Berlin, June 22, 1941
German Volk! National Socialists!
The hour has finally come for me, weighed down by
heavy burdens and sentenced to remain silent for months, to speak openly.
When, on September 3, 1939,
the German Reich received the English declaration of war, the British attempted
again to foil the consolidation and rise of Europe by fighting the strongest
power on the continent. This is how England once destroyed Spain in many wars.
This is how it waged war against Holland. This is how, with the help of all
Europe, it later fought France. And this is how, at the turn of the century, it
began the encirclement of the German Reich and then in the year 1914, it began
the World War.
It was only because of
its inner discord that Germany was defeated in the year 1918. What followed was
terrible. First, they claimed hypocritically that they were only fighting the
Kaiser and his regime. Then, after the surrender of the German Army, the
systematic destruction of the German Reich was started. While the prophecies of
a French statesman that there were twenty million too many people in Germany, that is, people who had to be eliminated by
hunger, disease, or emigration, seemed to become literally true, the National
Socialist movement began its work of uniting the German Volk and thereby
initiating the rise of the Reich.
This new rising up of our Volk
from need, misery, and shameful contempt was a sign of a purely inner rebirth.
England, in particular, was neither concerned nor threatened by this. In spite
of this, a new policy of encirclement, seething with hatred, immediately set in
again against Germany. At home and abroad, there was the well-known conspiracy
between Jews and democrats, Bolsheviks and reactionaries, with the single goal
of preventing the establishment of a new German people’s state and plunging the
Reich again into impotence and misery.
Besides us, the hatred of this
international, worldwide conspiracy singled out those people whom fortune has
likewise overlooked and who are also forced to earn their daily bread in a hard
struggle for existence. Italy and Japan especially were denied their share of
the goods of this earth, like Germany-yes, they were virtually forbidden them.
The alliance of these nations therefore was only an act of self-defense in view
of the threatening, egotistic international coalition of wealth and power.
In 1936, Churchill declared,
according to the statements of the American general Wood before a committee of
the American House of Representatives, that Germany was again becoming too
powerful and therefore had to be destroyed.
In the summer of 1939, England
thought the time had come to realize the new destruction by a repetition of a
comprehensive policy of encirclement directed against Germany. The method of
the campaign of lies staged for this purpose was to declare other people
threatened, to trap them with British guarantees and promises of assistance,
and then, as in the World War, to let them march against Germany.
And so England, from May to
August 1939, succeeded in spreading the idea that Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia,
Finland, Bessarabia, as well as the Ukraine, were directly threatened by
Germany. Some of these states were thereby seduced into accepting the
guarantees connected to these claims, and so joined the new front of
encirclement against Germany.
Under those circumstances, I
believed, before my conscience and the history of the German Volk, that I could
not only assure these states, that is, governments, of the falsehood of the
British claims, but also calm the strongest power of the East by making solemn
declarations on the limits of our respective interests.
National Socialists! Probably
all of you felt that this step was bitter and difficult for me. Never has the
German Volk harbored feelings of animosity against the people of Russia. Alas,
for over two decades, the Jewish-Bolshevik rulers have labored from Moscow to
set afire not only Germany, but also all of Europe. Never has Germany attempted
to carry its National Socialist ideology into Russia.
However, the Jewish-Bolshevik
rulers in Moscow have constantly undertaken to force their rule on our people
and others in Europe as well, and not merely ideologically, but especially in
terms of military force and power. In all countries, the consequences of the
activities of this regime were chaos, misery, and famine.
In contrast to that, I strove
in the past two decades to achieve a new socialist order in Germany with a
minimum of intervention and without destroying our production, a new socialist
order that not only eliminated unemployment, but also increasingly let the
profit from the work go to the working man.
The successes of this policy
of a new economic and social order for our Volk, the systematic overcoming of
social differences and class distinctions, are unequaled in the world.
Therefore, in August 1939,
despite great misgivings, I sent my foreign minister to Moscow to attempt there
to counteract the British policy of encirclement against Germany. I did this
only because of a sense of responsibility to the German Volk, and, above all,
in the hope of achieving a lasting detente in the end and, perhaps, lessening
the sacrifices which might otherwise be demanded of us.
And then, after Germany
solemnly declared in Moscow that the aforementioned areas and countries were
outside the German sphere of interest-with the exception of Lithuania-a special
agreement was made in case England succeeded in driving Poland
to war against Germany. Here, too, the German demands were limited and stood in
no relation to the accomplishments of the German arms.
National Socialists! The
consequences of this treaty, which I desired in the interest of the German
Volk, were very hard on the Germans living in the countries concerned.
Far more than half a million
German Volksgenossen-all small farmers, craftsmen, and workers-were forced,
practically overnight, to leave their former homeland in order to escape a new
regime, which at first threatened them with infinite misery and, sooner or
later, with complete extermination.
In spite of this, thousands of
Germans disappeared! It is impossible to know what happened to them or where
they are now. Among them, there are a hundred sixty men with German Reich
citizenship.
I remained silent about all
this, because I had to remain silent! After all, it was my wish to bring about
a detente for good and, if possible, a lasting settlement with this state.
However, as soon as we advanced
into Poland, the Soviet rulers suddenly claimed Lithuania in violation of the
treaty. The German Reich never intended to occupy
Lithuania. Not only did it not make any such demand on the Lithuanian
government-on the contrary, it also declined a request by the Lithuanian
government at the time to send German troops to Lithuania for that purpose, as
this did not correspond with the goals of the German policy.
In spite of this, I yielded to
this new Russian demand. However, this was only the beginning of constantly new
extortions, which since then have been repeated time and again. The victory in
Poland, exclusively secured by German troops, induced me to direct a new offer
of peace to the western powers. It was rejected because of the international
and Jewish warmongers.
Already at that time, the
cause of this rejection was that England was still hoping to mobilize a
European coalition against Germany, including the Balkans and Soviet Russia. And so they decided in London to send Ambassador
Cripps to Moscow. He received clear instructions to enter again into diplomatic
relations with Soviet Russia and to develop them in the interest of England.
The English press reported on the progress of this mission for as long as
tactical reasons required.
In the autumn of 1939 and the
spring of 1940, the first consequences became apparent. While Russia undertook
to subjugate not only Finland militarily but also the Baltic states, it all of
a sudden tried to justify doing so with the mendacious and ridiculous claim that
it had to protect these countries from, that is, to prevent, an external
threat. No power other than Germany could penetrate these areas along the
Baltic Sea or wage war there. In spite of this, I had to remain silent. But the
ruling powers in the Kremlin immediately went a step further.
While, in the spring of 1940,
Germany withdrew its armed forces far behind the eastern frontier in the spirit
of the so-called Friendship Pact, thereby virtually clearing most of these
areas of German troops, Russian forces immediately began to deploy to such an
extent that this could only be seen as a deliberate threat to Germany.
According to a personal
statement made by Molotov at the time, twentytwo Russian divisions were in the
Baltic states alone. Since the Russian government always maintained that it had
been called in by the local population, the purpose of its presence there could
only be a demonstration against Germany. While-from May 10, 1940, on-our
soldiers broke the French-British power in the west, the Russian concentration
along our eastern front continued in an increasingly dangerous degree.
From August 1940 on,
therefore, I believed that, in the interest of the Reich, I could not any
longer leave our eastern provinces, which have so often been devastated in the
past, unprotected from this colossal concentration of Bolshevik divisions.
This brought about what the
Anglo-Soviet cooperation aimed for, namely to tie down strong German forces in
the east, so that, especially in terms of the [war in the] air, a conclusive
end of the war in the west would no longer be possible for the German
leadership. This was not only the goal of the British but
also of the Soviet policy.
England as well as Soviet
Russia intend to let this war last as long as possible in order to weaken
Europe and to make it increasingly impotent.
The alarming Russian attack on
Romania ultimately served the purpose of getting hold of an important element
of the economic life not only of Germany but also of all Europe, and, possibly,
destroying it. However, it was the German Reich which, from the year 1933 on,
strove with infinite patience to win the states of southeastern Europe as
trading partners. Therefore, we had the greatest interest in their internal,
governmental consolidation and order. Russia’s invasion of Romania, and
Greece’s political ties with England, threatened to transform these areas
shortly into a theater of war, too.
Contrary to our principles and
customs, at that time I directed an urgent appeal to the Romanian government,
which itself was responsible for this development, and I advised it to yield to
the Soviet extortion for the sake of peace and to cede Bessarabia.
The Romanian government
believed that it could tolerate this before its own people only if Germany and
Italy gave a guarantee that the continuing existence of the remainder would not
be disputed. I did this with a heavy heart. Because, after all, if the German Reich gives a guarantee, this means it
will vouch for it. We are neither Englishmen nor Jews.
So I believed myself to have
rendered a service to peace in these areas practically at the last minute, even
if this meant taking on a heavy responsibility myself. In order to resolve
these problems for good and to obtain clarity on the Russian attitude to the
Reich, as well as under the pressure of the consistently increasing
mobilization along our eastern borders, I invited Mr. Molotov to Berlin.
The Soviet foreign minister
now demanded a clarification by Germany, that is, its answer to the following four
questions: Molotov’s first question: In the event of a
Soviet attack on Romania, will the German guarantee to Romania be directed
against Soviet Russia? My answer: The German guarantee is a general one and is
absolutely binding for us.
Russia has never informed us
that, apart from Bessarabia, it has any interests in Romania. The occupation of
northern Bukovina has already violated this assurance. Therefore, I do not
believe that Russia could suddenly have further intentions against Romania.
Molotov’s second question:
Russia again feels threatened by Finland. Russia is determined not to tolerate
this. Is Germany ready not to assist Finland in any manner and, in particular,
immediately to withdraw the German troops that are marching through it to Kirkenes
for replacement? My answer: As before, Germany has no political interests in
Finland. A new war by Russia against the small Finnish people cannot be
regarded as tolerable by the German Reich government, all the more so as we
cannot believe that Finland is threatening Russia. However, we do not wish the
Baltic Sea to become a theater of war again.
Molotov’s third question: Is
Germany willing to agree to Soviet Russia’s extending a guarantee to Bulgaria
and sending Soviet troops into Bulgaria for this purpose? He, Molotov, also
wished to declare, for example, that the Soviets did not intend to eliminate
the king on this occasion.
My answer: Bulgaria is a
sovereign state, and I do not know whether, unlike Romania, Bulgaria has even
requested such a guarantee from Soviet Russia. Besides this, I will have to
talk with my allies about this matter.
Molotov’s fourth question:
Soviet Russia in any event needs free transit through the Dardanelles. To
protect it, Russia requires the occupation of strongholds along the
Dardanelles, that is, at the Bosporus. Will Germany agree to this or not? My
answer: Germany is prepared to give its consent at any time to a change in the
status of Montreux in favor of the Black Sea states. Germany is not willing to
agree to Russia’s taking possession of bases along the straits.
National Socialists! I assumed
an attitude here, which I had to assume not only as the accountable Fuhrer of
the German Reich but also as the responsible representative of European culture
and civilization. The consequence was a
reinforcement of the Soviet activities directed against the Reich, particularly
the immediate start of subversive activities inside of the new Romanian state
and the attempt to remove the Bulgarian government by propaganda.
With the help of the confused,
naive heads of the Romanian Legion, a coup d’etat was staged in Romania with
the goal of toppling the head of state, General Antonescu, and to create chaos
in the country so that the elimination of legitimate authority would remove the
preconditions for the German guarantee to take effect. Despite this, I still believed that it was best
to remain silent.
Immediately following the
failure of this undertaking, a renewed reinforcement of the Russian troop
concentrations along the eastern border of Germany took place. armored units
and parachute troops were moved in increasing numbers alarmingly close to the
German border. The German Wehrmacht and the German homeland know that, only a
few weeks ago, not a single German panzer or motorized division was on our
eastern border.
Had there been need of
conclusive proof of the coalition between England and Soviet Russia, which had
meanwhile come about despite all the diversions and disguises, then the
Yugoslav conflict would have served as such.
While I labored to make a last
attempt to pacify the Balkans and, with the understanding cooperation of the
Duce, I invited Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite Pact, England and Soviet
Russia worked together to organize the turmoil which overnight removed the
government that was willing to negotiate.
The German Volk can be told
today: the Serbian coup de main against Germany took place not only
under the English, but essentially under the Soviet, flag. Since we remained
silent on this matter as well, the Soviet leadership went a step further. Not
only did it organize the Serb putsch but also, only a few days later, it
concluded the well-known Friendship Pact with its new subservient creatures.
This was intended to encourage the Serbs in their resistance to a pacification
of the Balkans and to goad them on against Germany.
And this was not a platonic
ambition. Moscow demanded the mobilization of the Serbian army.
Since I still believed that it
was better not to speak, the ruling powers in the Kremlin went a step further:
the German Reich government today possesses documents which prove that Russia,
in order to get Serbia finally to fight, promised to deliver weapons, planes,
ammunition, and other war materiel via Salonika. And this occurred almost exactly at the same moment when I gave the
Japanese foreign minister, Matsuoka, advice to seek a detente with Russia,
always in the hope of rendering peace a service. Only the rapid breakthrough to Skopje and the taking of Salonika by our
peerless divisions have prevented the ambitions of this Soviet-Anglo-Saxon
conspiracy. The Serbian air-force officers escaped to Russia and were welcomed
there immediately as allies.
The victory of the Axis powers
in the Balkans alone prevented the plan to engage Germany in battle in the
southeast for months on end this summer, while, in the meantime, the
concentration of the Soviet armies would be completed, their readiness for
battle reinforced, and then, together with England and supported by the
expected American deliveries, Russia would strangle and eventually: crush the
German Reich and Italy. Through this, Moscow not only violated the provisions
of our Friendship Pact, it has also betrayed this pact most wretchedly. And all
this, while the ruling powers in the Kremlin, as in the case of Finland and
Romania, hypocritically spoke of peace and of friendship abroad.
If, previously, circumstances
forced me to be silent time and again, the time has come when continuous
sitting back and watching would not only be a sin of omission, but also a crime
against the German Volk, yes, against all of Europe.
Today, approximately a hundred
sixty Russian divisions stand at our border. For weeks, there have been
persistent violations of this border not only down here, but also far up north,
as in Romania. Russian pilots amuse themselves by lightheartedly looking over
these borders, perhaps to prove to us that they already feel themselves the
masters of these territories. On the night of June 17 to 18, Russian patrols
reconnoitered German Reich territory and could only be driven back after a
lengthy exchange of fire. Therefore,
the hour has now come in which it has become necessary to oppose this
conspiracy of the Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and likewise the Jewish ruling
powers in the Bolshevik control station at Moscow.
German Volk! At this moment,
the greatest concentration which the world has ever seen in terms of scope and
dimensions is taking place. In unison with the Finnish comrades, the victorious
warriors of Narvik stand at the Arctic Ocean.
German divisions under the command of the conqueror of Norway protect Finnish
soil, together with the heroic Finnish freedom fighters under their marshal.
The formations of the German front in the east reach from East Prussia to the Carpathian
Mountains. On the banks of the Pruth river, the lower reaches of the Danube, up
to the shores of the Black Sea, German and Romanian soldiers unite under
General Antonescu.
The mission of this front,
therefore, is no longer the protection of individual countries, but the
securing of Europe and, hence, the salvation of all.
Today, I have therefore
determined to lay the fate and the future of the German Reich and of our Volk
again into the hands of our soldiers.
May the Lord Almighty help us
especially in this battle!
Adolf Hitler
No comments:
Post a Comment