We’ve got [Hitler said] to seize the instruments of
power first of all if we are to floor the enemy perma-
nently.... You must never strike until you are at the
summit of your might until you are sure that you
are at the peak of your power growth.He described the coming election fight as stage in his attack on
the Communists. “There will be no turning back for us,” he
promised these men of money, “even if there’s no clear election
result. It’s a case of either/or: Either the result is cut-and-dried,
or we shall force a showdown some other way.”
“I have only one wish for the economy,” he continued,
“that it enter upon a peaceful future, in parallel with our re-
construction at home. The question,” Hitler added, “whether we
raise a Wehrmacht [armed forces] or not will be decided, not at
Geneva, but in Germany. But first we shall proceed through
domestic peace to domestic strength and there can be no
peace at home until Marxism is finished.”
Handsome and urbane, Göring spoke a few words, assur-
ing them that the German economy would recover rapidly once
political peace was restored. “There will be no experiments,”
Hitler’s right-hand man promised.
Göring, the Krupp transcript states, “led his argument
adroitly on to the need for those circles not engaged in the po-
litical arena at least to make some financial sacrifice.”
“Industry,” he concluded, with a brazenness that suggests
that he knew his remarks would be well received, “will I am sure
be happy to make this sacrifice once they realize that the coming
election of March will be Germany’s last for ten years and
perhaps for one hundred!”
Twenty-five pairs of heavily ringed, manicured hands ap-
plauded. Krupp thanked the forty-three-year-old Hitler for