Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

insignificantly until suddenly a 'professor' took the floor; he first questioned the soundness of
Feder's arguments and then-after Feder replied very well- suddenly appealed to 'the facts,'
but not without recommending most urgently that the young party take up the 'separation' of
Bavaria from 'Prussia' as a particularly important programmatic point. With bold effrontery
the man maintained that in this case German-Austria would at once join Bavaria, that the
peace would then become much better, and more similar nonsense. At this point I could not
help demanding the floor and giving the learned gentleman my opinion on this point-with the
result that the previous speaker, even before I was finished, left the hall like a wet poodle. As
I spoke, the audience had listened with astonished faces, and only as I was beginning to say
good night to the assemblage and go away did a man come leaping after me, introduce
himself (I had not quite understood his name), and press a little booklet into my hand,
apparently a political pamphlet, with the urgent request that I read it.
This was very agreeable to me, for now I had reason to hope that I might become acquainted
with this dull organization in a simpler way, without having to attend any more such
interesting meetings. Incidentally this apparent worker had made a good impression on me.
And with this I left the hall.
At that time I was still living in the barracks of the Second Infantry Regiment in a little room
that still very distinctly bore the traces of the revolution. During the day I was out, mostly
with the Forty-First Rifle Regiment, or at meetings, or lectures in some other army unit, etc.
Only at night did I sleep in my quarters. Since I regularly woke up before five o'clock in the
morning, I had gotten in the habit of putting a few left-overs or crusts of bread on the floor
for the mice which amused themselves in my little room, and watching the droll little beasts
chasing around after these choice morsels. I had known so much poverty in my life that I
was well able to imagine the hunger, and hence also the pleasure, of the little creatures.
At about five o'clock in the morning after this meeting, I thus lay awake in my cot, watching
the chase and bustle. Since I could no longer fall asleep, I suddenly remembered the past
evening and my mind fell on the booklet which the worker had given me. I began to read. It
was a little pamphlet in which the author, this same worker, described how he had returned
to national thinking out of the Babel of Marxist and trade-unionist phrases; hence also the
title: My Political Awakening.l Once I had begun, I read the little book through with interest;
for it reflected a process similar to the one which I myself had gone through twelve years
before. Involuntarily I saw my own development come to life before my eyes. In the course of
the day I reflected a few times on the matter and was finally about to put it aside when, less
than a week later, much to my surprise, I received a postcard saying that I had been
accepted in the German Workers' Party; I was requested to express myself on the subject and
for this purpose to attend a committee meeting of this party on the following Wednesday.
I must admit that I was astonished at this way of 'winning' members and I didn't know
whether to be angry or to laugh. I had no intention of joining a ready-made party, but wanted
to found one of my own. What they asked of me was presumptuous and out of the question.
I was about to send the gentlemen my answer in writing when curiosity won out and I
decided to appear on the appointed day to explain my reasons by word of mouth.
Wednesday came. The tavern in which the said meeting was to take place was the 'Aites
Rosenbad' in the Herrenstrasse, a very run-down place that no one seemed to stray into
more than once in a blue moon. No wonder, in the year 1919 when the menu of even the
larger restaurants could offer only the scantiest and most modest allurements. Up to this
time this tavern had been totally unknown to me.
I went through the ill-lit dining room in which not a soul was sitting, opened the door to the
back room, and the 'session' was before me. In the dim light of a broken-down gas lamp four
young people sat at a table, among them the author of the little pamphlet, who at once
greeted me most joyfully and bade me welcome as a new member of the German Workers'
Party