Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

4 DER FUEHRERcols of the Wise Men of Zion, since become so famous, fell into thehands of Alfred Rosenberg.A mysterious occurrence. Rosenberg himself has often told how theunknown suddenly stepped into the room, laid down the book, andsilently departed. To Rosenberg it was a sign from heaven. Both theplace and the hour were significant. Moscow, 1917. Far to the west, theGerman-Russian phase of the First World War was drawing to an end incrumbling trenches; in the streets of the capital, the Russian Revolutionwas ebbing and flowing. Alfred Rosenberg, the son of a shoemaker,born in Reval (Tallinn) on the Baltic, was then twenty-four years old; hewas of German descent but as an Esthonian, he was a subject of theRussian tsar. He had been raised in the German and Russian languages;he had first studied engineering and architecture at Riga, also on theBaltic; then, when the German army occupied Riga, he had fled. Nowhe was studying in Moscow.The globe was afire. The tsar's empire was crumbling. Perhaps therewould never again be peace. Perhaps this book would tell him why. Thedemon, who had incited the nations against each other, had spoken.Perhaps he, Alfred Rosenberg, understood him better than others; for inhis own soul he could feel more strongly than others the mesh woven byhatred and love between the nations. He came from the tsar's Baltic,German provinces. He could scarcely say whether he was more Russianor more German. But today there were greater things concerning whichhe must achieve clarity. Here in Russia's holy city, in Russia's language,he had received a message. Judah, a book has brought forth thineinnermost thoughts! He, the student, would close his eyes and believe itall his life, as firm as a rock. Was a new epoch of world historybeginning in Moscow at that hour ? Surely one of the most astounding,far-reaching, and bloody conspiracies of all time was bound to thathour. He who could read would go far."The nations,' says the demon, 'love and honor audacity in statesmen.Faced with an act of violence, they say: that was vile but clever! Ascoundrel's trick, but wonderfully executed I With what insolence! Ourleaders must move toward their goal with unparalleled boldness. Thenwe shall break all resistance in our path.'