And let the rest of the world recognize from this how absurd it is to accuse us of wishing to force German ideas upon the rest of the world, and how much more justified it would be if National Socialist Germany complained that the rest of the world is still trying to force its views on us all of the time.
My dear deputies of the Reichstag, I now see it as the duty of every German man and every German woman to understand the leadership of the Reich when it comes to its economic policy and to support it through all possible means. In city and countryside, to consider above all that German economic policy is in no way based on any kind of financial theories, but on a very primitive understanding of production, that is, on the understanding that the only decisive factor is the quantity of goods produced.
The fact that we are confronted with additional tasks in the process, that is, that we must employ a high percentage of our national labor force for the arming of our Volk, which is not productive in and of itself, remains regrettable, but cannot be changed.
In the final analysis, the economy of today’s Reich rises and falls with its external security. It is better to recognize this in a timely manner rather than too late.
I therefore see it as the highest task of the National Socialist leadership of the state to do everything humanly possible to strengthen our defensive capability. In this I am counting on the understanding of the German Volk and especially on its ability to remember.
[ . . . ]
We have no reason to assume that Germany’s fate would be any different if it were ever to succumb to a second bout of weakness in the future. On the contrary: some of the same men who once threw the world into the firestorm of war are still trying today, as the driving forces or paid henchmen of those who promote hatred among the nations, to heighten animosities in order to prepare the ground for a new conflict.
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