HERR HITLER ON RUSSIA

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume 6, Issue 22, 30 October 1936, Page 7

HERR HITLER ON RUSSIA

Resisting Bolshevism DUTY. TO GERMANY

Herr von Ribbentrop, the new' German Ambassador to Great Britain, writes the preface to “Locarno: A Collection of Documents,” edited by Dr F. J. Berber (Hodge, 12/6). Practically all the documents are official, and they are published to give the Englishspeaking world some idea of the aims of Germany in Eastern and Central Europe.

One of the chief documents is a verbatim report of Herr Hitler’s speech to the Reichstag last March. “Public Opinion” quotes the passage about Russia, which makes quite plain Germany’s attitude to Bolshevism. Herr Hitler said: “If my international opponents reproach me to-day that 1 have refused co-operation with Russia, I make them the following declaration : “I do not and did not reject cooperation with Russia but Bolshevism, which lays claim to a world rulersliip. I am German. 1 love and am attached to my nation. I know that this nation can be happy when it can live a life in accordance with its own nature and in its own way. The German nation has' not only wept, but lias laughed heartily throughout its life, and I will not see it descend into the gloom of international communism and the dictatorship of hate. “I tremble for Europe at the very thought of what would, happen to our old and over-populated continent if this Asiatic concept of the world, which is destructive of all our accepted ideals, should be successful in bringing upon us the chaos of the Bolshevic revolution. Perhaps 1 am looked upon as one who is accustomed to issue fantastic or at any rate inconvenient warnings.

“But it is for me a great honour and a justification of my conduct in the eyes of posterity that I am looked upon by the Bolshevic oppressors as one of their greatest enemies. I cannot prevent other States from going the way they think they ought to go, or at least can go, but 1 shall prevent Germany from taking this road to ruin. And I believe that the first step to this ruin is , taken when the Government of a State itself enters into an alliance with the doctrine of destruction. The Fuhrer’s Demand “Should I myself, as a leader o 1 the nation, enter into dose relations Avitli this menace, then I do not see how it would be possible for me to convince the German worker as to the danger of misfortune falling upon Germany in the shape of Bolshevic chaos. With respect to such matters, as statesman and Fuhrer of the German people, I shall myself do everything that I expect and demand from each of my fellow countrymen.” This official case as tp the reason why Germany violated the Locarno Pact is an important volume which students of political affairs cannot afford to ignore.