I had repeatedly made written requests to the Fuehrer that I might be allowed to join the Wehrmacht as an ordinary soldier. He refused to give me this permission.

What would you do if your country's welfare depended on labor? When a ship is in a storm it requires one captain.

I was never informed in advance about the start of the war or about foreign political developments.

I could not have the honour of being a German soldier because of my imprisonment in the First World War. And in this world war the Fuehrer refuses to allow me to serve as a soldier.

I joined the Party definitely in 1923 after having already been in sympathy with it before.

I'm a sailor, not a politician.

Himmler, Bormann, and Goebbels, they were probably bad fellows.