Hitler (149 page)

6. Karl Jaspers,
Man in the Modern Age,
p. 10.

7.
Ibid.,
p. 63.

8. Bertolt Brecht,
Gesammelte Werke,
vol. 2, Frankfurt am Main, 1967, pp. 561 ff.

9. Thorstein Veblen,
Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution, p. 86.

10. Julien Benda,
The Betrayal of the Intellectuals,
p. 135.

11. Friedrich Nietzsche, “The Dawn,” in: Walter Kaufmann, ed. and trans.,
The Portable Nietzsche,
p. 84.

12. Hermann Bahr,
Der Antisemitismus. Ein internationales Interview.
Bahr's publication was based on conversations with many German and European writers and people in public life.

13. Werner Sombart,
Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben,
pp. 140 f. See also the thoughtful comments on it in Eva G. Reichmann,
Flucht in den Hass,
pp. 82 ff. But cf. also Franz Neumann,
Behemoth,
p. 121. Neumann argued that anti-Semitism in Germany was extremely feeble and that the German people were “the least anti-Semitic”; this very fact, he held, was what made anti-Semitism a suitable weapon for Hitler.

14.
VB,
April 6, 1920. Arthur Moeller van den Bruck spoke of the “German mania for taking over all the ideas of the Westerners,” as though it were an honor to be received into the circle of the liberal nations.

15.
Libres propos,
p. 225. After eating, Hitler regularly rinsed his mouth; out of doors he almost always wore gloves, at least in his later years. Cf. also Kubizek, p. 286. The fear of venereal infection was, it is true, the prevailing anxiety of that whole generation. Zweig,
Die Welt von gestern,
pp. 105 ff., speaks of the extent to which it dominated people's minds in Vienna.

16. The quotations and references are taken from, in order,
VB
of March 3, 1920, September 12, 1920, January 10, 1923,
Mein Kampf,
pp. 233 ff. and 257 ff. For this whole context cf. Nolte,
Epoche,
pp. 480 ff., where the central importance of anxiety as a factor in Hitler's conduct as a whole is discussed. Similarly, Franz Neumann in his “Notizen zur Theorie der Diktatur” has pointed out the function of anxiety in the totalitarian state. See his
Demokratischer und autoritärer Staat,
pp. 242 ff. and 261 ff., where the verdict is rendered that Germany in that phase of its history was “the land of alienation and anxiety.”

17.
Tischgespräche,
p. 471.

18. Preiss, p. 152; also
VB
of January 1, 1921, and March 10, 1920—which, incidentally, appeared under the banner headline of: “Clean Out the Jews!” The article demanded immediate expulsion of all Jews who had immigrated after August 1, 1914, and the removal of all others from “all government posts, newspapers, theaters, and motion picture houses.” Special “collection camps” were to be set up to receive them.

19.
Mein Kampf,
pp. 65, 247, 249.

20. Stefan George, “Das Neue Reich,” in:
Gesamtausgabe,
vol. 9.

21. George L. Mosse, “Die Entstehung des Faschismus,” in:
Internationaler Faschismus 1920–1945,
p. 29.

 

BOOK II

 

1. In the proclamations of the Bavarian People's Party (April 9, 1919), of the Bavarian Landtag (April 19), and in a report of the Bavarian
Gruppenkommando
on “The Bolshevist Danger and Ways of Fighting It” (July 15, 1919), the new men were indiscriminately equated with “elements alien to country and race,” “foreign, politicizing Jews,” “unscrupulous alien scoundrels” from the prisons and penitentiaries, “Jewish rascals,” and “misleaders of labor.” See Franz-Willing,
Die Hitlerbewegung,
pp. 32 ff. This crude propaganda always put Eisner on a par with the Communist leaders Lewien, Levine, and Axelrod, all of whom were in fact Russian
emigres.
The influence of that association has persisted to this day.

2. Josef Hofmiller, “Revolutionstagebuch 1918/1919,” in
Schriften
2, Leipzig, 1938, p. 211. As for the number of victims, the extremely bitter fighting between April 30 and May 8, 1919, took a total of 557 lives, according to the police inquiry. In a report of the army's Military History Research Institute on “The Repression of Soviet Rule in Bavaria in 1919,” published in 1939, the total is subjected to analysis. Of these 557 persons “38 White and 93 Red soldiers, 7 citizens and 7 Russians, fell in battle. In summary executions under martial law 42 members of the Red Army and 144 civilians were shot. No fewer than 184 innocent persons were killed either because of their own foolishness or unfortunate mischance. In forty-two cases the cause of death could not be ascertained. Three hundred and three wounded persons were reported.” Different figures are given by Maser,
Frühgeschichte,
pp. 40 f. Cf. also Emil Gumbel,
Verräter verfallen der Feme,
p. 36 passim.

3.
Mein Kampf,
p. 208. The reference is to Feder's crackpot idea of “smashing interest slavery”; as one of the lecturers he was trying to popularize this notion in his talks.

4. See Ernst Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt in die Politik und die Reichswehr,” in VJHfZ 1959: 2, p. 179. Incidentally, Hitler was not, as he puts it in
Mein Kampf,
p. 215, appointed as an “educational officer,” but was carried on the roster as a “liaison man.” It is a moot question whether his motive in covering up his real activity was a desire to share in the prestige of bourgeois education or in that of officer's rank, or whether he merely wanted to avoid the dubious repute of liaison man, which implied “informer.”

5. The full text of Hitler's letter, which is dated September 16, 1919, is printed by Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt in die Politik und die Reichswehr,” pp. 201 ff.

6. In order to lessen Drexler's importance, Hitler does not give his name (“I had not quite understood his name”). Instead, he repeatedly speaks of him as “that worker,” or uses similar phrases. When at last he has to mention Drexler as the chairman, he does so without indicating that it was Drexler who pressed the pamphlet on him. See
Mein Kampf,
pp. 219 ff.

7.
Mein Kampf,
p. 224. Also Adolf Hitler, “10 Jahre Kampf,” in:
Illustrierter Beobachter,
IV:31 (August 3, 1929).

8.
Mein Kampf,
p. 355.

9.
Mein Kampf,
pp. 293, 353.

10. Cf. the record of the Munich Political Intelligence Service in Reginald H. Phelps, “Hitler als Parteiredner im Jahre 1920,” in: VJHfZ 1963:3, pp. 292 ff. Phelps also relates the story of the finding of the documents he reproduces. Hitler's romanticizing, exaggerated account of the meeting may be found in
Mein Kampf,
pp. 365 ff.

11. The importance of the program was long underestimated, and it was often dismissed as a mere opportunistic propaganda trick. That opinion overlooks the seriousness and the anxious sincerity of those who drafted the program. Hitler himself, moreover, was at that time not playing the kind of part that this interpretation assumes. Recently, more balanced evaluations of the party program have begun to appear; cf., for example, Jacobsen and Jochmann,
Ausgewählte Dokumente,
p. 24, or Nolte,
Epoche,
p. 392. A different view is taken by Bracher,
Diktatur,
p. 98.

12. On the “Protocols” see Günter Schubert,
Anfänge nationalsozialistischer Aussenpolitik,
pp. 33 ff. In the first Hitler speech for which the full text is available, the speech of August 13, 1920, Hitler used many themes from the “Protocols.” Cf. Phelps, “Hitlers grundlegende Rede über den Antisemitismus,” VJHfZ, 1968:4, p. 398.

13. Cf.
Mein Kampf,
p. 170, where Hitler states that “movements with a definite spiritual foundation... can... only be broken with technical instruments of power if these physical weapons are at the same time the support of a new thought, idea or philosophy.” Two pages further on he writes: “Any attempt to combat a philosophy with methods of violence will fail in the end, unless the fight takes the form of attack for a new spiritual attitude.” Similar statements may be found in Hitler's speech of August 13, 1920, VJHfZ, 1968:4, pp. 415, 417.

14. Rauschning,
Gespräche,
pp. 174 f.

15.
Mein Kampf,
p. 485.

16. Deuerlein, “Eintritt,” p. 211 (Doc. 19) and p. 215 (Doc. 24).

17. Dietrich Eckart admitted in
VB,
July 15, 1922, that he had personally received 60,000 marks from General von Epp. The newspaper cost 120.000 marks, and in addition had debts amounting to 250,000 marks. This liability was also assumed by the NSDAP. Hitler himself declared that he “paid a heavy price” for his foolishness at the time; and it appears that the party had to bear the burden of these debts until 1933. As one method of supporting the newspaper, every party member undertook to subscribe to the
VB;
from January, 1921, on the membership dues of.50 mark were supplemented by an equal sum for the support of the party newspaper. The circulation remained static at first, then dropped to almost 8.000 before rising, in the spring of 1922, to 17,500 subscribers. Cf. Dietrich Orlow,
The History of the Nazi Party 1919–1933,
p. 22.

18. Report by Heinrich Derbacher of a meeting with Dietrich Eckart in January, 1920. From the posthumous papers of Anton Drexler, quoted in Deuerlein,
Aufstieg,
p. 104; also, with further quotations, Nolte,
Epoche,
p. 403.

19. Konrad Heiden,
Hitler, a Biography,
cited by Bullock, p. 81.

20. Karl Alexander von Müller,
Im Wandel einer Welt,
p. 129.

21.
Libres propos,
p. 151.

22. Cf. especially the speeches in VJHfZ 1963:3, pp. 289 ff. and VJHfZ 1968:4, pp. 412 ff.

23.
Ibid.,
pp. 107 ff. The party committee's reply is also printed here.

24. Quoted in:
Rudolf Hess, der Stellvertreter des Führers,
no author indicated; published in the series
Zeitgeschichte,
Berlin, 1933, pp. 9 ff.

25. Rauschning,
Gespräche,
p. 81.

26.
Mein Kampf,
pp. 504—06.

27. Speech of August 1, 1923, quoted in Boepple, p. 72.

28. Hitler in
VB,
August 30, 1922; also
Mein Kampf,
p. 100. In the party of the early period small craftsmen and small businessmen were distinctly overrepresented—187 per cent in proportion to their numbers in the general population. On this subject cf. Iring Fetcher, “Faschismus und Nationalsozialismus,” p. 53.

29.
Mein Kampf,
p. 470.

30.
Tischgespräche,
pp. 261 f.; here Hitler mentions a whole list of his tactics and tricks; cf. also
Mein Kampf,
pp. 504 f., and Heiden,
Geschichte,
p. 28.

31. K. A. v. Müller, pp. 144 f.

32. Norman H. Baynes,
The Speeches of Adolf Hitler,
vol. I, p. 107; also R. H. Phelps in: VJFfZ 1963:3, p. 299.

33.
Tischgespräche,
p. 451; also Heiden,
Geschichte,
p. 109. For the following remark of Hitler, see
Mein Kampf,
p. 467.

34. Kurt G. W. Luedecke,
I Knew Hitler,
pp. 22 f.; also Ernst Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus,
p. 43.

35. Cf.
Tischgespräche,
p. 224.

36. Communicated to the author by Albert Speer. Speer was present at this scene; “Wolfsburg” was the name of an estate in the vicinity.

37. According to Hitler's statement; cf. Görlitz and Quint,
Adolf Hitler,
p. 185.

38. Boepple, p. 118.

39. Cf. Maser,
Hitler,
p. 405, for many details. Further references in Heiden,
Geschichte,
pp. 143 ff.; Franz-Willing, p. 177, and Bullock, pp. 84 f. Bullock underestimates the importance of foreign financial backers, probably because the sources of support have been only recently uncovered.

40. Franz-Willing, p. 182. Cf. also Luedecke, p. 99. Luedecke speaks of a woman of some fifty-odd years who called at the business office after a Hitler speech and spontaneously gave the party an inheritance she had just received. On this and related matters see also Orlow, pp. 108 ff., which contains further references.

41. According to a speech in the Reichstag by Helmut von Mücke, a former naval officer who originally counted among the leaders of the NSDAP. In July, 1929, he had discussed the party's methods of financing itself in an open letter. See
Verhandlungen des Reichstags,
vol. 444, pp. 138 f.

42. Cf. Maser,
Frühgeschichte,
pp. 410 f.; also Heiden,
Geschichte,
p. 46, and Walter Laqueur,
Deutschland und Russland,
pp. 76 f.

43. Heiden,
Hitler
I, p. 162.

44. Boepple, p. 87.

45. Hitler spoke these words as early as September 12, 1923; see Boepple, p. 91.

46. Quoted in Heiden,
Geschichte,
p. 143.

47. The letter is printed in
Illustrierter Beobachter,
1926:2, p. 6.

48. As the meeting was breaking up, Interior Minister Schweyer stepped up to Hitler, who was feeling himself the victor of the evening, tapped him on the chest “like an angry schoolmaster,” and said that this victory had been “nothing but a breach of faith.” This is the incident referred to in the quoted remark by Heiden in
Hitler
I, p. 181.

49. Statement by Julius Streicher at the Nuremberg trial, IMT VII, p. 340.

50. Cf., for example, Maser,
Frühgeschichte,
pp. 453 f.; Maser even charges Hitler with having sued for the favor of the monarchist generals. See also Heiden,
Geschichte,
pp. 162 f. Bullock, pp. 113 f., straddles the fence; on the one hand he charges Hitler with incompetence as a revolutionary and on the other hand denies that Hitler intended a revolutionary uprising.