Hitler's Table Talk

382 FUEHRER AND CHANCELLOR
for self-compulsion. In a healthy State, this is what distinguishes
the élite from the men who remain mingled with the
great masses. The man who rises must grow with his task, his
understanding must expand simultaneously with his functions.
If a street-sweeper is unable or unwilling to sacrifice his tobacco
or his beer, then I think: "Very well, my good man, that's
precisely why you're a street-sweeper and not one of the ruling
personalities of the State!" It's just as well, by the way, that
things are like that, for the nation, collectively, has just as much
need of its street-sweepers.
Guided by these rules, which are quite simple and quite
natural, Charlemagne gathered the Germans into a wellcemented
community and created an empire that continued
to deserve the name long after his death. The fact was that
this empire was made of the best stuff of the ancient Roman
Empire—so much so that for centuries the peoples of Europe
have regarded it as the successor to the universal empire of the
Caesars. The fact that this German empire was named "the
Holy Roman Empire" has nothing whatsoever to do with the
Church, and has no religious significance.
Unlike the idea attached to the word "Reich", the idea of the
"Chancellor of the Reich" has unfortunately lost its significance
in the course of the centuries. On a single occasion a giant gave
it its full glory, and then it came to signify abortions like Wirth,
Bruning, etc. At present, in view of the authoritarian form we
have given the State, that has no importance. One can even
declare that this title is not a suitable designation for the Head
of the State. Historically, as a matter of fact, it is connected
with the mental picture 1 according to which, above the Chancellor,
there is yet another person who represents the State as
its supreme chief—and it little matters whether he is called
Emperor, President, or by some quite different name.
In the National Socialist form of State, the title "Fuehrer" is
the most suitable. It implies, amongst other things, the idea
that the Head of the State has been chosen by the German
people. Although it sometimes produces superfluities and overlappings—when
one reads beneath a photograph, for example :
"At the Fuehrer's side, the Oberfuehrer So-and-So", that has
no importance, at least while I'm still alive. But when I'm