Background: This is a mass pamphlet issued by the Nazis during the second round of the 1932 presidential campaign, held on 10 April. Hitler did well in the first round, forcing a run-off. The Nazi hope was to win a majority in the second round. This pamphlet was released within a week or two of that election, and aims to present Hitler as the only person able to save Germany, a capable politician who has been slandered by a fightened opposition. It seems to be aimed at the electorate in general rather than a specific group.

I also have a pamphlet on Hitler issued a month or so earlier during the first round of the presidential election, Dagobert Dürr’s Adolf Hitler der deutsche Arbeiter und Frontsoldat (Munich: Eher, 1932).

The source: Tatsachen und Lügen um Hitler (Munich: Franz Eher, 1932).

Facts and Lies about Hitler

The Führer as a Person

Two men stand at the fore in the battle for power in Germany, and behind each two mighty columns of the German people march. One man is the 85-year-old Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the other is the 43-year-old man of the people and front soldier Adolf Hitler. Behind one of them are the defeated parties of the System and special interests who are trying to extend their 14 years of rule for several more years by exploiting the halo of the venerable army leader, behind the other is the New Germany’s army of millions, who are not only demanding a reckoning, but control of the state itself.

It is a piece of the German tragedy that those who today are depending on the honor and fame of the field marshal are the same ones who smeared him for fourteen years, and that they are forced to oppose the man who anchored his mythos in the people over a 14-year struggle.

Hindenburg, his officers, and his victorious army were once the target of the gutter press and the deceivers of the people. Adolf Hitler, the unknown musketeer and his loyal followers defended him from the poisonous arrows of the Reds, and worked until Germany’s army and its leaders were once again shining figures, as they were back when the cannon’s fire illuminated the night.

Now the Red and Black barrage is aimed at Adolf Hitler, the leader of young Germany, the leader of freedom. Now he is slandered in word and picture, portrayed as a tyrant and actor, branded as a gourmet, a glutton, only because his battle slogan is: Death to Marxism so that Germany may live!

For years we have been silent about these miserable lies. Our opponents were too crude, the Führer too noble, for us to respond. Now, however, since the people as a whole is to choose between two men, one of whom it knows only in the distorted mirror of Jewish and Marxist lies, do we chose to step forward and talk about the Führer, whom we have known from the beginning. We want to talk about Adolf Hitler as a person, as we see him.

This is the truth. He who speaks differently lies!

More than twelve years ago, the first dozen National Socialists gathered each week around a table as Adolf Hitler spoke fervently about the future that had to belong to us, to us National Socialists. We did not have much. There was the old driver Mayer, and the locksmith Riedel, but Adolf Hitler was surely the poorest of us all. He wore the uniform of a demobilized soldier and his brown military boots. For lunch, he chose the cheapest item on the menu. But I never heard Hitler complain, he never spoke of his poverty. Yet he had known poverty since his youth as he went hungry in Vienna, without a mother or father, or during the war as the only one in his company who never received a package, and remained as poor after the great struggle. As the others thought about their families, about their possessions and their money, Adolf Hitler preached the battle for freedom.

Hunger and poverty reduced millions to people who knew no fatherland any more, but poverty made of Hitler a nationalist, but also a socialist, a spokesman for the deprived among our people. The Führer said:

“Social welfare’s task never was or is to squander its resources in ridiculous useless ways that must, or at least can, lead to the corruption of the individual, but rather in eliminating fundamental weaknesses in the organization of our economic and cultural life.”

Well, some may say, that was twelve years ago. But today he lives in fine style, drinks champagne, and orders tablecloths that cost 20 Marks. That, at least, is what the gutter journalists write. The Red party hacks and their servants probably think that way because that is how they behave. Let us look at how this man lived during the several weeks in which the National Socialist Party took in half a million marks through his speeches: he had soup, vegetables, and a bottle of mineral water. No alcohol, no meat, no cigar, no cigarette. Those who doubt it can check with the hotels where Hitler stayed during his trips, and which are well known to the Jewish and Social Democratic rat finks. Adolf Hitler’s lifestyle is characterized by Spartan simplicity.

Between trips through German territory, when there is no public meeting, no S.A. gathering, no meeting, one comes to know the Führer as an artist and person of vast knowledge. Here he shows his companions an old archway, there a German cathedral soaring to the heavens, here a splendid German bridge, there a memorial to a hero of German intellectual life. He speaks of German history and how to use it, of the newest type of airplane, then in a village somewhere brushes the head of the boy of a German worker that the mother proudly raises toward him.

Even Hitler’s opponents cannot deny that his party members not only believe fanatically in the Führer, but also love him passionately, honor him so much that dozens died for him, smiling and with his name on their lips. As Führer, Adolf Hitler stands far above us all, but as a person he is as our father or bother. He knows our suffering and our sorrows, feels them with us, because he himself went through life’s hardest school and never forgot his own years of bitter poverty.

Everyone, therefore, comes to him for help, and just as he will one day be the savior of the whole people, today he helps each individual fighter. That is how the relationship of loyalty and camaraderie developed between Führer and follower developed that binds heart to heart, and which no power on earth can destroy.

He who has not yet entirely understood the powerful new idea of National Socialism will find the way to a New Germany through Hitler, the man.

We thank Providence that it not only gave Hitler to us as Führer, but also as a man who shows us how to live as a German.

What are Hitler’s Goals?

Hitler’s goals are:

Achieving freedom for the German people,

Achieving its proper place among the peoples,

Building the foundations for its ability to survive.

Hitler is convinced that freedom for the German people and its appropriate position among the peoples can be gained through entirely peaceful methods. The prerequisite is the firm and consistent leadership of German foreign policy that, combined with a corresponding domestic policy rooted in a people that once again has the will to assert itself, will convince foreign states that Germany is a valuable partner. Hitler wants to work together with states that have interests that allow, or even require, working together with Germany. Instead of emotional policies, he favors a policy of self interest, which recognizes the same factor as the driving force of the policies of all peoples.

This requires the organization of the domestic life of a people according to the principles that will best enable it to face the rest of the world, and so support the necessary foreign policy. This means replacing the system of irresponsible leadership based on decisions made by a parliamentary majority of amateurs with a system based on the personal responsibility of a capable leader, supported by the advice of experts. It means the replacement of the majority with the value of personality. It means awakening and increasing the feeling of the superiority of one’s own race. It means eliminating Jewish-Bolshevist manifestations in all areas of culture.

It means the greatest possible support for the economy and the use of all suitable methods to bring the unemployed back into the production process to add new purchasing power and new opportunities for the domestic markets. It means the gradual reduction of excessive taxes and a return to a tax system characterized by a few easily understood taxes. It means a reduction in excessive interest rates, above all with respect to foreign debts. It means stable prices, which permit long-term planning. It means the protection of domestic production, in particular agricultural production, since agriculture provides our food and is the prerequisite for the independence, and therefore the freedom, of the nation: It is the source of the renewal of the people’s blood, replacing what big cities suck out of it and destroy.

Capital and labor are equally essential for highly developed economy. Neither of the two factors can benefit at the cost of the other — which in the long one would lead both to suffer. Therefore, class struggle must be eliminated and class differences bridged. This requires a just distribution of economic success. Community spirit and mutual confidence, hand in hand with the regulatory activity of the state when required, will create the foundation for healthy economic growth.

Hitler refuses to provide details as to how his goals will be reached, since experience shows that the present government adopts at least parts of such plans, usually in an incomplete manner — thereby avoiding a really effective attack on the root cause, such as unemployment — which discredits them, since there is no healthy and constructive result. Hitler’s plans, which the government at first does not intend to follow, are criticized in public by “experts,” or even made ludicrous. One only need mention the National Socialist proposal in the Reichstag a year and a half ago to require a general reduction in interest rates. It was attacked from all sides. When after a long time the Brüning government decided to proceed according to the National Socialist proposal, it turned out that the measure was entirely practical and effective, and the “unacceptable consequences” that the experts predicted would result from the National Socialist proposal did not occur.

One may be persuaded that the same is true of the other measures Hitler plans to save countless individuals, the economy, and the entire nation. This is even more the case, since Hitler does not plan risky or amateurish experiments, but rather to follow the advice of leading and recognized experts in all areas.

The man who, because of his extraordinary knowledge and ability in all areas, was able to rise from nothing to his present position as the leader of millions in Germany, despite tremendous resistance, is perhaps the only one who has the ability to master the enormous tasks, rescuing the nation at the eleventh hour from its almost hopeless situation. Led by fate, he followed his path. It would not be the first time in history that Germany was rescued by the right man in its greatest need!

Each must therefore be aware of the responsibility that he bears if he hinders Hitler from taking the fate of the people in his hands, particularly in view of the failure of previous governments.

A Selection of Lies about Hitler

Nothing better demonstrates the great hatred the parties responsible for Germany’s misery have for Hitler than a selection of the lies that they spread about him. And nothing speaks more for Hitler.

The Center Party and its allies in the “Bavarian People’s Party” lied: Adolf Hitler is member of the “Free of Rome movement.” When this was proven to be untrue, the Center Party lied that it was true of Hitler’s father. Furthermore: As a child, Hitler supposedly spit on the host. He is a covert Bolshevist.

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly had “Champagne parties with beautiful women;” the Kaiser paid Hitler for his activities; Hitler received money from “Horthy’s Hungary.” Hitler’s supporters are supposedly “miserable creatures,” reactionary officers, and students. Hitler is a “slave of the capitalists.”

The S.P.D. and Center Party lied: Hitler betrayed South Tyrol and was rewarded with money from Italy.

They lied: Hitler supposedly received money from a number of big industrialists so that he would use his forces to break strikes.

They lied: Hitler supposedly received money from Jews.

They lied: Hitler supposedly received money from Ford.

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly received money from Borsig.

The S.P.D. and Center Party lied: Hitler supposedly was engaged to a Jew.

The Bavarian Center Party (BPP) had a Catholic priest spread lies that as a child, Adolf Hitler spat on the host, although this accusation had already been proven false.

The S.P.D. lied: Adolf Hitler supposedly received French funds. The Berliner Tageblatt, close to the Marxists, worked to spread this lie throughout the world.

The Münchener Telegrammzeitung, which the S.P.D. and Center Party often use against Hitler, maintain that Hitler supposedly gave an ultimatum to Crown Prince Rupprecht.

The Center Party lied: Hitler supposedly had a luxurious 12-room house; he supposedly had a luxurious villa in Berchtesgaden.

The S.P.D. and Center Party lied: There was a tapestry supposedly worth 80,000 Marks in the Brown House [the Nazi headquarters in Munich], a banister worth 30,000 Marks, a 3,000 Mark wood-carved chair. Hitler’s office was supposedly modeled after Mussolini’s.

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly received money from Switzerland.

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly had negations with separatist leader Heinz Orbis.

The S.P.D. and Center Party published articles in their newspapers, and the Münchner Telegrammzeitung, based on an alleged letter claiming that Hitler received 5,000,000 Marks from Russia for the election. (The proof for the alleged document’s falsity was that it had a form of his signature that Hitler no longer used at the time. As a result, even the Soviet Russian government had to distance itself from the forgery.)

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly received a prison sentence for deserting the German army, for which he received amnesty from Kurt Eisner (the slanderer had to pay a 50 Mark fine!)

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly ordered Jewish cemeteries to be desecrated. (Even Berlin Police President Bernhard Weiß had to admit under oath that he knew of no case of grave desecration by National Socialists.)

The Center Party lied: Adolf Hitler supposedly said in his book Mein Kampf that lies may be used in any situation. The cited passage was false from start to finish.

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly sent one of his representatives to Paris to negotiate a German-French military agreement with France.

The S.P.D. and Center Party lied: Hitler supposedly stated that in the Third Reich all handicapped children will be killed.

The S.P.D. lied: S.A. people were supposedly used by industry to break strikes.

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly was paid 2,000 Marks for each meeting he spoke at.

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly wanted to introduce forced labor for the unemployed, but National Socialists would be exempt.

The S.P.D. spreads false lists of people supposedly killed by the National Socialists.

The S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly had his representative Göring secure a 16-room mansion in Berlin.

The S.P.D. and Center Party lied: Hitler was supposedly Czech. When this could no longer be defended, they changed it so that Hitler’s mother was supposedly a Czech who always spoke the Czech language.

The German National Commercial Assistance Federation (D.H.B.) lied: Hitler supposedly wanted to destroy the unions.

The S.P.D. lied: After his speech in Düsseldorf, Hitler supposedly had a fancy dinner with the industrialists.

The S.P.D. lied: Schneider-Creuzot supposedly gave Hitler money.

The Center Party and S.P.D. lied: Hitler supposedly no longer believes in his mission or in wining the presidential election.

The S.P.D. lied: Japan supposedly gave Hitler money.

The S.P.D. lies today: If elected Reich President, Hitler would supposedly cut all pensions.

The S.P.D. lies today: Foreign countries, above all France, would supposedly not tolerate Hitler as president, German credit would be destroyed, etc., the same things they said in 1925 about a Hindenburg presidency.

The “middle class papers,” along with the S.P.D. and Center Party, lie: Hitler supposedly wanted at first to extend Hindenburg’s term, but was dissuaded through Hugenberg’s influence. A “nationalist” paper took on the forgery of a French newspaper about a supposed Hitler representative, who never existed.

The S.P.D. lies today: Hitler supposedly receives some of the profits of the Völkischer Beobachter, a party salary, and a fee for each of his meetings. This totals, supposedly, 433,200 Marks a year.

The S.P.D. lies today: “To save money,” Hitler would supposedly kill everyone over the age of 60.

The S.P.D. and Center Party lie today: Hitler would supposedly fire all employed women.

The S.P.D. lies today: Hitler’s father originally had a Czech name, only later replacing it with a German name.

During his political career, Hitler instituted 123 cases against such lies. As it gradually became clear that no reasonable person believed these lies any longer, he only went after occasional examples of the crassest cases.

So it was with claims of accepting French money, Italian money, betraying South Tyrol, desecrating the host, making an ultimatum to Crown Prince Rupprecht, discussions with Heinz Orbis, desecrating Jewish cemeteries, forgeries from his book, deserting the Austrian army, fleeting the front, etc. All the court verdicts, of course, were in his favor. The total of the resulting fines and prison terms was considerable, even if in some cases they were inappropriately lenient.

A new flood of lies gushed over Hitler and his surroundings during the Reich presidential election. Forged letters, forged police reports on interrogations of his staff, were spread about. With interest, but calmly, Hitler and his staff are ready for new lies prepared for the election.

Answers to the Most Common Lies

Besides a court verdict, a South Tyrolean answered this one. Count Fedrigotti, a leader of the South Tyrol Home Federation, and Member of the Andreas Hofer Federation, talked at the end of January of this year with National Socialist Reichstag Representative Hinkel about a speech by Father Innerkosler titled “Hitler’s Betrayal of South Tyrol,” given at a Reichsbanner mass meeting. He stated that the South Tyrol Home Federation refused to allow the South Tyrol question to be used for partisan political attacks against National Socialism. He showed Hinkel a telegram that he had received from Innsbruck as an answer to his request, in which the leaders of the South Tyrol Home Federation sharply rejected Innerkosler’s position in Berlin. The South Tyroleans knew that Germany’s foreign policy line had to follow the Berlin-Rome-London line, and that Hitler had to draw the appropriate conclusions for his behavior. They also had to recognize that Mussolini was the first to take sympathetic position against reparations. They only wanted to be sure that South Tyrol was not forgotten.

Hitler certainly has not forgotten the South Tyroleans. He himself was born and grew up in a border region. He is convinced, however, that the mission of the South Tyroleans is to build a bridge to Italy, and behavior consistent with that will be of more use to them than the German press agitation against Fascist Italy that exploits the South Tyroleans.

A Protestant church official who knows Hitler personally, and has observed him for a decade in Munich, answers this charge as follows:

“As far as I can tell, it is nonsense to think that Hitler is ’subservient to Rome.’ If that is true, why do parts of the Catholic clergy fight him so hard? If it were true, it would be easy for him to win their favor! Hitler is German-minded and honorable, but not bound to a religious denomination, for he is the leader of a political party that includes all true Germans.”

A Reformed Protestant pastor wrote this about the same question:

Dear Sir !

You have asked me for information based on my personal acquaintance with Mr. Adolf Hitler.

I have had opportunity to observe Adolf Hitler for years. I am duty-bound to say that claims that Hitler is “in Rome’s service,” that he is “subservient to Rome,” that he is “under Jesuit influence,” are fables and slanders. These distortions are used by his political opponents to harm Hitler’s image among the Protestant part of the German people. If I shared this doubt, I would not be a member of the NSDAP. I cannot understand why such rumors have any credibility today, since it is known that Catholic dignitaries publicly oppose Hitler and his movement.

From my perspective, Hitler may not be judged from a denominational standpoint. Just as he stands above “parties” in the usual sense, so he stands above denominational strife. But he acts like a Christian! He above all is to be thanked — and I share this conviction with many observers — for the fact that a large part of Europe has been so far protected from Bolshevism.

Munich, 27 March 1932.

Hans Wegner, Pastor of the Evangelical-Reformed Church in Munich

A Catholic priest who examined all of Hitler’s statements carefully before he could decide to speak for the party in good conscience, wrote the following about whether he would vote for Hindenburg or Hitler on 13 March 1932:

“You want to know whom I, the Catholic priest, am voting for as Reich President. I am not voting for Hindenburg, but rather for Hitler. The day comes for each of us when his strength fails, when he is too old for his duties, regardless of what he did for his nation in his younger and fresher years. One then has the moral obligation to give up the office one has held and pass on the care of the nation to younger and fresher forces. That is why, to say it again, I am voting for Hitler. There has seldom been a man whom I admired as much as Hindenburg. The people who wanted nothing to do with him seven years ago, and held other candidates as worthier Reich Presidents, thought my admiration to be a special sort of evil. I am not shamed of that admiration, and even today it burns within me, because I cannot forget what this man did for my fatherland. Yet still, to say it a third time, I am voting for Hitler, for age is age, and failing strength is failing strength, and it would be terrible for me if this man, in whose camp Germany stood for the long, hard years of war would be driven to partisan political maneuvering. You know that I am hardly uncritical when it comes to your party, but I will rejoice in the day when the world hears the news that Adolf Hitler has been elected President of the German Reich.

Cologne-Delbrück, 3 March 1932, signed Dr. W. Engel.”

After the first round of the election, he added the following lines to the above letter on 18 March:

“...What people are gradually beginning to realize (and which for Hitler is strong incentive to continue in the same direction) is this: the NSDAP is the purest of the political parties. The people who voted for Hitler are people who think the same and have similar wills. Hindenburg’s voters, however, are a mish-mash of political viewpoints, a political stew...

You will surely remember Mr. von Loebell, who put the Hindenburg coalition together seven years ago. I have since discovered that he is a 33rd degree Scottish Freemason. What does Hindenburg really think of Freemasonry? If he himself is a Freemason, you will understand why, particularly after the recent papal statement against Freemasonry, it would be impossible for a Catholic priest to vote for this man, even if he is supported by less well informed leading Catholic priests in Germany...

Signed: Dr. W. Engel”

If a Catholic priest can vote for Hitler, any good Catholic can do so as well without having any problems with his conscience! And when he understands that Hitler alone is to thank for the fact that Germany has been saved from Bolshevism, which destroys Christian culture, churches, and altars, he must vote for Hitler.

That cannot be changed by attempts to prove that Hitler is “hostile to religion,” using works by private, independent works by National Socialists, or by the poetic fantasies of Dietrich Eckart, whose conversations with Hitler never happened.

Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn. Those opponents who spread the lie of a “Czech Hitler” depend on the confusion of Braunau am Inn with the Braunau in Czechoslovakia. Braunau am Inn is on the Bavarian border, with only the Inn River between them. It is over 80 kilometers as the crow flies to the Czech border, twice as much as the distance between Dresden and the Czech border. Up until the second half of the 18th century, Braunau belonged to Bavaria.

Hitler, therefore, was born within Greater Germany. Both parents are of German blood. They could not even speak Czech (and Hitler lived many years of his youth with his parents on Reich German soil, in Passau). Hitler became a German citizen before he became a candidate for Reich President by act of the National Socialist government in Braunschweig. He himself always refused to ask the Reich government to give to him what it gave without hesitation to tens of thousands of Galician Jews, even though he had long-since earned it through four years of service at the front in the German army during the war.

These charges are an example of the “stop thief!” tactics used by the parties of the Hindenburg front. They know well enough that a continuation of their regime will lead to complete financial collapse in the not too distant future, already hinted at by current goings on with the banks. Everyone knows that an improvement in finances can only result from a general improvement in the economy, and that this in turn can only result from increased productivity by everyone. They also know that under Hindenburg and the governments under him, unemployment has risen from 736,000 in 1925 to 6,250,000 today, and that if the system of little emergency degree tinkering continues, unemployment will continue to rise. They know that they can temporarily postpone their system of financial collapse, whether in the short or long term, through measures that will cause inflation. Since they know that, and since they can no longer see any way out, they attempt to divert attention by saying that Hitler will cause inflation. They conceal what they know well enough that Hilferding from their own Social Democratic group was the one who caused inflation. This completely fulfilled their old program plank on the fight against “capital” and the expropriation of the wealthy, since even the poorest grandma lost the last penny that she had saved for her old age. In thanks, the “bourgeoisie” today marches arm and arm with the comrades of the SPD, attempting to save the system responsible for it all by using Hindenburg’s name. Just as intentionally, they conceal the fact that it was Hitler who predicted inflation, who said that the government’s measures had to lead to inflation, and who also showed how to avoid inflation.

The “Hindenburg parties” know that the financial collapse that their System has to lead to ending unemployment benefits and pensions, just as the danger of collapse has already led to reducing them. Their leaders know that there are already places in Germany that are no longer able to pay these benefits, and are instead giving them permits that ask the authorities not to arrest them for begging (!) Since they know this and cannot see any way out, they are spreading the fable that Hitler wants to stop unemployment benefits and pensions.

The SPD’s leaders in the “Hindenburg Front” know that if such support is eliminated because of financial collapse, the result will be civil war. They do not even want to avoid civil war. To conceal that they accuse Hitler of wanting civil war, and their bourgeois allies in the “Hindenburg Front” do all they can to help spread this lie. Red Prussia instituted a big effort to search National Socialist homes in the hope of finding support for their fairy tales about civil war.

Why is it that the leaders of the SPD do not even want to avoid the civil war that has to follow the collapse of their regime? Because civil war is a step on the path to reaching their goals. That these remain what they always were, and that they are misusing the name “Hindenburg,” is shown by a passage from the newspaper Eiserne Front in Mecklenburg of 6 March 1932:

“This election is not the decisive battle between capitalism and socialism. Our side certainly cannot achieve that under Hindenburg’s banner. When the hour comes for that, we will vote for someone else.”

In plain language, German citizens should understand that the SPD, in desperation, is trying to save itself under the “Hindenburg banner.” Once the danger Hitler poses to them is past, they can kick the “bourgeoisie” out. Then the SPD will be able to fight the decisive battle between the system of general expropriation, Marxism, and the system based on private property, on the accomplishments of the individual. For those who sought to rescue Marxism under the “Hindenburg banner,” the result of the victory of Marxism in this “decisive battle” will be widespread starvation and forced labor, following the Russian model.

He who wants to please Scheidemann, Dittmann, Crispien, and the other comrades in the “Hindenburg Front,” therefore, helps by spreading tales about Hitler causing inflation, cutting unemployment payments and pensions, and bringing about civil war and chaos. He thereby contributes to maintaining the current System, which is bringing all these things about!

It has been said that Hitler evaded military service in Austria, and only because of that served in the Bavarian army.

The following document provides the answer:

Office of the State Government, State Registry Office, Nr. 786

Official Statement

Adolf Hitler, born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn and resident of Linz, Upper Austria, son of Alois and Klara (maiden name, Plötzl), was found by examination of the 3rd age group in Salzburg on 5 February 1914 to be “too weak for military or support service,” and was declared “unfit for military service.”

Linz, 23 February 1932, signed Opitz

Hitler, of course, volunteered immediately at the beginning of the war and served in the Bavarian army from the start to the finish. Since he was in Munich at the time, this required the permission of the King of Bavaria. His service at the front was interrupted only by two wounds.

The party that, along with the USPD that had again joined its ranks, just after the revolution proclaimed it an honor to have been a shirker, or even a deserter, invented the lie shortly before the Reich presidential election that Hitler had shirked his duty. At Fournes in particular, he had always been “far from the action.” A temporary ban was imposed on that SPD pamphlet. In the subsequent court proceeding, the judge had to rule that the claim was untrue, based on an impressive number of sworn statements by witnesses, either on paper or directly before the court.

Here are excerpts from the sworn statements:

“... I want to stress that, when during the attack on the axe-shaped piece of forest (later called the Bavarian Forest), I left the cover of the forest near Wytschaete to better observe the attack, Hitler and another courier from the regimental staff, the volunteer Bachmann, placed themselves in front of me to protect me from machine gun fire with their own bodes.”

Signed: Engelhardt, Major General (retired), former commander of the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16 (List).

“... I can only give former Corporal Hitler the greatest praise for his extraordinary accomplishments. Fournes was a village behind the regiment’s battle line. It served as a recovery area for battalion relieved from the front, and also served as the seat of the regimental staff during calmer periods. The village was within the danger zone, and was frequently under rather heavy fire. During battle, the regimental headquarters was moved about 3/4 of an hour forward to Fournelles, and orders had to be carried to the front line. The path was often under enemy machine gun and artillery fire. I can never remember a single time when Hitler was absent from his post. Hitler may wear the medals he earned with pride...”

Signed: Satny, Colonel (retired), former commander of the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16 (List).

“Mr. Hitler, as corporal, was a courier for the regimental staff, and was not only always willing to carry out hard tasks, but did so with distinction. I stress that the List Regiment, as might be expected from its history, was at the toughest parts of the front, fighting in frequent major battles...”

Signed: Baligand, Colonel (retired), last commander of the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16 (List).

“... At particularly dangerous points I often was asked for volunteers, and at such times Hitler regularly volunteered, and without hesitation...”

Signed: Bruno Horn, Lieutenant with the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16 (List).

“... Hitler never hesitated in the least in carrying out even the most difficult order, and very often took on the most dangerous duties for his comrades.

Couriers for the regimental staff had to be among the most reliable people, because serving as a regimental courier during battles and skirmishes required iron nerves and a cool head. Hitler always did his duty, and even after his severe thigh wound, and volunteered to be sent back to his regiment from the reserve battalion immediately after his release from the hospital...”

Signed: Max Amann, former sergeant with the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16 (List).

“... I often met Corporal Adolf Hitler as he served as courier to and from the front. Anyone who understands the duties of a courier — and any soldier who has served at the front does — knows what it means, day after day and night after night to move through artillery fire and machine gun fire from the rear...”

Signed: Joseph Lohr, officer candidate with the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16 (List).

“... It is true that Hitler was nearly blinded by a courier mission during a heavy gas attack, even though he was wearing a gas mask...”

Signed: Jakob Weiß, NCO with the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16 (List).

“... Hitler received the Iron Cross, First Class, during the spring or summer of 1918 for his outstanding service as a courier during the great offensive of 1918, and in particular for his personal capture of a French officer and about 15 men, whom he suddenly encountered during a mission, and as a result of his quick thinking and decisive action, captured.

Hitler was seen by his fellow couriers, and many others in the regiment, as one of the best and bravest soldiers.”

Signed: Ernst Schmidt, with the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16 (List) from November 1914 until October 1918.

The most sensational moment of the trial came during the testimony of Hitler’s regimental comrade Michel Schlehuber, a Social Democrat and union member for 35 years, who was called as a witness by the opposing side:

“I have known Hitler since the departure for the front of the Bavarian R.-F.-R. 16. I came to know Hitler as a good soldier and faultless comrade. I never saw Hitler attempt to avoid any duty or danger.

I was part of the division from first to last, and never heard anything then or afterwards bad about Hitler. I was astonished when I later read unfavorable things about Hitler’s service as a soldier in the newspapers.

I disagree entirely with Hitler on political matters and give this testimony only because I highly respect Hitler as a war comrade.”

Signed: Michael Schlehuber

Hitler promises nothing, and has never promised anything. He has begun a number of his speeches by saying that he is not in the happy position of the speakers of other parties who, for example, speak only to farmers and can therefore promise higher prices for their products, or only to city-dwellers and therefore promise lower food prices, or promise higher pay to civil servants, or higher pay to workers, or lower wages to employers, or tax reductions to everyone. He speaks in his meetings to those of all classes and occupations of the German people, and he knows that promises made by others cannot be kept, since they contradict each other. As he said: “I plan only one thing for the new state: work, work, and more work, for we have become a poor people! However, everyone who wants to work should be able to work and each should know why he is working — he should benefit from the results of his labor.”

This has been a particularly effective election lie, based on the falsification of a statement by a National Socialist speaker. Of course Hitler does not intend to suddenly throw working women onto the street. He knows that, from an economic standpoint, it makes no difference whether several million more men or several million more women are unemployed. He knows that it would harm the economy and state apparatus if trained, experienced women, who may be better qualified than men, suddenly were laid off. He knows that, under current economic conditions, men cannot suddenly take care of women who were formerly employed. He knows that families with many children, or injured war veterans receiving a starvation pension, cannot do without the usually small income of the woman, if they are not to join the enormous number of people today who commit suicide as a last resort.

Hitler will not play around with measures like the 4-pfenning emergency decree [In December 1931, the Brüning government decided to issue a four pfennig coin to encourage lower prices. It did not go over well.], but rather will attack the root of the problem. That means bringing the army of the unemployed, and each individual, back into the productive process.

That is said by the same citizens, and the same “national” newspapers who once saw the former saddle-maker Friedrich Ebert as a worthy president of the German Reich, and who could not say enough about his “significance as a statesman.” And by the same ones who held Hindenburg for a great genius able to master all areas, even though he himself said in his memoirs that he had never read a book that was not on military matters.

A former imperial ambassador, certainly no political novice, said this about Hitler:

“I had two opportunities to speak for a long time with Hitler. I will never be able to forget these conversations.

I hold Hitler to be a political thinker of extraordinary stature. He naturally understands things that require hard work for others.

His fine sense of foreign policy is surprising, which allows him to make the right decision instinctively...”

Burg Rotenburg, Wieslock-Land, Baden, 10 March 1932.

Signed: Franz von Reichenau, Imperial Ambassador (retired), Privy Councilor

One might ask who showed the greater political wisdom: Hindenburg, who when he signed the Young Plan said that it would benefit Germany in every way, or Hitler, who rejected the plan and predicted precisely the consequences it would have for Germany. Or the abilities shown by an entirely unknown man, without resources, in the face of resistance and persecution, who took a group of seven men and made it into the best-organized political movement in Germany, which today has over 11 million supporters, nearly a third of all voting Germans, while the Hindenburg Front includes 16 (!) parties attempting to block Hitler’s victory.

It might also be noted the Italian bourgeoisie once had equally “serious reservations” about the “dilettante” Mussolini. Mussolini had this to say during the 1930 Reichstag election: “Hitler is a great leader, a great organizer.”’

Answers to Frequent Questions

Hitler says:

“You cannot be a true nationalist without also being a socialist; you others cannot be true socialists without also being nationalists.

To be a nationalist means loving ones own people more than all others, and worker to be sure that it can hold its own among them. If this people to hold its own against the rest of the world, I must wish and work for the health of each member, to see that things go as well as possible for each individual, and therefore the whole. But then I am a socialist!

And I cannot be a socialist without working to be sure that my people can defend itself from attacks by other peoples, and to secure its foundations for life, without working for the greatness of my people, thereby also being a nationalist. The strength and significance of my people is the foundation for the prosperity of the individual.

Therefore, you are National Socialists.”

Because Hindenburg, through his Minister Brüning, is stopping the formation of a government that will do everything better than previous governments and that corresponds to the current will of the people.

Because he is stopping the election of a new Reichstag that would enable such a government.

In short, because Hindenburg is stopping a new election that would bring a National Socialist government to power, even though the National Socialists today are the strongest party in Germany.

By their fruits you shall know them! So far, National Socialists have governed the city of Coburg and the states of Thuringia and Braunschweig.

There were no shipwrecks, as hoped for and predicted by our opponents.

No civil war resulted, as hoped for and predicted by our opponents.

Finances did not collapse, as hoped for and predicted by our opponents.

To the contrary: In Thuringia the National Socialist government balanced the budget — for the first time in any German state since the revolution.

The accomplishments of the National Socialist government were recognized by those who had previously distrusted National Socialist governments. The best proof of that is the unprecedented increase in votes for National Socialism in areas with National Socialist governments.

Since the National Socialists took over the government in Coburg, its votes increased from 5143 (already the absolute majority) to 8,345, in Thuringia from 90,236 to 333,000, in Braunschweig from 67,900 to 124,360.

That is the answer of voters who had the opportunity to observe and evaluate National Socialist governments.

Hitler does not intend to fill all positions with members of his own party. He has often said — and to parties and organizations that want to make their “claims” — that he will use all leading experts, men who really understand their fields, regardless of the party to which they belong. Men who have proved themselves will stay in their positions.

Hitler does not want to subject the German people to further experiments. We have had enough of the experiments of the Hindenburg parties, which brought us inflation, poverty, and economic collapse!

Historical Overview

was born on 20 April 1889 in Brannau am Inn, a formerly Bavarian town.

His father had worked himself up from the orphaned son of a poor farmer to a customs official. His mother also came from a German farming family. Adolf Hitler attended elementary and secondary school in Linz on the Danube. His father wanted him to become a civil servant, but he wanted to become an artist. His mother’s death forced him to immediately support himself.

At 17, he moved to Vienna, hoping to become an architect, and had to support himself. He worked as a construction laborer and cement mixer, later as a drawer and painter for architects. At 18, he was already taking part in political life, becoming an anti-Marxist, without being prominent in any way. Since his youth, Hitler was a fanatic nationalist, and attempted to unite the social experiences of his working years with his nationalist convictions. He suffered hard and bitter poverty for years in Vienna.

He moved to Munich in 1912, learning and studying. He did not have an easy youth, knowing only work and hardship from the day he left home with 50 crowns in his pocket.

In February 1914, he was finally exempted from Austrian military service. The World War began six months later.

He immediately applied to enlist in the German army and received permission from King Ludwig of Bavaria to join a Bavarian regiment as a volunteer. The new regiment marched off on 10 October 1918.

On 2 December 1914, the 25-year-old volunteer received the Iron Cross, Second Class.

Because of his bravery during the attack on the “Bavarian Forest” and in the other battles in the vicinity of Wytschaete, he was ordered to become a courier, which required particular courage and reliability since messages often had to be carried across open country under the heaviest fire. Soon, his name was known in the regiment beyond the small circle of his comrades.

On 7 October 1916 he was wounded by a shell fragment. He returned to his regiment in March 1917. He received a variety of other decorations, including the Regimental Citation for outstanding bravery during the battles near fontaines, and finally the Iron Cross, First Class.

On 14 October 1918, he and numerous comrades in his regiment were seriously wounded by England’s first use of chlorine gas and was temporarily blinded. The Revolution broke out while he was hospitalized.

Hitler decided to become a politician.

In 1919, he joined a small group of 6 men and transformed it into the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. He outlined the goals of the new movement in broad detail, laying out its goals and nature.

Hitler speaks for the first time to 7 men in September 1919, then to 11, to 25, to 111 in December, to 270 in January 1920, and soon to 400. On 14 November 1920, he spoke to 1700 in the first true mass meeting. Adolf Hitler organized the young party’s propaganda, which after one year of activity had had 64 members. One year later — 1920 — it has already grown to 3,000. Hitler increases the number of meetings in Munich to the point that he is speaking to three mass meetings every week, and holds a discussion and training evening each Monday. His main theme was always

the insanity of Versailles,

refuting strongly claims by the Marxists, the Center Party, etc., that its terms could be fulfilled. He also attacked the slogan these parties used that if Germany “disarmed, so would the others.” He predicted that after Germany disarmed, the others would begin arming in earnest, using not their own money, but billions extorted from the now defenseless German people. He argued against the propaganda of the SPD and Center Party, who claimed that the treaty had to be signed or the Ruhr would be occupied, by prophesying that the Ruhr would be occupied in any case, regardless of what we signed.

1921

The first local groups are founded in Rosenheim and Landshut. Hitler organizes the first protective brigade of the party, and begins the battle against separatist efforts in Bavaria. In 1921, the Führer spoke to more than 5,000 people in Munich’s Circus Hall.

He told his meetings that “fulfilling” the requirements of the treaties would not lead, as the SPD, Center Party, and People’s Party claimed, to a rebuilding of the German economy, butt rather the results of the insane policy of fulfillment had to be enormous inflation with immeasurable damage to the German economy. Hitler’s charge that the Black-Red government planned to privatize the railroad was rejected as an “unscrupulous lie.”

An attempt at an internal party revolt fails. Hitler proposes a new party constitution, and receives dictatorial authority.

[A picture of Hitler shaking hands with an admiring crowd.

The social democracy, no longer able to keep Hitler’s name quiet, attempts to deal with the hated man using terror. There are bloody battles at meetings, during which the Führer’s iron nerves keep the upper hand. He is surrounded by an unbreakable guard, which from now on called itself the Storm Troopers.

1922

The conquest of Munich continues, while the movement also begins to spread to the rest of Bavaria. Adolf Hitler rejects all suggestions to compromise or join together with other parties. He slowly eliminates all other similar “völkisch” party groups and establishes National Socialist leadership over them.

In October 1922 Adolf Hitler marches with 800 men to Coburg and breaks completely, for the first time, Red terror within 24 hours.

Adolf Hitler proclaims publicly that we are nearing the inflation he had predicted would result from the policies of the Black-Red coalition with seven-league-boots. He becomes the System’s most dangerous and hated enemy.

The Social Democracy and Center Party begin to give up serious discussions with National Socialism and turn to slanders.

1923

The first major party rally is held in January 1923, and the first party standards are dedicated. The S.A. is organized along strict lines.

The party’s propaganda is reviewed and improved, and the organization takes in the form is still has today. Numerous fellow fighters have gathered around Adolf Hitler, most of whom remain his unshakable fighting comrades to this day. Hitler continues to be persecuted, serving

his first jail term

for disrupting opponents’ meetings, receiving constant fines, but does not give up his battle against the System even for a moment.

During summer 1923, Hitler begins breaking Red terror in most Bavarian cities. Regensburg, Hof, Bayreuth, Nuremberg, Fürth, Ingolstadt, Würzburg, and Schweinfurt are freed from Social Democratic and Communist terror brigades — sometimes after bloody street fights.

Hitler’s battle against the incompetent Reich government leads to sharp controversies. He prophesies the hopelessness of the government’s resistance in the Ruhr, continually attacks the senseless attempts to negotiate with France on fulfillment policy. He speaks constantly about the necessity for coming to understandings with Italy and England.

In November 1923, Adolf Hitler attempts to bring down the System. The uprising fails. Adolf Hitler is arrested.

1924

A major trial is held in Munich in March 1924. It ends with the Führer’s technical conviction, but notes that he had strong moral justification. Hitler’s testimony before the court and his acceptance of complete responsibility so impresses the states attorney that he recommends probation, but the judge sentences him to prison.

The National Socialist Party suffers under the absence of its Führer. Its opponents are convinced that it is destroyed, and therefore sign the criminal Dawes Plan. It begins the systematic plundering of Germany, which continues under the Young Plan. The Social Democrats and Center Party rejoice! The goal of German enslavement seems to have been achieved!

Hitler seeks in vain to get his comrades who remain at liberty to build a front against the Dawes Plan. In vain he attempts to show that the promises of the Center Party, the SPD, and the People’s Party, according to which foreign loans will restore the economy, reduce unemployment, raise wages and pay, lower taxes, rescue agriculture, are lies. In vain he states that the Dawes Plan will lead to increased misery, since the interest on the loans will cripple the economy since the loans are only intended to fulfill Germany’s financial obligations under the plan. Bankruptcies and unemployment will increase, taxes will rise, wages and salaries will be reduced, prices will continue to rise, and agriculture will be ruined by forced auctions of farms.

Hitler is released on 20 December.

1925

On 27 February 1925, Adolf Hitler calls a meeting to reestablish the party, and speaks for the first time since his release to over 4,000 people.

Since the National Socialist movement was dissolved after 9 November 1923, and its assets and property seized, Hitler begins to build the party again, without any resources. Vorwärts and Germania in Berlin laugh about this attempt and joke about the “fool who went insane while in prison.” But Hitler quickly rebuilds the party. The former leaders once again pledge their loyalty. Hitler reestablishes the party press.

In December 1925, the party has 27,000 members.

Terrified, the Center Party and Social Democrats ban the Führer from speaking in public for over two years.

1926

The first party rally after Hitler’s release is held in June 1926.

The bourgeois world is convinced that paying reparations will save Germany, and that the Dawes Plan will stimulate the economy. The Marxists are convinced that their rule can no longer be shaken.

Reich President Hindenburg leaves his voters and from now on marches with the Center Party and SPD.

The party is involved in constant battles, but in December 1926 has over 49,000 members.

1927

Hitler’s speaking ban can no longer be maintained, and is lifted. The Führer speaks in countless mass meetings. The party continues to consolidate from month to month.

General developments are constantly proving Hitler right. The Dawes Plan’s terrible results become clear. Social Democrats and the Center Party attempt to save what can be saved through lies and slanders.

In August, Hitler calls a party rally in Nuremberg, which is a great success.

In December 1927, the party has 72,000 members.

1928

Adolf Hitler leads the party in every stronger battles against today’s System. National Socialism has become the worst enemy of the destroyers of Germany, whether at home or abroad. Hitler turns above all against the crazy destruction of the farmers and the middle class. He prophesies catastrophic results for the domestic market. It hundreds of meetings, he repeated calls the policy of paying reparations insane, its results destructive and ruinous for the German economy! The social democracy and Center Party joke, laugh, or mock him, and attempt to take revenge by a constantly rising flood of lies and slanders of a personal nature.

In December 1928, the membership is 108,000. The young movement has 12 seats in the German Reichstag.

1929

Untiringly, Adolf Hitler continues the battle against the System. The press is built up, the S.A.’s size steadily increases, SS formations are strengthened, propaganda is increased. National Socialist doctrines are deepened.

On 4 August, the second huge Nuremberg party rally is held. Hitler leads the battle against the Black-Red System with ever increasing force, and is the undisputed and most prominent leader of anti-democracy. All attempts to take the leadership of the party from his hands fail.

In December 1929 the party has 178,000 members.

1930

The battle against the Young Plan rages. Hindenburg strongly defends the Young Plan, maintaining that it will save German, restore the German economy, reduce unemployment, rescue the farmers, and lower taxes.

Adolf Hitler declares these views as false and harmful, and prophesizes the opposite. His party is working to educate the nation through enormous mass efforts.

The opponents answer with a huge flood of lies.

The Reichstag election is held on 14 September 1930. The party receives over 6 1/2 million votes and 107 representatives. Party organization is stronger than before, and attempts from outside to organize small rebellions are put down by Hitler with lightning speed, and those not absolutely loyal are expelled.

The Center Party, which has put itself entirely at the disposal of the SPD, begins to mobilize the Church against Adolf Hitler. Center Party priests and Center Party bishops lead a fanatic battle against the National Socialist movement, refusing the sacraments to its members, even denying them a Christian burial. Hitler sticks firmly to his conviction that the Center Party is Germany’s ruin, and leads the battle with even greater determination than before. He rejects every effort to force him to make a statement.

In December 1930, the party has 389,000 members.

1931

The battle against the Young Plan continues. The consequences Hitler predicted begin to appear.

The government begins to function through emergency decrees, believing it can use them to save the economy. There are sharp controversies in which Hitler predicts the precise consequences of these policies, and is proven right within a few months, or even weeks.

Countless National Socialist newspapers are established, and the party’s central publishing house gradually becomes one of the largest firms of its type. The party organization had been built up greatly, and the S.A. has progressed. The opponents try to top each other with lies; they even have help from France.

At the end of 1931, the Hitler movement has 806,000 members, a month later 862,000, a month after that 920,000. By the day of the election, it will probably have about a million members and countless millions of voters.

The once poor worker without any means, and the later German front soldier, has build the largest political movement Germany has ever had in just 13 years. The opponents have no methods to use against this man any longer except lies and slanders! Just as this man has always won in the past, despite all the lies, he will win the victory this time, too!

For who else is there in Germany who has built anything similar from nothing, and in the face of the resistance of the other parties, of high finance, of capital, of the press, of public opinion, of the bureaucracy, of lies, terror, and bloody persecution?

This person is no child of patronage, but rather one who from his boyhood, in the best sense of the word, has been a self-made man!

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