- Translated by J M Damon
- The German original is found at
- www.juergen-rieger.de/beitraege/diekriegsschuldluege.html
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- Once again we have another round-number date to observe:
the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Poland.
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- Once again we are told that we must observe it with "shame
and guilt."
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- We must declare ad nauseam that "...never ever again
from German soil..." etc., etc.
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- But what else could we expect from such an occupation
regime as ours?
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- As the Springer publication "Welt am Sonntag"
laments in its issue of 30th August 2009: "...It is discouraging that
at the solemn and imposing Polish observance of the beginning of the War,
which took place at the place where it began, the Danziger Westerplatte,
no heads of state of Western nations participated except Angela Merkel."
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- We are told that it would have been a good thing "...if
the West, through its presence in Danzig, had solemnized the great suffering
that occurred in Eastern Europe and not just Poland."
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- In other Establishment publications the story goes that
Adolf Hitler on 1 September 1939 "ignited World War II;" "released
world conflagration;" "set out to conquer the world;" and
other such claptrap.
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- The truth is that the German-Polish war began on 1 September
1939, and this local war became a European war with England's and France's
declaration of war against the Third Reich on 3 September.
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- The European War became World War II on 12 September
1941, when President Roosevelt instructed the American navy to sink any
German warships it encountered.
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- (On that occasion the American Secretary of the Navy
remarked laconically that the US had entered the war but the American people
did not know it yet.)
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- The truth is that Poland, which had long been under Russian
rule, was reestablished as an independent state by Germany and Austria
in 1916.
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- As thanks for this generous act, regular units of the
Polish army joined Korfanty armed bands and began seizing purely German
districts in Upper Silesia and Western Prussia.
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- In response to German electoral victories in every region
that held a plebiscite, they initiated a reign of terror; and thanks to
French backing, Poland was allowed to keep these German districts.
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- Under the Dictate of Versailles Poland was given a "corridor"
to the Baltic Sea, along with large areas of West Prussia that were populated
by Germans.
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- This "corridor" completely separated East Prussia
from the Reich, making trade and communication difficult or impossible.
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- During Allied discussions on the peace treaty, Lloyd
George, the English Prime Minister during the First World War, tapped this
spot on the map and predicted "This is where the next world war will
begin!"
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- Unlike the Western leaders, Hitler had realistically
evaluated the dangers posed by the bolshevik Soviet Union.
- He realized that Germany would be unable resist the Soviet
Union without an alliance with Poland.
- For this reason he signed a nonaggression treaty with
Poland in 1934.
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- President Pilsudski in turn realized that Poland could
not simultaneously conduct hostilities against its two powerful neighbors
Germany and the Soviet Union.
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- In addition to seizing German districts, Poland had grabbed
White Russian and Ukrainian districts after the Russian Empire had been
weakened by the First World War.
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- The present eastern border of Poland, which the Soviet
Union established in 1939, corresponds to the ethnic border.
- With its wars of aggression, Poland had overreached this
line, making the Soviet Union its enemy.
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- The German minority had been disfranchised in the 1920s,
and in the 1930s it was subjected to open terror, murder and rape, especially
in the months preceding September 1939.
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- Under the nonaggression treaty German newspapers were
not allowed to report on Polish atrocities against the minority Germans,
which led to the emigration of a million Germans.
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- Another million remained behind in German regions that
had been seized by the Poles.
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- A popular song about the Poles that originated among
the fighting home defense units in Upper Silesia was rewritten in National
Socialist songbooks to suggest that the struggle was not against "Pjorunje"
but rather "Bolschewike."
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- Hitler badly wanted an accommodation with Poland.
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- Until the month of April 1939, National Socialist propaganda
continued to include the names of deceased President Pilsudski and Foreign
Minister Beck among the "great statesmen of Europe."
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- In contrast to his general officers, who with their friends
and relatives had had large landholdings in the regions now occupied by
Poland, Hitler did not insist on re-establishing the 1914 border.
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- Instead, he offered the sizeable concession of limiting
Germany's demands to a plebiscite in West Prussia and nowhere else.
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- He proposed that in the event the plebiscite favored
Germany, the city and harbor of Gdingen would remain Polish territory,
along with an extraterritorial freeway extending from Poland through West
Prussia to the harbor.
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- In case the plebiscite favored Poland, Germany would
be allowed to build an extraterritorial freeway from Pomerania to East
Prussia so that bothersome border controls could be eliminated.
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- In addition Danzig, which was 98% German and under mandate
of the League of Nations, would be allowed to join the Reich, in keeping
with the preference of the population of Danzig.
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- Publicly and privately, Hitler indicated that this would
be Germany's last territorial claim since it would undo the mischief done
at Versailles.
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- Although his proposal was decidedly moderate, the Poles
reacted with obstinacy, bolstered in their hard line by Britain.
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- For 300 years Britain had pursued a "Balance of
Power" policy of allying herself with the second most powerful nation
against the most powerful.
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- This policy had allowed Britain to cover its rear while
establishing a world empire.
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- In accordance with this plan, Britain in 1935 reached
a naval agreement with Germany that limited the German fleet to 1/3 the
size of the English fleet.
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- (At that time France was more powerful militarily than
Germany.)
- Hitler wanted to assure Britain that a naval arms race
would not occur again - Kaiser Wilhelm had initiated such a contest and
it led to Britain's declaration of war in 1914.
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- By 1938, Germany had become more powerful than France
and, in keeping with its "Balance of Power" policies, Britain
again adopted an anti German policy.
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- This led to the British government's protesting Austria's
joining the Reich, even though 99% of Austrians had voted for unification
in the plebiscite.
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- Britain has never acknowledged other nations' right of
self-determination, whether in India (where those who favored independence
were tied to English cannon) or in Ireland (where almost the entire population
was annihilated because they would not submit to British domination.)
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- It is a mistake to maintain that the entry of German
troops into Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 brought about a change in Britain's
policy toward the Reich.
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- This must be said about Czechoslovakia: in this clumsily
cobbled-together country, a minority of Czechs ruled three million Germans
as well as Slovaks, Ruthenians, Poles and Hungarians.
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- All these ethnic splinter groups wanted to rejoin their
nations but were brutally prohibited by the Czechs from doing so.
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- The reason for this was that under the Dictate of Versailles,
France was able to pursue a policy of aggrandizing Germany's neighbors
so as to have powerful allies in the coming war against Germany.
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- After Austria had been reunited with the Reich came the
problem of annexing the millions of Germans living under Czech rule.
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- Hitler proposed self-determination, but the Czechs responded
with increased repression.
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- They did everything to provoke Hitler, including a general
mobilization on 21 May 1938 to counter an allegedly impending attack by
Germany, which was a total fabrication.
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- Since no attack took place, the Czech as well as French
and English press triumphantly announced that their determined military
measures had dissuaded Hitler from invasion, which caused the Reich to
lose prestige.
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- The American ambassador in Paris clearly recognized the
bellicose character of the Czech mobilization and characterized it in a
report to President Roosevelt as a "provocation for another war in
Europe."
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- In order to evaluate the situation the British government
sent Lord Runciman to the Sudetenland.
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- In his report on 16 September 1938 he wrote: "I
have great sympathy for the cause of the Sudeten Germans.
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- It is difficult to be governed by a foreign nation, and
my impression is that Czechoslovak rule in the Sudetenland displays such
a lack of tact and understanding, and so much petty intolerance and discrimination,
that dissatisfaction among the German population must inevitably lead to
outrage and rebellion."
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- Following this the British government joined in urging
the Czechs to allow a plebiscite in Sudetenland.
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- The French government, which had a mutual assistance
treaty with Czechoslovakia, did the same, since France was not prepared
to go to war with Germany over the Sudetenland.
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- The Czech Government rejected the suggestion of a plebiscite
because this would have served as precedent for other national minorities
to demand plebiscites as well.
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- However, they agreed to relinquish the Sudeten districts
without plebiscite since these regions bordering the Reich were populated
almost entirely by Germans.
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- This is how the "Munich Agreement" came about.
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- It resulted not from threats and extortion by Hitler,
but rather an agreement by all parties that the Sudeten Germans rightfully
belonged "Heim ins Reich" (back home in the Reich.)
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- It is important to note that both Britain and Germany
agreed to guarantee the borders of Czechoslovakia as soon as its other
problems of national minorities were solved.
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- Neither Hitler nor anyone else guaranteed any national
borders, since Czechoslovakia never solved its minority problems.
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- In March 1939 both the Slovaks and the Ruthenians declared
independence, whereupon the Poles invaded Czechoslovakia and occupied the
Olsa Region, which was populated by Poles.
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- The Hungarians did the same, occupying the border areas
that were populated by Hungarians.
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- Since Czechoslovakia had ceased to exist, its President
Hacha flew to Berlin on 15 March 1939 and placed the remainder of his country
under the protection of the Reich.
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- He was afraid that Poland and Hungary would follow the
Czech example and divide the Czech regions among themselves.
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- The Reich then formed the Protectorate of Bohemia and
Maeren, which provided for exclusive Czech administration in all areas
except military and foreign policy.
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- Hitler was concerned about the threat to German cities
and industrial areas that was posed by Czech air bases.
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- Because it felt betrayed by the Sudeten agreement and
the Western powers, Czechoslovakia had adopted close relations with the
Soviet Union, which had already stationed 300 airplanes in the Czech regions.
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- Hitler, who knew that war with the Soviet Union inevitable,
could not allow the Czech regions to serve as a staging area and "aircraft
carrier" for the Soviet Union.
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- Hacha remained in office and attended the parade of 20
April 1939 as a guest of the Reich, standing next to Hitler.
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- It is very clear that Hitler did not violate the Munich
accord.
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- When Prime Minister Chamberlain was questioned in the
Lower House about the entry of German troops in Prague on 15 March 1939,
he explained:
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- "In our view, the situation has changed significantly
since the Slovakian parliament declared independence.
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- This explanation produced the effect that the state whose
borders we intended to guarantee collapsed internally and ceased to exist.
Accordingly, the situation that the honorable Secretary for the Dominions
has described, and which we had always considered temporary, has now ceased
to exist."
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- Just two days later, however, in sharp contrast to this
explanation given in the British lower house, Chamberlain condemned the
"German invasion" in his Birmingham speech of 17 March 1939;
and on 31 March 1939 he signed an agreement with the Polish government
in which Great Britain promised to support Poland in the event of war.
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- It promised to do this not only if Poland were attacked,
but even if Poland should start a war - for example on account of its pretended
"rights" in Danzig.
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- Both of these contradicted in word and spirit the written
message that Chamberlain carried in his hand on his return from Munich,
to which he proudly referred and for which he was enthusiastically applauded
by the masses. At that time he had announced "Peace in our time."
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- In this announcement Hitler and Chamberlain established
that all questions concerning their mutual interests would be handled in
mutual consultations.
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- So how did it come about that England encouraged Poland
to go to war against Germany?
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- Following 15 March 1939, Roosevelt exerted strong pressure
on the British government to "finally exert opposition" against
"Nazi tyranny" or else he would apply methods of coercion against
Great Britain.
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- It is impossible to determine precisely what threats
he made, since their correspondence is still off-limits to historians.
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- Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal wrote in his diary
that US Ambassador Joseph Kennedy remarked that Chamberlain was convinced
that America and the Jews were forcing Britain into war. This is only part
of the story, however.
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- The germanophobic senior British diplomat Vansittart
and the Rumanian Ambassador Tileda also played a major role.
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- Immediately after the entry of German troops into Czech
territory, Tileda announced that during German-Rumanian economic negotiations,
Germany had threatened to invade Rumania if it was not allowed to exploit
Rumanian oil.
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- This was an absurd allegation since Germany and Rumania
did not even share a common border - they were 400 kilometers apart.
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- The English believed it, however, and newspapers in London,
Paris and New York spread false reports of a threatened German attack.
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- In reality, German-Rumanian economic negotiations were
entirely cordial.
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- Nobody made any threats of any kind.
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- It could be that Tileda's false allegations about German
threats were inspired by Rumania's needing British economic assistance,
and he was desperately trying to persuade Britain to grant this assistance.
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- It could also be that Tileda had been bribed by the germanophobic
Vansittart, who was determined to bring about an understanding between
Tileda and Chamberlain.
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- At any rate, these false allegations greatly alarmed
London's financial City.
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- The City had no economic interests in Poland and the
Czech state, but it did have interests in Rumania, where most of the oil
fields were owned by British stockholders.
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- The allegations moved British economic circles to take
an anti German course.
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- Even more significant was the circumstance that Chamberlain
was neither an appeaser nor a Germanophile, as his biographer accurately
points out.
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- He simply realized that a war against Germany could not
be won in 1939.
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- Britain's regular army was relatively small - it had
just recently introduced conscription, and its air force was smaller than
the Luftwaffe.
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- As Hitler well understood, Chamberlain was playing for
time in order to displace Germany as the leading power on the Continent
as soon as Britain, which had enormously increased its armaments program,
would have adequate trained men and materiel.
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- What Chamberlain was really hoping for was political
upheaval in Germany following a declaration of war.
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- He arrived at this fond hope because numerous opponents
of Hitler, including the secretary to German ambassador Kordt in London,
clergyman Goerdeler, head of German military intelligence Canaris, state
secretary Weizsäcker (No. 2 man after Germany's foreign minister)
and Army Chief of Staff General Beck had joined the opposition and established
contact with the British government.
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- Initially, in view of the universal principle "my
country right or wrong," the British had assumed that contact by the
German Opposition was a trick to make them take hasty action.
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- On the basis of very precise details reported to them,
they now assumed the honesty and correctness of the figures provided by
the Opposition.
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- For example, Hitler was surprised by the sudden mobilization
of the British Fleet, excavation of air raid shelters and drills with gas
masks in London in the summer of 1939.
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- These had come as a response to a report by Opposition
figures to the effect that Hitler was plotting a surprise attack with over
a thousand bombers.
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- The British journalist John Colvin, who was in quest
of a "scoop," had close ties with the British secret service,
and met with Opposition circles that included high-ranking officers.
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- The officers told him that Britain's agreement in the
Sudeten crisis had denied them the possibility of displacing Hitler and
the National Socialist regime in a putsch.
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- They suggested that Britain adopt a much harder line
against Germany, including a declaration of war. They believed this would
make Hitler so unpopular in Germany that the generals would be able to
overthrow him.
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- On 29 March 1939, before the British-Polish Pact, Colvin
met with Chamberlain at the instigation of Churchill. He told him that
there was a good chance the German generals Beck and von Witzleben, H.
von Bismarck and Major von Kleist-Schmenzien would revolt and stop Hitler.
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- Chamberlain then asked whether it would influence these
people if Britain gave the Poles a guarantee and Colvin responded: "Yes,
that would help."
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- The guarantee followed.
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- Churchill, who had said that his life's mission was to
lead another Thirty Year's War against Germany, remarked jovially when
he met Colvin again after the War: "Here's the man who gave us the
War!"
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- Chamberlain's diary also provides evidence that the German
Opposition played a decisive role in the British declaration of war.
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- On 3 September 1939 he wrote that he did not believe
Britain could win the war and was hoping for upheaval in Germany instead.
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- In the save vein, he wrote his sister on 10 September
1939: "What I am hoping for is not military victory, but rather a
collapse of the German domestic front."
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- Since the British guarantee of 31 March 1939 gave Poland
carte blanche in its dealings with Germany, Poland intensified its persecutions
of the German minority.
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- Abductions became common, speaking German in public was
proscribed, German associations and newspapers were suppressed, the German
consul in Krakow was murdered, etc.
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