Chapter 3

Abstract

In Nazi Germany there was no Opposition. The Government answered to nobody. The Foreign Ministry — the Wilhelmstrasse — was ignored by Hitler when not closely subordinated to his will. Unlike the leaders of France and Britain, Hitler was not paralysed by the fear of another war. He calculated that the Democracies would do anything rather than face the possibility of conflict. His objectives were to establish Germany as a military power and have the Versailles Treaty revised, to incorporate German minorities into the Reich and ultimately to conquer `living-space’ — Lebensraum — in the East.