ABSTRACT
As the fighting entered its final stages in 1945, the question how to achieve the transition to peace after the imminent military victory was raised more frequently, and with more urgency than before on the side of the Allies. A meeting between the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (born 1874)1 and US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) at Casablanca in January 1943 had established unconditional surrender as the Allied precondition for peace; two years later the possible consequences of such a surrender seemed to call for a clearer definition of Allied policies regarding post-war Germany. Of prime importance was the issue of government: would any form of German authority be allowed to exist, or would the Allies assume total control? There was some doubt as to whether a hard line might not prolong the fighting by making those who might have been willing to overthrow Hitler in order to achieve peace on more lenient terms, like the conspirators who attempted to kill him on 20 July 1944, rally round the cause of defending their country to the last. In the speech quoted here, Churchill takes a clear stance against any kind of bargain with any such parts of the German leadership, but at the same time emphasises that the occupying forces will not be looking for revenge against the population, contrary to the Cassandra cries of Nazi propaganda. Though made in the House of Commons, this part of the statement is clearly directed at the German public: the classical reference, of somewhat obscure origin, implies the common background of Western cultural heritage as well as the victors’ claim to moral superiority.
