Chapter 30 Chapter 5 "So Crazy and So Reasonable" (1)

1922-1923 By 1922, Hitler had gathered around him people of all classes, whose education levels and occupations were also very different.All, to varying degrees, shared his sympathy for nationalism and fear of Marxism.Among them were two pilots: Hermann Göring, a former first-class fighter pilot and the last commander of the famous "Richthofen Flying Regiment"; S., who was an officer in Hitler's regiment at the beginning of the war and became a pilot at the end of the war.Although both came from wealthy families, and both firmly believed that Hitler was the answer to Germany's future, the two were significantly different in appearance and personality.

Goering is frivolous, posturing, extroverted, easy to make friends with, and can often influence friends.His father had been a district judge and was later appointed by Bismarck to the Imperial Commissioner for South West Africa.He was married twice and had 8 children.Goering, who was second to last, was a scholar, but he didn't care about that, and wanted to serve his country in the army.Through his godfather connection, he joined the "Prussian Royal Youth Army", became famous in battle, and after participating in the 27th air battle, he was awarded the "Medal of Merit", the highest military award.After the armistice, he became a pilot for Swedish Airlines and became engaged to a married woman, Karin von Kanzo.Karin's father came from a noble family in Sweden, and her mother came from a brewing family in Ireland.As soon as she finally settled the divorce formalities, they married immediately.

Goering could have lived in peace in Sweden, but he was eager to return to Germany to "clear the shame of Versailles, the shame of failure, and clear the corridor through the heart of Prussia."He was admitted to the University of Munich, where he studied history and political science, but what interested him more was real politics.For this reason, he had planned to establish his own revolutionary political party among the officers who had been tested in the battlefield. "I remember they had a meeting to discuss the boarding of these officers. 'You idiots!' I said to them, 'Do you think a good officer can't find a bed to sleep in? Not even a The pretty girl’s bed can also be found! Damn, there are more important things at the moment!’ I don’t know who is cheeky, so I gave him a blow. Of course, everyone laughed and the meeting ended It's over." His attempts to lead the revolution ended there.It was not until a mass meeting in the autumn of 1922 that he found anyone worth following.The congress was held at Koenigplatz to protest the Allies' demands for Germany to hand over so-called war criminals.Spokespersons from all parties took to the stage.

Then the crowd was chanting, "Hitler!" As it so happened, Hitler was standing near Goering and Karin (who had married at the beginning of the year), and they overheard him saying that he had no intention of "giving these tame The Bourgeois Pirates Speech".At that time, Hitler was wearing a military overcoat with a belt around his waist.Something in him infected Goering, and Goering attended a party meeting in the Newman's Cafeteria. "I'm sitting in the back, I don't dare to be presumptuous. I remember, there was Rosenberg at that meeting. Hitler explained why he didn't make a speech. He said that in that way, no Frenchman would lose Chance to sleep. You have to back up your threats with bayonets. Yes, that's what I want to hear. He wants to build a party that will make Germany strong and smash the Treaty of Versailles. 'Yes', I say to myself Said, 'This is my party! Down with the Treaty of Versailles! Damn it, this is my party!'"

At party headquarters, he filled out a party membership application form.The presence of such a war hero in such a dilapidated office must have caused a stir.He recalled, "Anyway, someone told me that Hitler wanted to see me immediately." The personable Goering, Hitler just took a look at it.Standing in front of him was a Nordic man with gleaming blue eyes, tall and slender, and pinkish-white skin. "He told me I was looking for him just when he was looking for someone to run the SA. It was sheer luck." They agreed to wait a month for the announcement, but Goering threw himself into training the SA immediately, and Train as a military organization. "'Army!' I said to the crowd, 'This is the army!'"

He looked quite German, but by Hitler's standards he was not yet a racist.In fact, many of his friends were Jewish.Göring joined the National Socialist Workers Party "because it was revolutionary, not because of its ideology. Other parties were also revolutionary, so I thought I could join the last!" He was a man of action An organization keen on action attracted him, and it was exactly what Hitler needed at the time.He had valuable contacts with Junker officers and people from all walks of life, and he was a figure to show off at parades and meetings.He doesn't care if he reprimands certain leaders head-on when necessary.

Rudolf Hess pales in comparison to Goering.He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, the son of a wealthy wholesaler and exporter.His father wanted him to go into business to inherit the family business, but he preferred to be a scholar.He was educated at the boarding school Bad Godesberg and then at the Higher Business School in Sweden.The war forced him to drop out of school; after the war, he never wanted to be in business.Like Goering, he also entered the University of Munich, where he studied history, economics, and geopolitics.He also felt betrayed by the "November Criminals", but instead of engaging in his own revolution, he joined the "Turi Society".He participates in demonstrations and speaks in the streets (though he is shy).As a member of the "Free Corps", he participated in the struggle to overthrow the Bavarian Soviet regime.

He is also looking for a leader.While at university, he wrote his dissertation "Who Will Lead Germany Back to Its Old Glory?" "Won the award.He wrote that this person should be a dictator, good at using slogans, marching in the streets and inciting people.He must come from the people, but have nothing in common with the masses.Like all great men, he must have "a complete personality," "not cowed by bloodshed. Right and wrong are always resolved with iron and blood." To this end, he must be prepared to "trample upon his dear friend," to enforce the law "with care and tact" in dealing with people and states, and "to trod them down with the boots of cavalry" if necessary.

Hess found his ideal in Hitler and stayed by his side for more than a year as his confidant and confidant.At the same time, he also served another man (whose wife was Jewish), General Karl Haushofer.This person served as a military attache in Tokyo for 3 years, could speak fluent Japanese, and returned to China in 1911.After returning home, he was enthusiastic about Asian affairs and firmly believed that the survival of the country depended on the territory he controlled.War is the proof of his theory.The reason why Germany was surrounded, suffocated, and finally suffered the humiliation of defeat was that it lacked living space.After the armistice, he became professor of geopolitics at the University of Munich.He warned the students that the way to save the country lies in self-sufficiency. For this, Germany needs not only self-sufficiency (national economic independence), but also living space.Hess admired both Professor Haushofer and Hitler, hoping to bring them together.There was one obstacle: Mrs Haushofer because her father was a Jewish businessman.Although Hess follows the theory of racism, he is also a man of flesh and blood. He is loyal to the professor and has no second thoughts about the professor's wife.

Hess was in the prime of his life, modest but not dogmatic.Although he fought bravely on the battlefield and in the streets, and his winning papers were bloody, he was far from a bloodthirsty person.He loved books and music more than heated debates, but it was not uncommon to see him in a coffeehouse debate, and it was in the bloody battle at Hofbraus that he won Hitler's appreciation.He has a square face, black and thick eyebrows, piercing eyes, and tight lips, as if he is a person who is "ready to trample on his best friend".It was only when he smiled that Hess revealed his true face-a quick-witted, blue-toothed young idealist.Ilse Hess (then Ilse Plore) recalled: "He smiled very little, did not smoke, did not drink, and had little patience for young men dancing and socializing after the war had been lost." To those who know him well, he is an enigma to others.He is an ideal believer.He disdained to fight for power and profit, and was ready to follow Hitler all over the world.

Another blind follower was Julius Streicher.Both Hess and Goering were far inferior to their leaders in terms of anti-Semitism; Streicher's language was far more vicious than Hitler.This person is very accidental, short and fat, bald, fat head and big ears, giving people a stout feeling.Whether at the dinner table or in bed, his appetite was undeniable.At times he is blunt and friendly, at other times he is violent and brutal.He can go from sentimental to brutal without breaking a sweat.Like Hitler, he rarely appeared in public without a whip in his hand.The difference is that Hitler's whip, like a dog leash, is looped around his wrist, while his is shown off as a weapon.As a young man, he "walked around with a backpack full of anti-Semitic books and pamphlets." His speeches were filled with sadistic fantasies, and he attacked his political opponents with the most obscene language.Because of his belief that the Jews conspired against the Aryans, his tongue was filled with endless invective. He joined the National Socialist Workers Party of Germany. In 1922, as soon as the Nuremberg branch of the party was established, he founded a newspaper dedicated to denouncing the Jews, The Stormtrooper.Compared with the Viennese magazine Orient Tiantanxing which had had such a great influence on the young Hitler, this newspaper had come a long way in filth and poison and had become a source of consternation to many of Hitler's cronies.Hitler himself was extremely disgusted with pornography, disapproved of Streicher's excesses, and expressed concern about the constant quarrels between the parties instigated by this eccentric believer.But, at the same time, he admired Streicher's energy and mad loyalty. "Dietrich Eckart told me more than once that Streicher had been a schoolteacher and was, in many ways, an eccentric. He also used to say that if people like Streicher were not supported, There is no hope for the victory of National Socialism.” To which Streicher was so often criticized for his exaggerated statements in The Stormtrooper, Hitler’s answer was unexpected: “People say, He idealized the Jew. It was the opposite. The Jew was meaner, more vicious, more diabolical than Streicher described." Hitler's cronies were such people.His movement cut through all classes of society and thus drew all kinds of people around him--intellectuals, street fighters, weirdos of all kinds, idealists, vagabonds, mercenary captains, disciplined and Undisciplined, laborers and nobles.There are both polite and ruthless people; there are rogues and kind people.There were writers, painters, day laborers, shopkeepers, dentists, students, soldiers, and priests.His charisma is wide-ranging, and he's broad-minded enough to tolerate a drug addict like Eckart as well as a gay guy like Roma.To many he was everything, and he was always ready to receive those who had faithfully fought against Jewish Marxism and for the revival of Germany. "My happiest memory is this period." On a winter night 19 years later, he was moved and made a series of memories.He spoke gleefully about his early supporters. "Today, when I ran into one of them by chance, I was very touched. It was touching how genuinely they cared for me. Little market vendors would come running after me, 'bring some eggs to Mr. Hitler'… …I really like these genuine people.” No matter how humble his followers may be, he never criticizes them.Perhaps in remembrance of those miserable days in Vienna, he opened the party's new headquarters on Carnilius Strasse.The headquarters is relatively spacious, and it is specially designed for followers who are poor and need a place to shelter from the cold. "As soon as winter came," recalls Philip Poehler, "the reception room became a warming-up place for unemployed party members and supporters. They played cards noisily there, and it was very lively. Often you couldn't hear yourself. Superintendent Kristen Webb often had to whip them off with a long riding whip."