Adolf Hitler - “New Year’s Proclamation to the National Socialists and Party Comrades”
Today we can counter the sum of all our
opponents’ prophecies with the proud fact that the order of the German Volk is
now healthier, its culture richer and its standard of living higher.
This change is most evident, however, in the Reich’s position in the world
today as compared to 1933. Then a nation trampled upon, despised, and without
rights; today a proud Volk and a strong state, protected by a great Wehrmacht
at its service. By allying itself with strong friends, this new German world
power has helped to create an international element of self-confident order in
contrast to the meanderings of those dark powers which Mommsen once described
as the enzyme of decomposition for all peoples and all states. It is this new
framework of true cooperation between the peoples which will ultimately be the
downfall of the Jewish-Bolshevist world revolt! This astonishing re-erection of
the German nation and the Reich was achieved-and this fills us all with a
special pride-exclusively by the efforts of our Volk itself. Neither foreign
love nor foreign aid have made us great once more, but the National Socialist
will, our insight, and our work.
The eternal, immortal achievement of the National Socialist Party is that
it was capable not only of mobilizing this mass of millions, but also of
instilling in it a common way of thinking, and of positioning its tremendous
unified bulk hehind the leadership of state. Hence in the coming centuries,
being the highest politically authorized leadership of the German nation, it
shall act as the guarantor of the great future of our Volk. To serve this future
and prepare for it is the aim of our work in the coming year as well.
Let the motto be to strengthen the nation in every area of its life! In
terms of domestic politics, this means reinforcing National Socialist education
and strengthening the National Socialist organization! In terms of economic
policy: increased implementation of the Four-Year Plan! As regards foreign
policy, this will entail the expansion of the German Wehrmacht. For we believe
that it is only as a strong state that we will be able, in such an age of
unrest, to further preserve for our Volk in the future that possession which,
to us, is the dearest of all-peace. For the re-erection of the German nation
has been brought about without launching a single attack beyond our borders,
but instead solely by virtue of our Volk’s accomplishments within them. May the
rest of the world, knowing this, finally do their part in making a contribution
to peacefully solving those problems whose objective and moral justification
lies anchored both in reason and in the basic concept of what is right.
No matter how great the accomplishments of mankind may be, man will never
be able to boast of having achieved final victory if Providence does not bless
his actions. May it be our uttermost request that the mercy of the Lord God
accompany our German Volk in the coming year on its fateful path.
Long live the National Socialist Movement! Long live our German Volk and
Reich!
Munich,
January 1, 1938
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler – speech at the industrial Art Exhibition in the Haus der
Deutschen Kunst
Munich,
January 22, 1938
The merits of every great age are ultimately
expressed in its architecture.
When peoples internally experience great times, they also lend these times
an external manifestation. Their word is then more convincing than the spoken
word: it is the word of stone! As a rule, the environment’s understanding of
great works of creativity more often than not fails to keep pace with the
evolution of these works. It may often be that centuries pass before the
magnitude of an age is understood from the visible documentation its
architecture provides. One good example is this city.
It did not understand the king who once created its greatest edifices, nor
did it understand the edifices which were the product of his spirit. Today this
is assessed differently. We have reason to hope that we, too, will one day be
able to count on such a merciful retrospective assessment. What makes this
exhibition appear so remarkable is the following:
1. This is the first time ever that an exhibition of such scope is being
shown to mankind!
2. This exhibition marks a turning point in time. It documents the
beginning of a new era.
3. Since the construction of our cathedrals, we see here for the first time
a truly great architecture on display, an architecture which does not consume
itself in the service of petty, day-to-day orders and needs, but is instead an
architecture that far surpasses the scope of daily life and its requirements.
It has a right to assert that it will withstand the critical appraisal of
millenniums and remain, for millenniums, the pride of the Volk which created
these works.
4. For this reason there are no projects being exhibited here; instead you
see here plans, some of which are already being turned into reality, some of
which are soon to be commenced. Everything, however, is destined to become
reality-and will become reality!
5. What you see here is not the product of a few weeks’ or a few months’ work,
but the product, in part, of years of effort, albeit which took place secluded
from the public eye. For it is a National Socialist principle not to approach
the public with difficult problems to allow it to debate them, but to first
allow such plans to fully ripen, and then to present them to the Volk.
There are things which cannot be subject to debate. Among these are all the
eternal values. Who would presume to be able to apply his own limited,
commonplace intelligence to the work of really great characters endowed by God?
The great artists and master builders have a right to be removed from the
critical examination of small-minded contemporaries. Their work will be given
its final appraisal and assessment by the centuries, not by the limited understanding
of short-lived apparitions.
Hence all these works did not come to be yesterday or the day before; the
artistic talent of architects both young and old has been trying itself on them
for years now. Furthermore, this exhibition is remarkable first and foremost
because, in it, a series of new names are being disclosed to the nation for the
first time. Here, too, the new state has been fortunate in finding fresh
personifications of its artistic will, and believe me, these names which today
are still unknown to many Germans will one day number among the cultural riches
of the German nation! And finally, do not forget: the curtain is being opened
this very hour-for the first time before the eyes of a large audience-to reveal
works which are destined to leave their mark not on decades, but on centuries!
At this very moment they shall undergo the consecration so splendidly expressed
in the Meistersinger: “Ein Kind ward hier geboren” (here a child was
born). These are architectural achievements of intrinsic eternal value and ones
which will stand forever according to human standards, firm and unshakeable,
immortal in their beauty and in their harmonious proportions! This exhibition
does not, however, show the great picture of the evolution of the Capital of the
Reich and the Capital of the Movement. Neither Berlin nor Munich are exhibiting
the great plans designed to enhance these cities.
They will not be unveiled before the public until their basic planning can
be deemed finished. This exhibition shows more of Nuremberg and a great work in
Hamburg. I cannot cite the names of all the architects here. They were headed
by the master of our time, Professor Troost. A second deceased is represented
here with an eternal work: Professor Ruff from Nuremberg. Then come Gall,
Speer, Brinkmann, Haerter, Giessler, Kreis, Sagebiel, Klotz, and many more.
Of the works exhibited here, the edifices of Nuremberg are, in our opinion,
even now works for eternity: the stadium, the congress hall, the Marzfeld, and
the Zeppelinfeld which has already been completed. From Hamburg, you now see
here for the first time the bridge spanning the Elbe which, in an overall assessment,
can be called the most tremendous bridge complex in the world. From Berlin,
there is essentially only one great new work, the airport. The new Munich
airport as well is already part of the exhibition. KdF and Labor Front are
exhibiting the seaside resort on the island of Rugen and the new KdF steamers.
From Weimar you see the model of an enormous restructuring of this city and,
from the same architect, a great Ordensburg on display. The Wehrmacht is
demonstrating that today its edifices no longer have anything in common with
the type of structure which, in various bad examples from the past, had earned
the name “barracks architecture.” The Luftwaffe, the Army, and the Navy are
also expressing their attitude toward the new state as embodied in their
architecture.
It is a special pleasure for us to see how the German youth movement is
integrating itself artistically in the new state. The Capital of the Movement
and the City of German Art is represented almost exclusively in works which
already exist, and with very few lesser works which are only in the planning
stage. I hope, however, that the coming great works can be exhibited to the
public next year. Arts and crafts have joined these achievements as a fitting
partner.
When I now ask you to view this exhibition, I am at the same time
expressing the hope that you will be followed by hundreds of thousands of
German Volksgenossen who will here take note of what is being planned and
accomplished in Germany. May they thus be able to gauge the greatness of an age
which they are fortunate enough to be able to witness. In this spirit, I hereby
open today’s exhibition to the public.
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