Hitler's Table Talk

LUEGER, MAYOR OF VIENNA 147
was accordingly an enemy of the Christian-Socials. Yet in the
course of my stay in Vienna I couldn't help acquiring a feeling
of great respect for Lueger personally. It was at the City Hall
that I first heard him speak. I had to wage a battle with myself
on that occasion, for I was filled with the resolve to detest
Lueger, and I couldn't refrain from admiring him. He was an
extraordinary orator. It's certain that German policy would
have followed another direction if Lueger hadn't died before
the first World War, as a result of blood-poisoning, after having
been blind for the last years of his life. The Christian-Socials
were in power in Vienna until the collapse in 1918.
Lueger had royal habits. When he held a festivity in the
City Hall, it was magnificent. I never saw him in the streets of
Vienna without everybody's stopping to greet him. His
popularity was immense. At his funeral, two hundred thousand
Viennese followed him to the cemetery. The procession lasted a
whole day.
Lueger was the greatest mayor we ever had. If our Commons
acquired a certain autonomy, that was thanks to him.
What in other cities was the responsibility of private firms, he
converted in Vienna into public services. Thus he was able to
expand and beautify the city without imposing new taxes.
The Jewish bankers one day hit on the idea of cutting off his
sources of credit. He founded the municipal savings-bank, and
the Jews at once knuckled under, overwhelming him with offers
of money.
Schönerer and Lueger remained opponents until the end, but
they were both great Germans. In their dealings with the house
of Habsburg, they both had the habit of behaving as one great
power treating with another. Schönerer was the more logical
of the two, for he was determined to blow up the Austrian
State. Lueger, on the other hand, believed that it was possible
to preserve this State within the German community.
A city like Hamburg is supremely well governed.
The lowest point was reached in Leipzig, at the time when
Kreisleiter Dönicke was mayor there. He was an excellent
Kreisleiter, but a mere cypher as a mayor.
I have several original scores of Richard Wagner, which was
something that not even Dönicke could overlook. The result