Tell Everyone

h/t Vidar

SS NOTEBOOK No. 9. 1944.

Let everyone say to himself
in the depths of his heart,
every minute:
When I am weak, my people are weak.
When I am a hypocrite, my people are hypocrites.
When I fail, my people fail.
When I abandon my people, I abandon myself.
When I oppose my people, I oppose myself.
Losing courage and initiative
means losing your life,
means betraying your father and mother, your children and grandchildren.

There is only one way
against war: war!
against weapons: weapons!
against the enemy’s bravery: his own bravery! and against misfortune: the spirit of sacrifice.
Against the hatred of the world, the only help,
is the love of our people,
ready to make any sacrifice.

The weakness of the heart devours everything around it like rot,
as among the fruits,
where one apple spoils the others.
What you allow yourself, your neighbour also allows himself.
When you cheat, he cheats too.
When you complain, he complains too.
When you gossip, he gossips about you too.
And when one of us finally betrays,
everyone betrays himself.

We call for justice.
But you have to earn your fate too.
He who is unworthy reaps indignity,
the one who is courageous the courage,
the best the best.
And even when the gods refuse their help,
the right man still gets their blessing.

All life is dangerous.
You don’t just die in a fire.
Every mother risks her blood for the life of her child,
perpetuating his people.

To preserve life
all risk their lives,
some for themselves, their hunger,
their own necessity,
others for many,
and one man for all:
the hero on the battlefield.
He grants life to all. He lives in them.
By his death
eternal laurels crown his sleep
survives the homeland.

What has taken place, remains active,
the good and the bad.
Let no one believe
that he might be hiding something,
and secretly do evil.
What is healthy begets healthy,
the rotten the rotten.

Nothing can betray us—except our own mouth.
Nothing can lose us—except our own hearts.
Nothing can strike us—except our own hand.
No one can deliver us—except ourselves.

Will Vesper

-excerpted from “The SS Order – Ethics & Ideology” by Edwige Thibaut