Volume 4 — Introductory material (continued 13)

The Oath of the Political Director.

The Political Director is sworn in yearly. The oath is worded as follows:

“I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler. I pledge unconditioned obedience to him and the Fuehrers appointed by him.”

The Political Director is inseparably tied to the ideology and the organization of the NSDAP. His oath only ends with his death or with his expulsion from the National Socialist community.

[Page 17]

The Protection of the Honor of the Political Director.

The leading personalities of State and Party are protected against vicious attacks upon State and Party. (See Section 6).

This law primarily protects leading Party members from District Directors on up.

Should, however, a situation exist which is liable to degrade the Party and its institutions (for instance an allegation of embezzlement by a Kreisleiter in which matter nothing was being done which would mean, in other words, that bad conditions were tolerated) the prosecution may be directed by authority of paragraph 1 of the law.

In case of attacks which are liable to degrade the Party and its officers prosecution may be requested through the competent State prosecutor after consultation with the proper law office of the Party.

[Page 19]

The Appointment of Political Directors.

1. The Fuehrer appoints the following Political Directors:

(a) Reichsleiter and all Political Directors to include the Directors of the Women’s Leagues within the Reich Directorate [Reichsleitung].

(b) Gauleiters to include the Directors of an office of the Gau Directorate, as well as the Directors of the Women’s League’s of the Gau.

(c) Kreisleiters.

Their appointment will be published in the official paper [Verordnungsblatt].

2. The Gauleiter appoints:

(a) The Political Directors and the Directors of the Women’s Leagues within the Gau Directorate, and the Directors of the Main Offices up to Associate Directors [Mitarbeiter].

(b) The Political Directors and the Directors of the Women’s Leagues in the Kreis Directorate.

(c) The Local Chapter Directors [Ortsgruppenleiter].

3. The Kreisleiter appoints: The Political Directors and the Directors of the Women’s Leagues of the Local Chapter [Ortsgruppen] to include Block and Cell Directors and Block Helpers, as well as the Political Directors in the factories (inasmuch as they are Party members). All Political Directors and Directors of the Women’s Leagues will be issued an identity card.

[Page 24]

All political directors irrespective of the local chapter, the county, or the district in which they may be in office will wear a uniform office suit.

All political directors irrespective in what party offices they execute their duties, be it in the political directorate, the administration, the party courts, the affiliated associations or in the factories, will wear a uniform office suit.

[Page 49]

MEETINGS OF MEMBERS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS

The bearers of sovereignty of the party are responsible for the membership meetings planned by all party offices and affiliated associations. They will be approved:

1. By the local chapter director if they do not go beyond the local chapter in their importance.

2. By the county directors if they do not go beyond the county in their importance.

3. The district directors if they have a general political significance for the district.

The meetings will be conducted along the lines laid down by the local organization and propaganda offices.

[Page 50]

CELL EVENINGS OF THE NSDAP

1. Time of meetings:

Cell evenings of the NSDAP will be held once a month.

2. Conduct of the Cell Evenings:

The cell evenings of the Party will be conducted by the cell director of the NSDAP. If no suitable cell director is on hand—either because of his short time in office or insufficient indoctrination—the meeting will be in the hands of the local Chapter Director of the NSDAP.

3. Participants:

(a) Participation at a cell evening is compulsory for:

All political directors of the cell:

Block leaders and block helpers, cell foremen and block foremen living within the cell zone.

Factory cell and factory block foremen of the German Labor Front [DAF] and their co-workers.

NSV cell and block managers:

Cell and block leaders of the Women’s League and the co-workers of the NSV and NSF whose domicile is within the Cell Zone.

All Party members within the cell;

All members of organizations of the NSDAP. * * *

5. Program of the Cell Evenings. (During War Time):

Following are the rules for the program of a cell evening:

* * * * * * *

(b) Lecture (not over 30 minutes) based on the directives issued by the Reich Directorate for Propaganda of the NSDAP.

[Page 50A-51]

LEADER CONFERENCES—TIME OF MEETINGS

1. Leader conferences in the local chapter zone.

(a) Local chapter directors and office chiefs, cell directors and block directors possibly in the presence of cell and block foremen, as well as cell and block managers and cell and block directors of the Women’s League, as well as the local leaders of the organizations and possibly the deputies of the Kreis offices (health, education, civil servants, county policy, etc.).

Once a month.

(b) Cell directors with block directors and cell foremen, cell managers and cell directors of the Women’s League.

Once a month.

(c) Block directors with block foremen, block managers, block leaders of the Women’s League and block helpers.

Once a month.

(d) All officers of the local chapter are also to participate in:

1. The official formation within the region of the local chapter (may be combined with leader conference (a)).

2. Official formations of the county.

Every three months.

3. The District Day. [Gautag].

One every three years.

4. The County Day. [Kreistag].

If coinciding with District Day, County Day will be cancelled.

Once a year.

(e) Participation in schooling:

1. Participants: The political directors, foremen, managers, advisers, directors of the Women’s League, etc.

* * * * * * *

Once a month.

(f) Participation in education.

The political directors of the local chapter; in the evenings or Sunday mornings, sport to be conducted concurrently. (For further details see AVM).

Twice a month.

* * * * * * *

2. Leader conferences in the county [Kreis]:

(a) County director and his staff every 8 to 14 days.

(b) If possible the county director is to arrange for a week end course of 1½ to 2 days duration. (Possibly at a county school [Kreisschule], with the participation of the directors of the county offices and local chapter directors.)

One every 3 months.

Purpose: To hear fundamental lectures, to gather socially in the presence of the bearer of sovereignty, to get to know each other, to overcome difficulties of personal and professional nature by a mutual exchange of thought.

In counties having a large number of local chapters, these courses can be divided. Participation in these conventions is compulsory and official duties are not constituted an excuse under any circumstances.

* * * * * * *

(d) The bearers of sovereignty will meet at least once a month with the leaders of the SA, SS, NSKK, HJ, as well as the RAD, and NSFK, in so far as they are located within their sector for mutual orientation.

3. Leader conferences in the District:

(a) District leaders [Gauleiter] with his staff every 8 to 14 days.

(b) It is further absolutely necessary that the directors of the GAU offices will meet with the county directors of their district once every three months for a three day convention (possibly at a district schooling castle) where they will have an opportunity to overcome difficulties of personal and professional nature, apart from hearing fundamental lectures, by social gatherings in the presence of the bearer of the sovereignty, by getting to know each other and by a mutual exchange of ideas. Participation in these conferences is compulsory and duty would not constitute an excuse under any circumstances.

(c) The arrangement of social meeting in the presence of leaders of the organizations of RAD and NSFK of the respective zone of sovereignty. In the course of these meetings differences of opinions may be straightened out in discussions.

(d) The bearer of sovereignty will meet at least once a month with the leaders of the SA, SS, NSKK, HJ, as well as the RAD and the NSFK who are within the zone for the purpose of mutual orientation.

[Page 98]

Bearers of Sovereignty—[Hoheitstraeger].

Sectors of Sovereignty—[Hoheitsgebiete].

Among the Political Directors [Politische Leiter] the Bearers of Sovereignty assume a special position. Contrary to the other Political Directors who have departmental missions and serve as advisers to the Bearers of Sovereignty, the Bearers of Sovereignty themselves are in charge of a geographical sector known as the Sector of Sovereignty [Hoheitsgebiete].

Bearers of Sovereignty are:

The Fuehrer. The District Directors [Gauleiter]. The County Directors [Kreisleiter]. The Local Chapter Directors [Ortsgruppenleiter]. The Cell Directors [Zellenleiter]. The Block Directors [Blockleiter]. The Sectors of Sovereignty are: The Reich. The District. The County. The Local Chapter. The Cell. The Block.

Within their Sector of Sovereignty the Bearers of Sovereignty have sovereign political rights. They represent the Party within their Sector, internally and externally, and they are responsible for the entire political situation within their Sector. The Bearers of Sovereignty supervise all Party officers within their jurisdiction and they are responsible for the maintenance of discipline within their sector. On the other hand, the Directors of the Offices, etc., and of the affiliated organizations are responsible to their respective Bearers of Sovereignty as regards their specific missions apart from their responsibility towards their departmental superiors. The Bearers of Sovereignty are superior to all Political Directors, Managers, etc., within their sector. As regards personal considerations Bearers of Sovereignty, from a Local Chapter Director on up are endowed with special rights. They may, within the provisions of their general directives regarding personnel authorizations, appointments, leaves and dismissal of Political Directors, execute the judgments of the Party law courts which have jurisdiction within their Sector of Sovereignty.

The Bearers of Sovereignty of the Party are not to be administrative officials for a certain sector but are to move in a continuous vital contact with the Political Directors and the population within their sector. The Bearers of Sovereignty are responsible for the proper and good supervision of all members of the nation within their sector. The supervision within a Local Chapter of the NSDAP should, if possible, not be conducted through its business office but through the Blocks and Cells and by the Directors of those units. Through the arrangement of regular interview hours everyone should be given the opportunity to contact his Bearer of Sovereignty.

* * * The Party intends to achieve a state of affairs in which the individual German will find his way to the Party not only in cases of emergency but where the Party, upon its own initiative, as desired by the Fuehrer, will currently supervise and care for all members of the nation.

[Page 70]

POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE SA

The political leaders conduct the practical political work and care for the German nation.

The SA is the instrument of training and education through the Party. The parallel organizations, SS and NSKK, are charged with maintaining physical fitness and soldierly spirit within their organizations and with the possibility of commitment as an inner political troop.

* * * * * * *

Smooth cooperation in the service of the Movement and the avoidance of all petty jealousies is the absolute duty of both parties.

* * * * * * *

Mutual Leader Conferences.

To emphasize unity and to promote it, the following principles will apply:

Hoheitstrager [bearers of sovereignty], gauleiters, kreisleiters, etc., will meet at least once a month with the leaders of the SA, SS, NSKK, and HJ, as well as RAD and NSFK, as found within their zone for the purpose of mutual orientation.

More than that, it is desirable to invite the SA leader to other political Fuehrer talks and the political leader to the SA Fuehrer talks.

* * * * * * *

[Page 71]

The Hoheitstrager is responsible for the entire political appearance of the Movement within his zone. The SA leader of that zone is tied to the directives of the Hoheitstrager in that respect.

Requisitioning the SA.

The Hoheitstrager is the ranking representative of the Party to include all organizations within his zone. He may requisition the SA located within his zone from the respective SA leader if they are needed for the execution of a political mission. The Hoheitstrager will then assign the mission to the SA.

* * * * * * *

Should the Hoheitstrager need more SA for the execution of a political mission than is locally available, he then applies to the next higher office of sovereignty which, in turn, requests the SA from the SA office in his sector.

* * * * * * *

[Page 75]

POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE SS

The directives laid down with regard to the relationship to the SA are similarly applicable to the SS.

* * * * * * *

POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE NSKK

The directives laid down with regard to the relationship to the SA are similarly applicable to the NSKK.

[Page 76]

POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE HJ

The directives laid down with regard to the relationship to the SA are similarly applicable to the HJ.

In appointing leaders of the HJ and the DJ, the office of the HJ must procure the approval of the Hoheitstrager of his zone. This means that the Hoheitstrager can prevent the appointment of leaders unsuited for the leadership of youth. If his approval has not been procured, an appointment may be cancelled if he so requests.

* * * * * * *

The political leader has the right to requisition the HJ, in the same manner as the SA, for the execution of a political action.

* * * * * * *

[Page 76a]

THE POLITICAL LEADERS AND THE NS AVIATION CORPS (NSFK)

General Collaboration.

The ranking unit leader of the NSFK within the zone will be consulted during the general leader conferences by the Hoheitstrager of the NSDAP. Similarly, the Hoheitstrager or his deputy will be invited to general leader conferences and other meetings of the NSFK.

* * * * * * *

[Page 76b]

THE POLITICAL LEADER AND THE REICH LABOR SERVICE

General Collaboration.

Although the Reich Labor Service is no longer an organization within the NSDAP—on the basis of the Labor Duty Law of 26 June 1935—the connection of this service with the Party is demonstrated by the appointment of the Reich Labor Leader to be Reichsleiter of the NSDAP.

To emphasize this union, the leaders of the Reich Labor Service within the zone will participate in the monthly leader conferences of the Hoheitstrager. More than that, it is desirable that the Reich Labor Leader will be invited to other political Fuehrer talks and, vice versa, the political leader to meetings of the Reich Labor Service.

[Page 77]

THE POLITICAL LEADER AND THE STATE

To achieve unity of Party and State, the Chief of the Party Chancellery has been given the powers of a Reich Minister. In fundamental questions, the official channels of all Party offices and organizations of the NSDAP with the ministries and other State authorities and, in the opposite direction, of all State offices with organizations of the Party go through the Party Chancellery. This method will assure unified procedure of the Party towards the State.

The Chief of the Party Chancellery must be heard prior to the appointment of any higher civil servant; he will indicate the judgment of the Party towards the person of the proposed civil servant. To make sure of agreement between the municipal administration and the Party, the deputy of the NSDAP will have a decisive voice in the appointment and dismissal of the mayor, the alderman, and the municipal councillors, and furthermore, in the following decisions of the mayor:

1. The decree of principal directives.

2. The bestowal of honorary citizen rights and honorary titles.

The Chief of the Party Chancellery appoints the deputy of the NSDAP. On the basis of his directives, the gauleiter appoints the deputies as follows: for town and country districts, the kreisleiter. If this official happens to be an employee of a municipality or of an inspectorate, a gau inspector will be appointed. In special cases, the gauleiter may appoint himself as deputy.

[Page 92]

Membership in Affiliated Organizations.

The tasks of the affiliated organizations are laid down by the chief offices of the Party which have jurisdiction in the zone of those organizations.

* * * * * * *

Only those organizations may claim to uphold the Fuehrer principle and the form of National Socialist organization and thus be recognized as promoting the continuation of State and people in the National Socialist sense who have found, and will find in the future, structure, supervision, and general character through the Party.

All others, living an existence of their own, are to be turned away as outsiders and must either change or disappear from public life.

[Page 99]

BLOCK OF THE NSDAP

A. BLOCKLEITER

1. Regional Sector.

The household: The household is the basic community upon which the block and cell system is built. The household is the organizational focal point of all the Germans united in an apartment and including roomers, domestic help, etc.

* * * * * * *

The block of the NSDAP consists of 40 to 60 households (if possible no more than 50).

* * * * * * *

2. Personnel Questions.

a. The blockleiter is Hoheitstrager of the NSDAP.

* * * * * * *

c. Subordination: Within the local chapter the blockleiter is subordinate to the cell leader in disciplinary matters.

d. Appointment: The blockleiter will be appointed by the Ortsgruppenleiter (local chapter director).

* * * * * * *

3. Tasks and Jurisdiction.

The blockleiter has jurisdiction over all matters within his zone relating to the Movement, and he is fully responsible to the cell leader.

* * * * * * *

[Page 101]

It is his duty to find people disseminating damaging rumors and to report them to the Ortsgruppe so that they may be reported to the respective State authorities.

The blockleiter must not only be preacher and defender of the National Socialist ideology towards the members of nation and Party entrusted to his political care, but he must also strive to achieve practical collaboration of the Party members within his block zone and he must make those of special talents and ability known to the Hoheitstrager.

[Page 102]

The blockleiter shall continuously remind the Party members of their particular duties towards the people and the State.

* * * * * * *

Furthermore, the blockleiter completes a list (card file) about the households.

* * * * * * *

[Page 103]

It is the blockleiter’s aim to achieve to the greatest extent possible that the sons and daughters of families within his zone become members of the various formations of the HJ, SA, SS, NSKK, as well as the corresponding affiliated organizations of the Party, and the German Labor Front, that they visit the National Socialist meetings, rallies, celebrations, etc. In short, the blockleiter must be an untiring activist and propagandist of the Movement.

* * * * * * *

In principle, the blockleiter will settle his official business verbally, and he will receive messages verbally and pass them on in the same way. Correspondence will only be used in cases of absolute necessity and practicability.

[Page 104]

5. Attitude Towards Members of the Nation.

* * * * * * *

a. The blockleiter conducts National Socialist propaganda from mouth to mouth. He will eventually awaken the understanding of the eternally dissatisfied as regards the frequently misunderstood or wrongly interpreted measures and laws of the National Socialist government. He is to encourage the members of the nation to ask questions and he is to point out that they may go ahead and talk to him without having to expect difficulties. He will admonish them, however, to exercise discretion towards other members of the nation as regards loose talk. It is not necessary for him to fall in with complaints and gripes about possibly obvious shortcomings of any kind in order to demonstrate this solidarity, but he must always be eager to think in a positive manner and to influence those under his care by his attitude of confidence. * * *

b. A condition to gain the confidence of all people is to maintain absolute secrecy in all matters. * * *

[Page 110]

THE CELL OF THE NSDAP

A. CELL LEADER

1. Regional Sector.

The cell consists of four to eight blocks.

* * * * * * *

2. Personnel Questions.

a. The cell leader is the Hoheitstrager of the NSDAP immediately superior to the block leader.

* * * * * * *

[Page 112]

3. Mission and Jurisdiction.

The missions of the cell leader correspond to the missions of the block leader.

* * * * * * *

[Page 116]

THE LOCAL CHAPTER [ORTSGRUPPE] OF THE NSDAP

1. Regional Sector.

The zone of sovereignty includes one or more communities; if necessary, towns may be subdivided into several zones of sovereignty.

* * * * * * *

[Page 119]

3. The Local Chapter Director.

I. Personnel Questions.

a. The Ortsgruppenleiter of the NSDAP in his capacity as Hoheitstrager is endowed with special rights.

* * * * * * *

[Page 119a]

c. Place of Rank: The Ortsgruppenleiter is directly subordinate to the respective (County Director) [Kreisleiter].

d. Appointment: The Ortsgruppenleiter is appointed by the Kreisleiter.

* * * * * * *

[Page 120]

II. Mission and Jurisdiction.

(1) General Responsibility.

Contrary to the time before the assumption of power, the actions of the NSDAP are not limited to the care of its members but now include the care of the entire German nation. This results in the following basic conditions for the Ortsgruppenleiter and his office chiefs:

The Ortsgruppenleiter and his office chiefs must manage their Party duties in addition to the fulfillment of their professional and family duties.

Therefore, the proper conduct of Party tasks is only possible if the tasks of the individual and, in particular, the honorary co-workers of the Party are as limited as possible.

As Hoheitstrager, all expressions of the Party will emanate from him; he is responsible for the political and ideological leadership and organization within his zone of sovereignty.

The Ortsgruppenleiter carries the over-all responsibility for the political results of all measures initiated by the offices, organizations and affiliated associations of the Party. The Party office directors (office chiefs, etc.) within the staff of the Ortsgruppenleiter are the deputies of the Hoheitstrager in their respective offices.

The Ortsgruppenleiter has the right to protest to the Kreisleiter against any measures contrary to the interests of the Party with regards to a unified political appearance in public.

* * * * * * *

[Page 121]

(2) Special Tasks and Duties.

* * * * * * *

c. Leader Conferences: The Ortsgruppenleiter has the duty to issue directives in regular conferences.

* * * * * * *

[Page 130]

THE KREISLEITUNG OF THE NSDAP

[Page 131]

4. The County Director [Kreisleiter]

I. Personnel Questions.

a. Place of Rank: The Kreisleiter is directly subordinate to the Gauleiter.

* * * * * * *

c. Appointment: The Kreisleiter is appointed by the Fuehrer upon suggestion of the Gauleiter.

[Pages 132-133-134]

II. Mission and Jurisdiction of the Kreisleiter.

The Kreisleiter carries the over-all responsibility towards the Gauleiter within his zone of sovereignty for the political and ideological training and organization of the political leaders, the Party members, as well as the population.

* * * * * * *

[Page 136]

GAULEITUNG OF THE NSDAP

The Gauleitung—Gauleiter and Gau staff—have the political leadership of a designated sector of the Reich and there they perform creative work.

1. Regional Sector.

The Gau represents the concentration of a number of Party counties [Parteikreis].

* * * * * * *

4. The Gauleiter.

The Gauleiter is directly subordinate to the Fuehrer. He is appointed by the Fuehrer.

The Gauleiter bears the over-all responsibility to the Fuehrer for the sector of sovereignty entrusted to him. The rights, duties, and jurisdiction of the Gauleiter result primarily from the mission assigned by the Fuehrer and, apart from that, from detailed directives.

* * * * * * *

[Page 140b]

7 B. Functions.

(1) The edition of the official gazette of the Gauleitung.

* * * * * * *

(3) The central coordination office of the Gau directorate with the State authorities (Reich deputies, police, Gestapo, etc.). The arrangement of conferences between the Gauleiter and offices outside the Party (State, economy, and others) inasmuch as several Gau main offices or Gau offices are interested, in the presence of the respective professional Gau office directors.

(4) The installation of the M Section into the Gau staff office and, thus, the connection to the Armed Forces.

* * * * * * *

(7) Preparation of matters of pardon and commutation of sentence.

* * * * * * *

[Page 141a]

C. Structure.

To be able to handle all these tasks the staff office director of the Gau is assigned the necessary number of co-workers. The above-mentioned tasks of the staff office director of the Gau are combined in the following main offices.

(1) Referee for questions of the Armed Forces (mobilization matters).

(2) Information and report matters.

(3) Pardon matters.

(4) Matters of interior conduct of business in as far as these are not a concern of the Gau treasurer.

(5) Chancellery for personal-official concerns of the Gauleiter and the Deputy Gauleiter.

(6) Law consultant of the Gau.

(7) Complaints and reception of visitors.

[Page 146]

THE FUEHRER

The recognition of the sociological mismanagement in pre-war Germany which prevented the growth of a genuine people’s community, the front line experiences of the World War filled with the spirit of comradeship, and the disgust with the traitorous pacifist postwar Germany, matured the Fuehrer’s decision to become a politician and to give the German people a state form which would assume its justified life interests for centuries.

To achieve this aim the Fuehrer created the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. He filled it with his spirit and his will, and with it he conquered the power of the State on 30 January 1933. The Fuehrer’s will is supreme in the Party. As supreme bearer of sovereignty in the Movement, he possesses the right of pardon in Party court matters.

By authority of the law about the Chief of State of the German Reich, dated 1 August 1934, the office of the Reich President has been combined with that of the Reich Chancellery. Consequently, the powers heretofore possessed by the Reich President were transferred to the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. Through this law, the conduct of Party and State has been combined in one hand. By desire of the Fuehrer, a plebiscite was conducted on this law on 19 August 1934. On this day, the German people chose Adolf Hitler to be their sole leader. He is responsible only to his own conscience and to the German nation.

To assist him, particularly in party-political questions, the Fuehrer uses the Party Chancellery.

The Chief of the Party Chancellery, to guarantee closest collaboration between the offices of the Party and the State authorities, has the powers of a Reich Minister and is a member of the Reich Cabinet.

With the execution of tasks particular to the Party, the Fuehrer has entrusted the Reichsleiter within the Reich Directorate of the NSDAP.

[Pages 148-149]

THE REICH DIRECTORATE OF THE NSDAP

The NSDAP represents the political conception, the political conscience, and the political will of the German nation. Political conception, political conscience, and political will are embodied in the person of the Fuehrer. Based on his directives and in accordance with the program of the NSDAP, the organs of the Reich Directorate directionally determine the political aims of the German people. It is in the Reich Directorate where the strings of the organization of the German people and the State meet. By endowment of the Chief of the Party Chancellery with the powers of a Reich Minister, and by special administrative directives, the penetration of the State apparatus with the political will of the Party is guaranteed. It is the task of the separate organs of the Reich Directorate to maintain as close a contact as possible with the life of the nation through their sub-offices in the Gaus. Observations at the front are to be collected and exploited by the offices of the Reich Directorate.

The structure of the Reich Directorate is thus that the channel from the lowest Party office upwards shows the most minute weaknesses and changes in the mood of the people, and that the directives thereby produced in the Reich Directorate will reach the outer command posts of the Party quickly and clearly.

The Reich Directorate, then, sees to it that the reports of the mood of the people will move from the lower to the higher echelons uninterruptedly and quickly, and that the will of the Fuehrer will reach the most distant branches quickly and accurately, even as in the healthy organism of a tree, where the roots receive the food from the soil and lead it into the leaves while the juices formed in the leaves are being sent to the most distant roots. This coordination guarantees an ever-renewed reception of power and an ever-strengthening anchorage of the roots, and it permits the crown to spread further and further, to reach higher and higher, and yet to withstand wind and weather.

Since the National Socialist Movement has originated from the people, it is the most noble task of the Reich Directorate to watch that the strong roots of the Party—namely its ties within the nation—will not die off.

Another essential task of the Reich Directorate is to assure a good selection of leaders. It is the duty of the Reich Directorate to see that there is leadership in all phases of life, a leadership which is firmly tied to National Socialist ideology and which promotes its dissemination with all its energy.

Apart from the general great political tasks which are the responsibility of the Reich Directorate, it will also see that the Party is well organized in all its offices. For that purpose, the Reich Organization Leader exercises a continuous supervision of the organizations of the entire Party apparatus, and he prevents the birth of a bureaucracy which would paralyze the striking power of the Party. It is the supreme task of the Reich Organization Leader to preserve the Party as a well-sharpened sword for the Fuehrer.

The inner organization of the Reich Directorate serves for the execution of the above-named tasks. The number of its offices is so arranged that there will be a representation of all phases of national life within the Reich Directorate. The offices will have subordinate organizations in the other zones of sovereignty as may become necessary. The tasks, jurisdiction, etc., of the offices are further defined in detail in the following chapters.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1903-PS

Decrees, Regulations, Announcements [Verfuegungen, Anordnungen, Bekanntgaben], Vol. II. Edited by the Party-Chancellery. Published by: Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Frz. Eher Nachf. GmbH., Muenchen. Page 510.

Decree of the Fuehrer on the execution of the decree concerning the Deputy General for the mobilization of labor [Arbeitseinsatz].

In the following the Fuehrer’s decree on the extension of the authority of the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz is made public:

“Decree of the Fuehrer on the execution of the decree concerning the Deputy General for the Arbeitsdienst of 30 September 1942.

I herewith authorize the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Reich-governor and district-leader [Gauleiter] Fritz Sauckel to take all necessary measures for the enforcement of my decree referring to a Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz of 21 March 1942 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, Page 179) according to his own judgment in the Greater German Reich, in the Protectorate, and in the Government General [Generalgouvernement] as well as in the occupied territories, measures which will safeguard under all circumstances the regulated deployment of labor [geordneter Arbeitseinsatz] for the German war-economy. For this purpose he may appoint commissioners [Beauftragte] to the bureaus of the military and civilian administration. These are subordinated directly to Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz, in order to carry out their tasks. They are entitled to issue directives to the competent military and civilian authorities in charge of the Arbeitseinsatz and of wage-policy.

More detailed directives will be issued by the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz.

Fuehrer-Headquarters 30 Sept 1942

The Fuehrer Sign. Adolf Hitler The Reichminister and Chief of the Reich-Chancery Sign. Dr. Lammers The chief of the German High Command Sign. Keitel.”

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1913-PS

1943 REICHSARBEITSBLATT, PART I, PAGE 588

Agreement between the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz and the German Labor Front concerning the care of non-German workers

The Commissioner for the Four Year Plan

The Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz VIc 5783/291

Berlin, 20 Sept. 1943

To the presidents of the Gau employment offices and to the Reich Trustees of Labor as well as to the directors of the employment offices.

AGREEMENT

The following agreement has been concluded between the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter and Reich Governor [Reichstatthalter] Sauckel and the Reichsleiter of the German Labor Front, Reichsorganisation leader Dr. Ley.

1. The German Labor Front, on the basis of decree Nr 4 of the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz of 7 May 1942—GBA 405/42 (Nr 2b) has the sole and exclusive mission of caring for all foreign workers employed within the Reich. Excluded are the farm workers employed in the Reich food administration.

2. The Reichsleiter of the German Labor Front, Reichsorganisationleiter Dr. Ley, in collaboration with the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter Sauckel, will establish a “central inspection” for the continuous supervision of all measures concerning the care of the foreign workers mentioned under 1. This will have the designation:

“Central inspection for the care of foreign workers.”

The central inspection for the care of foreign workers exercises its functions upon directives and in the name of the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz and of the Reichsleiter of the German Labor Front. In order to avoid all duplication of work, it will be its sole responsibility, to scrutinize all measures taken for the care of foreign workers employed in the factories and camps, also to remove immediately all defects discovered—as far as possible—on the spot and to issue the necessary instructions for this.

The authority of the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz to empower the members of his staff and the presidents of the state employment offices to get direct information on the conditions regarding the employment of foreigners in the factories and camps, will remain untouched.

3. The central inspection for the care of foreign workers will be continuously in touch with the main office VI of the Plenipotentiary General for the Arbeitseinsatz. It will instruct the office on the general observations made and will make suggestions for changes, if that should become necessary.

4. The offices of the administration of the Arbeitseinsatz will be constantly informed by the “central inspection for the care of foreign workers” of its observations, in particular immediately in each case in which action of State organizations seems to be necessary.

This agreement becomes effective on the day of its signing.

Berlin, 2 June 1943

Dr. Robert LEY

Fritz SAUCKEL

For the carrying out of this agreement I order the following:

1. The supervision of all welfare measures in the realm of the employment of foreign workers is the sole responsibility of the central inspection for the care of foreign workers. Complaints about bad quarters, food, deficient provision of free time activities and cultural and propagandistic care will in the future be directed by me to the central inspection for investigation and elimination of possible deficiencies. The labor offices and Gau labor offices must direct complaints and protests coming to them to the locally competent office of the German Labor Front.

The central inspection will inform the Plenipotentiary General for Arbeitseinsatz regarding its decisions and the measures instituted by it and their completion.

2. The employment of foreign workers, their identification, equalization between the plants, transfers, supervision of practical and vocationally correct employment in the plant, the promotion of instructional measures to increase production, as well as drafting of the labor-contract regulations, the carrying out of pay regulation measures, and the supervision of the orderly paying of foreign workers, remain as formerly the task of the competent offices of the administration of the Arbeitseinsatz and Reich trusteeship.

3. The directives for the employment of eastern and western laborers given in Va 5780.28/90 of 9 January and Va 5780/196 of 4 February 1943 remain in force with the provision that the labor offices and Gau labor offices and the specialists employed with them for the inspection of camps for eastern laborers need only undertake the tasks mentioned under No. 2.

4. The close interrelationship of the tasks of the Arbeitseinsatz and the care of foreign labor demands, independently of the measures to be effected, for the execution of the above agreement, a constant and close cooperation between the offices of the administration of the Arbeitseinsatz and the offices of the German labor front. If, for example, it is determined in the execution of Arbeitseinsatz measures, that an insufficient labor performance on the part of foreign labor results from absence of welfare work, then the competent agencies of the German Labor Front are to be informed of this without delay so that the latter may effect the correction of existing deficiencies. On the other hand the offices of the German Labor Front will bring to the attention of the competent agencies of the Arbeitseinsatz administrative findings made in the course of their welfare work which require an evaluation from the point of view of the Arbeitseinsatz.

For the adjustment of individual questions of cooperation between the offices concerned and the erection of a permanent exchange of findings the Gau labor offices will enter into negotiations with the appropriate administration [Gauwaltungen] of the German Labor Front and will inform the labor offices on the rulings effected for the districts.

By order

Dr BEISIEGEL

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1914-PS

Decrees, Regulations, Announcements [Verfuegungen, Anordnungen, Bekanntgaben], 1st part, 1943 Edition—Editor: The Party Chancellery. Published by the Central Publishing House of the NSDAP, Franz Eher, successor, Muenchen. Pages 318-320.

AGREEMENT

The following agreement between the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg and the director of the German Labor Front, Reichsorganisationsleiter Dr. R. Ley, was reached today:

I. On the basis of the agreement reached on June 2, 1943, between the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel and the leader of the German Arbeitsfront, Reich Organisationsleiter Dr. R. Ley, concerning a “Central inspection for the care of foreign laborers”, in order to avoid in the future duplication of work and overlapping in plants and camps in which foreign workers are employed or housed, special inspections of the plants and community camps will be effected only by the central inspection. In order to secure cooperation between the Reich Ministry for the occupied Eastern territories and the Central Inspection, a liaison agency will be created in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

II. The Central Inspection for the care of foreign laborers is directed to give upon request the liaison office of the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, all information in questions related to the care of foreigners.

III. If, in special cases, the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories considers that a committee should be dispatched in order to inspect camps and plants, this will be done with the consent and cooperation of a representative of the central inspection for the care of foreign workers.

IV. However, the leader of the liaison agency will have at any time access to the community camps and plants in which workers from the Occupied Eastern Territories are housed or employed. Nevertheless, in these cases too the central inspection will have to be given advance notice of the intended inspections.

V. This agreement comes into force on the day of signing.

AGREEMENT

1. A liaison office of the Propaganda Ministry to the German Labor Front is established in the office of the Arbeitseinsatz between the Reichminister for Enlightenment and Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels and the Director of the German Labor Front, Reichsorganisationsleiter Dr. Ley as the result of the agreement reached on 2 June 1943, between the Deputy General for the Arbeitseinsatz, Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel and the Director of the German Labor Front, Dr. Ley about the establishment of a “Central inspection for the care of foreign laborers”.

2. A similar agency will be created in the Gau administrations between the Reich Propaganda Office and/or the Gau Propaganda Office and the main section of the Arbeitseinsatz of the German Arbeitsfront.

3. The liaison agencies have to see that all the measures for caretaking should be carried out in closest cooperation.

4. In order to secure this cooperation, it will be ascertained that all reports, especially those of the central inspection, should be currently maintained to liaison agents.

5. The liaison agents will be currently notified of the visits to camps and plants effected by the German Arbeitsfront and by the delegates of the Central Inspection; it will be at their discretion to take part in these visits in person or by a representative. In special cases the liaison agent or his representative can also visit camps and plants after notifying the DAF.

6. This agreement comes into force on the day of signing.

Chief of Security Police and SD.

IV D—626/43 (ausl Arb.)

Berlin June 21, 1943 Night Letter!

To the inspectors of the Security Police and of the SD.

Subject: Central inspection for the care of foreign laborers.

For the permanent control of all measures for the care of foreign workers employed in the Reich—except in agriculture—the leader of the DAF has created:

“Central Inspection for the care of foreign labor”, in cooperation with the Deputy General for Arbeitseinsatz.

This Central inspection has the task of supervising all the measures for the care of foreign labor in plants and camps, of correcting the detected flaws right on the spot, as far as possible and to issue the directives which are necessary for this purpose.

The leader of Central Inspection for the care of foreign labor is the Hauptdienstleiter of the NSDAP.

Party member Otto Gohdes.

The erection and tasks of this central inspection will not interfere with the measures for which the Security Police and SD are responsible. The preventive tasks of the police which aims at an orderly treatment and care of foreign laborers to avoid incidents undesirable from the standpoint of the Security Police, will be considerably supported and secured by the central inspection and its delegates. The delegates of the central inspection for the care of foreign laborers are instructed to carry out their activities in close cooperation with the agencies of the Security Police and of the SD, particularly with the State Police (directive) agencies. I request, therefore, that close cooperation be afforded the delegates of the central inspection, that they be strongly assisted and taken everywhere committed, even where the care of foreign laborers does not forward the interests of the Security Police and the SD.

Care of laborers of a German blood.

In order to do justice to the particular position of people of German blood [Volksdeutschen], the DAF—Office of the Arbeitseinsatz—has confidentially instructed its agencies to carry out the care of Volksdeutschen in cooperation with the agencies of the Volksdeutschen information office and to avoid that foreign liaison agencies should take care of the Volksdeutschen workers. In the future, the DAF and the State Labor Office will not submit to the foreign liaison agencies such plants which employ only Volksdeutschen from the country in question.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1915-PS

1938 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 111

Decree concerning the leadership of the Armed Forces, 4 February 1938

From now on, I take over directly the command of the whole Armed Forces.

The former Armed Forces department in the Reichs War Ministry will come directly under my command with all its tasks which it fulfilled under the jurisdiction of the “supreme command of the Army” and my military staff.

At the head of the staff of the supreme command of the Armed Forces is the former Chief of the Armed Forces department as “Chief of the supreme command of the Armed Forces”. He is equal in rank to a Reichs Minister.

At the same time, the supreme command takes the responsibility for the affairs of the Reichs Ministry of War, and by my order, the chief of the supreme command of the Armed Forces exercises the authority formerly belonging to the Reichs Minister.

It is the supreme command of the Armed Forces’ duty to carry out in peace time in accordance with my instructions, the preparation of the defense system of the Reich.

Berlin 4 February 1938

The Fuehrer and Reichs Chancellor Adolph Hitler The Reichs Minister and Chief of the Reichs Chancellery Dr. Lammers The Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces Keitel

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1918-PS

HIMMLER’S ADDRESS TO OFFICERS OF THE SS-LEIBSTANDARTE “ADOLF HITLER” ON THE “DAY OF METZ” (PRESENTATION OF HISTORICAL NAZI FLAG).

Now I would like to bring another matter to your attention. Very frequently the member of the Waffen-SS thinks about the deportation of this people here. These thoughts came to me today when watching the very difficult work out there performed by the Security Police, supported by your men, who help them a great deal. Exactly the same thing happened in Poland in weather 40 degrees below zero, where we had to haul away thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands; where we had to have the toughness—you should hear this but also forget it again immediately—to shoot thousands of leading Poles, where we had to have the toughness, otherwise it would have taken revenge on us later. We also had to bring in, in this winter of 40 degrees below zero, ten thousands of Germans, and had to take care of their needs—that the women were warm; that, when they bore children, these children did not experience want and destitution; where we had to take care of their horses; where we had to take care of the baggage of these poor Germans from Volkynia; all duties where the proud soldier says: “My God, why do I have to do that, this ridiculous job here...!” Gentlemen, it is much easier in many cases—and that I would like to tell you this once, or would like to recall to you, you will gladly admit: in many cases it is much easier to go into combat with a company than to suppress an obstructive population of low cultural level in some area with a company, or to carry out executions, or to haul away people, or to evict crying and hysterical women, or to return our German racial brethren across the border from Russia and to take care of them. I want to tell you: In the entire Waffen-SS we must begin to view the other great activity of the entire SS [Gesamt-SS] and entire police. We must see to it that you consider the activity of the man in green uniform as just as valuable as the activity you yourself are engaged in. You have to consider the work of the SD man or of the man of the Security Police as a vital part of our whole work just like the fact that you can carry arms. You are the ones to be envied, because if you do something, if a unit achieves fame, then one can talk of fame, and it can be decorated. It is much more difficult in many other positions—and with that I do not want to underestimate your achievements; I would be the last one to do that—but, believe me, in many places it is much more difficult, this silent work-compulsion, this silent activity, this standing guard over our ideology, this necessity of remaining steadfast, this necessity of not compromising is very much more difficult in places. Now I want to tell you something else; I mentioned before that we absolutely were in danger of suffocating within ourselves, within the leadership corps [Fuehrerkorps]. There did not seem to be a way out. Either we would have become senile or we had to kick the people out too soon. Today, in the future, in time of peace, the possibility does not exist that a man, or a leader, provided he is worth his salt, does not perform valuable work in some position or that satisfactory work is not assigned to him. Of course we will do it in such a way—let there be no doubt about it—that we put the most capable ones into each position. In other words, if there are four company commanders, the most capable one will be promoted to battalion commander, the one who is best fitted for that activity. The other three, or the other 2, will be utilized in some activity which is just as valuable, but for which he is better adapted. In general, everyone should understand that the course of the past two years, which were pure war years with preparation for war, are of course not completed, education for Political Officers will become much more strongly emphasized. I would like to use this word for once, Political Leader, Political Officer. A period will commence where someone will be platoon leader in the Waffen SS for 3 or 4 years. During that time he will attend this training course or that, and already as a young leader he will come to know the sphere of activity of all other branches in the SS, in courses lasting 6 to 8 weeks. From the beginning it will then happen that mutual understanding sets in, mutual esteem and the absolute conviction that the duties of the other guy are very, very difficult, and are very, very valuable. On the other hand, I will not allow any branch to grow where the leading men, the members of the Fuehrercorps, are not at least reserve leaders of the Armed SS and did not get at least far enough to be able to lead a company as reserve leader. This way coherence will be achieved which is necessary. I believe that you can get an idea from what I said to the men today—and you as leaders can add to it by drawing your own conclusions—what the entire SS will have to do in order to secure our Reich, I mean in the first place with respect to ideology and safeguarding of the race [Blut] by settlements and extending of our Lebensraum, with respect to the work in colonies, and we shall have garrisons far away in South-Africa, and we shall have garrisons in the Arctic winter, as we have not in Kirkenes, that is up there on the North cape we are also going to have a garrison of a few battalions, we shall have garrisons on the Bug, and we shall now have garrisons in the West, where certainly Metz will not be the most distant western frontier. If we think the right way, some things will be of decisive importance. You would be surprised if I wanted to carry out immediately after the war when peace begins with an iron hand what I indicated today in my class with the men, that we must win the peace and be hard against ourselves. The first two years of peace will be decisive for our future. After victory we must nowhere become megalomaniacs, we must not relax in any respect but we must start an unheard-of education of ourselves. It is necessary, that obedience be granite-like, or else it would be impossible to have distant garrisons like Kirkenes which at times cannot be reached even by modern means, or colonial garrisons, if the officers there, the leader there, does not act strictly [eisern] in accordance with his orders and would take any consequences rather than disregard in any way an order, a basic order, given.

We shall have to do one thing: After the war we shall apply an unheard-of discipline against ourselves as far as external values are concerned they also are important. Whether it concerns our clothes or anything else, because you see, it is a great plus and a great danger at the same time, that what we are doing after the war, during Adolf Hitler’s life, will live on for centuries to come, and if we make a mistake, the mistake will live on for centuries, because silly descendants will say: “Yes this is what they did in Adolf Hitler’s time, consequently we must act likewise!” If we strike up a wrong tune, this wrong tune will resound through centuries. And mistakes unfortunately do grow in dimension the longer they are continued. Therefore, it is necessary that we train ourselves in the future in an unheard-of way. I believe it is not the right thing for us to do to discuss these worries which I have with each one of you separately. The one or the other among you who talks here and there like a fool and believes he must talk wildly in the Cassino might say: “For Heaven’s sake, those people up there don’t know, they have not the slightest idea!” Our idea goes very far and I know exactly what is going on within the troop, know exactly what they think and how they feel. You must also consider the following: I cannot concentrate my mind solely on—now, please don’t become conceited—the most splendid part of the SS because it is the most positive part and because the trade you are following is the most positive and most manly, I cannot do that, I must always have the entire SS in my mind.

If I did not see this part, I would deny life to this most positive and most manly part of our activity; i.e., the Armed SS. I would deny your life. Because this armed SS will live only if the entire SS is alive. If the entire corps is actually an order which lives according to these laws and realizes that one part cannot exist without the other—you are unimaginable without the general SS, and the latter is not imaginable without you. The police is not imaginable without the SS, nor are we imaginable without this executive branch of the state which is in our hands. The Fuehrercorps is not imaginable without the national-political institutions of education which we are building up now, and vice versa we cannot fill up our ranks without contact with the youth, we cannot exist without the business enterprises. A field which probably is unknown to most of you because nothing has ever been said about it. I want to tell you just a little bit of it: The apartment-building program which is the prerequisite for a healthy and social basis of the entire SS as well as of the entire Fuehrercorps can be carried out only when I get the money for it from somewhere; nobody is going to give me the money, it must be earned, and it will be earned by forcing the scum of mankind, the prisoners, the professional criminals to do positive work. The man, guarding these prisoners, serves just as hard as the one on close-order drill. The one who does this and stands near these utterly negative people will learn within 3 to 4 months * * * and we shall see: In peacetime I shall form guard-battalions and put them on duty for 3 months only—to fight the inferior being [Untermenschentum], and this will not be a boring guard duty, but if the officers handle it right, it will be the best indoctrination on inferior beings and the inferior races. This activity is necessary, as I said, 1. to eliminate these negative people from the German people, 2. to exploit them once more for the great folk community by having them break stones and bake bricks so that the Fuehrer can again erect his grand buildings and 3. to in turn invest the money, earned soberly this way, in houses, in ground, in settlements so that our men can have houses in which to raise large families and lots of children. This in turn is necessary because we stand or die with this leading blood of Germany and if the good blood is not reproduced we will not be able to rule the world. Please understand: We would not be able to hold the great Germanic Reich which is about to take shape. I am convinced, that we can hold it, but we have to prepare for that. If we once had not enough sons those who will come after us will have to become cowards. A nation which has an average of 4 sons per family can venture a war: if 2 of them die, 2 transplant the name. The leadership of a nation having one son or two sons per family will have to be faint-hearted at any decision on account of their own experience because they will have to tell themselves: We cannot afford it. Look at France, which is the best example. France had to accept from us a dictate. It could no longer dictate to us because they could not continue. All the things which sometimes seem strange to you because other things were more urgent during the last 2 years, because I could not explain them sufficiently to you, the leaders, because sometimes I did not explain them to you in order not to make too public what was just starting life, so that the tender nursling would not be pulled out by people who don’t like us. I preferred that very often not even my own troops knew anything about it and let the small nursling secretly grow into a small tree. Then when it is big, nowadays everything is big, now the trees are not being uprooted. Everything that seemed strange to you: “Why do we have to contribute to the spring of life [Lebensborn]?” “Why do we have to join the saving’s cooperative?” “Why do we have to do this and to do that?” If anything like that turns up, I demand from you in future:

In the first place be SS men who have the creed that everything being done is all right. One piece fits the other, even if you don’t recognize it beforehand, even if it does not appear at first sight that they fit each other. In the end, everything will be all right. The ultimate aim for those 11 years during which I have been the Reichsfuehrer SS has been invariably the same: To create an order of good blood which is able to serve Germany. Which unfailingly and without sparing itself can be made use of because the greatest losses can do no harm to the vitality of this order, the vitality of these men, because they will always be replaced. To create an order which will spread the idea of nordic blood so far that we will attract all nordic blood in the world, take away the blood from our adversaries, absorb it so that never again, looking at it from the viewpoint of grand policy, nordic blood in great quantities and to an extent worth mentioning will fight against us. We must get it and the others cannot have it. We never gave up the ideas and the aim conceived so many years ago. Everything we did has taken us some distance further on the way. Everything we are going to do will lead us further on the way. It can only be carried out, if everyone of us looks beyond the things he likes in his activity, his company, his regiment—and you are supposed to love it you may be proud of it—looks beyond it towards the great common goal, here the SS, and the SS also is only a means to an end, always the Reich, the ideology, created by the Fuehrer, the Reich, created by him, the Reich of all teutons.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1919-PS

Speech of the Reichsfuehrer-SS at the meeting of SS Major-Generals at Posen October 4th, 1943

The 1941 attack

In 1941 the Fuehrer attacked Russia. That was, as we can well see now, shortly,—perhaps 3 to 6 months—before Stalin prepared to embark on his great penetration into Central and Western Europe. I can give a picture of this first year in a few words. The attacking forces cut their way through. The Russian Army was herded together in great pockets, ground down, taken prisoner. At that time we did not value the mass of humanity as we value it today, as raw material, as labour. What after all, thinking in terms of generations, is not to be regretted, but is now deplorable by reason of the loss of labour, is that the prisoners died in tens and hundreds of thousands of exhaustion and hunger [p. 3].

It is basically wrong for us to infuse all our inoffensive soul and spirit, our good-nature, and our idealism into foreign peoples [p. 22]. This is true since the time of Herder who clearly wrote “Voices of the Nations” [Stimmen der Voelker], in a state of drunkenness, thereby bringing [p. 23] on us, who come after him, such immeasurable sorrow and misery. This is true for instance, of the Czechs and the Slovenes to whom we gave their consciousness of nationality. They were just not capable of it themselves; we had to discover it for them.

One basic principle must be the absolute rule for the SS man: we must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood and to nobody else. What happens to a Russian, to a Czech does not interest me in the slightest. What the nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type, we will take, if necessary by kidnapping their children and raising them here with us. Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death [verrecken—to die—used of cattle] interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our Kultur; otherwise, it is of no interest to me. Whether 10,000 Russian females fall down from exhaustion while digging an anti-tank ditch interests me only in so far as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is finished. We shall never be rough and heartless when it is not necessary, that is clear. We Germans, who [p. 24] are the only people in the world who have a decent attitude towards animals, will also assume a decent attitude towards these human animals. But it is a crime against our own blood to worry about them and give them ideals, thus causing our sons and grandsons to have a more difficult time with them. When somebody comes to me and says, “I cannot dig the anti-tank ditch with women and children, it is inhuman, for it would kill them,” then I have to say, “You are a murderer of your own blood because if the anti-tank ditch is not dug, German soldiers will die, and they are sons of German mothers. They are our own blood.” That is what I want to instil into the SS and what I believe have instilled into them as one of the most sacred laws of the future. Our concern, our duty is our people and our blood. It is for them that we must provide and plan, work and fight, nothing else. We can be indifferent to everything else. I wish the SS to adopt this attitude to the problem of all foreign, non-Germanic peoples, especially Russians. All else is vain, fraud against our own nation and an obstacle to the early winning of the war.

Foreigners in the Reich

We must also realize that we have 6 to 7 million foreigners in Germany. Perhaps it is even 8 million now [p. 43]. We have prisoners in Germany. They are none of them dangerous so long as we take severe measures at the merest trifle. It is a mere nothing today to shoot 10 Poles, compared with the fact that we might later have to shoot tens of thousands in their place, and compared to the fact that the shooting of these tens of thousands would then be carried out even at the cost of German blood. Every little fire will immediately be stamped out and quenched, and extinguished,—otherwise—as in the case of a real fire—a political and psychological surface-fire may spring up among the people.

The Communists in the Reich

I don’t believe the Communists could attempt any action, for their leading elements, like most criminals, are in our concentration camps. And here I must say this—that we shall be able to see after the war what a blessing it was for Germany that, in spite of all the silly talk about humanitarianism, we imprisoned all this criminal sub-stratum of the German people in concentration camps: I’ll answer for that. If they were going about free, we should be worse off. For then the sub-humans would have [p. 44] their NCOs and Commanding Officers, then they would have their councils of workers and military. As it is, however, they are locked up, and are making shells or projectile cases or other important things, and are very useful members of human society.

The SS in wartime

Now I come to our own development, to that of the SS in the past months. Looking back on the whole war, this development was fantastic [p. 51]. It took place at an absolutely terrific speed. Let us look back a little to 1939. At that time we were a few regiments, guard units [Wachverbaende] 8 to 9,000 strong,—that is, not even a division, all in all 25 to 28,000 men at the outside. True, we were armed, but really only got our artillery regiment as our heavy arm two months before the war began. We will recapitulate which tasks, which duties, and which assignments we have been given in the last 4½ years. But first I would like to enumerate and make known once more some outward changes.

Changes in Personnel

The following changes have taken place at the Main Offices:

Our comrade, SS Lieutenant General Kaltenbrunner has succeeded our fallen friend Heydrich. Unfortunately he is ill today. He has phlebitis, but it is, I am glad to say, not dangerous. That [p. 52] is why he could not come.

Our old friend Daluege has such severe heart trouble that he has to undergo courses of treatment and now has to retire from active service for 1½ to 2 years.—I would like this evening to send our two friends, Daluege especially, and Kaltenbrunner too, a teleprint or a telegram in the name of all of us. As I have said, we may hope that Daluege will have recovered in about two years, and can then return to the front and get into harness.

SS Lieutenant General Wuennenberg is in charge as his deputy. He has been in charge of the police division up till now, and was then appointed to be Officer Commanding IVth SS armored corps. He is General of the Waffen-SS and the police, and is in charge of the uniformed regular police [ordnungspolizei] as their Head.

SS-Gruppenfuehrer Breithaupt has succeeded our old comrade and friend Scharfe as Chief of the SS-court of justice.

SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Hofmann has made a change. He has given up the Main office for race and settlement [Rasse—u. Siedlungshauptamt] and has become Senior Executive SS and Police Officer [Hoehre SS—und Polizeifuehrer] for the South-West.

SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Hildebrandt has left Oberabschnitt Weichsel, and has become Chief of the Main Office for race and settlement [p. 53].

SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Schmidt has left the Head Office for Personnel at his own request and has joined my personal staff for special duties. He is succeeded by SS-Gruppenfuehrer von Herff.

One of my closest and most long-standing colleagues, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff, has now, I am glad to say, recovered completely from a severe illness which greatly endangered his life—(it was an operation for removing stones from the kidney)—and is now,—this is a new appointment—Supreme Executive SS and Police Officer for the whole of occupied Italy. He therefore has charge of 25 to 30 million people. Under him he has SS-Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik as Senior Executive SS and Police Officer for the coastal area. He too could not come today.

Senior Executive SS and Police Officers have since been appointed as follows: for Croatia—Kammerhofer, who on account of the Croatians is not called Senior Executive SS and Police Officer, but Commissioner of the Reichsfuehrer SS; for Serbia, Meyszner was appointed earlier, for Greece—[p. 54] Stroob at the moment but—I would like to tell you this now—I am transferring him from there to Schimana. Officials in Greece will become Senior Executive SS and Police Officers, and thus not command the Galician SS—Volunteer Division. SS-Gruppenfuehrer Pancke is to become Senior Executive SS- and Police Officer for Denmark.

Chief of the Anti-partisan Units [Bandenkampf-Verbaende]

In the meantime I have also set up the department of Chief of the anti-partisan units [p. 57]. Our comrade SS-Obergruppenfuehrer von dem Bach is Chief of the anti-partisan units. I considered it necessary for the Reichsfuehrer SS to be in authoritative command in all these battles, for I am convinced that we are best in a position to take action against this enemy struggle, which is a decidedly political one. Except where the units which had been supplied and which we had formed for this purpose were taken from us to fill in gaps at the front, we have been very successful.

It is notable that, by setting up this department we have gained [p. 58] for the SS in turn a division, a corps, an army, and the next step, which is the High Command of an army or even of a group—if you wish to call it that.

Regular uniformed Police and the Sipo

Now to deal briefly with the tasks of the regular uniformed police and the Sipo. They still cover the same field. I can see that great things have been achieved. We have formed roughly 30 police regiments from police reservists and former members of the police—police officials as they used to be called. The average age in our police battalions is not lower than that of the Security battalions of the Armed Forces. Their achievements are beyond all praise. In addition, we have formed Police Rifle Regiments by merging the police battalions of the “savage peoples”. Thus we did not leave these police battalions untouched but blended them in the ratio of about 1:3. That is why we have, at the present moment of crisis, a far greater stability than could be seen among the other units made up of natives or local inhabitants.

SS-industrial concerns

I now come to other individual great spheres of activity, of which it is important for you all to know [p. 63]. We have huge armament works in the concentration camps. This is the sphere of activity of our friend SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl. Every month we put in many millions of hours of work for armaments. We tackle the most thankless tasks and—I must give this its [p. 64] due—whether in the concentration camps, in Pohl’s industrial works, or outside at the offices of the Senior Executive SS and Police Officers or in the workshops of the Head Office of SS administration, one thing is obvious: wherever we are, we are SS-men. Where things are in a bad way, we act. I want every subordinate trained to this end. We want to help, unhampered by quibbles regarding authority, for we want to win the war. What we are doing, we are doing for Germany. Whether it is a question of building a road, if a tunnel is not going ahead somewhere, or if it is an invention which for sheer red-tape does not come to fruition, or anything else; where we can get to work, we get to work. What we are doing in our armament works will be a remarkable and noteworthy achievement, even if we can only assess it and prove it when the war is ended.

The Clearing out of the Jews

I also want to talk to you, quite frankly, on a very grave matter. Among ourselves it should be mentioned quite frankly, and yet we will never speak of it publicly. Just as we did not hesitate on June 30th, 1934 to do the duty we were bidden, and stand comrades who had lapsed, up against the wall and shoot them, so we have never spoken about it and will never [p. 65] speak of it. It was that tact which is a matter of course and which I am glad to say, is inherent in us, that made us never discuss it among ourselves, never to speak of it. It appalled everyone, and yet everyone was certain that he would do it the next time if such orders are issued and if it is necessary.

I mean the clearing out of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish race. It’s one of those things it is easy to talk about—“The Jewish race is being exterminated”, says one party member, “that’s quite clear, it’s in our program—elimination of the Jews, and we’re doing it, exterminating them.” And then they come, 80 million worthy Germans, and each one has his decent Jew. Of course the others are vermin, but this one is an A-1 Jew. Not one of all those who talk this way has witnessed it, not one of them has been through it. Most of you must know what it means when 100 corpses are lying side by side, or 500 or 1000. To have stuck it out and at the same time—apart from exceptions caused by human weakness—to have remained decent fellows, that is what has made us hard. This is a page of glory in our history which has never been written and is never to be [p. 66] written, for we know how difficult we should have made it for ourselves, if—with the bombing raids, the burdens and the deprivations of war—we still had Jews today in every town as secret saboteurs, agitators and trouble-mongers. We would now probably have reached the 1916/17 stage when the Jews were still in the German national body.

We have taken from them what wealth they had. I have issued a strict order, which SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl has carried out, that this wealth should, as a matter of course, be handed over to the Reich without reserve. We have taken none of it for ourselves. Individual men who have lapsed will be punished in accordance with an order I issued at the beginning, which gave this warning: Whoever takes so much as a mark of it, is a dead man. A number of SS men—there are not very many of them—have fallen short, and they will die, without mercy. We had the moral right, we had the duty to our people, to destroy this people which wanted to destroy us. But we have not the right to enrich ourselves with so much as a fur, a watch, a mark, or a cigarette or anything else. Because we have exterminated a bacterium we do not want, in the end, to be infected by the bacterium and die of it. I will not see so much as a small area of sepsis appear here or gain a [p. 67] hold. Wherever it may form, we will cauterize it. Altogether however, we can say, that we have fulfilled this most difficult duty for the love of our people. And our spirit, our soul, our character has not suffered injury from it.

The bearing of the SS-man

If I make a statement for us all and in the presence of all of us of all that we have done this year in the form of—I would almost say—a statement of accounts, then there is one thing that I must not overlook and pass over: the significance of the bearing of the SS-man.

The Principle of Selection

We are a product of the law of selection [p. 70]. We have made our choice from a cross-section of our people. This people came into being aeons ago, through generations and centuries, by the throw of the dice of fate and of history. Alien peoples have swept over this people and left their heritage behind them. Alien blood-streams have flowed into this people, but it has, nevertheless in spite of terrible hardships and terrible blows of fate, still had strength in the very essence of its blood to win through. Thus this whole people is saturated with, and held together by Nordic-Phalian-Germanic blood, so that after all one could, and can, still speak of a German people. From this people, of such varied hereditary tendencies, as it emerged from the collapse after the years of the battle of liberation, we have now consciously tried to select the Nordic-Germanic blood, for we could best expect this section of our blood to contain the creative, heroic and life-preserving qualities of our people. We have gone partly by outward appearances, and for the rest have kept these outward appearances in review by making constantly new demands, and by repeated tests both physical and mental, both of the character and the soul. Again and again we have sifted out and cast aside what was [p. 71] worthless, what did not suit us. Just as long as we have strength to do this will this organization remain healthy. The moment we forget the law which is the foundation of our race, and the law of selection and austerity towards ourselves, we shall have the germ of death in us, and will perish just as every human organization, every blossom in this world does some time perish. It must be our endeavour, our inner law, to make this blossoming and fructifying last for our people as long as possible, bringing as much prosperity as possible, and—don’t be alarmed—if possible for thousands of years. That is why, whenever we meet and whatever we do, we must be mindful of our principle: blood, selection, and austerity. The law of nature is just this: What is hard is good; what is vigourous is good; whatever wins through in the battle of life, physically, purposefully and spiritually, that is what is good—always taking the long view. Of [p. 72] course sometime—and this has happened often in history—someone can get to the top by deceit and cheating. That makes no difference to nature, to the fate of the earth, to the fate of the world. Reality, that is, Nature, Fate, removes the impostor after a time—time not reckoned in generations of man but in historical periods. It must be our endeavour never to deceive ourselves, but always to remain genuine, that is what we must continually preach and instill into ourselves, and into every boy and each one of our subordinates.

The SS after the war

One thing must be clear, one thing I would like to say to you today: the moment the war is over, we will really begin to weld together our organization, this organization which we have built up for 10 years, which we imbued and indoctrinated with the first most important principles during the 10 years before the war. We must continue to do this—we,—if I may say so, we older men—for twenty years full of toil and work, so that a tradition 30, 35, 40 years, a generation, may be created. Then this organization will march forward into the future young and strong, revolutionary and efficient to fulfill the task of giving the German people, the Germanic people the super-stratum of society which will combine and hold together this Germanic people and this Europe, and from which the brains which the people needs for industry, farming, politics, and as soldiers, statesmen and technicians, will emerge. In addition this super-stratum must be so strong and vital that every generation can unreservedly sacrifice two or three sons from every family on the battlefield, and that nevertheless the continued flowing of the bloodstream is assured.

The Virtues of the SS-Man

I will speak now of the most important virtues which I began years ago to preach and to impress on this organization, on this whole General-SS [Allgemeine-SS]—for that is the basis of this organization—and which are just now in the 5th year of war of such decisive significance and importance.

1. Loyalty

We have, I am glad to say, not had a single case among our ranks so far, of an SS-Man being disloyal. Let this one thing be our guiding principle: If within the sphere of your knowledge there is ever anyone who is disloyal to the Fuehrer or to the Reich, even if it is only in thought, you must see to it that this man is thrown out of the organization and we will see to it that he departs this life [p. 74]. For everything,—I have said this one already and repeat it today,—everything can be forgiven in this world, but one thing cannot be forgiven among us Teutons: that is disloyalty. It would be unforgivable and is unforgivable. Downfalls, like the downfall of Badoglio in Italy must not and will not happen in Germany. The name Badoglio will in future be the name for bad dogs, the name of abuse for four-legged mongrel curs, just as in the olden days the name Thersites was the name of abuse for traitors.—We can only say one thing and preach it constantly: Let the German people show, by unparalleled and wholehearted loyalty on the part of each one of its men and each one of its women that is worthy of being permitted to live at the time of an Adolf Hitler, and worthy of this leader having arisen for it, who has dedicated his life full of care, full of responsibility, full of work, to our German Teutonic people.

2. Obedience

Obedience is demanded and given in the soldier’s life morning, noon, and night. And the little man always obeys or usually does. If he does not, he is put in prison. The question of obedience in [p. 75] the case of senior officials in the state, party and the army, and even here and there in the SS, is more difficult. I would like here to state something clearly and unequivocally: It is a matter of course that the little man must obey. It is even more a matter of course that all the senior leaders of the SS, that is, the whole corps of Gruppenfuehrer, are a model of blind obedience. If anyone thinks that an order is based on a misunderstanding on the part of the superior or on a false basis it goes without saying that it is his duty and responsibility—that is, the duty and responsibility of every one of you—to say so, and also to state his reasons truthfully like a man if he is convinced that they deprecate the order. But the moment the superior concerned or the Reichfuehrer-SS—that applies to the Corps of Gruppenfuehrer in most cases—or even the Fuehrer has made the decision and given the order, it must be carried out, not only in word and letter, but also in spirit. Whoever carries out the order must do so as a good steward, as a true representative of the authority giving the command. If you thought at first that this would be right and that that would not be right or even wrong, then there are two alternatives. Thus if a man thinks that he cannot be answerable for obeying an order, then he should say quite honestly: [p. 76] I cannot be answerable for it. I beg you to excuse me from it. Then the order will usually be: You must still carry it out. Or you think: his nerve has gone he’s weak. Then you can say: Good, retire on a pension. But orders must be sacred. If the Generals obey, then the armies obey automatically. The more our territory grows, the more does this sacredness of orders apply. It was not all difficult to enforce an order in our little Germany. But to enforce an order once we—and I am convinced of this—have garrisons in the Urals,—that is more difficult. Here it will not always be possible to make sure that the order is carried out. Our controlling authority may not, may never be,—as in Russia—the Commissar. The only Commissar we have must be our own conscience, devotion to duty, loyalty, obedience. If you lead the way with this example, gentlemen, every subordinate will follow this example. But you will never be able to demand obedience of your men if you do not give the same obedience to authority over you, and give it blindly and without reserve.

3. Bravery

To bravery, I think we need least to exhort ourselves, for our leaders and men are brave [p. 77].

4. Truthfulness

I now come to a fourth virtue, which is very rare in Germany, to truthfulness. One of the greatest evils which has spread during the war is the lack of truthfulness in messages, reports, and statements which subordinate departments in civil life, in the state, the party and the Services send in to the departments over them. The message, the report is the basis of every decision. It is actually the fact that one can now in many spheres assume in wartime that 95 out of 100 messages are untrue or only half true or semi-correct [p. 80].

While on the subject of truthfulness I now come to another matter [p. 83]. It must so come about in war and in peace—in peace this will be above all a training task—that we SS-men no longer conclude written agreements, but that among us, as used to be the case formerly, the giving of one’s word and the hand-shake signify the contract, and that the hand-shake of one SS-man is—if necessary—certainly for 1 million or more. It must so happen that the hand-shake or the promise of an SS-man is more proverbially reliable than mortgage upon the greatest value of anybody else’s. It must be so!

If we conclude agreements, we must keep them. If I make a contract with an agent, even with a blackguard, I keep the contract. I take my stand unreservedly on this point of view. If I announce in the Generalgouvernement, that anyone who informs against a Jew who has sought shelter and gone into hiding, shall have a third of the Jew’s property, then it often happens that Secretary Huber or Second Lt. (SA) Huber who—when he can—makes illegal trips, or does not hesitate [p. 84] to order a new telephone or new pencils, who, that is, never saves,—suddenly begins to save for the German Reich. He says for instance: This Jew has 1200 RM. What, that means I would have to pay out to the Pole who denounced him 4000 RM. No, I’ll save that for Germany. The Pole shall only get 400 RM. So a little man goes and breaks the promise of a whole organization. That sort of thing should be impossible.

If we make a promise, it must be kept. If one Reichsfuehrer-SS pledges to anyone support for his organization—as may very often be the case now in the Balkans—this pledge must be kept. We must acquire such a reputation for the keeping of contracts in the whole world, we in the SS, that we thereby gain for Germany advantages of the greatest value, namely faith through confidence. Many will come to us, who will not approach official departments. The Balkans are always in a state of confusion. That is a blessing. If they were united it would be terrible. Things are chaotic in the Caucasus and in Russia. We can only see to it—this is also a [p. 85] precept,—that the territories we have occupied and the peoples we rule over never become united, that they always remain disunited. For they would only be united against us. If therefore we pledge our protection to a party [Splittergruppe] who approaches us, it must be quite out of the question for any member of the SS or the police, any member of the whole organization to go and break the promise. This promise must be sacred.

Practical Tasks

In the way of practical duties for the Senior SS executive and [p. 103] Police Officers I see above all one task, which applies at the same time to the Heads of the Main Offices as well. For me the Senior SS Executive and Police Officer is the representative of the Reichsfuehrer-SS in his area. It would be an evil day if the SS and police fell out. It would be an evil day if the Main Offices, performing their tasks well meaningly but mistakenly made themselves independent by each having a downward chain of command. I really think that the day of my overthrow would be the end of the SS. It must be, and so come about, that this SS organization with all its branches—the General-SS which is the common basis of all of them, the Waffen-SS, the regular uniformed police [Ordnungspolizei], the SIPO, (with the whole economic administration, schooling, ideological training, the whole question of kindred), is, even under the tenth Reichsfuehrer-SS one bloc, one body, one organization. Alas if we do not bring them together. Alas if the individual main offices, the individual chiefs had a false conception of their duty here, if they believed they were doing a good thing, whereas in fact they were taking the first step toward the end. We have come a long way on the road to amalgamation. In the hard battles of this year the Waffen-SS has been welded together in the bitterest hours from the most varied divisions and sections, and from these it formed: body-guard units [Leibstandart], military SS [Verfuegungstruppe], Death’s head units, and then the Germanic SS. Now when our “Reich”, Death’s Head Cavalry Divisions and “Viking” Divisions were there, everyone knew in these last weeks: “Viking” is at my side, “Reich” is at my side, “Death’s Head” is at my side,—“Thank God”, now nothing can happen to us.—The regular uniformed police and Sipo, General-SS and Waffen-SS must now gradually amalgamate too, just as this is and [p. 105] must be the case within the Waffen-SS. This applies to matters concerning filling of posts, recruiting, schooling, economic organization, and medical services. I am always doing something towards this end, a bond is constantly being cast around these sections of the whole to cause them to grow together. Alas, if these bonds should ever be loosened,—then everything—you may be sure of this—would sink back into its old insignificance in one generation, and in a short space of time. It could then be said that that would be no pity; if it wasn’t worth keeping alive, it should come to an end. That is right. I would not hear of anything being kept, even if it is my, our SS which is so dear to us, if it was not worth keeping alive.

Only I think that we could not be answerable for it to Germany, and to Germania, for this Germanic Reich needs the SS organization. She needs it at least for the next few centuries. Then, in a hundred, a thousand, or two thousand years another form will surely be found. When we are dead and gone, some remnant of us with a few of our fundamental ideas will pull through and carry on. Out of this will grow something new again, just as here and there we took over, and now bear, a torch from the time of the Teutons, from the age of chivalry, from the Vehmic organization, and from the [p. 106] Prussian army, in order to light a great light from it. It will be just like that later on. I believe that today we could not afford to let anything happen to this SS. That is why I urge one thing on all of you, on you, my heads of the main offices, my Senior Executive SS and Police Officers, and on this whole corps of Gruppenfuehrers, the highest gradation in this hierarchy of the SS organization: Always see the whole, always look at the whole organization, never at your branch of it only, or only your Oberabschnitt but always see the SS, and above it the Germanic Reich, and above that our Fuehrer who has created and is still creating this Reich.

The Future

When the war is won,—then, as I have already told you, our [p. 112] work will start. We do not know when the war will end. It may be sudden, or it may be long delayed. We shall see. But I say to you now, if an armistice and peace comes suddenly, let no-one think that he can then sleep the sleep of the just. Get all your Commanders, Chiefs and SS-Fuehrers attuned to this; only then, gentlemen, shall we be awake, for then, so many others will fall into this sleep. I am going so to rouse the whole SS, and keep it so wide awake that we can tackle reconstruction in Germany immediately. Then Germanic work will be begun immediately in the General-SS, for then the harvest will be ripe to be taken into the granary. We shall then call up age-groups thereby law. We shall then immediately put all our Waffen-SS units into excellent form, both as regards equipment and training. We shall go on working in this first 6 months after the war, as though the big offensive were starting on the next day. It will make all the difference, [p. 113] if Germany has an operative reserve, an operative backing, at the peace or armistice negotiations, of 20, 25 or 30 SS-divisions intact.

If the peace is a final one, we shall be able to tackle our great work of the future. We shall colonize. We shall indoctrinate our boys with the laws of the SS-organization. I consider it to be absolutely necessary to the life of our peoples, that we should not only impart the meaning of ancestry, grandchildren and future, but feel these to be a part of our being. Without there being any talk about it, without our needing to make use of rewards and similar material things, it must be a matter of course that we have children. It must be a matter of course that the most copious breeding should be from this racial super-stratum of the Germanic people. In 20 to 30 years we must really be able to present the whole of Europe with its leading class. If the SS, together with the farmers,—we together with our friend Backe, then run the colony in the East on a grand scale, without any restraint, without any question about any kind of tradition but with nerve and revolutionary impetus, we shall in 20 years push the national boundary [Volkstumsgrenze] 500 kilometers Eastwards.

I requested of the Fuehrer today, that the SS—if we have fulfilled our task and our duty by the end of the war—should have the privilege of holding Germany’s most Easterly frontier as a defence frontier [p. 114]. I believe this is the only privilege for which we have no competitors. I believe not one person will dispute our claim to this privilege. We shall be in a position there to exercise every young age-group in the use of arms. We shall impose our laws on the East. We will charge ahead and push our way forward little by little to the Urals. I hope that our generation will successfully bring it about that every age-group has fought in the East, and that every one of our divisions spends a winter in the East every second or third year. Then we shall never grow soft, then we shall never get SS members who only come to us because it is distinguished or because the black coat will naturally be very attractive in peacetime. Everyone will know that: “if I join the SS, there is the possibility that I might be killed.” He has contracted in writing that every second year he will not dance in Berlin or attend the carnival in Munich, but that he will be posted to the Eastern frontier in an ice-cold winter. Then we will have a healthy elite for all time. Thus we will create the necessary conditions for the whole Germanic people and [p. 115] the whole of Europe, controlled, ordered and led by us, the Germanic people, to be able, in generations, to stand the test in her battles of destiny against Asia, who will certainly break out again. We do not know when that will be. Then, when the mass of humanity of 1 to 1½ milliards lines up against us, the Germanic people, numbering, I hope, 250 to 300 millions, and the other European peoples, making a total of 600 to 700 millions—(and with an outpost area stretching as far as the Urals, or, a hundred years, beyond the Urals)—must stand the test in its vital struggle against Asia. It would be an evil day if the Germanic people did not survive it. It would be the end of beauty and “Kultur”, of the creative power of this earth. That is the distant future. It is for that that we are fighting, pledged to hand down the heritage of our ancestors.