AN DER DEUTSCHEN
WESTGRENZE
Picture book for the education of the Hitler Youth
1. The area of the Rhine…
2. formed the central core of the First German Reich.
From the time of the early Middle Ages the entire Rhine area has been the
settlement territory of the Germanic tribes (Franks and Alemannics).
From here the Germanic Reich has its beginning, and on this German river
lie the central areas of the first German Reich, the duchies Franken,
Swabia (with Elsace), which were joined later in the west by Burgundy,
Upper Lorraine, Lower Lorraine (the area of present-day Belgium and
Holland).
3. The first seat of the German Reich was in Aachen.
Even in the southern Rhine areas there were imperial castles, for example,
a beautiful one in Hagenau (Elsace), built by Kaiser Barbarossa and in
which the imperial jewels were kept. Unfortunately the monuments of this
great period here and in other Rhine areas have fallen victim to the wars of
conquest by the French.
4. German people formed the face of this landscape…
Echternach. As in this Luxemburg city, other cities and villages have a
non-genuine Germanic and German character in their house and yard
structure, in their human features and field characteristics from the source
to the mouth of the Rhine.
5. from the Alps…
into the valley landscape of Switzerland…
6. to the coast…
where proud harbor cities, like Antwerp, flowered in the Middle Ages,
7. from Switzerland…
where Freiburg, close to the German language border of Switzerland
toward French Switzerland (that was often confused in the Middle
Ages) reminds us of German art,
8. to Flanders,
whose numerous cities still possess the character of their great German
past in spite of wars and depravations. The riches in outstanding
historical monuments of the Middle Ages in this area are well known.
9. Monuments of defense…
The Hohkönigsburg in Elsace, restored under Kaiser Wilhelm II,
belongs to the countless number of castles in the western Rhineland.
There are two hundred in the Vogesen (Mountains).
10. make the Reich safe.
The German Gate in Metz is an example of the strong fortifications
that at one time made the cities and their surroundings into a kind of
protection and preservation of the King’s peace. They joined together
into federal alliances, since a strong central authority was lacking, such
as the Rhineland League that extended from Cologne to Basel.
11. The Habsburg power-base politicians and the self-centered attempts of
German princes led to a weakening and decay of the Reich. Holland
and Switzerland, whose Germanic-German tradition remains
preserved…
12. seceded from the Reichsverband (association) in 1648. France moved
forward from its former eastern boundary. When the Habsburgers
came onto the German throne, they moved the center of the Reich
towards the east and established a power base there. The
Luxemburgers did the same. In so doing, and through the
fragmentation of the territorial powers, the west was endangered.
Ambitious and self-centered border territories, such as the valley areas
and Swiss cities as well as Holland loosened their relations to the
Reich in the struggle against Habsburg and left the Reich in 1648
during a low point in German history. In the 16th century France’s
expansion to the east began toward the border that had existed since
925 (500 years).
13. Richelieu showed the way of the French eastern policies to the Rhine
and to the dismemberment of the Reich.
Richelieu, the greatest enemy of the German Reich, lived from 15851642. His principles dominated France’s eastern policies up to the
present.
14. Toul or Tul, was one of the three places in Lorraine removed from the
French crown of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1552 the French were successful in obtaining the old imperial cities
of Metz, Toul and Verdun. The growing weakness of the Reich and
the national unreliability of the religious and worldly princes on the
Rhine allowed the completion of France’s advance on the Rhine
between 1648-1684.
15. In 1681 Strasburg was stolen in the middle of the war…
There was no imperial authority that heard the cry of help and could
have opposed it.
16. In 1689 the Palatinate was plundered and Heidelberg was destroyed.
Endless suffering was wrought upon the German lands by the
destructive wars of Louis XIV.
17. Other fortifications were built to prevent pillaging.
At that time, in the middle of German territory, France built
fortifications, such as Landau, Saarlouis (today Saarlautern), and
moving toward on the Middle Moselle, the fortress Mont Royal
18. The armies of the French Revolution…
19. plunder German land and…
The last German possessions on the left side of the Upper Rhine were
then lost, such as Mömpelgard (Montbéliard), at the strategically
located Burgund Gate, which belonged to Württemberg from 14071801. Lorraine was surrendered from the Reich against its will in
1738 and was incorporated into France in 1766.
20. extinguish the German Reich.
Under Napoleon’s attack the decaying Reich, betrayed by its own
princes, collapsed completely. France occupied not only the entire left
bank of the Rhine, but also the coastal areas of the North Sea up to
Lübeck. The smaller German princes had to join the Rhine alliance
under the leadership of Napoleon.
21. From Switzerland to Flanders, the Germans defend themselves against
the arbitrariness of the French revolutionary armies. But first the
suppression of the entire German populace by Napoleon and the newly
developed folk consciousness…
The local resistance and uprising against foreign dominance (the best
known were the Tyrolese),
22. led tto a general revolt…
The center of the resistance was in Prussia and from there Germany’s
War of Liberation began.
23. and the reclaiming of the Rhine…
By Caub (place name) Marshall Blücher crossed the Rhine on New
Year’s Day in 1814. But nevertheless, the Congress of Vienna
allowed the German area in the west, namely Alsace, to remain with
France.
24. The German National Assembly proclaimed its desire for a new
German Reich…
The generation that grew up during the Wars of Freedom called
enthusiastically for a new Reich for the Germans; however, the
enthusiasm of the princes could not replace the weakened loose
federation “German Alliance.” The culminating revolutionary
movement of the National Congress in the Paul’s church could not
achieve its goal.
25. that Bismarck founded after the victory over France.
The founding of the Second German Reich took place in a bitter
brotherly struggle on the battlefields of France in 1871 and is due to
the statesman-like genius of Bismarck; however, it became only a
small German Reich as a federal state of princes, with the exclusion of
Austria.
26. The old German lands of Alsace and…
27. Lorraine return to the Reich.
They are annexed as Reich provinces. In this way they preserved their
Alemannic German-ness in spite of continued French disguised
attempts.
28. Brutal hatred and the lowest kind of revenge dictated the Treaty of
Versailles. Germany, invincible on the battlefield, was to be destroyed
forever.
29. Therefore: The Ruhr area was occupied…
When the World War against Germany broke out, the popular
consciousness in the western liberal democracies had almost
disappeared. It awakened again under the blows of fate of the dictates
of peace, as France pressed forward to the Rhine through brutal hatred
and a desire for power and strove for Germany’s inner decay.
30 France supported the betrayers of German unity and used all means to
suppress…
31. all popular resistance.
Again and again the separatist groups are found in political parties and
religious confessions that were seduced by French deceptions. At the
same time, however, the popular resistance forces were awakening
passionately. Schlageter’s self-sacrifice became a symbol. In the
national socialistic movement the forces of the German future gathered
around Adolf Hitler. The turning point is 1933. From the greatest
weakness since Napoleon, Adolf Hitler led the Reich that was
threatened from all sides.
32. Now Germany believes—in Adolf Hitler. The Saar is German…
Even in the most dangerous border and external areas, national
socialism finds an enthusiastic echo and welds the comrades into a new
popular spirit for a determined deployment.
33. and the Rhine.
The extreme threat to our western border in the demilitarization of the
western border was removed in 1935. German soldiers marched over
the Rhine bridge in Cologne into their new peace garrisons.
34. The Reich is secured by the western wall.
The incorporation of the Ostmark, the Sudetenland, Bohemia and
Moravia, as well as the land of the Memel, 1938-1939, initiated a
restoration of healthy and sustainable political relations, and caused the
western powers, who saw their European program they had directed
against the Reich as threatened. Against that and as proof of his love of
freedom, the Leader has the gigantic western wall constructed within a
very short time span
35. 10 May 1940.
“Soldiers on the Western Front! The hour has now come for you; the
struggle beginning today determines the fate of the German nation for
the next 1000 years. Do your duty! The German folk is with you in its
blessings.”
Adolf Hitler.
36. “The great breakthrough.”
(Drawing by Schneider-Sartori).
37. “The shame that took place 22 years ago in the Forest of Compiégne is
hereby eliminated forever.”
Adolf Hitler.