‘I made it the salute of the Party after the Duce (Benito Mussolini) had adopted it. I had read the description of the sitting of the Diet of (the city of) Worms, in the course of which Luther was greeted with the German salute. It was to show him that he was not being confronted by arms, but with peaceful intentions.

In the days of Frederick the Great, people still saluted with their hats, with pompous gestures. In the Middle Ages the serfs humbly doffed their bonnets, whilst the noblemen gave the German salute.

It was in the Ratskeller at Bremen, about the year 1921 that I first saw this style of salute. It must be regarded as a survival of an ancient custom, which originally signified: ‘See, I have no weapon in my hand.’

I introduced the salute into the Party at our first meeting in Weimar. The SS at once gave it a soldierly style. It was from that moment that our opponents honoured us with the epithet ‘dogs of Fascists.’~ Adolf Hitler.