Hitler's Table Talk

AN SS HIGHLAND BRIGADE 629
It is not correct to say that life in the mountains is good for
everybody. I am thinking of Frau Endres and of my own sister
Elli, who came to us from Austria. If Elli spends six weeks on
end in Obersalzberg, she has to go to Nauheim for a cure !
There are some people who will climb up to the summit of the
Göll in boots, and, if it happens to be raining, wrapped in a
heavy coat. That seems to me to be an astonishing thing to do !
Boots, of themselves, are unhealthy things, for they allow of no
ventilation. Mocassins are a very different proposition. The
healthiest clothing, without any doubt, is leather shorts, shoes
and stockings. Having to change into long trousers was always
a misery to me. Even with a temperature of ten below zero I
used to go about in leather shorts. The feeling of freedom they
give you is wonderful. Abandoning my shorts was one of the
biggest sacrifices I had to make. I only did it for the sake of
North Germany. Anything up to five degrees below zero I
don't even notice. Quite a number of the young people of today
already wear shorts all the year round; it is just a question
of habit. In the future I shall have an SS Highland Brigade
in leather shorts !
We have made the uniforms of the Wehrmacht much more
comfortable and practical. Engineers, for example, now work in
bathing-shorts. Attention to minor detail of this sort gives the
men the feeling that they are being commanded by men of intelligence.
If subordinates once get the idea that their superiors
are lacking in intelligence, it is a very bad thing. Nowadays the
officers and men are united in one and the same entity.
One still sees in Russia quite a number of handsome costumes.
The owners must have kept them hidden.
In my opinion, we should make a German Mediterranean
of the Baltic sea.
290 16th August 1942, midday
The Tsar Ferdinand—And some diplomats—Ways and
means between Russia and Britain.
I always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Draganov has copied the features and the gestures of Ferdinand
to perfection! Anyone would mistake him for the old