From the archive: The Third Reich - 22 march, 1933

Published on 22/03/2013 00:00

With the military pomp and pageantry that are dear to the heart of the German people, Herr Hitler inaugurated the Third Reich at Potsdam yesterday.

His choice of the Garrison Church there for the formal opening of the Reichstag emphasised the military prowess of Germany.

The Third Reich looks to Potsdam, to the barracks where Frederick the Great was cruelly disciplined, rather than to Weimar, where the monument to Schiller and Goethe may be said to typify the triumphs of peace.

In 1919 German unity was sought at Weimar. Yesterday it was promulgated from Potsdam.

For the world outside Germany Herr Hitler had one reassuring word. “We want,” he said, “to be sincere friends of a peace which heals the wounds of war, from which we all suffer.” If he can pursue this policy, without wavering, he can do a great service to Europe.