AIMS OF GERMANY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23887, 15 August 1939, Page 10

AIMS OF GERMANY

"A PLACE IN THE SUN" REVELATIONS BY GOEBBELS THE CRY FOR COLONIES " We utter the cry for colonies for your sake, that you and your children may live," Dr Goebbels told several thousand busmen at a mass meeting held in one of Berlin's big bus depots, reported a message to the Manchester Guardian on June 23. He said he had come to speak to them because foreign politics concerned the masses. He started by ridiculing the foreign press—" I have long ago given up trying to teach them better " and added:

" They cnarge us abroad with pursuing an imperialistic policy. If that means that one nation wants to subjugate the whole world then I can say that our policy is not imperialistic. But if it means that a nation tries to secure its place to live, its place in the sun—then we are imperialists. "The position which we hold today does not correspond to our rank. That must be changed. We do not want to live for centuries in a state that was imposed upon us at the moment of weakness of Versailles. The German people did not get its fair share when the world was being distributed. We want colonies and raw materials in order that the poor and not the wealthy may live better. Imposing Armed Force " London must realise that our policy is not the policy of a thin layer but of the people. They want to drive a wedge between the people and its leadership. It is the same policy they pursued in the war. Then the people believed them. But were they treated any better for it? The Germany of to-day is different. Germany has the most imposing armed force in the world. —(Cheers). "The German workmen built the Western fortifications in order to discourage the French from wanting to march on Berlin.—(Cheers.) The others say we should have negotiated. "The British should not pretend to be so very moral. Did they discover their Empire with a rosary? Do they rule in Palestine and India with incense? Britain should concern herself with Palestine and the Far East. We are not aethetes. There is something of the brute force of. our people in us. They cannot bluff us. "Some say your policy is risky. What would have happened if Chamberlain had not come? Ah, but, you see, he did come. "The others can indulge in freedom of speech. We cannot; we must be ruled severely. "I should like to tell the foreign journalists who are present here that if we were not so sensible the overheated German boiler would have • exploded long ago. And the foreign journalists who are present may also report the following to their editorial offices. If they in London, in Paris, in New York, or in Warsaw still have the faintest glimmering of hope that the German people could be separated from their Fuhrer, then this is an illusory hope."—(Cheers.) Fortifications First Dr Goebbels, speaking of domestic matters, said: — "Of course, we could have built flats, but if we built the Western fortifications instead we did it in order to take Memel and Bohemia and Moravia. Flats can wait a few years, but do we know whether in three or four years' time we could have solved the Sudeten, the Bohemian, and Moravian questions? "Britain desires a gesture. We should not have taken the world by surprise. All we want is the satisfaction of our vital needs. We want our stolen colonies back. The other countries should not think that it is veteran colonial soldiers who raise this demand. It is the people who want them. We are not satisfied with mere crumbs. We want enough to live. "War is least likely when one is armed to the teeth. We just wait and let the others come. If a fresh wave of enemy propaganda inundates the German people then I want you to remember this hour. Remain strong even if you do not always understand what happens. When matters come to a breakingpoint the Fuhrer is always right.