ABSTRACT
I drove to the Ruhr area once more. Saving its industry was the crucial question for the post-war era. In Westphalia a flat tyre forced us to stop. Unrecognized in the twilight I stood in a farm-yard talking to farmers. To my surprise, the faith in Hitler which had been hammered into their minds all these last years was still strong. Hitler could never lose the war, they declared. ‘The Führer is still holding something in reserve that he’ll play at the last moment. Then the turning point will come. It’s only a trap, his letting the enemy come so far into our country.’ Even among members of the government I still encountered this naïve faith in deliberately withheld secret weapons that at the last moment would annihilate an enemy recklessly advancing into the country. Funk [the Economics Minister], for example, asked me: ‘We still have a special weapon, don’t we? A weapon that will change everything?’
