WHEN, for political, economic, or religious reasons, the early German colonists sought new homes in foreign lands they took with them their churches and their schools. These served as centers for the conservation of German culture. In the colonies of farm workers and in the German villages transplanted bodily to foreign soil it was relatively easy for the emigrants to retain their German language and customs because they were subjected to little foreign influence. But also in the cities, as soon as the German colonies became large enough to support them, churches and schools were built and German cultural centers developed.

With the unification of Germany after the Franco-Prussian War came a new spirit, a strengthening of Germanism (Deutschtum) both within and without the country. Germany had long been exercising an important cultural influence throughout Europe. As she began to expand her economic and political power overseas, there came a gradual awareness of the importance of the millions of Germans living outside the Reich for the German program of cultural, political, and economic expansion abroad. This movement for conserving and encouraging Germanism abroad (Deutschtum im Auslande) had a slow development during the last decades of the nineteenth century, and a more rapid growth in the years immediately preceding the First World War.(1)

With the strengthening of the German spirit came an increase in the number of German schools abroad, which began to be recognized not only as the best means for conserving German culture in German communities abroad, but also as a strong support for the German point of view and German influence among citizens of other nations.

These schools were supported by private aid, by tuition fees, and by subsidies from private organizations. To a few of them which asked for aid, the German Government gave subsidies. The budget of the Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) for 1875, for example, contained an item of 9,000 marks for aid to the German Bürgerschule in Constantinople.(2)

A further step was soon taken by the Government. In the budget of the German Foreign Office for 1878-79 stood an item of 75,000 marks "for the support of German schools and other benevolent activities undertaken by the Fatherland abroad, with the exception of the support of hospitals and associations for aid to the poor." The following explanation was given for the inclusion of the item in the budget:

In the larger cities abroad in which the Germans have organized themselves into colonies of a corporate character, especially in the East, there often exist (as in Constantinople, Cairo, Belgrade, Bucharest, and many other places in Rumania,---and also in Athens, Rome and Genoa) special school organizations in which the instruction is given in the mother tongue. Experience has shown that these institutions offer the best means of keeping the children of German descent from becoming denationalized, especially the children of the poorer families. They also make it possible to give these children the benefits of the German language, a German education, and the German point of view. As far as finances are concerned the institutions, especially those schools for the laboring classes, which are supported only by tuitions and by voluntary contributions, are almost all in a precarious position, and without support from public funds cannot continue to exist. The support of these institutions is certainly the affair of the Reich . . . . Therefore it has seemed advisable to make a definite place in the budget for funds for these purposes.(3)

On March 8, 1879, the Secretary of State of the Foreign Office, von Bülow, speaking before the Reichstag on the government program of cultural expansion abroad, outlined some of the policies underlying the support of the program as follows:

It is our special honor and pleasure to support and to further a knowledge of German science abroad and I must say that among the tasks of the Foreign Office there is none which is carried on with so much pleasure and interest . . . . We already have several well grounded institutes, among others the Archaeological Institute in Rome; we support and encourage certain travelers and scholars who turn to us for aid and who seem to do honor to German science and to be worthy representatives abroad. . .(4)

An appropriation for German schools and other benevolent activities in other countries was continued as a regular item in the budget of the Foreign Office and was discussed each year in the Reichstag when the Commission of the Budget made its annual report.

In 1899, when reporting on the budget of the Foreign Office, Prince von Arenberg said that the Commission had taken into consideration the fact that schools were not the only means of furthering Germanism abroad; libraries were in certain circumstances just as suitable. Therefore the budget chapter in the future was to read "for the support of German Schools and libraries and other benevolent activities undertaken by the Fatherland abroad."(5)

Interest in such German schools continued to increase. Dr. Freiherr von Richthofen, Secretary of State of the Foreign Office, outlined certain policies before the Reichstag on March 6, 1901:

We are thankful that the amount for the schools abroad could be increased immediately from a sum of 150,000 marks to 300,000 marks and we will take the liberty of going to the Reichstag with a request for more as soon as this sum no longer meets essential needs. . .

I am of the same opinion as the previous speaker, that it is not the affair of the Foreign Office to establish new schools. We have left the establishment of schools to the initiative of the Germans abroad and have only given them assistance. The Germans concerned must themselves give contributions and thereby show that they have an interest in the matter; . . . then we also extend a helping hand. In the Orient, we have, among others, subsidized the schools with no less than 30,000 marks. In the Transvaal, the German school in Johannesburg is subsidized not with 10,000 marks---as the former speaker thought---but with 16,000 marks. In Brazil we help no less than 28 schools."(6)

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the large German populations of Austria-Hungary and eastern Europe found it increasingly difficult to maintain their German culture because of the rising nationalistic feeling of other cultural groups. The Hungarian Government, for example, was making definite efforts to Magyarize the Germans within their territories. The relationship of the German Reich to these large groups of Germans living abroad was a matter for long discussion in the Reichstag in 1903. Chancellor von Bülow made clear his policy as follows:

I have previously said before this august house that we have neither the interest nor the right to interfere in the internal conditions of other states . . . . In so far as the German citizens living abroad are concerned, we must interfere whenever injustice is done them . . . . But for our fellow countrymen (who have become citizens of other lands) and who are separated from us by international law, we cannot intervene. That is an old principle of German policy which Prince Bismarck set up and from which none of his followers can or will withdraw. However, because we want the Magyar people within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to take as powerful a place as possible in the world, we do not want them to shut themselves off from German culture to which Hungary owes so much . . . (7)

Meanwhile a private organization, the Allgemeiner Deutsche Schulverein zur Erhaltung des Deutschtums im Auslande, or "General German Society for Furthering Germanism Abroad," had been working actively since 1881 for the establishment and support of German schools outside Germany. It had no official character and was given no financial assistance by the Government; but by stimulating interest within Germany in the problems of the Germans living in other countries and by keeping these Germans in touch with what was going on in the Fatherland, it gave real support to the educational program which the German Government was developing outside the Reich. The Society published its first yearbook in 1904. This Handbuch was a comprehensive work which included detailed information about the churches, schools, and cultural and sports societies of all German groups living abroad.(8)

Essential to an understanding of the German program of cultural expansion abroad are certain underlying ideas which appear and reappear throughout its development. In an introduction to the Handbuch, Dr. Friedrich Paulsen, the German educator and philosopher, stated these principles clearly. He spoke of the great contributions that Germany had made to civilization in the past and was continuing to make at the present time. It was of the greatest importance, he urged, that the German language and the German culture should hold their place in the world of the future. Any limitation, even a relative retrogression in relation to other languages, would be a loss, not only for the cause of German nationality but for the cause of humanity. The modern world would sacrifice much of the power and richness of its intellectual life if it had to do without the elements of German speech and culture. It was through this point of view that harmony could be established for Germans abroad between their duties toward the political state to which they belonged and to their German nationality.(9)

The task had become more difficult and more urgent because of the establishment of the German Reich, said Paulsen:

If on one hand German national feeling both within and without Germany's borders has increased because of this, on the other hand the jealousy and the enmity of the neighboring nations have been aroused. As long as Germany was merely a political conception, not a political power, Germanism abroad was considered as neutral and harmless; now it is considered as aggressive and threatening, especially among the peoples of the East.

Because of this situation, it will be the task of Germans abroad, on one hand to protect energetically their German nationality against increasing oppression, and on the other, never to be drawn on any provocation, into any kind of political activity harmful to their State while protecting their Germanism. They must rather disarm the people of good faith among their opponents by their unquestionable loyalty. It is important to unite their political loyalty to the State to which they belong with their loyalty to their German nationality and language. They must be convinced that these two things are compatible and that both duties make basically the same claims upon them; and they must also convince others that this point of view is correct.(10)

The official program of German cultural activities continued to expand. In 1909 a resolution recommending stronger support for German schools abroad was presented to the Reichstag by Herr Eickhoff with the following explanation:

Anyone who has read the history of our German schools which have long supported Germanism abroad will agree that they have been growing in a satisfactory manner both quantitatively and qualitatively. Most of them have the character of Volksschulen [elementary schools] and only a comparatively small number--about 30 or 40---follow higher educational aims and these institutions are adapting to their needs the programs of a six year higher educational institution. This kind of school has already come to have a very special meaning, however, because in it are instructed and trained all the youth who will later be the leaders of Germanism abroad. Certain of these schools, such as the Allgemeine Deutsche Schule in Antwerp and the school in Brussels, go beyond the six year type. In Antwerp we have a German Oberrealschule and in Brussels a Realgymnasium is coming into existence. A large number of these schools have asked for permission to give the certificate for the Einjährigfreiwilligendienst [one year of voluntary military service instead of the two years usually required]. I do not need to point out how important this is for Germans living abroad.(11)

In the last years before the First World War, German interest in the program of Germanism abroad increased. Though the Reichstag was preoccupied with serious economic difficulties, with the heavy armament program, and with problems of foreign policy caused by the generally unsettled condition of Europe, it gave a good deal of time and thought to the program of cultural relations abroad.

In 1911, Dr. Gorcke told the Reichstag that the German consulates in the Far East and also in other parts of the world had shown great interest in the schools which the German Foreign Office was supporting abroad. Schools had become highly important to the expansion of German culture and to the preparation of new possibilities of development in trade and exports. Especially in China a number of schools had been established in the German colonies by German citizens living there, but these schools would need support if they were to continue; the colonies were not all in a financial situation to care for the heavy expense, chief of which was that of bringing teachers from Germany.(12)

By 1913, according to a report given before the Reichstag, four schools outside Germany had the right to give the Abiturienten Zeugnis (leaving certificate of the German secondary school). These were the schools of Antwerp with a school enrollment of 886 pupils, Brussels with 500 pupils, Constantinople with 630 pupils, and Bucharest with 2,352 pupils. There were thirty higher educational institutions "spread over the face of the earth." Thirteen schools were allowed to give the Einjährigfreiwilligen Zeugnis, (the certificate allowing one year of military service). The German Foreign Office was asked to evaluate the work of the German schools abroad and to see that they were given full recognition by foreign Governments.(13)

On December 2, 1913, the Secretary of State of the Reich Treasury told the Reichstag that the fund for the Auslandsschulen had been raised to 1,500,000 marks. It was important to note, he added, that while there were reductions in the budget, increased amounts had been set aside for furthering political, economic, and cultural interests abroad.(14)

The Imperial Chancellor, Bethmann-Holweg, in summing up German foreign policy on December 9, 1913, stated:

Our place in the heart of continental Europe will forever lead us to devote all the physical and moral powers of the nation to the complete maintenance of our continental position of power. But . . . these same forces make imperative a further expansion in the field of world economy and world culture.(15)

AT THE end of the First World War, the Germans returned to face one serious internal crisis after another---civil war, inflation, the growing economic strain, and all kinds of political conflicts. Many of them were disillusioned, bitterly resentful of the Treaty of Versailles, and in no way believed themselves defeated. Others, full of hope and energy, went to work to build a new and democratic state.

A century before, after the defeat of the Germans at Jena and Tilsit, Fichte had said in his "Talks to the German People" that education alone could save them from the evils by which they were oppressed.(16)

Following Fichte's ideas, German leaders again turned their attention to the education of youth as the only hope of the future. Everywhere the Germans were looking for unity after disruption, for security, for an opportunity to "find their place in the sun." Seeking added strength for Germany, they turned to their cultural comrades, the millions of Germans beyond their borders, and the program of Germanism abroad took on new life. They were greatly interested in the problems of all the German minority groups scattered over Europe, but those of the many Germans who had recently been separated from Germany by the Peace Treaty and who were now living close to the German frontiers caused the deepest concern. There was also an increasing feeling that the assistance of all Auslandsdeutschen was needed for the economic rehabilitation of Germany.

The program of cultural relations abroad, which had been continued during the war years, was given increased support, and new efforts were made to bring the Germans of the Reich closer to the Germans all over the world and to regain German cultural prestige abroad.

On March 4, 1919, during the discussion of the new constitution in the Reichstag, Dr. Stresemann, then a member of the Reichstag, asked for a clear definition of the rights of German citizens living abroad, which he said had a heightened meaning at that time. He continued:

I need not emphasize the fact that it is one of our most important tasks to re-establish the old cultural community of Germans and the meaning of Germanism (Deutschtum) abroad. For Germanism abroad will become stronger in the future than it is in the present. While the number of Germans whom the spirit of adventure drives abroad will be smaller, the number of those whom necessity drives abroad will be larger. It is greatly to our interest that the many who must perhaps leave Germany within the next few years, who must seek new homes, will not again fertilize the cultural field for other nations but will keep their German citizenship. On the other hand, we must also have an understanding of those Germans who, for hundreds of years, have kept their German nationality under foreign sovereignty. Yesterday my colleague . . . spoke of this when he was thinking of the Volga Germans. He should have added: all the Germans in Poland and Russia, for we must intercede if they’re not to come entirely under foreign cultural influence.(17)

Dr. Stresemann then spoke of the struggle over national minorities and the oppression of the German minorities by their enemies.

The question of policy toward the Germans living abroad was soon brought before the Reichstag. On October 7, 1919, the new Chancellor, Dr. Bauer, said in this connection:

The terrible Peace Treaty lays upon us immense and grievous burdens. But the most grievous burden is that great numbers of our fellow countrymen have been torn from us and that others are kept from annexation with us. But we must endure that if we want to carry out the Peace Treaty and carry it out loyally. The thing, however, which no peace treaty can take from us is the feeling of national unity, and what no one can forbid is the fostering of this feeling. Our German racial comrades (Stammesgenossen), who are and who in the future will be separated from us, shall know that we think of them and that we provide for them in all ways which the Peace Treaty allows. Not politically, but linguistically and humanly all these relations will be even warmer.

In all areas of culture, in the realm of science, in the social realm, in so far as personal relations and social intercourse are concerned, we will give practical proof of our community of interest and foster the feeling of unity. That is the cultural task of the German Reich.(18)

The German program of cultural relations abroad had always been carried on almost entirely by the Foreign Office. In the new Republic, the Ministry of the Interior was also given responsibility for coordinating all cultural matters, and not only worked with cultural matters within the Reich, but began a cultural program abroad which supplemented that of the German Foreign Office. Koch, the Minister of the Interior, told the Reichstag on October 16, 1919, that in those troubled times consolation and refuge could be found by turning to all things cultural. Not only in Germany but abroad, where the Germans could no longer use warships, they could take their cultural problems and make foreign countries acquainted with them. He also spoke of the millions of Germans who, as a result of the unhappy peace, were living outside the German borders and strongly advised a close association with them in cultural affairs.(19)

In the program of reconstruction, German schools in other countries were called on to play an important part. In connection with the budget of the German Foreign Office for 1921, a discussion of these schools was held in the Reichstag in March. Dr. Deermann, a member of the Reichstag, drew attention to a question which, as he said, lay close to the hearts of all of them and on which all of them could work without party differences. That was the rebuilding of the German schools abroad. For their support 8,500,000 marks had been given in the budget for 1920, and he hoped that the sum would be increased from year to year. Dr. Deermann continued:

The German universities are especially sought by the students coming from the oppressed peoples and from the newly constituted states, who, as is natural, feel at ease with us because they know that we understand the sufferings that they have undergone, and because, on the other hand, they understand that we can and want to give them the best of German knowledge and ability. We have a great interest in the spiritual and political liberation of these people, who until now were backward or oppressed. The more we encourage cultural, spiritual and economic advancement in these new lands, the more opportunities will be opened to us to establish flourishing economic undertakings there and to carry on commerce. We will win friends, who as products of our economy, of our techniques, of our industry, will gladly purchase from us.

Above all, we must not open merely the doors of our universities to these students . . . . The students coming from these young nations must be introduced to German society, to German cultural life, through personal contact with German families, German scholars, representatives from commerce and industry. Only those students who have become fond of us will retain a good memory of us, for in the last analysis everything depends upon the feelings which we preserve toward each other, upon the friendly memories which the students carry with them back to their homes. Cold German scholarship does not win for us the hearts of foreign peoples.(20)

In his conclusion, Dr. Deermann stated that the time when the Germans thought to obtain influence, advantages, and consideration through power and might had passed. "Even if our economic and, above all, our military might have been taken away from us," said Dr. Deermann, "hate and envy cannot rob us of our spiritual and intellectual power. We alone can destroy or harm this power. Only in friendly competition with intellectual or spiritual weapons, in a friendly cultural offensive in the outside world, can we win back and even increase our former importance as a civilized nation, as a nation of highly educated men. . . "(21)

In July, 1921, Consul General Moraht, Chief of the Foreign Office and Commissioner in the Reich Government, reported to the Reichstag that the Foreign Office proposed to create a cultural advisory council which would act in an advisory capacity to the various qualified units dealing with the cultural and political relations of Germany to foreign countries. The Foreign Office intended to appoint to the council certain individuals who, because of their professional standing or their life experience, were pre-eminently qualified to advise on questions of cultural policies.(22)

A smaller committee, which was to turn its attention to the German schools abroad and which was to be made up of persons trained in foreign pedagogy and others who were interested in the problems of these schools, was already being formed. Discussions about it were taking place between the Foreign Office and the Reich Ministry of the Interior, which was also concerned because it was developing its own program of cultural relations.(23)

Prussia, as the most important German state, was also interested in the German cultural program abroad. In the Prussian Landtag in February, 1922, a committee recommendation was made to place a sum in the state budget to encourage the introduction of the Society for Germanism Abroad in the secondary schools.

In supporting the recommendation Dr. Boelitz, Prussian Minister of Education, explained:

What we are trying to obtain for our pupils is the feeling of intimate relationship with everything that is German, whether it is within or without the German boundary lines. Outside our boundaries many Germans are living who look to us with longing and who do not want to lose their relationship with German culture. If our school circles will help and will awaken in the hearts of our pupils warm sympathy and enthusiasm for all Germans abroad, that is to be heartily welcomed. . .(24)

The recommendation of the committee was voted upon favorably by the Prussian Landtag, and the Society for Germanism Abroad was introduced into the schools. In the school groups of the Society, the students made a study of Germanism abroad and made collections for the support of the German schools outside the country. The Society also kept the Germans living abroad in constant touch with what was going on within Germany, through books and pamphlets, and through the support of schools and the provision of teachers for them.

The youth in the state schools of Germany were also given much information about Germanism abroad through materials in their regular textbooks. Some texts included long chapters on the subject, which stressed the idea of the cultural unity of all Germans, the greatness of German culture and the important achievements of Germans living abroad who had retained their "Germanism."(25)

It should be noted that during the pre-war period, the program to further the cause of the Germans living in other countries was carried on among relatively few Germans both within and without Germany. In the German Republic, on the other hand, increasing efforts were made to acquaint the masses of the people with the problems of Germanism abroad.

In 1924 the chief committee on the budget of the Prussian Ministry of Science, Art, and Popular Education made the following recommendation in the Prussian Landtag:

To request the State Ministry to give increased attention and encouragement to Germanism on the frontiers and abroad (Grenz und Auslanddeutschtum) with the following aims in view:

a. To provide that the knowledge and understanding of the meaning of Germanism both on the frontiers and abroad should be given in all schools, to a much greater extent than heretofore.

b. To prepare increased means for cultural propaganda (Kulturpropaganda) in the endangered areas.

c. To espouse the cause of the German schools abroad and their teachers most zealously and to exert an influence in the same direction upon the Reich.(26)

After the period of inflation was over and conditions became more stable in Germany, the problem of economic rehabilitation loomed large.

On May 18, 1925, Stresemann, as Minister of State of the Foreign Office, discussed Germanism abroad and the place of the German minorities as follows:

I should like to devote a few words to those fellow-countrymen who, although they are inseparably united to us by a common culture and the bond of blood, must live as citizens of a foreign state, whether this is the result of a long historical development, or the result of recent treaties. Almost everywhere they are engaged in a battle for the preservation of their nationality, a battle which is the more difficult the closer they live to the German boundaries. Even if we are not bound to them politically, it is natural that our wishes and our hopes follow them in their struggle. . .

Our relationship to the countries of South and Central America, especially where the World War has brought about disturbances, is good. Besides the commercial connections which are increasing to our mutual advantage from year to year, our intellectual relationships are also becoming stronger, as has recently been shown in repeated visits of outstanding scholars. We fervently hope for a further development of these relations. The fact that many of our countrymen have found a living and a second home in South and Central America has contributed to strengthen the bonds between us and these countries.(27)

Dr. Stresemann's speech was well received in the Reichstag, and it was followed by a long discussion by a number of deputies of the need for fostering Germanism abroad.

Count von Bernstorff, supporting the program, said that Napoleon, "one of the greatest soldiers of all time and certainly not a pacifist," had once said that the two greatest powers in the world were the sword and the spirit and that in the end the spirit had always triumphed over the sword. Von Bernstorff continued:

People can dispute the question with which of these great powers they will carry on their policies. When, however, people do not have the sword, and when they are not in a position to use the sword, then they must make use of a policy of the mind. We can carry on no other policy.(28)

On June 13, 1925, the Reichsminister of the Interior, Dr. Schiele, also spoke before the Reichstag about German cultural relations abroad. Instead of being weakened by the war and the years following it, national feeling among all Germans had been strengthened and raised to a "common, all penetrating power," said Dr. Schiele.

While the German Reich at present can display only moderate power abroad, we have the certainty that German intellect and the German will for self-determination live and grow powerfully and know no frontiers. In this spirit and will, we feel one with the Germans abroad. We will therefore see that it develops ever more powerfully in our Fatherland and in our people and that on this foundation, from moral power and regeneration, new might and new authority grow for the German Reich. This authority, anchored in the home, in the Fatherland, will also, beyond our political borders and beyond the seas, help procure for Germanism new prestige and a new flowering.(29)

By 1928, the conflicts within the country had become more sharply defined among the political, social, and religious groups. The seriousness of these internal divisions was clearly seen, for example, in the difficulty of developing any kind of unified system of education within the Reich, or anything approaching a program of democratic education for republican Germany. The increasing economic insecurity within the country showed itself in increasing dissatisfaction with the foreign policies. There still remained, however, some hope that, through the League of Nations which Germany had joined in 1926, better conditions might still come to Germany.

Meanwhile, the plight of the German minority groups living beyond the frontiers of the Reich was becoming a matter of increasing concern to the authorities of the Weimar Republic. Dr. Stresemann, although well aware of the difficulties arising from the encroachment on the rights of the German minorities in parts of Europe, continued his efforts to settle such problems through the League of Nations.

The League of Nations, however, did not espouse the cause of the German minorities in the way for which many Germans had hoped. When Stresemann returned from the meeting of the League at Madrid in 1929, he met sharp criticism from the Reichstag for the lack of constructive activity in connection with minority problems.

In June, 1929, Dr. Stresemann in a speech on foreign policy emphasized the fact that the representatives of the Foreign Office abroad must give due attention to cultural questions. If they had ever been important, he said, these cultural questions had for Germany---not only in a cultural sense but also in relation to foreign policy---an extraordinarily important meaning at that time. He added that the whole position of Germany, if it could not be maintained by power and prestige, must depend on preserving and fostering abroad, to the greatest possible extent, all existent cultural possessions. He further stated:

I say "preserve" first advisedly; for I have the impression that the generation is dying out which, as was formerly the case, was so closely attached to German culture. As long as we stood in the bright sunlight of German power, foreign peoples were more inclined to send their sons to Germany than at a time when we must fight to hold in some measure the place which we formerly held . . . . We are here dealing with the place of Germanism in the world. Whether it is within our borders, or whether it is within other frontiers anywhere in the world that German is spoken, that German culture is treasured, that is what we are fighting for.(30)

Dr. Stresemann went on to say that anyone who visited a German school abroad, as he recently had done in Madrid, where Spaniards and Germans enjoyed the instruction together, would see how the entire wealth of German education was transmitted to another nation. He added:

Look at the French Republic; she has never spared funds for this; she knows exactly how she has won over the Orient intellectually; with her French schools, with her French cultural efforts. In an entirely different way every single country has felt the French cultural influence; very systematically and at definite periods the countries were placed one after another under this influence. And if we before the war, instead of the shortsighted wisdom of writing many pages about many Balkan states, had put ourselves into relation with them on the basis of mutual consideration, we would have arrived at something quite different.(31)

Expressing his consternation over the fact that the number of foreign students studying in Germany was decreasing, Dr. Stresemann urged that the funds for German schools and for the German cultural program abroad, which had recently been cut, be replaced, and added:

How wrong it is not to grant the means, if we can, to give the, students who come to us pleasant quarters and to make everything easy for them. That will bring returns to later generations in Germany. Why have so many people been drawn to us? Because they have spent some time here; because they have assimilated the German spirit; because this has become a part of their souls; and because they have developed a liking for our country. And therefore, however difficult the financial conditions are, think of one thing---that it is not, as one so often sees in quotation marks, "a policy of internationalization" which is the best German policy, but the policy of understanding among peoples in the German sense . . . . (32)

For years the members of both the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag had been asking for a clarification of the position of the teachers in the German schools abroad. If these schools were to have the desired influence, they must be provided with teachers of high quality. The Foreign Office, in collaboration with the different German states, had been instrumental in selecting teachers for the German schools abroad, but the teachers were trained within the different states of the Reich and had to be released from the state service for service abroad. The lack of uniformity in these procedures made the situation difficult for the teacher who wished to work in a foreign land. The rapid growth of the German schools abroad made some action imperative.

In 1928, Prussia, so often a leader in educational matters, made clear its position. The Prussian Minister of Science, Art, and Popular Education announced in the Zentralblatt, the official educational journal of Prussia, that at the request of the Foreign Office he was issuing regulations for service in the German schools together with information about conditions there.(33)

According to the detailed regulations, all applicants for teaching positions abroad who were to be placed through the Foreign Office must possess the same qualifications as the teachers holding comparable positions within the Reich. Applicants under thirty-five and unmarried had the best opportunities. A knowledge of foreign languages made placement easier. At that time positions were available in Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey; in Japan and China; in Central and South America; and in Southwest Africa.

The Prussian regulations went on to explain that the German schools in foreign countries belonged neither to the Reich nor to the state governments, but were schools founded by German school communities, school associations, or church communities abroad. These schools were administered by school boards of the community or the associations. By placement in one of these schools, the teacher did not enter the service of the Reich but the service of the school community or association supporting the school. Arrangements were made, not with the Foreign Office, but through the Foreign Office with the local school boards.

The duties of the teachers in both elementary and secondary schools were in general the same as those at home. However, said the regulations, it was expected that the teacher, in addition to his regular school work, should take advantage of the opportunity offered to foster Germanism in the community where he was working.

Other states also made regulations and efforts were made to unify them. This interest in the German schools abroad and in teachers for them was partially due to the fostering of Germanism within the Reich. However, the rapid increase in unemployment, especially among the academically trained young people, caused many of those who had the necessary qualifications as teachers to seek positions abroad. Special courses were soon set up to prepare them for their duties in other lands.(34)

In August, 1929, a notice appeared in the Prussian Zentralblatt für Erziehung und Unterricht, signed by the Prussian Minister of Science, Art and Popular Education, to the effect that a central office, the Deutsche Pädagogische Auslandsstelle, an information center for educational exchanges with foreign countries, had recently been established.(35)

In the discussion of the budget of the Foreign Office on June 25, 1930, Baron von Freytag-Loringhoven, as reporter of the Commission, made a comparison of the German Foreign Office budget with comparable budgets of certain other countries. The budget of the German Foreign Office had risen from 21 million in 1914 to 63 million Reichsmarks in 1930, he said. A comparison with other countries showed that this was excessively high. The English budget came to about 49 million, the French to 36 million Reichsmarks. Japan gave about 34 million for her foreign budget, Poland 25 million, Italy 17 million and Spain only 11 million, Von Freytag-Loringhoven thought the German Foreign Office was overweighted with personnel.(36)

The secret funds were also considerably higher in Germany than in France, namely, 4,500,000 R.M. for Germany as compared with 2,500,000 R.M. for France. The reporter noted, however, that the amounts given by the German Government for the fostering of cultural relations abroad and for the support of the German schools were too low. For these purposes, Germany gave about 7,500,000 R.M. while France gave about 6,000,000 for the same purpose, although there were no large French colonies abroad comparable to the German colonies.(37)

Dr. Curtius, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, emphasized the heavy burden of official activity for improving foreign trade and for furthering German culture in other countries. He urged greater care for the Germans abroad and said that after the evacuation of the Rhineland, in the areas where they had not yet been won, further efforts would be directed toward the achievement of full political freedom and equality for Germany.(38)

In the continued discussion, Dr. Schnee stated that for cultural policies abroad (Kulturpolitik) the German Foreign Office had at its disposal much smaller amounts than the other nations. Dr. Kulz, while recommending close cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and the Foreign Office in their program to foster Germanism, thought that the main responsibility of this program should be kept in the hands of the Foreign Office, because of its close contact with the foreign countries.

On September 14, 1930, in the new elections, the National Socialists won 107 votes and became the second strongest party in the Reichstag. Immediately after the victory, some of the members of the Party in Hamburg made the decision to found an Auslandsabteilung ("Foreign Division") of the National Socialist Party in order to carry Nazi ideals to the Germans living abroad. This would give the many Germans living in foreign lands an opportunity to prove their devotion to the Hitler movement by becoming members of the National Socialist Party. The Hamburg group began immediately to make definite plans for a cultural program abroad.(39)

In February, 1931, Dr. Curtius, again speaking on foreign policy, told the members of the Reichstag that the German Government was waiting for the League of Nations to carry out its high task, that of being a refuge for the minorities, more resolutely than it had formerly done. The Government hoped that it would give Volkstum (nationality based on a common culture) the right to make its own way and that it would shape the thought of tolerance of the state toward foreign nationality into a Magna Carta for this purpose. The Germans would take an active part in this. The protection of minorities, the development of the idea of Volkstum, remained main tasks of the German foreign policy.(40)

On March 17, 1931, Dr. Schnee, reporter for the Budget Commission, opening the discussion of the budget of the Foreign Office, said that it had been necessary to reduce appropriations. He continued:

Unfortunately, the grants for cultural activities have also been affected. Here most important work is at stake. This involves not only the preservation of German culture in the world, but it also involves problems of world policy. In the World War, the real German nature was so badly maligned that it is of the greatest importance to spread the knowledge of German culture everywhere abroad and to aim at a correct understanding of German character and German culture. In view of the great efforts made by other countries, it seems necessary for the Germans also to do everything possible in this direction.(41)

In the meantime, the National Socialists were actively carrying on their plans not only to take possession of the Reich, but also to extend their program abroad. On May 31, 1931, the Foreign Division was officially sanctioned by the Reich organization of the National Socialist Party and its activities were centered in Hamburg. According to a study of the whole Auslands-Organisation, or Foreign Organization of the National Socialist Party, made by Gauleiter Bohle, its leader, the work abroad was very difficult at first because of lack of money and because of the opposition from official representatives of the German Republic abroad. However, after continued efforts and the use of all kinds of personal connections with Germans living abroad, the first footing was won by the Nazis toward the end of 1931. The isolated National Socialist organizations which already existed in other countries were given a strong base in the Homeland through the Foreign Division.(42)

With the sanctioning of the Foreign Division of the National Socialist German Worker's Party, (N.S.D.A.P.) in 1931, machinery was immediately put in motion to bring the Germans who were living abroad into the Nazi fold. Nazi propaganda found a fertile field in many parts of Europe and Latin America, especially among the dissatisfied German minority groups of Europe, among the many Germans in different parts of the world, who, continuing their devotion to the old Monarchy, had viewed the activities of the Weimar Republic with alarm, and among the German youth abroad who, weary of struggling with the difficulties of the post-war world, were ready to turn to new political ideas and to another culture. Many of the German schools abroad, especially the denominational schools, had been strongholds of conservatism and the younger generation of Germans knew little of democracy. The Nazi propaganda appealed to these young people abroad as it had to the young people within Germany. In its emphasis on the glory of German culture, the unity of all Germans and the strength that came from such unity, this propaganda touched something very deep within all Germans.

According to Bohle, in spite of strong opposition from all sides, the year 1932 brought a considerable growth in the National Socialist groups abroad and the organization of the first Landesgruppen ("Party groups") so that when the seizure of power came in January, 1933, there were a number of "steadfast National Socialists" in many places abroad ready to undertake the responsibility of making the Führer's Weltanschauung, the possession of all Germans living abroad.

WHEN the National Socialists came into power they found a strong foundation on which to build their program of cultural expansion abroad. Both within and without Germany, a feeling of the cultural unity of all Germans had been fostered. The Nazi foreign policy called for the union of all Germans into a Greater Germany which would include not only Germany and Austria, but the territory occupied by Germans in other parts of the world. Under the direction of the Auslands-Abteilung which later became the Auslands-Organisation of the N.S.D.A.P., a program was begun immediately to make all German citizens living abroad as active participants in the National Socialist program as the Germans within the Fatherland. The goal of their work, said Dr. Emil Ehrich, writing on the Auslands-Organisation or was a "community of destiny for all Germans," both within and without the Fatherland, which would "weather all storms."(43)

While the National Socialists were developing their program abroad through the A.O., the young people of Germany continued their associations with the young people of other countries through the Hitler Youth. As an outgrowth of the German Youth Movement, many boys and girls of the Weimar Republic had not only "wandered" throughout Germany during the years following the First World War, but had gone abroad, especially to the countries near the German frontiers. Regular school journeys had been scheduled which in some cases took whole classes of German secondary school youth to such countries as England and France. On the other hand, many foreign youth groups had been welcomed in Germany. Under the National Socialist regime, this kind of international exchange was highly favored. Baldur von Schirach, appointed Reichsjugendführer, or National Youth Leader, in 1934, in his book, Die Hitler Jugend, stated that the Hitler Youth, although developing a program through its Foreign Division, had nothing to do with foreign policy or propaganda. In the exchange of German youth and the youth of other nations it was "purely human understanding" that was sought. Every nation, said von Schirach, was interested in having its young people gain the widest possible political outlook. The National Socialist youth went abroad not to teach, but to learn---to learn to know the beauties of the foreign land and to ascertain the peculiar characteristics of its people.(44)

However, von Schirach added that the Reichsjugendführung reached out not only to the youth of other nations, but worked in the closest relationships with the young people of German descent living in the German settlements of Europe and South America. One of the activities of the Foreign Division of the Hitler Youth was the organization of the younger generation of German citizens living abroad into youth groups in which National Socialist values might be taught. The program also included plans for the training of leaders chosen from among the Auslandsdeutschen who were to be brought to Germany for actual experience within that country.

Gauleiter Bohle, Leader of the Auslands-Organisation of the N.S.D.A.P. from its beginning, and Chief of the Auslands-Organisation of the Foreign Office after January, 1937, made an official statement in 1939 concerning the program carried on abroad by the N.S.D.A.P. He made it clear that, since the new regime identified German culture with National Socialist culture, the work of cultural relations abroad must take on a clear National Socialist direction. Any German living abroad who wished to carry on a close relationship with the German Homeland would have to carry on this relationship within the framework of the National Socialist Party, because Germany had become National Socialist.

National Socialist leaders began to lay great stress on the new and inescapable duties of each German living abroad to further this relationship. A regulation of the Central Administration of the National Socialist Party stipulated that every member of the Party who was abroad, or who moved his regular residence abroad, must, without exception, be under the leadership of the Foreign Division. In principle only men of German citizenship were taken into the Party and the activity of the Foreign Organization limited itself entirely to German citizens living abroad. There was a clear differentiation between the Auslandsdeutschen or German citizens living abroad and the Volksdeutschen. who, although they were of German descent and were German in speech and culture, were citizens of foreign countries. Bohle stated that, from the beginning, there was "complete and unconditional renunciation of any interference in the internal political affairs of foreign States."(45)

Most of the activities carried on within the Reich found their counterparts in the work of the National Socialists abroad. A Kultur-Amt or cultural bureau of the Auslands-Organisation was set up to serve as an administrative center for all kinds of intellectual and cultural exchange between Germans living abroad and the Reich. The Kultur-Amt dealt with every aspect of their cultural life. Bohle made it clear that the Germans living abroad had a most important task of a political and cultural nature before them. Serving as intermediaries between the Reich and the foreign countries, they could carry on the important cultural interchange so necessary among peoples today. Certain film, radio, art, literary, and information activities were also centered in the Kultur-Amt.

Another bureau, an offshoot of the Kultur-Amt, dealt with all questions of academic work abroad and with exchanges of scholars and scientific personnel. A Student Bureau sent students from the Reich to study abroad, and brought German students from foreign countries to study in Germany. A Teachers' Bureau undertook the direction of all teachers working in the German schools abroad. [t also controlled the teaching activity of these teachers by creating new textbooks. Still another bureau directed the work of all technical workers abroad, engineers, chemists, geologists, etc.

A welfare bureau carried on, among other activities, the Winterhilfswerk, or "Winter Relief Work." The women's organizations were strongly emphasized, for it was the mothers who could mold the younger generations. Through an educational program particularly adapted to their sex, not only the women within the Reich but also the women living abroad were to become bearers of the Nazi Weltanschauung and through it were to teach German ways and German culture. Athletic activities, including Wehrsport (a type of premilitary training) were stressed. The children were organized. The high-powered educational program through which Germans in the Homeland were inducted into Nazi culture was carried on abroad and used intensively. The administrative organization of the A.O. was worked out in the greatest detail to carry on this work.

Dr. Emil Ehrich, in his study of the Auslands-Organisation of the N.S.D.A.P., emphasized not only the activities of the Germans living abroad but also those of the German sailors who were a part of the A.O., and who were able to further the National Socialist cause when their ships were in foreign ports.(46)

Dr. Ehrich explained that Germandom abroad had quickly understood the meaning of the National Socialist Movement and had supported it, in spite of all obstacles. It was not always easy to note progress from a distance. Here and there, however, without material support from the Fatherland, new German houses, homes, and schools were built. The heads of the great German business establishments overseas and their employees, through voluntary labor, made available new athletic fields and convalescent homes. Sometimes an individual might ride for hours through the primeval forest in order to attend a meeting of his Nazi party group. Reports came in of friendly evenings spent in the great harbors of the world in which the German sailors met the Germans living abroad and developed comradely relationships.

Almost all of the German colonies soon placed themselves under National Socialist leadership, said Dr. Ehrich, and the Auslands-Organisation put its full force behind their activities. Help for the needy in the wintertime, the single Sunday meal, the sale of posters, the social work of women, were all activities furthered outside the Reich. In 1936 for the Winter Relief 1,800,000 R.M. were contributed beyond the usual winter expenditures. During that year 880 German mothers living abroad were able to have a month's rest in the Fatherland, and more than 350 convalescent cases from all over the world were cared for in Germany. Ten thousand German children from foreign lands spent their vacations in the Reich; while in National Socialist homes for youth there were, in the same year, some 170 children of needy families who had been brought from abroad and who were being educated and trained for teaching.

In summing up the activities of the National Socialists abroad furthered by the A.O., Dr. Ehrich emphasized the point that nothing brought the community more closely together than common experience. The center of community living for the Germans abroad was the national festival. The patriotic holidays to be celebrated as sanctioned by the A.O., included the birthday of the Führer and January 30, the day of his rise to power, the first of May, the Harvest Festival, and the 9th of November. Expert speakers on the National Socialist Movement, the State, the Labor Service, the cultural life and the economy of the Third Reich, were always available for such occasions. Some of these celebrations were very important to the Movement. On May 1, 1936, for example, in São Paulo, Brazil, 25,000 men marched in a great procession, while a great Zeppelin flew over the heads of the German crowds assembled in Rio de Janeiro.

Throughout the National Socialist program abroad the exchange of people was considered to be of the greatest importance. When, however, as Dr. Ehrich said, the "living, personal touch" was not possible, in order to strengthen the bonds between the Homeland and the Germans living abroad, other means were used. There were some forty party and colonial newspapers which helped in the task. Through a special "National Socialist Newspaper Service for foreign newspapers," information about recent developments in the Reich was sent abroad very quickly. There was a general monthly magazine called Der Deutsche im Ausland. For the seagoing members of the A.O. there were two magazines, See fahrt ist Not and Der deutsche Seemann.

The Verband deutscher Vereine im Ausland was organized by the National Socialists to unify all German associations, societies or groups in the German colonies and to give them a National Socialist leadership. There were hundreds of these German associations which had always played an important role in the German communities abroad, including athletic associations, charitable organizations, groups interested in choral singing, women's groups, etc.

Publications sent abroad by the Verband deutscher Vereine included a monthly Heimatbrief or "home letter." A yearbook, Wir Deutschen in der Welt, was also published by the Verband in 1935 and 1936.

The modern media for disseminating information, the radio and the motion picture, were widely used to enlighten the Germans living abroad and to develop a feeling for the Homeland. Through the short-wave radio they were kept in close touch with important events in the Reich. In areas where short-wave reception was impossible, phonograph records were used. Those became indispensable for the education of party members, stated Ehrich, especially in out-of-the-way places. Records were also provided in many centers for "German hours" and were very useful for acquainting the citizens of other countries with German cultural achievements. The sound film was considered a most desirable medium for developing understanding of the National Socialist Movement, because, in the pictures, the Fatherland became alive. In addition to the regular films, the Auslands-Organisation sent out a weekly news reel, the "Echo der Heimat." Most groups of the A.O. had motion picture machines so that films might be shown in German circles without having to depend on the regular theatres.

Ehrich went on to state that the German citizen living abroad, without bringing upon himself criticism for propagandizing in a foreign state, was naturally a link, especially in so far as cultural and economic relations were concerned, between the Fatherland and the foreign country. His blameless behavior would not only bring him the respect of the Reich, but his work in these two areas would further the kinds of international relations to which the A.O. consciously devoted itself. Ehrich also emphasized the importance of the German schools and their teachers which were most significant factors in developing cultural understanding. In the economic realm the great chambers of commerce, which had been reorganized after Hitler's rise to power, had also served the cause of international relations well.

Stuttgart had long furthered the cause of the Germans living abroad through the Auslands-Institute which had been established there in 1917. In 1936 the Führer named Stuttgart as the city of the Auslandsdeutschen. From that time on the great demonstrations planned by the A.O. for the Germans living abroad took place in Stuttgart and thousands of Germans from other lands and German sailors learned about the new Germany in that center. These German visitors to the Reich would embody the new type of Germans living abroad, stated Ehrich, and would be recognized and respected as worthy representatives of the new Germany. They would go out willingly to organize new communities, which would have an existence of their own, but which, at the same time belonged to the whole German community. Ehrich concluded his study of the A.O. by saying that the Leader of the Auslands-Organisation and his fellow workers would work with all Germans abroad in the service of a Nationalist Socialist ethnic community, based upon the work and deeds of the Führer, for there were no longer frontiers or oceans to separate the Germans.

As the National Socialists grew in power, their activities abroad became a matter of serious concern to foreign states. Leaders of the N.S.D.A.P., however, insisted that the activities were directed only to German citizens living in other lands, and pointed to a decree of the Führer of January 30, 1937, which laid down guiding principles for all party members who were to work abroad. According to this decree they must follow the law of the land in which they were living and have nothing to do with its internal politics. Always and everywhere they must remember that they were party comrades who must act in such a way as to do honor to National Socialism and to Germany. They were all fellow fighters in the front lines and must have exact information about the structure, the content and the aims of the National Socialist Movement. They must also try to bring every honorable German into the Movement and convince him of the "need of victory so that Germany might live again."(47)

The Auslands-Organisation of the N.S.D.A.P. published a yearbook, Jahrbuch der AO, which described in detail many of the activities furthered in foreign lands by the National Socialists. In the yearbook for 1942, for example, were chapters on the ways in which the members of the A.O. cared for the German troops as they entered the foreign countries during invasion; the fate of the Germans in Spain; the Reich Germans in Slovakia; the work of the A.O. in Norway during the war; the invasion of Greece; German women abroad in the second year of the war; and German youth abroad.(48)

The operations of the Auslands-Organisation in Slovakia, for example, were described in the yearbook. There were about 35,000 Germans in Czechoslovakia after the First World War. The German minority groups in Slovakia had suffered greatly under the domination of the Czechs. Finally, in 1926, the German citizens living in Slovakia united in establishing a Hilfsverein, a charitable society for German citizens in Pressburg, the work of which was limited to caring for needy German citizens and to social meetings. After the rise to power of Hitler in 1933, according to the Jahrbuch, there was an awakening of ethnic consciousness among the Germans in Czechoslovakia. Under the leadership of a party comrade, who grasped the importance of the National Socialist ideology, several men who were also interested in National Socialism were placed in key positions in the Hilfsverein. In this way a party group of the Auslands-Organisation was established and the Verein soon became an instrument of the National Socialist Party. Since the Party was banned in Czechoslovakia, however, Nazi activity had to be carried on under cover and with a great deal of care. During the following years, there was strong emphasis on the political performance of the Germans living in Czechoslovakia. The local groups in Pressburg soon joined with other similar groups and the work was advancing rapidly when the leader of National Socialist activities in Praha was arrested and the leader of the group in Pressburg had to flee to Germany.

In spite of all obstacles the Movement continued to grow. Other groups of the Hilfsverein were established which later became National Socialist groups. Making the National Socialist viewpoint the center of their work, almost all Reich Germans in Slovakia had been united by 1938. Because of the opposition of the Czechs, the Reich Germans were driven out of Czechoslovakia in that year, but they were soon able to return and to develop new groups. In January, 1939, the first great political demonstration took place in Praha on the day of the seizure of power by the Germans and on that day the Nazi uniforms were seen for the first time on the streets of that city. When, after March 14, Slovakia became independent of Czechoslovakia, the work went rapidly forward. Throughout this period there were the closest cultural relationships with the Reich.(49)

While preparations for the occupation of Europe were under way, the Auslands-Organisation turned increased attention to South and Central America. Saxton Bradford, in an article on Deutsche Auslandspropaganda, said in this connection:

When Germany began serious immediate preparations for World War II, the German residents of South and Central America were regimented by the Auslandsorganisation into typical party structures: Blockwarte, Zellen, Ortsgruppen, and Landesgruppen, each presided over by a party leader. The Landesgruppenleiter was a man of considerable influence not only in the country in which he operated but also in the home office of Berlin. In many cases he was a regularly accredited official of the diplomatic mission, operating under a diplomatie cover title, sometimes as high in rank as counselor of embassy. All well-established German clubs, schools, churches, labor groups, charitable organizations, cultural outposts, chambers of commerce, commercial enterprises, and scientific centers on which pressure could be applied were dragooned into line. Whether they liked it or not they became a dynamic part of the German concept of total global war. Their role was largely economic and propagandistic. They were guided by the theses of the Auslandspropaganda handbook. Germans in South American countries, inspired and guided by a considerable army of agents sent out from Berlin and by an equally considerable army of opportunist local leaders, infiltrated as far as possible local political movements and institutions. Germans in one of the American republics were assessed up to 50 per cent of their salaries for German propaganda. This money was extorted by every means at hand. Nazi agents examined the books of firms suspected of holding out. Although this manoeuver was largely blocked, once war had broken out, by the cooperative defensive action of the American republics, it made some headway in the direction of embarrassing the war effort of the United Nations.(50)

REPORTS from the field written by members of the Auslands-Organisation describe in detail their activities when the German invasion of Europe began. Alerted in advance, they awaited in the foreign lands the arrival of German forces by air, land or sea, and were able to guide their movements and to see that they were given every possible assistance.

In Norway, for example, according to one of these reports, when the German troops entered Oslo, the representatives of the A.O. had the responsibility of finding food and shelter for them, of caring for the wounded, of getting dry clothes for those whose ships had been damaged in landing, as well as for many other services. Because of the innumerable demands, stated the diary of an A.O. representative in Norway who was an eye-witness of the invasion, it was necessary not only to call on all German citizens in the community, but to enlist the assistance first of all those of German descent and later of the Norwegians sympathetic to the National Socialist cause.(51)

While the German soldiers were marching in northern and eastern Europe "to free the world from Bolshevism and to fight for a better and happier future for the European peoples," as one Nazi source stated it, the German youth, thousands of miles away, could often be found engaging in athletic contests in foreign lands in order to show the superiority of the Hitler Youth. Such an athletic contest which had recently taken place on the athletic field of the German school in Lisbon was described in detail in the Jahrbuch der A.O. for 1942. The boys and girls had come from all over Portugal to take part in the sports or to watch the spectacle. Loud-speakers had been set up and German songs and marches sounded throughout the evening. The German boys and girls marched in unison, showing that discipline, good behavior and order were not only possessions of the youth inside Germany but of all German youth. With them marched a division of the Meidada, the state Portuguese youth organization, for these young people were recognized as comrades of the youth of the Greater Germany. There were all kinds of sports, including high jumping, running, and dancing for the girls. Here, on the Atlantic coast, was a sport festival like those in a hundred places within the Reich. The article went on to state that in all the work of the Hitler Youth abroad especial attention was directed toward developing good relations with the youth of each foreign land.

The program of Kraft durch Freude, to develop strength through joy, which was strongly stressed within the Reich, was also extended to the Auslandsdeutschen during this period. In this program, music and art, the theatre and other cultural activities which might bring all Germans together through enjoyable experiences were emphasized and creative activities in the arts were encouraged. The importance of these activities to the Reich was again stressed in a decree of April 11, 1942, given out by the Reich Chancellery, which made it clear that the political, cultural, and professional relationships that were carried on by the Party, its organizations and associations, with the representatives of foreign Governments, organizations and individuals, were an important part of foreign policy. In furthering such relationships between peoples, stated the decree, it must never be forgotten that the understanding of the National Socialist world-philosophy and the principles on which it was based corresponded to "the nature of German blood and therefore could not be carried over to foreign nations." The living together of different peoples demanded mutual consideration of their national differences and peculiarities. That the National Socialist Party and its organizations therefore had no European or world mission to fulfill, was again specifically stated.(52)

In 1943, to strengthen its program abroad, the Foreign Office, under von Ribbentrop, set up a powerful Kulturpolitische Abteilung, combining the old Cultural and Informational Divisions, which furthered actively the combined cultural and political relations with other countries. It is interesting to note here that the German Propaganda Ministry, under Goebbels, also desirous of controlling propaganda abroad, carried on cultural propaganda in its foreign programs for the preparation and organization of which there were special sections within the Ministry, including sections dealing with books and literature, information and the press, motion pictures, radio, cultural matters, the theatre, music, sports, and tourist travel.(53)

WITH the defeat of Germany the National Socialist program, both within and without Germany, went underground to a large extent. In neutral nations like Sweden and Portugal and in the Latin American Republics, German schools and other centers of Nazi influence were closed or their activities seriously curtailed. However, not only inside Germany but in other lands during the months which have followed the cessation of hostilities, there have been evidences that the National Socialist Movement is not dead. Spruille Braden, Assistant Secretary of State, in an address delivered on January 19, 1946 spoke of "the persistence into the post-war period, whether overt or covert, of the ideology and methods identified with what we call 'National Socialism'"; "In the hour of Germany's defeat, in the hour of Japan's collapse," he stated, "we find it [the ideology of National Socialism] flourishing in the midst of our international community, ready for the day when, if we allow it to do so, it will become resurgent."(54)

The underground plan of the Hitler Youth to "maintain contacts between the Hitler Youth leaders and other good German elements" as part of the Nazi plan to continue resistance after defeat, which was conceived before the end of the war and which was publicized in the spring of 1946 by the U. S. and British Intelligence in western Germany, has wide significance.(55) The Hitler Youth organized in foreign countries had much the same training as the Hitler Youth within Germany. Moreover, the enthusiasm of many of the Auslandsdeutschen, including the youth, was as great as that of the Germans born in the Reich. It has been noted in the history of the National Socialist Movement that, in addition to Hitler, several of the most able and devoted Nazi leaders, including Bohle, leader of the Auslands-Organisation, were themselves Auslandsdeutschen.

Cultural relationships between Occupied Germany and other countries were still under the control of Allied Military Government in the autumn of 1946.