Note 022
by Joachim C. Fest

Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens. Goebbels' Diary, which includes never-ending complaints about political inactivity in the East, also contains illuminating references to the politics of total subjection and exploitation with their damaging consequences; see among others the entry for 25th April 1942, also the remark about a report of Quisling's on the same subject (entry for 14th April 1943). within this same framework belong the staunch efforts of the Propaganda Minister toward a so-called Proclamation on the East which Hitler, of course, always determined to avoid fixed positions, could not be persuaded to accept (see entry for 15th April 1943). An inquiry set up by the Americans in 1945 among 1,000 Russian Displaced Persons who had experienced the German occupation policy at first hand gives an illuminating example of the possibilities which would have been open to cooperative German policy in the conquered Eastern territories. The question whether the attitude of the population toward the Germans had changed between the time of the invasion and the retreat was answered with 728 yeses and 85 nos. Majority opinion was that the change of attitude began in 1942, when occupation policy allowed no more doubts as to the German objective; see Jacobsen, 1939-1945.

From Chapter 5 ,Victor and Vanquished , Part 1 of The Face Of The Third Reich by J.C. Fest -- See further Notes

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