rise of national socialism germany, 1933

7/28/2019 Rise of National Socialism Germany, 1933

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Learning CurveEducation Service workshops

Rise of National Socialism

Germany, 1933

Learning Curve


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Learning CurveEducation Service workshops Rise of National Socialism

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Copy of original document FO 371/16728


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Group 1: transcript of section 1 of speech

The world very largely still thinks that the national-socialist movement

has seized power by force and ruthless terror in order to use this power

brutally against its opponents in Germany. This conception is in

contradiction to the actual course of events. Already before assuming

power, the national-socialist movement was by far the largest and owing

to the masses of its followers, the most influential party in parliamentary

Germany. It was legally called upon to assume responsibility and it has

legally consolidated its position of power in Germany. After the 30th

January it was free to act according to its own judgment and without

consulting the nation. It did not do so: on the contrary it consulted the

nation, thus creating at the same time for its subsequent work of

reconstruction the guarantees which were necessary within the

democratic State. There was no question of applying terror and force.

There has never before been any government in Germany which could

claim to have realized such a large measure of agreement with the

masses of the population as the national-socialist Government.

The elections of the 5th

March which gave this government an absolute

majority, the passing of the authorisation bill in the Reichstag by an

overwhelming majority of two thirds, clearly prove the legality of our

action, the complete harmony between the will of the nation and that of

the government, as well as the undoubted concurrence of the views of

the national-socialist leadership of the State with the conceptions of the

German nation. What reason should there have been for us to impose

our will upon the people by force and terror if this will was already in

complete harmony with that of the German nation? Moreover, any

unbiased visitor of Germany must admit that this process of adjusting

the will has not remained stationary in the months after the last election

nor moved backwards, but that on the contrary the whole German nation

adjusts itself to an ever increasing extent to the programme of this

government so that if we were to appeal again to the German nationaccording to democratic rules, at least 75 to 85 per cent of the German

nation would freely take the side of the present government.

This must be stressed in the first place in order to create a possibility of

understanding between the new authoritative Germany and the

democratic world surrounding it. The nation and the government in

Germany are one thing. The will of the people is the will of the

government and vice versa. The modern structure of the German State

is a higher form of democracy in which, by virtue of the peoples

mandate, the government is exercised authoritatively while there is no

possibility for parliamentary interference, to obliterate and render

ineffective the execution of the nations will.


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Group 2: transcript of section 2 of speechIt was natural that in the course of the internal reconstruction of Germany

new methods had to be employed also in shaping public opinion. The

great attempt to overcome the crisis in Germany could not from the very

outset be exposed to criticism dictated by bad faith and by subversive,

destructive intentions. This had to be avoided in view of the gravity of

the crisis. The greatest sacrifices were made by the German nation in this

great attempt. We took over the government in Germany at a moment

when unemployment had reached its peak, when bolshevism stood

threatening at the doors of the Reich and when the moral crisis of the

German nation had already destroyed all national bonds. Can anyone be

surprised that the national-socialist leaders have in the first place done

their utmost to substitute a new optimism of faith for the feeling of

despair which had seized large quarters of the German nation; that, in the

course of this process of restoration, they sought to eliminate all elements

which for party reasons were hostile to the great plan and its successful

execution and were therefore bound to be highly prejudicial.

What importance has the formal principle of an exaggerated and

unlimited freedom of opinion, valuable only for the limited number of

persons who actually seemed to be able to express their opinions freely

owing to their financial or professional standard, compared to a work of

reconstruction through which millions of men were to be reinstated in the

process of production and by which a whole nation is moving away from

a feeling of despair over the hopelessness of the situation towards a new

faith? Public criticism may be a good thing for those who exercise it in

good faith and with a pure conscience. It is a danger for the nations if it is

merely destructive instead of being constructive. It produces devastating

effects if it is exercised for the sake of criticism alone, paralysing and

undermining the last possibilities of saving the nation. It could not be our

task to give a few clever writers a chance to destroy by their criticism the

work of regeneration, which we are carrying on in Germany. The

German nation had on the contrary given us the mandate to make an

ultimate attempt to save our country and to stop everything, which might

in any way impair this effort. Perhaps other nations will sooner or later

learn from this example that it is necessary in a period of severe crisis to

concentrate all the forces of a nation on one single aim and that

governments to whom the nations have given the mandate to overcome

the crisis and not to be submerged by it must not fail on account of

formal principles to hear the call of destiny and must not place the well-

being of their nations at stake.


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Group 3: transcript of section 3 of speechDuring the period of opposition the driving force of the national-socialist

movement on its way to power was one continuous struggle with the

problem of marxism or bolshevism; victory or defeat of one side of [sic]

the other was therefore bound to decide also the existence or the

destruction of one side or the other. Success has been on our side, and

this put an end to the further existence of Marxist ideas and their party

organisations. We believe that we have acted in the best interest of

Europes future by erecting in Germany a solid wall against anarchy and

chaos: we knew that if Germany were to be submerged by chaos this

could not be stopped at the frontiers of our country but would flood the

whole western civilization. Those who think that the methods by which

we met the bolshevist attack were too rigorous, should, in order to get a

just opinion on this question, remember what would have happened if the

course of events had been the reverse, and against what dangers national-

socialism has protected Germany and Europe.

A political movement having the object of establishing a rule of madness

over a whole continent, of destroying all moral and political bonds, of

frightening the nations by fire and terror in order to seize power when

general disorder prevails, such a movement deserves to be destroyed; and

when the German Government preserved our nation from chaotic

anarchy, when it excluded the antisocial leaders of such a movement

from the community of the nation and when it is now trying to reconvert

them in concentration camps in useful members of human society, this is

an act of self-defence which, in view of the seriousness of the immediate

danger, has after all been carried through most humanely.

Any foreigner may visit German concentration camps to find out for

himself that anything but cruelty and brutality prevail in the camps. How

beneficial our measures have been for the security and the internal peace

of the German nation can be gathered from the fact that they have

restored internal peace to Germany, that the disintegration of the Germannation by its political parties has been terminated and that the stability of

German internal and external authority is guaranteed. National-socialism,

just like any other genuine movement of political determination, aims at

totality. Either it is convinced that its philosophy of life and its practical

repercussions are correct and then it cannot suffer anybody else beside it,

or it is not convinced of this, then it does not deserve to exercise power.

Continued


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Group 3: transcript of section 3 of speech continued

But national-socialism has the former conviction, and out of this

conviction it was bound to strive for a condition in which no other

element would exist beside it which might be a serious competitor in the

control of power. The marxist organisations having been dissolved by the

State, the bourgeois parties dissolved out of their own initiative. Thus

national-socialism assumed the whole power and the whole

responsibility.


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Group 4: transcript of section 4 of speechWhat the world finds most difficult to understand is the fact that this

process was carried through without friction or opposition, and that it did

not bring about an estrangement between government and nation but led

on the contrary to a deeper understanding between them. The multiple

party-system has never been popular in Germany. It was not until our

Government did away with that system that the joyful cooperation of the

whole nation was secured. The removal of the parties was the beginning of

an organic political and economic reconstruction of the German nation,

which is at present taking place, whose elements are the government and

the nation and whose sole object is to overcome the paralysing crisis, to

provide work for the people and to give the country peace.

It cannot be the meaning and the purpose of democracy merely to discuss

problems, while leaving them unsolved. Democracy would be the greatest

disaster for the nations if it were to content itself with merely declaring

that the crisis exists without attempting at the same time to overcome it.

This applies both to home and world policy. There can be no doubt that if

in the past 14 years democracy had been used to execute the mandate

received from the nations authoritatively, to the benefit and happiness of

the latter, Europe would now probably be in a better position that it

actually is. Those, however, who say that the peoples should govern

themselves completely misinterpret the principle of democracy. Nations

cannot govern themselves, and they do not want to. Their sole desire is to

be governed well and they are happy when they can have the conviction

that their governments are working to their best ability and conscience for

the benefit and welfare of the nations entrusted to them. The entire

German nation is to-day filled with this happiness. Neutral observers who

came to Germany full of mistrust have again and again told me after a few

days study of our internal conditions that the most striking characteristic

of the German situation was the fact that the German nation as a whole

was again confidently and faithfully supporting its government and that itdid not only approve of the gigantic efforts made to overcome the crisis,

but cooperated in them wholeheartedly; that this nation, which a few

months ago had been stricken with paralysing pessimism, had recovered

its optimistic outlook upon life and the confidence in its own force, and

that in spite of the depression the people were going back to work with

optimistic faith and that that alone should be proof enough for the fact that

the German government was on the right way.


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Group 5: transcript of section 5 of speech

Does anyone seriously believe that over 60 million people, a whole nation,

which after all does not belong to the worst in the world, has been seized

by a fit of madness, and does anyone really believe that a government in

power could obtain the love and the sympathy of the people by force and

terror. The reconstruction which we have undertaken with energy and

youthful force is calculated for a long period ahead. The readjustment of

economic conditions could not take place until the political elements of the

crisis had been removed. It required tenacity, endurance, faith, a sense of

national sacrifice. It would be doomed to failure if the government tried to

carry it through without or even against the nation. If it begins to bear fruit

already at this stage, this is due to the fact that in this reconstruction the

will of the leaders of the State and the determination of the people are

combining. The world however has every reason to deal honestly and

without prejudice with this new phenomenon of State construction, whose

only purpose is to get Germany out of the crisis by her own means and to

relieve the world of its worries about the German situation.

This way of constructing a State is not as undemocratic as it may appear at

first sight. It has found a new form of cooperation between government

and nation. Under this new system the Government receives its mandate

from the nation, but its execution is not controlled by an conglomeration

of political parties. This mandate is a sovereign one. And to the great

power which it confers upon the Government corresponds the great

measure of responsibility which the government assumes. We are not

governing against the nation nor without the nation. We are only the

executors of the nations will. It has been the fatal tragic-comedy of the

former traditional democratic parties in Germany that although they

appealed to the people, their appeal found no echo in the heart of the

nation. These political parties preferred to make mistakes with the masses

rather than to do the right thing against the masses. We have the courage

to tell the people the truth, although it may be a bitter truth and we are

happy to see that the people understands us. If true democracy means to

lead the nations and to show them the way to work and peace, then I

believe this true democracy has been realised in Germany against the will

of the parties which represented only a distortion of the ideal of true

democracy.


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Group 6: transcript of section 6 of speechOne of the reproaches levelled most frequently against national-socialist

Germany is connected with the treatment of Jews, which, it is said, is

contrary to the laws of humanity and will therefore meet with absolute

lack of understanding in the rest of the world. Let me say a frank word

on this subject considering above all the fact that public opinion in the

world is deeply moved by the Jewish question and that prejudiced reports

often destroy from the very outset any possibility of understanding the

new Germany. I frankly admit that in the course of the national

revolution in Germany incidents caused by uncontrollable elements may

have occasionally occured, but this is not decisive, particularly if one

remembers that apart from these isolated incidents the German

revolution, in contrast to many similar historic events, has been an act of

discipline, of order and of authoritative leadership. The fact that we were

opposed to Jewish predominance in Germany could well be expected to

be generally known even before we assumed power. But it must be

remembered that the Jews in Germany were exercising at that time a

decisive influence on all intellectual life, that they were absolute and

unlimited masters of the press, of literature, of the theatre and the cinema,

and that in large cities, as for instance in Berlin, 75 per cent of all

members of the medical and legal professions were Jews, that they made

public opinion, exercised a decisive influence on the stock exchange and

were the rulers of parliament and its parties. It will be understood that in

these circumstances the action undertaken to remedy this situation was

just as spontaneous as it was unavoidable. Is there another nation that

would have in the long run accepted without contradiction this excessive

influence of the Jews on its public life? By settling the Jewish problem

legally, the German Government adopted the most humane and loyal

method. What we do not understand, however, is that while protests are

raised against Germanys defensive action in this field, there is on the

other hand an unwillingness to absorb the excess Jewish populationemigrating from Germany. Moreover, it must not be overlooked that this

question has been distorted precisely by those concerned in a manner

which can only constitute an obstruction to its general settlement.

Nothing is further from the intention of national-socialism that to

exercise a cheap revenge. National-socialism would have had both the

power and the possibility to do so. If it abstained from any such action it

was because of its honest desire to find a real and practical solution of the

Jewish problem, which would no doubt produce also in this respect a

final settlement.

Continued


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We think, however, that it is intolerable that atrocity legends spread

abroad by Jewish emigrants, even involving the unprecedented allegation

that members of the German Government had themselves for party

reasons set the Reichstag on fire, could have been blindly reproduced in

certain sections of the world press. It would not only be to the advantage

of the German people but would also be to the benefit of the whole world

if criticism on German events could be limited to the actual state [sic] of

facts and if any antipathy resulting from a different philosophy of life

could be excluded from the very outset. We in Germany have no reason

to be afraid of the truth, but we do wish and hope that the honest struggle

for truth be not from the very outset poisoned by almost grotesque

allegations which collapse before any objective examination.


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Group 7: transcript of section 7 of speechIn this connection mention must also be made of the reproach that the new

Germany pursues a policy of intellectual expansion which was only a

preparation for an ultimate policy of expansion by force. We have by no

means any intention of converting national-socialism into an article for

world export. As I have already repeatedly emphasized national-socialism

is a typically German phenomenon which for this reason can only be

explained from the German environment, the German character and the

German distress. It is very nave and shortsighted to believe that we want

to undermine and endanger other nations with this system. Apart from the

fact that this would be contrary to all historic experience we are so busily

engaged with German problems in the practical development of national-

socialism that we have neither the time nor any reason to assume a more or

less mystical world mission beyond the frontiers of our own country. We

young Germans fully respect any other nation which organizes its internal

life in accordance with its character and tasks. But we think we are not

demanding too much when we wish and hope that the world should extend

to us the same measure of respect in our endeavours to overcome the crisis

by ourselves and for ourselves; although these efforts may follow new

lines they are nevertheless certainly honest and not quite unsuccessful.

We have undertaken the solution of the German problems in a sober and

realistic spirit. It has been contrary to our character and to our mentality to

lay these problems before the world in so far as they were caused by

German mistakes and omissions. Only where these German problems

come into touch with the causes of the world crisis does it become

necessary to solve them internationally. But we believe that this

international solution can also in the interests of other nations best be

prepared by our own efforts wherever we are concerned.

Does a nation which after a lost war and the most severe deteriorations of

a moral, economic and political kind resorts to its own force, which tries in

a tremendous effort to stop the decay, which makes every sacrifice to put

its own house in order, which never fails in courage nor in diligence, does

such a nation deserve the contempt and the hostile coldness of the world?

Should not this other world, carrying the burden of its own difficulties and

of the dark fate which the war and the post-war period have reserved for it,

rather welcome any attempt to tackle the solution of the great problems of

the day with new methods in order to make a contribution towards the re-

introduction of reason and clearness in a situation of general confusion and

intellectual disintegration?


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Group 8: transcript of section 8 of speechWhat the young Germany has to settle with the world is solely the

question of its national existence. In this respect Germany strives for a

permanent solution, which does not avoid the problems but courageously

faces them in a spirit of hard determination. The distress from which

Europe is suffering is too great to allow anybody to overlook its causes or

to leave any doubt as to its unavoidable consequences. That has nothing to

do with revenge or war. It would be a good thing if these two words were

completely eliminated from the international vocabulary. Germany has

declared more than once that everybody, not only the vanquished but also

the victors would be losers in a repetition of the great disaster of 1914 to

1918. The consequences of such madness are too unthinkable for serious

people to deal with them at all. We want to provide employment for the

German people. We need peace more than any other country in order to

solve our economic crisis. But to trust in Germanys peaceful intentions

for the present merely to infer from them a readiness for war at a later

stage, is an unfair procedure, which consists in deliberately casting

suspicion on a great country for the mere purpose of suspicion. The

German Chancellor went through the war as a simple lance corporal. He

crept dozens of times through the mud of the deadly shellholes of great

battlefields in the west. He experienced for himself more than the full

measure of terrible moral and physical suffering, which such a dark

disaster brings upon men. Who has the courage to doubt the honesty of

his words when he said at Nuremberg in front of his comrades that

Germany had never lost her honour in the war and that she therefore does

not feel the necessity of restoring it in a war? Can anyone quote one single

act of this Chancellor or his government, which would justify even the

slightest suspicion of a desire for war? The whole work of reconstruction

undertaken by the government is carried through in a spirit of peace. The

German government wants to cooperate in restoring to Europe the

tranquility, which the nations so ardently desire, in overcoming the

traditional elements of crisis between the nations in order that this severely

afflicted continent may finally begin the work of its reconstruction. It is

not to the interest of any other nation that this Germany should

furthermore be treated as a second-rate nation and that it should be

deprived of the possibility of defending its territory, which is necessary for

the safeguarding of its national security. To infer that Germany desires

war is as shortsighted as it is discouraging in view of the fact that

everywhere else there is no disarmament but rearmament going on.

Continued


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But it is unjust and offensive to see that the circumstances accompanying

the German revolution are used as arguments against Germanys claim for

security which any German Government, whatever its composition, is

bound to put forward not only in Germanys own interest but also in the

interest of the whole world. While the settlement of this international

question seems to take an excessively long time, this has not prevented us

from undertaking the settlement of our internal political problems.

Animated by a serious desire to achieve progress we have tackled the

problem of unemployment, which had fallen in particular upon Germany

as a consequence of the great world crisis. We did not wait for help from

abroad, which we should not have deserved as long as we remained

inactive. If two million people have again found employment in Germany,

if the government is moreover determined to maintain them in their

employment also during the coming winter, these millions are the living

witnesses for the incontestable determination of the new men not only to

hold the power but also to use it to restore to the nation happiness and

wellbeing.


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Group 9: transcript of section 9 of speechThat is the picture of the new Germany which we have created, looked at

not through the spectacles of party hatred or deliberate distortion but with

unbiased impartiality. I thought it my duty to draw this picture for you. I

have made the truth speak for itself, because truth is the strongest ally in

the struggle for a new idea. I have nothing to hide and nothing to colour,

for this young Germany has no reason to fear the judgment of the world.

When the new Germany speaks with frankness the intention is to help in

clearing up the dull atmosphere which covers the whole of Europe. The

new men who have come to power in Germany at such a young age have

the conviction that only frankness can make the problems of Europe

visible to those responsible. We shall not very much longer be able to

hide behind traditional prejudices. The problems are too serious to suffer

delay. The nations justly claim that their responsible statesmen should

find a way to master the serious distress from which our poor continent is

suffering. Europe must set to work unless it is willing to give up its

position as the oldest cultural centre of the world and to allow itself to be

submerged by chaos. Germany seriously desires impartially to cooperate

in the solution of the great problems to the best of her ability. We have

come to Geneva with a desire to help in tackling these problems in a

spirit of manly honesty. We cannot and will not give up the hope that an

understanding is possible if each considers the other as an honest partner

and if all together are willing to guarantee a permanent state of peace and

general welfare. This, however, is incompatible with the wish to deprive

a nation of the air which it needs to breathe freely and to divide the world

in all eternity into victors and vanquished.

What can the young Germany offer to the world?

The young Germany guarantees stability at home with a firm central

power which is capable of and ready to negotiate. It has eliminated from

its country the bolshevist inflammable material which threatened the

whole of Europe, and has united in a uniform and determineddevelopment of its will.

In the clash between the national and the communist conception it has

definitely taken the side of firmness and clarity. The wall which we have

erected against anarchy is indestructible.

This Germany cannot sign unfulfillable treaties. But when it does sign

treaties because they are fulfillable it is determined to respect them. This

Germany is an honest partner in the safeguarding of the interests of the

world if she receives and preserves the right to honour and the right to

her daily bread.

Continued


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This Germany is no longer a centre of permanent unrest nor an

experimental ground for destructive ideologies or anticultural

experiments. This Germany is a centre of order and secured authority.

The German nation itself however is far from any political resentment. It

considers questions of international policy soberly, objectively and

without prejudice. It is ready and determined to cooperate in the solution

of the great crisis to the best of its ability. Just as it considers all other

nations and their difficulties with sincere sympathy and understanding it

hopes and wishes that the world will also endeavour to understand

Germany and not to allow overheated passions to blind it to the true

reality of things.

rise of national socialism germany, 1933

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