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

THE UNHAPPIEST OF ALL MEN 381unpleasant decision, he often escapes by embarking on a speech aboutart and race, until an adjutant comes in to announce that the car iswaiting. He can then abandon himself to the pleasant experience ofbeing driven, which presents a certain aspect of activity. These pleasuretrips are 'tours of inspection.' They frequently end among crowdsshouting with enthusiasm, young girls presenting flowers, children wholet themselves be caressed — they end in triumph, which he can neverget enough of; one more experience of greatness.And then he may escape into total obscurity; as though seeking theillusion of being dead. For many years he was in the habit ofdisappearing on Christmas Eve, leaving even his family, his sister andnieces to their own resources. It is said that he regularly spent this mostsolemn night of the German year in the stable of the MunichReichswehr Barracks, for a few hours recapturing the Christmas moodof his soldier days; this cannot be checked, but his disappearances havebeen confirmed by several sources.He is a restless and indefatigable consumer of men, provided they areserved up in the proper way, compliant and giving the desired answers.Goebbels, who had learned this conduct so well, had to let himself bequestioned well into the dawn about irrelevant things. With questionsHitler replaced reading, he used people instead of books; he knew whathe wanted and would coax from obedient men the desired answers,which could not have been obtained from silent, stubborn books. By hisquestions he endeavored not only to learn, but to influence and mold thepeople he questioned. A young diplomat from the German Embassy inParis, London, or Washington happens to be in Berlin and is invited toone of Hitler's banquets; Der Fuhrer draws him into a long and strangeconversation: 'From the Arc de Triomphe, as you know,' says Hitler,'twelve streets run in all directions. In which streets are there gardens infront of the houses, in which streets not?' The answer is by no meansperfect. Next Hitler wants to know in which streets there are shops, inwhich purely residential buildings. Some are definitely residentialstreets for rich people — which ones? What sort of people frequent theshops in the other streets? The answers are all unsatisfactory, and thedismayed attache gets