Office of Strategic Services MEMORANDUM
Recollections of Adolf Hitler
The most obvious thing about Hitler is the blend of inborn
feminine and masculine characteristics - a man on the
borderline of woman, an incredible iron will subject to
unfathomable fits of depression, a Spartan self-disciplinarian
who would not kill a fly except in a rage, a mystic-realist,
an intuitive warrior, an ascetic adventurer.
I once asked him what he considered he most revealing
statement about himself in "Mein Kampf." He replied, "A
short sentence at the very beginning of the book (on page
11 in fact) in which I say that as a youth I learned the
meaning of history." And the most important factor in
his early upbringing, he maintained, was Roman Catholicism,
combined with the teachings of his intensely German-nationalist
history teacher. He sees the world as a clash of opposing forces,
and genius in man as the power to synthesize these opposing
forces for the purpose of evolving a third and more powerful
force. His personality is a synthesis of Austria and Prussia,
of Marxian materialism and metaphysics. National Socialism,
he was always proud of describing as a synthesis of
Nationalism and Socialism. His appeal to the German people
based on this synthesis.
A monocled Prussian Junker general stumping Weimar Germany
on behalf of Pan-German expansionism would have been
regarded as a joke. But the Austrian corporal aroused no such
misgivings.
The meaning of history, for him, consisted of deductions
from an analysis of that age-old enticing problem -- the
rise and decline of civilization. His faith in himself and
his hope for Germany rested on the conviction that the
great imperialist powers were subjected to a cyclical
decline which presented Germany with an opportunity.
His job was to build up a strong united Germany to claim
the heritage of the empires at the moment of their greatest
weakness. He has always made much of the fact that when
the "world was divided" last time in the 17th, 18th and 19th
centuries Germany was compelled to look on helplessly
because torn by internal strife. He does not subscribe to
Carlyle's view that personalities make history; he believes
that personalities appearing on the scene at opportune
moments can share the destiny of their countries. Leaders
may be motivated by purely materialistic considerations but
the lasses of the people will fight only when moved by
idealistic impulses. These idealisms have in the majority of
cases been manufactured by those seeking or holding power
for an express purpose, but those who seek have a chance of
success only with a new religion, while those who struggle
to hold must rely on the old-ineffectual refurbished.
In this sense, he recognized that the only serious contender
for power in Europe was the new idealism of Bolshevism.
The new German idealism on which German military might
was to be based had to exert an appeal equal to if not stronger
than Bolshevism.
Having thus diagnosed the world situation, he was guided by
his intuition. how his mind worked before put to the supreme
test of thinking quickly in tight situations is shown by a
conversation I had with him in October, 1932, on the airdrome
at hamburg. I asked him whether he had found any other,
possibly more convincing reasons, for considering France
decadent, than those outlines in "Mein Kampf." He looked at
me rather quizzically as if he were being subjected to a leg-pull.
When apparently reassured, he replied: "Yes, the Maginot line."
He paused to smile at my bewilderment and continued,
"Whenever a people is so afraid to fight the barbarians
(I interjected: "You mean the barbarians"? He replied, "Yes,
I mean the barbarians.") that it builds a wall around itself
to keep them out -- that nation is decadent. Look at the
Roman lines in Southwest Germany, look at the great wall
of China. These construction feats both marked the beginning
of the downfall of great empires." In those far off days, he
not only confessed his intention to smash France but he felt
confident that France would fall without a fight, an opinion
which he probably held until the Reynaud government came
to power.
It is true that his analysis of the European situation in 1932
(and he made not the slightest effort at concealment) makes
his conduct of the war more inexplicable. Having diagnosed the
West as decadent and knowing that there would be little
opposition to his assuming the role of crusader to slay the
monster of Bolshevism, his obvious intention was to strike
eastwards in the spring of the year, overrun Poland and then
strike at Russia, confident that France and Britain would not
bother him with a two-front war. I am sure that such was his
intention. Why he failed to carry
[Page 4]
it out is difficult to tell.
Self-Discipline.
Hitler is fully conscious of his lowly origin, his lack of formal
education, his shyness, his unsocialability. After the last war,
he literally manufactured himself into another man by sheer
will power. He convinced himself that Germany had a future
and that he could make himself the savior of his country. By
"re-magnetising his heart" and "getting religion" he made
himself into a public speaker because he felt that the spoken
word was much more potent than the written. Handicaps which
he could not overcome were bent to his advantage: Not being a
hail fellow well-met, he molded himself into what passes for a
strong, silent mystical character. He always
blushed when select groups of Nazi mothers pushed their
little boys and girls at him with bouquets on the airdomes.
I never once saw him pat the bearers of these tokens on the
head, ask their age or whether they went to school. He took
the bouquets, usually wild or garden flowers, in his left hand,
gave a limp salute with his right, and handed the flowers to
the chief of his bodyguard, Schaub. who carried two revolvers
under his raincoat.
His infinitely greater appeal to women than men was
everywhere noticeable. Groups of women of all ages
used to form flocks of guardian angels who watched
over him all night in the lobbies of hotels while he slept
somewhere above. In Flensburg in the summer of 1932
three flaxen-haired blue-eyed daughters of the three
Nazi district leaders came to Brueckner,
[Page 5]
the adjutant and chauffeur, begging for the chance of
[unreadable] Fuehrer in the eye." The Fuehrer consented
and the [unreadable] were ushered into Hitler's hotel room,
and [unreadable] as soldiers, de-filed just inside the room
and [unreadable] Hitler. Hitler advanced from the other end
of the room [unreadable] in front of the squad, clicked his
heels and saluted. Then there was an awkward, rather
embarrassing pause (the procedure [unreadable] Fuehrer
in the eye) lasting about half a minute. Hitler [unreadable]
strode back to his desk. The girls saluted, cried "Heil Hitler!"
and then [unreadable] out of the room. Just outside they
leaped up, threw their arms abound Brueckner's neck
(he was six feet four) and kissed [unreadable]. Their lips
were moist, in fact they were almost frothing [unreadable]
completely hysterical with joy. Inside the room [unreadable]
than Heil Hitler had been spoken. They did literally
[unreadable] the bashful Fuehrer in the eye and yet,
as they said over and over again the moment would
remain the greatest of their lives. [Unreadable] still are
believed also to run deep. Brueckner's comment [unreadable]
to me was "The old man did that very well, don't you think?"
Hitler without a doubt molded himself into the leader [unreadable]
would carry the people with him. And in the process [unreadable]
all distractions. he always went about as if wrapped [unreadable]
spoke little even to his bosom pals. A tip which [unreadable]
from Schaub before the first airplane tour. He advised me
never to ask the Fuehrer more than one or two questions at
a time and never [unreadable] him unless time seemed heavy
on his hands. [unreadable]
The
original plaintext version
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Hitler Source Book
Recollections of Adolf Hitler
Edward Deuss
(1 of 2)
To: Professor Crane Brinton
From: Edward Deuss
Gained from personal contact, interviews
and on airplane campaign tours with Hitler
from September 1931 - May 1933.