I Was Elected To The Diet In

Only Communists And Social Democrats Who Acted Against The State Were Incarcerated. Most Of The Communists And Social Democrats I Had Known Became Nazis Later. Only Those Who Were Doing Anything Against The State Were Thrown In Concentration Camps.

I Did That All The More, If I May Say So, Because I Was Aware Of The Fact That There Is An Inclination To Go To Extremes In German People, And In The German Character Generally.

Many Years Before, I Had Left A Beautiful Country And A Rich Nation And I Returned To That Country Six Years Later To Find It Fundamentally Changed And In A State Of Upheaval, And In Great Spiritual And Material Need.

I Am Very Proud Of The Fact That Many Workers In My Gau, Numerous Former Communists And Social Democrats Were Won Over By Us And Became Local Group Leaders And Party Functionaries.

Although As A Sailor I Despised Politics - For I Loved My Sailor's Life And Still Love It Today - Conditions Forced Me To Take Up A Definite Attitude Towards Political Problems.