Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 (152 page)

121 
Der Hitler-Prozess
, part 4, pp. 1591f.; Rudolf Hess called Hitler’s concluding statement “probably one of the best and most powerful speeches he’s ever given.” Hess,
Briefe
, p. 317 (dated 2 April 1924).

122 
Der Hitler-Prozess
, part 4, p. 1593.

123 
See the exact wording of the court’s verdict in Gritschneder,
Bewährungsfrist
, pp. 67–94. Gottfried Feder was “deeply shaken” by the court’s ruling. G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 5 (entry for 1 April 1924); IfZ Munich, ED 874.

124 
Extract from the report by the
Münchener Neueste Nachrichten
in
Der Hitler-Prozess
, part 4, pp. 1597–9 (quotation on p. 1599).

125 
Quoted in Large,
Where Ghosts Walked
, p. 194; see Clemens,
Herr Hitler in Germany
, p. 88.

126 
Die Weltbühne
, (10 April 1924), p. 466 (reprint 1978).

127 
Gritschneder,
Bewährungsfrist
, p. 92.

128 
See Andreas Heusler,
Das Braune Haus: Wie München zur “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” wurde
, Munich, 2008, p. 105.

129 
In comparison, see Ian Kershaw,
Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris
, London, 1998, pp. 223ff., who asserts that Hitler first presented himself as the “Führer” during his Landsberg incarceration. Likewise Herbst,
Hitlers Charisma
, pp. 178ff.

130 
Hitler,
Monologe
, p. 262 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942). See also Hitler’s speech in Weimar on 20 Oct. 1926, in which he said that he had no intention to take a step like the one he had back in 1923. Adolf Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 2: Vom Weimarer Parteitag bis zur Reichstagswahl Juli 1926–Mai 1928. Part 1: Juli 1926–Juli 1927
, ed. and annotated Bärbel Dusik, Munich, London, New York and Paris, 1992, no. 39, p. 79.

131 
Sebastian Haffner,
Germany: Jekyll & Hyde—Deutschland von innen betrachtet
, Berlin, 1996, p. 21. See also
idem
,
Anmerkungen zu Hitler
, 21st edition, Munich, 1978, p. 9. Fest (
Hitler
, p. 282), also speaks of a “veritably suicidal make-up.”

132 
See Johannes Kunisch,
Friedrich der Grosse: Der König und seine Zeit
, Munich, 2004, pp. 173, 209, 368, 373, 407.

133 
In an essay that served as a preliminary version of his account of the Hitler putsch in the third volume of his memoirs, Karl Alexander von Müller noted: “There were already signs that should have given us pause for thought: the ruthlessness with which he broke his word to Kahr and Lossow; the wild yet cold-blooded gamble of a putsch that could have resulted in a blood-bath; and the even riskier move of ordering a march through the city, which indeed cost a number of people their lives, while he fled.” BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 101.

134 
Der Hitler-Prozess
, part 2, p. 738.

135 
Only in a letter at the end of February 1924 did Rudolf Hess consider whether it would not have been wiser “to delay the operation, not to do things too hastily…But it’s of course easy to recognise in hindsight that there was still time!” Hess to Ilse Pröhl, 28 February 1924; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33.

7
Landsberg Prison and
Mein Kampf

1 
Hans Frank,
Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse
, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, pp. 46f.

2 
Konrad Heiden,
Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie
, Zurich, 1936, p. 188.

3 
Adolf Hitler,
Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905–1924
, ed. Eberhard Jäckel with Axel Kuhn, Stuttgart, 1980, no. 636, p. 1232. See Rudolf Hess,
Briefe 1908–1933
, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 317 (dated 2 April 1924). In the six months he still had to serve, wrote Hess, Hitler “will have the chance to further edify and educate himself in peace.”

4 
Adolf Hitler,
Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims
, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 262 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942).

5 
Ibid., p. 49 (dated 27/28 July 1941). See Hess,
Briefe
, p. 391 (dated 8 March 1928). Hess quotes Hitler saying that his enemies would have every reason to regret imprisoning him: “Here he had time to collect himself and arrive at some fundamental conclusions.”

6 
Hitler,
Monologe
, p. 262 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942).

7 
Hess,
Briefe
, p. 338 (dated 18 June 1924). See also Rudolf Hess to Heinrich Heim, 16 July 1924. Hess wrote that it was not until Landsberg that he “first completely comprehended the massive importance” of Hitler as a person; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 6/71. In a speech after being released from Landsberg in November 1924, the law student Hermann Fobke declared: “I would like it if you too would recognise that this man justifies the faith we put in him, namely that he can be the leader who takes us on the path to our ultimate goal: a free, ethnically based Greater Germany.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/901.

8 
Carl von Ossietzky,
Sämtliche Schriften. Vol. 2: 1922–1924
, ed. Bärbel Boldt, Dirk Grathoff and Michael Sartorius, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994, p. 335.

9 
Ernst Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters
, Munich, 1970, p. 157. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 122: “You could have opened a flower shop, a vegetable shop and a wine store with all the stuff that piled up.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

10 
Otto Lurker,
Hitler hinter Festungsmauern: Ein Bild aus trüben Tagen
, Berlin, 1933, p. 20. See Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, pp. 49f.; IfZ München, ED 153.

11 
Ernst Deuerlein (ed.),
Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten
, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 232.

12 
Lurker,
Hitler hinter Festungsmauern
, pp. 57f.; for the visitor list see Ernst Piper,
Alfred Rosenberg: Hitlers Chefideologe
, Munich, 2005, p. 101; Othmar Plöckinger,
Geschichte eines Buches: Adolf Hitlers “Mein Kampf” 1922–1945
, Munich, 2006, p. 33.

13 
BA Berlin-Lichterfelde NS 10/123, with the handwritten addition “To the Führer from his old fellow traveller in the struggle, Elsa Bruckmann, 24 September ’34.”

14 
See Lurker,
Hitler hinter Festungsmauern
, pp. 18, 21; Hans Kallenbach,
Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg
, Munich, 1933, p. 82. Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, p. 32; IfZ München, ED 153. For Hitler’s predilection for Bavarian traditional dress see Hitler,
Monologe
, pp. 282f. (dated 17 Feb. 1942).

15 
Hess,
Briefe
, p. 326 (dated 18 May 1924); see also ibid., pp. 323f. (dated 16 May 1924): “He looks better now that he’s well-fed and there’s no chance for him to run willy-nilly from one meeting to another until deep into the night.”

16 
See the register of prisoners in Landsberg in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/66; Kallenbach,
Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg
, pp. 55f.; Lurker,
Hitler hinter Festungsmauern
, p. 32; Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, pp. 24, 26; IfZ München, ED 153.

17 
Kallenbach,
Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg
, p. 45.

18 
Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus
, p. 157; see Kallenbach,
Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg
, pp. 66f. According to Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs (p. 32), Hitler served as a referee and donated books and tobacco as prizes for the winners; IfZ München, ED 153. On the sports competitions see also Rudolf Hess’s letter to his father Fritz Hess; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33.

19 
Kallenbach,
Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg
, p. 77.

20 
Ibid., pp. 115–17; see also Lurker,
Hitler hinter Festungsmauern
, p. 55.

21 
Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus
, p. 156; see Hess,
Briefe
, p. 323 (dated 16 May 1924): “The treatment is beyond reproach, the absolute definition of ‘honourable.’ ” See also Hitler,
Monologe
, p. 113 (29 Oct. 1941): “None of the prison guards ever insulted us.”

22 
Quoted in Plöckinger,
Geschichte eines Buches
, p. 30n6.

23 
Kallenbach,
Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg
, p. 117.

24 
See Plöckinger,
Geschichte eines Buches
, p. 26. An issue of “The Landsberg Honorary Citizen” with the subtitle “Gazette of the Prisoners of Landsberg am Lech” in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/92. See also Lurker,
Hitler hinter Festugsmauern
, p. 35; Kallenbach,
Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg
, p. 113.

25 
Hitler,
Monologe
, p. 113 (dated 29 Oct. 1941).

26 
Hess,
Briefe
, p. 344 (dated 5 July 1924).

27 
See David Jablonsky,
The Nazi Party in Dissolution: Hitler and the Verbotszeit 1923–1925
, London, 1989, pp. 28ff.

28 
See Piper,
Rosenberg
, p. 97.

29 
As in Alan Bullock,
Hitler: A Study in Tyranny
, London, 1990, p. 122. Ian Kershaw,
Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris
, London, 1998, pp. 225f., disagrees, stressing Hitler’s belief in Rosenberg’s loyalty as a main motive. Piper (
Rosenberg
, pp. 97f.) agrees.

30 
Albrecht Tyrell,
Führer befiehl…Selbstzeugnisse aus der “Kampfzeit” der NSDAP: Dokumentation und Analyse
, Düsseldorf, 1969, doc. 22a, pp. 72f. See also party leadership of the NSDAP (“Rolf Eidhalt”) to the local Straubing chapter on 5 Dec. 1923, stating that the character of the movement as a “secret organisation” would free local chapters of “lukewarm members just going along for the ride.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/89.

31 
Speech by Hermann Fobke in Göttingen in Nov. 1924; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/901. See Hess,
Briefe
, p. 324 (dated 16 May 1924): “Of course we miss him on the outside, his unifying personality and the authority which makes small-time blowhards give in.” See also Wolfgang Horn,
Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung: Die NSDAP bis 1933
, Düsseldorf, 1980, p. 174.

32 
Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus
, p. 159.

33 
See Jablonsky,
The Nazi Party in Dissolution
, p. 54; Tyrell,
Führer befiehl
, p. 68; Horn,
Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung
, pp. 177f.

34 
Tyrell,
Führer befiehl
, doc. 31, pp. 81–3 (quote on p. 82). See ibid., doc. 23, pp. 73f.

35 
See Martin H. Geyer,
Verkehrte Welt: Revolution, Inflation und Moderne. München 1914–1924
, Göttingen, 1998, pp. 355f.; Jablonsky,
The Nazi Party in Dissolution
, pp. 82f.; Horn,
Der Weg zur Machtergreifung
, pp. 178f.

36 
See Horn,
Der Weg zur Machtergreifung
, pp. 163, 184; Piper,
Rosenberg
, pp. 104f.

37 
For the results of the Reichstag elections see Tyrell,
Führer befiehl
, doc. no. 25, p. 76; for the electoral pact ibid., doc. 24b, p. 75. Gottfried Feder travelled to Landsberg on 9 May, where Hitler was “very charming and warm” and congratulated him on the election. G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 5 (entry for 9 May 1924); IfZ München, ED 874.

38 
See Jablonsky,
The Nazi Party in Dissolution
, pp. 86f.; Kershaw,
Hitler: Hubris
, p. 229. By contrast, in an “open letter to Herr von Graefe” on 17 March 1926, Hitler clearly contended that he had been against the merger from the very beginning: “To me during my imprisonment, the thought that my marvellous popular movement could be handed over to a clique of parliamentarians was worse than the lack of liberty itself.” Adolf Hitler,
Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 1: Die Wiedergründung der NSDAP Februar 1925–Juni 1926
, ed. and annotated Clemens Vollnhals, Munich, London, New York and Paris, 1992, no. 111, pp. 343f.

39 
G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 5 (entry for 24 May 1924); IfZ München, ED 874. Full text of the declaration of 26 May 1924 in Horn,
Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung
, p. 187.

40 
Tyrell,
Führer befiehl
, doc. 27, pp. 77f.

41 
See Jochen Haupt’s pamphlet “Über die organisatorischen Massnahmen zur Fortsetzung der nationalsozialistischen Parteiarbeit in Norddeutschland,” in Werner Jochmann,
Nationalsozialismus und Revolution: Ursprung und Geschichte der NSDAP in Hamburg 1922–1933. Dokumente
, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, doc. 16, pp. 69–72.