History Book Review Adolph Hitler The Table Talks

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Introduced by H. R. Trevor-Roper. 1953 Redwood Press. Strictly speaking, Hitler only wrote one book, Mein Kampf. The Table Talks were a series of informal lectures, which he gave to senior members of the Nazi High Command each night after the days military duties had been performed. They were a way for everyone to unwind and relax after the stresses of moving troops around in an increasingly complicated war. The rule of the talks was on the whole not to talk shop, but to chill out and envisage what Germany would be like under Hitler once victory was achieved. The talks survive in written format because Martin Bormann kept notes, feeling that his beloved master’s words of wisdom should be preserved. What we see shows how deranged Hitler was. The talks meander through a range of topics such as the support for Hollow Earth theories, to discussion of how the Germans will become their own weather forecasters, given Hitler’s appreciation for people able to tell whether it will rain or not from whether pine cones are open or closed or from twinges in their knees. He seems to be advocating a cheery pagan folk religion, as opposed to Christianity, which (though actually officially a Catholic himself), Hitler seems to hold in some contempt. There is very little talk of the war, and there are virtually no references to the Jews or the concentration camps. The talks reflect the creepy cheery optimism of the early years to the darker despair felt by the Fuhrer as the struggle got worse by 1944. There are occasional angry outbursts too, such as Hitler’s reaction to news of Rudolf Hess’s sudden disastrous flight to Scotland. He refused to even have Hess’s name mentioned again in his presence. Without the mass rallies at Nuremberg that Hitler was able to conduct in his pre-war years, The Table Talks were his only real opportunity to eulogize and create a philosophy, but their broken, inane and sometimes insane tone shows how dangerously out of touch Hitler was. The talks end abruptly, and without warning in mid 1944, after which the war machine went into terminal decline, and left Hitler and his associates with no more time to sit back and chill out together in such a way. One of the most hate filled historic records ever penned. My photo is a reminder of the people who died while the Nazi enjoyed such pontificated piffle. Arthur Chappell