HITLER SPEAKS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23115, 1 February 1945, Page 5

HITLER SPEAKS

CRISIS WILL BE MASTERED I Appeal To German People By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copvrlgt (7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 30. The gruesome fate which had overcome the Germans in the East would in the end be mastered with extreme efforts and in spite of all setbacks, said Hitler in a speech on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of his becoming Chancellor. “German power and resistance have grown enormously since 1918,” said the Fuhrer. “This is the best guarantee of victory. It is our irrevocable will in this fight against the annihilation of our nation not to shrink from anything.”

Hitler began with his usual historical preamble, dating back to the Treaty of Versailles. He said that Germany had been granted only six years of peace since January 30, 1933, in which she had carried out tremendous achievements which stirred up the jealousy of the democratic world. “During six years we succeeded in restoring the health of the nation so that it became capable of defending itself,” said Hitler. “We had to fill the nation with the spirit of resistance and self-maintenance. To-day, in the East, gruesome fate is exterminating tens and hundreds of thousands of men and women in villages and cities. This fate will in the end be

warded off and mastered because the German people, since 1933, have undergone a spiritual change. If we had today the Germany of the Versailles Treaty, Europe would have been swept away by the storm tides of Central Asia. The relentless struggle against Jewish and Asiatic Bolshevism raged long before the advent to power of National Socialism. If Bolshevism did not over-run Europe in 1920 it failed to do so only because of its inner weakness and lack of adequate arms. There is no need to argue with those fatheads who believe that if undefended, Germany would, by virtue of its harmlessness, never have fallen a party to the Jewish international world conspiracy. The defenceless goose is pot spared by the fox because she is constitutionally incapable of harbouring aggressive intentions. Bolshevism’s attempt to swallow Poland was not relinquished out of pity for Poland, but on account of the lost battle of Warsaw. The attempt to smash Germany was not abandoned because it was no longer considered desirable, but because it proved impossible to eliminate the vestiges of our people’s natural power of resistance. Created by God “Almighty God created our nation,” said Hitler. In defending our existence we are defending His works. That this defence is connected with boundless misery and unprecedented grief and pain is a further instigation to cling to this, our nation. When this most gigantic of all world dramas shall have ebbed down, and the peace bells ring, it will be realised how much the German nation owes to its mental resurrection no less than to its existence in this world.

“A few months and weeks ago the Allied statesmen openly outlined the fate of the German people. Some papers then exhorted them to be cleverer and rather given to promises, even if there was no intention to stick to the promises at a later date. I want, as a ruthless National Socialist and warrior of my nation, to give an assurance once and forever that any attempt to influence National Socialist Germany b;y Wilsonian phrases shows a naivete which is unknown in the Germany of to-day. “England will not be in a position to master Bolshevism," continued Hitler. “Her only development will rather increasingly be one of spiritual disintegration. All the small powers which capitulated, trusting the Allied Powers, are facing extinction. Whether this takes place early or late is absolutely unimportant compared with the inevitability of this (ievelopment. Germany will never suffer this fate. The victory won 12 years ago inside Germany is a guarantee for' this. Whatever the enemy is doing to our towns, hamlets and countryside, or whatever pain he is inflicting on our peoples, it fails in comparison with the unimaginable misery which will engulf us should the Plutocratic-Bolshevik coalition win. Therefore, on the 12th anniversary of seizing power, it is our duty to steel our hearts more than ever, and to retake the sacred oath to wield arms under all circumstances wherever necessary so long as they are crowned by final victory.

Life Determined by Duty

“On this day I would also like to speak about something else,” said the Fuhrer. "As an unknown and unheralded soldier, in defiance of the whole world, I chose my path, and I have pursued it to the end. I came out victorious many times. I have been reported dead, and have been wished dead even more often. The one-sided-ness of my life was predestined by the duty I had. I do not want to leave any doubt about the matter. My present life is being determined solely by the duties which lie upon me. There is only one duty—to work for my people and to fight for them. Only He Who called me to this duty can relieve me of it. On August 20, when a bomb exploded within two metres of me. it was then within the power of Providence to kill me, and put an end to my life’s work. The fact that the Almighty protected me, I regard as confirmation of the mission entrusted to me. I shall therefore continue in the years to come to walk this path of uncompromising struggle for my people. I shall continue undiverted, by misery and peril and, imbued with a sacred conviction that finally the Almighty will not let down the man who wanted nothing throughout life but to save his people from a fate they have not deserved.

“In this hour I appeal to the whole German people, and above all to old comrades and all soldiers to arm themselves with an even greater and tougher spirit of resistance until the day when we, as before, shall place a wreath on the cenotaph bearing the inscriptions: 'Yours are the laurels in spite of everything.’ I expect every German to do his duty to the last. I want to bear every sacrifice demanded of them. I expect every fit German to stake his life in the battle. I expect every indispensable person, sick or infirm, to work to the last ounce of strength. I expect the peasant to provide bread for the soldiers. I expect urban workers to forge weapons for this struggle, and the workers to cut their needs to the utmost. I expect 311 women and girls to continue to support the struggle with the utmost fanaticism. As before, I appeal with particular confidence to youth. By-

forming a sworn community we shall be entitled to face the Almighty and ask His mercy and benediction. People can do no more than that. Everyone able to fight should fight, imbued with the one thought—to secure freedom and honour for the future life of the nation. However grave the crisis, it will be mastered. By our unshakeable will, by readiness to sacrifice and by our powers we shall overcome this calamity. Once ’ again victory will not go to the Asiatic Steppes but to Europe, at whose head will be the nation which for 1500 years has been Europe’s foremost, power—the Greater German Reich." Fuhrer Actually Spoke Hitler spoke for 16 minutes, which is his shortest anniversary speech. The German people were warned of the speech shortly before it began, and this was the only manner in which the anniversary was observed. Instead of the usual parades and joyful demonstrations throughout the country, the Germans all day had been subjected to an endless series of gloomy broadcasts warning them of the nation’s dire distress.

Hitler’s broadcast was “live," and it unmistakeably was his voice. He spoke at furious speed, and his voice was much more lively than in his last broadcast.

A ghost voice was occasionally heard trying to break in. but Hitler did not vary his tone, and never raised his own voice.