Adolf Hitler Speech Part 2 Who Wanted the War 30 Jan 1940
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...Continuation of Speech at the Sportspalast, Berlin
And what we witness today is a greater replay of the same drama we already observed on a smaller scale internally. When National Socialism launched its struggle for a truly tolerable order and a true community of men for the benefit of the broad masses of the people, the liberal and democratic circles; i.e. the possessing classes and their parties attempted to destroy National Socialism. “Dissolve the Party! The Party must be outlawed! They must be forbidden and dissolved.” This was their eternal battle cry. They saw the movement’s dissolution or prohibition as the only means of destroying this force which they feared might well prove capable of bringing about a change in the existing state of affairs.
National Socialism dealt squarely with these other forces and survived; it inaugurated a reorganization in Germany and has persisted. And today the possessing part of the world is crying: “We must dissolve Germany! We must atomize these eighty million. They should not be allowed to remain within a contiguous state structure. Thereby we can rob them of the force to see their demands through!” And these are the objectives England and France are pursuing in this war! Our answer to them nevertheless remains the very same one with which we replied to our adversaries internally. My Old Party Comrades! You know very well that the victory of the year 1933 was not a gift. It was the outcome of an unparalleled struggle which we had to lead for nearly fifteen years; it was a nearly hopeless struggle.
You will recall that Providence did not all of a sudden bestow a great movement upon us. A handful of people founded it. They had to laboriously fight to attain their position back then and subsequently to expand upon it. This handful of people then became hundreds; then thousands; then tens and hundreds of thousands; and finally the first million. Then they grew into a second million, later into a third and fourth million. And it was thus, in the course of a long struggle against thousand-fold resistance and assaults, pillage and violation of our rights, that we grew. And we became strong through this struggle: strong internally. And it was thus how we struggled for power in these 15 years. We received it not as a gift from the Lord but as recompense for an unequaled, tough struggle; for courageous persistence in the struggle for power.
As I received this power in the year 1933 and took over responsibility, along with the National Socialist Movement, for the future of Germany, I realized that no one will grant us our liberty. I further realized that our struggle had by no means come to an end but had only begun to be led on a far larger scale. For before us we had not only the victory of the National Socialist Movement, but the delivery of our German Volk! This was our objective! What I had labored for since is but a means to an end. Party, Labor Front, SA and SS, and all other organizations like the Wehrmacht, the Army, the Luftwaffe, and the Navy were not ends in themselves but means to an end because above it all reigns the assurance of liberty for our Volk.
Naturally, just as at home, I have tried abroad to see through the most urgent, inalienable demands by means of negotiations and appeals to reason. I have succeeded in some areas and in some cases. But already in 1938, the realization forced itself upon us that the old war agitators of WWI were beginning once more to get the upper hand in hostile states. It was already then that I began to issue warnings. For what should we think of this when they first sit down at Munich to settle an agreement, only then to depart for London to resume agitations, to denounce this agreement as a disgrace-even to insist such a thing would not be repeated a second time; in other words, to declare a voluntary understanding to be precluded and inconceivable for all times.
It was then that the 'outsiders' appeared on the stage in the so-called democracies. I already warned long ago regarding them. For it was perfectly clear: the German Volk harbored hatred neither against the English nor the French people. The German Volk desired only to live in peace and friendship with them. We make claims that do not do injury to these people; they rob them of nothing. Hence the German Volk has never been instructed to harbor hatred for them. Yet at this point, in England, certain circles launched an impertinent and intolerable campaign against us. And then the moment came when I had to say: we cannot stand by silently any longer but must respond to the hate because we do not teach our German people hate against the English.
We do not teach our people hate against the French either, while in England and France the haters agitate in the press day in and day out and in their meetings the British and French people to the utmost hate against the Germans. One day these agitators in London will be the people of their government and bring to fruition these hate plans. And then the German Volk will not know what precisely hit it. And thus I gave orders to enlighten the German people regarding this hate campaign. And from this moment on, I also stood determined, if necessary, to secure the Reich’s defenses in any case.
In 1939, the Western powers finally dropped their masks. Despite all our attempts and our kindness, they sent us their declaration of war. And today they freely and shamelessly admit: “Indeed, Poland probably would have been willing to agree with Germany, but we did not want that.” Today they admit it would have been easily possible to arrive at an understanding. But they did not want this; they wanted war. So be it! This was precisely what my domestic opponents used to tell me. I held my hand out in friendship to them so many times! They pushed it back and also cried: “No reconciliation. No understanding. Only war!” Well, they got their fight! And I can only say to France and England: You, too, shall have your war!
The first phase in this war consisted of political action. It freed our back first of all politically. For years Germany collaborated with Italy in political issues. This policy has not changed to this day. The two states are close friends. There is a common denominator to their interests. In the past year, I have tried to rob England of the means to allow the conflict it envisioned to escalate into a general world war. The pious Mr. Chamberlain, who studies, reads, and preaches the bible, labored for months to arrive at an understanding with the atheist Stalin. He attempted to conclude a pact with him. In this he failed at the time. I understand that England is raging now that I have done what Mr. Chamberlain in vain sought to do. And I also comprehend that what was pleasing to the Lord in Mr. Chamberlain’s case should be far less pleasing to the Lord in my case. But, nevertheless, I do believe the Lord Almighty to be well pleased that a senseless war on so vast a terrain was prevented because throughout centuries Germany and Russia have lived next to each other in peace and friendship. Why should this not be possible in the future once again? I believe it to be possible since both peoples desire that! Any attempt on the part of the British and French plutocracies to raise renewed controversy between us will fail as we realize their true intentions. And thus today Germany does not have to worry about its back politically.
The second task of the year 1939 was to secure this back militarily as well. The strength of our Wehrmacht trampled to the ground the hope of the English military experts that under no circumstances could the war against Poland be decided in less than six months to a year. The state to which England had extended its guarantee was swept from the map within 18 days. Hence the first phase of this war has come to an end, and the second one begins. Mr. Churchill is already dying to start it. He cherishes the hope, as expressed by intermediaries as well as by his own person, that bombardment should finally, and as soon as possible, feature in this war. And already they are crying that this war should not pay heed to women and children. Of course not! For when has England ever paid heed to women and children?! After all, this entire blockade warfare is nothing other than a war against women and children, just as once was the case in the Boer War. It was then that concentration camps were invented. The English brain gave birth to this idea. We only read about it in the encyclopedias and later copied it-with one crucial difference: England locked up women and children in these camps. Over twenty thousand Boer women died wretchedly at the time. Why should England fight differently today? We have anticipated this and we have prepared ourselves.
May Mr. Churchill rest assured that we do know what has taken place in England within these five months and in France, too. However, he apparently does not know what has happened in Germany within these five months! Evidently these gentlemen are of the conviction that we slept through these past five months. Since the day I stepped onto the political stage, I have never yet slept through a single day of importance, let alone five months. I can assure the German people of one thing: in these five months, we have scored enormous achievements. What was constructed within Germany in the previous seven years pales in comparison to the attainments of these five months! Our armament program was launched according to plan. The plan proved its worth. Our foresight is just now beginning to bear fruits. These fruits are of so impressive a nature that our adversaries are beginning to imitate us. Alas, they are poor imitators. Naturally, the English broadcast services know better. According to them, the skies above England are so darkened by British squadrons flying overhead that the sun can no longer shine there today; the world is one immense arsenal, equipped by England, working for England, supplying the massive British military; Germany on the other hand is standing on the brink of a total breakdown.
I just heard today that we possess only three more submarines. This is truly disastrous-not for us, however, but for English propaganda, since should these three items be destroyed-and this could be as early as today or tomorrow-what will be left to be destroyed? The English will then be forced to sink submarines preemptively which we are to build only in the future. And then somehow they will have to come to terms with a method of resurrecting submarines. Undoubtedly, English ships will continue to be sunk and, as we possess no more submarines, the submarines attacking them will have to be submarines which the English have previously sunk. Further I read that I have succumbed to deep despair and sadness as I had expected us to build two submarines every day, while now we were turning out only two every week. To this I can only say: it is not good to have one’s war reports, and especially one’s radio broadcasts authored by members of a people which have not fought themselves for several thousands of years. For after all, the last documented battle involving the Maccabees is slowly losing its instructive value for military history. When I turn to look at this foreign propaganda, my belief in our victory grows to the immeasurable! For this propaganda I experienced once before. For nearly fifteen years, this propaganda was directed against us. My old party comrades remember this propaganda! These are the same words, the same phrases-yes-and when we look more closely we see the same heads speaking the same dialects.
I was able to deal with these people as a lonely, unknown man who gathered but a handful of people about him. Throughout fifteen years I have dealt with these people. And today Germany is the greatest world power. It is not as if age results in wisdom. No more are the blind restored to sight by old age. Whoever was afflicted with blindness before remains so today. Whoever is afflicted with blindness will be cursed by the gods. Today the German Wehrmacht, the best of its kind, is fencing off these forces. Above all, the German Volk is fencing off these forces with its insight and its discipline. For seven years, National Socialist work has educated them in all areas. That this is not just a fantasy is something that is obvious today. This education has overcome differences of classes and ranks. It has eliminated parties, eradicated different "world views," and replaced it with a real community. Today the soul of this community is suffused with a singular, glowing faith and a fanatical will. This time, this community will not repeat the mistake of 1918.
When today Monsieur Daladier expresses doubts regarding this community, or when he believes that parts of this community are lamenting their lot, or when he is quoting my own homeland with pity, I say: oh, Monsieur Daladier, maybe you will get to know my men of the Ostmark! They shall personally instruct you. You shall get to know their divisions and regiments just as well as the other German ones. Perhaps then you shall be cured of a peculiar form of insanity in believing that no Germans will face off there. Monsieur Daladier, you are faced by the entire German Volk today! And it is the National Socialist German Volk! This Volk for which National Socialism has so struggled and which through laborious works has received its present-day education, is immune to these international delusions. And this in fact represents a permanent cure. The National Socialist Party guarantees this. And your hope to drive a wedge between Volk and Party, Party and State, Party and military, or Party and me, is childishly naive. Fifteen years ago my adversaries clung to exactly the same hopes.
As a National Socialist, I have known nothing other than work, struggle, worries, and labor. I believe Providence has destined our generation for nothing else. We do not want to behave ungratefully toward our God; to the contrary, we have received a warning here. Once, twenty-five years ago, the German Volk set out to fight a war forced upon it. The nation was not well armed. France applied its fighting force in a fashion quite differently from the Germany of the time. Russia was the mightiest adversary. A whole different world was little by little mobilized against this Germany. Thus the German Volk set out to do battle and wrought many a wondrous heroic deed. And Providence was with our people.
The year 1914 delivered our homeland from the threat of foreign break-ins. The year 1915 improved the situation of the Reich further still; 1916, 1917, year after year, we had battle after battle. At times, everything seemed on the verge of collapse when, as though by miracle, the Reich was rescued. Germany then afforded us with truly astounding proofs of its internal strength. Obviously, Providence had blessed Germany and it was miraculously rescued time and time again. But then the German Volk became ungrateful. Instead of believing in its own strength and its own future, it began to listen to the promises of others. And finally, in its ungratefulness, the German Volk turned against its own Reich, its own leadership. And it was then that Providence turned away from the German people. Since then, I have come to regard this catastrophe as something not wholly undeserved. I have never complained that Providence had somehow wronged us. On the contrary, I always supported this thesis: Providence only gave to us what we deserved in the end. The German nation was ungrateful. Therefore it was deprived of its recompense! This will not happen a second time in our history. The National Socialist movement has already passed through a trial period.
The fifteen years of struggle were not only days of glory and marvelous victories. They were often times full of worry. At times, our enemies were already jubilantly hailing our destruction. Yet the movement held its own with a strong heart filled with faith. Time and time again, trusting in the necessity of our struggle, we have pulled ourselves up to face the enemy with defiance, and in the end had victory over our opponents. This is the task of the German nation today. Eighty million men are stepping up to the line now. As many enemies are standing across from them. Our 80 million today have an excellent internal organization-the best possible in fact. They have a strong faith. Their leadership is not bad. Rather, as I am convinced, it is the best. Fuehrer and Volk today realize that no understanding is possible if we do not insist upon our rights. And we are not satisfied with anything in this struggle for our rights which will inflame fights again in perhaps two, three or five years. But let it be known that the rights of 80 million people are up for discussion, not those of a party or a movement. For who am I? I am nothing other than your speaker, German Volk, the speaker for your rights! The Volk has vested its trust in me! I will prove myself worthy of this trust.
I do not wish to draw attention to my own person and my surroundings, but rather to the past and to the future. I wish to stand up in honor before the past and the future, and with me the German Volk shall honorably hold its own. The generation of today is the bearer of Germany’s destiny; of Germany’s future or Germany’s fall. And our enemies, they already cry out today: "Germany shall perish!" Yet Germany can give but one answer: "Germany will live, and hence Germany will win!" At the beginning of the eighth year of the National Socialist revolution, our hearts turn to our German Volk and its future. We want to serve this future. We want to fight for it and, if necessary, die for it. We will never capitulate, for Germany must win and it will win!
