For the Victory of Our kind

 

by Reichsminister Herbert Backe

 

Germany is in the midst of the most enormous upheaval in its history. Out of a sorrowful development of the many hundreds of years our country, through the genius of Adolf Hitler, has been undergoing a revolution, the last stage of which we are witnessing today and which will fundamentally change not only the face of Germany, but of all Europe and perhaps even of the whole world. It is only the dynamic force of the National Socialist movement that created a life-affirming, duty sworn, soldierly community out of a downtrodden, sorrow stricken, self-divided people. Only the National Socialist movement was in a position to raise the German people, embittered by the collapse of 1918 and the development of a political and economic catastrophe, to a self-sacrificing, and active community-minded comrade of the Volk. Whoever wants to understand and comprehend the causes of our time must take the trouble - in spite of all present worries and notes - to think back to those years when the National Socialist movement was struggling to gain power in the state and to eliminate the November system.

 

Fundamental change

 

If I am taking the floor here in Hanover for the first time after being commissioned by the Fuhrer, it is because I regard this region in many respects as ‘my own’, I can call it home. Already as a working student almost twenty years ago I became an SA man in Gottingen. For three years I was able to promote and fight for the National Socialist idea here in Hanover as an assistant at the Technical University. Finally, when I took over a lease in the Hanoverian countryside in 1928, I saw my task in winning the country people for National Socialism. At that time, I struggled for the hearts of the Lower Saxons, first as a party orator, then as a Preußischer member of the state parliament for the electoral district of Hanover Süd. It was not always easy to carry the National Socialist idea from village to village, for the peasant was, for good reason, mistrustful of anyone who advertised with political slogans. But as deeply as I was imbued with the absolute correctness of the National Socialist idea, I was also firmly convinced that the farmer would become the most devote men for Adolf Hitler. And after subsequent events have proved this view correct. It was precisely the distinctly rural constituencies that were the first to produce a National Socialist majority. The loyalty expressed by this confession -1 may express this at this point - has not only remained to this day, but has grown. The achievements of our country people in the battle of war are irrefutable proof of this. At the moment of the seizure of power, the national socialist agricultural policy took on a difficult legacy. I do not need to go into the details of that bleak period from 1918 to 1933. It should still be vivid in the memory of all the people. One thing, however, I must emphasize the work of reconstruction since 1933 did not mean the elimination of economic hardships alone, but above all the execution of the world’s most important first step. Not only economically, but also ideologically, the dross of liberalistic views of life had to be removed, which for a century and a half had dominated the relationship of people in Germany to the community, to the economy, and to all other aspects of the life of the nation. The primacy of the individual had to be overcome by the faith and will of the community. Only in the realization of the principle The aim was to build a healthy national and economic life based on the principle of “public interest before self-interest”. It was out of this view that the fundamental revolutionary agrarian-political laws were created in 1933. The first of these was the Reich Agricultural Law, which pointed to the farthest future of our people. It was followed by the Reich Food Law, the laws on the agricultural market organization and the other numerous agricultural policy and agricultural economic measures.

 

From the spirit of National Socialism

 

So why were these laws enacted in such rapid succession immediately after the seizure of power? Should a single class of the people be given a privileged right to life?

 

Should a single class be particularly challenged independently of the life of the people? No, my fellow citizens, it was precisely the agricultural policy of the new Reich that was deeply rooted in the National Socialist world view. These laws were enacted not only for the peasantry alone, but for the entire German Volk. Decisive for the economic and blood strength of a people is its peasantry. All of the political and economic demands of National Socialism had the idea of a “peasantry”, which only made sense and could only be realized if a strong, viable peasantry guaranteed the biological future of the people and ensured economic independence, i.e., above all, freedom of food.

 

Agricultural policy in Germany was thus born solely out of the spirit of national socialism. The task set us by the Fuhrer at that time: saving the peasantry could not be solved by economic measures and aid alone; for, on the one hand, a millennia of history have proved to our satisfaction that only partial successes, at best, could be achieved with economic aid, and, on the other hand, the peasantry was to be secured economically not for the sake of the peasantry itself, but in order to secure the biological tasks of the peasantry for the future of the people. It was therefore not any agricultural specialists, practitioners of agriculture or departments who made and implemented the new agricultural laws, but men who had grown up in the National Socialist movement and had joined in its struggle. The extent to which these laws are shaped by the National Socialist spirit becomes apparent today when we compare German agricultural policy with the agricultural policy of, say, Soviet Russia. In no field is the antagonism between National Socialism and Bolshevism greater than in that of agrarian policy; in our case it is characterized by the erbhof (hereditary farm) as the basis of the peasant clan, compared to the kolhos (collective farm), which has suppressed every creative activity and self-responsibility of the individual and has thus led to the decline of the once flourishing Russian agricultural and food economy. And so it is only today that it becomes apparent with particular urgency how much National Socialist agricultural policy has preserved itself as a basis not only for today but for all times to come. From this, it is self-evident that agricultural policy in Germany is and must remain a task of the NSDAP. The party alone possesses the dynamic and revolutionary impetus and the forward-looking spirit necessary to keep agricultural policy, principles, and guidelines pure, to continue to shape them and to ensure that the bodies responsible for implementing agricultural policy steer upon the right course at all times and in all circumstances.

 

Agricultural policy in the foreground

 

Sometimes in recent years these principles have seemed to take a back seat to the issues of the day. The confined space of Germany, the scarcity of land, the dependence of Germany on food supplies from abroad as a result of liberal development, inevitably led to food policy being in the foreground. But this should not obscure the fact that we were only able to pursue food policy because the prerequisite, that of the agricultural policy, had already been so completely solved in 1933 with a few laws. In this framework Germany was able to pass the agricultural policy decisively. Only a healthy agricultural policy can create the preconditions for a healthy food economy. The correctness of this sentence is proven by Germany’s food economy performance in contrast to that of most other countries. The shaping of this National Socialist agricultural policy must therefore be transferred back to where alone it found the necessary activism, i.e. in the party, in the Reich Office for Agricultural Policy.

 

Clear distribution of tasks

 

You have to be clear about one thing: The creation of the of the Greater German Reich now makes it possible to solve many of the decisive problems within the agricultural sector, problems which could not be solved before the creation of the Greater Reich. These issues, however, can only be solved if the most active and determined of the nation stand up to solve them. We do not want to overlook and forget the sometimes almost insurmountable difficulties which confronted the implementation of the new agricultural policy in 1933. It is always extremely difficult to replace outmoded forms with new, forward thinking ones, and there will always be people who are mentally rigid and lack a vision of the future, and who oppose any new order with a myriad of misgivings. This will also be the case with the reorganization of the agricultural policy area in Germany and Europe. And that is why the solution of these great tasks requires the full commitment of the party and the revolutionary spirit of National Socialism. At the moment when the Führer entrusted me with the management of the affairs of the Reichsleiter, the Reichsbauernführer and the Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture, I therefore decided to implement a clear division of tasks between the Reich Office for Agricultural Policy, the Reich Nutrition Council and the Reich Ministry of Food. At the same time, this provided the opportunity for a fundamental simplification of the administration and the establishment of a simple and clear organization in which all available forces could be concentrated on the most essential. In accordance with the principle that leadership is the task of the Party, I dissolved the former Reichshauptabteilung of the Reichsnährstand. Its tasks, as far as those of political leadership are concerned, I transferred to the Reich Office for Agricultural Policy in the NSDAP. The other fields of work of the old Reichshauptabteilung, such as the professional, social, economic, legal, and social care that was demanded for country people. The task of implementing and enforcing our land regulations was assigned to a reorganized Reichshauptabteilung. A corresponding simplification of administration results inevitably from this for the Land and District Farmers’ Associations. I have dismissed or dissolved all special representatives or special offices which hitherto existed outside the Reich Main Departments. Their duties have been transferred to the Reich Headquarters. Thus a concentration of forces has been effected in the Reich Food Council, in keeping with the severity of the war and the magnitude of the tasks which the Reich Food Council is now and will be called upon to perform in the future.

 

With real idealism

 

My comrades in arms, the peasant does not like to be “administered” from the core of his healthy view of life. He is averse to any bureaucratic structure. On the other hand, administration is necessary. But it must not become an end in itself. Where there is an idea of order, there must also be an instrument for maintaining order. It must be clear, however, that the creative cannot come from the administrative, that even the best administration only ever administers the existing, that is, to preserve it in essence. Revolutionary times, however, set new forms. They must even consciously create something new in contrast to the traditional structures, whereby it depends on the self-sacrificing personality of man to create new healthy, viable conditions. Therefore, in order to take into account, the dynamics of our time, the form of self-administration and honorary leadership has been consciously resorted to in the establishment of the Reichsnährstand. However, this healthy idea must not be exaggerated to the extent that the administrative tasks also necessary in the Reichsnährstand are now to be performed by honorary leaders. Therefore, the new Reichshauptabteilung I, which essentially comprises the actual administration, will in the future be led by a civil servant and not by an honorary farmer.

 

In general, I am of the opinion that the enormous tasks before us require a fighting front of all interested men and forces. The tasks of the future cannot be solved by working formations, but only by a real idealism. It is not who has done something that is essential, but that something is done. It is not prestige or status that is decisive, but only the task itself. We therefore are proud of everyone who fights in our ranks. Yes, we cannot have enough people who cooperate in strengthening and enhancing the peasantry as the bearers of our blood power and guarantors of our freedom of food. National Socialism has taught us that we should never see what divides us, but only what we have in common. And the tasks set for us today are worth putting this common ground in the foreground. I therefore particularly welcome the fact that the Reichsführer-SS Himmler has been appointed by the Fuhrer as Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People. I have therefore, as one of the first measures, not by means of paper agreements, but by assigning two men from the Reich Commissariat for the Consolidation of German Nationality. Similarly, the basis for cooperation with other branches of the Party has already been established. With this short essay I have clarified the essential forms of the distribution of tasks between the Reich Office for Agricultural Policy, the Reich Food Board and the initiation of cooperation with other Reich departments.

 

With this brief outline, I have described the main forms of the of the distribution of tasks between the Reich Office for Agricultural Policy, the Reich Food Board, and the Reich Ministry of Food, and I have indicated the initiation of cooperation with other Reich agencies. And I will now conclude by stating that the Reich Office for Agricultural Policy, and thus the party, will in future be responsible for are responsible for the basic orientation of agricultural policy, while the Reich Ministry of Nutrition will be in charge of state management and the Reich Nutrition Service will be responsible for the practical implementation of agricultural and nutritional tasks. This creates clear areas of work and the prerequisites for the cooperation of all agencies that I have called for.

 

The current food problems

 

When the German peasantry now looks back on the times that has passed, we may well say without arrogance that the men and women and the youth of the country have achieved unheard-of feats in the struggle to secure our bread, we can say without arrogance that the men, women and youth of the country have achieved unheard-of things. The German country people have once again, as so often in German history, proved themselves as a battalion. With pride I may emphasize at this point emphasize once again that the Führer himself described the achievements of the German peasantry as unique. of the German peasantry as unique and unparalleled. Since the beginning of the battle of production, the coverage of their own needs from their own land has been has been substantially increased. Despite all the difficulties caused by the war the war conditions, production was again increased, especially in the last years of the war, production has again been increased, thus creating the prerequisite for maintaining the military strength and labour and manpower of our people.

 

But the German peasants have surpassed themselves in the last spring tillage. What was achieved in those weeks has no precedent in the history of German agriculture. The winter damage we suffered in cereals and seed oils this year was more extensive than at any time in decades. Around 2.5 million hectares that were tilled last fall had to be tilled again this spring. This means an area equivalent to the size of the agricultural land in Lower Saxony, Westphalia and Oldenburg. This additional work was accomplished despite a lack of manpower and limited operating resources. At the same time, weather conditions delayed the start of spring work by four full weeks compared to normal years. The full extent of this achievement can perhaps only be appreciated when one considers that, according to available statistics, about 3 million hectares remained uncultivated in 1917. In contrast, practically no hectare of land remained uncultivated during the third spring tillage of this war. In addition, we have not only maintained the total area under cultivation, but have even been able to increase the area under root crops, which requires a particularly large amount of labour. Similarly, in the case of sugarbeet, the high acreage expansion of recent years was achieved once again. Potato acreage has seen a very significant expansion this spring, which is probably even greater than we planned and expected. In this context, let us not forget connection that in the world war year of 1917, about 800,000 hectares less potatoes and around 170,000 hectares less sugarbeet than in 1914. were cultivated than in 1914, whereas today we not only have already greatly expanded cultivation of root crops thanks to our measures, but root crops thanks to our measures, but also, for example, in the case of potatoes, by around 400,000 hectares = 13% compared with the high level of the previous year. expanded.

 

Supply of operating resources

 

It is self-evident that the necessary replanting of the wintered land will require considerable additional agricultural inputs, seeds, equipment, and fuel. In view of the well- known difficult situation in the trade -the supply of goods - where every kilogram is in any case precisely reallocated and quota-allocated, it seemed impossible at first to meet these additional demands. Today I can say that the management of German agriculture has done everything possible to meet these additional requirements. It is clear that this has not been without friction and difficulties. The quantities of seed necessary for replanting the wintered- out areas have been procured, although the requirements for summer seed cereals alone have increased by some 250%. More than 130,000 wagons of seed potatoes were transported in a few weeks, which is more than twice as much as in the last year of peace. In view of its other than normal use for military and other war-related transports, the German Reichsbahn has rendered a great service to the German food industry. If the supply of foodstuffs showed certain local difficulties, this was due to the difficult transport conditions. However, for a given transport volume, we considered it more advisable to transport the seeds first and then the drying agents. Here, too, wartime conditions set limits that we were unable to exceed.

 

It was a particularly difficult task to meet the increased demand for fuel as a result of the reordering. If, in spite of this, German agriculture has been able to manage the great peak workload of this spring with a limited allocation of operating resources, this again proves how every farm manager strives over and over again to do the best he can with what little is available. German agriculture can be assured that in such difficult times everything necessary will be done on the part of the management. But just as the military leadership has to plan the supply of ammunition and rations to the soldiers down to the last detail, but then difficulties arise in the execution of the plan and there are occasional shortages, but the troops nevertheless continue to fight and win, German agriculture will continue to stand its ground in the future. It can be sure that everything possible will be done to facilitate its tasks within the framework of the war effort.

 

As important as production is in itself, what ultimately remains important is the supply of food to the people. The amount of food delivered is proof that the nation could rely on the people here as well. Already after 1940/41 year, the agricultural sector has been required to make a delivery of bread grain in the war year 1941/42 again that exceeded expectations by almost 800,000 tons. The change in the utilization of the potato harvest, caused by the increase in consumption of table potatoes from 13 million tons before the war to about 23 million tons last year, also demonstrated the exemplary willingness of the agricultural sector to deliver. Without this willingness to deliver on the part of the farm managers and their followers, it would undoubtedly not have been possible in the last few weeks to guarantee the supply of potatoes for consumption in the large consumer areas to the extent actually achieved and to catch up with the early potato harvest. Only by delivering the last quantity of potatoes needed by farmers’ households and the economy as such was it possible to compensate for the frost losses in potato stocks and also to meet the additional demand for several hundred thousand tonnes of seed potatoes.

 

Success of the Community effort

 

The most impressive example of the usual readiness of the agricultural sector to deliver milk, however, is expressed in the development of milk deliveries to the dairies. In 1941 it exceeded that of 1938 by no less than 3 billion litters. The 3 billion litters of additional milk delivered, however, made it possible to produce an additional 90,000 tons of butter, which was of decisive importance in view of the loss of oil supplies from the world market. In commemorating these achievements of our rural people, I must point out that in all these cases we have worked without state coercion, as was the case in the World War. The Fuhrer did not appeal to the sense of sacrifice of the peasants and agricultural workers for nothing.

 

All of them, who worked day after day and often during many hours of the night in the fields, in the stables, and wherever else it was necessary, have surpassed themselves by these efforts. It will have to be left to a later time to do justice to this effort. This tremendous success, which was of decisive importance for the military and military-economic strength of the Reich, was due in part to everyone, the farm leaders, the agricultural followers, the countrywomen and also the boys and girls of the country. Last but not least, however, it has been my volunteer farmer leaders, in particular the more than 60,000 local farmer leaders, who showed unconditional loyalty alongside the agricultural followers who have supported the efforts of the farm leaders. Even from their own earnings, the agricultural workers have contributed substantially to the supply of the markets. It was not uncommon for farm workers to take over the management of the farms at the side of the farm wife when the farm manager himself was at the front. We must not forget the heavy burdens our countrywomen have to carry. One must have seen the farms themselves, where the men are in the field and the woman alone took over the management of the farm, often with only foreign labourers to help her. We have no illusions about the fact that the woman often had to do more than was her natural duty. The entire German people owe her a great debt of gratitude. It will be all the more necessary in the future to give her the relief she deserves as the mother of her children and the sustainer of our national strength. As spokesman for the German rural people, it is also my duty to take this opportunity to thank all those helpers who have rendered outstanding services to food security. Tens of thousands of helpers have been mobilized by the Party to bring comradely aid to the rural front which is fighting so hard. The German country people will not forget this expression of the community spirit of town and country.

 

Our thanks are due in particular to the energetic work of the Commissioner for Labour Deployment, Gauleiter Pg. Sauckel, and his staff for the procurement of hundreds of thousands of workers from the East, an achievement which was accomplished in a few weeks and will continue to be accomplished in spite of difficulties which often seem insurmountable. In spite of this enormous help, however, the cooperation of all, especially of women and young people, must succeed more than ever in recovering the harvest and ensuring the new sowing. We therefore welcome the appeal of the Reichsfrauenführerin, Frau Scholtz-Klink, to the women of the city to help the German countrywoman to make her great and decisive task easier.

 

Tasks still to be performed

 

Men and women of the land! The past years have been difficult and full of privation for you. Perhaps some of you have even had the feeling that, within the framework of the new German national and economic order, the rural economy is regarded only as the fifth wheel on the wagon. Up to now, demands have only been made on the people, without the self-evident reciprocation of the people as a whole having made a corresponding appearance. But here, too, one must evaluate the facts. In the years before the present struggle broke out, the German national economy had first of all the task of working for armament, of making the German sword sharp. Political and military developments proved that the military and industrial build-up, the construction of the West Wall, the production of armoured cars, airplanes, and gears was the most important task at first. The Fuhrer himself has often enough expressed how much he regrets having to put aside his great peace work for the German people in order first to secure the freedom of the people. National Socialist agricultural policy has hitherto been able to devote itself essentially only to the task of striving for freedom from food and, by renouncing a just remuneration for the work of the peasantry, to making possible the carrying out of the slaughter of labour and thus the necessary Aufrustung. All the fundamental problems of the healthy popular and economic reorganization of the peasant habitat had to and must be put aside until victory clears the way here too. Principles of the reorganization The revolutionary beginning of this reorganization, however, had already been initiated by the Reichserbhofgesetz, published as early as 1933. The previously mentioned compelling nutritional and economic demands initially prevented the correct further development of the principles laid down in the Reich’s Hereditary Court Act. We must be clear that with the Erbhofgesetz the reorganization of the rural structure in the sense of the creation of healthy farms began, even if the final realization of these principles failed due to the fact of the narrowness of the German living space.

 

In Germany, which had been stifled by Versailles, it was practically impossible to bring the idea of the hereditary court to a full breakthrough. A large-scale reformation of the German peasantry, the indispensable extension of the law on hereditary estates, could not be carried out. At first it seemed absurd to speak of an inheritance law and of a new formation of the German peasantry in a country that still had millions of unemployed to accommodate.

 

After all, the desolate settlements on the outskirts of the cities of that time, and the small, small settlements of the Marxist Era, were seen as a means of alleviating the labour and economic hardship. It was not the consolidation and enlargement of farms that seemed to offer a way out, but the division into small and micro-enterprises. One must recall this development in order to understand how revolutionary the idea of the hereditary farm was. The The triumphant march of the German armies has brought about a new situation.

 

There is enough land available to provide a healthy livelihood for hundreds of thousands of new of new farming families a healthy livelihood. In the near future, we can approach the reorganization of land tenure and create new legal entities not only in the new areas, but also in the Reich itself. We shall now be able to achieve a structure of ownership which is reasonable and sensible for the preservation of the people’s strength and the safeguarding of their livelihood. This great work will take years.

 

In the course of settling the acquired territories with thousands of volunteers, especially the soldiers as farmers, who will have become acquainted with these regions and turn the conquered soil into German land, it will also be possible to convert many non-viable small and very small farms in the homeland into healthy farms that permit the use of modern machinery. This structural change will have to be carried out with the necessary caution, so as not to spoil the source of life of ancient farming settlements. There will be a repetition of the processions of Germans willing to settle who have so often moved eastward in the course of German history. Only on the basis of the healthy economic structure created by the reorganization of the German peasantry and the reallocation of land will it be possible to begin the reorganization of villages in a big way. Through the regeneration of the German peasantry and the reorganization of villages, that economic balance will be created which will raise the standard of living in the countryside and thus create the prerequisite for the peasantry to be able to fulfil its most important task, that of being the source of the people’s blood. For the larger the areas to be settled, the more this most fundamental task of the peasantry will come to the fore, since, as I have already said elsewhere, a secure food policy will come about entirely as a result of a sound agricultural policy.

 

In order to improve the living conditions

 

The leadership of the Reich knows about the preliminary work that you, men and women of the country, have done. The Führer himself is the guarantor that after this victory the German people as a whole will step up to improve the living conditions of the country people. All the problems that beset you today - rural exodus, undervaluation of farm labour, price issues, supply of the necessary inputs, structural design and modernization of farms - will then find their solution of their own accord as parts of a whole. If I briefly outline the future tasks and solutions here, it is also to help you, who are overburdened with daily worries, to look to the future. Measured against this future, the present hardships, as difficult as they may seem to us, are small. Nothing new can be born without sacrifice and struggle. But this new thing, the basic form of which was laid in the agricultural policy of the NSDAP as early as 1933, can only now be fully developed. Thus, agricultural policy is now entering a new, decisive stage. If its core - the hereditary farm - encompassed only a part of agriculture in the constricted Germany, it will then step out of this narrow framework. Not only by the fact that innumerable hereditary farms will come into being in the new territories, and not only by the fact that new hereditary farms will be created by reallocation in the old Reich territories, but also by the fact that the granting of hereditary farm status in the old Reich will be granted to all those who profess their allegiance to National Socialism and the people and who have now substantiated this allegiance by deed and performance during the war and in the war economy; For the hereditary farm was not economic consolidation as an end in itself, but economic consolidation in order to preserve the clan, the clan as the nucleus of the growing people.

 

Preservation in war

 

The tasks and objectives laid down by the National Socialist agricultural policy are unavoidable, and - to this end - can only be referred to in the following terms, you can rely on it, my fellow countrymen - you will be honoured. Thus, for the first time in its history, the German country people will also enjoy the full benefit of an unrestricted evaluation of their achievements. The prerequisite for this development, however, is victory. For this reason, it must be our task to accomplish the given war tasks with the most ruthless effort:

 

1.      We must produce as much food as the German soil is capable of yielding

 

2.      We have to put as much food on the market as possible, with the utmost frugality in our own consumption.

 

The magnitude of the work done so far should not blind us to the fact that the tasks we have to master in the fourth year of the war will not be less, but greater. I will have to demand even more from you in this 4th year of war than before. The last winter dealt us a hard blow. We must and will overcome them. You yourselves know best why we have to expect a lower yield of winter cereals and seed oils this year. We must make up for this shortfall by stepping up deliveries to make up for it. In the interest of supplying the front, I have to expect the agricultural sector to go beyond the usual economic limits when it comes to deliveries in the interest of supplying the fighting front and the homeland. Therefore, I appeal to your performance, your spirit and your attitude. It is through your performance that the forthcoming harvest will be saved without loss and all your strength will be used for the preparation of the next harvest. But your spirit and attitude are the prerequisite for the success of the great delivery in all fields. The number of those who in attitude and performance in this war is infinitesimal. It is our duty not only to look up to these few, but, for the sake of cleanliness in our ranks, to subject them to exemplary punishment. But you other many, you workers and brave ones, do not only fulfil your duty by your own exemplary performance, but you must also, with the necessary national socialist spirit of attack, urge those who are weak or suffering to faith and commitment. It was in accordance with this old law of struggle that National Socialism began and had its unimaginable successes. According to this law, here in Lower Saxony, too, a small group of National Socialists has, through their commitment and struggle, won over the people thanks to the Fuhrer. How much easier it is today for you, who are the vast majority of the faithful, to win over the few others to the task. This war is about the existence of the whole nation. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that in the event of a collapse the enemy would wipe us out economically and popularly. All the people’s strength is now stretched to the limit. The Home Front must consider itself as responsible for the outcome of this struggle as responsible as the soldier. Without adequate nutrition neither the manpower nor the of the nation can be maintained.

 

In this struggle, let us think of ourselves as soldiers who, at the complete sacrifice of their personal lives, labour and property, are fighting for the sake of the Reich. Let us remember, in those hours when we may think we are collapsing under the burden of daily work, our fathers, husbands and sons at the front who, in an unparalleled sacrifice and with incomparable courage, have lost their lives in the struggle for the Reich. Heroism have kept Bolshevism away from our borders. Let us also remember in those hours the men of the agricultural organization in the East who, under particularly hard working conditions and at the risk of their lives, create the conditions so that the new areas in the East can begin to supply Germany and Europe with grain, seed oils, and other products. Let us lift up our hearts in this hour! Let us not be weighed down by the cares of everyday life. We have sworn unconditional allegiance to the Fuhrer. This oath will be kept. As great as the present difficulties may be, we do not want to overestimate them. We always want to see them in the context of the great times and the great tasks that lie ahead of us. Let us be clear about the fact that the preservation of the peasantry in this war will be decisive for its future position in the nation and for its value in the national community. What we sacrifice today will be repaid in many ways after the victory. Thus, believing in the leader and his historical mission, we want to go back to our hard day’s work. In the future, as in the past years, we want to be the Fuhrer’s most faithful followers. Our sole guideline and slogan for the coming weeks and months can only be: Work for the victory of our weapons and thus for the victory of our kind!