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

THE BEER HALL PUTSCH 203At first 'I wanted to hear nothing more of this false world'; he threatenedto end his life by voluntary starvation; Anton Drexler, founder of theparty, visited him, and Hitler — not too reluctantly — let himself bedissuaded.At the end of February, 1924, he faced a special court with Ludendorff,Rohm, Frick, and others. The trial gave him immense publicityand was a scandal in every respect. With a certain truth Hitler coulddeclare that he had not wanted to rise against the state, for he hadthought the state was with him. Gurtner, who had risen to be minister ofjustice, used his powerful influence to make the judges incline the scaleseven more than they normally would have.In the presence of these complaisant judges, Hitler regained all hiscourage, and his speeches before the court are among his mostimpressive. He strove to prove his innocence by insisting that he haddone only what Kahr, Lossow, and Seisser themselves had wanted. Heattempted — and to this he attached far more importance— to explainhimself to the world: 'This is my attitude: I would rather be hanged in aBolshevist Germany than perish under the rule of French swords.'Lossow appeared as a witness and related how Hitler for months hadpressed him to act, to set up a military dictatorship. 'Once we take overthe government,' Hitler had said, 'the program will come of itself.' Whenthe chairman of the court asked Hitler: 'And how did you conceive ofthings after that?' — the greatest propagandist of our day replied: 'Ithought this: the first thing must be an inconceivable wave ofpropaganda. That is, a political action which would have had little to dowith the other problems of the moment. . . . We would at once haveapproached the German nation with a great plebiscite.' But he went onto indicate that he did have at least a foreign policy: As Leader ofGermany, he would have played England against France. England, hesaid, had the single desire to 'Balkanize' Europe in order to create abalance of power on the Continent, 'and prevent her world position frombeing threatened. She is not basically an enemy of Germany. . . . France,however, is Germany's explicit enemy. As England requires theBalkanization of Europe, France requires the Balkanization ofGermany.' Whatever government is at the