We Demand

We Demand

by Joseph Goebbels

The German people is an enslaved people. Under international law, it is lower than the worst Negro colony in the Congo. One has taken all sovereign rights from us. We are just good enough that international capital allows us to fill its money sacks with interest payments. That and only that is the result of a centuries-long history of heroism. Have we deserved it? No, and no again!

Therefore we demand that a struggle against this condition of shame and misery begin, and that the men in whose hands we put our fate must use every means to break the chains of slavery.

Three million people lack work and sustenance. The officials, it is true, work to conceal the misery. They speak of measures and silver linings. Things are getting steadily better for them, and steadily worse for us. The illusion of freedom, peace and prosperity that we were promised when we wanted to take our fate in our own hands is vanishing. Only complete collapse of our people can follow from these irresponsible policies.

Thus we demand the right of work and a decent living for every working German.

While the front soldier was fighting in the trenches to defend his fatherland, some Eastern Jewish profiteer robbed him of hearth and home. The Jew lives in the palaces and the proletarian, the front soldier, lives in holes that do not deserve to be called “homes.” That is neither necessary nor unavoidable, but rather an injustice that cries out to the heavens. A government that stands by and does nothing is useless and must vanish, the sooner the better.

Therefore we demand homes for German soldiers and workers. If there is not enough money to build them, drive the foreigners out so that Germans can live on German soil.

Our people is growing, others diminishing. It will mean the end of our history if a cowardly and lazy policy takes from us the posterity that will one day be called to fulfill our historical mission.

Therefore we demand land on which to grow the grain that will feed our children.

While we dreamed and chased strange and unreachable fantasies, others stole our property. Today some say this was an act of God. Not so. Money was transferred from the pockets of the poor to the pockets of the rich. That is cheating, shameless, vile cheating!

A government presides over this misery that in the interests of peace and order one cannot really discuss. We leave it to others to judge whether it represents Germany’s interests or those of our capitalist tormenters.

We however demand a government of national labor, statesmen who are men and whose aim is the creation of a German state.

These days anyone has the right to speak in Germany — the Jew, the Frenchman, the Englishman, the League of Nations, the conscience of the world, and the Devil knows who else. Everyone but the German worker. He has to shut up and work. Every four years he elects a new set of torturers, and everything stays the same. That is unjust and treasonous. We need tolerate it no longer. We have the right to demand that only Germans who build this state may speak, those whose fate is bound to the fate of their fatherland.

Therefore we demand the destruction of the system of exploitation! Up with the German worker’s state!

Germany for the Germans!

The source: “Isidor,” Der Angriff. Aufsätze aus der Kampfzeit (Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP., 1935), pp. 308-310.

Isidor

by Joseph Goebbels

My name is Hase [ Hase, German for rabbit, but also an ignoramus]. I live in the forest and don’t know anything about anything. I keep out of everything. I am, one might say, politically neutral. When it is to my advantage, I can believe anything, though the facts are best. The facts are mostly wonderful. I am of the opinion that the far right and the far left must be banned. The center, of course, is out of the question. As I said, that’s my opinion. I am a realist. That is comfortable, it has few dangers, and one can make a living.

But assume I didn’t live in the forest any more, but in China. Some kind of fortune or misfortune has brought me there. Let’s assume that. Now that would be terribly unpleasant. For in China, as is well known, everyone is Chinese, even the emperor. I would stand out. My name is Hase, and I look like a German. One would be able to recognize me immediately. Why, even the children would stand stock still in the street and call out “That’s Hase.”

But I would know what to do. I would grow a long pigtail and stop looking like a German. I would give up my honorable name Schmidt and rename myself “Wukiutschu.” That’s what I’d do. And if someone still called me “Hase,” I would be very angry.

Let’s assume, then, that I live in Shanghai and my father still lives in the forest. I wouldn’t say anything about the forest to anyone. Just the opposite! I would behave as if we had lived for generations in Shanghai, no matter how much others wanted to doubt it. And then, let’s assume that by accident the police chief of Shanghai dies. And that all the Chinese shout “Wukiutschu should be our leader!”

I would then somehow be the police chief of Shanghai. It’s nice to be the police chief. One has the power to do what one wants. That is, if others let one get away with it. But they must! If they were dumb enough to say “Wukiutschu should lead us!” then they have to be satisfied with me. And if someone weren’t satisfied, I’d take action, since there are always malcontents. I would therefore decree:

“It is forbidden to be dissatisfied!”

Wukiutschu

And I would rule. I know that it wouldn’t be as simple as it looks. For people would come and say:

“What does Wukiutschu want? He isn’t even one of our people. Wukiutschu is really named Hase and lives in the forest. He has sneaked in here. We’ve been here on Chinese soil a thousand years and more. Our fathers made this land livable and defended it with their lives. Back then Wukiutschu still lived in the forest, but now he behaves as if he had always lived here. Down with him! China for the Chinese!”

That would naturally be most unpleasant for me. For if one cut my pigtail off, any child could see that these people were right. But that wouldn’t happen. I would be the police chief after all, and as such have a right to respect. So I’d make another decree:

“Whoever calls me Hase is inciting class warfare. I forbid it, under penalty of imprisonment.”

Wukiutschu

Then I would have peace. I would rest in the glory of my office. I’d be fanned by Chinese coolies, receive ocean flyers, and attend every banquet. My pigtail would grow longer and longer, and I would soon forget that I once was named Hase. And the malcontents would die, and then the world would be content.

Only then would life be beautiful and dignified.

I am the pathfinder for that. One only has to know nothing like me in order to believe it firmly and unshakably.

But, as we said, this is all supposition.

For the Chinese would never be dumb enough to believe that I was Wukiutschu and to name me police chief.

Such stupid people don’t exist.

It is all nothing but a fairy tale.

I am not Chinese and I don’t live in Shanghai. My name isn’t Wukiutschu, but Hase.

I live in the forest and don’t know anything.

The source: “Heil Moskau!” Der Angriff. Aufsätze aus der Kampfzeit (Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP., 1935), pp. 236-238.