Adolf Hitler\'s dictatorship

That Adolf Hitler's dictatorship in Germany means war sooner or later is one of Brandt's fundamental political realizations. Again and again through articles in the Norwegian press he refers to the German arms build-up and the ominous danger of war. At the same time Brandt tries to make one thing clear to the Scandinavian public: Hitler is not Germany; a distinction has to be made between the German people, which longs for peace, and the aggressive national socialist dictators.

In the second half of the 1930's Willy Brandt still hopes that the German people will seek contact with "Europe's Forces for Peace". His viewpoint is that the "German workers and peasants" will transform an eventual "nazi-war" into a "war of liberation" against national socialism. But in view of Hitler's aggressive foreign policy - and the successes it achieves due to the complaisance of the Western powers - Brandt becomes increasingly pessimistic.

On September 1, 1939, German troops invade Poland. From then on there is only one goal for Willy Brandt: "It is imperative that Hitler be defeated in this war. The defeat of Hitler's regime forms the next link in the chain of a free and socialist development in Europe."