Doc 1: "The Doctrine of Fascism" and “Fascist Decalogue” by Benito Mussolini ~ 1932Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) rose to power in the wake of World WW1, forging a para-military Fascist movement in 1919. By exploiting general fears of labor unrest, a poor economy, and the horrifying rise of communism,

Mussolini quickly gained his followers among disillusioned war veterans and a struggling middle class. Mussolini organized his March on Rome in 1922 to bring

down the government, assisted by his infamous fascist thugs known as the “Blackshirts.” Italy’s King Victor Emmanuel, fearful of a civil war, appointed Benito

Mussolini prime minister, who later seized dictatorial power. The following excerpts are from an article titled “The Doctrine of Fascism” published in 1932.

Following this selection is the second of two versions of the “Fascist Decalogue” – essentially a “10 commandments” for Italian fascists.

…The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State—a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values—interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people. Fascism, in short, is not only a law-giver and a founder of institutions, but an educator and a promoter of spiritual life. It aims at refashioning not only the forms of life but their content – man, his character, and his faith. To achieve this purpose it enforces discipline and uses authority, entering into the soul and ruling with undisputed sway…

…The keystone of the Fascist doctrine is its conception of the State, of its essence, its functions, and its aims. For Fascism the State is absolute, individuals and groups relative. Individuals and groups are admissible in so far as they come within the State….

…Granted that the 19th century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the 20th century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority…, a Fascist century. If the 19th century was the century of the individual (liberalism implies individualism) we are free to believe that this is the ‘collective’ century, and therefore the century of the State….

…Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism – born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it…

…The corporate State considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and [useful] instrument in the interest of the nation. In view of the fact that private organization of production is a function of national concern, the organizer of the enterprise is responsible to the State for the direction given to production….State intervention in economic production arises only when private initiative is lacking or insufficient, or when the political interests of the State are involved. This intervention may take the form of control, assistance or direct management…

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1. Remember that those who fell for the revolution and for the empire march at the head of your columns.2. Your comrade is your brother. He lives with you, thinks with you, and is at your side in the battle.3. Service to Italy can be rendered at all times, in all places, and by every means. It can be paid with toil and also with blood.4. The enemy of Fascism is your enemy. Give him no quarter.5. Discipline is the sunshine of armies. It prepares and illuminates the victory.6. He who advances to the attack with decision has victory already in his grasp.7. Conscious and complete obedience is the virtue of the Legionary.8. There do not exist things important and things unimportant. There is only duty.9. The Fascist revolution has depended in the past and still depends on the bayonets of its Legionaries.10. Mussolini is always right.

[Source: http://www.historyguide.org/europe/duce.html. Also http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/25467255]

Doc 2: Post-WWI Germany and its Economic DisasterAgainst advice from experts, German officials borrowed money to pay for their

swift remilitarization and war costs, thinking after they win WW1 they could take resources from conquered lands to repay loans; what resulted was a loss and

massive bankruptcies in banking and industrial centers, and massive unemployment. At the war’s end, the Versailles Treaty hit them again with

reparations payments and a loss of their lucrative colonies. To try and escape the financial pressures, Germany printed money like wildfire, resulting in severe

hyper-inflation and shortages of essential goods like food and fuel; by November 1923, one U.S. dollar was worth $4,210,500,000,000 (trillion) German marks, rendering their currency essentially worthless. To make matters even worse, a

global depression, starting in the United States in 1929, compounded matters even further. Below, Germans tended to find other uses for their

currency.

The loss of WW1 and its lopsided Treaty terms, a miserable economy, and a weak government that can’t seem to turn things around gave rise to a charismatic

wounded Austrian war veteran named Adolf Hitler, who vowed to restore Germany to prominence and even to a Third Reich (“Third Kingdom”). The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, better known as the Nazi Party, rose from the ashes of a

defeated and humiliated Germany and served as a protest party to both Germany’s weak Weimar Republic and the crippling terms of the Versailles Treaty. These two

posters below capture this sentiment.

“Men! Women! Your men without work. “Until three generations you must labor!” Your children without a future [This was in reference to reparations payments] Save the German family. Vote Adolf Hitler!” (1929)

(1931)Doc 3: Adolf Hitler’s Speech on the Treaty of Versailles ~ April 17, 1923

Perhaps the greatest reasons for Hitler’s rising popularity and star power in the Nazi Party were his public speaking skills and his art of showmanship. He tapped into the frustration and anger of the German people with his speeches illustrating confidence and strength, and his fiery rhetoric and mannerisms played well to a desperate Germany wanting to return to greatness. Below he espouses the views

of the Nazi Party in his criticism of the Versailles Treaty.

With the armistice begins the humiliation of Germany. If the Weimar Republic on the day of its foundation had appealed to the country [and said]: “Germans, stand together! Up and resist the foe! The Fatherland, the Republic expects of you that you fight to your last breath”, then millions who are now enemies of the Republic would be fanatical [supporters of the Republic]. Today they are the foes of the Republic not because it is a Republic, but because this Republic was founded at the moment when Germany was humiliated, because it so discredited the new flag that men's eyes must turn regretfully toward the old flag. So long as this Treaty stands there can be no resurrection of the German people; no social reform of any kind is possible! The Treaty was made in order to

bring 20 million Germans to their deaths and to ruin the German nation. But those who made the Treaty cannot set it aside. At its foundation our Movement formulated three demands:

1. Setting aside of the Peace Treaty.2. Unification of all Germans.3. Land and soil [Grund und Boden] to feed our nation.

Our movement could formulate these demands, since it was not our Movement which caused the War, it has not made the Republic, [and] it did not sign the Peace Treaty. There is thus one thing which is the first task of this Movement: it desires to make the German once more National, that his Fatherland shall stand for him above everything else. It desires to teach our people to understand afresh the truth of the old saying: He who will not be a hammer must be an anvil. An anvil we are today, and that anvil will be beaten until out of the anvil we fashion once more a hammer, a German sword!

[Source: Text of speech from Aspects of Western Civilization, Volume II, Perry Rogers, ed.; Prentice Hall (2000)]

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Doc 4a: Mein Kampf: Adolf Hitler’s own words on the concept of German “Lebensraum” ~ 1925

Angered at the impotent Weimar Republic and for agreeing to the terms of the Versailles Treaty, Hitler tried to capitalize on his growing popularity with a

frustrated German people by staging a coup d’etat; he failed, was arrested, and sentenced to jail for five years (though he only would serve nine months). While in “jail” (where he was treated as a folk hero), Hitler wrote a book titled “Mein

Kampf” (“My Struggle”) in 1925- a blueprint for his agenda for Germany’s Third “Reich”, or “Kingdom.”* In Mein Kampf, among other topics, Hitler dedicated a full chapter titled "Eastern Orientation or Eastern Policy" outlining Germany’s need for something called “Lebensraum” for its “pure” German people, which

he referred to as German “Volk” (or “Folk”).

…In an era when the Earth is gradually being divided up among states, some of which embrace almost entire continents, we cannot speak of a world power in connection with a formation whose political mother country is limited to the absurd area of five hundred thousand square kilometers. Without consideration of traditions and prejudices, Germany must find the courage to gather our people, and their strength, for an advance along the road that will lead this people from its present, restricted living space to new land and soil, and, hence, also free it from the danger of vanishing from the earth, or of serving others as a slave nation. For it is not in colonial acquisitions that we must see the solution of this problem, but exclusively in the acquisition of a territory for settlement, which will enhance the area of the mother country, and hence not only keep the new settlers in the most intimate community with the land of their origin, but secure for the entire area those advantages which lie in its unified magnitude…

…The division of territory on Earth is always the momentary result of a struggle and an evolution that is in no way finished, but that naturally continues to progress. It is dumb to simply take borders, from any given year in the history of a people, and establish it as a political goal… …We take up where we broke off six hundred years ago. We stop the endless German movement to the south and west, and turn our gaze toward the land in the East. At long last, we break off the colonial and commercial policy of the pre–War period and shift to the soil policy of the future…If we speak of soil in Europe today, we can primarily have in mind only Russia and her…border states.

Doc 4b: In Hitler’s second book (though not published while he was alive) Zweites Buch (1928), translated as Second Book, he also makes reference for Lebensraum

and his views on whether or not Slavic people** can ever become true, “pure” Germans and what to do with them.

…The National Socialist Movement, on the contrary, will always let its foreign policy be determined by the necessity to secure the space necessary to the life of our Folk. It knows no Germanizing [of other peoples], but only the spread of its own Folk. It will never see… Germanized Czechs or Poles as a [true German] national…but only the racial weakening of our Folk. …The Folkish State, conversely, must under no conditions annex Poles with the intention of wanting to make Germans out of them some day. On the contrary, it must muster the determination either to seal off these alien racial elements, so that the blood of its own Folk will not be corrupted again, or it must, without further ado, remove them and hand over the vacated territory to its own National Comrades…

Doc 4c: During the early stages of World War Two, Hitler made many comments about aggressively pursuing Lebensraum towards the East, and stated the

following specifically about Russian/Slavic peoples again shortly after launching Operation Barbarossa in Russia in 1941:

…The real frontier is the one that separates the Germanic world from the Slav world. It is our duty to place it where we want it to be…It is success that justifies everything…It is inconceivable that a higher people should painfully exist on a soil too narrow for it, while amorphous masses, which contribute nothing to civilization, occupy infinite tracts of a soil that is one of the richest in the world... …We must create conditions for our people that favor its multiplication….A permanent war on the eastern front will help form a sound race of men, and will prevent us from relapsing into the softness of a Europe thrown back upon itself. It should be possible for us to control this region to the east with two hundred and fifty thousand men, plus a cadre of good administrators ...This space in Russia must always be dominated by Germans…

*The first two Reichs/Empires included the Holy Roman Empire, and Germany’s unification with Prussian states under Otto von Bismarck in the late 1800s-early 1900s.** Slavs refer to people who are descendants of eastern and central Europe (e.g. Polish, Czechs, Russians, Ukrainians, Baltic states), as opposed to those from western Europe (e.g. British, French, Germans, Spanish, Italian, Greek)

[Source: Rich, Norman (1974). Hitler's War Aims: the Establishment of the New Order, pp. 327–329.]

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Doc 5: Adolf Hitler’s Anti-Semitism in his Own Words: Mein Kampf ~ 1925In Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Hitler also makes numerous references to Hitler’s anti-communist and anti-semitic feelings (he felt Communism was a global Jewish

conspiracy as Karl Marx, the Father of Communism, was a Jew). Hitler blamed Jewish “bloodsuckers” for everything from causing WW1 to Germany’s poor

economy. Also below was a very common children’s book in Germany during the Nazi regime called The Poisonous Mushroom.

…If, with the help of his Marxist creed, the Jew is victorious over the other peoples of the world, his crown will be the funeral wreath of humanity and this planet will, as it did thousands of years ago, move through the ether devoid of men…Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord [page 60] …Since the Jew is not the attacked but the attacker, not only anyone who attacks passes as his enemy, but also anyone who resists him. But the means with which he seeks to break such reckless but upright souls is not honest warfare, but lies and slander. Here he stops at nothing, and in his vileness he becomes so gigantic that no one need be surprised if among our people the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew. …The ignorance of the broad masses about the inner nature of the Jew, the lack of instinct and narrow-mindedness of our upper classes, make the people an easy victim for this Jewish campaign of lies. Slowly fear and the Marxist weapon of Jewry descend like a nightmare on the mind and soul of decent people…all they want is a central organization for their international world swindle, endowed with its own sovereign rights and removed from the intervention of other states: a haven for convicted scoundrels and a university for budding crooks. With satanic joy in his face, the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood, thus stealing her from her people. With every means he tries to destroy the racial foundations of the people he has set out to subjugate. Just as he himself systematically ruins women and girls, he does not shrink back from pulling down the blood barriers for others, even on a large scale….always with the same secret thought and clear aim of ruining the hated white race by the necessarily resulting bastardization, throwing it down from its cultural and political height, and himself rising to be its master. For a racially pure people which is conscious of its blood can never be enslaved by the Jew. In this world he will forever be master over bastards and bastards alone. And so he tries systematically to lower the racial level by a continuous poisoning of individuals. The end is not only the end of the freedom of the peoples oppressed by the Jew, but also the end of this parasite upon the nations. After the death of his victim, the vampire sooner or later dies too. [293-296]

…the nationalization of our masses will succeed only when, aside from all the positive struggle for the soul of our people, their international poisoners are exterminated [Volume 2; Chapter 12] …If at the beginning of the war and during the war twelve or fifteen thousand of these Hebrew corrupters of the nation had been subjected to poison gas, such as had to be endured in the field by hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers of all classes and professions, then the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain. [Volume 2; page 984]

Anti-Semitic Nazi Children’s Book

The Poisonous Mushroom was a collection of 17 short stories by the Nazi writer Ernst Hiemer, with pictures by the Nazi artist Fips. In the first story of the book, a

German mother explains to her son how there are good and bad people, just as there are edible and poisonous mushrooms. The Jews, she tells him, are a 'poison' within Germany. 'Just as a single poisonous mushroom can kill a whole family, so a

solitary Jew can destroy a whole village, a whole city, even an entire folk.' she warns him.

Doc 6: Nuremberg Race Laws passed by the German Reichstag (Parliament) ~ September 15th, 1935

From the moment the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Jews of Germany were subjected to a never-ending series of discriminatory and anti-semitic laws. Jews

were often unfairly portrayed as “profiting” and “taking advantage” of vulnerable Germans (e.g. they owned banks charging high interest rates, were landords charging high rents, etc.) There would be, during the twelve years of Hitler's

Reich, over 400 separate regulations issued against Jews prohibiting everything from performing in a symphony orchestra to owning a pet cat. None of the Nazi

bureaucrats had any moral qualms about being anti-Semitic. Of the 503,000 Jews living in Germany in 1933, about 70 percent lived in big cities such as Berlin and Frankfurt. Many of the young Jews in these cities married non-Jewish Germans. Although Jews made-up less than one percent of Germany's overall population of

55 million, Hitler considered them by nature to be the "mortal enemy" of the German people. At this year's Nazi rally in Nuremberg, held from September 9th-15th, a special session of the Nazi Reichstag (Legislature) was scheduled for the

last day. Radical anti-Semites at Nuremberg suggested to Hitler that he seize this opportunity to announce some kind of big new law concerning the Jews and

marriage rights. Around midnight, Hitler told the same legal officials he also wanted an

accompanying law concerning Reich citizenship. The officials, scrawling on the back of a hotel food menu, hastily drafted a vaguely worded law, which Hitler approved hours later, in what

became known as the Nuremberg Race Laws.

Doc 6a: Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935

The Reichstag has unanimously enacted the following law, which is promulgated herewith:

Article 11. A subject of the state is a person who enjoys the protection of the German Reich and who in consequence has specific obligations toward it.2. The status of subject of the state is acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Reich and the Reich Citizenship Law.

Article 21. A Reich citizen is a subject of the state who is of German or related blood, and proves by his conduct that he is willing and fit to faithfully serve the German people and Reich.2. Reich citizenship is acquired through the granting of a Reich citizenship certificate.3. The Reich citizen is the sole bearer of full political rights in accordance with the law.

Article 3The Reich Minister of the Interior, in coordination with the Deputy of the Führer, will issue the legal and administrative orders required to implement and complete this law. [This would be addressed two months later in the Nov. 14th Supplemental Decree, provided below]

Nuremberg, September 15, 1935, at the Reich Party Congress of Freedom

The Führer and Reich Chancellor ~ [signed] Adolf HitlerThe Reich Minister of the Interior ~ [signed] Frick

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Doc 6b: Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor of September 15, 1935Moved by the understanding that purity of German blood is the essential condition for the continued existence of the German people, and inspired by the inflexible determination to ensure the existence of the German nation for all time, the Reichstag has unanimously adopted the following law, which is promulgated herewith:

Article 11. Marriages between Jews and subjects of the state of German or related blood are forbidden. Marriages nevertheless concluded are invalid, even if concluded abroad to circumvent this law.2. Annulment proceedings can be initiated only by the state prosecutor.

Article 2Extramarital relations between Jews and subjects of the state of German or related blood are forbidden.*

Article 3Jews may not employ in their households female subjects of the state of German or related blood who are under 45 years old.

Article 41. Jews are forbidden to fly the Reich or national flag or display Reich colors.2. They are, on the other hand, permitted to display the Jewish colors. The exercise of this right is protected by the state.

Article 51. Any person who violates the prohibition under Article 1 will be punished with a prison sentence.2. A male who violates the prohibition under Article 2 will be punished with a jail term or a prison sentence.3. Any person violating the provisions under Articles 3 or 4 will be punished with a jail term of up to one year and a fine, or with one or the other of these penalties.

Article 6The Reich Minister of the Interior, in coordination with the Deputy of the Führer and the Reich Minister of Justice, will issue the legal and administrative regulations required to implement and complete this law.

Article 7The law takes effect on the day following promulgation, except for Article 3, which goes into force on January 1, 1936.

Nuremberg, September 15, 1935, at the Reich Party Congress of Freedom

The Führer and Reich Chancellor ~ [signed] Adolf HitlerThe Reich Minster of the Interior ~ [signed] FrickThe Reich Minister of Justice ~ [signed] Dr. GürtnerThe Deputy of the Führer ~ [signed] Rudolph Hess

*In November of 1915, the ban was also interpreted to be placed on “Roma (gypsies), blacks [and] their offspring” as well as Jews.

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This additional or “supplementary” decree below outlined the definition of who was “Jewish,” as well as more specific restrictions, was passed on November 14th, 1935, and the Reich Citizenship Law came into force on that date. There would later be even more supplementary decrees added on to the Nuremburg

Laws.

Doc 6c: First Supplementary Decree of The Nuremberg Laws, Passed on November 14 th , 1935 On the basis of Article III of the Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935, the following is hereby decreed:

ARTICLE 1.(1) Until further provisions concerning citizenship papers, all subjects of German or kindred blood who possessed the right to vote in the Reichstag elections when the Citizenship Law came into effect, shall, for the present, possess the rights of Reich citizens. The same shall be true of those upon whom the Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction with the Deputy to the Fuehrer shall confer citizenship.(2) The Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction with the Deputy to the Fuehrer, may revoke citizenship.

ARTICLE 2.(1) The provisions of Article I shall apply also to subjects who are of mixed Jewish blood.(2) An individual of mixed Jewish blood is one who is descended from one or two grandparents who, racially, were full Jews, insofar that he is not a Jew according to Section 2 of Article 5. Full-blooded Jewish grandparents are those who belonged to the Jewish religious community.

ARTICLE 3. Only citizens of the Reich, as bearers of full political rights, can exercise the right of voting in political matters, and have the right to hold public office. The Reich Minister of the Interior, or any agency he empowers, can make exceptions during the transition period on the matter of holding public office. The measures do not apply to matters concerning religious organizations.

ARTICLE 4.(1) A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich [or] exercise the right to vote; he cannot hold public office.(2) Jewish officials will be retired as of December 31, 1935. In the event that such officials served at the front in the World War either for Germany or her allies, they shall receive as pension, until they reach the age limit, the full salary last received, on the basis of which their pension would have been computed. They shall not, however, be promoted according to their seniority in rank. When they reach the age limit, their pension will be computed again, according to the salary last received on which their pension was to be calculated.(3) These provisions do not concern the affairs of religious organizations.(4) The conditions regarding service of teachers in public Jewish schools remains unchanged until the promulgation of new laws on the Jewish school system.

ARTICLE 5(1) A Jew is an individual who is descended from at least three grandparents who were, racially, full Jews…(2) A Jew is also an individual who is descended from two full-Jewish grandparents if:(a) he was a member of the Jewish religious community when this law was issued, or joined later;(b) when the law was issued, he was married to a person who was a Jew, or subsequently married to a Jew;

(c) he is the issue from a marriage with a Jew, in the sense of Section I, which was contracted after the coming into effect of the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor of September 15, 1935;(d) he is the issue of an extramarital relationship with a Jew, in the sense of Section I, and was born out of wedlock after July 31, 1936.

ARTICLE 6.(1) Insofar as there are, in the laws of the Reich or in the decrees of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and its affiliates, certain requirements for the purity of German blood which extend beyond Article 5, the same remain untouched…

ARTICLE 7. The Fuehrer and Chancellor of the Reich is empowered to

***************************Doc 7: Lebensraum In

Progress: The Rhineland, After WWI, under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was

limited to a very small army. Furthermore, Germany was forbidden from uniting with

Austria (as it had during WWI). Many Germans were angry about the terms of the

Treaty of Versailles, and after becoming Chancellor, Hitler started testing the Treaty’s stipulations. In

March of 1936, Hitler forcibly annexed the Rhineland- the disputed territory and demilitarized zone between Germany and France. The world and the new

incredibly weak and powerless League of Nations did almost nothing about it; this only served to embolden Hitler with the ease at which he took it. Then in March of 1938, German troops moved into Austria in order to annex Austria and unite the

Doc 7a: Anschluss Document s

“Greater Germany. Yes! On April 10th” “Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with German Reich that

was enacted on March 13, 1938, and do you vote for the party of our leader Adolf Hitler? [large circle] “Yes” [small circle] “No”

“When one day we shall be no more, then the coming generations shall be able to look back with pride upon this day, the day on which a great Volk affirmed the German community. In the past, millions of German men shed their blood for this Reich. How merciful a fate to be allowed to create this Reich today without a suffering. Now, rise, German Volk, subscribe to it, hold it tightly in

your hands! I wish to thank Him who allowed me to return to my homeland so that I could return it to my German Reich! May every German realize the importance of the hour tomorrow, assess it and then bow his head in reverence before the will of the Almighty who has wrought this miracle in all of us within these past few weeks.”

~ Adolf Hitler, April 9th, 1938

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Doc 7b: Hitler’s Speech (Excerpts) on the German Invasion of Czechoslovakia’s “Sudetenland”

~ September 12th, 1938On September 12, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany’s Third Reich,

addressed the German Reichstag (legislature). That morning, Hitler’s troops had crossed the German-Czech frontier, thus initiating the Invasion of Czechoslovakia’s “Sudetenland”; he provides a peculiar (and greatly exaggerated) reason as to why.

Delegates, Men of the German Reichstag! For months we have been suffering under the torture of a problem which the Versailles Treaty created – a problem which has deteriorated until it becomes intolerable for us. For too long has a great German people, apparently defenseless, been delivered shameless ill-treatment…I am speaking of Czechoslovakia… But it is something most natural that compels us Germans to take an interest in this problem. Among the majority of nationalities that are being suppressed in this State there are 3,500,000 Germans. These Germans, too, are creatures of God. The Almighty did not create them that they should be surrendered by a State construction made at Versailles to a foreign power that is hateful to them, and He has not created 7,000,000 Czechs in order that they should supervise 3,500,000 Germans or act as guardians for them and still less to do them violence and torture.

The conditions in this nation are unbearable, as is generally known. Politically more than 3,500,000 people were robbed in the name of the right of self-determination of a certain Mr. Wilson of their self-determination and of their right to self-determination. Economically these people were deliberately ruined and afterward handed over to a slow process of extermination… And I say that if these tortured creatures cannot obtain rights and assistance by themselves, they can obtain both from us. An end must be made of depriving these people of their rights… It was a short-sighted piece of work when the statesmen at Versailles brought the abnormal structure of Czechoslovakia into being… I made one more final effort to accept a proposal for mediation on the part of the Italian Government. Mussolini proposed a conference of the major powers in Munich. I accepted this proposal, and I, along with Prime Minister Chamberlain, Prime Minister Daladier and his Excellency Mr. Mussolini agreed on the cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory and the measures consequent thereon, and by this agreement the Czechoslovak government was to be held responsible for the steps necessary to secure its fulfilment… These proposals for mediation have failed because in the meanwhile there, first of all, came as an answer the sudden Czechoslovak general mobilization, followed by more Czech atrocities. These were again repeated last night. Recently there have been as many as twenty-one incidents in which Czech military formations have killed innocent Sudeten Germans without provocations. Last night there were fourteen, of which one was quite serious. I have, therefore, resolved to speak to Czechoslovakia in the same language that Czechoslovakia for months past has used toward us and the Sudeten German minority. This attitude on the part of the Reich will not change… I am determined to solve (1) the Sudeten question and (2) to see to it that a change is made in the relationship between Germany and Czechoslovakia that shall ensure a peaceful co-existence. In this I am resolved to continue to fight until either the present Czechoslovak government is willing to continue to bring about this change or until another Czechoslovak Government is ready to do so… I will continue this struggle, no matter against whom, until the safety of the Reich and its rights are secured… For five years now I have been working on the building up of the German defenses. Over $90 million have in that time been spent on the building up of these defense forces. They are now the best equipped and are above all comparison with what they were in 1914. My trust in them is unshakable. When I called up these forces and when I now ask sacrifices of the German people and if necessary every sacrifice, then I have a right to do so, for I also am to-day absolutely ready, just as we were formerly, to make every possible sacrifice… It is quite unimportant whether we ourselves live, but it is essential that our people shall live, that Germany shall live. The sacrifice that is demanded of us is not greater than the sacrifice that many generations have made. If we form a community closely bound together by vows, ready for anything, resolved never to surrender, then our will shall master every hardship and difficulty. And I would like to close with the declaration that I once made when I began the struggle for power in the Reich. I then said: “If our will is so strong that no hardship and suffering can subdue it, then our will and our German might shall prevail.” Deutschland — Sieg Heil! [“Germany – On to Victory!”]

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Doc 7c: Neville Chamberlain’s “Peace of Our Time” Speech~ September 30th, 1938

On September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich, Germany after having agreed to the so-called Munich Pact the day before with

Adolf Hitler. The Munich agreement stipulated that Hitler had a right to seize the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia (since its people were mostly German speakers anyway) and to hopefully finally appease Hitler and avoid another potential war. The

Czech government was both surprised and angered, thinking Britain and France would help get Hitler’s troops out of the Sudetenland. Nevertheless, Chamberlain arrived home a

hero, as most of the nation believed that he had singlehandedly averted a European war with his deft diplomacy; in fact, Chamberlain got off the plane at London’s Heathrow

Airport waving a piece of paper containing the text of the pact and the crowd responded with massive cheering. He then spoke to the press and the crowd:

There’s only two things I want to say…

First of all, I have received an immense number of letters during all these anxious times, and so has my wife. Letters of support, and approval, and gratitude and I can't tell you what an encouragement that has been to me. I want to thank the British people for what they have done. Next. And next I want to say that the settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you:

"We, the German Fuhrer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for the two countries and for Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German naval agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe.” 

Later that day, standing before the Prime Minister's house at 10 Downing Street in London (similar to the White House in America), Neville Chamberlain read

the agreement and made a short remark in a speech that would go down as one of the most dubious made in modern history.

“My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back

from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our

time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you

to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.” 

Note: Six months later, in March of 1939, Hitler invaded and forcibly seized the rest of Czechoslovakia…

Doc 8: Text of the Nazi-Soviet “Non-Aggression Pact”~ August 23rd, 1939

During World War One, advancing German armies had occupied the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) as they pushed their advances eastward

and into Russia. Having lost to the Germans, Lenin’s Russia was basically forced into a separate treaty (Brest-Livtosk) with Germany. Part of the agreement was that Germany must vacate Finland and the three Baltic states, who would then enjoy the promise of self-determination; Lenin agreed on the belief they would

all eventually join the Soviet government anyway. German troops were forced to evacuate these areas at the conclusion of the Versailles Treaty, with all three Baltic states declaring independence soon after in 1918. However, with the

death of Lenin in 1924 and the subsequent takeover by Josef Stalin in the Soviet Union, and the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany, things were about to change drastically in Europe and many of its newly independent nations in the late

1930s. Below is a treaty agreed to by Hitler and Stalin, part of it which was kept secret, signed roughly a week before Hitler’s Germany invaded Poland on

September 1st, 1939 (with the Soviets also invading Poland two weeks later), kicking off the start of World War Two in Europe.

The Government of the German Reich and The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics desirous of strengthening the cause of peace between Germany and the U.S.S.R., and proceeding from the fundamental provisions of the Neutrality Agreement concluded in April, 1926 between Germany and the U.S.S.R., have reached the following Agreement:

Article I. Both High Contracting Parties obligate themselves to desist from any act of violence, any aggressive action, and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other Powers.

Article II. Should one of the High Contracting Parties become the object of belligerent action by a third Power, the other High Contracting Party shall in no manner lend its support to this third Power.

Article III. The Governments of the two High Contracting Parties shall in the future maintain continual contact with one another for the purpose of consultation in order to exchange information on problems affecting their common interests.

Article IV. Should disputes or conflicts arise between the High Contracting Parties shall participate in any grouping of Powers whatsoever that is directly or indirectly aimed at the other party.

Article V. Should disputes or conflicts arise between the High Contracting Parties over problems of one kind or another, both parties shall settle these disputes or conflicts exclusively through friendly exchange of opinion or, if necessary, through the establishment of arbitration commissions.

Article VI. The present Treaty is concluded for a period of ten years, with the proviso that, in so far as one of the High Contracting Parties does not advance it one year prior to the expiration of this period, the validity of this Treaty shall automatically be extended for another five years.

Article VII. The present treaty shall be ratified within the shortest possible time. The ratifications shall be exchanged in Berlin. The Agreement shall enter into force as soon as it is signed. 

[The section below was not published at the time the above was announced; it was finally made public in 1989]

Secret Additional ProtocolArticle I. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement in the areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania shall represent the boundary of the spheres of influence of Germany and U.S.S.R.*In this connection the interest of Lithuania in the Vilna area is recognized by each party.

Article II. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state, the spheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narev, Vistula and San. [Poland split in half by the parties]

The question of whether the interests of both parties make desirable the maintenance of an independent Polish States and how such a state should be bounded can only be definitely determined in the course of further political developments. In any event both Governments will resolve this question by means of a friendly agreement.

Article III. With regard to Southeastern Europe attention is called by the Soviet side to its interest in Bessarabia. The German side declares its complete political disinterest in these areas.

Article IV. This protocol shall be treated by both parties as strictly secret. 

Moscow, August 23, 1939. ~For the Government of the German Reich, V. Ribbentrop~Plenipotentiary of the Government of the U.S.S.R., V. Molotov 

*Lithuania would also be returned to Soviet Russia in a later agreement

[Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/11213255/Vladimir-Putin-says-there-was-nothing-wrong-with-Soviet-Unions-pact-with-Adolf-Hitlers-Nazi-Germany.html]

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Doc 9: Hitler’s Decision to Treat Germany’s Own “Incurable” Persons ~ 1939

Still reeling from a post-war depression, Hitler and Nazi leaders worked tirelessly to saturate the minds of the German Volk with a strong work ethic and heavy sacrifice as a means to rebuild the Third Reich. From children’s books to fiery

televised speeches, everyone was drilled with propaganda 24/7 to be as productive as possible. But what of those who couldn’t produce because they were physically

or mentally unable? Below are a series of directives, propaganda posters, and photographs illustrating the lengths Hitler went to in order to try and solve this

problem starting in the late 1930s. You should notice that this would be a foreshadowing of things to come.

Doc 9a: Hitler and Operation “T4”In October 1939 Adolf Hitler signed this order, known as “Operation T4,”

backdated to September 1st, 1939, that authorized Nazi officials, including Dr. Karl Brandt (Hitler's personal physician) to carry out the program of involuntary

euthanasia. The program ran “officially” from September 1939 to August 1941, where 100,000+ people were killed at various extermination centers located at

psychiatric hospitals in Germany, Austria, and some in occupied Poland.

“Reich Leader Bouhler and Dr. Brandt are entrusted with the responsibility of extending

the authority of physicians, to be designated by name, so that patients who, after a most

critical diagnosis, on the basis of human judgment are considered incurable, can be granted

mercy.”

~ Adolf Hitler

Doc 9b: Euthanasia Propaganda Posters

Euthanasia Poster (below) titled “You Are Also Carrying.” Displayed is the Aryan German

worker forced to carry the burden of those who carry “hereditary diseases” including

deviants/criminals (left) and the mentally ill

(right) who contribute nothing; the caption goes on to say that just one of these individuals costs tens of thousands of dollars a year.

This euthanasia poster (above) circa 1938 reads: “60,000 Reichsmark is what this person suffering from a hereditary disease

costs the People’s community during his lifetime. Fellow citizen, that is your money too.” And below: “Read ‘A New People’, the monthly magazine of the Bureau for Race Politics of the

NSDAP ]Nazi Party].”

Doc 9c: Still-Shot from a Euthanasia Nazi Propaganda FilmPhotograph (below) with the caption: "...because God cannot want the sick and ailing to reproduce." This image originates from a film, produced by the Reich Propaganda Ministry, using propaganda to manipulate the public and develop

public sympathy for the Euthanasia Program.

Doc 9d: Hadamar Euthanasia Centre (Hadamar, Germany)

(Below) Smoke rising from the chimney at Hadamar, one of six euthanasia facilities which carried out the Nazis' T4 Euthanasia Program. Some facilities were

equipped with gas chambers disguised as shower rooms, including Hadamar, which also had two crematoriums. Busses came from various mental institutions, hospitals, and nursing homes filled with those who would only be a drain on the

struggling German economy.

( Below) Large grey buses (or “ambulances”) arrived daily to Hadamar and other euthanasia facilities carrying victims from nearby mental homes, first starting with

children, then the non-functioning elderly, and then extending it to anyone permanently infirmed with incurably lethal diseases, the mentally ill, or cripples who could not contribute to the Reich in any meaningful way. In some cases, the buses were equipped with a mobile gas chamber where its passengers would be DOA to crematoriums. Family members were told they could not visit loved ones

due to

highly contagious illnesses, and simply notified later they died of “diseases.”

Doc 9e: Documents Proving Facilities like Hadamar Were No Secret to the German Public

a. Several times a week buses arrive in the city of Hadamar with a considerable number of such victims. School children of the vicinity know this vehicle and say “here comes the murder-box again” or call each other names and say “you’re crazy! You’ll be sent to the baking oven in Hadamar!” After the arrival of the vehicle, the citizens of Hadamar watch the smoke rise out of the chimney.

~ Dr. Hilfrich, Bishop of Limburg, to Dr. Frank, German Minister of Justice; August 13th, 1941

b. The population recognizes the gray automobiles of the SS and think they know what is going on at the constantly smoking crematory. What happens there is a secret, and yet is no longer one…We must [now] discontinue the use of this [facility] and…in a clever manner show motion pictures…of inherited and mental diseases in just that locality.”

~ Nazi SS Heinrich Himmler to Nazi SS Oberfuehrer Brack, December 19th, 1940

[Source: Nazi War Crime Tribunals, Nuremburg, Germany, 1946. Also http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-euthanasia.htm]

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Doc 10: Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass)~ November 9-10, 1938

After the “successful” conclusion of the Munich Agreement, many international leaders harbored the hope that Hitler was a statesman with whom they could continue

to negotiate. But on the nights of November 9th-

10th, 1938, an event occurred which revealed the true nature of Hitler's regime to the world and also marked the beginning of deadly radicalization of Nazi policy concerning the Jews. Using the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris on November 8th by a German-born, teen-age Jew (who was angered at the Nazi

regime’s treatment of Jews) as an excuse, Nazi officials, including Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, quickly gave a fiery anti-Semitic radio

address and later ordered a retaliation to German Jews for this “Jewish conspiracy” in what would become a night of terror, infamously known as

Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass.”

Doc 10a: Retaliation on the Order of Propaganda Minister, Joseph GoebbelsAfter Goebbels’ speech, Nazi officials and the S.A. (non-police party members and thugs) in Munich gave Goebbels’ instructions to the local party organizations and sent telegrams to district authorities and the Gestapo, who in turn instructed their

subordinates. One order stated as follows:

“All Jewish stores are to be immediately destroyed by SA men in uniform. [...]

Jewish synagogues are to be immediately put on fire, Jewish symbols should be confiscated. The fire department may not intervene. [...] The Führer wishes the

police not to intervene. All Jews are to be disarmed. Shoot on sight at any sign

of resistance. Signs are to be hung over the destroyed Jewish shops, synagogues

etc. with the following text: ‘Revenge for the murder of vom Rath. Death to

international Jewry. No compromise with people who are Jews’.”

Goebbels appeared to later modify his remarks, stating:

"the Führer has decided that … demonstrations should not be prepared or

organized by the Party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are

not to be hampered."

[Source: Report of the Supreme Party Tribunal of the NSDAP to Goering, February 13, 1939, International Military Tribunal, vol. XXXII, pp. 21 f. (PS 3063).]

Doc 10b: Photos of the Kristallnacht Carnage Throughout Germany(Above) Jewish stores looted

and smashed in Magdeburg, Germany (Above) A Jewish shopkeeper sweeps up the night after. Jews were not

only ordered(Below) A Jewish synagogue is allowed to burn, while fireman to clean up the mess, but were also held try to put out the adjacent building owned by a “real” German responsible and

ordered to pay excessivefines and turn over their insurance claims to the Nazi regime.

(Bottom Right) Photo showing the extent of the damage,including looting, smashing, and burning done to one of thehundreds of synagogues throughout Germany on Kristallnacht.

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Doc 11: Hitler and the “Final Solution”Seeking to have a German Empire of “pure” Aryan people and his German

“master race” became problematic as Hitler acquired more and more territory…and people, especially Europe’s Jews. Many were rounded up in conquered territories and imprisoned in ghettos where they were expected to starve to death or die from disease. Many other “inferiors” were put to work in slave-

labor concentration camps (where many never came out alive). Because they weren’t dying fast enough, it then lead to creating his killing squads, the

Einsatzgruppen, who at first were simply rounding up people, digging mass graves (done by the prisoners), and then shooting them in German-occupied

territories. However, this process was still too slow, inefficient, and expensive. Soon, it lead to faster and more direct acts of genocide in what became known

as his “Final Solution” to the “Jewish problem” and other undesirables in death/extermination camps. Those who had some kind of skill or could perform work had a better chance to be immediately spared. But captives who couldn’t

work (infants/toddlers, the sick, elderly, crippled, etc.) were immediately sent to “selection” for death. In all, 6 million Jews – 20% of their population- were

murdered; in total, it is estimated 11 million civilians were murdered by Hitler’s Nazis.

Below are excerpts of testimony from Kurt Gerstein, a Nazi SS official vising the extermination camp in Belzec, Poland in 1945. Most of those murdered at Belzec were Polish Jews, numbering around 500,000, with only two known

survivors. Gerstein was secretly alerting the Catholic Church and Swedish diplomats of these events in hopes of letting the world know what Hitler and the

Nazis were doing.

a. 45 cars arrive with more than 6,000 people; 200 [people] assigned to this work flung open the doors and drove the Jews out of the cars with leather whips. A loud speaker gave instructions. “Strip! Even artificial limbs and glasses! Hand over all money and valuables at the ‘Valuables’ window!”

b. Then the march [to the gas chambers] began. Barbed wire on both sides…Stark naked men, women, children, and cripples passed by. An SS man called to the unfortunates in a loud voice. “Nothing is going to hurt you! Just breath deep and it will strengthen your lungs! It’s a way to prevent contagious diseases! It’s a good disinfectant!”

c. They asked him what was going to happen, and he answered, “The men will have to work, build houses and streets. The women won’t have to do that. They will be busy with the housework and the kitchen.” This was the last hope for some of these poor people, enough to make them march toward the death chambers without resistance. However, the majority knew everything. The smell betrayed it!

d. Nazi SS men pushed them in the chambers…[about] 700-800 people…[carbon monoxide] exhaust was to kill these poor unfortunates…You could hear them weeping…

e. 25 minutes passed. You could see through the window that many were already dead, for an electric light illuminated the room. ALL were dead after 32 minutes.

[Source: http://www.auschwitz.dk/gerstein.htm. Retrieved on October 12th, 2010]

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Doc 12: Japan and the Nanking Massacre (“Rape of Nanking”)Germany was not the only nation engaging in genocide at the time. Seeking a

Pacific Empire was Imperial Japan, who set their sights on the resource-rich nation and close neighbor, China. Japan, like Germany, was also seeking space in addition to resources for its people, and conducted one of the most twisted and disturbing

acts of barbarism the world has ever seen upon the Chinese. From burying families alive, to public beheadings, to using civilians as human targets for target practice, to intentionally injecting them with fatal strains of diseases, the “Rape of Nanking” was an unspeakable horror with over 200,000 Chinese murdered. The following is

a description of the Japanese occupation in Nanking. This eyewitness report was filed by New York Times reporter F. Tillman in his article “All Captives Slain,”

published on December 18th, 1937; the following are excerpts (parts of) Tillman’s article.

a. The killing of civilians was widespread. Foreigners who traveled widely through the city Wednesday found civilian dead on every street. Some of the victims were aged men, women and children.

b. Policemen and firemen were special objects of attack. Many victims were bayoneted and some of the wounds were barbarously cruel.

c. The mass executions of war prisoners added to the horrors the Japanese brought to Nanking. After killing the Chinese soldiers who threw down their arms and surrendered, the Japanese combed the city for men suspected of being former soldiers.

d. Just before boarding the ship for Shanghai, [I] watched the execution of 200 men on the Bund [dike]. The killings took ten minutes. The men were lined against a wall and shot. Then a number of Japanese, armed with pistols, trod nonchalantly around the crumpled bodies, pumping bullets into any that were still kicking.

e. Many were killed where they were found, including men innocent of any army connection and many wounded soldiers and civilians. I witnessed three mass executions of prisoners within a few hours Wednesday. In one slaughter a tank gun was turned on a group of more than 100 soldiers at a bomb shelter near the Ministry of Communications.

f. Nanking's streets were littered with dead. Sometimes bodies had to be moved before automobiles could pass.

Bodies of dead Chinese civilians litter the street in Nanking, China, killed by Japanese officials, 1937

[Source: New York Times]Doc 13: The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Japan

~ August, 1945Racing to ensure the Nazis did not first acquire such technology, nuclear

physicists were hoping to achieve a weapon to end all wars: the atomic bomb. Codenamed the “Manhattan Project,” the research was so secretive that not

even FDR’s vice president, Harry Truman, knew about it. Thrust into the presidency after FDR’s death in office, Truman had to make what has likely been

the toughest decision any president has ever made in American history. However, Japan chose to ignore several warnings, mainly out of pride, and what resulted was an Allied victory in the Pacific theater and over 200,000 Japanese

dead from just two of these

destructive weapons.

Doc 13a: Pictured below is the front side of one of millions of leaflets that were dropped by U.S. planes over several Japanese cities warning residents to evacuate or they may be

targets of massing bombings.

U.S. Leaflet Dropped from American Bomber Planes

On the reverse the following message (in Japanese) stated:“Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by American bombs. These cities contain military installations and workshops or factories which produce military goods. We are determined to destroy all of the tools of the military which they are using to prolong this

useless war. But, unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America's humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives. America is not fighting the Japanese people but is fighting the military which has enslaved the Japanese people. The peace which America will bring will free the people from the oppression of the military and mean the emergence of a new and better Japan. You can restore peace by demanding new and good leaders who will end the war. We cannot promise that only these cities

will be among those attacked but some or all of them will be, so heed this warning:

EVACUTATE THESE CITIES IMMEDIATELY-----------------------------

Doc 13b: Truman Letter Below is an excerpt of a letter written by U.S. President Harry Truman on January 12, 1953 to Prof. James L. Cate on the military necessity of using the atomic bombs

against japan to end World War II.

…I called a meeting of the Secretary of State, Mr. Byrnes, the Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson, Admiral Leahy, General Marshall, General Eisenhower, Admiral King and some others, to discuss what should be done with this awful weapon.

I asked General Marshall what it would cost in lives to land on the Tokyo plain and other places in Japan. It was his opinion that such an invasion would cost at a minimum one quarter of a million casualties, and might cost as much as a million, on the American side alone, with an equal number of the enemy. The other military and naval men present agreed. I asked Secretary Stimson which sites in Japan were devoted to war production. He promptly named Hiroshima and Nagasaki, among others. We sent [a warning] to Japan. It was rejected….

~ Harry Truman, President of the United States

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Doc 13c: Effects of the Hiroshima Blast

(Below) Pictured below is what remained of the Shima Surgical Hospital and the surrounding area in Hiroshima, Japan, after the American-led atomic bombing of

Hiroshima in August of 1945; a second city, Nagasaki, was bombed days later. An estimated 200,000 Japanese died as a result of both atomic blasts

(Above) Katsuj Yoshida was facing the blast when the

bomb dropped in Nagasaki.