Free The History Buff's Guide to World War II by Thomas R. Flagel

“Jewish question” that went beyond repression and deportation.
    The long and loud sermon contained the usual contaminants—denunciations of the V ERSAILLES T REATY , warnings of the “Red plague” of communism, declarations of a desired peace. More than usual, he spoke of the West. He emphasized how Americans, Britons, Dutch, and others were unwilling to take all of Germany’s Jews. He then concluded that a solution to the “problem” was forthcoming.
In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet and have usually been ridiculed for it…If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!
    No document bearing Hitler’s signature has ever surfaced authorizing the extermination of Jews. But his January 30, 1939, speech was the first and most damning indication that he viewed genocide as an acceptable end, if not a justifiable means, to the conduct of war. 27
Hitler went on to use the phrase “annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe” word-for-word in five other public speeches.
    2. “I HAVE ALSO REARMED THEM” (HITLER—APRIL 28, 1939)
    In the uneasy spring of 1940, Franklin Roosevelt sidestepped diplomatic etiquette and bluntly requested Hitler spell out Germany’s foreign policy. Two weeks later der Führer delivered a sober response. Standing before an audience of Reichstag members in the Berlin Kroll Opera House, Hitler gave one of his most credible and coherent summations of his political career. It may have been his best.

    The Reichstag was a venue Hitler commanded but held in low esteem. On the other hand, the attendees never failed to show their support for der Führer.
    On Britain, Hitler insisted he respected the kingdom but accused it of encircling Germany with hostile alliances, as it allegedly had done in 1914. On Poland, he demanded access to the Baltic port of Danzig: “Danzig is a German city and wishes to belong to Germany.” In light of these “injustices,” he proceeded to cancel Germany’s 1934 nonaggression pact with Poland and his 1935 treaty with Britain assuring German limitations on warship construction.
    He finished this virtual war warning by speaking directly to Roosevelt, painting himself as simultaneously victim, savior, and avenger.
I cannot feel myself responsible for the fate of the world, as this world took no interest in the pitiful fate of my own people. I have regarded myself as called upon by Providence to serve my own people alone…I have succeeded in finding useful work once more for the whole of seven million unemployed…Not only have I united the German people politically, but I have also rearmed them.
    It was his last major public appearance before the war. For three and a half months he sat, waited, and watched. Poland rejected his demands outright. The United States remained isolationist. Britain and France failed to establish an alliance with Moscow. To Hitler, his speech appeared to have reaped great rewards. 28
Though compelling, Hitler’s response to Roosevelt was also one of the longest of his career, lasting over two hours.
    3. “THEIR FINEST HOUR” (CHURCHILL—JUNE 18, 1940)
    When France fell to the Germans in June 1940, Britain looked to be next. Recently defeated French Gen. Maxime Weygand predicted: “In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken.” Recently elected prime minister, Churchill stood before Parliament to bolster not only Britain but all states threatened or occupied. It was to be one of the most eloquent and passionate orations of his distinguished career. 29
What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization…[I]f we fail, then the whole world, including the