Hitler's Table Talk

AUSTRIAN GAULEITERS 683
carrying a heavy ladder and running the risk of being badly
bitten by the watch-dog—or of having a bucket of cold water
thrown over them for their pains ! I have much more sympathy
for them than for the type who wanders round the big cities,
rattling his five or ten marks in his pocket ! On the other hand,
there are times when the countryside has its advantages, though
none but the brave deserve the fair. The nights of May, the
month of the festival of the Holy Virgin, are wonderful in the
country—and afford wonderful opportunities for a tender
rendezvous, to say nothing of the various pilgrimages, which
offer a good excuse to spend the night anywhere. In Austria it
is in Carinthia that these happy practices are most prevalent,
and it is there one finds the loveliest maids !
I am very glad that I sent Rainer to Garinthia—he comes
from those parts. In point of fact all the Gauleiter in Austria
are good men. I was deeply grieved to hear that the former
Gauleiter of the Lower Danube had been killed in action.
Leopold was a man of outstanding quality; with his company
he used to protect my rallies in Austria with the utmost
efficiency. He was a Captain in the Army of the Republic and
at the same time chief of his local section of the Party. He was
no great orator, but a man of exceptional idealism. I did not
even know that he was at the front; had I known of his intentions,
I should certainly have stopped his going.
309 and September 1942, evening
A "Museum of the Chase"—Political evolution of Britain—
Possibility of a volte face by Churchill—The Tories oppose
Churchill—American greed—My contacts with Lord
Rotherrnere.
What an absurd monstrosity Christian Weber's Museum of the
Chase is! In Munich there is an Alpine museum; but it is not
the mountaineers who visit it—they are all out on the mountainside.
I said to Weber: "You're a clever fellow in lots of ways,
but the one thing of which you know nothing is Art. Not a
soul in Munich will put a foot inside your Museum—the
sportsmen won't, and the others most certainly will not."
I don't mind sports in their proper place. Let the youngsters