Lies being taught; Mein Kampf is
unintelligible ravings of a maniac.
Now the Truth; read for your self; CHAPTER
IX The German Labour Party;
“One day I received an
order from my superiors to investigate the nature of an association which was
apparently political. It called itself 'The German Labour Party' and was soon
to hold a meeting at which Gottfried Feder would speak. I was ordered to attend
this meeting and report on the situation.
The spirit of
curiosity in which the army authorities then regarded political parties can be
very well understood. The Revolution had granted the soldiers the right to take
an active part in politics and it was particularly those with the smallest
experience who had availed themselves of this right. But not until the Centre
and the Social-Democratic parties were reluctantly forced to recognize that the
sympathies of the soldiers had turned away from the revolutionary parties
towards the national movement and the national reawakening, did they feel
obliged to withdraw from the army the right to vote and to forbid it all
political activity.
The minds of the
bourgeois middle classes had become so fossilized that they sincerely believed
the army could once again become what it had previously been, namely, a rampart
of German valour; while the Centre Party and the Marxists intended only to
extract the poisonous tooth of nationalism, without which an army must always
remain just a police force but can never be in the position of a military organization
capable of fighting against the outside enemy. This truth was sufficiently
proved by subsequent events.
I decided to attend
the meeting of this Party, which had hitherto been entirely unknown to me. When
I arrived that evening in the guest room of the former Sternecker
Brewery--which has now become a place of historical significance for us--I
found approximately 20-25 persons present, most of them belonging to the lower
classes.
The theme of Feder's
lecture was already familiar to me; for I had heard it in the lecture course I
have spoken of. Therefore, I could concentrate my attention on studying the
society itself. The impression it made upon me was neither good nor bad. I felt
that here was just another one of these many new societies which were being
formed at that time. In those days everybody felt called upon to found a new
Party whenever he felt displeased with the course of events and had lost
confidence in all the parties already existing. Thus it was that new
associations sprouted up all round, to disappear just as quickly.
My opinion of the
'German Labour Party' was not very different after I had listened to their
proceedings for about two hours. I was glad when Feder finally came to a close.
I had observed enough and was just about to leave when it was announced that
anybody who wished was free to open a discussion. Thereupon, I decided to
remain. But the discussion seemed to proceed without anything of vital
importance being mentioned, when suddenly a 'professor' commenced to speak. He
opened by throwing doubt on the accuracy of what Feder had said, and then.
after Feder had replied very effectively, the professor suddenly took up his
position on what he called 'the basis of facts,' but before this he recommended
the young party most urgently to introduce the secession of Bavaria from
Prussia as one of the leading proposals in its programme. In the most
self-assured way, this man kept on insisting that German-Austria would join
Bavaria and that the peace would then function much better. He made other
similarly extravagant statements. At this juncture I felt bound to ask for
permission to speak and to tell the learned gentleman what I thought. The
result was that the honourable gentleman who had last spoken slipped out of his
place, like a whipped cur, without uttering a sound. While I was speaking the
audience listened with an expression of surprise on their faces. When I was
just about to say good-night to the assembly and to leave, a man came after me
quickly and introduced himself. I did not grasp the name correctly; but he
placed a little book in my hand, which was obviously a political pamphlet, and
asked me very earnestly to read it.
I spent only the night
at the quarters where I lodged. Since I usually woke up about five o'clock
every morning I got into the habit of amusing myself with watching little mice
which played around in my small room. I used to place a few pieces of hard
bread or crust on the floor and watch the funny little beasts playing around
and enjoying themselves with these delicacies. I had suffered so many
privations in my own life that I well knew what hunger was and could only too
well picture to myself the pleasure these little creatures were experiencing.
So on the morning
after the meeting I have mentioned, it happened that about five o'clock I lay
fully awake in bed, watching the mice playing and vying with each other. As I
was not able to go to sleep again, I suddenly remembered the pamphlet that one
of the workers had given me at the meeting. It was a small pamphlet of which
this worker was the author. In his little book he described how his mind had
thrown off the shackles of the Marxist and trades-union phraseology, and that
he had come back to the nationalist ideals. That was the reason why he had
entitled his little book: "My Political Awakening". The pamphlet
secured my attention the moment I began to read, and I read it with interest to
the end. The process here described was similar to that which I had experienced
in my own case ten years previously. Unconsciously my own experiences began to
stir again in my mind. During that day my thoughts returned several times to
what I had read; but I finally decided to give the matter no further attention.
A week or so later, however, I received a postcard which informed me, to my
astonishment, that I had been admitted into the German Labour Party. I was
asked to answer this communication and to attend a meeting of the Party
Committee on Wednesday next.
This manner of getting
members rather amazed me, and I did not know whether to be angry or laugh at
it. Hitherto I had not any idea of entering a party already in existence but
wanted to found one of my own. Such an invitation as I now had received I
looked upon as entirely out of the question for me.
I was about to send a
written reply when my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to attend
the gathering at the date assigned, so that I might expound my principles to
these gentlemen in person. Wednesday came. The tavern in which the meeting was to
take place was the 'Alte Rosenbad' in the Herrnstrasse, into which apparently
only an occasional guest wandered. I went through the badly-lighted guest-room,
where not a single guest was to be seen, and searched for the door which led to
the side room; and there I was face-to-face with the 'Congress'. Under the dim
light shed by a grimy gas-lamp I could see four young people sitting around a
table, one of them the author of the pamphlet. He greeted me cordially and
welcomed me as a new member of the German Labour Party.
I was taken somewhat
aback on being informed that actually the National President of the Party had
not yet come; so I decided that I would keep back my own exposition for the
time being. Finally the President appeared. He was the man who had been
chairman of the meeting held in the Sternecker Brewery, when Feder spoke.
My curiosity was
stimulated anew and I sat waiting for what was going to happen. Now I got at
least as far as learning the names of the gentlemen who had been parties to the
whole affair. The REICH National President of the Association was a certain
Herr Harrer and the President for the Munich district was Anton Drexler.
The minutes of the
previous meeting were read out and a vote of confidence in the secretary was passed.
Then came the treasurer's report. The Society possessed a total fund of seven
marks and fifty pfennigs (a sum corresponding to 7s. 6d. in English money at
par), whereupon the treasurer was assured that he had the confidence of the
members.
I now began to ask
questions. But I found that, apart from a few general principles, there was
nothing--no programme, no pamphlet, nothing at all in print, no card of
membership, not even a party stamp, nothing but obvious good faith and good
intentions.
I no longer felt
inclined to laugh; for what else was all this but a typical sign of the most
complete perplexity and deepest despair in regard to all political parties,
their programmes and views and activities? The feeling which had induced those
few young people to join in what seemed such a ridiculous enterprise was
nothing but the call of the inner voice which told them--though more
intuitively than consciously--that the whole party system as it had hitherto
existed was not the kind of force that could restore the German nation or
repair the damages that had been done to the German people by those who
hitherto controlled the internal affairs of the nation. I quickly read through
the list of principles that formed the platform of the party. These
principles were stated
on typewritten sheets. Here again I found evidence of the spirit of longing and
searching, but no sign whatever of a knowledge of the conflict that had to be
fought. I myself had experienced the feelings which inspired those people. It
was the longing for a movement which should be more than a party, in the
hitherto accepted meaning of that word.
When I returned to my
room in the barracks that evening I had formed a definite opinion on this
association and I was facing the most difficult problem of my life. Should I
join this party or refuse?
From the side of the
intellect alone, every consideration urged me to refuse; but my feelings
troubled me. The more I tried to prove to myself how senseless this club was,
on the whole, the more did my feelings incline me to favour it. During the
following days I was restless.
I began to consider
all the pros and cons. I had long ago decided to take an active part in
politics. The fact that I could do so only through a new movement was quite
clear to me; but I had hitherto lacked the impulse to take concrete action. I
am not one of those people who will begin something to-day and just give it up
the next day for the sake of something new. That was the main reason which made
it so difficult for me to decide in joining something newly founded; for this
must become the real fulfilment of everything I dreamt, or else it had better
not be started at all. I knew that such a decision should bind me forever and
that there could be no turning back. For me there could be no idle dallying but
only a cause to be championed ardently. I had already an instinctive feeling
against people who took up everything, but never carried anything through to
the end. I loathed these Jacks-of-all-Trades, and considered the activities of
such people to be worse than if they were to remain entirely quiescent.
Fate herself now
seemed to supply the finger-post that pointed out the way. I should never have
entered one of the big parties already in existence and shall explain my reasons
for this later on. This ludicrous little formation, with its handful of
members, seemed to have the unique advantage of not yet being fossilized into
an 'organization' and still offered a chance for real personal activity on the
part of the individual. Here it might still be possible to do some effective
work; and, as the movement was still small, one could all the easier give it
the required shape. Here it was still possible to determine the character of
the movement, the aims to be achieved and the road to be taken, which would
have been impossible in the case of the big parties already existing.
The longer I reflected
on the problem, the more my opinion developed that just such a small movement
would best serve as an instrument to prepare the way for the national
resurgence, which could never be done by the political parliamentary parties
which were too firmly attached to obsolete ideas or had an interest in
supporting the new regime. What had to be proclaimed here was a new
WELTANSCHAUUNG and not a new election cry.
It was, however,
infinitely difficult to decide on putting the intention into practice. What
were the qualifications which I could bring to the accomplishment of such a
task?
The fact that I was
poor and without resources could, in my opinion, be the easiest to bear. But
the fact that I was utterly unknown raised a more difficult problem. I was only
one of the millions which Chance allows to exist or cease to exist, whom even
their next-door neighbours will not consent to know. Another difficulty arose
from the fact that I had not gone through the regular school curriculum.
The so-called
'intellectuals' still look down with infinite superciliousness on anyone who
has not been through the prescribed schools and allowed them to pump the
necessary knowledge into him. The question of what a man can do is never asked
but rather, what has he learned? 'Educated' people look upon any imbecile who
is plastered with a number of academic certificates as superior to the ablest
young fellow who lacks these precious documents. I could therefore easily
imagine how this 'educated' world would receive me and I was wrong only in so
far as I then believed men to be for the most part better than they proved to
be in the cold light of reality. Because of their being as they are, the few
exceptions stand out all the more conspicuously. I learned more and more to
distinguish between those who will always be at school and those who will one
day come to know something in reality.
After two days of
careful brooding and reflection I became convinced that I must take the
contemplated step. It was the most fateful decision of my life. No retreat was
possible. Thus I declared myself ready to accept the membership tendered me by
the German Labour Party and received a provisional certificate of membership. I
was numbered SEVEN.”
Adolf Hitler;
Kaps
