Hitler's Table Talk

626 HITLER ATTENDS WEDDINGS
and hypocrisy walk arm in arm; both must be extirpated. The
uselessness of the parson is nowhere better illustrated than here
at the front. Here we have enemies who are dying by the
million—and without a single one of these liars. The Catholic
Church has but one desire, and that is to see us destroyed.
When Eckart was in Landsberg, the prison parson came
and said to him: "Eckart, if anything should happen to you—
which God forbid!—have you given a serious thought to the
future?"
"I have given the question of the Hereafter much more
serious consideration than ever you have done, my good sir,"
replied Eckart. "And if the Hereafter is in reality what you
believe it to be, then, take it from me, I can be of more help to
you than you can be to me!"
Dripping hypocrisy with the swift and poisoned arrow behind
it!
288 12th August 1942, midday
Marriage customs—German Nationalists in 1921—Admiral
Schröder—The Marines.
I have never attended a wedding which was conducted with
becoming solemnity. Marriage is a holy act, the binding into
one of two human beings of different sex; less moving, perhaps,
for a man than for a woman, but still a most solemn occasion.
And what do most of the guests do but make pointed jokes at
the expense of the bride and bridegroom! I attended one
wedding—that of Thiersch—at which every guest made a
short and suggestive speech ; and this was regarded as the height
of wit! I wonder why it is?
As regards superficiality, we are as children in comparison
with the British. It is quite astonishing how trumpery trash
and good taste exist cheek by jowl in Britain. I once had a book
on British masterpieces of architecture—and what magnificent
conceptions it contained ! In London the Government buildings
may be redolent with history, but history is made in the great
castles of the countryside.
The National Club in Berlin ! I was taken there one day in
1921 by Gansser. The people had absolutely no idea whatsoever
of how the German problem should be solved. One of the