21 Nov. 45
a general election. They inculcated and practiced the
Führerprinzip which centralized control of the Party and of the
Party-controlled State over the lives and thought of the German
people, who are accustomed to look upon the German State, by whomever
controlled, with a mysticism that is incomprehensible to my people.
All these controls from their inception were exerted with
unparalleled energy and single-mindedness to put Germany on a war
footing. We will show from the Nazis' own documents their secret
training of military personnel, their secret creation of a military
air force. Finally, a conscript army was brought into being.
Financiers, economists, industrialists joined in the plan and
promoted elaborate alterations in industry and finance to support an
unprecedented concentration of resources and energies upon
preparations for war. Germany's rearmament so outstripped the
strength of her neighbors that in about a year she was able to crush
the whole military force of continental Europe, exclusive of that of
Soviet Russia, and then to push the Russian armies back to the Volga.
These preparations were of a magnitude which surpassed all need of
defense, and every defendant, and every intelligent German, well
understood them to be for aggressive purposes.
Experiments in
Aggression:
Before resorting to open aggressive warfare, the Nazis undertook
some rather cautious experiments to test the spirit of resistance of
those who lay across their path. They advanced, but only as others
yielded, and kept in a position to draw back if they found a
temperament that made persistence dangerous.
On 7 March 1936 the Nazis reoccupied the Rhineland and then
proceeded to fortify it in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and
the Pact of Locarno. They encountered no substantial resistance and
were emboldened to take the next step, which was the acquisition of
Austria. Despite repeated assurances that Germany had no designs on
Austria, invasion was perfected. Threat of attack forced Schuschnigg
to resign as Chancellor of Austria and put the Nazi Defendant
Seyss-Inquart in his place. The latter immediately opened the
frontier and invited Hitler to invade Austria "to preserve
order". On March 12th invasion began. The next day, Hitler
proclaimed himself Chief of the Austrian State, took command of its
armed forces, and a law was enacted annexing Austria to Germany.
Threats of aggression had succeeded without
arousing resistance. Fears nevertheless had been stirred. They were
lulled by an assurance to the Czechoslovak Government that there
would be no attack on that country. We will show that the Nazi
Government