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Summary
According to the available reports from all parts of the Reich, at the moment the people feel that their emotional [seelischen] powers of resistance have been put under great strain. The people [Volksgenossen] lack any real basis for the optimism demanded of them…The reports show clearly that the great majority of the population is not convinced that a victory is within our reach, rather sees the state of the war approximately as follows:… the enormous deployment of material and the apparently inexhaustible human reserves of the Soviets could lead this winter to a new catastrophe in the East. Germany - now also the southern and southeastern regions of the Reich - has been left defenseless to air terror. Many still place hopes on revenge, others do not dare to believe in it. The evacuation of millions of people has in turn encroached upon the ‘private sphere within four walls’ of other millions, [an area that] up until now had remained untouched by the war…
From a secret report by the SS security service (16 Aug. 1943)Wonder weapons
Although nuclear weapons at best appeared to be irrelevant to the war effort and at worst represented a potentially dangerous drain on the war economy, the future military and economic promise of nuclear power not only justified continued support, it also made this research into a valuable science policy asset. The state agency that controlled nuclear power could anticipate considerable returns in the future on any investments made during wartime.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989