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

374 DER FUEHRERcoming British-American War, or — each year anew — the imminentcollapse of Soviet Russia; whether he was flaying the 'Jewish' bankingsystem of the United States, reviling his future friend Lord Rothermereas a Jew, or venturing the prophecy that France would never evacuatethe Rhineland — he was always conspicuous for his hostility to hardfacts, his fear of checkable details; and he has still to make a speechadducing names, places, dates, or literal quotations in any factualcontroversy. Occasionally, in the responsible post of Chancellor, he hassensed this deficiency and attempted to prove a point with heaps offigures, mostly referring to the economic successes of his regime.Anyone with even the slightest statistical experience can observe thatHitler does not understand his own algebra, and certainly never studiedhis own figures. The lack of demonstrable reality in nearly all his utterancespermits us to characterize the unquestionable intellectual powerwhich carried him so far and so high as a stream in which all substanceis pulverized.No, he will not founder on the cliffs of reality. Something which maybe called instinct will almost always indicate to him the facts which hecan calmly neglect, spring over, disregard, without disturbing hiscourse. But should he ever encounter a state of affairs over which it isimpossible to glide with lifted oars, should a really obstructing problemever appear in his path, he will adapt himself to this unexpectedresistance with such a power of self-transformation that his closestfriends will hardly recognize him. This happened, for example, in 1930,when he suddenly developed an enthusiasm for legality and democracyin Germany, and in 1933, when he became a peace enthusiast in worldaffairs.Hitler's indifference to facts which he does not regard as vitallyimportant explains his strange relation to books. He does not allow themto instruct him, but only to confirm his opinions. He has given us hisideas on how books should be read: Do not read too much, for that willonly give you useless ballast; this kind of learning only removes youfrom the world. Feeling, however, enables the expert reader 'to perceiveat once everything which in his opinion is fit to be permanently retainedas expedient or generally worth knowing.' The material read 'ismeaningfully fitted into the