by Gauleiter Adolf Wagner
The source: “Männer der Bewegung sprechen,” Der
Schulungsbrief, 3 ( August 1936), 293-294.
Good fortune
probably determined that Adolf Hitler began his battle against the destruction
of our German people in Munich. Here in Munich he found the concentrated
strength that wanted to restore the roots of the German nation. And when the
Red Internationale was replaced by the Black Internationale [a reference to
religious opponents of National-Socialism] it did not change the
battlefront for the young National Socialist movement since the enemy remained
the same, even if its color changed.
Through tough and bitter
fighting, the National Socialist movement threw these destructive forces to the
ground. Finally the National Socialist revolution triumphed in the entire
Reich; here in Bavaria the old leaders were tossed out on 9 March [1933].
There are not many Red Internationalists left in Bavaria. The most dangerous
are in Dachau.
We do not need to bother with
those noble and bourgeois elements that look with hopeful but nervous hearts to
plans to restore the Habsburgs in Austria and something similar in Bavaria.
These elements are old and insignificant.
Things are entirely different
in the churches, particularly with the Catholic Church. We must unfortunately
recognize that although the great majority of the lower-level clergy have come
to loyally support the state, the higher-level clergy, most prominently several
bishops, have taken nearly every opportunity to oppose the National Socialist
state and our movement.
I say this today not only because
I have the opportunity to speak to you gathered in this room. I mention it
because of a report of a sermon at the end of May by the Bishop of Eichstätt,
Dr. Michael Nackl at confirmation in Ingolstadt. The Bishop of Eichstätt said
in a subtle, but unmistakable way that the Church had sole claim to the
worldview education of baptized Catholic youth. He proclaimed the same right
with regards to Catholic organizations. He was just as subtle but unmistakable
in objecting to a ban of political activity on the part of priests. He said
that the party’s slogan of the previous year, that the political revolution was
over and that ‘the National Socialist movement’s worldview battle for people’s
minds’ was an attack on the Church, on Catholic bishops, priests, indeed on
Catholicism in general. He said that he had to speak the truth openly since he
was German, loyal and honest.
I want to reply to the Bishop
of Eichstätt in just as German a manner, just as loyally and honestly: If a
worldview claims political power, that worldview must demonstrate its right to
claim political power by its achievements. During its three years of total
power in Germany, the National Socialist worldview has proven in Germany that
its demand for total power was justified, and that it also has the right in the
future to maintain this total demand for power. 99% of the German people
approved of this [in the referendum] on 29 March. And the National
Socialist worldview’s economic achievements of the past three years have proven
that it was, and will remain worthy, to claim that total economic power.
National Socialism’s total power in political and economic matters has lifted
an oppressed, defeated, economically ruined people into a free, proud, and
hard-working people.
If the National Socialist
worldview further demands the totality of youth education, it is equally as
justified, since the German youth has left behind the fragmentation under which
it once suffered and is on the way to becoming a healthy, productive youth. We
know that our youth is better off in the hands of the HJ and the BDM than in
the hands of some sort of monastic institution, which is today the subject of
criminal investigation, the findings of which are a disgrace not only for the
Church, but for the entire German people.
The laws of National Socialism
are unalterable. The laws of the National Socialist worldview are the laws of
the Third Reich. We require and demand that everyone respect these laws, even
bishops. All the questions that the Bishop of Eichstätt mentions are clearly
regulated. It is senseless to object.
We recommend putting the time
to better use: keeping order, cleanliness, fear of God, and honesty in the
ancient body of the Church and its institutions.
The National Socialist
worldview will follow its path, not resting until the German nation is once
again great and splendid.
Our
daily worship is go to our workplaces to build the German nation. And our daily
prayer is work for the nation.
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