17. Nolte, Epoche, p. 288.
18. Nolte, Krise, p. 162.
19. Schmidt, Statist, p. 320. The probably exaggerated statement that Hitler was for a time close to a nervous breakdown comes from Kordt, Nicht aus den Akten, p. 134; it is supported by no other source.
20. Bracher, Diktatur, p. 325. In the Tischgesprache, p. 169, Hitler admitted that he had “called an election after every coup; that is enormously effective at home and abroad.”
21. Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler Was My Friend, p. 82; also Tischgesprache, pp. 155, 169. Ciano spoke in the same sense of the “fascistic rule” of accomplished facts: Cosa fatta capo ha. See Ciano’s Hidden Diary 1937— 1938, p. 9.
22. Anthony Eden, Facing the Dictators, p. 407.
23. Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, pp. 204 f.
24. Cf. ADAP, Series D, vol. III. The Italian fighting forces in Spain amounted to more than 50,000 men, whereas the Germans had approximately 6,000—who, however, were constantly rotated. Hitler forbade official recruiting of volunteers for Spain. In keeping with this policy, the German commitment was not publicized, but kept strictly secret.
25. Fritz Wiedemann, Der Mann, der Feldherr werden wollte, p. 150. For the episode of the nocturnal conversation with Baldwin, see Gilbert and Gott, p. 34.
26. T. Jones, A Diary with Letters 1931–1950, p. 251. On Ribbentrop’s assignment cf. his remark to Premier Kiosseiwanoff of Bulgaria on July 5, 1939, in ADAP VI, p. 714; see also C. J. Burckhardt, pp. 285, 295.
27. Cf. on this Axel Kuhn, Hitlers aussenpolitisches Programm, pp. 198 ff. But remarkably, for the time being, military planning remained largely uninfluenced by the new attitude.
28. Cf. James R. M. Butler, Lord Lothian, p. 337.
29. Bullock, p. 355.
30. Frangois-Poncet, p. 114.
31. Kirkpatrick, The Inner Circle, p. 81.
32. Letter of May 23, 1936, BAK, Reel 43 II, 1495.
33. Quoted in Bullock, p. 379.
34. Theodor W. Adorno, Versuch uber Wagner, p. 155. This cult of death can be found in all Fascist movements; it was most elaborated in the Rumanian Iron Guard and would surely be worth a detailed study.
35. Karlheinz Schmeer, Die Regie des offentlichen Lebens im Dritten Reich, p. 113; here, too, are to be found elaborate descriptions and analyses of the staging of party rallies.
36. Cf. Robert Coulondre, De Staline a Hitler, p. 246, and Paul Stehlin, Auftrag in Berlin, p. 56. The remark about “mystical ecstasy” was made by Francois- Poncet, Coulondre’s predecessor in Berlin, who continues: “Seven days yearly Nuremberg was a city devoted to revelry and madness, almost a city of convulsionaries, Holy Rollers, and the like. The surroundings, the beauty of the spectacles presented, and the luxury of the hospitality offered exerted a strong influence upon the foreigners whom the Nazi Government was careful to invite annually. Many visitors, dazzled by Nazi display, were infected by the virus of Nazism. They returned home convinced by the doctrine and filled with admiration for the performance.” (The Fateful Years, p. 209.)
37. January 30 was followed in the year’s calendar of ceremonies by Memorial Day (middle of March), then the Fuhrer’s Birthday (April 20), Labor Day (May 1), Mother’s Day (beginning of May), Reich Party Day (beginning of September), Harvest Thanksgiving (end of September, beginning of October), and finally November 9.
38. Thus, for example, Paul Stehlin, p. 53, and Francois-Poncet, p. 205, who even provides a description of this salute (which had never been used before and was never used again). Incidentally, most of the teams offered this salute as they marched in; the British and Japanese were the exceptions that attracted the most attention.
39. Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 58.
40. Tischgesprache, p. 433 f.; also Heinrich Hoffmann, pp. 196 f. On Hitler’s constant fear of a faux pas, cf. Albert Zoller, Hitler privat, p. 126. Hitler once expressed his dismay that Mussolini let himself be photographed in bathing trunks: “A really great statesman would not do that.”
41. Bullock, p. 376.
42. Krebs, Tendenzen, pp. 128 f.
43. Cf. for example Hans Severus Ziegler, Hitler aus dem Erleben dar gestellt, pp. 54, 57, 58, 64, 67, 70, etc. All the remarks and behavior noted in these pages have also been heard or observed by Albert Speer, as he has informed the author.
44. Communication from Albert Speer, who usually sat on the other side of Frau Wagner and so could not miss observing this little scene.
45. C. J. Burckhardt, p. 340.
46. Tischgesprache, p. 227. The reference to the symbolic meaning of the Untersberg for Hitler is based on information from Speer; cf. also Inside the Third Reich, p. 86.
47. Domarus, p. 704 (speech of June 27, 1937, in Wurzburg).
48. Hermann Rauschning, The Voice of Destruction, p. 255. Chapter XVIII (“Hitler Himself”) from which this passage is taken was omitted in the German edition of the Gesprache; it has now been printed in Theodor Schieder, Hermann Rauschnings “Gesprache mit Hitler” als Geschichtsquelle, p. 80. The passage is here retranslated from the original German text.
49. Rauschning, Gesprache, p. 162. Elsewhere (p. 104) Rauschning comments that Hitler’s eloquence seemed like a “physical excess.”
50. Speer, p. 92; there, too, further references to the relationship between Hitler and Eva Braun. See also p. 130.
51. Speer, p. 94; similarly, Zoller, p. 21. The characterizations of the entourage come from Hitler’s personal physician, Professor Karl Brandt; cf. Tischgesprache, p. 47.
52. Zoller, p. 21; for the remark cited above see Luedecke, p. 459. The reference to the films Hitler preferred I owe to Regierungsrat Barkhausen, Bundesarchiv Koblenz, who was charged with providing the films for Hitler during the thirties. The catalogue containing some 2,000 titles which could not be shown publicly in Germany can be seen at the Bundesarchiv.
53. Speer, p. 159.
54. Speer in a communication to the author; Hitler, Speer says, considered Pericles “a kind of parallel” to himself.
55. Speer in a communication to the author; Speer adds that Hitler’s rejection of the works of Lucas Cranach, for example, was due to the fact that Cranach’s female figures did not correspond to his own plumper ideal. Cranach’s women were “unaesthetic,” Hitler said to Speer.
56. See the illustration between pages 144 and 145.
57. For this whole subject see Hildegard Brenner, Die Kunstpolitik des Nationalsozialismus, especially the chapter headed “Der Fuhrerauftrag Linz,” pp. 154 ff.
58. Speer, p. 230.
59. Cf. Nolte, Epoche, p. 500.
60. Tischgesprache, p. 186; the following remark ibid., p. 171.
61. Ibid., p. 446.
62. Ibid., pp. 159, 173; see also Speer, pp. 94 ff.
63. Libres propos, p. 253. In Mein Kampf he
