“Hit the Poles so hard that they despair of their life; I have full sympathy with their condition, but if we want to survive, we can only exterminate them; the wolf, too, cannot help having been created by God as he is, but people shoot him for it if they can.”

— Otto von Bismarck

The quote "Hit the Poles so hard that they despair of their life; I have full sympathy with their co…" is famous quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), German statesman, Chancellor of Germany.

Haut doch die Polen, daß sie am Leben verzagen; ich habe alles Mitgefühl für ihre Lage, aber wir können, wenn wir bestehn wollen, nichts andres tun, als sie ausrotten; der Wolf kann auch nicht dafür, daß er von Gott geschaffen ist, wie er ist, und man schießt ihn doch dafür totd, wenn man kann.
Letter to his sister Malwine (26/14 March 1861), published in Bismarck-Briefe (Second edition Göttingen 1955), edited by Hans Rothfels, p. 276 http://books.google.de/books?id=oIkkkcUIfqMC&pg=PA276; as quoted in Hajo Holborn: A History of Modern Germany 1840-1945 (1969), p. 165 http://books.google.de/books?id=rUgOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA165
1860s

Original

Brief an seine Schwester Malwine (März 1861), Bismarck-Briefe (1955), S. 276 https://books.google.de/books?id=oIkkkcUIfqMC&pg=PA276

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 18, 2023. History

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Otto von Bismarck 35

German statesman, Chancellor of Germany 1815–1898

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“Hit the Poles so hard that they despair of their life; I have full sympathy with their condition, but if we want to survive, we can only exterminate them; the wolf, too, cannot help having been created by God as he is, but people shoot him for it if they can.”

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Otto von Bismarck 35

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