Grow in Strength
"They [people] must be brought to realize the truth that human beings have been sent into this world not to suffer but to struggle. God has placed them here to flourish and bear fruit, just as the tree does. Through pain and adversity, they must grow in strength. The fir tree that grows on the mountain has to struggle hard for its life. It must hold out against wind and storm. And the effect of the wind and storm is that the trunk of the tree gradually thickens layer by layer on the side that is assailed, until the little mountain fir can stand erect against the elements. We see the same thing happening in the history of nations. Periods of adversity which befall the nations and which the nations must overcome help to develop their strength. But everything that endures through periods of adversity represents the result of a selection from among the People, a result of the same process of selection that we see everywhere in life. Everything that lives has to go through a period of trial and will be cast aside if it is weak.“
- Erich Hilgenfeldt
Source: Social Welfare in Germany by Werner Reher, 1938
Hilgenfeld worked as a main office manager in the Office for People's Welfare of the NSDAP and in personal union of the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV). On September 21, 1933 he was appointed Reich Commissioner for the Winter Relief Organization. Under him, the winter relief organization was massively expanded, so that he ran the largest social institution in the world.