Archive/File: pub/people/h/hitler.adolf/hitler-1922
Last-Modified: 1996/03/01

"Once I really am in power, my first and foremost task  will
be the annihilation of the Jews. As soon as I have the power
to  do  so, I will have gallows built in rows - at the Marienplatz  
in Munich, for example - as  many as traffic  allows.

Then the Jews will be hanged indiscriminately, and they will
remain  hanging until they stink; they will  hang  there  as
long  as  the principles of hygiene permit. As soon as  they
have  been untied,  the next batch will be strung up, and  so
on  down  the  line, until the last Jew in Munich  has  been
exterminated. Other  cities will follow  suit,  precisely  in
this   fashion,  until  all  Germany  has  been   completely
cleansed of Jews." (1)

...and:

"When  I now broached the question of what the source of  his
so  strongly felt hatred for the Jews was, and why he wanted
to  destroy this so undeniably intelligent race - a race  to
which  the  Germans and all other Aryans, if not the  entire
world, owed an incalculable debt in virtually all fields  of
art  and knowledge, research and economics - Hitler suddenly
calmed  down  and  gave this unexpectedly sober  and  almost
dispassionate explanation:

'It  is manifestly clear and has been proven in practice and
by  the facts of all revolutions that a struggle for ideals,
for improvements of any kind whatsoever, absolutely must  be
supplemented  with a struggle against some social  class  or
caste.  

My  object  is  to  create first-rate  revolutionary
upheavals, regardless of what methods and means  I  have  to
use in the process. Earlier revolutions were directed either
against  the  peasants, or the nobility and the  clergy,  or
against  dynasties and their network of vassals, but  in  no
case  has  revolution succeeded without the  presence  of  a
lightning  rod that could conduct and channel the  odium  of
the general masses.

'With  this  very thing in mind I scanned the  revolutionary
events  of  history and put the question to  myself  against
which  racial element in Germany can I unleash my propaganda
of  hate  with the greatest prospects of success? I  had  to
find  the  right kind of victim, and especially one  against
whom  the struggle would make sense, materially speaking.  I
can  assure you that I examined every possible and thinkable
solution  to  this  problem, and, weighing every  imaginable
factor, I came to the conclusion that a campaign against the
Jews  would  be as popular as it would be successful.  

There are few Germans who have not been vexed with the behavior of
Jews or else have not suffered losses through them in  some
way or other. Disproportionately to their small number they
account for an immense share of the German national wealth,
which can just as easily be put to profitable use  for  the
state  and the general public as could the holdings  of  the
monasteries, bishops, and nobility.

'Once  the hatred and the battle against the Jews have  been
really stirred up, their resistance will necessarily crumble
in the shortest possible time. They are totally defenseless,
and no one will stand up to protect them.'"(2)

1. Josef  Hell,  "Aufzeichnung,"  1922, ZS 640, p. 5,
Institute fuer Zeitgeschichte. The retired Major Josef Hell
was a journalist in the twenties and in the beginning of the
thirties, during which  time he also collaborated  with Dr.
Fritz Gerlich, the editor of the weekly newspaper Der Gerade
Weg, as cited in Fleming, Gerald. Hitler and the Final
Solution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. p.  17

2. Ibid., as cited in Fleming, pp. 28-29

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor