Hitler’s address at the opening of the Winter Relief Campaign
September 30, 1942
My German countrymen and countrywomen!
It is now a year since I was last able to speak to you and to the German people from this place. In retrospect, it is in many ways to be regretted, first because I myself very much regret not being able to stand oftener before the nation, and second because I am naturally afraid that my speeches thereby are becoming worse rather than better, for in this regard practice is necessary. My time is unfortunately much more limited than the time of my worthy adversaries. Naturally he who can travel around the world for weeks at a time, with a broad sombrero on his head, wearing a white silk shirt here, and some other outfit there, can naturally occupy himself much more with speeches.
All this time I have really had to be busy managing and doing rather than speaking.
Besides, I cannot of course speak every week or every month. For what am I to say? What has to be said will be said by our soldiers.
Moreover, the subjects on which I might speak are naturally more difficult than the subjects of the discourses of my adversaries, who are accustomed to send their numerous chats over the world from the fireside or other places. The subject matter of my possible speeches is more difficult, for I do not deem it proper to occupy myself now with the shaping of things for the future. I consider it more appropriate for us to occupy ourselves with that which the immediate present demands of us.
Naturally it is very simple to concoct an Atlantic Charter. This nonsense will of course be valid for only a few, very few years. It will simply be cast aside by hard facts. For other reasons also it is somewhat easier for our opponents to talk, for now they have suddenly discovered our party program after many years of vain effort. And we now see with astonishment that they promise the world for the future just about what we have already given our German people and for which we, in the final analysis, were involved in a war by the others.
It is very witty, when, for example, a President says:
We wish in the future that everyone should have the right not to suffer from want.
…or something similar. To this one can only say: It probably would have been much more simple, if this President, instead of plunging into a war, had used the whole working strength of his country to build up useful production and to care for his own people, so that want and misery might not reign and 13,000,000 people might not be unemployed in a region which has only 10 people per square kilometer to support. These men could have accomplished all these things.
When they now appear and suddenly represent themselves to the world as saviors, and declare, “In the future we will see to it that there shall be no want, as in the past; that there will be no more unemployment, that every man will own a home” – these owners of world empire should have been able to do that in their own countries long ago – before we did it ourselves. They suddenly discover nothing but the basic principles of the National Socialist program.
Now when I hear that a man says-I believe it was Mr. Eden, but one really doesn’t know what nonentity is speaking over there-when he now says, “This is the difference between the Germans and us: the Germans have a faith and we also have a faith; but the Germans believe in something in which they don’t believe, while we believe in something in which we really believe–.” To that I can only say: If they truly believe in what they profess to believe, they should have been able to acknowledge this belief sooner. Why have they declared war on us? For their aims are certainly not very different from our own.
We have not only believed in something, but have also acted upon what we believed in! And now we believe that we have to strike the enemy until final victory is won. That is what we believe – Naturally, we cannot reach common ground with these people over the concept of “belief.”
He who believes, for example, that Namsos was a victory, or who believes that Andalsnes was a victory, or who believes that even Dunkirk was quite the greatest victory in the history of the world, or who believes (it is all the same to me) that any expedition that lasts 9 hours is an astonishing and encouraging sign of a victorious nation – with such a one we, with our modest successes, cannot of course be compared. For what are our accomplishments as compared with these? If we push forward a thousand kilometers, that is really nothing – an absolute failure!
If we, for example, in the last two months – it is really only for two months that war can be carried on sensibly in that country-have pushed to the Don, down the Don, finally reached the Volga, attacked Stalingrad – and we shall take it, too, you can depend on that-that is nothing at all. If we push on to the Caucasus, then that also is nothing. If we occupy the Ukraine, if we get the Donetz coal into our possession, all that is nothing. If we are getting 65 or 70 percent of Russian iron, that is nothing at all, absolutely nothing. If we actually open up to the German people, and thereby to Europe, the largest grain area of the world, nothing. If we secure for ourselves the sources of oil there, that is also nothing. All that is nothing.
But when Canadian vanguards with a small English tail as appendage come to Dieppe and manage to hang on there-one may say painfully – for nine hours – to be destroyed in the end-that is an encouraging, an astonishing sign of the inexhaustible, victorious power which is the British Empire’s own! In contrast to that, what is our air force, what is the performance of our infantry, what is the performance of our tank arm, what by comparison is the accomplishment of our engineers, our railway construction troops and so forth, of our whole gigantic traffic system which has opened up and re-built half a continent in a few – one may even say months? That is nothing!
U-boats, also nothing, of course. Even back in 1939 they were nothing. At that time Churchill came out and said: "I am able to give you the good news that the U-boat danger may be regarded as disposed of once and for all. We have destroyed more U-boats than the Germans had altogether. Or – one moment – that was not, no, that was not Churchill; that was Duff Cooper. But as I said, each one of these is a bigger swashbuckler than the other, and you are constantly getting them mixed up.
The fact that we have thrown them out of the Balkans, that we conquered Greece, that we occupied Crete, that they have been chased back in North Africa, all that, too, is nothing. But if, let us say, a few men land anywhere at all to take us unawares at a lone advance post-then those are deeds, those are accomplishments. Anyone who thinks that way will never understand our beliefs. But if the English really believe in what they pretend to believe, seriously, then one can only be sorry for their intelligence.
In any event, in contrast with these deeds, of course, they also have claims on the future. They say: “The second front will come!” When we moved eastward, they said: “The second front is already under way! Attention! About face!” We, however, have not stood at attention, and have not about-faced, but have calmly marched forward. In that connection I shall not say, though, that we have done nothing to prepare for a second front. When Mr. Churchill says: “We wish now to leave it to the Germans to ponder in their anxiety where and when we shall open it.” I can say to Mr. Churchill merely:
So far you have never caused me any anxiety.
But he is right in saying that we must ponder. If I had an opponent of stature, of military stature, then I could calculate pretty closely where he would attack. But when one faces military idiots, one cannot know, one cannot know where they will attack. It may be the craziest sort of undertaking, and that is the one unpleasant thing – the fact that in the case of these mentally sick or perpetually drunk persons one never knows what they are really up to.
For this reason we must naturally be prepared everywhere, and I can give Mr. Churchill assurance – whether or not he chose with cleverness and military shrewdness the first spot at which he wished to start the second front; opinions in England are already divided on this, and that will be evident on all sides from now on – that it does not matter where he is looking for the next spot. He can call it good luck anywhere if he can remain on land for nine hours.
In my eyes, the year 1942 already has behind it the most fateful trial of our people. That was the winter of '41 to '42. I may be permitted to say that in that winter the German people, and in particular its Wehrmacht, were weighed in the balance by Providence. Nothing worse can or will happen. That we conquered that winter, that “General Winter,” that at last the German fronts stood, and that this spring, that is, early this summer, we were able to proceed again, that, I believe, is the proof that Providence was content with the German people.
It was a very difficult and a very hard test and trial, you all know that. And in spite of that, we not only got over that most difficult time, but we managed very calmly to organize the attacking divisions, the motorized and tank formations anew, which were designed to initiate the resumed offensive. This offensive is now taking its course not in the manner which our enemies may have imagined. Is it not necessary, however, that we should proceed according to their formula, because up to now these formulas have certainly not been very successful.
I believe that if we look back we can be satisfied with the three years that we have left behind. It was always a very sober goal that was set up. Often very daring, where it had to be daring. Deliberate, where it could be deliberate. Cautious where we had time. Careful where we believed we had to be very careful-but we were also very bold where boldness alone could save us.
For this year we had laid out a very simple program. First: Under all circumstances to hold what had to be held. That is, to let the others advance where we ourselves did not intend to go forward, as long as they want to advance. To hold unflinchingly and wait to see who will be the first to weaken.
Second: To attack relentlessly where the attack is necessary. The goal here is very clear: destruction of the right arm of those international plotters of capitalism, plutocracy, and Bolshevism. It is against the greatest danger which ever hovered over our German people in modern times that we have defended ourselves for over a year now and against which we must proceed.
And here we set ourselves some goals, and I may mention them quite briefly, just in the form of catchwords, to make you aware, and to make every German aware, of what was accomplished in these few months. The first goal was the safeguarding of our dominating position on the Black Sea by the final mopping-up of the Crimean Peninsula. Two battles, the battle for Kerch and the battle for Sevastopol, served this purpose. If in these three years our opponents, I dare say, had achieved only one single such success, we would not be able to speak with them at all, because they would not be on the earth, but floating in the clouds. Blown up by nothing but imagination.
After we brought that into order, it appeared necessary to us that a bubble which existed at Volkhov be removed. It was pinched off and the enemy destroyed or taken prisoner. Then came the next task, preparation for the breakthrough to the Don. Meanwhile, the enemy at this time selected a great operational objective, namely, of breaking through from Kharkov to the bank of the Dnieper, in order in this way to bring about the collapse of our entire southern front.
You will probably still recall with what enthusiasm our opponents followed these operations. They ended in three battles with the complete annihilation of more than 75 divisions of our Russian foe. After that followed our attack in our own great offensive. The goal was: First, to take from the enemy his last big wheat regions. Second, to take from him the last remaining coal which can be made into coke. Third, to move up to his sources of oil, to take them, or at least to isolate them.
Fifth the attack was to be carried on to cut off his very last and greatest communication artery, namely the Volga. And here the goal set was the region between the bend of the Don and the Volga, and the locale set was that of Stalingrad, not because this locality bears the name of Stalin-that is altogether a matter of indifference to us-but exclusively because this is a strategically important point. And since in general we realized that with the elimination for Russia of the Dnieper, Don, and Volga as communication lines about the same thing results for Russia or even worse, that would result for Germany if we should lose the Rhine, the Elbe, the Oder, or the Danube. For, on this gigantic river alone, the Volga, in six months about 30,000,000 tons of goods are shipped. This corresponds to a whole year’s shipments on the Rhine.
This is cut off and has been cut off now for some time. The occupation of Stalingrad, which will also be carried through, will deepen this gigantic victory and strengthen it, and you can be sure that no human being will drive us out of this place later on.
Now, as far as the further objectives are concerned, you will again understand that I do not speak of them because they are objectives which are being pursued at the present time. Mr. Churchill is talking about that. But the moment will come when the German nation will have had these further objectives made fully clear to them.
But I must now tell you a seventh thing: That we set as another task for ourselves-naturally, the organization of this gigantic territory which we have occupied. For we did not care to say that we have marched so and so many thousand kilometers, but in reality we aim to make this vast territory secure for the conduct of our war and, in a wider sense, not only for feeding our people and safeguarding our raw materials, but for the support of all Europe.
To this end, first of all, traffic had to be put in order. The English too have achieved things in this sphere. For example, they have built a railroad from Egypt to Tobruk, which now serves us in extraordinarily good stead even though they finished it in a fairly short time. What does it count for in comparison with the railroads which we must build? And, indeed we wish to build them not so that they should be useful to the Russians, but for ourselves.
There are tens and tens of thousands of kilometers of railroad lines which we now put in operation again, or have put in operation long since, thanks to the energy and efficiency and devotion of many tens of thousands of German soldiers, railroad engineering troops, men of the Todt Organization, other organizations and so forth, of the Reich Labor Service, for example.
This vast net of communications, which today is already operating again for the most part on German rail gauges, was completely destroyed. Not only hundreds, but thousands of bridges had to be built anew, blasted sections had to be removed, crossings had to be rebuilt. All that happened within a few months and, making allowances for circumstances, will be completed within a few weeks.
Now, my party comrades, you will understand one thing. There are people, on the side of our opponents, who say: “Why do you stop suddenly?” Because we are prudent, because – let us say – we do not first run to Benghazi or still farther, in order then to be obliged to run back again, but because we stop somewhere long enough to establish our lines of communication. Naturally people who do not have military schooling will not grasp this. For this reason they have not been successful. All those, however, who have even the slightest military schooling, will grant that the area which we conquered in a few months is absolutely unique in world history.
And I say this also because there may be also among us some smug old reactionary, who suddenly says: “Indeed, what is the trouble? They have been at a standstill for a week now.” Yes, my dear old smug reactionary, you’re on the wrong track. Why don’t you go there yourself and try “regulating traffic?” The German people, I know, has in its entirety unlimited confidence in its military leadership and the achievements of its soldiers. It knows very well that there will be no pause without reason.
We are not only bringing our communications into order, but we must build roads, for the blessed land of the proletarians and the peasants unfortunately has no roads, or only fragments of roads. So these must be built. The first really tremendous roads there are being built by our organizations. In many regions roads must be laid out through swamps, regions in which it was formerly believed that communication was altogether impossible. If somebody now remarks: “Well, the Russian manages to get through” – well, he is a kind of swamp man anyway. That we have to admit. He is not a European. For us it is simply somewhat harder to move forward in this morass than it is for this nation born in the morass.
Secondly, behind it we are organizing our agriculture also. Proof: the territory is to be opened up after all, and that isn’t so simple either, for it isn’t a question of what is sown and what is reaped but it is a question of practical value coming into evidence here. That means that these products are brought to the railway over endless stretches; that they can be loaded; that we can readjust part of this whole agriculture; that thousands of tractors which are damaged or eliminated be replaced or repaired, or that some other substitute be found for them.
And I can only tell you, that what has been accomplished here is really tremendous. While the front is fighting up ahead, some soldiers are fighting a few kilometers behind the front with the sickle and the scythe. They are already tilling the fields again, and behind them are our Labor Service Girls and their agricultural organizations.
And when some blockhead – I can’t call it anything else – take Duff Cooper or Eden or some such fellow, if you like – says: “That was a big mistake for the Germans to have gone into the Ukraine, to say nothing of the Kuban region,” then he will see whether we made a mistake in going into these wheat regions.
The first, if only modest results of this action we were able to impart to the German people already to our good fortune-I may well be permitted to say. But you may be convinced that we are only at the beginning. The whole past year was one of battle. A horrible winter. And now we are fighting again. But even during this coming year this region will be organized entirely differently and the English can depend on that. We now understand how to arrange this.
And finally farther behind that follows the organization of general economy, for this whole economy must be gradually brought into operation. Thousands of businesses and factories, canning factories and so on, mills and so on, all this must be brought back into operation. It has all been destroyed.
And behind all this is mining. This also must be exploited. In order to do this one must have electric current, and I can tell you if you could see how we are working there and what we are creating there and how we know precisely, on such a day this work will be done, and on such a day this electric power will be added; how we produce on this predetermined date so and so many thousands of tons of coal per day, and on another predetermined date so many thousands of tons. We no longer need to transport coal from Germany to the east, but on the contrary, we are going to build up our own industrial states there… Then you would understand that even at a time when apparently nothing is being done, nevertheless tremendous things are being achieved.
And then there is the liberation of the populace from the oppression of a Bolshevik power which spiritually, even today, holds millions of people there in a state of despair, and one may well say, of fear, of which one can hardly have any idea in Germany and other countries. It is the fear of the Commissar. It is the fear of the GPU, the fear of the whole regime, which still fills millions of people. All that will gradually be eliminated and is being eliminated, and there are many regions where the whole population is already working with us by the millions, and there are other regions in which it is already fighting in our ranks and on our side.
The result of this whole gigantic activity, which I have only been able to point out to you with a few sentences, are tremendous. While in the north of Europe, in the west, and on all other fronts we are on the defensive, we are here fulfilling one of the greatest prerequisites for the organization of Europe for war and for this war.
Of course you know that our enemies are constantly accomplishing miracles,-- of course there is not a tank that they build which isn’t the best tank in the world, of course there is not a plane which isn’t the best in the world. When they build a cannon, one measly cannon, then it is the cannon par excellence, the most amazing cannon in the world. They make a new machine gun or a new automatic pistol. It’s a marvel, this pistol. They say this new pistol is absolutely the biggest invention in the world.
Then if you take a look at this junk you can only say that we wouldn’t even put it in the hand of a German soldier. In everything they are far superior to us. Of course they are ahead of us in their incomparable generals. They are ahead of us in the bravery of their individual soldiers. Of course, any Englishman can handle three Germans just like that. Only unfortunately he can’t find them, can he?
They are superior to us in their equipment. What is a German tank worth against an English one, to say nothing of an American one, and so on? What is a German plane worth against one of theirs? But at any rate, the great heroes of this war, they will some day be written down in history on our side. And in this, history will only be honoring justice and truth.
And then on our side there is the further development of our alliances, the cooperation with our allies, first and foremost with our oldest ally, with Italy. Not only on one front do we fight jointly, but on a whole series of fronts. And that is good, for it shows that all the hopes of these enemies who believe they can dissolve this alliance are idiocy, are madness.