Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-19/tgmwc-19-187.07 Last-Modified:
2000/10/19 Had the war been won is it to be supposed that these
men would have retired to the obscurity and comparative
innocence of private citizenship? That opportunity was not
denied to them before the war, had they wished to dissociate
themselves from what was taking place. They chose a different
path. From small beginnings, at a time when resistance instead
of participation could have destroyed this thing, they fostered
the Hitler legend, they helped to build up the Nazi power and
ideology and to direct its activities until, like some foul
octopus, it spread its slime over Europe and extended its
tentacles throughout the world. Were these men ignorant of the
ends sought to be achieved during that period of the rise to
power? Paul Schmidt, Hitler's interpreter, a witness of great
knowledge, has testified: "The general objectives of National
Socialism were known from the start - namely, the domination of
the European continent, to be achieved