HESS SPEECHES
Hess, Reden, Zentraverlag der NSDAP,
Franz Eher Verlag, München 1938.
[Page 25]
1. It is with pride that we see that one man is kept above all criticism—that is the Fuehrer.
"The reason is that everyone feels and knows: he was always right and will always be right. The National Socialism of us all is anchored in the uncritical loyalty, in the devotion to the Fuehrer that does not ask for the wherefore in the individual case, in the tacit performance of his commands. We believe that the Fuehrer is fulfilling a divine mission to German destiny! This belief is beyond challenge."
(Broadcast speech at Cologne, 25 June 1934.)
[Page 47]
2. ". . . A defenseless land represents a danger to peace. Its defenseless state only too easily induces venturesome 'excursions' of alien armies. The unarmed condition of a single country in the midst of heavily armed nations can be the temptation for ambitious men to win cheap laurels, and can be the temptation for governments to divert their own people by the foreign adventure
of a war
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[Page 102]
3. . . By responsible persons of other lands I do not want to
be understood as meaning only politicians and statesmen, but persons responsible for all aspects of the life of their people; for the application of new thoughts in Germany does not limit itself to politics but reaches out to all culture in the most embracing meaning of this word: to art and literature, to science and industry, to the defense forces of the land as well as to the working forces, to associations as well as to the family. In all its forms the life of the people is influenced or changed by National Socialism . .
[Page 200]
4. "We know that the money we thereby save (by sacrifices) goes to the aid of armament. Even today the watchword applies: 'Guns instead of butter!', that is, instead of more butter first more cannons, for otherwise one day our last butter will be taken from us."
[Page 228]
5. "... National Socialism has seen to it that vital necessities of our nation can today no longer be talked to pieces by a Reichstag and made the object of the haggling of parties. You have seen that in the new Germany decisions of historic scope are made by the Fuehrer and his Cabinet—decisions which in other countries must be preceded by parliamentary debates lasting days and weeks."
[Pages 246-7]
6. . . Some among you may perhaps have been of the opinion
that today, after the former parties have vanished, the NSDAP has also no longer any right to exist. Not only does the NSDAP have the right to exist, but it is a necessity, and particularly so from the point of view of your own sphere of interests. It is a necessity which becomes all the greater the more politics, and the continuation of politics with other means—such as war—are today based on the entire people, and the more the spirit of the people is of decisive importance as regards the success of both. Just as the army organism is the technical means by which to organize and direct offensively and defensively the people's physical strength—its material and military strength—so is the party organism the technical means with which to organize and direct offensively and defensively the spiritual and political strength of the people. At the same time both organisms mutually complement and influence one another."
*******
the Russians will have to confine themselves so as to remove their center of gravity to Asia," (Rosenberg. The Myth of the Twentieth Century. Pages 641-642).
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Extracts from a book of speeches (Hess) and a book (Rosenberg), on the leading role of Hitler and the party, rearmament, and the future of Russia
Authors
Rudolf Hess (Deputy to the Fuehrer; minister without portfolio)
Rudolf Hess
German Nazi leader (1894-1987)
- Born: 1894-04-26 (Alexandria)
- Died: 1987-08-17 (Spandau Prison) (located in the administrative territorial entity: West Berlin)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: aircraft pilot; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Member of: Thule Society
- Participant in: Beer Hall Putsch
- Military rank: lieutenant
Alfred Rosenberg (Commissioner for Ideological Training; Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories)
Alfred Rosenberg
Baltic German architect, Nazi politician and ideologue (1893-1946)
- Born: 1893-01-12 (Tallinn)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg)
- Country of citizenship: Nazi Germany; Russian Empire; Weimar Republic
- Occupation: administrator; architect; journalist; opinion journalist
- Member of political party: German Workers' Party; Nazi Party
- Member of: Corps Rubonia; Militant League for German Culture; Thule Society
- Participant in: Beer Hall Putsch; International Military Tribunal (role: defendant)
- Military rank: Obergruppenführer
Date: 1938
Literal Title: A. Excerpts from Hess, Reden, Zentraverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Verlag, Munchen 1938.
Defendants: Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg
Total Pages: 2
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-2426
Citation: IMT (page 255)
HLSL Item No.: 450142
Notes:The Rosenberg extract is from "The myth of the twentieth century."
Trial Issues
Conspiracy (and Common plan, in IMT) (IMT, NMT 1, 3, 4) IMT count 1: common plan or conspiracy (IMT) Nazi regime (rise, consolidation, economic control, and militarization) (I… Wars of aggression
Document Summary
PS-2426: Excerpts from speeches by Hess concerning his devotion to Hitler, the value of the Nsdap, Germany’s rearmament, and the elimination of the Reichstag