9 Erich von dem Bach Quotes

Erich von dem Bach quotes

1. I am the only living witness but I must say the truth. Contrary to the opinion of the National Socialists that the Jews were a highly organized group, the appalling fact was that they had no organization whatsoever. The mass of the Jewish people were taken completely by surprise. Never before has a people gone so unsuspectingly to its disaster. After the first anti-Jewish actions of the Germans, they thought now the wave was over and so they walked back to their undoing.

2. I was the only SS leader in Russia who was not assassinated or upon whom an assassination was never attempted. I could walk anywhere without a bodyguard.

3. From May until August, I went on a search for Himmler. Finally, I gave myself up voluntarily in August 1945. I went from one village to another looking for Himmler in order to kill him. I also wanted to find my family, whose whereabouts I did not know. I didn't know what the future held in store for me. At that time, I thought it was certain that since I was an SS general, I would be taken prisoner and executed at once.

4. Germany could not win this war because it was in league with the devil. This war would not have ended without revolution.

5. When for years a doctrine is foretold of the qualification that the Slavs are an inferior race and the Hebrew aren't quite human individuals, it is unavoidable that a similar outbreak will end like the preceding one.

6. So clever...he can do anything, get around anything.

7. I hardly recognize him here. He was very egocentric, tried to get ahead without considering others.

8. Bach-Zelewski is a liar and a criminal - a terrible man. I repeat, he is a liar, a criminal, and a killer. I have proof of what I am saying about myself, but I know that Bach-Zelewski is a frightful liar.

9. But to go back to Bach-Zelewski - I think Bach-Zelewski has the kind of personality that can't differentiate between the truth and lies. He gets himself so much into the whole thing he can't differentiate. He convinces himself and believes he has gone so far that he has to die for the cause. Originally it was not the truth, but he so convinces himself - he's ready to die for it.