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Hitler's Table Talk

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 86.132.184.193 (talk) at 09:21, 27 October 2012 (Undid revision 518359365 by Eldamorie (talk) Again, please note, he is not an historian! In this context he is an activist. He has merit, but it needs to be made clearer that he has an agenda.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Hitler delivered most of the "Table Talk" monologues at the Wolfsschanze (above) and at Werwolf.

Hitler's Table Talk (German: Tischgespräche) is the title given to a series of wartime conversations and monologues delivered by Adolf Hitler, which were transcribed from 1941 to 1944. Hitler's remarks were recorded by Heinrich Heim, Henry Picker, and Martin Bormann, and later published by different editors, under different titles, in three different languages.[1][2][3]

Martin Bormann, who was serving as Hitler's private secretary, persuaded Hitler to allow a team of specially picked officers to record in shorthand his private conversations for posterity. The first notes were taken by the lawyer Heinrich Heim, starting from 5 July 1941 to mid March 1942.[4] Taking his place, Henry Picker took notes from 21 March 1942 until 2 August 1942,[5] after which Heinrich Heim and Martin Bormann continued appending material off and on until 1944.

The talks were recorded at the Führerhauptquartier (Führer Headquarters)[4] in the company of Hitler's inner circle. The talks not only dwell on war and foreign affairs, but also Hitler's characteristic attitudes on religion, culture, philosophy, personal aspirations, and his feelings towards his enemies and friends.[3][6][7]

History of the Table Talk

The history of the document is relatively complex, as numerous individuals were involved, working at different times, collating different parts of the work. This effort spawned two distinct notebooks, which were translated into multiple languages,[5][8] and covered, in some instances, non-overlapping times frames due to ongoing legal and copyright issues.[4][9]

All editions and translations are based on the two original German notebooks, one by Henry Picker, and another based on a more complete notebook by Martin Bormann (which is often called the Bormann-Vermerke, or "Bormann Notes"). Henry Picker was the first to publish the Table Talk, doing so in 1951 in the original German.[1] This was followed by the French translation in 1952 by François Genoud, a Swiss financier.[2] The English edition came in 1953, which was translated by R. H. Stevens and Norman Cameron and published under the editorial hand of historian Hugh Trevor-Roper.[3] Both the French and English translations were based on the Bormann-Vermerke manuscript, while Picker's volume was based on his original notes, as well as the notes he directly acquired from Heinrich Heim spanning from 5 July 1941 to March 1942.[10] The original German content of the Bormann-Vermerke was not published until 1980 by historian Werner Jochmann.[11] However Jochmann's edition is not complete, as it lacks the 100 entries made by Picker between 12 March and 1 September 1942.[12]

Albert Speer, who was the Minister of Armaments and War Production for Nazi Germany, confirmed the authenticity of Henry Picker's Table Talk in his 1976 memoirs.[13] Speer stated that Hitler often spoke long-windedly about his favorite subjects, while dinner guests were reduced to silent listeners. In the presence of his "superiors by birth and education" Hitler made a sincere effort to "present his thoughts in as impressive manner as possible."[13] It is important to remember, Speer noted, "this collection includes only those passages in Hitler's monologues—they took up one to two hours every day—which struck Picker as significant. Complete transcripts would reinforce the sense of stifling boredom."

According to historian Max Domarus, Hitler insisted on absolute silence when he delivered his monologues. No one was allowed to interrupt or contradict him. Magda Goebbels reported to Galeazzo Ciano that, "It is always Hitler who talks! He can be Führer as much as he likes, but he always repeats himself and bores his guests."[7]

Controversies

Although considered authentic, contentious issues remain over particular aspects of the work, including the reliability of particular translated statements within the French and English editions,[5][14] the questionable manner in which Martin Bormann may have edited his notes,[11][15][16] recommended caution using the Table Talk as a historical source,[17][18][19] and disputes over which edition is most reliable.[5][6]

Hitler's comments on religion

Further information: Adolf Hitler's religious views

Recent controversy has arisen regarding the reliability of François Genoud's French translation and Hugh Trevor-Roper's English translation of the Table Talk, particularly with respect to Hitler's statements regarding Christianity. According to historian Richard Steigmann-Gall, the statements found within the Table Talk seem to "reveal an unmistakable rupture with his previous religious attitudes."[20] Atheist activist and historian of classical antiquity Richard Carrier maintains that much of Trevor-Roper's English edition is actually a verbatim translation of Genoud's French, and not the original German.[9] Carrier asserts that a textual analysis between Picker's original German text and Genoud's French translation reveals that Genoud's version is at best a poor translation, and in some instances fraudulent.[5] Many of the quotations used to assert Hitler's anti-Christianity are derived from the Genoud–Trevor-Roper translation. Carrier cautions that no one "who quotes this text is quoting what Hitler actually said."[5]

One disputed example includes Hitler's statement that, "Our epoch will certainly see the end of the disease of Christianity."[21] The original German reads, "Die Zeit, in der wir leben, ist die Erscheinung des Zusammenbruchs dieser Sache." Which Carrier translates (in bold) as: "I have never found pleasure in maltreating others, even if I know it isn't possible to maintain oneself in the world without force. Life is granted only to those who fight the hardest. It is the law of life: Defend yourself! The time in which we live has the appearance of the collapse of this idea. It can still take 100 or 200 years. I am sorry that, like Moses, I can only see the Promised Land from a distance."[22]

The Trevor-Roper edition also quotes Hitler saying, "I realise that man, in his imperfection, can commit innumerable errors—but to devote myself deliberately to error, that is something I cannot do. I shall never come personally to terms with the Christian lie. In acting as I do, I'm very far from the wish to scandalise. But I rebel when I see the very idea of Providence flouted in this fashion. It's a great satisfaction for me to feel myself totally foreign to that world." However the original German reads:

Ich weiß, dass der Mensch in seiner Fehlerhaftigkeit tausend Dinge falsch machen wird. Aber entgegen dem eigenen Wissen etwas falsch tun, das kommt nicht in Frage! Man darf sich persönlich einer solchen Lüge niemals fügen. Nicht weil ich andere ärgern will, sondern weil ich darin eine Verhöhnung der ewigen Vorsehung erkenne. Ich bin froh, wenn ich mit denen keine innere Verbindung habe.

Which Carrier translates: "I know that humans in their defectiveness will do a thousand things wrong. But to do something wrong against one's own knowledge, that is out of the question! One should never personally accept such a lie. Not because I want to annoy others, but because I recognize therein a mockery of the Eternal Providence. I am glad if I have no internal connection with them."[23]

According to Carrier, there are also crimes of omission. In the original German Picker and Jochmann's text, Hitler had stated, "What man has over the animals, possibly the most marvelous proof of his superiority, is that he has understood there must be a Creative Power!" However this text is missing from both the Genoud and Trevor-Roper translations.[24]

Carrier states that Hitler does indeed criticize the Church and various Christian dogmas in the Picker and Jochmann text of the Table Talk. For example, Hitler argues against belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus, in favor of a spiritual one. Carrier suggests these criticisms are only directed at Roman Catholicism and the institutionalization of religion generally. Werner Jochmann, and Richard Steigmann-Gall state that Hitler was certainly religious, citing him expressing a belief in God, divine providence, and Jesus as an Aryan opponent of the Jews.[5][11][20] Steigman-Gall's own book however admits that by holding this position he "argues against the consensus that Nazism as a whole was either unrelated to Christianity or actively opposed to it."[25]

Between 1941 and 1944, the period in which the Table Talk was being transcribed, a number of Hitler's intimates cite him expressing negative views of Christianity, including Joseph Goebbels,[26] Albert Speer,[27] and Martin Bormann.[28] However Nazi General Gerhard Engel reports that in 1941 Hitler asserted, "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so."[29] Similarly Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber reported that Hitler "undoubtedly lives in belief in God....He recognizes Christianity as the builder of western culture."[30]

Steigmann-Gall, in his study on the Nazis' attitude towards Christianity, states that Hitler's criticism of Christianity in the Table Talk, if reliable, reflects a newly formed anticlerical attitude which began in 1937. Steigmann-Gall suggests that this change might have emerged as a result of Hitler's frustration over his failure to unify all German Protestant churches.[20] Despite his private rupture with institutional Christianity, Steigmann-Gall emphasizes that Hitler continued to hold Jesus in high esteem, considering him to have been an Aryan fighter who struggled against Jewry.[20] In Hitler's view, Jesus' true Christian teachings had been corrupted by the Apostle Paul, who had transformed them into a kind of Jewish Bolshevism, which Hitler believed preached "the equality of all men amongst themselves, and their obedience to an only god. This is what caused the death of the Roman Empire."[31] The Table Talk also shows he continued for some time to wish for a united Christian Church of Germany.[31][32] By 1940, however, it was public knowledge that Hitler had abandoned even the syncretist idea of a positive Christianity.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b Picker, Henry and Gerhard Ritter, eds. (1951). Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1942. Bonn: Athenäum.
  2. ^ a b Genoud, François (1952). Adolf Hitler: Libres Propos sur la Guerre et la Paix. Paris: Flammarion.
  3. ^ a b c Trevor-Roper, H.R. (1953). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944. Trans. Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 2nd ed. 1972; 3rd ed. 2000.
  4. ^ a b c Trevor-Roper, H.R. (2000). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944. New York: Enigma Books, p. vii.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Carrier, R.C. (2003). "'Hitler's Table Talk': Troubling Finds" German Studies Review 26 (3): 561-576.
  6. ^ a b Vollnhals, Clemens (2005). "Hitler's Table Talk" In Richard Levy, ed., Antisemitism. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, pp. 308-309.
  7. ^ a b Domarus, Max (2004). Speeches and proclamations, 1932-1945. Wauconda IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, p. 2463.
  8. ^ Carrier, Richard (2002). "Was Catholic Hitler A 'Christian'? On the Trail of Bogus Quotes" Freethought Today 19 (November): 10-11.
  9. ^ a b Rosenbaum, Ron (1999). Explaining Hitler. New York: Harper Collins, pp. 74-77.
  10. ^ Trevor-Roper, H.R. (2000). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944. New York: Enigma Books, p. viii.
  11. ^ a b c Jochmann, Werner (1980). Monologe im Führer-Hauptquartier 1941-1944. Hamburg: Albrecht Knaus Verlag.
  12. ^ Trevor-Roper, H.R. (2000). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944. New York: Enigma Books, p. x.
  13. ^ a b Speer, Albert (1976). Spandau: The Secret Diaries. New York: Macmillan, p. 237.
  14. ^ Avalos, Hector (2010). "Atheism Was Not the Cause of the Holocaust." In John Loftus The Christian Delusion. New Jersey: Prometheus Books, pp. 368–395.
  15. ^ Rich, Norman (1992). Hitler's War Aims. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, p. 270.
  16. ^ Laqueur, Walter (1978). Fascism: A Reader's Guide. Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 177.
  17. ^ Kershaw, Ian (2000). Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, p. xiv.
  18. ^ Schramm, Percy (1963). "The Anatomy of a Dictator." In Henry Picker, Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1942. Stuttgart: Seewald Verlag.
  19. ^ Gailus, Manfred (2007). "A Strange Obsession with Nazi Christianity." Journal of Contemporary History 42 (1): 35-46. Called "dubious."
  20. ^ a b c d Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). The Holy Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 252-254
  21. ^ Trevor-Roper, Hugh (2000). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944. New York: Engima Books, p. 343.
  22. ^ Carrier, R.C. (2003). "'Hitler's Table Talk': Troubling Finds" German Studies Review 26 (3): 566.
  23. ^ Carrier, R.C. (2003). "'Hitler's Table Talk': Troubling Finds" German Studies Review 26 (3): 570.
  24. ^ Carrier, R.C. (2003). "'Hitler's Table Talk': Troubling Finds" German Studies Review 26 (3): 568.
  25. ^ Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). The Holy Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  26. ^ Steinberg, Jonathan (2002). All Or Nothing: The Axis and the Holocaust, 1941-1943. London: Routledge Press, p. 234.
  27. ^ Speer, Albert (1971). Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs by Albert Speer. Trans. Richard Winston, Clara Winston, Eugene Davidson. New York: Macmillan, p. 143.
    Reprinted in 1997 Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs. New York: Simon and Schuster, p. 96.
  28. ^ Bullock, Alan (1991). Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives. New York: Vintage Books, p. 382.
  29. ^ Toland, John (1992). Adolf Hitler. New York: Anchor Publishing, p. 507.
  30. ^ Kershaw, Ian (2001). The "Hitler Myth": Image and reality in the Third Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 109.
  31. ^ a b Trevor-Roper, H.R. (2000). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944. New York: Enigma Books, pp. 721-722; Night of 29–30 November 1944.
  32. ^ Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). The Holy Reich: Nazi conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945, pp. 255-256.
  33. ^ Poewe, Karla O, New Religions and the Nazis, p. 28, Routledge 2006
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