Source: Domarus, pp. 119-120;
[...]
The fact that today's Vorwärts writes in its appeal to the Social Democratic Party: "Beat Hitler!" makes me proud. There is nothing I want more than to have a good fight with you, and then Fate shall take the scales in its fist and weigh which side has more sacrifices and more will and more determination, yours or ours. I know your slogans.
You say: "We will stay on at any price," and I say to you: "We will overthrow you no matter what!"
And no matter what action you might take against it, no matter what your writings, lies or slander, it will come to nothing!
And if you say that now finally I am personally standing in the arena of this battle, that's true: I believe that now the decision is nearing, and I would be too proud and too self-confident to perhaps march in the second rank. On the contrary: I am happy that I can now fight with my comrades, one way or another. And if you now believe you can wear us down with threats, that is where you are wrong! Feel free to threaten me with the dog whip. (Thunderous jeering) We shall see whether or not the whip is still in your hands at the end of the fight. The thirteenth of March will be a day of fighting for us, and I believe that this fight, my Volksgenossen, will reap the reward it deserves. Thirteen years of struggle, thirteen years of persistence, thirteen years of determination cannot have been in vain.
I believe in Divine Justice. I believe that it has defeated Germany because we had become faithless, and I believe that it will help us because we now once again profess our faith.
I believe that the long arm of the Almighty will withdraw from those who are seeking merely alien shelter.
We once served the Field Marshal obediently as our Supreme Commander; we honored him and desire that the German Volk continues to see in him the leader of the great struggle. It is because this is our wish and because this is our desire that today we view it as our duty to call out to the old Field Marshal:
Old man, we hold you in too great a reverence to be able to tolerate that your being supported by the very ones we wish to destroy. As much as we regret it, you must step aside, for they want the fight, and we want it, too.
And I believe that this battle will end with the victory of those who have really earned the victory, earned it through their fight, through their sacrifices and their commitment, through their persistence and determination, through their faith and the great ideals which inspire them.