Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression C. Renunciation of Armament Provisions of Versailles Treaty.
21 May 1935 was a very important date in the Nazi calendar.
It was on that date that the Nazis passed the secret Reich
Defense Law (2261-PS). The secrecy of their armament
operations had already reached the point beyond which they
could no longer maintain successful camouflage. Since their
program called for still further expansion, they
unilaterally renounced the armament provisions of the
Versailles Treaty on the same date, 21 May 1935. Hitler's
speech to the Reichstag on that day (2288-PS) was published
in "Voelkischer Beobachter" under the heading "The Fuehrer
Notifies the World of the Way to Real Peace." Hitler
declared:
"1. The German Reich Government refuses to adhere to
the Geneva Resolution of 17 May.
"The Treaty of Versailles was not broken by Germany
unilaterally, but the well-known paragraphs of the
dictate of Versailles were violated, and consequently
invalidated, by those powers who could not make up
their minds to follow t he disarmament requested of
Germany with their own disarmament as agreed upon by
Treaty.
"2. Because the other powers did not live up to their
obligations under the disarmament program, the
Government of the German Reich no longer considers
itself bound to those articles, which are nothing but a
discrimination against the German nation for an
unlimited period of time, since, through them, Germany
is being nailed down in a unilateral manner contrary to
the spirit of the agreement." (2288-PS)
In conjunction with other phases of planning and preparation
for aggressive war, there were various programs for direct
and direct training of a military nature. They included not
only
[Page 420]
the training of military personnel, but also the
establishment and training of other military organizations,
such as the Police Force, which could be and were absorbed
by the Army. The extent of this program for military
training is indicated by Hitler's boast of the expenditure
of ninety billion Reichsmarks during the period 1933 to
1939, in the building up of the armed forces.
In a speech by Adolf Hitler delivered on 1 September 1939,
(2322-PS), which was published in the "Voelkischer
Beobachter" under the heading "The Fuehrer announces the
Battle for the Justice and Security of the Reich", the
following passage occurred:
"For more than six years now, I have been engaged in
building up the German Armed Forces. During this period
more than ninety billion Reichsmarks were spent
building up the Wehrmacht. Today, ours are the best-
equipped armed forces in the world, and they are
superior to those of 1914. My confidence in them can
never be shaken." (2322-PS)
The secret nature of this training program and the fact of
its early development is illustrated by a report to Hess, in
1932, concerning the secret training of flying personnel, as
well as the early plans to build a military air force (1143-
PS). This report was sent in a letter from Schickedantz to
Rosenberg, for delivery to Hess. Apparently Schickedantz was
very anxious that no one but Hess should get this letter,
and therefore sent it to Rosenberg for personal delivery to
Hess. The letter points out that the civilian pilots should
be so organized as to enable their transfer into the
military air force organization. The letter dated 20 October
1932, reads:
"Dear Alfred [Rosenberg]: I am sending you enclosed a
communication from the RWM forwarded to me by our
confidential man (Vertrauensmann) which indeed is very
interesting. I believe we will have to take some steps
so that the matter will not be procured secretly for
the Stahlhelm. This report is not known to anybody
else. I intentionally did not inform even our tall
friend." [Rosenberg, in an interrogation on 5 October
1945, identified this "tall friend" as being Von
Albensleben.] "I am enclosing an additional copy for
Hess, and ask you to transmit the letter to Hess by
messenger, as I do not want to write a letter to Hess
for fear that it might be read somewhere. Mit beste
Gruss, Yours Amo." (1143-PS)
Enclosed in the report is:
"Air Force Organization"
"Purpose: Preparation of material and training of
personnel
[Page 421]
to provide for the case of the armament of the air
force.
"Entire management as a civilian organization will be
transferred to Col. Von Willberg, at present commander
of Breslau, who, retaining his position in the
Reichswehr, is going on leave of absence.
"(a) Organizing the pilots of civilian air lines in
such a way as to enable their transfer to the air force
organization.
"(b) Prospects to train crews for military flying.
Training to be done within the organization for
military flying of the Stahlhelm [steel helmet] which
is being turned over to Col. Hanel, retired.
"All existing organizations for sport flying are to be
used for military flying. Directions on kinds and tasks
of military flying will be issued by this Stahlhelm
directorate. The Stahlhelm organization will pay the
military pilots 50 marks per hour flight. These are due
to the owner of the plane in case he himself carries
out the flight. They are to be divided in case of non-
owners of the plane, between flight organization,
proprietor and crew in the proportion of 10 :20 :20.
Military flying is now paid better than flying for
advertisement (40). We therefore have to expect that
most proprietors of planes or flying associations will
go over to the Stahlhelm organization. It must be
achieved that equal conditions will be granted by the
RWM, also the NSDAP organization." (1143-PS)
The
original plaintext version
of this file is available via
ftp.
[
Previous |
Index |
Next ]
Home ·
Site Map ·
What's New? ·
Search
Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.
As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.
Volume
I Chapter IX
Preparation for Aggression
1933-1936
(Part 4 of 14)