|
|
Adolf Hitler Speech of April 8, 1933, Berlin, Sportpalast THE
great epoch which for fourteen years we awaited has now begun. Germany is
awake now.... I can
say with pride, comrades of the SA and SS, that if the whole German people now was possessed of the spirit which is in us and
in you, then Germany would be indestructible. Even without arms, Germany
would represent an unheard-of strength through this inner will tempered like
steel. It is true that this equality which is realized in you was realized
only at the cost of that freedom of which others spoke. We have, too, adopted
the principle of leadership, the conception of authority. That was a heavy sacrifice
at a time when the whole people was running after
the illusion of democracy and parliamentarianism, when millions believed that
the majority was the source of a right decision. It was at this time that we
began resolutely to build up an organization in which there was not one
dictator but ten thousand. When our opponents say: ‘It is easy for you: you
are a dictator’- we answer them, ‘No, gentlemen, you are wrong; there is no
single dictator, but ten thousand, each in his own place.’ And even the highest
authority in the hierarchy has itself only one wish, never to transgress
against the Supreme authority to which it, too, is responsible. We have in
our Movement developed this loyalty in following the leader, this blind
obedience of which all the others know nothing and which gave to us the power
to surmount everything. For fourteen years we were assailed; the attempt was
made to bend and break us by cunning, chicanery, and violence, by malice and
terror, by everything imaginable. But this instrument of blind obedience
remained unbroken, remained steadfast. All we endured was but tests from
which we emerged stronger than ever. In
addition we have fostered the virtue of bravery. Today millions are pouring
into our ranks. But the greater part of them must learn now what this brown
army has practiced for years; they must all learn to face what tens of
thousands of our comrades have faced, and have paid for with their blood,
their lives. We
have succeeded out of our own free wills in once more inculcating in our
people the courage which dares to attempt a task in the face of a world of
foes. Were
the discipline of this Movement not so firm, those who today complain of the
sacrifices demanded of them would have even more of which to complain. For
what we fighters have gained does not compare to the amount of persecution we
suffered. Let the bellyachers realize that, wherever they are. The Movement
trains itself in this perfect discipline for the sake of Germany, to save our
people from being cast down in the eyes of the world to the level of their
opponents. We
have also utilized the virtue of persistence, of unwearying
patience.... It was
this virtue which made you, and therefore us, unconquerable, and which saved
the nation. Fourteen years of struggle. It seems as though fate had saved up
so terribly many victims especially for the last year of the struggle. Our
Brown Shirts prohibited, the members tortured, terror heaped upon terror, and
in the end the dissolution of the organization. It was a terribly sad time,
and I know how hard it was for many to keep their faith that after all the
hour would come at last. We almost doubted justice and providence. Then came
the turning point, and battle after battle. Once more many doubted, and some
even were beaten down by their doubt. And then came the time when we had to
say ‘No,’ when for the first time it seemed that the way to power was opening
before us, tempting us: and yet despite this we had to remain hard and say ‘No,
it is not possible in that way.’ And for a second time the doors seemed to
open and for the second time we had to say ‘No, impossible.’ And then at the
third time the hour came and that was given to us which we could not but
desire, which we had a right to desire, and at last the National Socialist
Movement entered into the great period of its historic action.... We
have now won power in Germany, and it is up to us to win the German people,
to incorporate the people within the power. We must build the millions of our
working men of all classes into a close community. This is a struggle which
will again take years; but it is necessary if the 600,000 men of today are
some day to be the six, eight, ten millions we need. Here, too, we know that
if we rest, we rust, that if we stand still, we will retreat.... If in
the future you continue to stand behind me as one man, in loyalty and
obedience, no power in the world will be able to destroy this Movement. It
will continue its victorious course. If you preserve the same discipline, the
same obedience, the same comradeship and the same unbounded loyalty in the
future - then nothing will ever extinguish this Movement in Germany. This is
the request I make of you, for myself and in the name of all the comrades who
are no longer among us.... Our
National Socialist Movement, the SA and SS: Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil,
Sieg Heil! |
 |