Hitler's Table Talk

460 BORMANN COMMENT ON MUSSOLINI
History shows that no country has ever been ruined on
account of its debts. You may take it from me that our
economists can sleep comfortably and regard the problem of
war costs and debts with the utmost optimism.
207 5th May 1942, midday
Wallonia and Northern France are really German
provinces.
The Fuehrer said jokingly that he had read last night with the
greatest interest the book by Petri, lent to him by the journalist Frentz
and entitled: "Germanisches Volkserbe in Wallonien und Nordfrankreich"
(German National Inheritance in Wallonia and Northern
France]. He continued:
This work, published in 1937, further strengthens my conviction
that Wallonia and northern France are in reality
German lands. The abundance of German-sounding nameplaces,
the widespread customs of Germanic origin, the forms
of idiom which have persisted—all these prove, to my mind,
that these territories have been systematically detached, not to
say snatched, from the Germanic territories.
If there are territories anywhere which we have every right to
reclaim, then it is these.
208 May 1942
Frequent changes in the Duce's entourage—Lack of
efficient and trustworthy colleagues—Do not move a man
who is doing a good job of work—Baldur von Schirach,
Axmann, Lauterbacher and Terboven—Lammers a lawyer
with commonsense—Importance of efficient collaboration.
Bormann remarked that each time the Duce paid us a visit, we found
him surrounded by new faces, from which he gathered that the Duce was
constantly changing his collaborators. The Fuehrer retorted:
If the Duce acts in this manner, then it is undoubtedly
because he has no option, for he knows as well as I do that, for
the execution of a long-term project, one must be able to count
on the continuous collaboration of men in key positions. The
reasons, as I see them, for these constant changes the Duce