Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

And it is precisely for our intellectual demi-monde that the Jew writes his so-called
intellectual press. For them the Frankfurter Zeitung and the Berliner Tageblatt are made; for
them their tone is chosen, and on them they exercise their influence. Seemingly they all most
sedulously avoid any outwardly crude forms, and meanwhile from other vessels they
nevertheless pour their poison into the hearts of their readers. Amid a Gezeires 2 Of fine
sounds and phrases they lull their readers into believing that pure science or even morality is
really the motive of their acts, while in reality it is nothing but a wily, ingenious trick for
stealing the enemy's weapon against the press from under his nose. The one variety oozes
respectability, so all soft-heads are ready to believe them when they say that the faults of
others are only trivial abuses which should never lead to an infringement of the 'freedom of
the press'-their term for poisoning and lying to the people. And so the authorities shy away
from taking measures against these bandits, for they fear that, if they did, they would at once
have the ' respectable ' press against them, a fear which is only too justified. For as soon as
they attempt to proceed against one of these shameful rags, all the others will at once take its
part, but by no means to sanction its mode of struggle, God forbid-but only to defend the
principle of freedom of the press and freedom of public opinion; these alone must be
defended. But in the face of all this shouting, the strongest men grow weak, for does it not
issue from the mouths of 'respectable' papers?
This poison was able to penetrate the bloodstream of our people unhindered and do its work,
and the state did not possess the power to master the disease. In the laughable halfmeasures
which it used against the poison, the menacing decay of the Reich was manifest.
For an institution which is no longer resolved to defend itself with all weapons has for
practical purposes abdicated. Every half-measure is a visible sign of inner decay which must
and will be followed sooner or later by outward collapse.
I believe that the present generation, properly led, will more easily master this danger. It has
experienced various things which had the power somewhat to strengthen the nerves of those
who did not lose them entirely. In future days the Jew will certainly continue to raise a
mighty uproar in his newspapers if a hand is ever laid on his favorite nest, if an end is put to
the mischief of the press and this instrument of education is put into the service of the state
and no longer left in the hands of aliens and enemies of the people. But I believe that this will
bother us younger men less than our fathers. A thirty-centimeter shell has always hissed
more loudly than a thousand Jewish newspaper vipers-so let them hiss!
A further example of the halfheartedness and weakness of the leaders of pre-War Germany in
meeting the most important vital questions of the nation is the following: running parallel to
the political, ethical, and moral contamination of the people, there had been for many years a
no less terrible poisoning of the health of the national body. Especially in the big cities,
syphilis was beginning to spread more and more, while tuberculosis steadily reaped its
harvest of death throughout nearly the whole country.
Though in both cases the consequences were terrible for the nation, the authorities could not
summon up the energy to take
decisive measures.
Particularly with regard to syphilis, the attitude of the leadership of the nation and the state
can only be designated as total capitulation. To fight it seriously, they would have had to take
somewhat broader measures than was actually the case. The invention of a remedy of
questionable character and its commercial exploitation can no longer help much against this
plague. Here again it was only the fight against causes that mattered and not the elimination
of the symptoms. The cause lies, primarily, in our prostitution of love. Even if its result were
not this frightful plague, it would nevertheless be profoundly injurious to man, since the