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

2 DER FUEHRERsick with a bold and thorough radicalism in social and politicalproblems . . . absolute individualism with an ardent fidelity to thecommon weal. . . .' Then, in Berlin, he will become ruler of the 'UnitedStates of Europe'; he will conquer Asia and North Africa; America willsubmit to him voluntarily. Finally he will proclaim universal peace anda new order.This is the demon who speaks out of the book.'We shall talk with the people on the streets and squares,' says thedemon, 'and teach them to take the view of political questions which atthe moment we require. For what the ruler says to the people spreadsthrough the whole country like wildfire, the voice of the people carriesit to all four winds.'We' — the demon always says 'We' — 'shall create unrest, struggle,and hate in the whole of Europe and thence in other continents. We shallat all times be in a position to call forth new disturbances at will, or torestore the old order.'Unremittingly we shall poison the relations between the peoples andstates of all countries. By envy and hatred, by struggle and warfare,even by spreading hunger, destitution, and plagues, we shall bring allpeoples to such a pass that their only escape will he in total submissionto our domination.'We shall stultify, seduce, ruin the youth.'We shall not stick at bribery, treachery, treason, as long as they servethe realization of our plans. Our watchword is: force and hypocrisy!'In our arsenal we carry a boundless ambition, burning avidity, aruthless thirst for revenge, relendess hatred. From us emanates thespecter of fear, all-embracing terror.'A gabbling demon, and self-conceited, too:'We are the chosen, we arc the true men. Our minds give off the truepower of the spirit; the intelligence of the rest is instinctive and animal.They can see, but they cannot foresee; their inventions are purelycorporeal. Does it not follow clearly that Nature herself has predestinedus to dominate the whole world?'We shall not submit the unique greatness of our ultimate plan, thecontext of its particular parts, the consequences of each separate point,the secret meaning of which remains hidden, to the judgment