Even in his earliest speeches, Hitler vowed to annul the Treaty of Versailles: “As soon as we have the power, we’ll rip up this scrap of paper.”50 He made no bones of his view that economic recovery depended upon “smashing interest slavery.”51 The goal of “national rebirth” meant, externally, the creation of a “greater Germany” and, internally, the foundation of an “ethnic community” (Volksgemeinschaft) that abolished the chasm between the bourgeoisie and the working class.52 “We must become a people of honest hard workers,” Hitler proclaimed.
