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

368 DER FUEHRERGerman, the defective logic, the tasteless humor and false pathos whichhe brought forth at the dinner table as at the mass meeting; they had tosuffer the bad manners, and some could not dispel the feeling that hewas even physically unclean — this was not true, but water and soapavail nothing against a slovenly nature. How did the armed intellectualscome to submit to the leadership of this raving dervish? For whensuccess brought masses to the party, men rose to the leadership who farexcelled Hitler in practical ability, education, and character. It can beunderstood how the phenomenon subjected the masses; his hypnoticeffect on certain individuals must be accepted as a fact; but by whathuman means did Hitler handle the men around him?The answer is that he did not handle them successfully. These mennever ceased to laugh at him or to become enraged against him — and,in between, reluctantly to admire his amazing political success. He wasnot on terms of true friendship with any, not even with Hess who wasseemingly so close to him. No one addressed him by his first name orby the intimate 'du'; those who had done so in earlier years had longsince given up the practice. Companions in struggle for twenty yearsaddressed him as 'Mein Fuhrer,' to which he returned: 'HerrReichsmarschall,' 'Herr Minister,' or 'Herr Reichsschatzmeister' (ReichTreasurer); at best, 'My dear party comrade.'The phenomenon's name is 'Mein Fuhrer'; whenever his men soaddress him, they presumably have the feeling of coming into contactwith history. Among themselves, however, these subordinates werenever so solemn. Then they were aware that above all they wereparticipants in a wild venture, the maddest speculation in history, whichwas bound to pay off prodigiously if successful; and coldlybusinesslike, they called and still call the head of their firm the 'boss.'But they also had their disparaging nicknames. These realists, thugs andbusinessmen, had known their 'Manitou' intimately for years, and noone could pass off any forged gigantic portrait on them. They saw hisweakness, nearly all of which could be reduced to a phenomenaluntruthfulness, which all his collaborators complained of. For most ofhis faults, otherwise humanly understandable, became ugly onlybecause he falsified them