HITLER AND I by OTTO STRASSER CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION MY FIRST MEETING WITH HITLER THE GERMAN CAULDRON THE CONSPIRATORS OF THE BURGERBRAU HITLER WRITES MM KAMPF THE MAN HITLER HITLERISM VERSUS STRASSERISM OPEN COMBAT THROUGH TREASON TO POWER THE GESTAPO ON MY HEELS THE GERMAN BLOODBATH HITLER, MASTER OF EUROPE THE FUTURE AGAINST HITLER PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION IN the early morning of November 9th, 1939, the world was startled by the report of an attempt on Hitlers life, the occasion being the traditional reunion in the Burger braukeller of Munich. Responsibility was laid by the Nazi propagandists at my door, as Leader of the Black Front, and at that of the British Secret Service. Such accusations are not worth answering. The incident had quite another significance: it was the signal for the opening of the second phase of Hitlers war. The first phase was the Polish campaign, which Hitler and his General Staff regarded as a mere police action, to be accompanied by a peace offensive against the Western powers. It was the unexpected failure of this offensive that determined Hitler to end the war in the West by a lightning victory. In this war he has one objective: to destroy the power of Britain. France is a secondary consideration, like Belgium important only as a jumpingoff ground. But to bring Britain to her knees there must be an effective blockade, to be followed by the landing of troops and crowned by a peace dictated from Buckingham Palace. Peace with France would follow as a natural consequence, and Hitler, as Emperor of Europe, would have reached the first stage towards world domination. To secure the submarine and air bases essential for this twofold military and economic attack upon Britain, Hitler decided upon the invasion of Holland. He reckoned on no great military outlay, and was confident that Belgium would remain neutral, thus preventing effective Allied assistance. The invasion was planned for November 12th, 1939, and the Munich explosion was arranged a day or two earlier for the purpose of arousing public opinion against perfidious Albion. It was thanks to the diplomacy of the Western powers, and to an even greater extent to her own enlightened selfinterest, that on November nth and isth Belgium announced that in the event of an invasion she would fight at the side of Holland, thus opening the way for Allied assistance to the Low Countries. The plan for a minor war therefore had to be abandoned. Instead a major war had to be undertaken, and this neces sarily demanded several months preparation. The first step was the invasion of Denmark and Norway, to secure the eastern seaboard of the North Sea and to protect northern Germany from a British counteroffensive.