Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

326 DER FUEHRERGermany needs a new war and fortunately war, according to Hitler, isthe normal condition on this earth.The struggle will begin again, the stronger, more forceful, will remainand will press down the weaker. The whole period of years before theWorld War was not normal; for actually the earth knows of hardly anystate of peace lasting from forty to fifty years.At one and the same time Hitler desired to plunge the world into anew war and to be innocent of the war; his propaganda strays betweentwo equally beautiful ideals or lies:We National Socialists welcome this development with all our heartsquite regardless of whether Germany is in a position to take any activepart or not. For: 1. For us Germans it is true good fortune if the worldagain comes to power-political conflicts. . . . Through the new conflictnow developing, Germany will be acquitted of guilt in the World War.... It will be seen that Germany was no more the instigator of the WorldWar than she will be the instigator of the coming struggle, but that thenations are lashed into these mighty catastrophes by entirely differentforces. 2. We believe that in such a period of general unrest, of tensionsand power-political decisions, there are more possibilities for looseningthe present servitude under which our people is sighing and pining thanin a period of peace. ... As long as peace prevails, Germany has nothingat all to hope for, and only when this world is thrown again into disordercan it be possible for a gifted German government to recognize Germaninterests and, where possible, secure advantages for the German peoplein these conflicts.The world's unrest increased; more and more people questioned thehastily improvised peace of 1919. With his sensitive ear for the enemy'sweakness, Hitler had sensed at an early date that the world of Versailleswas slipping apart, but he had not always correctly interpreted theparticular symptoms. In the mid-twenties an undersecretary in theBritish foreign office had supported German reactionary leagues withfunds whose origin was not clear, because in his opinion they wereEurope's best protection against Bolshevism; the deal came notcompletely to light, but for other, less savory reasons the diplomat hadto go. Yet at the same time Hitler found it insane to expect help fromEngland. As late as 1927 he thought