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

Chapter XINTERLUDEONE MAY MORNING IN 1849, AT DRESDEN, CAPITAL of thekingdom of Saxony, a man climbed across the barricades and went overto the troops of the king. The soldiers, Saxon mercenaries, had beenvainly attempting to storm the city, defended by its citizenry. Unable tosubdue his own people, the king of Saxony had asked for 'foreign aid,'that is, the troops of the king of Prussia. The foreigners were on theirway. That is why the man climbed over the barricades. He went over tothe soldiers, who were enemies, but none the less Saxons, and handedthem leaflets, which read 'Are you with us against the foreign troops?'That afternoon, the same man stood on the three-hundred-foot steepleof the Church of the Cross, watched the Prussians marching up in thedistance, and dropped slips of paper describing developments to thedefenders. Enemy sharpshooters fired at the observation tower;revolutionary sharpshooters, lying behind the breastworks, returned thefire. When the firing grew too violent, a comrade wanted to draw himaway. He said with a smile: 'Don't worry, I am immortal!'He was a man of thirty-five, a conductor at the royal opera, and hadcomposed operas of his own. His contemporaries were not yet aware ofit — but in these operas human longing had been expressed in new,enchanted tones; and more than by the shots that spattered round thetower, the century was to be shaken by the swelling, darkly beautifulmelody, the immortal cry of rejoicing: 'To thee, O goddess of love, letmy song resound. . . .'