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

358 DER FUEHRERtity] and how simple in his greatness. ... In the fact of greatness he isabove us all. . . . Der Fuhrer is always like a star over us. ...' A star ofthe cabarets. For Hitler liked to move in the spots where life wasamusing; preferably in places where he could eat a great deal of cake tothe tune of waltzes and marches. Men who were present on many ofthese occasions later spoke of the 'impossible women' he usually tookwith him. In 1932, when a decision affecting the life and death of theparty had to be made (whether or not Hitler should run for the Reichpresidency), he hesitated for almost four weeks while Germany waitedwith bated breath. Unable to make up his mind, he sent for Goebbels toconfer with him in Munich. Goebbels arrived, but Hitler spent hisafternoons in the studio of his friend Troost, the architect, looking overplans for his future gigantic buildings. At night the program, accordingto Goebbels's notes, was as follows: First night, Gartner-Theater, operetta,The Fledermaus; second night, movies, Greta Garbo; third night:another operetta, The Merry Widow. That was how he passed themomentous weeks; when the month had gone by and he had finallymade his decision, Goebbels heaved a sigh: 'He is and remains ourFuhrer after all' — for he had doubted it.When the whole party apparatus was busy with preparations for oneof the Party Days, the Fuhrer vanished for a few days; in his seclusionhe spent his time designing a plaque for the party comrades inNuremberg to wear in their buttonholes. He himself designed thebanners, standards, arm-bands, decorative buttons, newspaper layouts,and later the house facades, stadiums, posters for big meetings, usuallyaided by men like Troost and Speer. Rarely has anything uglier beenconceived than the official party insignia designed in 1922, a lead diskabout the size of a twenty-five-cent piece, ornamented with a red ring, awhite field, and a black swastika. In these designs he attempted torealize the unfulfilled artist's dream of his youth. And all of them werelines in the giant figure which was his picture of himself. In choosingthe tide of Fuhrer, he chose an image for himself, the image ofNapoleon. The columns which adorn his blueprint palaces andmonuments were designed for a new Napoleon. Napoleonic was theeagle between whose claws he placed the swastika; Napoleonic theLatin ornaments on the S.A.