Word: hitler
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...were a rather inept junta of colonels, political heirs to the late founding father, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski. Not only was the government something less than a democracy, but also its fiercely anti-Soviet policy led it to a pro-German stance as late as 1938, when it joined with Hitler in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia...
...citizens dead, one-quarter of the city destroyed and much of the rest in flames, with food stocks gone, the water system wrecked, Warsaw gave in. The Chopin had died away; the radio station had gone off the air. And there descended on Poland a great curtain of silence. Hitler had told his commanders in August that he planned to send SS units to Poland "to kill without pity or mercy all men, women and children of Polish race or language." That was an exaggeration, but not by much. In town after town, Einsatzgruppen (special units) began roaming from house...
...knew nothing of the secret protocol between Hitler and Stalin that contained provisions for the attack on Poland. German newspapers were full of reports of Polish violence and provocations against the German minority. Who knew whether the reports were correct? Most were believed...
Despite the influence of Hitler's propaganda on German public opinion, there was no enthusiasm for war. Thus the mobilization of the Wehrmacht was conducted as quietly as possible. About Aug. 25, after being hospitalized with appendicitis, I received orders to rejoin my unit at Potsdam immediately. I was told not to talk about...
That very same day, I later discovered, my father -- a state secretary in the Foreign Ministry -- had taken part in a last-ditch attempt to dissuade Hitler from issuing the invasion order. In his notes my father remarked, "This afternoon is the most depressing of my life. Apart from the unforeseeable consequences for the existence of Germany and of my family, it is appalling that my name should be connected with this event...