JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
Published a year or so before the official beginning of the war in 1939, this piece of Nazi propaganda took aim at the people of Germany, seeming to stoke the home fires and ready folks for subterfuge and dirty tricks. Spione, Verrater, Saboteure (Spy, Traitor, Saboteur) was already in its fifth edition (whatever that means in this case), and in its 64pp it warned people about what foreign intelligence processes were like,what sort of government response and legislation might be necessary to combat foreign intrigue, and counterintelligence. It also addressed “negligent treason”(loose lips stuff) amd its consequences (severe), how traitors could be recruited in Germany, “Sabotage, the sister of treason” (“Sabotage, die Schwester des Verrats”), and then finishing off the whole lot with a bit on the recruitment of traitors (the worst of the bunch).
It was a plea—well, demand seems more like it—telling folks that “the means of defense include not only the structure, training, arming and deployment of the German Wehrmacht, but also all associations, fortifications, buildings, commercial and industrial companies, means of transport, supplies and warehouses serving the national and national defense. All of these means of defense are vital for Germany's security, even in unimportant details”.
The pamphlet's rear cover was a full page ad for a 32-page annotation of Hitler's “Volk und Rasse” from Mein Kampf, which a reader could purchase for about a pfennig a page.
The pamphlet makes me itch.
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