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

554 DER FUEHRERbelieve in outside help, never in help that lies outside of our ownstrength, outside of our own people.' Therefore, he would make nocheap promises, and the first point on his program was: 'We shall not lieand deceive.' He saw no reason to explain the details of his plans to thedisrupters; by their very questions about his program, they had shownthat they understood nothing: Tor all programs are vain; the decisivething is the human will, sound vision, manly courage, sincerity of faith,the inner will — these are the decisive things [uproarious applause].'A great will indubitably flowed through these speeches, a powerfulmagnetism gripped many who heard him. They promised no paradise —though some simple souls may have understood 'paradise'; what Hitlerreally promised was that he would attack great problems with the bigmethods of a man who respects history. 'I have resolved to undertakethe greatest task in German history; I am willing and determined tosolve this task.' To this end he was prepared to shake the nation to itsfoundations, to break and remix souls; for this great task demandedgreat men, and 'therefore we shall break with all the products of a rottendemocracy, for great things can come only from the power of theindividual personality, and everything that is worth preserving must beentrusted once more to the power of the individual personality.'What Hitler promised was not that the hard times would end, but thatthey would acquire a meaning; the German nation should learn to lookon itself as a task that could be solved; it should learn once more thataction can help, and that 'it is better to make a mistake than to donothing.' This accounts for the attraction of his propaganda; even in thehorrors and injustice, a dulled and demoralized public could sense thewill to action. It is in the times of the greatest disappointments and fearsthat injustice is approved because it is a force, and (as the Wise Men ofZion said) the vilest deeds of statesmen are most admired.Many a newspaper reader and radio listener was moved to tears whenthe Leader renounced his salary as Chancellor; a thing that meant littleto the author of Mein Kampf, for since 1930 the sales of his book hadmounted sharply. When he was informed that he could not legally giveup his salary, he had it transferred to a fund