Introduction

ON APRIL 1, 1924, I began to serve my sentence of detention in the Fortress of Landsberg am Lech, following the verdict of the Munich People’s Court of that time.

After years of uninterrupted labour it was now possible for the first time to begin a work which many had asked for and which I myself felt would be profitable for the Movement.

So I decided to devote two volumes to a description not only of the aims of our Movement but also of its development. There is more to be learned from this than from any purely doctrinaire treatise.

This has also given me the opportunity of describing my own development in so far as such a description is necessary to the understanding of the first as well as the second volume and to destroy the legendary fabrications which the Jewish Press have circulated about me.

In this work I turn not to strangers but to those followers of the Movement whose hearts belong to it and who wish to study it more profoundly. I know that fewer people are won over by the written word than by the spoken word and that every great movement on this earth owes its growth to great speakers and not to great writers. Nevertheless, in order to produce more equality and uniformity in the defence of any doctrine, its fundamental principles must be committed to writing. May these two volumes therefore serve as the building stones which I contribute to the joint work. The Fortress, Landsberg am Lech.

At half-past twelve in the afternoon of November 9th, 1923, those whose names are given below fell in front of the FELDHERRNHALLE and in the forecourt of the former War Ministry in Munich for their loyal faith in the resurrection of their people:

• Alfarth, Felix, Merchant, born July 5th, 1901 • Bauriedl, Andreas, Hatmaker, born May 4th, 1879 • Casella, Theodor, Bank Official, born August 8th, 1900 • Ehrlich, Wilhelm, Bank Official, born August 19th, 1894 • Faust, Martin, Bank Official, born January 27th, 1901 • Hechenberger, Anton, Locksmith, born September 28th, 1902 • Koerner, Oskar, Merchant, born January 4th, 1875 • Kuhn, Karl, Head Waiter, born July 25th, 1897 • Laforce, Karl, Student of Engineering, born October 28th, 1904 • Neubauer, Kurt, Waiter, born March 27th, 1899 • Pape, Claus von, Merchant, born August 16th, 1904 • Pfordten, Theodor von der, Councillor to the Superior Provincial Court, born May 14th, 1873 • Rickmers, Johann, retired Cavalry Captain, born May 7th, 1881 • Scheubner-Richter, Max Erwin von, Dr. of Engineering, born January 9th, 1884 • Stransky, Lorenz Ritter von, Engineer, born March 14th, 1899 • Wolf, Wilhelm, Merchant, born October 19th, 1898 So-called national officials refused to allow the dead heroes a common burial. So I dedicate the first volume of this work to them as a common memorial, that the memory of those martyrs may be a permanent source of light for the followers of our Movement. The Fortress, Landsberg a/L., October 16th, 1924