The Führer spoke more or less as follows:
There were priests who gave us religious instruction. I cornered Prof. Schwarz and managed to embarrass him thoroughly! I was the one endlessly asking questions. I knew the material for the exams better than anyone else. They couldn’t touch me. In religion class I was given the grades of “praiseworthy” and “good” but only “insufficient” in my behavior.
I took on the more questionable issues in the Bible with relish: Professor could you please explain this? He only provided an evasive answer. I repeated and repeated the question until he suddenly lost his patience: All right, you shall now sit down once and for all!
I don’t remember how it came about but one day he asked me: “And do you pray in the morning at noon and in the evening?” — “No professor, I do not pray, I don’t believe that God is interested whether a student prays!” — “Well then, sit down!”
As soon as Schwarz entered the classroom, the attitude of the students changed: there was a fresh spirit and a generally revolutionary mood in the air. Everything we did was reprehensible. To provoke him I bought pencils decorated in the colors of Greater Germany. “You will get rid of these pencils in those disgusting colors at once!” Everyone mumbled “What?”—“Those are the National ideals” — I said. “You are not to hold any such National ideals but only one ideal. You must always hold your native land in your heart, as well as our dynasty, the Habsburgs. Those who are not faithful to the Habsburgs are not for the Church and those not for the Church are not for God. Sit down Hitler!”
Schwarz had a big blue handkerchief, he would fish it out from under his jacket and when he opened it, it would crackle. One day he forgot it in the classroom. While he was talking with some other teachers I came up to him holding the far corner of the handkerchief between my fingers: “Excuse me professor, you forgot your handkerchief.” He took it and glared at me. There was great commotion in the classroom! Professor Hueber came into the classroom at that moment: “Hitler, the next time you bring a handkerchief you shall do it in a different way!” I answered: “Professor Hueber, I couldn’t do in any other way.” “Sit down!”
A female relative of his ran a store in the Stein Strasse. Her last name was also Schwarz. We would go there and ask for goods impossible to find that she did not have, like women’s trousers and so on. Then we would run out of the store shouting: “How primitive, you have nothing at all.”
In the Herrengasse, right in front of where we were, there was a cloister. There was a new young man, a real rascal from Vienna, among us. He would blow kisses from his hand when the nuns went by. Once, one of the nuns smiled at us. An old prude rushed up to her and pulled the curtains. We heard a scream and the Rector came to see us half an hour later: He was amazed that we showed no respect at all. Had some teachers not stepped in on my behalf, things would have been very bad for me.
For Easter we had to go to confession. The confession also included a retreat. It made us all laugh and during our confession we said: “I had bad thoughts about my teacher. I made X angry, etc...” Then Schwarz appeared: “The sins we confessed indicated that we hadn’t gone deep enough into our souls.” So we decided that each one of us would confess to a huge amount of sins. We came up with fantastic stories only a crook could think up. During the break I wrote on the board: “Write this down!” Now for the most fantastic story of all that no thirteen year old could have done by himself. As I was writing there was a whistle; we had boys standing guard. I turned the blackboard around and ran back to my seat. “The class will go down to the gym!”
The next day was the Easter confession. The vacation came and went and no one gave it any thought. Then one day when the blackboard was filled and the pupil had to turn it to continue, there it was, I had written it: “I have committed a perverted act...” The teacher looked and reacted with amazement. “I recognize this handwriting! Could that be yours, Hitler? How could you do something like this?” “This was my example of being introspective as Professor Schwarz instructed us to be.” “You will keep your examples to yourself or I shall make an example of you!”
I often told myself to be patient, but I couldn’t hold back. What I hated most of all was the hypocrisy. I can see him now with his long nose and I was so annoyed every time I saw him. I would cause trouble immediately. When my mother would come over on occasion he would rush up to her to explain that I was a lost cause.
“You are one sad child,” he would tell me. “Professor I am not sad, not at all.”
“One day you will find out [be] in the other world!” “But Professor, a scholar has stated that he doesn’t believe there is another world.” “Are you [familiar form “du”] saying that...?” “Professor but you just used “Du” with me!” “You will not go to heaven!” “But if I do penance?”
I loved visiting the cathedral. I didn’t realize it then but it was because of the architecture. Someone must have told him. Since he could not imagine why I was doing this he assumed it was to create some new prank. I walked reverently inside the cathedral. As I was leaving I saw Schwarz! He said to me: “I thought you were already lost my son, but I see now that I was mistaken.” At the time his opinion was of the greatest value to me just before our report card. I didn’t contradict him at all.
I was always an embarrassment to him and he didn’t know what to think of me.
I had read so many works by free thinkers I didn’t always fully understand and this half digested knowledge made him very frustrated.
At fifteen I dictated a play to my sister. In Linz there was an association for persons who were separated since divorce didn’t exist in Austria at that time. The association held meetings to protest against this barbaric state of affairs. Public meetings were forbidden, but private meetings could be held provided only members participated. I joined the association after signing a membership form at the entrance, I listened to the speakers and was deeply moved by a righteous anger.
The speaker described men who seriously misbehaved toward women who were unable ever to be legally separated. I said to myself: “This story must be told to the public at large!” My handwriting was impossible to read so I dictated the play to my sister as I paced up and down.
One day the wife of Prof. Hammitzsch said:
“Adolf, you can’t have this play performed.” I could not contradict her, and one day she3 went on strike: she stopped taking dictation! This didn’t stop me however. It was a topic with which I could embarrass Prof. Schwarz. Once again filled with indignation I challenged him on the subject on the following day. He answered:
“I wonder Hitler, why is it that you dig up topics such as this one?” “Because I’m interested in it!” “This is not what you should be interested in, your blessed father, is dead!” “I’m a member of that association.” “You are what? — Sit down!”
He was our teacher for three years. Before there was a Silizko. I remember his name now. He was our biggest enemy.
König, another one of our teachers, had previously worked as a government steam boiler inspector. He had a speech impediment after an explosion and couldn’t pronounce certain words properly. In his class I would sit in the front row. He began reading the names. When he reached mine I would stare at him without standing up. He became impatient and asked me why. “My name is not Itler, Professor, it’s Hitler!” He was unable to pronounce the “H.”
I don’t understand why men were so scruffy!
In Steyr we locked a Jew up in his laboratory. It was just like a real Jewish school. He had no authority. I was told that once he was really feared since he was screaming so much. Someone saw him laughing about it once and then no one was afraid anymore. I was always reading.
One day I grabbed a large scarf from my landlady. “Lend me this scarf! I will tell you later why I need it.” I took the scarf to school and wrapped it around my neck as I sat in my seat. “What is wrong with you?” I replied “Mmmm...” I couldn’t speak. “Go, go back home!” I ran out of the classroom. Fifteen minutes later my landlady says: “Well, here you are back again, Adolf. Where are you coming from? You are awful!” I was always reading in class. Once I was reading a book about fungal illness. The teacher ran up to me, snatched the book from my hand and threw it down. “You should learn from me. I at least read lighthearted books.”
I found Steyr to be an unpleasant town: the opposite of Linz. Linz was full of national feeling. Steyr was black and red. I was living with a schoolmate at No. 9 Grünmarkt in a small room to the rear. His first name was Gustav but his family name I no longer can remember. The room was quite pleasant but the courtyard was very strange. I would always shoot rats down there. The land lady liked us so much she really helped us more than her husband. He had no say in the house. She would attack him constantly like a viper. Once she even locked him out after one of their fights. I had told her earlier: “Madame don’t keep the coffee that hot for me in the morning since I am so pressed for time I cannot drink it anymore.” One morning I told her “It’s already half past and there is no coffee ready.” She argued about it being so late. Her husband then stepped in: “Petronella, it is already two minutes after the half hour.” She suddenly got very upset. By that evening Petronella had not managed to calm down and in fact the whole thing escalated into incredible proportions. Her husband decided to get out of the apartment. There were two of us studying and he asked to be accompanied. Someone always had to have a light for him since he was afraid of the rats. She locked the door as soon as he went outside. Then we said to ourselves: “It’s about to begin!” We actually liked her. He said: “Petronella, please open up!” She just laughed, sang a tune, paced up and down and did nothing. He began by threatening then wound up begging her: “Petronella, please, please open!” “Petronella, you can’t do this!” “Oh yes, I can.” Then “Adolf, please open immediately!” She said to me, “You shall not open!” “Madame has forbidden it!” She left him outside until seven in the morning. When he came in with the milk he had a mortified look. We despised him so much! She was thirty three and her husband had a full beard and you couldn’t tell his age but I guess he was about forty five. He came from an impoverished noble family, his name was Edler und Ritter von Tschichina and worked for the municipality. There were so many impoverished aristocrats in Austria. I wonder whether she is still alive. I don’t know, she always gave us a little something. In Austria the landladies who rented lodgings to students were called “Crux.”
Oh, that was a very happy time! But I had many problems working my way through the complications of the school and getting ready for the school exams that were getting closer. There was always a big party at the end of the semester. It was always great fun and there was a lot of drinking. That was the only time in my life that I got drunk. We would be given our report cards and go home. The Crux was always emotional when this took place. We sneaked out to a tavern and talked and drank too much. I don’t remember what happened and could only reconstruct events afterwards. I had my report card in my pocket. A milk maid woke me up the next morning, she found me on the road between Steyr and Karsten. I reached the Crux house in disarray. “For God’s sake Adolf, you look awful!” I took a bath and she gave me some black coffee and asked: “What kind of report card did you get?” I put my hand in my pocket and found that the report card was missing! “Oh my God! I must show my mother something.” I thought of saying that the wind blew it away while I was looking at it at the railroad station! Crux asked: “How did it disappear?” “Someone must have taken it!” She said: “There is only one thing to do and that is to go right now and try to have a copy made. Do you have any money at all?” “No, nothing!” She handed me five gulden. When I reached the school the Dean kept me waiting for a while. My report card had already been brought back to school torn and tattered into four separate parts. I must have used it as toilet paper while I was drunk. I cannot repeat what the Dean said. It was awful. I vowed never to have another drink again. I was given a duplicate and I was so ashamed! When I returned the Cruz asked: “What did he say then?” “Madam I cannot repeat what he said but I can assure you I will never have another drink as long as I live.” It was a lesson that decided me to never drink. I went home rather unhappy because the report card was not especially favorable.
I was between 15 and 16 years old, the age when one usually writes poetry. I liked to visit the window display of curiosities and other strange places that had the sign “Adults Only” posted on the door. It is the age when you want to find out about everything. I once went to a movie theater in the southern railroad station in Linz and saw unimaginable trash. It was a charity meeting where they showed suggestive films. It was true rubbish. It is [was] truly surprising how permissive the Austrian government was about such matters. My teacher named Sixtel was also there and said to me: “So you also support the Red Cross!” “Yes Professor!” He laughed but I felt rather queasy in this dubious dump.
G.D.4 “Did any of your former teachers witness your rise to power?”
Some of them did, I was not a good student but none of them forgot me.
* * *
The Führer spoke more or less as follows:
The Hochlenzer was built in 1672. There is a rather old settlement up there. The reason for the settlement was the old salt road that went from Hallein to Salzburg through Berchtesgaden and ending at Augsburg. Hallthurm reminds me of that!
I don’t think our ancestors found this a very appealing place. Perchten, that was the essence of the scary. It must have been frightening then. A narrow path through a wilderness where the merchants always had to reckon that they might be attacked by wild animals or robbers. It would take them days to cover a distance we cross in twenty minutes by car. Gaden would be called Gartter: Garten, an enclosed piece of land.
In 1917 there was nothing where my house stands now. The Winters from Buxtehude built it in 1917, so the house was built with second rate materials.
My most memorable visit up the mountain was when after months for the first time I went there to see the construction of the new building. My fear was that because of its size it would clash with the rest of the countryside, but I was happy to see it didn’t. I actually wanted it to be much larger.
The Cornelius house, the Sonnenköpfl, was well known. The Bechsteins wanted me to buy the Sonnenköpfl. But the view all the way to Salzburg was more important to me; perhaps the interest in my home area influenced me. In the summer the Sonnenköpfl would have been too hot. The Berghof is the best location. How I would like to be up there again; that will be the best of times, when we can go back up there. But it is so far, really very far!
Actually I came there because of Dietrich Eckart.
We had to hide him. There was a warrant for his arrest and he had to escape. First we hid him in Munich at Lauböcks’s place. But he couldn’t stop making a lot of phone calls all around. By the second day he was telling me: “I want Anna here with me. I can’t hide alone.” We took him to his house and I placed some guards in front. The Leipzig Criminal Police came by but were too cowardly to face up to us. Then Christian Weber, a counter clerk, came to see us and told me about the Büchners. I did not know Büchner. Christian Weber had been his guest on the hill. He knew something about the place; Christian Weber thought it was a good place to hide Dietrich Eckart. Büchner lived in the Moritz guesthouse.
One day Röhm called me asking that I should come right away to the Wehrkreiskommando!6 There was a military warrant office working with the police. I learned from the military what was being planned. Röhm told me:
“They want to try to arrest Eckart tonight. I would suggest taking him away!” I noticed that the criminal police was already passing by the street more often. Later Röhm told me: “I just have heard that they closed the roads outside Munich. I will give you a car belonging to the Reichswehr. Drive him with your car to the English Garden7 there we will switch to the car of the Reichswehr.” “Yes,” I replied, “but he will not leave alone. He thinks he cannot be without other people.” Röhm: “Even better if the car is full.” I went to talk to Drexler: “Drexler, do you want to go away for a couple of weeks with Dietrich Eckart?” He was enthusiastic. Eckart at first did not want to go but by the evening—it was in winter 1922–23 he was moved. They drove up, although there was still a lot of snow up there. But I don’t know anything else about that trip. On the next day the criminal police came directly to see me. That time we treated them quite roughly! When we noticed that someone was tapping our phones, we would say: For God’s sake another police monkey is on the line!” They didn’t find out anything. Christian Weber was always keeping us informed. I only knew that he was in a guest house above Berchtesgaden. One day in April I went up and took my younger sister and Hirtreiterin with me. I told them I had a meeting with some gentlemen there and left them down in Berchtesgaden to walk up with Weber. The way up was steep and seemed to be endless! We took a narrow path in the snow. “Are you crazy? I asked. When does this path end? Do you think I will climb the Himalayas as if I were suddenly a chamois? For God’s sake, couldn’t you find a better place? If it takes as much time as up to now, I would rather go back down, spend the night and return during daytime.” He answered: “We are just about there.” And suddenly I saw a house in front of me: the Moritz guesthouse.
“Do we even have rooms?” “No, but you may take any room if there are no boots in front of the door! — Actually we could not make a reservation by phone. “Let’s have a look whether Dietrich Eckart is in.” We knocked at the door: “Didi, this is the Wolf!” He appeared in his nightshirt with his hairy legs. Greetings. He was happily surprised and really touched. “What time do I have to get up in the morning?” I asked finally. “About seven, at half past seven it is the most beautiful!” I had not seen anything of the landscape yet. I woke up the next morning, when all is completely bright. I step out on the stoop and saw the beautiful landscape! A marvelous view of the Untersberg indescribable! Eckart was already downstairs and Mrs. Büchner was there smiling. Eckart introduced me to Büchners: “This is my young friend, Mr. Wolf!” No one had a clue that I was the notorious Adolf Hitler!” Eckart was known there as Dr. Hoffmann. At noontime Eckart said: “You have to come along to the Türkenwirt. Even as an Austrian they serve a real goulash. They welcomed him than as Herr Doktor. I realized that they all knew who he really was. When I questioned him with some worry he said that “There are no traitors up here!” In Freilassing he once appeared as Dr. Hoffmann at a rally and in the excitement he revealed his true identity. “What are you talking about, I know better than anyone, I am Dietrich Eckart!”
Soon I had to return to Munich. But whenever I had some time I would slip out. We made day trips: At the Purtscheller house once Dietrich Eckart became upset. During the night a mighty storm roared and it seemed as though the house would be blown away! Dietrich Eckart was cursing at how stupid it was to be trapped in a house like this. One day Büchner took him up on a motorbike, which was a great performance!
We were unable to stop too close to the guesthouse. There were hints that a police squad had arrived. One afternoon we moved Eckart to the Goell-house. And as always whenever he moved he took his bedding and his coffee mill along with him.
The Obersalzberg was such a glorious place for me. I fell in love with the landscape, The only persons who knew who I was were Büchners, but they kept the secret. People knew me as Mr. Wolf. But one day the secret leaked out!
I wanted to go to the Deutsche Tag8 in Passau. I found it amusing to listen to the debates about Hitler around the tables. There was a man from Holstein and his beautiful young wife. As we sat at the table he said: “I have come from Holstein to Berchtesgaden, I must have a look at this man at least once. I will drive to Passau.”
It looked as if I were about to lose my cover! I said I was also driving over there, and I am interested in this as well. “If you agree I give you a ride in my car.” “Great idea, he replied.” Wearing our overcoats the next day we walked down to Berchtesgaden where we took the car. Arriving in Passau another car was waiting for us. We stopped and I went to the car and told the men: “Don't say who I really am. I am Mr. Wolf.” Since there were no pictures of me, those who did not know me, could not know what I looked like. Maurice whispered that we should take off our overcoats. I told the Holsteiner gentleman that I had some work to do downtown, and that he could feel free to take the other car. I would be there soon. As we arrived in the hall he was already sitting inside and you could hear the shouting. The man had the most dumbfounded look on his face that I ever saw. Suddenly he saw me coming on the stage, starting to talk and he was staring at me as if I were a ghost. At the end there was a terrible brawl and Schreck was arrested. We (the man from Holstein and I) drove back home together. He (Schreck) was now gone. I told him: “Don't tell anybody! Otherwise I will have to move and I don't have a place to stay.” Göring was driving the car on the way back. He was driving very rough and I felt really sick. Suddenly in a curve near Tittmoning we crashed into a dungheap! Later on Maurice drove us up.
Next day on the Obersalzberg the Holsteiner’s wife came downstairs and stared at me. But she acted as if she didn’t know anything. It was very clear that he had told his wife [everything]. But he didn’t mention it to anyone else.
I was already supposed to speak in Berchtesgaden. And finally it could no longer be avoided: there would be a “German Day” in Berchtesgaden! Pg.9 Adolf Hitler will appear! What excitement in the guesthouse. Everyone at the guesthouse, some 40 to 50 people, walked down to meet this person. They specially arranged an early lunch. I went down on the motorbike and all the people from my guesthouse were sitting there! They thought that the people were shouting at anybody who walked in. I stepped up to the podium. They stared at me as though I were a madman. — The audience was out of its mind! But when I returned to the guesthouse the charming atmosphere was broken for me. All those who had criticized me earlier were now ashamed.
The period when no one knew who I was, was the best. How I enjoyed traveling through the other parts of the Reich! They never thought I was Hitler, always someone else.
In 1925—one of my very first trips was up to return to visit the Büchners. I told them: “I need to do some dictation and need complete silence.” So I went into the small house and worked there. The Büchners left. I have not allowed anything to be done to the Büchners. I judge people on how they behaved during the years of struggle. When the Party was banned, these people supported us. Büchner was quite decent and [some illegible words]. In 1926 or 27 Dressel arrived from Saxony. That was terrible. He was an awfully lazy individual who did not cater to me, and the food was disgusting, and often there were terrible quarrels; his brother-in-law had monumental hangovers. The Hutschenreuter10 girl was nice and she is now working for Amman, she was the housekeeper. He treated her so despicably. She was the daughter of the impoverished porcelain manufacturer, an unhappy person but a fine girl. She was relieved when she was able to leave that place. Dressel did not even give the ten percent service override to the employees. Amman got her out of there. It was so unbearable we could not stay any longer.
I then moved to the Deutsches Haus in Berchtesgaden, to the “Dreimäderlhaus”11 where I have been really spoiled. Each day I went up to the Obersalzberg to the Sharitzkehl12 and then down again. Two and a half hours. It was there that I wrote the second volume [of my book]. I liked being in the Dreimäderlhaus. There were always attractive women there; it was wonderful for me. One was a real beauty; the others were very nice. I stayed in the Deutsche Haus in Berchtesgaden for one and a half to two years—with interruptions—at first at the front and then always in the same room in the back. I was really spoiled there.
Then somebody told me that Haus Wachenfeld13 was up for rent. This was in 1928. Nothing better could have happened, I said to myself. I went over there right away but nobody was in. The old Rasp14 told me: “Both ladies just went out!”
Winter was an important manufacturer from Buxtehude15 and his wife was born Wachenfeld. He named the house after her maiden name. I stayed there waiting and suddenly both [ladies] arrived. “Excuse me, ladies are you the owners of this house? I have heard that you want to rent it.” “Are you Mr. Hitler? We are also among your admirers. We are party members.” “This is excellent!” “Please come in and have a cup of coffee!” I went upstairs and was really enthusiastic. I was particularly enthralled by the enormous room.
“May I rent the entire house?”
“Yes, only the entire house! During wintertime it is empty and only the old Rasp tends to it but this is not the best thing.”
“May I rent it for a whole year and how much does it cost?”
“Well, 100 Marks per month if that is not too expensive to you.”
“I’ll take it right away and in case you want to sell it, let me have the right of first refusal!”
“You would relieve us of a huge headache! We cannot use the house anymore.”
Right after this I called my sister in Vienna: “I rented a house. Would you like to keep the house for me?” She arrived and we moved in right away. It was so wonderful! The first Christmas was fantastic there! Since she was by herself I immediately bought her two dogs. She also had a servant girl with her. Nothing happened to her; on the contrary.
One day I drove to Buxtehude. I had invested considerable money into the property and I wanted to have a notary set a price. Actually I most wanted to buy the house. But the teacher said her sister did not want to give it up because the house came to her from her husband. We came by car from Hamburg and in Buxtehude I asked for Winter’s factory. “Is that the leather factory?”
“Yes, I think so. But the factory burned down last night.”
I thought I just arrive at the right moment.
“And, do you know, where to find the old lady?” I asked the little girl who was giving us information.
“She is in the director’s house, it did not burn down!”
The daughter was the first to see me: “Oh, you arrived! Imagine what happened today! Mother, Adolf Hitler is here!”
A woman appeared: “Oh you are here! I only see you rarely. I think it is a great stroke of luck that you come today. To think that it burned just now! Justice does exist you know!”
During the inflation two Jews bought the factory.
The daughter: “Mother, Mr. Hitler wants to buy the house on the hill.”
She: “Today, because it’s a lucky day. Today I will agree.”
Then she showed me a picture: “Is one not allowed to write a letter when in the military? This rascal, this wretch, is already in the military for three weeks and has not yet written to me!” “He may be involved in an exercise,” I answered.
“Maybe I wronged him,” she said.
I really liked that woman very much—a sincere woman, very similar to Mrs. Hoffmann, a bit taller and thinner, very spry. She was in her eighties.
I then had a short walk with the old lady. She only had the right to remain there.
The factory had been hit by lightning.
That is how I obtained the property.
The Deutsche Haus in Berchtesgaden was very nice. I also liked being there. There were always beautiful women around. One of the three was a real beauty the two others were just pretty. At the time there was a nice hall at the rear.
After the trouble with Dressel I stayed at the Navy Home. But it was unbearable.
The Bechsteins were there and asked me to keep them company. But it was unbearable. Bechsteins also mentioned this and they were really people of the world. There was such unnatural and arrogant behavior so completely different from our own. After what happened with Mr. Modersohn’s luggage I decided to leave. I could no longer stay in a house with people like this. I moved to the Deutsches Haus.
With some interruptions I lived one and a half, almost two years in the Deutsches Haus. At first I had a room in front and later always the same room in the rear.
Yes, I feel very close to this mountain. So many things happened there, were developed and vanished. To me those were the best times of my life. I also keep a good memory of my first house. All my main projects started there. I was always in the company of good friends. And I had lots of time to myself! Now I am like a caged animal. Now I only have the few hours I spend here every night.
The Baroness [Abegg] thought I was an interesting person. Dietrich Eckart had told her: I have a young friend who will one day be an important man. She wanted to know what I was doing. I told her that I was a writer.
How nice it was when I visited Dietrich Eckart in the Franz-Josef-Strasse! And how he took care of Annerl! When he died, she cried bitterly, and told me that never again in her life she would find such an unselfish person. He would always take his bed sheets and coffee mill wherever he went. Since then we’ve all moved on, and for that reason do not realize what he was then: a shining star.
What the others wrote was so silly. But when he put somebody down it was so inspiring! At that time I was still a baby in matters of style. But it is comforting for me to realize that it didn’t come easily to him, everything was the result of very long and patient work. Things I wrote ten years ago I really don’t want to read at all anymore!
Our company at our guesthouse consisted of Dietrich Eckart, Baroness Abegg, Esser, Heinrich Hoffmann and Drexler with his friend Anna. Once I carried up sweating a bust which was thought to be a Donatello in a crate for the Baroness and it actually was simply an ordinary plaster cast!
We spent many pleasant evenings at the Deutsches Haus. Sometimes we stayed at the inn, sometimes we went to visit friends. Gansser would fill the house with his Swabian dialect and was always suspecting signs of criminal activities.
Miezel was a beautiful girl. I knew so many women at that time and some of them really liked me too. But why should I marry and then have to leave a woman by herself? One careless move could land me in prison for six years! So that much was clear: marriage was out of the question. At that time that meant for me that I did not take up some of the opportunities that presented themselves. I held myself back.
Dr. Gansser deserves the party’s eternal gratitude. I owe him many important introductions. Had I not met Richard Frank the Frank in the grain business, I would not have been able to keep the Beobachter [Völkischer Beobachter] going in 1923. The same can be said of the Bechsteins! To think that I drove in his car for months loaded with dynamite. To calm me down he explained “I can only utilize this driver; he is such a fool that he does not understand what I am talking about. If he crashes into another car we shall all blow up! If you ever hear an explosion in the Brückenallee, it was me!”
When traveling, Eckart was the most punctual man in the world and Gansser the least punctual. Eckart always arrived one and a half hours before the train left. Gansser was never around. Eckart told me: “Did you hear from Gansser? I am afraid he will be late again!” And after a while he said to me, “You may not leave because otherwise I will be alone.” At the last second just before the train left Gansser shows up. Loaded with luggage he fights his way from the last compartment where he boarded on the train, to meet us. Eckart told him: “You were born late, that’s the reason.”
Eckart was a Protestant in his thinking but with Gansser he defended Catholicism: the latter would have ended sooner had Luther not appeared! Gansser the son of a pastor defended Martin Luther. Eckart ended the dispute once with the words: “One thing I want you to know, you are nothing but the product of protestant sexuality!”
In Munich I found a large number of very loyal people. Everybody could only lose, nobody could win. I am really affected when I meet the simple folks. They hang on to me and stay around. Small vendors from the Viktualienmarkt16 came to my house, to bring their Herr Hitler two eggs. Pöschl, Fuess and Gahr but also some really simple people. Some of them even become pale. This is really touching to me. I love these people so much! High society only acts according to its own calculations; they see me as an attraction for their drawing rooms, and others are thinking of their own protection. Our newspaper vendors were beaten and boycotted so often. One of our most loyal men since 1920 was the old Jagg. That was a great time! The best time actually in my memory. I still feel loyal to the simple people. I am associated so closely with these people; I know the way they think, their sorrows and pleasures, because I experienced the very same things. For years I lived on Tyrolean Gröstl.17 Hess likewise. We lived so cheaply! Yet I could have had all the bourgeois food I wanted, but we spent every Mark on the party. Ludendorff’s servant, the little Neuner, was also a loyal fellow. So were a few aristocrats, Herr von Stransky, Scheubner-Richter and von der Pfordten. The wildest extremes came together in my movement. My political milieu came from every area of Germany. The core of my leadership group did not change.
It is a great time if one imagines that a completely unknown person sets out to capture a nation and that 15 years later he actually is the Reich Chancellor! But my good fortune was that I had strong personalities among my supporters.
* * *
The Führer spoke more or less as follows among other matters along the following lines:
First comes the snow and then the frost! That’s what is written in the books on Russia and Hilger19 told me exactly the same thing. As you can see one cannot rely on all these observations. You may calculate the expected average temperature by using a great many years but one has to consider that the change in temperature in any given year may vary very much more than the calculated average.
This led to the shock of the unexpected situation and that the men were not equipped for it. And the tactics of our commanders needed to adapt to those realities first. Now we allow the Soviet units to break through without leaving our positions. They are then eliminated behind our lines or they rot in the villages because they lack any supplies. So there you have to keep your nerve, and speaking openly, my predecessor20 did not kept his nerve.
Generals have to be cold blooded dogs, unpleasant persons like those I have in my party. Those are the kinds of soldiers you need in a situation like this. Without the frost we could have covered an additional 600 km. We were so close. Only Providence preserved us from a catastrophe.
The oil we needed we already had. Then a real idiot comes along and invents a general purpose oil! I am so angry with all those departments. All the planning done by people who were not involved in production at the same time leads to mistaken results.
What we call beauty is a matter for peacetime. For war I need railroad engines that will last for 5 to 6 years. I can therefore dismiss any plans that will keep an engine running for another 10 years.
Recently a new Messerschmitt fell into enemy hands. They were shocked. An American publication said they were convinced that the Germans did not have good quality equipment. Now one must admit that it may take three years before America can produce something comparable to the quality of this airplane. To use American planes against it would be like suicide.
Now a German airplane surely requires at least six times more work than an American one.
Our tactic on Malta is to attack constantly so that the English have to shoot steadily. We have only very few losses in this. Even the Italian planes far outclass the Hurricane.
The Italians made another one of their torpedo attacks in Alexandria. The English believe that very brave men undertake such attacks.
The Italians made the same mistakes in using their forces as we did because of the weather: a paralyzing shock.
* * *
The Führer spoke more or less as follows:
My entire life was nothing other than a relentless effort at persuasion.
In 1932 at the Kaiserhof I had a meeting with Meissner for several hours. He told me that he had been a Democrat all his life, perhaps of a different tendency than we would think. In fact we are not so far from one another and he will do everything to help us with the Old Man.22 This is not at all that easy because the Old Man on the basis of his background is in his opinions remarkably hostile to us. I must say that Meissner was the first one to inform me in a convincing manner about the Old Man’s life. Whom could he count on? The German Nationalists were incompetent. He will not do anything against the constitution. So what should he do? It is quite an effort for him to work with certain Social Democrats and some of the Center Party. Added to this was his animosity toward Hugenberg who had called him a traitor in 1925 simply because he kept Meissner on the job.
The Old Man invited me: “Herr Hitler I want to hear your ideas in your own words!” It was terribly difficult to discuss any outlook across such differences of opinion. It was difficult to find commonalities of a political nature but much easier on matters relating to military aspects. By the time I had finished he was in agreement. And then he remembered something that had happened in East Prussia: “Your young people should not behave like that. Recently they screamed at Tannenberg ‘Wake up, wake up!’ I am not at all asleep.” Some people there had convinced him that the cry was meant for him. But the people were screaming “Germany wake up!” Right after this meeting Hindenburg informed me that he wanted to hear my views if there were decisions to be made. This was already something. But the influence of those hostile to me was still strong and in 1933 I could only speak to him in the presence of von Papen. One day that von Papen was traveling, I went to see him alone. “Why is von Papen always around? I just want to talk with you!” When von Papen returned he regretted having made the trip. The Old Man thought he was some kind of airhead, but I think he liked him. Von Papen handled him perfectly. Papen also did a real service. Von Papen took the first step, he was the one who broke the holy constitution! It was clear that he could not go forward.
Antonescu will lose if he fails to get through to his people. Any leader who is just an executive cannot survive. Ataturk secured his rule because of his People’s Party. In Italy it works the same way. If something happened to Antonescu today he has no element that could determine the succession. The pretenders in the army would start to compete immediately. I would have executed Horia Sima and then built up the Legion to hold power.
Without a political foundation you cannot manage any kind of succession or even the existing political administration. In this the Romanians are at a loss compared to the Hungarians. The Hungarian State on the one hand has a parliament—a situation that would be unbearable for us—but on the other hand an independent executive.
Von Papen’s misfortune was that he lacked support. We were not powerful enough to prop him up, and I would not have done it because he was not the one we wanted.
In the Reich and in the states we had a yearly deficit of five and a half billion. In addition to that we owed another five billion to our enemies, the Allies. When he returned from Geneva, he told me it was a “great success,” compared to the 150 billion that were on paper! “On January 30th we had 83 million in the Reich treasury!” I asked him: “How do you propose to pay?” “But we must pay; otherwise we will be forced into bankruptcy!”
“What do you mean forced? They have nothing to force us with!”
When I asked for three billion for rearmament they told me about our commitments to foreign countries. “You want to spend this on foreign countries, it’s better to use it in the homeland!” I answered.
I explained our position to the British Ambassador when he presented his credentials. He replied: “You are saying that the new Germany will not meet its obligations that the former government had agreed to?”
“Regularly negotiated treaties, of course.” I replied “But not blackmail! Everything that was signed at the Treaty of Versailles I consider as blackmail.” “Well then” he replied “I will report this to my Government immediately.”
Neither England nor France made any further demands for any payment from us!
In this case I never was afraid of the English but I was worried that the French might use it to occupy Mainz.
* * *
The Führer spoke more or less as follows among other topics:
If somebody asks why you don’t change your Party’s program? My answer is: Why should I change it? It is a matter of history that the movement was founded on this program on February 24, 1919. If changes occur, it is life that makes the changes. I am not a weekly medical or military magazine that must regularly present the latest findings!
What luck it is for those who govern that people don’t think. Thinking is done only by the one issuing or carrying out an order. If it were any different human society could not exist.
The difficulties we face are not really the winter itself but to have the men and not being able to transport them, to have ammunition and be unable to bring it forward and to have weapons we cannot bring forward. If the railways don’t work the next time for me!
It is better that I speak on the 30th rather than Dr. G!24 I know how to keep the balance between encouragement, facts and rhetoric. In his last appeal G. told the men at the front to stay strong and calm. I would not have spoken that way! A soldier in this situation is not calm but strong-willed! Only someone who has been through a similar experience can understand this.
Somewhere a skull is found and the whole world says, “This is what our ancestors looked like!” Who knows whether the Neanderthal man was not really an ape! Clearly our ancestors do not come from there at those times! Our country must have been only made of mud and they may only have crossed it. If somebody asks for our ancestors we should always to refer to the Greeks.
* * *
The Führer gave his views among other topics more or less as follows:
I constantly found it difficult to prevent my men from engaging in duels. I then just forbade them. Some of my best people were shot for such nonsense. And for what reasons! Once we sat in the Reichsadler. Hess was there with his wife and his sister-in-law. A rather drunken student appeared and bothered the ladies. Hess asked him to come outside and told him what he thought. On the next day two of those monkeys appeared asking him to accept a duel, because he had imparted instructions to a corps student. I forbade that he accept and had both come to see me. I told them “Here is a man who faced the enemy for four years. Are you not ashamed?”
Holzschuher was involved in another such case. He was supposed to be called out for that. This case was so crazy! I said: Lunacy! I knew that some people were putting their lives in danger by going to certain Party local meetings! Should anyone want to lose his life he can go there! I didn’t know of a single case that was not simply a bad joke!
An irreplaceable loss was Strunk—our only world class journalist. His wife was offended and he got shot dead! What kind of logic is that? Once in 1923 Dietrich Eckart received some 16 or 17 duel challenges for some reason from some young fellows. I intervened on that occasion. They all respected me.
There may be cases where two people can have a conflict that cannot be judged by a court of law. If two adversaries cannot agree about a woman, it has to be decided somehow. One must bow out.
Now at war there can be no time and no tolerance for such events. And they are of no value to the Nation. I am extremely tolerant if there are disputes among farmers in a village. A fellow cannot remain in the village without fighting for his girl. I do not take that as a tragedy. It happens that a court will sentence a man for murder, when it’s just manslaughter. The accused only needs to have said once that some day he would kill. This is seen as a link between intent and action. What would happen if we treat like murders all those who said this once on the farms. If I see cases like these and they are decent guys I will close one eye. The punishment is commuted into a prison sentence and after a very short time they will be paroled.
Who today has the right to defend his [honour]? There is no special honour. If the German Labour Front claimed the right to duel, there would only be a few unhappy people without honour left in Germany. I would really only allow duels between the clergy and between the lawyers!
There are so many more honourable ways and opportunities to prove one’s importance for the nation. We must put high standards in this area. Compared to the great things in life these cases appear unimportant. And how many families have had misfortune because of this?
A duel proves nothing. Somebody may be right a thousand times, but if the other shoots better, he looses. What counts is who is the best shot.
* * *
The Führer spoke more or less as follows:
Besides the many extremely good things in the old Imperial army there was also a lot that was much too old. That is the reason why Social Democracy appeared. It never would have happened had the army and navy not done everything to separate the worker from the people and included him. He couldn’t become anything! An arrangement that had to have dire consequences!
The rank of the staff-sergeant [NCO] acting as a Lieutenant and of the deputy officer was a fateful mistake. Each regiment has some excellent officers you can count on. So many of those [other staff sergeants] were capable but didn’t have the opportunity. On the other hand, every teacher could automatically become an officer. So many became that but failed absolutely. But you cannot generalize about this. Given a chance, if you know a man can lead he must receive the rank to lead a group. Only a captain in rank should normally lead a company. That is appropriate for his authority. It happened that staff sergeants led a company for two years or that a first lieutenant led a battalion. The troops deserve that their leader be given the rank he has earned. The same counts for the regiment commanders. A major should not lead here and a colonel there just for formal reasons. In peace time a certain regularity necessarily operates.
I am sceptical about all officers with an interest in educational activity. It’s questionable whether they can act appropriately at a critical moment. In a modern battle a company commander who is older than 40 is an absurdity. Company commanders should be 26; a regimental commander should be in his mid-thirties and a division leader age 40! I recently checked the generals’ list. They all are much too old. I will not make my decisions as to how a man can be deployed by looking at the seniority list!
* * *
The Führer spoke more or less as follows:
It is not impossible that we can solve the nationality problems with steady leadership within two hundred years. When the Thirty Years’ War began the situation was already far along. In the forties during the last century every Czech was ashamed to speak the Czech language. He was very proud to speak German and most proud to be mistaken for Viennese. The institution of the universal right to vote had to lead to the collapse of Germans in Austria. The Social Democrats basically went with the Czechs and the high aristocracy acted the same way. The German people are too intelligent for the aristocrats; they preferred the small peoples on the borders. The Czechs were better than the Hungarians, the Romanians and the Poles. A hard-working petty-bourgeoisie was created which was aware of its own limits. Even today they look up to us with anger and boundless admiration: we Bohemians are not destined to rule! Only by ruling alien peoples can one learn how to lead. The Czechs would have lost their inferiority feeling after a time, if over time they felt superior to the other Austrian border peoples. The situation before March 1939 is now incomprehensible! How impossible that was! After centuries of turning inward we must learn to move forward. This will take fifty to one hundred years. We were once able to rule others! The best example for that is Austria. Had the Habsburgs not allied themselves with the opposition, the 9 million Germans could have easily ruled the other fifty million. They say that the Indians are fighting for the English. But in Austria the other peoples also were fighting for the Germans. The gift to dominate comes naturally to everyone in Lower Saxony. The British ruling class came from there! With its recruiting method the SS is bringing together the leading reservoir of leadership with which one can rule the whole area in one hundred years without having to hesitate about who gets what job. What is important is to leave the narrowness of local pettiness behind. That’s why I am pleased that we are in Norway and elsewhere. The Swiss are nothing but a defective offshoot of our people. We have lost some Germans who are Berbers in North Africa and Kurds in Asia Minor. One of them was Kemal Ataturk, a blue-eyed man who had nothing in common with the Turks.
* * *
The Führer spoke more or less as follows:
Your rearmaments in peacetime must be based on the raw materials you will also have in wartime! When the 4-Year Plan was created in 1936 we were forced to find alternative materials. You have no idea what the armament of a one million man army requires in optical equipment alone!
In England there will come [to power] a group that understands: there is nothing for us to gain in Europe. To the 16 billion in outstanding debts we still have from the last war we can add another 200 billion! The Conservatives will say that only if they are willing to lose India they could possibly achieve a cheap, rapid success in Northern Norway for example. Can New Zealand and Australia perhaps be held? India must be held!!
From a capitalist point of view England is the wealthiest country in the world. The bourgeoisie becomes heroic if you pinch its purse. Only two possibilities are left: They liquidate Europe and keep the East or vice versa: both cannot be held on to!
A government change will come about together with the decision to abandon Europe. They will keep Churchill in his position as long as he is willing to continue this war under any circumstances.
If they really were clever they would end the war because that way they would deal Roosevelt the hardest blow. They could say: “England is not in a position to continue the war. You cannot help us and that forces us to take a different position toward Europe.” With that the American economy would crash and Roosevelt would also collapse.
* * *
Führerhauptquartier, 18.1.1942, abends
Der Chef sprach sich u.s. in ungefähr folgenden Gedanken-Güngen aus:
Mein ganzes Leben war nichts als ein ständiges überreden.
1932 hatte ich im Kaiserhof eine mehrstündige Unterredung mit Meissner; er sagte mir, er sei sein Leben lang Demokrat gewesen, abe vielleicht in anderer Richtung, als wir uns das dächten, in Wirklichkeit stünden wir uns garnicht so fern und er volle alles tun, um uns beim alten Herrn zu helfen; leicht sei das nicht, da der alte Herr durch seine ganze Auffassung ausgesprochen feindlich gegen uns eingestellt sei. Ich muse sagen, dass mir Meissner eigentlich doch als Erster das Leben des alten Herrn in einer sehr überzeugenden Form geschildert hat. Auf wen sollwer such stützen? Die Deutschenationalen sind unfähig. Gegen die Verfassung geht er nicht, was soll er machen? Es war ihm eine grosse Überwindung, mit gewissen Sozialdemokraten und Zentrumsleuten zusammenzuarbeiten. Dazu kam seine Abneigung gegen Hugenberg, der ihn 1925 als Landesversäter bezeichnet hatte schon deshalb, weil er den Meissner behalten hat.
Der alte Herr hat mich singeladen: Herr Hitler, ich will hören, was Sie für Gedanken haben! Es war wahnsinnig schwer, über einene solchen Abgrund weg eine Weltanschauung zu vermitteln. Anknüpfen konnte ich nur an militärische Erkenntnisse über die Notwendigkeit des Aufbaus einer Organisation. Die Brüke zum Soldaten habe ich so-
1. Appendix I was translated from the original German document in the Library of Congress by Ursula M. Fux.
2. This text corresponds to section 100 in the main text.
3. Hitler’s sister.
4. Most likely the initials of Gerda Daranowski, one of Hitler’s secretaries.
5. This text corresponds to section 110 in the main text.
6. Wehrkreiskommando—the military district headquarters in Munich.
7. English Garden—a city park in Munich.
8. Deutsche Tag — a Nazi Party celebratory public gathering.
9. Pg — Parteigenosse, short for party member.
10. Hutschenreuter — Well-known German porcelain manufacturing family.
11. Dreimäderlhaus — A house kept by three women.
12. Scharitzkehl — Excursion location near Berchtesgaden.
13. Haus Wachenfeld — name of a private cottage in the mountains.
14. Rasp — Housekeeper.
15. Buxtehude — Small town near Hamburg.
16. Viktualienmarkt — Popular daily market in Munich.
17. Gröstl — Leftover food, traditionally potatoes and pork meat.
18. This text corresponds to section 111 in the main text.
19. Hilger — Long an important official in the German embassy in Moscow.
20. Predecessor — Hitler here refers to Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, whom he had sacked in December, 1941.
21. This text corresponds to section 112 in the main text.
22. The reference is to German President Paul von Hindenburg.
23. This text corresponds to section 113 in the main text.
24. Dr. G. is Dr. Goebbels.
25. This text corresponds to section 114 in the main text.
26. This text corresponds to section 115 in the main text.
27. This text corresponds to section 116 in the main text.
28. This text corresponds to section 120 in the main text.