Germany's Demand for Colonies

Report Outline
Hitler's Reiteration of Colonial Demands
Emergence of Reich's Current Demands
Colonies and Access to Raw Materials
Possible Partition of Portugal's Colonies
Special Focus

Hitler's Reiteration of Colonial Demands

Chancellor hitler, addressing the Reichstag January 30, on the fourth anniversary of the National Socialists' assumption of power, reiterated his demand for return to the Reich of the colonies of which Germany was deprived in the war. Contrary to expectations that had been held in some quarters, the speech contained no spectacular announcement of any deal with Portugal, such as had been rumored, for cession or lease to Germany of any portion of that country's possessions in Africa. Hitler, in fact, said the era of so-called surprises was ended, and he declared: “We have no colonial demand or claim against states which took no colonies away from us.”

The Chancellor nevertheless made it plain that the Reich did have colonial demands and claims against the states now holding mandates for the former German overseas possessions. Restoration of the lost colonies was the most concrete objective defined by the speech. Hitler's expressions on the subject were not phrased in bellicose terms, but the vital nature of the demand from the viewpoint of the German government had already been strongly emphasized by Hjalmar Schacht, Minister of Economics and president of the Reichsbank, in an address at Frankfort on December 9, 1936.

The German people [Schacht declared] are unwilling to tolerate external pressure that cripples their living strength. It must be stated here that an attempt to shrink a great people through persistent external pressure must of necessity lead, first, to social misery and unrest, and then to some kind of explosion.