Hitler's Table Talk

456 NO DOMINATION OF LARGE TOWNS
moment, without, however, ever losing sight of the political and
cultural aspects of the case. We, too, should be well advised to
examine most meticulously all relevant factors before we embark
on any large measures of regional reform. For this reason
I have, through Reichsleiter Bormann, forbidden, until after
the war, any suppression or fusion of the various districts as
they at present exist. I have also taken steps to ensure that
Berlin should not take advantage of war conditions and
shortages to seize for itself all available building material and
the like, at the expense of other towns. The bigger a town is, the
more it is tempted to play the rôle of metropolis, in every sense
of the word, and to try to grab everything for itself. This is
exactly what Vienna did for centuries; it gathered within its
walls all the works of art it could lay its hands on, bleeding
white the Alpine and Danubian provinces and leaving them
destitute of any sort of cultural or artistic existence. We must
see to it that the same thing does not happen at Linz, when we
put into execution our plans for the development of that city.
There is no point, for example, in emptying the museums of
Munich in order to fill those of Linz. As a matter of fact I
was a little worried lest this very thing might happen, and it is
for this reason that I have started buying in the open market
the art treasures that will eventually be destined for the Linz
museums. I do not wish to see the museums of one town
flourish at the expense of those of other towns.
Suppose we made an exception in the case of Linz and proceeded
to pillage all the smaller provincial museums with the
object of making one perfect collection at Linz—what would be
the result? In the first place we should offend the legal basis on
which the ownership of these works is founded; and then there
would be no end to the possibilities. We should, in justice,
have to accede to the claims of Liebel, the Mayor of Nuremberg,
for the return to Nuremberg of all works of art created by
the artists of that city, and we should start a scramble for
possession of masterpieces which would have neither end nor
limits. In any case, it is absurd to say that a work of art must
remain in the place of its origin. A masterpiece knows no local
boundaries, and wherever it goes it brings fame and glory both
to the artist and to the town which was his home. Mussolini