“Freedom”

From Faith and Action (1938) by Helmut Stellrecht for the Hitler Youth:


There is no freedom in Germany to do whatever one wants, and there will be no such freedom, because otherwise Germany would not exist.

§ Freedom does not mean taking advantage of others, stealing from them, without being punished. Freedom does not mean living as one pleases. Nor does it mean preserving one’s life through cowardice.

§ Freedom is choosing to follow the path that duty requires. The others are slaves of themselves. He is the only free man: upright and proud, master of everything that might demean him, the best of the nation, and the bearer of the state. He has elevated himself. He does his duty while others take a holiday. But his duty raises him above over his little ego and makes him free.

§ Somewhere in the middle of a hot summer, a village’s well dries up. Day and night, someone works hard to dig a new well. No one gave the order. But for him it is a happy duty to find water for women and children and comrades. The other does what he likes. The one is a free man amidst the hard work he has chosen to do. The other is the slave of his desires and passions. He is a rogue who may say in the pub that man is born free and can do whatever he wishes.

§ He who thinks of himself is a slave and bound; he who thinks of others is master and free.