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

204 DER FUEHRERhelm in France, its purpose would always be 'to exterminate twentymillion Germans and break up Germany into separate states.'He utilized the occasion to publicize himself in the presence of ahundred attentive reporters from all five continents; and in this heunquestionably succeeded. Lossow had testified that Hitler originallyhad only wanted to be a 'drummer'; meaning 'at that time Hitler was stillmodest.'Hitler replied: 'How small are the thoughts of small men! Believe me,I do not regard the acquisition of a minister's portfolio as a thing worthstriving for. I do not hold it worthy of a great man to endeavor to godown in history just by becoming a minister. One might run the risk ofbeing buried beside other ministers. My aim, from the very first day,was a thousand times more than becoming a minister. I wanted tobecome the destroyer of Marxism. I am going to solve this task, and if Isolve it, the title of minister will be an absurdity as far as I amconcerned. When I stood for the first time at the grave of RichardWagner, my heart flowed over with pride that here lay a man who hadforbidden any such inscription as: Here lies privy-councillor, musicdirector,his excellency Baron Richard von Wagner. I was proud thatthis man and so many men in German history were content to give theirnames to history, without any titles. It was not from modesty that Iwanted to be a drummer in those days. That was the highest aspiration.The rest is a trifle.'In a gloomy gray suburb of Munich lay an old red-brick structure, itsfloors and walls in poor repair. It was an officers' training school. In oneof its large classrooms the trial was held. It went on for weeks. Theunknown stood up and proclaimed to the world: Make no mistake. I amthe Leader.Many times in the course of the trial he was asked directly andindirectly by what right he, a man without origins, title, or virtually anyeducation, arrogated to himself the right to govern Germany, sweepingaside all the generals, presidents, and excellencies. Hitler replied: 'Thiswas not overweening or immodest of me. On the contrary, I am of theopinion that when a man knows he can do a thing, he has no right to bemodest. ... In such questions there are no experts. The art of statecraft is— well, an art, and