Hitler's Table Talk

214 GERMAN DAY AT BERCHTESGADEN
I immediately recognised my man by his stupidly scarred
face, lost in the confused uproar of the hall. When he saw me
mount the platform and begin to speak, he fixed his eyes upon
me as if I were a ghost. The meeting ended in a terrible brawl,
in the course of which Schreck was arrested. I took my companion
back to Obersalzberg. He was dumbfounded. I
begged him to keep my secret, telling him that if I were
recognised I should be obliged to change my place of refuge,
and that this would be a great vexation. He gave me his word.
On the way back, it was Goring who was at the wheel. He
drove like a madman. On a bend, before we arrived at
Tittmoning, we suddenly found ourselves on a dung-heap.
Maurice took over the wheel again, and drove us back to
Berchtesgaden without further obstacle.
Next day I could see, from the way the braggart's wife had
of staring at me, that he had spoken to her. But towards the
others he had been entirely discreet.
For a long time a meeting had been arranged at Berchtesgaden.
The moment came when it was no longer possible to
avoid it. "German Day at Berchtesgaden. Present: Comrade
Adolf Hitler." Great sensation at Obersalzberg. The whole
boarding-house, forty to fifty people in all, came down into the
valley to see the phenomenon. Dinner-time had been advanced
so that they could arrive punctually.
I came down by motor-cycle. At the Crown inn, I was
welcomed by a formidable ovation. All my boarding-house
was gathered in front of the door—but the good people were
in no way surprised, being convinced that every new arrival
was greeted in this vociferous fashion. When I climbed on the
platform, they stared at me as if I'd gone mad. When they
became aware of the reality, I saw that it was driving them out
of their minds.
When Wolf returned to the boarding-house, the atmosphere
there was poisoned. Those who had spoken ill of Adolf Hitler
in my hearing were horribly embarrassed. What a pity!
The pleasant period was when my features weren't known,
and I could travel in peace all over the Reich. What a pleasure
it was for me to be mistaken for no matter whom!
One of my first escapades after my emergence from prison,