It was hard to understand that, were the German in
Austria not actually of the best stock, he never would have
been able to impress his mark upon a State of fifty-two mil-
lion people in such a manner as to create even in Germany
the erroneous impression that Austria was a German State.
This was nonsensical, with the gravest of consequences, but
brilliant testimony for the ten million Germans in the Ost-
mark. Only a very few Germans in the empire had any
idea of the continuous and inexorable struggle waged for
the German language, the German schools, and the German
mode of existence. Only today, when this misery has been
forced upon millions of our people outside of the Reich
proper, who, under foreign domination, dream of a common
fatherland and in their longing for it strive to preserve their
most sacred claim their mother tongue only today
wider circles understand what it means to fight for one's
nationality.