NATIONAL SOCIALISM '
BASIC PRINCIPLES, THEIR APPLICATION BY .THE NAZI
PARTY'S FOREIGN ORGANIZATION, AND THE USE ' OF GERMANS ABROAD FOR NAZI AIMS. ,
Department of State. Publication 1864
[Page 44]
Dr. Frick, Germán Minister of the Interior, in his chapter in Germany Speaks indicates the exclusive position of the party in the Third Reich:
* * * "In National Socialist Germany, leadership is in the
hands of an organized community, the National Socialist Party ; and as the latter represents the will of the nation, the policy adopted by it in harmony with the vital interests of the nation, is at the same time the policy adopted by the country * * *"
[Pages 93-95]
The Foreign Organization
On May 8, 1933 it was put in charge of its present leader, Ernst Wilhelm Bohle, a protege of Rudolf Hess, who was Hitler's Deputy at that time, and on October 3, 1933 it was placed directly under Hess, Bohle becoming a member of the staff of the Fuehrer's Deputy with the rank of Gauleiter. The present designation, "Foreign Organization of the NSDAP", was ordered by Hess on February 17, 1934. In view of the growth of the organization under Bohle's energetic leadership and to further an increased development the central office of the Foreign Organization was
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transferred to Berlin in the middle of March 1936. The Maritime Division, which dealt with German seamen, remained in Hamburg. '
Since there had been considerable friction between the agents of the Foreign Organization and the officials of the German Government's foreign services, the German Foreign Service (diplomatic and consular officials) was inducted in October 1935 as a professional group into the Foreign Organization, thus insuring the collaboration of the Foreign Service men abroad with the Nazi Party agents. . With regard to this, Dr. Ehrich, one of Gaiileiter Bohl's chief aides, is quoted by the Deutsches Naehrichtenbuero, the official German news agency, as saying, "a deeisive step has been taken in strengthening National Socialist leadership among Germans abroad ; it is to be hoped that this new arrangement will contribute to a close cooperation between party and state in all fields of foreign effort. Every German abroad knew that only through the Foreign Organization and its numerous cells could he maintain a real connection with what was happening in the Reich. The official of the Foreign Service must feel himself to be a true fellow German and the trusted helper and National Socialist friend of his countrymen."
The Foreign Organization received its definitive sanction when on January 30, 1937 Bohle was transferred to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, assuming the title "Head of the Foreign Organization in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs". Whereas formerly the jurisdiction of his organization had nominally merely extended to Nazi Party members abroad, at this time it was explicitly enlarged to include all German citizens abroad. The preamble to this decree gives as the purpose of Bohle's installation in the Foreign Office "the, unified care and control (Betreuung) ôf the Germán citizens in foreign countries". The vast extent of Bohle's powers is clear, the preámble stating further that "the direction and handling of all matters concerning Gérman citizens abroad are transferred to him." Although according to the provisions of the decree Bohle was placed personally and directly under the German Foreign Ministry, the Foreign Ministry appears to have exercised only a very general control over.his work, and it is known that he possessed the privilege of addressing instructions, through the German diplomatic pouches/ to the
party's agents abroad. :
To further reinforce the party's^ grip upon the Foreign Office, which was progressively and effectively tightened during 1937, the officials of the Foreign Office and all members of the Foreign
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Service throughout the world were organized into a party group, an "Ortsgruppe", under the authority of Bohle.
[Pages 101-103]
At the Foreign Organization's annual assembly of Germans living abroad, in 1937 at Stuttgart, Rudolf Hess, at that time the Fuehrer's Deputy, addressed the audience as follows:
"My German racial comrades, men and women! German seamen! You stand before me as a slice of the great German racial community, the racial community which extends beyond the borders of our Reich, for National Socialism has hot only created at home a national community transcending all classes and groups in a way previously unknown, but it has also included German racial comrades in foreign cbuntries. It has made them conscious and proud members of this racial community!" * * *
"Under the leadership, of the Foreign Organization, Germandom abroad is also becoming more and more filled with the National Socialist spirit. The Foreign Organization of the NSDAP has brought together the Germans out there, who even long after the seizure of power were disunited and split by class differences, and joined them with Adolf Hitler's Reich. The National Socialist care for Germandom abroad is maintaining an enormous number of Germans for the nation, who otherwise would be absorbed as cultural fertilizer' for other nations."
[Pages 107-108] '
(g) German Citizens? Or All Those of German Origin? With regard to the question whether the activities of the Foreign Organization extended beyond German citizens to include German racial comrades of foreign citizenship, it will be noted that the activities of the Foreign Organization are usually discussed in terms of German racial comrades in general. No distinction is made, especially in the earlier speeches, between German citizens and those of German origin who had adopted citizenship in another country. - From 1937 on, however, in view of the growing opposition to the Foreign Organization's activities from neighboring European countries and countries abroad, the leaders of the Foreign Organization found it expedient to state explicitly that their work was only concerned with German citizens.
[Pages 114-115]
VDA
The world-wide scope of the VDA's work is also clearly stated by Schaefer: ' k . '
"We see that the sphere of the VDA's work has become very great, it encompasses the entire planet, and it is by far not able
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to satisfy the demands made upon it. Also for this reason its aim must remain: the unification of all Germans - to one great community of destiny, to a nation", (Document 32-A, post p. 426.)
Pamphlets and manifestoes of the VDA leave no doubt that among the "lost sons" are millions of citizens of the United States. The United States is include^ in the long list of countries containing German racial comrades, in an advertisement appearing February 22, 1934 in the Berliner Boersen Zeitung, an authoritative Berlin newspaper, which further states:
"The Germans are a people of 100 millions!"
' "The great German racial community is fighting all over the whole planet."
"The VDA is the trustee of the 30 million Germans in foreign countries!"
[Pages 122-123] '
"Research and Information Service "The Institute keeps itself posted concerning the cultural and business activities of Germans in foreign parts and maintains lists of German clubs and firms which are available to reliable persons wishing to enter into correspondence with these groups. In a certain sense it thus helps to further German trade, as it handles inquiries of a business nature and facilitates the making of initial contacts. The Institute, moreover, keeps a card index file of the family history of Germans who have left the Fatherland, bearing in particular upon their "racial integrity". Through its correspondents abroad who report directly to it the Institute is informed of the status and progress 'of "Germanism" in particular countries. The reaction of the resident population is also recorded in special reports and clippings from the local press. The Institute is thus in a sense the seismograph which registers everything relating to the cause of "Germanism".
"Propaganda Work
"The Institute is one, but probably the most important, of the agencies which prepare and disseminate propaganda abroad in the form of. books, pamphlets, periodicals and communiques. * * *.»
"The Institute also has a hand in organizing the frequent and periodical broadcasts transmitted to foreign. Germans by the powerful short-wave stations of the Reich radio system. The Stuttgart broadcasting station is housed in the building of the Institute which furnishes with appropriate material this station as well as others belonging to the German chain. The main object of the programs thus supplied is to keep Germans living in other
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countries in constant touch with developments in the Reich,'to stimulate their interest in the Reich, to develop social, political and economic relationships favorable to Germany, and to convince them of the success of National Socialism. * * *
[Page 124]
(Footnote)
However, the March-April 1942 issue of the DAI periodical Deutschtum in Ausland names Dr. Hermann Ruediger as the Institute's Manager, Dr. Csaki having become in the meantime a member of the Board of Directors. The same issue discloses that the notorious Walter Kappe, well known in the United States, is managing editor of the periodical but on leave for military duty. [Page 126] *
The Iiberalistic ideology which has been overcome dealt with the formal concept of the citizen. We have gotten rid oft that. Today the blood-united German racial-eomra'de stands in the center. That is the new foundation upon which we must build.
Hence I want to impress on the Deutsches. Ausland-Institut: Join us therefore in taking care that the spirit of National Socialism also become alive among the German racial-comrades in foreign countries, so that streams of energy may emanate from it! [Pages 128-129] . .
At the twentieth annual meeting of the DAI held at Stuttgart on August 11-15, 1937, the subject of assimilation was one of the main topics discussed. This meeting was likewise attended by very prominent officials of the German Government, including Foreign Minister Baron von Neurath, Minister of the Interior Frick, and the Governor of Wuerttemberg and his entire Cabinet; officials of the German party; representatives of Alfred Rosenberg's Party Office; and many other prominent persons. Hence the views expressed represented both German party-state officialdom and the DAI. ,
According to an entirely reliable confidential report, dated August 21, 1937 the German Minister of the Interior, Frick, in his address at the culminating reception of the meeting—
"declared that the new Germany has recognized that its attention and devotion to the welfare of the millions of Germans, who have not the fortune to owe political allegiance to Germany, but who are condemned to live abroad, are not merely a matter of natural sympathy and solidarity, but are in a higher degree die-, tated by the strong political and economic interests of the Reich. He protested strongly against attempts of foreign nations to assimilate German blood and argued that those nations, which real-
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ize that they will gain nothing by such endeavors, but which will recognize the aspirations of Germans living in their midst, will gain the friendship, of the mighty German Reich, which will then be prepared to make economic concessions to them * * *.
Herr Frick also said that the principles of National Socialism, which are directing the cultural and political life of the German nation, will constitute in the future a source of strength and of confidence for millions of Volksdeutsche (persons of German blood) living in foreign countries."
[Page 132] ,
An account published in July 1941 in Deutsches Wollen, the magazine of the party's Foreign Organization, relates the activi-' ties of the Nazi Party group in Greece before and after the German Army entered Athens. After the entrance of the Germans, in the words of this group's leader, all the party members performed "auxiliary service with the Army".
[Pages 276-277] ' ,
Circular Letter to all Comrades ^
Dear Comrades!
When in 1938 we undertook the task of extending throughout the Reich the idea of Sepp Schuster, who earlier had gathered about him in Munich a numerous circle- of former fighters from the Bund "Friends of the New Germany",, and of establishing the "Comradeship USA", we were moved by three reasons: first, we wished to continue here in the fatherland the comradeship which enabled us to overcome all obstacles aiid difficulties over there (in the United States) to help each other and, by the exchange of our experiences during the period of struggle in the United States, to gather strength and courage for our daily work, '
second, we wished also through the establishment of this Comradeship to place at the disposal of our fatherland ourselves and the experience which we gained over there, .
and, finally, We hoped in some manner to give our fighting brothers over there moral support, even if only through the fact that we, who had returned, loyally, remembered the brave fighters at whose side we stood through the years at the front.
Accordingly, Comradeship groups were established in Stutt-garfi Berlin, Hamburg, and Hanover; and shortly before the beginning of the war it was possible, through the cooperation of the German Foreign Institute and the city of Stuttgart, to hold the first national meeting of the Comradeship USA in conjunction
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. t
with the opening of the exposition "American Germanism in Combat", an unforgettable experience for all who participated !
The war drew a heavy line through our extensive plans for the future, and further repatriation practically stopped. The greater part jof our comrades hastened to the flag, some Comradeship groups .were completely orphaned. Furthermore,. Fritz Qissibl was transferred to the east to Litzmannstadt (Lodz, Poland), Sepp Schuster went to Berlin, and in the first days of the war, Ernst Vennekehl and I exchanged the desk for weapons.
Consequently, at present our list of addresses is partly out of date. Many comrades have moved without furnishing us with their new addresses. , A number of letters which I have written recently in an effort to revive our Comradeship remain unanswered. ^ " - . .
Nevertheless, the Comradeship USA still lives. That is evident from the work of our Berlin group, which, in the meantime, has become by far the largest. That is also known to the comrades in the field who were remembered last Christmas with a package. That is apparent in all letters from the front and is also heard in the often impatient inquiries as , to what the Comradeship is actually doing. "
It is, therefore, only hecessary to give the first stimulus to the resumption of our activity. That is to be provided by this first circular letter.
. Walter Kàppe
[Page 278]
Collection of Documents Concerning the Movement :
The collection of pictures, photos, handbills, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and posters of the German national movement in the United States, which was begun by me in the spring of 1939, will be continued. '
The material already at hand is to be built up to a complete collection, which later is to be incorporated into the German Foreign Institute as well as the Central Archives of the NSDAP in Munich, as an eternal record of our struggle in the United States.
The original documents will be returned to each comrade after recording, so that no sacrifice of personal souvenirs will occur. I only ask you to have patience.
[Page 315]
The Fuehrer had to come in order to hammer into all of us the fact that the German cannot choose and may not choose whether or not he will be German but that he was sent into this world by God as a German and that God thereby had laid upon him as a
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German duties of which he cannot divest himself without committing treason to Providence. Therefore, we believe and we know that the German everywhere is a German—whether he lives in the Reich or in Japan, in France or in China, or anywhere else ' in the world. Not countries or continents, not climate or environment but blood and race determine the world of ideas of the German.
[Pages 382-383] '
At the close of his talk, Rudolf Hess recalls the days last year in Stuttgart, when German men and women, German boys and girls in their native costumes appeared here in Stuttgart, aglow with enthusiasm for the idea of a Greater Germany, passionately moved by National-Socialism bpt nevertheless outwardly "Volks deutsche", Germans of foreign citizenship. !
"Today", Rudolf Hess continued, "they also stand openly in our ranks. Proudly and happily they will march in the formations of the National Socialist movement past their Fuehrer in Nürnberg—this time as German citizens! * * *
With all our hearts we rejoice as we see them. They have fought a long and tough battle, a battle against treacherous and mendacious enemy. They have successfully fought for the possession of their homeland and in addition to the affection always shown them by Germany, have won the proud recognition of the. entire nation." _
The Struggle of the Sudeten-Germans Rudolf Hess then recalls the similar struggle of another German folk-group for its national rights to live:
"The German people looks at the German racial comrades in Czechoslovakia with the pröfoundest sympathy for their suffering. No one in the world, who loves his own people and is proud of his own people, will find fault with us, if from this place here we also turn our thoughts to the Sudeten Germans, if we say to them that filled with admiration we see how they are maintaining an iron discipline, despite the worst chicanery, despite terror and murder. If it had in general required a proof, that the best German virtues are embodied in Sudeten Germandom,. then it is proved by this iron discipline, and this steadfast calm, which comes from the feeling of one's own right. You in Sudeten know: We stand by you, with passionate heart. (The masses emphasize this greeting of the Fuehrer's Deputy to the Sudeten Germans with jubilant enthusiasm.) The right of three and one-half million Germans lies with you, the right of millions of members of a
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great people to conduct their life and so to shape it as adherence to this people, of culture demands".
[Page 446-448] .
LEAGUE FOR GERMANDOM IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES BERLIN W 30, MARTIN LUTHER STREET 97 THE REICH'S MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR IS FOR THE
VDA WORK! .
Transcript II B 7855/27.4 Berlin, February 24, 1933
The Reichs Minister of the. Interior II B 7855/4.2
. To the Governments of the Federal States
[Landesregierungen]
Re: League for Germandom in Foreign Countries German School League, Inc. '
My Ministry in its attention to natipnal tasks has to a special degree exercised protection over and furtherance of Germandom in the border countries and Germandom in foreign countries. A large number of institutions concerned with special tasks in this sphere are being supported as far as* possible by means at my disposal: Among all these the League for Germandom in Foreign Countries, German School League, Inc., Berlin, enjoys an especially favored position. To its work carried on for half a century is due the maintenance of so many German schools, churches, newspapers, or other institutions in the German settlements in foreign countries. Without such maintenance of these institutions large German folk-groups, especially under the pressure of'the post-war period, would have perished as cultural fertilizer for foreign peoples. Unfortunately in past years a certain reserve among wide circles of the population was noticeable with regard to the propaganda work of the above-named national League, and also administrative restrictions on its activities have not been left undone. It appears to me, therefore, as an urgent duty of the Reich and of the federal states not only to. set aside such hindrances but also to enable the League for Germandom in Foreign Countries to unfold the increased propaganda work in all spheres which it desires. Also, regard for the needs and misery of the time, and for the lack of work and bread within Germany, ought not to divert attention from the fact that the around 30 million Germans in foreign countries [Auslanddeutschen] outside of the present contracted borders of the Reich are an integral'part of the entire German people. They are an integral part, which the Reich's Government is not able to help economically, but whose cultural support through the
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league primarily concerned with this, the League for Germandom in Foreign Countries it considers it is obligated to make possible. . 1
I should like accordingly to direct the special attention of the governments of the federal states to the activity of the League for Germandom in Foreign Countries with the idea that it be accorded privileged treatment. It is primarily_ the school groups which carry on the propaganda work of the League, in which at the same time the education of the youth to patriotic thinking takes place, an education which is above denominational and party differences. I will, therefore, attach the. greatest value to the fact that its school meetings be accorded the greatest freedom of action and that the pupils be allowed to wear the insignia of the League in the schools. I would expect an effective enliven-ment of this work, if the supervisors of all the schools, in their annual reports to their superior authorities concerning the school activities^ will be urged to report the furtherance of the League by the school groups of each school.
Last year, in accordance with the , particular desire of the Reich's President, the "German School Celebration", aiming to extend the pan-German consciousness of our youth beyond the borders of the Reich, was held with great success in the Berlin Stadium. Moreover, in the current year the "German School Celebration" is to take place in Beuthen, Breslau, Erfurt, Düsseldorf, Gera, Gladbeck, Koeslin, Cologne, Munich, Nürnberg, Karlsruhe, and Stettin, among others, I would welcome it, if the "German School Celebration" could be introduced extensively through the Reich, since no project is more suited to put all the schools, and especiälly the elementary schools, in the service; of Germandom in foreign countries, while the big national assembly of the VDA always affects only groups, primarily those from the higher schools. I am honored, therefore, to refer the governments of the federal states especially to the introduction of thé "German School Celebration", so that the school authorities may be inducèd to support this event and to facilitate the preparations for the celebration by special orders, as has occurred in Berlin.
Along with the school work of the League for Germandom in Foreign Countries, its general propaganda work among the public has assumed greater significance for the continuance of the German folk-groups in foreign countries in the same measure in which, in view of the financial situation of the Reich and of the federal states, the possibility of granting direct subsidies from the budget has become smaller. In the last year, with the ap-
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proval of the Prussian State Commissar for the Regulation of Relief Work, a collection has taken place in all Prussia and, despite the poor economic situation, has had gratifying results in view of the national awakening of the German people, so that the League has approximately succeeded through the new collections in compensating for the considerable decrease of its other income. The request of the League, by intercession with the governments of the federal states to enable it to carry out . this collection throughout the whole of the Reich, is accordingly most cordially seconded by me.' The success of last year's collection was due to the fact that in Prussia the Senior Presidents, the Governing Presidents, and the State Councilors have devoted themselves to the service of the causé in the most commendable way. I would be grateful if all the governments of the federal states permit this collection and further it in the same way.
I would appreciate an answer approving my preceding remarks, and in the given case a report concerning what has already been done.
I have sent a copy to the Foreign Office.
/ . Signed: FRICK