Hitler's Table Talk

668 BUDAPEST, BERLIN, MADRID
the baroque one finds in the former would be equally appropriate
in the latter.
Rudolf von Habsburg was a real German Emperor. He had to
hold territory in his own right as an indispensable base for the
foundation of his power. It is only during the last twenty-five
years that Hungary has ceased to form part of the eastern
portion of the Austro-Hungarian empire; before that, it was
always an integral part of it.
The Reich must get a worthy capital. At the moment Budapest
is the most beautiful town in the world, and there is no
town in the whole German Reich that can even compare with
it. The Houses of Parliament, the Citadel, the Cathedral and
the bridges, seen in the shimmer of the setting sun, present a
spectacle of beauty unsurpassed in the world. Vienna, too, is
impressive, but it is not on a river. And all these beauties have
been built by German architects.
It shows one how important the construction of a capital city
can be. In olden days, Buda and Pest were both a conglomeration
of peasant hovels. In a single century, Budapest
rose from a city of forty thousand inhabitants to a great capital
with a million and a quarter citizens. With the exception of the
Town Hall, all the buildings in Budapest are twice the size of
their equivalents in Vienna.
Berlin must follow suit, and I know we shall make a magnificent
city of it. Once we have got rid of the hideous expanse of
water which defaces the north side of the city, we shall have a
magnificent perspective, stretching from the Sudbahnhof to the
Triumphal Arch, with the cupola of the People's Palace in the
distance.
Madrid, too, they tell me, is marvellously situated.
303 a8th August 1942, evening
Sky-scrapers—Their vulnerability to air attack—Antiaircraft
defence—New artillery weapons—Learning while
facing the enemy.
Some German towns must be protected at all costs—Weimar,
Nuremberg, Stuttgart. Factories can always be rebuilt, but
works of art are irreplaceable.