Führer speech before Generals and Officers of May 26, 1944 at the Platterhof in Obersalzberg
Continued from Part One: http://carolynyeager.net/hitlers-platterhof-speech-part-one
But at first this was of course not a pretty picture, I admit this. In the beginning we had difficulties upon difficulties, and until one is able to bring everyone together and tame them, one can turn grey. But I was always convinced that some day all will be rewarded, it will be realized that the selection made, based on hard party ideology, were the right ones. This is in actuality fundamental, crucial. For, if we now talk of a folkish society we have to acknowledge that it could only be built up, and be preserved, under an able leadership. This could never, never happen in a multi-cultural society. The more diversity in a society, the weaker it is as far as unifying goes.
At this time all sorts of seminars, many conducted by officers, are taking place in castles of the Teutonic order, not because they are especially suited but because this gives them some insight as to how we started to educate our youth. Gentlemen, this is of course not a finished product. Don’t forget: In 1933 we came to power, in 1939 the war started, only six years had passed. During war progress is limited. But there can not be any doubt: If one will take a look at our people following 50 peaceful years he will have to conclude that the whole of the nation is totally organized with a political leadership at the helm which represents the best the nation has to offer. There can be no doubt about that. (Applause)
That is to say, Gentlemen, not just a selection of talented rhetorics but also of a fearless leadership. We don’t select youth just because they are intellectually gifted, as was done before. This was the time when many a talent sat in the dunce corner. Teachers used the dunce method as a form of vengeance, when the talented confronted them.
Gentlemen, this is not just an issue of scientific education, but also a means to look at the characters of the boys, their attitudes, toughness, their leadership qualities, this so-called “ringleader” ability, developed early. All this has to be taken into consideration, in addition to their intellectual qualities. When looking at a chap, one has to sometimes admit that he is talented but he prefers, for the moment to box or do similar things, has the best notes in physical education and the like but is just not good in other disciplines. Earlier, as little as 30 years ago, when someone was given a failing grade, he was done, dismissed. Today we compromise. We now go so far, with regards to artistry, that the talent we discover is sent to an art school, and if it becomes apparent that this boy is not good at mathematics and that he has no talent for languages, or that science is a closed book to him and that this will always be the case, but that he is a talented artist, then he will become a musician. The rest of it is anyway mostly forgotten later in life. Whatever we don’t need in our daily lives, nine tenth of it we forget. Only that knowledge acquired and needed will remain.
Therefore we select talents regardless of their social standing or origin; and believe me, with this we are eliminating most social concerns, based on two facts. First: We are creating a community whose leadership originates from the common folk, people who know what concerns the commoners. By continually replenishing the bloodlines from the bottom up, I am doing what the Catholic Church is doing, which by the detour via celibacy, Priest cannot have children, is forced to always find new priest in the common people. That is why we have priests stemming from families of low ranking bureaucrats, of small businesses, former farm boys, etc. That is the strength of this so-called militant church. And I am extracting as they do, not via celibacy, I have no use for it (agreement and cheeriness) a new generation from the people. The whole population is sifted through and that then produces, by and by, the leadership of the nation which is familiar with the day to day problems of life, the experience gained through their youth, by being with relatives, the parents, etc. But they themselves are rising above the rest, witness my Gauleiter (governors) who are extremely practical, know what it is all about, who are able to solve common problems that arise because of their common sense. The governors and other officials do this almost blindfolded, because they themselves experienced it. I am able to solve social issues because I am introducing a wide variety of elements. And second, I am able to solve problems by bringing the best and most energetic people into the leadership, thereby impeding any attempt of a counter revolution, but mostly to demonstrate to them that this is a classless society.
For, believe me if I say this, principles are most often more important than so-called reality, and that is so for us Germans. Don’t forget: we Germans are so concerned with principles that we waged the Thirty Year War just to determine if the Holy Communion should be taken in by one or two entities, and other important things. It is therefore not inconsequential for this people to be convinced that the leadership consists of members of the whole of society, and that is important, especially for woman and mothers. Because it is something special for a mother to realize that the child she is carrying which could achieve God knows what in this state. And if we now look at the positive achievements fairly - not the political ones who are mostly bad at the beginning anyway – if we take those achievements honestly into consideration, those that form a whole people, the cultural and scientific aspects, etc., the social achievements of a nation, the intellectual ones – and when we see in our mind's eye that all of them are products of individuals, and if we could have them pass before our eyes, then all the untold inventors, explorers, the scientists, engineers, technicians and chemists, etc. would rise up, as well as the great artists, the musicians of our people and God knows who all we have to thank for reaching the cultural hights and whom we have to thank that we even are able to speak a language, that we can proudly claim to be German – if they could appear, we would suddenly see, just like magic, a mother standing beside each one of them. And we would see what those mothers are, what poor little creatures, farmers wives, workers wives, wives of small artisan’s, etc. And what did the sons of those mothers amount to? There is something immensely forgiving in a people who realize that even though there are differences in abilities and consequently in the scope of their conduct, that will be so for eternity, to convince these people that, if a child is found, wherever it is found, a child that is gifted and that this child is taken care off at all costs, and helped to develop instead of putting artificial obstacles in its way because of its birth, but on the contrary having the state helping him to overcome obstacles.(boisterous applause)
This would then eliminate the last remnants of the Marxist class theory. And Gentleman, it is this conviction, prevalent in the broad masses of Germans, we can be thankful for, all of us, for it enables very old German workers to go to work in the factories, something portions of them refused to do in 1917. If they do it today then because they are convinced that they are fighting for their country, that it is their state, even though they are just common workers. But they know that in this state, they enjoy all the rights of a citizen, total equality – giving them immense power -, and they are convinced that this state, if it is allowed to develop, will care for them, care for their children and that everyone will be treated according to his abilities.
And this I did - surely I am allowed to say this – without wronging anyone, or hurting them. Because one can also accomplish this by first destroying everything, as the Bolsheviks did, by killing and so on, and that I did not do. And since I believe in the selection process, which has already proven itself in the past, I know that the leadership present today is a product of the selection process of the past. And since I also believe in heritage, then we see here a continuation of heretical strain. Therefore I did not want to destroy this old goodness, to raise something else, but I wanted to hang on to it and have the other mix with it, over time.
That this was not easy is a given. It would have been a lot easier for me to just get rid of all the old elements, as was done under Bolshevism, to root them out to then start something new. Then there would not have this comparison, evident today. I have to say here that the war had some educational effects. I would never have become a National Socialist without WWI. But the war was immensely instructive, and that without that what had happened already.
There were some that said: “You know, National Socialism is alright, but if I have to visualize that at some day I might have the honor to sit beside one of those proletarians – then you have to understand, by all that is proper how could I, and after all I am somebody (parts illegible, I did the best I could). Of course I am also concerned about my people, we strive to be a united band of brothers (this seems to be from Switzerland), and anyway, but a little distance—distance Sir! All has to be within bounds, we should not throw out the baby with the bath water!”
The other side said basically the same, they said: “What, we are supposed to sit with those big shots, those capitalists? No way, not in your dreams! We are class conscious, we are proletarians!” Thus, we had the class conscious on one side and those concerned about their social standing on the other, and those kind of prejudices are often more solid than a concrete wall we are constructing today. (cheerfulness and agreement)
But in spite of this, we succeeded to overcome those prejudices and regardless of the rhetoric from both sides were able to build the party, albeit with many setbacks. And this, Gentlemen, is why I am immune against crisis. You can never imagine the setbacks I had to suffer in my life! What we experience on military setbacks of today only serves to identify the mistakes we made, to improve organization and to do better: this is insignificant when compared to the difficulties I had when trying to build up my party.
Don’t ever say: But, that was not important. Gentlemen, that was my life and the conviction that the fate of Germany hangs in the balance, just like it is today with this war; and if we would not have been able to build us up, then one day the Bolshevik wave would have washed over Europe: that the Polish state could have prevented this, or any other state, no one believes anymore after what we have learned. And the battle of 1933 is part of this fight about to be or not to be.
I was convinced, at that time, that all of those setbacks needed to be overcome because history teaches us that any enormous undertaking has always been accompanied by setbacks, and one has to accept this. Name one big historical event that was not plagued by setbacks. Impossible. Every state had to master crisis on its way up. And I maintain that great men are formed by crisis. No great man exists that did not have to overcome a crisis, not one, be assured. The great, sympathetic men of German history are those who had to overcome the biggest crisis, who had to fight to do so. Be it in recent time a Martin Luther, or for all I care Frederick the Great, or Richard Wagner in a totally different sphere – I have taken three from different spheres – all people who (illegible) have fought through great difficulties (catastrophes) and who have reached their goal because of their doggedness and perseverance.
But there was an additional problem that needed to be solved if Germany was to be resurrected. It was not just an issue of social order, the most important issue was to try and mobilize those intellectual elements, already present and who had in the past been the driving force, successfully, able to spur on people to do their best. Two points of view prevailed: On the one side the nationalistic ideal, obscured and differently defined but a force nevertheless, able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of volunteers in 1918 who were willing to fight and risk their lives in the Freikorps, and one can not expect a greater form of idealism, from a common man, than to be willing to lose his life if necessary.
But idealists also stood on the other side of the barricades: communists, who believed to be fighting for a communist ideal. Thus we had basically two phenomenon fighting each other: on the one side a nationalist, a (piss)poor devil and a Officer, also extremely poor; and on the other side a communist or Spartakist, the USPD man, etc., also poor devils.
The segments of capitalist society satisfied with the system did not fight; this also was true of course for the Jewish leaders, the Marxists – that goes without saying.
It was therefore obvious from the start that this new movement, which could also have been called by any other name, needed to consider those two elements. We could never say: we deny their existence, or we dismiss them, we had to acknowledge that they were forces.
At that time the definition of those two concepts were diametrically different. One of them stood on the right side of the barricades, the other on the left, and I stood in-between those two fighting forces, on the barricades and fired upon from both sides, naturally; I tried to define a new concept under the motto that in the end, nationalism and socialism are the same under certain aspects, when placing people into the centre, not some special class concept or social standing as opponent, but to place the people into the centre of that which is to be desired. Socialism is in that case, just as is nationalism, nothing more than a fight for those people as a whole.
I was attacked, at that time, both from the left and the right. The left declared that it was impossible to join in with nationalism because “Nationalism” represented the bourgeoisie, and on the other hand the bourgeoisie rejected socialism because it was perceived to be Marxist, i.e., international.
But now it is clear, nevertheless: “race” and “people” are not the same. I can imagine a nation with a small upper class and a totally impoverished public mass: dilapidated, lice-ridden, and filthy, but trained to blind obedience, as followers. I can imagine this. This image, however, brings me no satisfaction; it is hideous in my eyes. That which I believe to be the ideal worthy of pursuit is a people that as a whole present an image of healthiness. For in the long run, I will not be able to represent the interests of the state with a body other than that [which is healthy]: for that other body will one day disintegrate, at the latest when a catalyst enters which is suddenly able to unite and mobilize this leftist mass, and that would be the foreign body of Judaism.
Therefore I had to come up with a new popular concept and I could only do so by imagining a future society, as an ideal society, wherein the average person enjoys, in actuality, the highest degree of education, culture and living standards. And when one has acknowledged this as his ideal, then it is, believe me, just as much of a pleasure to care for the people than it is for a company leader to care for his men; he also begins to see his men as the reason for his existence. He doesn’t see something in them that does not concern him, something he doesn’t need to know, but see in them the extension of himself. He cares for the last one of them, etc., and the more satisfied his men are, the more satisfied he becomes and he will value this. That is much the same when leading a people.
I have therefore made it the objective of my movement to overcome the class state of before. Now I have to admit that in one sphere this has been easy. We also had, among us Germans, all together about 800,000 Jews, in the Ostmark (Austria) more than 1 million together with the Sudetenland, far more than 1 million. They were a foreign object in our people who had systematically occupied all key positions and when this had been achieved, others of the same group followed. Some never understood why I acted as brutally as I did in this regard, that is, those who should have thanked me for it did not understand. If I would not have done so, in an effort to build up a united society, I would have had to rearrange the positions occupied by the elderly, those who are in them because of ability or because of protection.
I forced the Jews out of those positions, forced them out ruthlessly. Here to I acted as nature does, not brutally but reasonably, to preserve the best and thus make available hundreds of thousands of positions. With this, I not only prevented a so-called national intellect to present itself as proletarian, but I was able to slowly move tens of thousands of able children of the people into those positions. I freed up untold numbers of undergraduates(?) who were harvesting peat moss, and offered them positions. But I also made it possible for hundreds of thousands of workers, and farmers children, to prepare themselves for positions, which were formerly filled by Jews, a foreign body. (lively applause)
This had another advantage, Gentlemen, because it removed the last catalyst from the broad masses, as already mentioned. By removing the Jews, I eliminated all possibilities of establishing a revolutionary core. I have been told: Sure, but could this not have been done in a simpler fashion, and if not simpler because everything else would have been more complicated, but more humane? Gentlemen Officers, we are involved in a life or death struggle. If our enemies/opponents would be successful, the German Volk would be eliminated. Bolshevism would butcher millions upon millions upon millions of out intelligentsia. Whatever could not be killed by a shot in the neck would be transported elsewhere. Children of the members of high society would be done away with. This whole bestiality was organized by Jews. Incendiary bombs, as well as other bombs, are falling on our cities even though our opponents know that all they are killing are women and children. Normal passenger trains are fired on, as well as farmers in the field. In one night, in Hamburg, we lost over 40,000 woman and children, they were incinerated. Don’t expect from me anything other than that I will represent our national interests, in a fashion that will be most effective and to the greatest benefit for our German nation. (long lasting, lively applause)
In this, as well as in other situations, humanity would be cruelty towards our own people. For, if I am going to be hated by the Jews anyway, I would not want to miss the advantages of that hate.
Our advantage is that we now have a well organized society, and no outsiders can lecture us.
Compare this to other states. We witnessed what happens when a state chooses to take the opposite direction, as Hungary did. The whole state is decayed and corroded. Jews everywhere, right up to the highest position, Jews upon Jews, the whole of the state one network of spies and agents who remained inactive because they were afraid that if they acted we would get involved, but they were biding their time. I interfered here as well, and this problem will be solved also and I have to say: Jews have made it their purpose to eliminate the German peoples. I explained this to the Reichstag on September 1, 1939, stating that if someone believes that the German nation will be eliminated through war, then he is mistaken; if Jewry will realize this [bring this about -cy], then Jewry will be eliminated. (lively applause)
With this we probably made the biggest step towards internal order. Everything else just fell into place. And here I would like to go back to the beginning of my deliberation and the term: Ideology. I stated that this is in fact nothing more than a view of the world as it represents the latest in scientific perceptions, the most sober/reasonable perceptions. Every problem I approached in this way. This is how we tackled economic problems. We solved economic problems, Gentlemen Officers, that the so-called experts said could not be solved. We solved cultural problems. What was said before: “What, you are trying to eliminate the Jews? A joke, because then you are eliminating money, you will have no more money!” As if Jews would produce money! Money only makes sense if it represents a value. And those values have not been created by Jews, but by people who have invented valuables, or produced them. The Jew wedges himself between the inventor, the producer and consumer. We have here a valve that is a hindrance. I have removed this valve, which regulated the flow by closing or opening, depending on opportunity.
In my youth, I often visited the German museum in Munich, at that time the first, big, technical museum. I was immensely interested in the display; and while there I tried to ascertain, amid all that had been invented by humans, what of it was invented by Jews? The Jews who dominate everything: the whole economy, our industry, they dominate it all! But what did they invent? Where are the Jewish inventors? Not one can be found, not even one!
The same question can be asked regarding cultural life. I was told: “If you remove the Jews, you might as well shut down the theatres!” But who, in actuality, established our culture? Was it the Jews? Who are our greatest poets and great (illegible, I am guessing) philosophers and composers, were they Jews? How is it possible that now Jews are involved in the re-production of works produced by the greatest Germans. (sorry, but the last part makes no sense)
This experiment has proven me right, I removed the Jews. German theatres are more popular then ever. The German movie industry is blossoming. German literature, German press, read like never before. The theatre? Much better!
Impiety has been eliminated in countless areas, and we did not become falsely prudes. Because here also we only hold fast to one principle, that being the preservation of our race, of our species. Everything helpful to uphold this principle is right, everything that is harmful is wrong. (lively applause)
Thus, we have taken revolutionary steps in some areas, and I understand that they will not be understood no matter what, mainly by those who have not followed the movement from the scientific aspect, or were unable to follow it. Also, we often collide with old perceptions, old moral concepts, etc. But we often forget that those moral concepts are only fake concepts that, for instance, don’t even exist among people because people perceive them differently. What we didn’t have to eliminate!
But, Gentlemen, in the process of constructing a great new society or the organization of a Volk community on a large scale one always needs to get rid of old traditions, always!
Allow me to return to the military aspect. The formation of Prussia, and I am starting with nucleus of our Reich was, after all, a process of the gradual elimination of numerous traditions of other, smaller, states. That is always painful. The formation of the German Reich—starting with the North German Confederation (Union) and later the German Reich—was again an attack on numerous old traditions. Believe me, it was of course not easy for a Bavarian to forgo his history, events that are closely connected to the history of Bavaria. But this was also not easy for the Hanoverians, it was not easier for the Saxons, not easier for the Württembergers, not easier for the Austrians—Austria too having been a great country at one time. Those 9 million Austrians ruled over 65 million people of other races. To give up your independence is always hard. But where would we be if this united state/country had not been created.
I have always stressed: this is never done out of disdain/contempt for the achievements of individuals. At the time when the hall of soldiers is built in Berlin, all great German commanders-in-chief of our history will be immortalized. I will make sure that all of them are immortalized, regardless of where they have fought in their life. Frederic the Great will be there, as well as his generals; but also on the opposite side a Daun(?), a Laudon(?), the historical enemies of the Germans of yesteryear, if worthy opponents, will be displayed as a brotherhood. We have united in our Reich all the traditions of German states of the past, as well as all single tribes, something to be proud of. In that hall in Berlin you will find the monuments of all German heroes, those of the past and present, and they will rest together as brothers, regardless of what tribe they belonged; as long as they are worthy of being remembered by Germans, the memory of them will be prolonged. This means that in this state the many facets of our German history will be memorized and cultivated: and that is necessary. A lot of what is harmful to the individual will be eliminated; and that is necessary.
Gentlemen, this is why I never considered 1933 to be the first year of German history. Many told me at that time: “Why don’t you say Year No.1, Year No.2?” This would have befitted the Brits with their megalomania! If someone would ask me: “What do you consider to be Year No.1 in German history?”, I’ll tell him: I don’t rightly know, at the latest – very latest – it was the battle in the Teutoburg forest, but perhaps even (before that) after some battles of the Teutons and the Zimbern: why not? All of that is German history. When I perceive/consider today's German history in that big scope, and if I consider the state of today to be the finished product of the aspirations, German military and political activities, then I have the right to unite all that which been achieved in the past: and now let one of those ridiculous come and confront us! He can peddle his laughable English Kings Tale, I’ll mention our Emperors. I can tell them that at the time when England consisted of a laughable small island, German Emperors rode thousands of kilometres, representing the German Reich.(lively applause)
What was England at that time? A laughable small enclave populated by Germans, no more!
German history did not start with us, but it will be completed by us. This so-called Third Reich will complete what the first aspired to achieve, was unfortunately partially overlooked in the second, but it will finally be fulfilled in this, the third. That is what this state strives for. For this purpose all the enormous organizations have been founded with the party as the model, formed out of the sour dough, our people. And here also I need to mention an objection we heard often. We are told: “Sure, that has happened, but why are you still maintaining the party, as a small body within the German peoples?” Because, as I have said before, the whole of the people is not suited to lead. In the past, the party was formed in struggles, out of people willing to fight and now we do this employing other methods, since I am unable to manufacture communists for them to fight. You will have witnessed that German youth is taught to be brave, ready for any action. Because it is folly to assume that only the leader of a military organization needs to be brave, whereas there is no need for braveness in political organizations. Gentlemen, political organizations administered in the end all that has been accomplished through military actions over the last centuries. And if they are cowardly in their administration, then all that had been won by the sword is lost. They can therefore not be brave enough. In contrast: here bravery is of the utmost importance, civil bravery is rare and has to be cultivated.
For the party of the future to consist of the best and bravest we need to select suitable recruits from today’s youth. This then will be solid leadership. Especially soldiers should not object to this. One could also look at it this way: We are teaching all Germans to love their country and be willing to maintain and defend it; why then would we need military organization? We don’t need them! We already have this concept of military responsibility in all of the people, they know that they have to fight. Yes, Gentlemen, the military organization is the school where the handling of weaponry is taught. If we remove that school, then the theoretical instructions are useless and the movement is, in the nation, the school and the leadership in one, as I have tried to demonstrate to you in condensed form, in a few minutes. I would like to stress: If I were to outline all of the revolution in detail – which I see as a revolution of common sense in contrast to a revolution of madness – then this would naturally take many, many, hours. Twenty to thirty lectures would be necessary because it concerns almost all of life’s problems, I had to take a new approach in many areas because under the load of old traditions, etc., just as under an assembly of old household rubbish covered in dust, issues loose their clarity.
We collected and incorporated all of this as planned, tried to perfect is and that work continues. We are not at the end of this revolution, but only in the first year if you will. To explain this in detail would take “an eternity,” an impossibility.
But in closing, I would like to leave you with the impression that this is an enormous occurrence, and only then can one comprehend the huge change taken place in the German people and their willingness to accept one leader and endure all the hardship German people are burdened with today. And history has shown that a movement such as this can perform miracles. When French revolutionary armies assembled to defend their revolutionary ideals, which after all had inspired millions with its Gallic phrases, one could observe the crumbling of the guards, partially because the revolution moved forward and started to destroy them from within, and also because it was intellectually superior.
Prussia finally collapsed in 1805/06 and this is when the term “Fatherland” began to appear, a dangerous term in the era of dynastic destruction, because it advocated the notion of a big German state. Those who advocated that notion were, a few years later, sentenced to death or jailed, but this notion was so powerful that those soldiers who were taken up with it, even though the product of inferior military training and therefore average, in the end were different fighters. Let me say that many of the ideas envisioned by a Scharnhorst and not realized, could only slowly and steadily be realized in our fighting forces of today. Therefore, here also we are not accomplishing something someone dreamt up, but what we are accomplishing today is the intellectual product of generations. All I am doing is to shape those perceptions so as to form them into a political and military reality, if you will. That is my job. We now have two more examples: Russia. Could you imagine Czarist Russia conducting itself as the Bolshevik Russia of today? What a difference an ideology made! And don’t believe that I did not envision this. A few days before the start, I had a conversation with Reich Marshal Göring and told him at that time: Göring, this will be our toughest fight by far, by far! The Reich Marshal asked: “Why do you believe that this will be so, my Führer”? Because, I answered, we have here for the first time an ideological opponent, a fanatically ideological opponent.
But Germany is also evidence for what an intellectual transformation is able to accomplish; or on the other hand are the others, those who did not witness this transformation, evidence of what could have happened without it so that I have to say in closing: Officers, especially, must play a decisive part in this intellectual transformation. I would like to say that it has to be his declaration of faith, because he is for the first time in our recent history in the fortuitous situation to say that: all of those representing the state—state ideology—and civil servants are united; I only need to have one single thought, and I will serve to maintain this state, something impossible for generations before. Something else he can say: I am not alone in this, age group upon age group of that teaching is entrusted upon me and all I have to do is continue this education. If I continue this then I have here a tool in my hand which I am familiar with and know that each of them carrying a weapon will follow me just as he has followed the political leaders before and who will follow them always.
The soldier, the officer, is therefore in the envious situation to continue the education which has, in this state, begun in childhood, because small children are thus educated in Kindergarten. Later he will belong to the scouts and his education will go on. From the scouts he advances into the Hitler Youth and later into industry, his education continues. During his apprenticeship the same uniform education. These young people will, when 18, become members of the party: and again the same education. A portion will join the SA – the same education still – or the SS, more of the same. Then he will be enrolled in the labor pool, continuation of the same education. Then the army, and here as well the education has to be continued and when, after two years, they are dismissed they will immediately be guided into the political movement again: continuation of this education. Uniform education from childhood to old age. Believe you me, a Folk body thus educated and created is impossible to destroy, a 1918 would not be repeated. One can always depend on them, no matter how bad the thunder or storm. One thing must not be allowed to happen: the interruption of this education, and it is the duty of the whole of the German Officer core to devote himself to this, I have to say, wonderful task, fanatically, to have a part in this unified education and to further it. He himself will learn while doing so and remain informed about scientific perceptions so as to not only hold on to the youth entrusted to him but to further them to ensure that, when they move on, the stream of that young German blood will run in the same channel up to old age and will remain free of doubts and all scruples.
What all of us do with this is being of the greatest service to the German people, because believe me, those masses want to be led. Just as they are fond of a company leader and pleased if they have one who knows how to lead, someone able to avoid problems (illegible) and that with groups of 80, 100, 150 men, so are the German people pleased/happy when guided by a unified leadership and thus protected from all mishap. (lively applause)
Believe me, the people are not able to decide that for themselves. Often I have been asked: “Well, why don’t you let the people decide in this matter?” I have always made the decisions and then asked the people: Are you in agreement with this decision? But I never expected the people to make this decision. If the leadership is unable to muster the courage to make a decision, can I then expect the common People of my Folk to make it? When the deep thinkers are unable to agree, then somebody has to make a decision. And that is what is beautiful about the Officer profession: It is obvious: Impossible to let the company decide, or the battalion, or even my subordinate officer what decision has to be made. But one has to be made and if it has to be made in a critical situation then that officer can be proud to have made it, when he accepted the responsibility, knowing full well that at times he could be wrong, that is not important. (applause)
Better to be wrong than to allow the masses to have the conviction that they are in charge, that the decision rests with them; that would be synonymous with a declaration of abandonment of leadership, a declaration of cowardice. That must never happen.
Therefore I am convinced—it is my solid conviction—that this war in particular will reinforce the idea of National Socialism in the armed/fighting forces and that, when we have won the war this will have happened because of this new education of the people and because of the new German fighting forces and that we must therefore pursue only one objective: to further strengthen our Folk body, to toughen it until finally it becomes indestructible, so as to fulfill the role in Europe destined to it.
There can be no doubt about one matter: Either we lose this war – that would be the end of our people – or we are victorious – and that we will be! – this then will be the beginning of our rule over Europe.
(long lasting, tempestuous applause)
Reich Marshal Goring:
My Führer!
Gentlemen!
We had a immense inner experience in this hour, enabling you, Gentlemen, to take a deep look at the substance of National Socialism through the eyes of the Führer, what he is and what he wants. I can here be translator, better than anybody, because I too have been educated, as were you Gentlemen, as officer cadets, experienced that education we all have. I became a National Socialist early and I thank my creator for that. I was able to discard the baggage early, which you, Gentlemen, carried for a long time, ‘till now. You will experience an immense feeling of relief when you have discarded the old junk, to enter into the new and beautiful, something you were not able to see before. We must be clear about one thing, especially we Officers, that it is our duty in the future – as the Führer has mentioned – to train and educate the new Officers. We must understand that this, what was perhaps right at one time, can no longer be correct in this state and especially in these people. We have to also find new principles, and Gentlemen it is my wish to say it openly at this hour: When we were trained as cadets, as lance corporals, as young lieutenants the Monarchy still existed and as the Führer has rightly stated: Of course the Officer corp was monarchist and that the Officer corps was obviously dedicated to its Monarch. That was absolutely normal for us. Nobody dared to criticize, perish the thought. He accepted the Commander in Chief as he was, was dedicated to him.
Therefore I need to ask, Gentlemen: how much more fortunate are we and how much prouder can we be when in this hour we feel duty bound to a Commander in Chief, a man whose coming to be we witnessed, a man who accomplished so much, but who also had to suffer. There can be no prouder feeling for an officer, that is at least my opinion, than to gather round that man in this hour and to have the feeling of fortune to be able to stand by his side no matter what.
Long live our Führer for all time, this from the bottom of our hearts!
Hail! – Hail! – Hail!
(enthusiastic Hail calls and renewed uproarious applause for the Führer)
END