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

HITLER FINDS HIS HOME 85dreams and keeps them from flooding the world of reality, then thererarely has been a thinner shell than the personality of Adolf Hitler, and aless protected world. In his dreams he is always supreme. Among themarble palaces, statues, museums, and half-royal, half-artistic glitter ofVienna, he had been the unknown prince of art; now, in the world ofguns, assaults, pincer movements, commands, organization, plans, hebecomes the unknown general, weaving around his dirty little world oftrenches, mud, stench, and death the great, glorious dream-world ofAdolf Hitler and his war. An inconspicuous orderly, he fought as if hewere responsible for the 'working' of the whole affair. In the midst ofescapists who tried to make the best of an unpleasant situation, he wasalways the serious-minded warrior.Hitler entered the war with a contempt for the masses: he left it withan equal contempt for the leaders. He felt that these leaders trembledbefore what he called the rabble; in later years he was still scornful ofthe timidity of this upper class who handled with kid gloves those theyshould have trodden under their feet. That they did not slaughter ten ortwelve thousand socialist agitators by poison gas seemed to him thegreatest blunder of the German leaders.He goes to great length to tell in detail how these leaders were unableto make the mass understand the meaning of the war; and to counter thesuperior Allied war propaganda; how they were hopelessly outclassedby shabby trade-union officials in the art of influencing people. This isthe central point of accusation the self-appointed general brings againstthe officially appointed generals. They might be experts in militaryscience, but they had no conception of the decisive task: to inspire awhole people with the willingness to die for a cause.In October, 1918, Hitler was badly gassed and was blind for severaldays. He was transported to the rear and finally reached a militaryhospital at Pasewalk, a small town northeast of Berlin. Early inNovember, 1918, the German Revolution broke out, beginning with amutiny in the Navy. Sailors' delegations traveled throughout thecountry; one came to Pasewalk. At first they did not dare to agitateopenly for mutiny, but made secret propaganda for