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

376 DER FUEHRERthe results of the intellectual work of the past, and in smaller part on thebasis of our own discoveries. The decisive factor is only to organize theintellectual heritage handed down by the great minds of former times ina sensible, expedient way, and to draw the resulting logicalconsequences from them. For of what avail is all knowledge if we donot possess the courage to make use of it? By drawing the practicalpolitical consequences from a huge sum of intellectual and scientificideas and insights, we have overcome an inertia that had grown totallysterile, and given to our national life a new and, as I am convinced,decisive impetus.'What an answer! He has learned neither from the living nor the dead.Here he laid himself bare, a rambling barbarian soul, without bond orloyalty, burdened with no intellectual possessions, obligated to no one; achild of nature who would be quite capable of frying a chop over aStradivarius violin, and boasting that he had sensibly and expedientlyorganized a spiritual heritage.That is his intellectual armament. But he had a wisdom all his own.When he related horror stories about the Wise Men of Zion, a skepticalhenchman might protest: 'Adolf, you can't tell people such stuff!' Thenhe would smilingly reply: 'You can tell people anything!' And theskeptic was suddenly seized with the terrible suspicion, subjecting thewhole world to doubt: perhaps he is wiser than all of us! Hitler's deepestwisdom consists in his conviction, gathered from the world sense of themodern intellectual, that everything is possible, that all problems arecapable of solution, and that — and this is the most important — the bigthings are the easiest; but this cannot be reasoned out, it can only bedemonstrated.In great questions and conflicts, every attempt at proof or deductionsoon leads to ultimate beliefs beyond the realm of the demonstrable —to basic conceptions regarding the world and man; and Hitler cannotafford to speak publicly of his basic conceptions. They arise from adeep contempt of human nature and run sharply counter to thecomforting self-confidence which he then was trying to instill in themasses. When he calls upon them to demonstrate their noble breed andheroic nature by staking their health and their life, he means essentially:for you rabble are worthy of nothing better; and this attitude wouldcome out in the end if