Friedensangebot von Hitler | Peace offer by Hitler
Am 17. Mai 1933, wenige Monate nach seiner Ernennung zum Reichskanzler, hielt Adolf Hitler im deutschen Reichstag eine Rede der wir folgende Sätze entnehmen:
"Deutschland wäre auch ohne weiteres bereit, seine gesamte militärische Einrichtung überhaupt aufzulösen und den kleinen Rest der ihm verbliebenen Waffen zu zerstören, wenn die anliegenden Nationen ebenso restlos das gleiche tun.
... Deutschland ist ferner ohne weiteres bereit, auf die Zuteilung von Angriffswaffen dann überhaupt Verzicht zu leisten, wenn innerhalb eines bestimmten Zeitraumes die Rüstungsnationen ihrerseits diese Angriffswaffen ebenfalls vernichten und durch eine internationale Konvention die weitere Anwendung verboten wird.
... Deutschland ist nun jederzeit bereit, auf Angriffswaffen zu verzichten, wenn auch die übrige Welt ihrer entsagt. Deutschland ist bereit, jedem feierlichen Nichtangriffspakt beizutreten; denn Deutschland denkt nicht an einen Angriff, sondern an seine Sicherheit!"
Die Antwort blieb aus.
On May 17, 1933, a few months after he was appointed Reichskanzler, he delivered a speech in the German Reichstag from which we extract the following passages:
"Germany will be perfectly ready to disband her entire military establishment and destroy the small amount of arms remaining to her, if the neighboring countries will do the same thing with equal thoroughness.
... Germany is entirely ready to renounce aggressive weapons of every sort if the armed nations, on their part, will destroy their aggressive weapons within a specified period, and if their use is forbidden by an international convention.
... Germany is at all times prepared to renounce offensive weapons if the rest of the world does the same. Germany is prepared to agree to any solemn pact of non-aggression because she does not think of attacking anybody but only of acquiring security."
No answer was received.
My parents, my grandparents suffered greatly under the German occupation of France. We must never forget the atrocities that were perpetrated, and none can be condoned, excused, justified or minimized. HOWEVER, it is important to have as accurate and dispassionate account of history in all its complexity, even if it makes us uncomfortable to question or correct what we have always believed was true. Let's keep belief in the religious realm, opinion to gossip, musings to philosophy, and reinstate facts to history when they are corroborated by documentation and evidence.
It is always a shame when a country's soldiers cross the borders. All we can do is mourn our dead people, never forget them, but also not burst out in hatred toward each other. In the german language there was a word for the hatred between french and german Volk. Erbfeindschaft must not be resurrected. I have as much respect for a french soldier as i have for a german or any other peoples.
We (and especially the people who decide in this world) have to stop meddling all over the world and return to a peaceful state. Following the ten commandments would be a good start, even if one isn't religious.
In many ways, the soldiers were victims as well. They were pawns in the hands of the powerful, and paid with their lives, their limbs, their sanity.
We must bury the hatred with the dead and lay the foundations for an Erbfreundschaft.