abandoned by officers, drunken revelry between French, British and Senegalese troops, mutiny; of a Kentish Police Officer who recalled 'only too well the sight of dispirited men hurling their rifles from the trains carrying them from Dover." - Richard Collier, The Sands of Dunkirk, London, Collins, 1961
The Sunday Dispatch put the success of the evacuation down to divine intervention following a nation-wide service of prayer following which the notoriously rough channel "became as smooth as a pond" and "a fog descended to shield our troops from devastating attack by the enemy's air strength." - 'The First Casualty', Phillip Knightley, Andre Deutsch. London. 1975
"In 1962, General Sir Harold E. Franklyn, who had been a divisional commander at Dunkirk, complained that the evacuation had been 'over-glamourised'. He said reports of ' merciless bombing' and 'the hell of Dunkirk' were quite ridiculous. 'I walked along the beach on several occasions and never saw a corpse. . . there was very little shelling." - The First Casualty, Phillip Knightley, Andre Deutsch. London. 1975
"Never was a great disaster more easily preventable," said Captain Sir Basil Liddell Hart. Military historian who pointed out that the German breakthrough reported as being due to overwhelming superiority, was actually achieved with armies inferior in numbers to those opposing them.
In fact, the 'miracle of Dunkirk' owes more to Hitler's conciliatory stance than to the Almighty calming the waters and placing a fog between the retreating British Expeditionary Force and its German pursuers.
FRIENDSHIP WITH BRITAIN - 338,000 BRITISH AND FRENCH TROOPS - SAVED BY HITLER
In explaining why Hitler intervened in the military operations to allow the escape of 188,000 British and 150,200 French troops at Dunkirk, General Blumentritt said:
"He then astonished us by speaking with admiration of the British Empire, of the necessity for its existence and of the civilisation that Britain had brought to the world.
He compared the British Empire with the Catholic Church - saying they were both essential elements of stability in the world. He said that all he wanted from Britain was that she should acknowledge Germany's position on the continent. The return of Germany's lost colonies would be desirable but not essential, and he would even offer to support British troops, if she should be involved in any difficulties anywhere. He concluded by saying that his aim was to make peace with Britain, on a basis that she would regard as compatible with her honour to accept."
Blumentritt said: "The German generals in charge were dumbfounded and outraged at Hitler's attitude in thus preventing them from pressing an advantage which they believed would result in the capture of the entire British Expeditionary Force. But Hitler was adamant in his refusal and issued the most peremptory orders for the German armoured forces to stay at a distance while the British embarkation went on."
Thus, the success of the British retreat at Dunkirk being described as 'the miracle of Dunkirk' owes its miraculous nature more to the French Army fighting a rearguard retreat and Hitler again behaving in a conciliatory way. As William Joyce cynically put it: "England is fighting to the last Frenchman."
Very often, the Wehrmacht (and Waffen SS) found their military advantage removed by the more conciliatory Hitler, and it was not unknown for the armed forces to disregard such orders:
"During the pursuit of the British forces towards Dunkirk the Leibstandarte (regiment) was ordered to cross the heavily defended Aa Canal and seize the town of Watten. On the afternoon of 24th May, 1940, however the Fuehrer's Headquarters countermanded the crossing. Dietrich (Sepp) simply disregarded Hitler's order and a few hours later his troops were over the canal." - Heinz Hoehne, The Order of the Death's Head, p. 481/482
It is interesting but hardly surprising to note that even fifty years on, Hitler's Germany is held to be the aggressor in attacking a weaker France, when the undeniable fact is that the far more militarily powerful France - without in anyway being threatened by Germany, invaded her neighbour and throughout the autumn and spring 1939 - 1940 shelled German communities; in the face of which Germany showed remarkable tolerance before retaliating. In doing so and as the foremost British historian A.J.P. Taylor pointed out, Hitler was motivated to do so 'only on preventive grounds.'
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
Likewise the myths that surround the 'Battle of Britain' have been repeated so often that they are now accepted as gospel. It was Phillip Knightley, the special correspondent (Sunday Times) and author who in his book, The First Casualty - The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker from the Crimea to Vietnam', revealed that Britain in 'its finest hour' was far from being the underdog of legend.
British air defence consisted of 1,416 aircraft against 963 German aircraft. Britain had the further advantage of retrieving downed pilots and salvaging downed aeroplanes whereas German aircraft and pilots were irretrievably lost.
". . . yet throughout the battle the RAF regularly lost more fighters than the Luftwaffe - it was the German bombers that swelled the score and to break even the British had to shoot down a great many of them." which in fact he goes on to point out owed more to the radar advantage.
Fighter pilots often found Churchill's rhetoric embarrassing, not the least such descriptions as 'crusaders' who 'grin when they fight'. It was in many respects an ignoble and bloody confrontation in which German pilots, knowing that the parachuting enemy could be airborne again within hours had no compunction about firing on them. Similarly, the RAF had no qualms about shooting down a Heinkel 59 clearly marked with a Red Cross and civilian markings, as it engaged itself in rescuing downed German pilots.
In fact, the only RAF pilot to win a Victoria Cross, Flight-Lieutenant J.B. Nicholson, was wounded by the Home Guard who mistaking him for a German pilot, blazed away at him as he parachuted to earth.
FIGHTING ON THE BEACHES - OF NEW ENGLAND (U.S.A)
The Duke of Windsor was appointed Governor of the Bahamas, the gold reserves of the Bank of England were shipped off to Ottawa, the Minister of Information, Alfred Duff Cooper sent his son Julius to Canada - but failed to inform everyone. Parents who could afford to shipped their families out to America or the Commonwealth. Royal Navy ships were placed on standby to evacuate members of the Royal Family and key members of the government to the United States.
"In June, July and August of 1940, over 6,000 children took part in the exodus of the rich." - The Fears that Flawed the Finest Hour, P. Addison, Sunday Times Magazine, May 21st, 1972
"The working class began to feel, with some justification, that the rich had plans to get out whilst the going was good." - The First Casualty, Phillip Knightley, Andre Deutsch. London. 1975
RUDOLF HESS AND HIS FLIGHT FOR PEACE
"The Fuhrer does not want to defeat England and wants to stop fighting." - Rudolf Hess on his peace mission to England
"The decision to go was the hardest I have ever made in my life. It was rendered easier, however, when I visualised the endless rows of coffins, both in Germany and in England, with mothers in dire distress following behind. I am convinced that the mothers on both sides of the channel will have understood my action." - Rudolf Hess
Hess was imprisoned and never released. He died under suspicious circumstances which have never adequately been explained, nearly fifty years on. In terms of the rank he held, the length of imprisonment and the denial of a properly constituted trial, the imprisonment of Rudolf Hess must rank as the first and worst example of peace emissary detention.
"During the whole of my political activity I have always propounded the idea of a close friendship and collaboration between Germany and England. In the NSDAP, I found innumerable others of like mind. This desire for Anglo-German friendship and co-operation conforms not merely to sentiments based on the racial origins of our two peoples but also to my realisation of the importance of the existence of the British Empire for the whole of mankind." - Hitler's Reply to Roosevelt. April 15th, 1939
"Now there is no doubt that the Anglo-Saxon people of Britain have accomplished immense colonising work in the world. For this, I have sincere admiration." - Hitler's Reply to Roosevelt, April 15th, 1939
When asked by Joachim von Ribbentrop, his Foreign Minister, what he should do if it came to the point of surrender, Hitler replied that he should try to remain on good terms with Britain. "He always wanted that you know." Ribbentrop sadly concluded.
"It is not true that I wished for war in 1939, neither I nor anyone else in Germany. War was provoked exclusively by those international statesmen who were of Jewish race or who worked in the interests of international Jewry. . ." - Adolf Hitler, Last Will and Testament. April 29, 1945
CHAPTER 9
THE 'RACE NATION' DECLARES WAR ON GERMANY
The first Jewish declaration of war was pronounced on March 24, 1933, one day after Adolf Hitler was democratically elected by the German people through a parliamentary vote."There is only one power which really counts. The power of political pressure. We Jews are the most powerful people on earth, because we have this power, and we know how to apply it." - Jewish Daily Bulletin, July 27th, 1935
Adolf Hitler's election to chancellorship marked the beginning of the end of presumptuous and unregulated Jewish influence in German affairs. A nation without a homeland, a nation whose frontiers are decided by its racial genes and which maintains its nationhood whilst existing among host nations, cannot countenance the existence of a state that excludes them.
To the 'race nation' all other countries are a legitimate homeland, the denial of which threatens their existence. To the Jewish Diaspora, the world's most powerful trading and political bloc, Hitler's election meant interruption and interference with the world's commercial and political cohesion in which they are heavily involved.
Furthermore, he stood alone and defiant against the tidal wave of Jewish organised Communism then sweeping all before it. The Communists had seized Russia and were at the bottom of civil unrest and revolution throughout eastern Europe; Britain, France, - the Spanish Civil War - the British dominions and the United States. Germany alone repelled and held in check this tidal wave of subversion and insurrection.
The 'race nation' was quick to organise economic warfare against Hitler's Germany as a means of bringing the National Socialist state to its knees.
WHILST HITLER WAS BEING CONCILIATORY
1933, the year in which Hitler took power was notable in the number of boycotts organised throughout the world, most if not all provoked by Jewish interest groups.
"By using the new atheist exile politics they [the Zionists] provoked and increased anti-Semitism in Europe which led to the Second World War . . . The worldwide boycott against Germany in 1933 and the later all-out declaration of war against Germany initiated by the Zionist leaders and the World Jewish Congress enraged Hitler so that he threatened to destroy the Jews . . ." (Rabbi Schwartz, New York Times, Sep. 30, 1997).
"JUDEA DECLARES WAR ON GERMANY"
"Judea Declares War on Germany! Jews of all the World Unite! Boycott of German Goods! Mass Demonstrations!" - These were all headlines in the Daily Express on March 24th, 1933.
"March 24th, (1933) Reich leaders realised that boycott agitation was accelerating, especially in Great Britain. Placards proclaiming 'Boycott German Goods' spread infectiously throughout London, and were now in the windows of the most exclusive West End shops. Automobiles bannering boycott placards slowly cruised through the retail districts alerting shoppers. Everywhere, store signs warned German salesmen not to enter. British Catholics had been urged by the Archbishop of Liverpool to join the protest.
London's Daily Herald carried an interview with a prominent Jewish leader who admitted, 'The leaders are hanging back,' but the Jewish people are 'forcing its leaders on.' Already the boycott has damaged 'hundreds of thousands of pounds of German trade'." - Edwin Black, Jewish author. The Transfer Agreement, (p.34)
"Fifty-thousand were gathered (March 27th,1933) in and around Madison Square Garden, supportive rallies were at that moment waiting in Chicago, Washington, San Francisco, Houston, and about seven other American cities. At each supportive rally, thousands huddled around loudspeakers waiting for the Garden event, which would be broadcast live via radio to 200 additional cities across the country. At least 1 million Jews were participating nationwide. Perhaps another million Americans of non-Jewish descent heritage stood with them." - Edwin Black, Jewish writer and author. The Transfer Agreement, (p.42)
"Mass meetings throughout Poland - co-ordinated to the Congress rally - had voted to extend the Vilna boycott to all of Poland. The three most important Warsaw Jewish commercial organisations - passed binding resolutions to 'use the most radical means of defence by boycotting German imports.'
"In London, almost all Jewish shops in the Whitechapel district were displaying placards denying entry to German salesmen and affirming their anti-Nazi boycott. Teenagers patrolled the streets distributing handbills asking shoppers to boycott German goods. . . " - Edwin Black, Jewish Writer and Author, The Transfer Agreement, (p. 46/47)
"Judea Declares War on Germany!" - Daily Express headline, March 24th, 1933
"War in Europe in 1934 was inevitable." - H. Morgenthau, Hearst Press, U.S. September, 1933
"The Israeli people around the world declare economic and financial war against Germany. Fourteen million Jews stand together as one man, to declare war against Germany. The Jewish wholesaler will forsake his firm, the banker his stock exchange, the merchant his commerce and the pauper his pitiful shed in order to join together in a holy war against Hitler's people." - Daily Express, March 24th, 1933
"Germany is our public enemy No.1. It is our object to declare war without mercy against her." Bernart Lecache, President, Jewish World League
Hans Grimm quoted a leading Jew who in Australia on January 31st, said to a well known German admiral: "Herr Admiral, you have heard that President Hindenburg has assigned the office of Reich Chancellor to the National Socialist Hitler on the basis of the results of the last Reichstag election?"
He continued: "Herr, Admiral. I here give you my word, think on it later. We Jews will do everything to erase this event from the world."
The next official declaration of war was issued in August, 1933, by Samuel Untermeyer. In July, 1933 in Amsterdam, Untermeyer had been elected to the Presidency of the 'International Jewish Federation to Combat the Hitlerite Oppression of the Jews.' The declaration of (Jewish) war was disseminated throughout the world by the New York Times, on August 7th, 1933.
"This declaration called the war against Germany, which was now determined on, a 'holy war'. This war was to be carried out against Germany to its conclusion, to her destruction." - Dr. Scheidl, Geschicte der Verfemung Deutschlands
The International Jewish Boycott Conference assembled in Holland to discuss ways by which Jewish interests in Germany might be protected. Referring to the Jews as 'the aristocrats of the world' (the master race!), Samuel Untermeyer, the President of the World Jewish Economic Federation, said: "Each of you, Jew and Gentile alike, who has not already enlisted in this sacred war should do so now and here. It is not sufficient that you should buy no goods made in Germany. You must refuse to deal with any merchant or shopkeeper who sells any German-made goods or who patronises German ships or shipping. . . we will undermine the Hitler regime and bring the German people to their senses by destroying their export trade on which their very existence depends." - C.B.S, August 7th, 1933
"Joining with Samuel Untermeyer in calling for a war against Germany, Bernard Baruch, at the same time, was promoting preparations for war against Germany. 'I emphasised that the defeat of Germany and Japan and their elimination from world trade would give Britain a tremendous opportunity to swell her foreign commerce in both volume and profit." - Samuel Untermeyer, The Public Years, p.347
"Hitler will have no war, but he will be forced to it, not this year, but later on." - Les Aniles, 1934
By June, 1938, the American Hebrew was boasting that they had Jews in the foremost positions of influence in Britain, America and France, and that these "three sons of Israel will be sending the Nazi dictator to hell."
"The fight against Germany has been carried out for months by every Jewish conference, trade organisation, by every Jew in the world. . . we shall let loose a spiritual and a material war of the whole world against Germany." - M. Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism, Natcha Retch, January, 1934
"We Jews are going to bring a war on Germany." - David A. Brown, National Chairman, United Jewish Campaign
The 'Anti-Nazi League' was organised into a 'World Economic Trade Boycott of Germany.'
"The world should cut off all relations with Germany; trade, social and diplomatic." - Sunday Express
"He (J.E. Marcovitch, Egyptian newspaper magnate) had 'converted the whole Egyptian Press into a real battlefield against Hitlerianism'." Jewish Chronicle, 22nd February, 1935
"It (National Socialism) was condemned to war because it was a system which inevitably made enemies of Bolshevism and world capitalism." - Louis Marschalko; Hungarian Write journalist and playwright
"Before the end of the year, an economic bloc of England, Russia, France and the U.S.A. will be formed to bring the German and Italian economic systems to their knees." - Paul Dreyfus of Mulhausen, 'La Vio de Tanger' May 15th, 1938
"£500,000,000 FIGHTING FUND FOR THE JEWS . . . The battle will be fought on the world's stock exchanges. Since the majority of the anti-Semitic states are burdened with international debt, they may find their very existence threatened.
A boycott throughout Europe of their export products by way of the retailer may undermine the present uncertain economic stability of several of the anti-Semitic countries." - Sunday Chronicle, January 2nd, 1938
Note: Similar sanctions and boycotts were later applied to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa, to enforce the transfer of power from white to coloured rule.
THE EFFECT ON THE GERMAN ECONOMY
Between January and April 1933, Germany's exports dropped by 10%. As the boycott organised by world Jewry spread, German trade was hit particularly hard and during the first quarter of 1933, Germany's vital exports were less than half its 1932 trade.
"When the Reich could no longer pay its obligations, Germany would go bankrupt." - Edwin Black, Jewish writer/author, The Transfer Agreement, (p.185)
". . . if exports fell too low, Germany as a nation would again be faced with starvation." - Edwin Black, Jewish writer/author, The Transfer Agreement
"How many months could Germany survive once the boycott became global, one commerce was re-routed around Germany? The boycotters adopted a slogan, 'Germany will crack this winter'." - Edwin Black, Jewish writer/author, The Transfer Agreement, (p.188)
These declarations of war against what was undeniably a friendly state and a democratically elected government, caused the German people to react by calling for a one day boycott (April 1st, 1933) of Jewish businesses and goods.
The power of the media to distort events is there for all to see, in every bookshop throughout the land, sixty-years on. We are all familiar with the repetitive stories and pictures of this German boycott of Jewish goods; but the reasons for it are never mentioned, nor is the fact that it was a mere one day event.
"The Jews, taken collectively, view this war as a holy war." - The Daily Herald, No.7450, 1939
"Even if we Jews are not physically at your side in the trenches, we are morally with you. This war is our war and you fight it with us." - Schalom Asch, Les Nouvelles Litterairres, February 10th,1940
The joke doing the rounds of the British Union of Fascists at this time was that the Jewish national anthem was, 'Onward Christian Soldiers.'
"This war is our business." - Rabbi Dr. Stephen Wise, Defence in America, June 1940
"A few days after the British Declaration of War, Weizmann offered the British Government 2,000 men for use in the near East, altogether, an army of 100,000 Jewish fighters against Germany." - Dr. Scheidl, Geschicte der Verfemung Deutschlands
"Jewish brothers of the whole world: Let the holy flame of vengeance burn more and more brightly in your hearts with every hour! Be ready to act at any minute! You must do everything in your power to destroy the economic resources of the fascists, no matter in what part of the world you live. Go among the most vital sections of the death-bringing industries of the Hitlerian hangmen and cripple them with every means at your disposal. Boycott their products everywhere! Struggle together with the noble, self-sacrificing partisans! Develop everywhere a fully effective propaganda for solidarity with, and an active support for the Soviet Union. Mankind wants to be freed of the brown plague. Do your duty in this holy war." - International Conference of the Jews, Moscow, 1941
"When one considers that a guest-people agitates throughout the world against the host nation, and further uses every means at its disposal for the destruction of its host nation, then one cannot escape the idea that it must probably be the most insane and monstrous spectacle which was ever seen in God's free nature.
On the other hand, any severe reaction produced in Germany in the face of this Jewish conduct and political procedure can thus be explained." Dr. Scheidl, Geschicte der Verfemung Deutschlands
"I wish to confirm in the most vigorous manner the declaration that we Jews stand on the side of Great Britain and will fight for democracy. For this reason we place ourselves, in great things and small, under the comprehensive leadership of the British Government. The Jewish representation is ready to enter into prompt agreement, in order to employ every human-Jewish energy, technology, resources and abilities against Germany."
"War would undoubtedly serve the purpose of all Jews, Communists and doctrinaires in the world for whom Nazism is anathema, but it would be a terrible risk today for Germany herself. . . that this is not apparent to Hitler I cannot believe." Lord Halifax, British Foreign Secretary
"In losing Germany, Jewry lost a territory from which it exerted power. Therefore it was determined to re-conquer it." - Louis Marschalko, Hungarian journalist and writer
"He (Henderson) said further that the hostile attitude in Britain was the work of Jews and enemies of the Nazis." - A.J.P. Taylor, British historian
IN THE INTERESTS OF BALANCE
In the interests of fairness and balance it should be stated with equal emphasis that Jewish opposition to Hitler's Germany was far from being as universal as Zionist organisations will openly admit to. In Germany itself, Jewish organisations who through their close proximity to events, knew that acts of anti-Semitism were blown up out of all proportion by Jews abroad in an effort to justify the boycotts, and issued many protests:
"To the Embassy of the United States:
We became aware of the propaganda in your country about alleged cruelties against the Jews in Germany. We therefore consider it our duty, not only in our own interests as German patriots, but also for the sake of truth, to comment on these incidents.
Mistreatments and excesses have indeed occurred, and we are far from glossing these over. But this is hardly avoidable in any kind of revolution. We attach great significance to the fact that these authorities, where it was at all possible to interfere, have done so against outrages that have come to our knowledge. In all cases, these deeds were committed by irresponsible elements who kept in hiding. We know that the government and all leading authorities most strongly disapprove of the violations that occurred.
But we also feel that now is the time to move away from the irresponsible agitation on the part of so-called Jewish intellectuals living abroad. These men, most of whom never considered themselves German nationals, but pretended to be champions for those of their own faith, abandoned them at a critical time and fled the country. They lost, therefore, the right to speak out on German-Jewish affairs. The accusations which they are hurling from their safe hiding places, are injurious to Germany and German-Jews; their reports are vastly exaggerated.
We ask the US Embassy to forward this letter to the US without delay, and we are accepting full responsibility for its content. Since we know that a large-scale propaganda campaign is to be launched next Monday, we would appreciate it if the American public be informed of this letter by this day." - Reichsbund Judischer Frontsoldaten, e.V (Jewish Association of German ex-Servicemen)
These Jewish front-line veterans issued a further declaration:
"The atrocity propaganda is lying. The originators are politically and economically motivated. The same Jewish writers who allow themselves to be misused for this purpose, used to scoff at us veterans in earlier years. By raising your voice as honourable soldiers against the unchivalrous and degrading treatment meted out to Germany for the last fourteen years, you will most effectively contribute to reassure this country." - Ingrid Weckert, Feuerzeichen, Tubingen, 1981, p.52/54
THE ZIONIST ASSOCIATION OF GERMANY
"In a declaration transmitted by the Jewish Telegraphers Union to the entire Jewish world press on March 17th, we have already emphatically protested against anti-German propaganda. We have objected to mendacious atrocity reports and reckless sensationalist news, and we are repeating it today in public. We oppose any attempts to misuse Jewish affairs for the political interests of other states and groups. The defence of the national rights of the Jews and the safeguarding of their economic position cannot and must not be linked with any political actions directed against Germany and the reputation of the Reich." - March 26th, 1933 witness2.htm
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