To the Resurrection of Our Movement!

By Führer Hitler, 26 February 1925

On 24 February 1920, the former "German Workers' Party" for the first time made a public appearance in a large mass assembly. It was a bold endeavor at a time and in a city where a nationalist rally of any kind could hardly take place without being disrupted or broken up from the outset by a cordon of red guards. A bold endeavor, especially because the Party was at that time still unknown, its name unfamiliar even in broader circles. Even the smallest "bourgeois" gatherings numbered in the years [1919 and] 1920 only a few dozen listeners. How then should one hope to bring together the thousands who would, in fact, mark the success of this bold undertaking and thus enable the movement to be resurrected?

In the evening, however, this nationalist meeting filled the large halls of the Munich Hofbräuhaus to overflowing and became the first large assembly that ended with a true union of the assembled nationalist forces under the banner of a newly established nationalist party.

We were at that time fully aware that this gathering of the former party would be the beginning of a battle, the end of which could not be foreseen. But we had faith in the importance of the idea that we were carrying into the world and believed that even then, sooner or later, the entire German nation must one day rally around this banner. The time for waiting seemed to us to be over; the necessity of action had become pressing, even if success could not immediately follow.

Thus began the new movement, a movement that grew out of the smallest beginnings into a tremendous force, that gathered followers from all parts of the country and, by 1923, had made itself the central point of nationalist defense for Germany, while the other bourgeois-nationalist organizations sank into insignificance.

But even this rise was merely the beginning of a future larger battle, a battle that should one day be decided in Germany not by the politicians of compromise and weakness, but by the revolutionary force against the internationally allied fronts. As men, we may have made mistakes, but we feel called and responsible to ensure that the mistakes of the past are learned from for the future.

I do not see it as the task of a political leader to attempt to improve or unify the material of humanity placed before him. The temperaments, characters, and abilities of the individual people are too varied for it to ever be possible to fully unify a large number of them into one harmonious whole. It is also not the task of a political leader to attempt to erase this deficiency in unity through "education." Every such attempt is destined to fail. Human nature is what it is, a real manifestation that cannot be shaped into one uniform mold, but one that has been formed through millennia of development processes. Political leadership must, therefore, direct itself to the real world and draw conclusions from the basic conditions that exist.

If a political leader were to try to force his goals onto people, he would have to calculate with eternity, if not with years or decades. His task must be to unite the varying human forces in such a way that they complement and mutually reinforce one another.

One must not expect that one will be able to create "ideal universal humans" out of his movement. The leadership of humans of various dispositions, who do not have the same education or training, must adapt itself to this diversity. It is the task of political leaders to utilize human material as it is and, from this diversity of viewpoints and character types, to create a harmonious collaboration of forces. One must not, however, attempt to change the individual according to one’s preconceived ideas; this would only lead to chaos.

We are now ready to call the NSDAP back to life and must ask all those involved to work towards one single goal: the resurrection of our nation. This resurrection, however, must be tied to the real circumstances and not to mere theory or the past.

In this work, our movement will never waiver or falter, even if conditions are difficult and compromises appear tempting. Instead, we will fight with ever greater determination against the destruction that is gnawing away at our nation. We will become a united power against those enemies who have caused the collapse of our Fatherland and the destruction of our people.

This does not mean "change" or "postponement" but rather the preservation of our first and original battle goal.

I must oppose any attempt to bring religious disputes into the movement. Yes, attempts to identify the movement with religious conflicts must be rejected. I have always opposed the designation "völkisch" [racial nationalist] because the indefinite interpretation of this term opens the door to such attempts. The movement has always laid its value on the clarity of its program, as well as on its clearly defined principles of struggle, and must, therefore, resist such tendencies.

Attempts have been made from various sides to align the völkisch movement with religious struggles; in this, I see the beginning of its end.

Religious reformations cannot be undertaken by political children. To do otherwise would risk losing the power that was once consolidated.

I am fully aware of the possibility that such an attempt could succeed, especially if opportunists and cowardly elements use it to destroy the movement's progress. For this reason, I view any attempt to introduce religious or confessional conflict into the movement with the utmost seriousness. Such tendencies would not only destroy the National Socialist German Workers' Party [NSDAP] but would also damage the larger national movement as a whole. Therefore, I will fight with all the energy at my disposal against those who are trying to shift the focus of the battle from the center to the periphery and thereby to divert it into futility.

Our movement was not founded to be an instrument for the satisfaction of petty bourgeois desires or narrow-minded interests, but as a revolutionary political movement for the salvation of Germany.

The leadership of the local groups is responsible for ensuring that the national will of the German people does not become bogged down in religious or other sectarian disputes, but rather that it remains focused on its true enemy, namely, those responsible for the collapse of our Fatherland and the destruction of our people: the Jews. Whoever wishes to join us in this fight is welcome to do so; those who do not, may stay away.