Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

206 DER FUEHRERtarnished as before. One day the hour will come when the Reichs-wehrwill stand at our side, officers and men. . . .'Chairman: 'Herr Hitler, you say that the Green police was besmirched.That I cannot permit.'Hitler: 'The army we have formed is growing from day to day, fromhour to hour, and faster. Especially in these days I nourish the proudhope that one day the hour will come when these wild companies willgrow to battalions, the battalions to regiments, the regiments todivisions; that the old cockade will be taken from the filth, that the oldflags will wave again, that there will be a reconciliation at the last greatdivine judgment, which we are prepared to face. Then from our bonesand our graves the voice of that court will speak, which alone is entitledto sit in judgment over us. For it is not you, gentlemen, who pronouncejudgment upon us. The judgment is spoken by the eternal court ofhistory which will say what it has to say concerning the accusation thathas been raised against us. What judgment you will hand down, I know.But that court will not ask us: "Did you commit high treason or did younot?" That court will judge us, the Quartermaster General of the oldArmy, his officers and soldiers, who, as Germans, wanted and desiredonly the good of their people and fatherland; who wanted to fight anddie. You may pronounce us guilty a thousand times over, the goddess ofthe eternal court of history will smile and tear to tatters the brief of thestate's attorney and the sentence of the court; for she acquits us.'The sentence of the judges was not so far from the judgment ofhistory. Intimidated from above, tormented by the conscience of theirown accomplices, in fear even of the accused, they trampled on whatwas most defenseless: justice. Contrary to the clear wording of the law,Ludendorff was totally acquitted. Contrary to the clear wording of thelaw, Hitler, despite the bloody consequences of his crime, received themild minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment; contrary to theclear wording of the law, he was made to serve only eight and a halfmonths of his term; contrary to the clear wording of the law, he, aforeigner, who had filled the German streets with fire and corpses, wasnot deported. Rohm and Frick, though formally condemned, werereleased at once. Goring had