Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

144 DER FUEHRERParty had not come across it; Italian Fascism was denied a symbol ofsuch strength. One of its strongest qualities became apparent only in thecourse of time: every child could draw it, and its expressive formencouraged people to draw it — even those who did not know what itmeant. An uncanny power emanated from the mysterious sign; Hitlercould point at it and calmly say: 'It is not knowledge that helps us. Butfaith.' Amid general disintegration he raised his banner: 'Everythingaround us is dying. We must make our movement a living force.'A banner means more to an army than a printed program. And moreessential than a banner is the battle-cry: knives unsheathed — gunscocked! A great event was needed if the swelling movement was not tofall apart. 'Moral rebirth,' Hitler prophesied, 'can only be theconsequence of a great event. It will come to us at the moment when thestruggle breaks out between Swastika and Soviet Star.' The first bloodmeans more than speeches, more than symbols, more even thanmarching: 'With fanatical fury we will make the people national again. .. . Our slogan must be: If you don't want to be a German, I'll bash yourskull in. . . . People, learn to be silent, grit your teeth and think ofrevenge, and again revenge! Learn how to settle with the men whohurled you into the abyss! This is no time for reconciliation. The Jewand his stooges within our people remain our eternal enemies. We knowthis: if they take the helm, our heads will roll in the sand. But we alsoknow that if we get the power in our hands, then God help you!'Head against head; two enemies, but, fundamentally, only onemethod. Tomorrow we will do the very thing for which we attack theenemy today; we have studied The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion,and now we apply them. The intellect and the culture of a people, theProtocols teach us, rest on the leaders, not on the barbaric mass. Hitlerdrew the consequence: 'If we are able to raise such leaders out of themass of our people, then a nation will once more crystallize aroundthem.' He could not have said it more clearly. 'Is the leader personalitywe need with us?' he asked. In 1923, he was at a loss for an answer. 'It isnot our task to seek after personalities. Either a personality is sent fromHeaven, or there is none.' He had an idea whom Heaven had in mind.In