Hitler's Table Talk

DIFFICULTIES IN POLAND AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA 405
strongest possible stiffening of German officers and N.C.O.'s,
and by trying to have them outnumbered by the German
elements. It was agreed with Frank, the Governor-General of
occupied Poland, that the Cracow district (with its purely
German capital) and also the Lublin district should be peopled
by Germans. Once these two weak spots have been strengthened,
it should be possible to drive the Poles slowly back. I don't believe
it's necessary to proceed with much circumspection in this
field, for we would be condemning ourselves to renew an experience
we already had after the divisions of Poland. The soul
of Poland remained lively because, on the one hand, the Poles
hadn't to take the Russian domination seriously, and, on the
other hand, they'd succeeded in putting themselves politically
in a strong position with the Germans, being helped in this by
their allegiance to a Catholicism deeply tinged with politics
(one can even say that the Poles played a decisive rôle in
German home policy).
It's very important for the future that the Germans don't
mingle with the Poles, so that the new Germanic blood may
not be transmitted to the Polish ruling class. Himmler is right
when he says that the Polish generals who genuinely put up a
serious resistance in 1939 were, so to speak, exclusively of
German descent. It's an accepted fact that it's precisely the
best elements of our race who, as they lose awareness of their
origin, add themselves to the ruling class of the country that has
welcomed them. As for the elements of less value, they retain
the characteristics of their ethnic group and remain faithful to
their Germanic origin. The same caution is necessary towards
the Czechs. They're skilled at not awakening the distrust of
their occupiers, and are wonderful at playing the rôle of subjects.
It's true they've had five centuries' experience of it! I
saw them at work in Vienna during my youth. Arriving penniless
and dragging their worn-out shoes over the streets of the
city, they quickly acquired the Viennese accent—and one fine
day one was quite surprised to see them installed in the keypositions.
We shall not win the peace, on the racial level, unless the
Reich knows how to maintain a certain stature. Confronted
with the United States, whose population is scarcely greater