DIE FOR GERMANY OR WE WILL KILL YOU
Richard A. Koenigsberg

To understand Nazism and the war they waged, all that is required is to listen closely to what Hitler said. Declaring war, he asked every German to "lay down his life for his people and his country."

He then went on to say that if anyone thinks that he can "evade this national duty" (to lay down his life for his people and country), this person would "perish."

In short, die for Germany--or we will kill you.

No word of "conquest." Right from the beginning, Hitler's words and actions conveyed the central ideology that guided Nazism: die for Germany or we will kill you.
 

Hitler declared war on September 1, 1939—speaking before the Reichstag as German planes and troops crossed the Polish borders in a devastating Blitzkrieg:

As a National Socialist and a German soldier, I enter upon this fight with a stout heart! My whole life has been but one continuous struggle for my people, and that whole struggle has been inspired by one single conviction: Faith in my people!

I ask of every German what I myself am prepared to do at any moment: to be ready to lay down his life for his people and for his country. If anyone thinks that he can evade this national duty directly or indirectly, he will perish.