“* * * The lack of a great creative idea means at all times an impairment of the fighting spirit. The conviction that it is right to use even the most brutal weapons is always connected with the existence of a fanatical belief that it is necessary that a revolutionary new order of this earth should become victorious. A movement which does not fight for these highest aims and ideals will therefore never resort to the ultimate weapon.”
“* * * It is not possible to undertake a task half-heartedly or hesitatingly if its execution seems to be feasible only by expending the very last ounce of energy . . . One had to become clear in one’s mind that this goal [i.e. acquisition of new territory in Europe] could be achieved by fight alone and then had to face this armed conflict with calmness and composure.” (_2760-A-PS_)
In 1934 Hitler set out the duties of Party members in the following terms:
“Only a part of the people will be really active fighters. But they were the fighters of the National Socialist struggle. They were the fighters for the National Socialist revolution, and they are the millions of the rest of the population. For them it is not sufficient to confess: ‘I believe,’ but to swear: ‘_I fight_’.” (_2775-PS_)
This same theme is expressed in the Party Organization Book:
“The Party includes _only fighters_ who are ready to accept and sacrifice everything in order to carry through the National Socialist ideology.” (_2774-PS_)
At the trial of _Reichswehr_ officers at Leipzig in September 1930 Hitler testified:
“Germany is being strangled by Peace Treaties. * * * The National Socialists do not regard the Treaty as a law, but as something forced upon us. We do not want future generations, who are completely innocent, to be burdened by this. When we fight this with all means at our disposal, then we are on the way to a revolution.”
President of the Court: ‘Even by illegal means?’
Hitler: “I will declare here and now, that when we have become powerful (_gesiegt haben_), then we shall fight against the Treaty with all the means at our disposal, even from the point of view of the world, with illegal means.” (_2512-PS_)
Moreover, Hitler stated the true reason for rearmament as follows: