HITLER'S FINAL APPEAL

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21745, 30 March 1936, Page 11

HITLER'S FINAL APPEAL

“Hand Stretched To The World”

LAST ELECTION

SPEECH

COLOGNE ENTERED IN

TRIUMPH

■ rurrta press association—copyright.) (Received March 23, 10.42 p.m.) COLOGNE. March 28. Heir Hitler was greeted with ter-

rific enthusiasm when he arrived to make his eleventh and last speech in his election campaign in a city which German troops re-entered i nl- three weeks ago for the first t;re wnce 1918.

To-day gala dress flags flew over ra : y house. Official buildings were rovered with garlands and swastikas Street lamp standards bore placards inscribed with a huge “J.”

Crowds from all over Germany bog;.n to arrive at dawn, picnicking (■a the route along which the Fuhrer wa? t‘i drive. Stands were hastily built to accommodate 25,000 people, and were immediately sold out.

Storm Guards and Brown-shirts led the procession to the famous Cathedral square in which is situated the historic Gurzenich where Herr Hitler was speaking. Eighty fiags of the old Rhineland regiments, escorted by guards of honour from ihe new army, followed, and then came delegates from the remilitarised zone.

A special badge was struck in htnour of the event in the form of a swastika inscribed, “The Fuhrer in Cologne. March 28, 1936. The Rhine is free.”

Herr Hitler, standing in a motorcar moving slowly along the principal streets, was pelted with flowers by the crowd, which was estimated at 2,000.000.

"On Free Ground”

Attending a reception, he unexpectedly made a speech in reply to an address of thanks for the liberation of the Rhine. He said: “I thank the 15,000,000 Germans you represent for all the miseries they have suffered for the sake of Germany and on behalf of the German nation. "I am happy to welcome you once more on free ground. The German army is now your protection. We promise never again to renounce our freedom, and we will always defend it. May Gold help us in

this.” The Fuhrer’s closing speech was again heard by radio throughout Germany. He emphasised Germany’s internal decay after the war and her present resurrection, saying: “Germany had lost all confidence and hope. Among those despairing was myself, lying half-blinded in hospital; but men lived who refused to believe that the nation could perish, although Germany had lost everything, even sovereignty over

her own soil. “It was clear that 1918 could not he the last page of German history. Mv task was to find a way to the hearts of millions, to demand sacrifices. to teach everyone to forget completely the past, to free himself from the ties of origin, upbringing, party, state, and creed, and to be nothing but a German. I had to hurt millions of patriotic Germans and millions of international socialists if the nation was not to waste all its energies in murderous internal struggles. The nation could be rebuilt only by idealists.’

Sanctity of Treaties

Turning to foreign relations, Herr Hitler declared: “I hope that the mad campaign of all against all will be ended, and old prejudices overcome. It is useless speaking of the lanctity of treaties made under the menace of rifles. Treaties can only be regarded as holy if they are concluded by equals. “The Question whether Germans tan observe the sanctity of treaties is misplaced. We waited vainly for 17 years for others to observe trea-

ties. We stand by all treaties concluded voluntarily. We cannot build up a new world on sterile views of senile statesmen and jurists, but only on the common sense of the peoples. , “What would the statesmen who • .j. i£ ,t*n

demand symbolic gestures say if we declared that we would come to an understanding with France only after she had symbolically bowed three times? It is unthinkable that this united nation of 67,000,000 people stretches its hand to the world, and the others have nothing to say except to talk about gestures. “If the world does not wish to understand our offer it will have to understand our. constancy in not abandoning our honour and equality, and our determination not to yield an inch of liberty.

Desire for Peace

“I stand tor right and freedom. And I ask you, my people, to support me and to show the world that Germany’s desire for peace as not the desire of a single man but of the whole nation. "We have become a better people in the distress of the last three years. Now we kneel before our Lord and ask Him to permit us to survive to fight for a better world.

A roar of cheering greeted the Fuhrer’s peroration. When it had died down an ancient Dutch thanksgiving hymn, the words of which ■were printed in all the newspapers to make them available to everyone, was broadcast. Millions clustered about thousands of loud speakers erected in towns and villages. A multitude of listeners indoors joined in the final verse, which praises “the Lord of battles,” pleads for safety from enemies, and con-

cludes, “Lord, make us free. ’ , Then church bells throughout the country, which had joined the bells of Cologne Cathedral in heralding Herr Hitler’s arrival for his speech, pealed for a quarter of an hour, according to instructions by Dr. Goebbels (Minister for Propaganda) "for the honour, peace, and freedom pi the German people.”