I recently read Ernst Henry's article in the Literary Gazette, "On the Scales of History," in which he attributes to the current American administration aggression in foreign affairs aimed at "the establishment in the world of an American hegemony." The situation in the world today reminds Henry of what happened 50 years ago. He writes:
When Hitler stoked the inflamed atmosphere in the world on the eve of the Second World War, it was also extremely dangerous, but understandable. Hitler the fascist was acting in a fascist manner. The idea of aggression against mankind was, for such a criminal, the direct expression of the "national dignity" of Nazi Germany. See the kind of giants we will become--this is what the fascists had in mind. But when someone in Washington begins...to display a marked tendency toward worsening the international climate...is such a policy in keeping with American national honor?
Since everywhere today one hears only speeches, slogans, and demands for "peace between people," and everywhere the battle is waged for "peace on earth," "the peaceful future of the planet," and the like, I wondered: How, on the eve of the war, did Hitler stoke the inflamed atmosphere in the world?
I went and got a book of his speeches and proclamations--a good, academic edition with commentary, published in 1962--and began to read. I admit that I was so incredibly amazed that I wrote down a few excerpts. I only ask you in advance to take into consideration that I have no intention of whitewashing Hitler. The Literary Gazette is absolutely right--"Hitler the fascist acted like a fascist." My purpose is different: to show how little the best words and slogans mean.
On February 1, 1933, Hitler said, in his first proclamation as head of the government:
In foreign policy...the government is filled with the loftiness of its task--with this people, free and enjoying equal rights, to promote the preservation and consolidation of peace, a peace which the world needs today more than ever before...We would in fact be happy if, through a [general] reduction of armaments, the world would make an increase in our own weapons never again necessary.
A few days later, Hitler spoke to British and American journalists:
Each person who, like myself, is familiar with war, knows what an utter depletion of energy it means. One can only guess at what a future war might bring. That is why no one desires peace and tranquility more than I and more than the German people.
Also in 1933, appearing before the Reichstag with a speech on the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler said:
Germany is ready at any time to take additional international security commitments upon itself, if all other nations are prepared to do the same...Germany would also be prepared to completely abolish the whole of its military establishment and to destroy the small quantity of weapons it still possesses--if these nations would pursue the same goal...As I have already stressed at the outset, the government is convinced that, today, there be only one great task: to secure peace in the
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