In this alleged speech of 22 August 1939, known as the Obersalzberg Speech, here is what Hitler is claimed by bombsaway to have said:
After taking a whiff and realizing this smelled terrible, I requested the exact citation from bombsaway, for which he provided: https://www.ns-archiv.de/krieg/1939/22- ... -boehm.phpWhoever has pondered over this world order knows that its meaning lies in the success, of the best by means of force. And the German people belong to the best races of the earth. Providence has made us the leaders of this people and thereby given us the task of securing the necessary living space for the German people who are compressed 140 persons to a square kilometre.
Upon reading, I noticed several other "problematic" phrases in this speech, where Hitler is portrayed as speaking in a way that is both grandiose and self-aggrandizing, with explicit references to violence and manipulation, while emphasizing propaganda/deception, and with ideological justifications for both expansion and racial supremacy (note that the text is written in third-person to Hitler, as it is allegedly personal notes [of Generaladmiral Hermann Boehm] of what was said):
Boehm Version Highlights
- "Seine eigene Person als Wertfaktor im Leben des deutschen Volkes. Er habe das deutsche Volk geeint, besitze Vertrauen und Autorität im deutschen Volke, wie ein Nachfolger es größer nicht haben könne."
TRANSLATION: "His own person as a valuable factor in the life of the German people. He has united the German people, possesses trust and authority among the German people, to an extent that no successor could surpass." - "Das Fassen von Entschlüssen, bei denen Blut fließen muß, ist schwer, aber für uns verhältnismäßig leicht, indem es für uns nur die Wahl gibt: hindurch oder verlieren."
TRANSLATION: "Making decisions where blood must flow is difficult, but for us relatively easy, because for us there is only the choice: go through it or lose." - "Die Auslösung des Konfliktes wird durch eine geeignete Propaganda erfolgen. Die Glaubwürdigkeit ist dabei gleichgültig, im Sieg liegt das Recht."
TRANSLATION: "The initiation of the conflict will occur through suitable propaganda. Credibility is irrelevant in this case; in victory lies the right." - "Zwischen Deutschland und Polen kann es nur einen erträglichen Zustand geben, oder es entsteht eine unerträgliche Belastung."
TRANSLATION: "Between Germany and Poland, there can only be one tolerable state, or else an intolerable burden will arise." - "Ein Volk wird aber nicht durch einen langen Frieden zu Leistungen erzogen, sondern durch Gewöhnung an Härte und Belastung."
TRANSLATION: "A people is not educated to achievements through a long period of peace, but rather through habituation to hardship and strain." - "Uns hat die Vorsehung zu Führern dieses Volkes gemacht, wir haben damit die Aufgabe, dem deutschen Volke, das mit 140 Menschen auf den Quadratkilometer zusammengedrängt ist, den nötigen Lebensraum zu geben."
TRANSLATION: "Providence has made us leaders of this people; with this, we have the task of providing the German people, who are compressed at 140 people per square kilometer, with the necessary living space." - "Größte Härte kann bei Durchführung einer solchen Aufgabe größte Milde sein."
TRANSLATION: "Greatest hardness can be the greatest kindness in carrying out such a task." - "Es gäbe eben Lagen eines großen Wagnisses, so für Hannibal vor der Schlacht bei Cannae, für Friedrich den Großen vor Leuthen und für Hindenburg-Ludendorff vor Tannenberg."
TRANSLATION: "There are indeed situations of great risk, such as for Hannibal before the Battle of Cannae, for Frederick the Great before Leuthen, and for Hindenburg-Ludendorff before Tannenberg."
https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/nazi-g ... st-22-1939
This more problematic version above is known as the 'Boehm version', and bombsaway's link includes the earliest known citation of it (Hohlfeld, 1953). This version appears to have arisen quite mysteriously, well-after the end of the war (I'll come back to this later).
The two main versions I have seen discussed are 798-PS and 1014-PS.
Here is 1014-PS (official Nuremberg Eng. translation):
https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/nur00459
And here is 798-PS (official Nuremberg Eng. translation):
https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/nur00458
Here's is a book excerpt quoted on English Wikipedia which summarizes some of the narrative on the various versions:
Note that only after the document L-3 (or L-003, the "Lochner version") was deemed inadequate did the other two versions at that time promptly appear (798-PS and 1014-PS). Rather than interpreting either of them as contradictory to one another (or even that one may be falsified), the assumption was instead that Hitler gave two speeches that day, presumably one in the morning and another in the afternoon. Document 1014-PS appears written in heavily-abbreviated shorthand so much that even if it were the notes of an actual second speech from Hitler that day, none of it is quotable as such (hence, it cannot be used as evidence of what Hitler did or did not say).Just one week prior to the launching of the attack on Poland, Hitler made an address to his chief military commanders, at Obersalzberg, on 22 August 1939. [Three reports of this meeting are available: (L-3; 798-PS and 1014-PS). The first of the three documents (L-3) was obtained through an American newspaperman, and purported to be original minutes of the Obersalzberg meeting, transmitted to the newspaperman by some other person. There was no proof of actual delivery to the intermediary by the person who took the notes. That document (L-3) therefore, merely served as an incentive to search for something better. The result was that two other documents (798-PS) and (1014-PS) were discovered in the OKW files at Flensberg [sic]. These two documents indicate that Hitler on that day made two speeches, one apparently in the morning and one in the afternoon. Comparison of those two documents with the first document (L-3) led to the conclusion that the first document was a slightly garbled merger of the two speeches, and therefore was not relied upon.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler%27 ... erg_Speech
As for the Lochner version (L-3), which is more absurdity-ridden than all of those discussed thus far, the German-language Wikipedia has a different take than does English Wikipedia:
The supposed 'proven authenticity' of this Lochner version, mentioned in the last line above, comes from Norman Domeier. The complete "proof" in question can be read about, here:Another speech, the so-called Genghis Khan speech (IMT document L-003), appeared at the Nuremberg trials. It contains particularly brutal and bloodthirsty phrases that were considered implausible. The military court rejected this version as evidence. It was printed in a footnote in the publication of the "Files on German Foreign Policy" with the note that it was not presented as evidence.[4] It was long considered a forgery in historical research. According to this, it was created in German resistance circles to warn the British government about Hitler. It is said to have been handed over to the US journalist Louis Lochner at the instigation of Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Ludwig Beck, who is said to have forwarded it to the British Embassy in Berlin on August 25, 1939 at the latest. For Andreas Hillgruber, the forgery was beyond doubt.[5] He opposed the understandable desire to accept the most incriminating quotations possible, even from dubious sources, without checking them. This would bring history into disrepute, given the strong tendency to cite the key documents as verbatim reproductions of Hitler's statements.[5] However, in 2022 Norman Domeier was able to prove the authenticity in an article in the Journal of History.[6]
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansprache ... ugust_1939
https://www.academia.edu/81488514/Welth ... anschauung
Despite Domeier's analysis, the Lochner version is acknowledged to be a "copy", not an original transcript made by Admiral Canaris. Additionally, the claimed chain of custody from Canaris through Beck and Maaß to Lochner did not satisfy even the Nuremberg prosecutors, and only Lochner was available as a witness (but was never called as such). Domeier's critique focuses more on debunking what he perceives as post-war biases toward the Lochner version rather than addressing what exactly led to its exclusion from Nuremberg. Additionally, this version was circulated widely during the war, having been first published by Lochner in his book in 1943, then published again in 1944 by the magazine Deutsche Blatter, which suggests its probable intention as wartime propaganda against Germany. If there were any doubt about this, the language introducing the document within Deutsche Blatter helps clarify the intent for its portrayal (Domeier, p. 562):
Of course, the introduction from Deutsche Blatter pales in comparison to the absurdity of the Lochner version itself, which Domeier nonetheless defends as being of 'proven authenticity'. The complete Lochner version can be read in the Academia.edu link I shared earlier (toward the latter half of the document) but here are its key highlights:So here we have the uncensored, original text of this speech, and anyone with a sound mind knows that this way of speaking cannot be invented, because it reveals too much the true nature of Nazism and its horrific leader.
[...]
And the generals? Not one of them lifted a hand to neutralize a madman when he was preparing to bring the greatest disaster upon the world. They may have disapproved of what they were told to do, but they obeyed – as they so often do! And most of them carried out the orders given in a way that made the blood run cold in our veins and will remain a terrible stain on the German name. That is why the curse of history has fallen on them too and why nothing can be expected from them for the future of Germany!
Lochner Version Highlights
- 1. Explicit Brutality and Genocide Advocacy:
"Unsere Stärke ist unsere Schnelligkeit und unsere Brutalität. Dschingis Chan hat Millionen Frauen und Kinder in den Tod gejagt, bewußt und fröhlichen Herzens."
- TRANSLATION: "Our strength is our speed and our brutality. Genghis Khan sent millions of women and children to their deaths, deliberately and with a happy heart."
"So habe ich, einstweilen nur im Osten, meine Totenkopfverbände bereitgestellt mit dem Befehl, unbarmherzig und mitleidslos Mann, Weib und Kind polnischer Abstammung und Sprache in den Tod zu schicken."
- TRANSLATION: "So I have, for now only in the East, prepared my Death's Head units with the order to mercilessly and without pity send to death men, women, and children of Polish descent and language."
These passages portray Hitler as openly advocating for genocidal brutality, even likening himself to Genghis Khan and explicitly commanding the physical extermination of the Polish population.
2. Direct Reference to the Armenian Genocide:
"Wer redet heute noch von der Vernichtung der Armenier?"
- TRANSLATION: "Who speaks today still of the extermination of the Armenians?"
This statement directly references the Armenian Genocide as a precedent for mass murder that goes unpunished, suggesting that Hitler sees his planned actions against Poland in a similar light.
3. Outlandish Claims and Strategic Intentions:
"So werde ich in einigen Wochen Stalin an der gemeinsamen deutschrussischen Grenze die Hand reichen und mit ihm eine Neuverteilung der Welt vornehmen."
- TRANSLATION: "So I will, in a few weeks, shake Stalin's hand at the common German-Russian border and undertake a redistribution of the world with him."
"Nach Stalins Tod, er ist ein schwerkranker Mann, zerbrechen wir die Sowjetunion. Dann dämmert die deutsche Erdherrschaft herauf."
- TRANSLATION: "After Stalin's death—he is a seriously ill man—we will destroy the Soviet Union. Then the dawn of German world domination will break."
These statements suggest grandiose plans for world domination and a secret pact with Stalin.
4. Derogatory and Racist Language:
"Denken wir als Herren und sehen wir in diesen Völkern bestenfalls lackierte Halbaffen, die die Knute spüren wollen."
- TRANSLATION: "Let us think as masters and see in these peoples at best varnished half-apes who want to feel the whip."
Hitler's use of such dehumanizing and racist language to describe other peoples is a clear portrayal of him in a sinister light. This rhetoric is more overtly racist and imperialistic than the language used in the other versions.
5. Mockery and Contempt for Other Leaders:
"Die armseligen Würmer Daladier und Chamberlain habe ich in München erlebt. Sie werden zu feige sein, anzgreifen."
- TRANSLATION: "The pitiful worms Daladier and Chamberlain I experienced in Munich. They will be too cowardly to attack."
"Der König von Belgien und die nordischen Könige sind weiche Hampelmänner, abhängig von der guten Verdauung ihrer verfressenen und müden Völker."
- TRANSLATION: "The King of Belgium and the Nordic kings are soft marionettes, dependent on the good digestion of their gluttonous and tired peoples."
These comments about other world leaders are filled with contempt and mockery, emphasizing Hitler's aggressive and dismissive attitude toward his counterparts, which adds to the sinister depiction.
6. False Flag Operations and Propaganda:
"Ich lasse ein paar Kompanien in polnischer Uniform in Oberschlesien oder im Protektorat angreifen. Ob die Welt das glaubt, ist mir scheißegal. Die Welt glaubt nur an den Erfolg."
- TRANSLATION: "I will have a few companies attack in Polish uniforms in Upper Silesia or in the Protectorate. Whether the world believes it, I don't give a shit. The world only believes in success."
This passage reveals plans for false flag operations to provoke war, demonstrating a higher level of manipulation and deceit compared to the other versions.
7. Personal Threats and Violent Rhetoric:
"Ich lasse jeden füsilieren, der auch nur ein Wort der Kritik äußert."
- TRANSLATION: "I will have anyone who utters even a single word of criticism shot."
"Und wenn ich ihm persönlich vor den Augen aller Photographen in den Bauch treten muß."
- TRANSLATION: "And if I have to personally kick him in the stomach in front of all the photographers."
These direct threats and statements of violence against dissent and opponents further heighten the sinister image.
8. Celebration and Barbarism:
"Die Rede wurde mit Begeisterung aufgenommen. Göring stieg auf den Tisch. Blutrünstiger Dank und blutrünstiges Versprechen. Er tanzte wie ein Wilder herum."
- TRANSLATION: "The speech was received with enthusiasm. Göring climbed onto the table. Bloody thanks and bloody promises. He danced around like a madman."
This description of the audience's reaction, particularly Göring's behavior, adds a layer of barbarism and fanaticism that is absent from the other versions.
Ultimately, all that this document shows is that the so-called "German resistance" (i.e. traitors within the German military, who had worked with the American journalist Lochner since even before the war started) was willing to embellish and fabricate documents from as early as 1939 onward, just like the Soviets were. There are obviously biased motives with such a "resistance" source, having a vested interest in portraying Hitler's 'genocidal intent' to aid their efforts in treason.
The more reliable version of Hitler's 22 August 1939 speech (798-PS) reads much more like his other speeches, which at no point whatsoever even hint at the 'unhinged lunatic vibes and rantings' that so many repugnant propagandists repeatedly attempted to ascribe upon him.
*
Going back to the Boehm document, not even Domeier defends the credibility of this document, for which he too highlights its suspicious appearance many years post-war, with no clear origin. In other words, this Boehm version (cited by bombsaway) appeared mysteriously only after the infamous Lochner version was widely circulated, criticized, and denied at Nuremberg. It seems, perhaps, that another version needed to be fabricated post-war which seemed a bit more credible than the Lochner version, while still peddling the same "Hitlerite maniacs" nonsense as the original.
Par for the course for 'Holocaust' documentation.
***
Here is a near-complete collection of all of Hitler's speeches (in English), for those interested:
https://archive.org/details/AdolfHitler ... es19221945
The translations and transcriptions appear reasonably accurate, from what I have checked thus far. Meanwhile, scholars and academics the world over continue to cite either/both the "Lochner version" and the "Boehm version" as valid sources.
[edit to add link to thread on the old forum, -Archie]
https://archive.codohforum.com/20230609 ... c57a4.html