PDF file: History - Advanced Higher - Germany - Education Scotland

Source H
Hitler speaks to Party officials on 29 April 1937.
It is always hard if someone says, ‘only one person can command; one commands and
the rest must obey’ … In a genuine Fuhrer State, it is now, let’s say, the honour of
him who leads that he also assumes responsibility … Today the people are happier in
Germany than anywhere else in the world. They only become uncertain if there is no
leadership … I saw the madness of the belief that the ordinary man does not want
any leadership in the first place, I saw this never more starkly than during the war. If
a company is faced with a critical situation, the company only has one wish, that it
has a decent company commander, and then it will rely on him.
(from National Socialist Rule in Germany, Norbert Frei, Blackwall, 1993)
Source I
Memorandum on the Four Year Plan of August 1936.
… I therefore draw up the following programme for a final provision of our vital
needs:
I. Parallel with the military and political rearmament and mobilisation of our
nation must go its economic rearmament and mobilisation … There is only one
interest, the interest of the nation; only one view, the bringing of Germany to the
point of political and economic self-sufficiency.
II. … foreign exchange must be saved in all those areas where our needs can be
satisfied by German production.
III. … German fuel production must now be stepped up with the utmost speed and
brought to final completion within 18 months.
IV. The mass production of synthetic rubber must also be organised and achieved
with the same urgency.
(from Hitler and Nazism, Jane Jenkins, Longman, 1998)
Source J
Hjalmar Schacht, Economics Minister, on Hitler’s view of economics.
As long as I remained in office, whether at the Reichsbank or the Ministry of
Economics, Hitler never interfered with my work. He never attempted to give me any
instructions, but let me carry out my own ideas in my own way and without criticism
… However, when he realised that the moderation of my financial policy was a
stumbling block in his reckless plans (foreign policy), he began, with Goering’s
connivance, to go behind my back and counter my arrangements.
(from Hitler and Nazism, Jane Jenkins, Longman, 1998)
Source K
In July 1938 an SPD analyst comments on Nazi economic policy.
… Under the lash of the dictatorship, the level of economic activity has been greatly
increased. The exploitation of labour has been increased; female employment has
History: Germany: Versailles to the Outbreak of World War II - 1918-1939 (AH) 76