Means Used by the Nazi Conspirators in Gaining Control of the German State (Part 1 of 55)
Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
Volume I Chapter VII
I. COMMON OBJECTIVES, METHODS, AND DOCTRINES OF THE CONSPIRACY In 1921 Adolf Hitler became the supreme leader or Fuehrer of the Nationalsozistishe Deutsche arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party), also known as the Nazi Party, which had been founded in Germany in 1920. He continued as such throughout the period covered by the Indictment. As will be shown, the Nazi Party, together with certain of its subsidiary organizations, became the instrument of cohesion among the defendants and their co- conspirators and an instrument for the carrying out of the aims and purposes of the conspiracy. And as will also be shown, each defendant became a member of the Nazi Party and of the conspiracy, with knowledge of their alms and purposes, or, with such knowledge, became an accessory to their aims and purposes at some stage of the development of the conspiracy. A. Aims and Purposes. The aims and purposes of the Nazi conspirators were:
(1) To abrogate and overthrow the Treaty of Versailles and its restrictions upon the military armament and activity of Germany. The first major public meeting of the NSDAP took place in Munich on 24 February 1920. At that meeting Hitler publicly announced the Program of the Party. That program, consisting of 25 points (annually reprinted in the National Socialist Yearbook), was referred to as "The political foundation of the NSDAP and therewith the fundamental political law of the state, and "has remained unaltered" since the date of its promulgation. Section 2 of the Program provided as follows: "We demand equality of rights for the German people with respect to other nations, and abolition of the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain." (1708- PS) In a speech at Munich on 13 April 1923, Hitler said:
"It was no Peace Treaty which they have signed, but a betrayal of Peace. So long as this Treaty stands there can be no resurrection of the German people: no social reform of any kind is possible. The Treaty was made in order to bring 20 million Germans to their deaths and to ruin the German nation. But those who made the Treaty cannot set it aside. At its foundation our movement formulated three demands: [Page 185] 1. Setting aside of the Peace Treaty 2. Unification of all Germans 3. Land and soil (Grund und Boden) to feed our nation." (2405-PS) On August 1, 1923 Hitler declared: "The day must come when a German government shall summon up the courage to declare to the foreign powers:
'The Treaty of Versailles is founded on a monstrous lie.' We fulfill nothing more. Do what you will! If you want battle, look for it! Then we shall see whether you can turn 70 million Germans into serfs and slaves!" (2405-PS; see also additional statements of Hitler contained in 2405- PS castigating those Germans who shared responsibility for the Treaty of Versailles, viz; the "November criminals.")
In his speech of 30 January 1941 Hitler alluded to the consistency of his record concerning the aims of National Socialist foreign policy: "My foreign policy had identical aims. My program was to abolish the Treaty of Versailles. It is futile nonsense for the rest of the world to pretend today that I did not reveal this program until 1933 or 1935 or 1937. Instead of listening to the foolish chatter of emigres, these gentlemen would have been wiser to read what I have written thousands of times. "No human being has declared or recorded what he wanted more than I. Again and again I wrote these words-
'The abolition of the Treaty of Versailles'. *********" (2541-PS) Similar views were expressed by other Nazi conspirators. Rosenberg stated that the lie of Germanys war guilt was the basis of the Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain. He rejected the idea of a "revision" of those Treaties and demanded outright cancellation. (243-PS) Hess, in advocating rearmament in violation of treaty restrictions, stated in 1936 that "guns instead of butter" were necessary lest "one day our last butter be taken from us." (2426-PS) (2) To acquire the territories lost by Germany as the result of World War of 1914-1918, and other territory in Europe asserted to be occupied by so-called "racial Germans." Section I of thee Nazi Party Platform gave advance notice of the intentions of the Nazi conspirators to claim territories occupied by so-called racial Germans. It provided: "We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of the right of self- determination of people." (1708-PS)
[Page 186] While Rosenberg pointed out in 1922 that it was not possible at that time to designate "such European and non-European territories which would be taken into consideration for colonization" he nevertheless stated that the following could be laid down as a basic objective, namely that "*********German Foreign Policy must make its most important primary goal the consolidation of all Germans living closely together in Europe in one state and to secure the territory of what today is the Polish-Czech East." (2433-PS) In his Reichstag speech of 20 February 1928 Hitler said:
"The claim, therefore, for German colonial possession will be voiced from year to year with increasing vigor, possessions which Germany did not take away from other countries, and which today are virtually of no value to these powers, but appear indispensable for our own people." (2772-PS) Again, in his Reichstag speech of 30 January 1939 Hitler declared:
"The theft of the German colonies was morally unjustified. Economically, it was utter insanity. The political motives advanced were so mean that one is tempted to call them silly. In 1918, after the end of the war, the victorious Powers really would have had the authority to bring about a reasonable settlement of international problems. ********* "The great German colonial possessions, which the Reich once acquired peacefully by treaties and by paying for them, have been stolen contrary indeed to the solemn assurance given by President Wilson, which was the basic condition on which Germany laid down her arms. The objection that these colonial possessions are of no importance in any case should only lead to their being returned to us with an easy mind." (2773-PS) (3) To acquire further territories in colonial Europe and elsewhere claimed to be required by "racial Germans" as "Lebensraum" or living space, at the expense of neighboring and other countries. Hitler made it clear that the two objectives of the Nazi conspirators set forth above were only preliminary steps in a more ambitious plan of territorial aggrandizement. Thus he stated: "One must take the point of view, cooly and soberly, that it certainly cannot be the intention of Heaven to give one people fifty times as much space (Grund und Boden) on this earth as to another. One should not permit himself to be diverted [Page 187] in this case by political boundaries from the boundaries of eternal justice.
"The boundaries of 1914 do not mean anything for the future of the German nation. They did not represent either a defense of the past nor would they represent a power in the future. The German people will not obtain either its inner compactness by them, nor will its nutrition be secured by them, nor do these boundaries appear from a military standpoint as appropriate or even satisfactory. *********" (2760. A-PS) While the precise limits of German expansion were only vaguely defined by the Nazi conspirators, they clearly indicated that the Lebensraum to which they felt they were entitled would be acquired primarily in the East. Rosenberg was particularly insistent in his declarations that Russia would have to "move over" to make way for German living space. He underlined this demand as follows: "The understanding that the German nation, if it is not to perish in the truest sense of the word, needs ground and soil for itself and its future generations, and the second sober perception that this soil can no more be conquered in Africa, but in Europe and first of all in the East-these organically determine the German foreign policy for centuries. (2777-PS) "The Russians *********will have to confine themselves so as to remove their center of gravity to Asia." (2426-PS)
A similar view was expressed by Hitler in Mein Kampf:
"If one wanted territory in Europe, this could be done on the whole at the expense of Russia, and the new Reich would have to set out to march over the road of the former Knights, in order to give soil to the German plow by means of the German sword, and to give daily bread to the nation." In Mein Kampf Hitler threatened war as a means of attaining additional space: "If this earth really has space (Raum) for all to live in, then we should be given the territory necessary. Of course, one will not do that gladly. Then, however, the right of self-preservation comes into force; that which is denied to kindness, the fist will have to take. If our forefathers had made their decisions dependent on the same pacifistic nonsense as the present, then we would possess only a third of our present territory. ******* [Page 188]
"In contrast, we, National Socialists, have to hold on steadily to our foreign political goals, namely, to secure on this earth the territory due to the German people. And this action is the only one which will make bloody sacrifice before God and our German posterity appear justified." (2760-A-PS)
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