Lies being taught;
Mein Kampf is unintelligible ravings of a
maniac.
Now the Truth;
CHAPTER V War Part A. Views on Origins of War;.
“When the news came to Munich that the
Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been murdered, I had been at home all day and did
not get the particulars of how it happened. At first I feared that the shots
may have been fired by some German-Austrian students who had been aroused to a
state of furious indignation by the persistent pro-Slav activities of the Heir
to the Habsburg Throne and therefore wished to liberate the German population from
this internal enemy. It was quite easy to imagine what the result of such a mistake
would have been. It would have brought on a new wave of persecution, the
motives of which would have been 'justified' before the whole world. But soon
afterwards I heard the names of the presumed assassins and also that they were
known to be Serbs. I felt somewhat dumbfounded in face of the inexorable
vengeance which Destiny had wrought. The greatest friend of the Slavs had
fallen a victim to the bullets of Slav patriots.
It is unjust to the Vienna government of that
time to blame it now for the form and tenor of the ultimatum which was then
presented. In a similar position and under similar circumstances, no other
Power in the world would have acted otherwise. On her southern frontiers
Austria had a relentless mortal foe who indulged in acts of provocation against
the Dual Monarchy at intervals which were becoming more and more frequent. For
some years past the State had been so completely identified with the
personality of Francis Joseph that, in the eyes of the great mass of the
people, the death of this venerable personification of the Empire would be
tantamount to the death of the Empire itself. One fact which was entirely
overlooked, perhaps intentionally, was that the more the Empire remained
dependent on the so-called administrative talents of 'the wisest Monarch of all
times', the more catastrophic would be the situation when Fate came to knock at
the door and demand its tribute.
Was it possible even to imagine the Austrian
Empire without its venerable ruler? Would not the tragedy which befell Maria
Theresa be repeated at once? Those who did not wish this war ought to have had
the courage to take the consequences of the refusal upon themselves. Those
consequences must necessarily have meant the sacrifice of Austria.
Just those who are loudest in their
imprecations to-day and make a great parade of wisdom in judging the causes of
the war are the very same people whose collaboration was the most fatal factor
in steering towards the war.
For several decades previously the German
Social-Democrats had been agitating in an underhand and knavish way for war
against Russia; whereas the German Centre Party, with religious ends in view,
had worked to make the Austrian State the chief centre and turning-point of
German policy.
Had the Vienna Government of that time
formulated its ultimatum in less drastic terms, that would not have altered the
situation at all: but such a course might have aroused public indignation. For,
in the eyes of the great masses, the ultimatum was too moderate and certainly
not excessive or brutal. Those who would deny this to-day are either simpletons
with feeble memories or else deliberate falsehood-mongers.
The moment the news of the Sarajevo outrage
reached Munich two ideas came into my mind: First, that war was absolutely
inevitable and, second, that the Habsburg State would now be forced to honour
its signature to the alliance. For what I had feared most was that one day Germany
herself, perhaps as a result of the Alliance, would become involved in a
conflict the first direct cause of which did not affect Austria. In such a
contingency, I feared that the Austrian State, for domestic political reasons,
would find itself unable to decide in favour of its ally. But now this danger
was removed. The old State was compelled to fight, whether it wished to do so
or not.
My own attitude towards the conflict was
equally simple and clear. I believed that it was not a case of Austria fighting
to get satisfaction from Serbia but rather a case of Germany fighting for her
own existence--the German nation for its own to-be-or-not-to-be, for its freedom
and for its future. The work of Bismarck must now be carried on. Young Germany
must show itself worthy of the blood shed by our fathers on so many heroic
fields of battle, from Weissenburg to Sedan and Paris. And if this struggle
should bring us victory our people will again rank foremost among the great
nations. Only then could the German Empire assert itself as the mighty champion
of peace, without the necessity of restricting the daily bread of its children
for the sake of maintaining the peace.
One thing was clear to me from the very
beginning, namely, that in the event of war, which now seemed inevitable, my
books would have to be thrown aside forthwith. I also realized that my place
would have to be there where the inner voice of conscience called me.
On August 3rd, 1914, I presented an urgent
petition to His Majesty, King Ludwig III, requesting to be allowed to serve in
a Bavarian regiment. In those days the Chancellery had its hands quite full and
therefore I was all the more pleased when I received the answer a day later,
that my request had been granted. I opened the document with trembling hands; and
no words of mine could now describe the satisfaction I felt on reading that I
was instructed to report to a Bavarian regiment. Within a few days I was
wearing that uniform which I was not to put oft again for nearly six years.
At long last the day came when we left Munich
on war service. For the first time in my life I saw the Rhine, as we journeyed
westwards to stand guard before that historic German river against its
traditional and grasping enemy. As the first soft rays of the morning sun broke
through the light mist and disclosed to us the Niederwald Statue, with one accord
the whole troop train broke into the strains of DIE WACHT AM RHEIN. I then felt
as if my heart could not contain its spirit.
And then followed a damp, cold night in
Flanders. We marched in silence throughout the night and as the morning sun
came through the mist an iron greeting suddenly burst above our heads. Shrapnel
exploded in our midst and spluttered in the damp ground. But before the smoke
of the explosion disappeared a wild 'Hurrah' was shouted from two hundred throats,
in response to this first greeting of Death. Then began the whistling of
bullets and the booming of cannons, the shouting and singing of the combatants.
With eyes straining feverishly, we pressed forward, quicker and quicker, until
we finally came to close-quarter fighting, there beyond the beet-fields and the
meadows. Soon the strains of a song reached us from afar. Nearer and nearer,
from company to company, it came. And while Death began to make havoc in our
ranks we passed the song on to those beside us: DEUTSCHLAND, DEUTSCHLAND ÜBER ALLES,
ÜBER ALLES IN DER WELT.
After four days in the trenches we came back.
Even our step was no longer what it had been. Boys of seventeen looked now like
grown men. The rank and file of the List Regiment (Note 11) had not been
properly trained in the art of warfare, but they knew how to die like old
soldiers.
[Note 11. The Second Infantry Bavarian
Regiment, in which Hitler served as a volunteer.]
That was the beginning. And thus we carried
on from year to year. A feeling of horror replaced the romantic fighting
spirit. Enthusiasm cooled down gradually and exuberant spirits were quelled by
the fear of the ever-present Death. A time came when there arose within each
one of us a conflict between the urge to self-preservation and the call of duty.
And I had to go through that conflict too. As Death sought its prey everywhere
and unrelentingly a nameless Something rebelled within the weak body and tried
to introduce itself under the name of Common Sense; but in reality it was Fear,
which had taken on this cloak in order to impose itself on the individual. But
the more the voice which advised prudence increased its efforts and the more
clear and persuasive became its appeal, resistance became all the stronger;
until finally the internal strife was over and the call of duty was triumphant.
Already in the winter of 1915-16 I had come through that inner struggle. The
will had asserted its incontestable mastery. Whereas in the early days I went into
the fight with a cheer and a laugh, I was now habitually calm and resolute. And
that frame of mind endured. Fate might now put me through the final test
without my nerves or reason giving way. The young volunteer had become an old
soldier.
I was then a soldier and did not wish to
meddle in politics, all the more so because the time was inopportune. I still
believe that the most modest stable-boy of those days served his country better
than the best of, let us say, the 'parliamentary deputies'. My hatred for those
footlers was never greater than in those days when all decent men who had
anything to say said it point-blank in the enemy's face; or, failing this, kept
their mouths shut and did their duty elsewhere. I despised those political
fellows and if I had had my way I would have formed them into a Labour
Battalion and given them the opportunity of babbling amongst themselves to
their hearts' content, without offence or harm to decent people.”
Adolf Hitler
Kaps
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