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

414 DER FUEHRERHerve asked whether, if France should cancel the German reparationsin case the United States should cancel the French War debts; if Franceshould give Germany's colonies back, permit German rearmament andAnschluss of Austria, favor the restoration of the Polish Corridor, etc.,would Hitler then be ready to come to an understanding with France andconclude a military alliance?Hitler made this surprising answer: 'I think I can assure you that thereis no one in Germany who will not with all his heart approve any honestattempt at an improvement of relations between Germany and France.My own feelings force me to take the same attitude. . . . The Germanpeople has the solemn intention of living in peace and friendship withall civilized nations and powers. . . . And I regard the maintenance ofpeace in Europe as especially desirable and at the same time secured, ifFrance and Germany, on the basis of an equal sharing of natural humanrights, arrive at a real inner understanding. . . . The young Germany, thatis led by me and that finds its expression in the National SocialistMovement, has only the most heartfelt desire for an understanding withother European nations.'On October 26, 1930, the Volkischer Beobachter published thisstatement of its editor. The date is worth remembering. On this dayHitler began his peace propaganda which continued uninterrupted foralmost ten years. Inexplicable and incredible, it moved men by this veryfact, but also by an undeniable breath of passion. With the same passionHitler had said the exact opposite; had for ten years attacked theGerman government for its willingness to conclude an understandingwith France: 'The sword is our balance [he had cried] . . . the languageof cannon is our language!' And now, when Herve, in the style of thebest Realpolitik, proposed that Germany should have equal militaryrights and as large an army as France, Hitler, the orator of blood andfire, crushed the Frenchman with the hyper-pacifistic answer: 'If thisintention is really present in France, it strikes me as less important forGermany to arm than for France to disarm. France has it in her power tocarry out at any time the disarmament that was solemnly promisedGermany in the treaties, to free all Europe of a nightmare and seteveryone's mind at rest.'