"Hitler's Table Talk" Study Hour

April 16, 2015

This Episode #55 brings us almost to the end of the conversations recorded in Table Talk. Next week will be our final program of this series, when Ray and I will give our personal views of its authenticiy, meaning and value -- after which we will take phone calls from listeners. If you want to weigh in, be sure to listen to the live show next week, April 23 at 7pm Central (8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific) at Blogtalk.

Carolyn Yeager and Ray Goodwin read and comment on the June 17, 1943 - May 16, 1944 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by an aide. 1h25m. Included in this episode:

• Fear of the unknown - Great battleships no longer useful;
• Long discussion of Berlin compared to Vienna, Munich, Linz - Interests of the Reich are paramount;
• Finding film actors among the Arbeitsdienst - Art critics can be disregarded for the most part;
• Hitler's first sight of the Rhine on way to Western Front in 1914 - Getting away from the crowds that always followed him - the beauties of Austria and Bohemia-Moravia;
• Failure of German state to found a German National Church independent of Rome - The 'Modernist' period -Power of the Church to extract obedience;
• Differences between research and instruction - Research should be completely unrestricted - German philosophers above British, French and American - Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche;
• Hitler argues with leading economist Zwiedineck - After taking power, Hitler's "theories" became sound economy.

Image: Scenic view in the Rhine River that Hitler appreciated so much. Enlarge

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here

April 9, 2015

Ray Goodwin and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on the Sept. 5-7, 1942 and June 13-15, 1943 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by attorney Heinrich Heim and another aide. 1h25m. Included in this episode:

• The failings of monarchies and stupidity of Princes - human need for an idol - courageous Munoz Grande;
• Stalingrad so strongly defended because of its name - Dutch interbred with Malays - Church put religion over race - our soldiers marrying foreign girls ends in catastrophe;
• Britons have no concept of chivalry in war;
• No mercy on schoolmasters - discourages replicating museums in major German cities - plans a military museum in Linz;
• Nineteenth century was time of greatest German masterpieces in every branch of art - Munich lacked adequate money to build quality edifices - men fight for the artistic and intellectual heritage of their nation;
• In defence of Metternich - Bismarck needed the war in 1866;
• Natural wonders of landscape attract people more than art museums - poor taste in art can be tolerated but not depravity.

Image: German soldier with Russian machine gun. The Battle of Stalingrad and the surrender of the 6th Army took place during the 10-month break in the Table Talk text.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here.

April 2, 2015

Carolyn Yeager and Ray Goodwin read and comment on the Sept. 1-5, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by aide, attorney Heinrich Heim. Included in this episode:

• Pre-and-post-war Vienna -Churchill's visit to Moscow - smoking is a repulsive habit;
• Justice and injustice - girls and children less important than a Hare - May nights in Carinthia - grieves loss of good Gauleiter of Carinthia;
• British politics - Lords Beaverbrook and Rothermere - the Nazi Princess;
• Farming in Germany and Ukraine - never give in to the British - not at war with British people but with small clique who rule them - German art and how Jews try to destroy it;
• Speaking several languages not sign of intelligence - German artistes: little Endres and Grock the clown - likeability of Spain and Spaniards.

Image: "My greatest pleasure is to see clowns like Grock. Such people are the sounding-board of the human soul." -Hitler enlarge

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here

March 26, 2015

"Put the young men into the Army, whence they will return refreshed and cleansed of eight years of scholastic slime!"

Ray Goodwin and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on the August 28-31, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by attorney Heinrich Heim. 1h25m. Included in this episode:

• Divide and conquer - The blood of our race - Austrian Empire and British Empire run by minority - perpetual warfare;
• Criticism of instructional method in secondary schools - too much study not healthy - introduction of universal military service one of greatest events in history;
• Germany land of poets and thinkers? - Sharnhorst brought us back to sanity - value of perseverance supported by enthusiasm;
• Bolsheviks and prostitution - Lloyd George at Versailles -destruction of Duke of Windsor - Jews in Britain - Churchill an unprincipled swine.

Atten: There was a volume problem during the first 30 min. of this episode which I rectified fairly well with Audacity but it's still uneven. Apologies.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here

March 19, 2015

"If Stalin had been given another 10 or 15 years, Russia would have become the mightiest State in the world." -Adolf Hitler

Carolyn Yeager and Ray Goodwin read and comment on the Aug. 25-28, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by aide, attorney Heinrich Heim. 1h21m. Included in this episode:

• Schacht the Freemason - more individual responsibility - overcoming crises - French & Italians, Swiss, Swedes and Danes;
• Stalin has remade Russia - British hesitancy to advance - Peace of Westphalia - benefits from Dieppe raid - railroads beat river traffic but Danube will be great traffic artery;
• Resources of Ukraine and Crimea -Spain and Latin bloc - Russian powers of resistance - Charles Martel prevented Germans becoming Muslim - Hungarians and Austrians - Budapest most beautiful city in Europe;
• Air raids and anti-artilliary guns - New weapons must be given a fair chance.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here

March 12-2015

Alfred Rosenberg was the editor of the Völkischer Beobachter from 1923, after Dietrich Eckart. He wanted an intellectual Party newspaper and clashed with the more business-minded Party treasurer Max Amann. Hitler agreed with Amann.

Ray Goodwin and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on the August 20-22, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by attorney Heinrich Heim. 1h26m. Included in this episode:

• Maximum mechanisation of an army does not defeat greater man-power - Hitler expresses strong criticism of Wilhelm II and praise for Ferdinand of Bulgaria;
• Alfred Rosenberg and the Völkischer Beobachter - after the Reichstag fire Hitler and Goebbels put out the next day's edition;
• Baltic Germans - Hitler a "non-family man" - women's peccadillos bring fresh blood into a family - Bavarian girls are not virgins - rural custom of matrimonial trial;
• Dialects vs standard German - stenographers and secretaries;
• British gained their sense of superiority in India - India a source of great income for Britain - Indians and Mexicans engaged in human sacrifice before the White man came;
• Hitler not fond of local crafts, including German - Don't try to change native peoples - Stalin and the Jews - Lloyd George a wise man - some war comments.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here

March 5, 2015

Hitler with Wehrmacht troops: "I am not a brutal man by nature, thus cold reason guides my actions."

Carolyn Yeager and Ray Goodwin read and comment on the Aug. 16-20, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by aide Heinrich Heim, who has returned. 1h20m. Included in this episode:

• Churchill decided on war years before 1939 - praise for the French workman - obstruction from the Wehrmacht's niggardly ways;
• Hitler recalls how he imposed his will and used all his powers against the Army, Navy and his own ministers in order to prepare Germany for war in spite of the cost;
• Crimes against animals vs people - judges and national morale - different treatment of criminals during peacetime and wartime;
• Function of law is to safeguard the public - Hitler's own experience with lawyers - officers of the judiciary must be the best a country has.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here

Feb. 26, 2015

Churchill goes to Moscow in August 1942 to bring a disappointing message to Stalin?

Ray Goodwin and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on the August 7-16, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by attorney Heinrich Heim. 1h23m. Included in this episode:

• Churchill to visit Stalin, Hitler is intrigued as to why;
• Germans are in Crimea to stay, says AH, and winning over the peasantry;
• British have no rights to decide anything in Europe - Rumanians vs Hungarians, and the Viennese;
• Riches of Ukraine - Reichsmarks and Ostmarks - the parson class are enemies of the state;
• Very interesting account of Hitler visiting the National Club and the Officers' Club in Berlin in 1921, meeting Admiral Schröder, an important early supporter;
• Hitler on Dance as artistic expression: most beautiful is the waltz, impressive is the Bavarian Schuhplattler done by men;
• Some of the diplomats he's known in Berlin - comments on Stalin - Churchill and the Malta situation.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here

Feb. 19, 2015

Peasant spreading manure. Hitler said of the German peasant farmers, "The peasantry is the solid backbone of the nation, for husbandry is the most chancy occupation on earth."

Carolyn Yeager and Ray Goodwin read and comment on the Aug. 3-6, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by aide Heinrich Heim, who has returned. 1h19m. Included in this episode:

• Hitler uses the instinctual behaviors within bee and ant colonies to explain the value of merciless perseverence when its a question of survival;
• American military courts established in Britain - Poor military decision-making influenced by Jews;
• Food and food supply - stories of Prince Arenberg;
• Praise plus criticism for the Italians -more on ruling the Eastern territories;
• Living in open rather than crowded spaces gives one a wider view - St. Petersburg and Moscow must be destroyed - creating markets in the occupied East;
• Mistreatment of the peasant class led to migration of some of the best of Germans - France and Italy both have strong peasantry which stabilizes a nation.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here.