Chapter 42 Chapter 7 In Landsberg Prison (1)

1923-1924 Early the morning after Hitler's arrest, Helena Hanfstangl received a call from the American journalist Hubert Knickerbocker.He asked if he could come with his wife, Dorothy Thompson, to interview her once in Ufyen?Helena begrudgingly agreed, so she gave her mother-in-law—whose patrilineal American Civil War*?One of the generals - hung up the phone. She likes all kinds of stimulation.She always does.This opportunity to participate in current affairs is really rare, and she will not let it slip by... So, my mother was very excited, asked all kinds of questions, and talked about her views on the current situation.Since I didn't say a word, Dorothy Thompson probably mistook me for a typical "German housewife".This can be seen in an article she published shortly thereafter (Herena Hanfstagel's chronological sense, and her mother-in-law and sister-in-law's constant chatter misunderstood several historians).At Uffing, they wrote, Hitler was cared for by Hanf Stangl's mother and sister.

After the meeting, the group returned to Hanf Stangl's villa.Taking advantage of Knickerbocker's opportunity to take pictures of the room, Helena stole Hitler's pistol and documents, put them in a suitcase, and then accompanied Knickerbocker to Munich to meet with Hitler's lawyer. "Here are his papers," she told him. "Please pass them on. Let's see what happens." For nearly 500 years, the small town of Landsberg has not changed in appearance.It is huddled in the valley of the Lech River, with dense forests and steep hills on both sides.It has been a fortress against Swabian invasions since the Middle Ages.Therefore, it still retains many ancient city walls and watchtowers.To get to the prison from Munich, people had to cross a wooden bridge over the Lech River.The so-called Lech River is actually just a small stream, and Landsberg Prison is located on the hill in front of it.This is a prison composed of many gray and white buildings, surrounded by tall and large stone walls.It was divided into two parts, one for ordinary criminals and the other for political prisoners.

In the political prison area, the prisoners in Cell No. 7 refused to eat.In the cell, Hitler curled up and said nothing.It's not that the house is small or uncomfortable.His cell at Mannerheim was no more than half the size of this cell, and the house on Thieschstrasse was much darker.Although the white iron bed in the cell is narrow, it is comfortable enough for monks; and the window with double protection not only provides enough light for the room, but also can see the trees through it. The scenery such as forests and shrubs is much better than Munich. Hitler suffered from unbearable pain in his left arm, which made it difficult for him to sleep.Prison doctor Bristaner found that "his left shoulder was dislocated and his upper arm was fractured, causing traumatic neuralgia." Although his treatment was not interrupted, according to Bristaner, he may have "partial stiffness and pain in his left shoulder for life. "

But it wasn't just the pain that was sapping him, or even the realization that the march to Berlin had ended in disaster.Equally painful, he felt betrayed—by the Big Three, by the Army, even by fate.Also, the rout in front of the Commander's Palace was ridiculed by the press as "a small bar revolution" and "a schoolboy-style 'Redskin' attack".Foreign journalists described him as "Ludendorff's rowdy junior adjutant," the pawn of the royal coup d'état. The New York Times also ran news of his political death on the front page: "The Munich Uprising Surely Exterminated Hitler and His National Socialist Followers." Hurt Hitler deeply.

His appearance shocked those who came to visit the prison.He was so thin and pale that he was barely recognizable. "I saw him sitting in front of the bars, motionless, frozen," Anton Drexler recalled.For two weeks, Hitler had hardly eaten a grain of rice.Prison doctors warned Drexler that if he continued his hunger strike, he would die.Determined to save the man who had tried to seize the leadership of the party, Drexler returned to cell No. 7, "I said, no matter how bad the environment looks, he has no right to think that he has failed and give up everything. The whole party They were all looking at him, wanting him to make a comeback someday. But my words fell on deaf ears. He was utterly hopeless. It made me almost hopeless myself. Finally I said, if we go forward without him, we'd rather die." Drakes Le talked for a full hour and 45 minutes until he believed he had "turned him around."

Perhaps, Hitler really relapsed, because several people claimed that he rescued Hitler from starvation.One of them was Hans Nilsch, founder of the Czechoslovak National Socialist Workers Party.When he went to visit, he was greeted by a scrawny and despondent Hitler.Niershi also chided him for throwing away the cause that the business has garnered so many followers.Without him, the cause may fail and the party may disintegrate.At first Hitler shook his head, then timidly asked "Who will follow a man who has suffered such a crushing defeat?" Niersch replied that the uprising had in fact aroused enthusiasm among the masses.Hitler himself could not lose his self-confidence; most great leaders succeeded by failing.Nierch said that his words convinced Hitler; Hitler followed the prison doctor's advice and ate a bowl of rice.He ate very well, "Afterwards, he promised to remember Nierxi's advice."

It might have been Niersch, it might have been Drexler (said Ludek), it might have been Frau Bechstein, it might even have been Helena Hanfstagel who saved Hitler.Helener had written to Hitler that she had prevented him from committing suicide at Uffing, not so that he would starve himself to death in Landsberg prison; that was exactly what his old enemy wanted. "Her advice turned the tide," said Hanf Stangl, who was in hiding in Austria. "Hitler adored her. After the uprising, Hitler's appearance in Uffing must have been based on some subconscious desire of hers." and she was closely associated with his repressed desires. Also, after the suppression of the uprising he organized, the villa at Oufyin must have acquired the aura of an extraterritorial sanctuary." Helena's words undoubtedly had a huge effect on Hitler.Frau Bechstein, who had done many things for him, played an equally important role in Hitler's visits.In this way, Hitler's emotions at the time had already enabled the simple-minded Drexler to move him with words, so that Niersch could finally persuade him.In any event, Hitler was not prepared to starve to death until he agreed to eat—although, he did not do so on his own initiative.

Although Hitler stopped his hunger strike, he refused to appear in court.At first, he agreed to be interrogated, but once the interrogators arrived, he refused to speak.In desperation, the chief prosecutor sent his assistant, Hans Erhard, to Landsberg "to see if we could get something out of Hitler." Like his predecessors, he was in vain.Later, he sat opposite Hitler and talked with him patiently, "in a friendly tone, like talking to a sick horse."Hitler frowns and said nothing, "the eyes are empty, like a sheep." After that, he suddenly pointed to the pile of documents on the table and said bitterly that all these official reports must not "hinder my future political work!"

"Okay, Mr. Hitler," Erhard said after a moment of thought, "you may hate the clerk." So he dismissed the clerk employed by the prison and took away the annoying documents.When they were alone in the room, Erhard changed tactics, saying he was just doing business.Would Herr Hitler be willing to discuss the matter with him?Disarmed by Erhard's unofficial attitude, Hitler, uncharacteristically, poured out all he had to say.He not only explained how the uprising plan was formulated and implemented, but also explained why such drastic actions were taken.When he spoke, his voice was high and his face was livid.It seemed to Erhard that he was speaking to a large audience.The Assistant U.S. Attorney occasionally asked him questions.If the question embarrassed him, he would keep silent, but almost at the same time, another burst of words broke out.On his return to Munich, Erhard reported in writing to his superiors and to Georg Nieterhardt, who would be the judge presiding over the trial.The former was impressed by the report, but the latter said: "Hitler hasn't finished speaking, maybe he will leave it at the trial." But Erhard didn't take it seriously.He wondered if the prisoner in cell seven would have more to say.He suddenly remembered that Hitler was too talkative, and he warned the judge that such a person could not "suffocate him to death."

The news of Adolf Hitler's resurrection was confirmed by Hitler's half-sister Angela at the beginning of the following month.She visited the prison "on a gloomy, foggy night in early December."She had expected him to be depressed. "I will never forget this moment as long as I live," she wrote to their brother Alois Jr. "I talked to him for half an hour, and his spirits were as high as before, and his body was as strong as ever. Very well. His arm still gave him trouble, but he felt he had recovered. How touching the devotion to him these days! A duke, for instance, visited him a few moments before my arrival. , and brought him a package of Christmas presents from Wanfried Villa in B City. His achievements are as solid as Mount Tai. Goals and victories are nothing more than a matter of time. May God make this time come sooner." This package The gift was from the Wagner family.A few days later, Winifred Wagner delivered another package, which also contained a book of poetry.Mrs. Wagner had not lost one iota of confidence in him. "Believe me," she reportedly told an audience, "No matter what happens, Hitler is the great man of the future. For all this, he will draw his sword from the oak tree in Germany."

His racist allies, still confident of victory, reshuffled the team.They adopted very unobtrusive names: "The People's Singing Club," "The People's Pioneering Corps," "The German Faithful Women's Corps," "The German Rifle Foot Corps," and so on.The old "Battle League", renamed the "Front Society" under Rohm's leadership (Röhm was imprisoned in Stadelheim prison with another group of rebels).Its purpose was to become an "umbrella organization" for the various racist movements that were reshaping the leadership of Hitler and Ludendorff.Hitler didn't like the idea, but Rohm, who still saw himself as Hitler's corporal's superior, ignored his protests. Hitler's political party, although disbanded according to law, is still operating secretly, with the center of its activities in Munich.To continue Nazi activity, Rosenberg established a committee in Munich, but its progress was hampered by personal quarrels and differences of thought.Rosenberg considered himself Hitler's political heir, but a group of people who were exiled to Salzburg - Esser, Streicher, Amann and Hanf Stangl - regarded him as a liar, both Don't like him, don't respect him.However, this may be the reason why he was chosen.He was not the type to seek permanent control of the party, nor did he have followers.Also, there is no other choice.Göring was still recuperating in refuge in Austria; Schebner Richter was dead; Eckart, released from Landsberg prison, was dying of illness in Berchtesgaden; He also disagreed with Hitler's instructions to the party.One thing Hitler was right about: Rosenberg was fiercely loyal. One night, "through a snow-covered forest," he sneaked across to Austria to confer with the Salzburg group. "I talked to my comrades one by one, tried to give them new courage and cut through all the stupid rumours." A few days later, thinking he had convinced the fugitives, Rosenberg skied across the border and returned to Munich .Yet they reinforced their belief in self-defense: he was incompetent.They began to formulate their own plans, including rebuilding the party's finances by counterfeiting or armed smuggling, and carrying machine guns across the border to attack Landsberg Prison.None of the plans worked, including sending Ludek to the United States to raise money for Hitler. "Whenever I said that Hitler was the future ruler," Ludek reported, "I was ridiculed." In Munich, Hitler was still held in high regard.At Christmas that year, a group of Schöbing's painters who participated in the movement celebrated the holiday by showing the campaign painting "Adolf Hitler in Prison" at the Café Brut.The curtain opened: it was a prison cell with snowflakes floating outside the small iron window, and Hitler was sitting in front of the desk with his head bowed and his hands covering his face, accompanied by a chorus of male voices singing "Silent Night, Holy Night".Then, an angel put a colorful Christmas tree on the table.The man turned around slowly, revealing his face. "Many people thought it was really Hitler himself," recalled Heinrich Hoffmann (who provided the dummy), "and the whole hall was sobbing." After the lights were turned on, the slide showman noticed that many men He and the woman's eyes were moist, and hurriedly removed the handkerchief. On New Year's Day 1924, the new Reich Inspector Hegalmar Shahit, who was in charge of national currency reform, held a meeting in London with Bank of England Governor Montaggio Norman, and Germany's financial problems were resolved in one fell swoop.Shahit, who had already abolished the emergency currency, frankly told the other party about Germany's financial difficulties from the beginning.As soon as the Ruhr crisis is resolved, he said, "German industry will be able to develop again." For this, Germany must be aided by foreign loans and establish "a second credit bank besides the Reichsbank, that is, a credit bank entirely A gold-based bank." He said that he could raise half of the foreign exchange capital needed to build this gold-standard bank in Germany. "The other half intends to lend themselves to the Bank of England." In his memoir, The Old Warlock, Shahit wrote that Norman wasn't interested.Later, Shahit announced that the gold capital of the new bank was worth 200 million marks, and that he intended to issue bank cheques. "I am going to issue sterling cheques," he said.As Norman considered this extraordinary idea, Shahit went on: "Think, Mr. President, of the prospects for such a measure to strengthen the economic cooperation between the British global empire and Germany. If If we want to build peace in Europe, we must free ourselves from the confines of conference resolutions and general assembly declarations. The nations of Europe must become more closely linked economically." Within 48 hours, Norman had not only officially approved the loan at an astonishingly low 5 percent interest rate, but had also persuaded a group of bankers in London to accept checks for much more than the loan amount "provided the gold standard banks accepted." .With just a few strokes of the pen, the self-proclaimed "Old Warlock" Schahit deprived Hitler of one of his most potent political weapons—economic catastrophe.