I did that all the more, if I may say so, because I was aware of the fact that there is an inclination to go to extremes in German people, and in the German character generally.

Many years before, I had left a beautiful country and a rich nation and I returned to that country six years later to find it fundamentally changed and in a state of upheaval, and in great spiritual and material need.

My connection with the Reich Ministers was of a purely official nature and was very infrequent.

Although as a sailor I despised politics - for I loved my sailor's life and still love it today - conditions forced me to take up a definite attitude towards political problems.

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

As a cabin boy on a Norwegian sailing ship I earned five kronen a week in addition to my keep.

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