Office of Strategic Services Interview with Dr. Arnold Brecht - New York City,
April 23, 1943
Dr. Brecht represented Prussia in the Reichsrat
and as such was the most powerful member. It was the
custom in Germany for a new Chancellor to make his
first official visit to the Reichsrat in order to meet its
members and make a short address on his views and the
policies he expected to pursue. After the Chancellor got
through speaking the senior member of the Reichsrat
made a few routine remarks concerning the Constitution
and the obligation of the Chancellor to observe its
limitations and outlined the functions of the Reichsrat
to the Chancellor. Hitler observed this custom and two
days after his appointment as Chancellor he appeared
before the Reichsrat. His address was perfectly innocuous.
It was very short and he did not commit himself to any
concrete policy. He was very self-contained, spoke in an
ordinary tone of voice and tried to be pleasant end agreeable.
Before the meeting the members of the Reichsrat stood
around in an informal manner waiting for Hitler to arrive.
He was then introduced to each of the members individually.
He conducted himself very well during this performance
and said a few pleasant words to each member. When he
was introduced to Dr. Brecht he said that he had met him
before. Dr. Brecht said that he thought Hitler was mistaken
since he could not recall having had the pleasure previously
Hitler told him that they had met in Munich in 1923 when
Brecht was making some official visit there and Hitler
was present at a meeting. Dr. Brecht remembered being
in Munich but could not recall Hitler. Hitler appeared
somewhat hurt that Dr. Brecht failed to remember him.
After Hitler got through speaking it fell to Dr. Brecht to
make the usual remarks about the Constitution, etc. While
he was speaking he noticed that Hitler, who sat at his right,
became somewhat agitated and wormed around in his chair.
Brecht paid no particular attention to this since his remarks
were the usual ones but as soon as he finished speaking
Hitler arose, shook hands with the members very briefly
and departed. A very short time after the meeting Brecht
received a telephone call from Hitler's adjutant informing
him that Hitler was furious at Brecht's remarks and
demanded to know by what right thought he could tell
Hitler what his duties and obligations to Germany were.
He added that it was only due to Hitler's remarkable
self-restraint that he did not disband the Reichsrat on
the spot.
Brecht was also at this time a Social Democrat member
in the Reichstag. When Hitler summoned the first meeting
of this body there was some controversy among the Social
Democrats concerning the wisdom of their appearing since they
[Page 2]
were reasonably sure that their appearance would be the
signal for some form of violence. It was finally decided
that since it was their duty, and for the sake of appearances,
they would attend. In order to avoid giving any provocation
for a riot before the meeting started they decided that the
eighteen of them would wait in one of the anterooms until
the meeting was called to order and then they would file
in in a body. Word reached Hitler that the Social Democrats
were waiting in the anteroom. He, with some of his staff,
suddenly appeared at the door. The Social Democrats were
standing around the room in groups of twos and threes.
Hitler strode into the room, stopped before each of them
and examined each individual with great care. At the
conclusion of each such silent examination, he condemned
the individual member with the word "~unworthy." When
he had condemned each one individually, he and his staff
left the room and shortly afterwards the meeting was called.
While Brecht was trying to wind up the affairs of office,
which he knew he could not keep, he was warned that he
had better leave Germany. He appealed to von Papen for
protection but von Papen said that the best he could do to
protect him was to give him a room in his home. When Brecht
pointed out that this would not enable him to put his official
affairs in order for his successor von Papen said that this
was of no consequence and if he persisted in remaining in
office he would do so at his own risk.
Although Dr. Brecht's official connection with the Nazis
ended at this time he continued to obtain information
concerning them from some of his former colleagues and
subordinates. Some of these men had worked under him
for years and although in the beginning they espoused the
Nazi Party as a matter of discretion, many of them were
finally won over wholeheartedly. He told of some of his
former assistants who came to him secretly and confessed
that they had succumbed even while tears rolled down their
cheeks and they condemned themselves for their foolhardiness.
Some of them were firmly convinced that everything Hitler
stood for was wrong and that he would finally bring about
the destruction of Germany and yet they felt themselves
utterly helpless to resist Hitler or any of his demands.
Brecht insists that these were not fundamentally weak
characters but honest men with a great deal of loyalty
and personal integrity. These reactions on the part of his
former associates utterly amazed Brecht, particularly
since he, himself, regarded Hitler as an absolute non-entity.
As far as he could see, Hitler had not a bit of character in
his face or in his manner; he was just like a million other
petty bourgeois Germans that one passes in the street every
day and who leave no personal impression. Brecht contends
that if Hitler had any outstanding personal qualities
whatever he would have remembered him when he met
him again after the Munich episode since he has a very
good memory for faces. However, when he met Hitler again at
[Page 3]
the meeting of the Reichsrat he had no feeling whatever of
having met the man before or a feeling of recognition
beyond what one would expect after having seen pictures
in the newspapers. He described Hitler as a dead average
to whom one pays about as much attention as to a waiter
in any German restaurant.
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Hitler Source Book
Excerpts from an interview with Dr. Arnold Brecht
April 1943