Background: At the end of the Third Reich, about all propagandists could claim was that defeat would be worse than death. This page provides a leaflet provided to local group propaganda leaders as an example of propaganda they could use to keep people fighting. There is also text for the other side of the leaflet, which focusses on the importance of keeping silent about matters interesting to the enemy.
The source: Rüstzeug für die Propaganda in der Ortsgruppe, #2 (January 1945), p. 31.
We are Germans!
There are two possibilities:
Either we are good Germans or we are bad ones.
If we are good Germans all is well. If we are bad Germans,
Then there are two possibilities:
Either we believe in victory, or we do not believe in victory.
If we believe in victory all is well. If we do not believe in victory,
Then there are two further possibilities:
Either we hang ourselves or we do not hang ourselves. If we hang ourselves all is well. If we do not hang ourselves,
Then there are two possibilities:
Either we give up the fight or we do not give up the fight. If we do not give up all is well. If we do give up,
Then there are again two possibilities:
Either the criminal Red mob following the Anglo-Americans liquidates us immediately, or following Stalin's wish we are deported to work in the icy wastes of Siberia.
If we are liquidated immediately that is comparatively speaking good. If they deport us to Siberia or somewhere else,
There are again two possibilities:
Either one dies during the march from the great stresses and privations, or one does not die immediately.
If one dies quickly one has deserved it, but is still lucky. If one does not die quickly, that is unfortunate.
Once again, there are two possibilities:
Either one slaves away for foreigners until the end of his life without ever seeing his homeland and his family again, or one gets a shot in the back of the neck a little earlier.
Since both of the last two possibilities end in death, there are no further possibilities.
Therefore:
There are not two possibilities!
There is only one!
We must win the war, and we can win it! Each man and each woman, the entire German people, must call forth their utmost in work, courage, and discipline.
Then our future and the future of our children will be assured and the German people will be saved from a descent into Bolshevist chaos!
2-sided leaflet , 16 x 23.5 cm.
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