nd Persona Persons 4 Hirien’s SAtal By W. W. C. ‘Nation, London Independent Weekly ofthe La p Days rom the New Siaesman and Bimentene 0 heard the name OF Adolf Hider naam Dee fe end of the War, when = man named Hag Huber, a war veteran who had had a leg shot away before ¥ Hib fs sere ofa cris fellow who had! been in ig Jor ol ga geeralous chap, anh siting in that same Bi Fa ome fanich where in 3923 Hitler took his onary sctvides by fring off his army revo daring the morrow would see him victor o: fathe the one nor the other, but unscathed, 2 the Bavarian hills, he used to tell tales tr paign experiences. "The thing that had struck him about ‘ Private Hitler? was oguence. He was neither popular nor the reverse with his fell ast smiled at him and his vague, rambling speech De PERTH oct of it. He acecired very swiftly che reall ove itech rays clles sa la occ Beit aleve in avcidile acegrreatle te toe fiche bread was buttered. He incercted noeell parte important question of secing that the teary’ nealing ead Heise This vecured fe hin here ea removed him from the mere on ee, 8004 Braces of the cola Pointed him runner ber ‘ore constant dangers of the trem - ie duties PeaGhehin ie tal headquarters and eld se for hours ina dugout quently in contac withthe 10 laugh at him brook contradiees mat Word of dissent. The ‘one in ee it. The s any sort of for the skill wi 4 cords contain aa with which he avoide itler, the ly on his self Mag, ot his self lunich I lived enieae1, Vilkischer Beobachter, has its offices in a equently noticed in the street a man who militant edition of Charlie Chaplin, owing to his and his bouncing way of walking. He never ie carried a riding whip in his hand, with which he chop off imaginary heads as he walked. He was so quired from neighbors who he might be; most of them, his Slav type, took him to be one of those Russian émigrés who ed in Germany at that time, and they freely talked of his being ya trifle mentally deranged. But my grocer told me it was a Herr fitler from Braunau in Austria, and that he was leader of a tiny a which called itself the ‘German National Socialist Work- ty.’ He lived quietly enough as a boarder in the apartment of a tisan, wrote articles for an obscure paper called the V’é/kischer *bter, and orated in hole-and-corner meetings before audiences of a ‘or two. His closest friend was a Russian émigré from the Baltic ces, a certain Herr Rosenberg, who was joint owner of the paper. curiosity I bought the paper once or twice, and found it a scatter collection of wild anti-Jewish stories and articles interlarded with ies on the Germanic race. My obliging grocer closed his informa- lon Hitler by remarking that he frequently purchased things in his land was, despite his eccentric appearance, quite a pleasant fellow, Gnclined to talk sixteen to the dozen about anything and every- mer of a little wine saloon fhe Schelling Strasse, called the * Ba ’ It was an historic in its way, for it had be of the philosopher, Schelling. iblic in this inn was mostly composed of Bohemians, artists, art »plicissimus, the famous satiri- ly. Musicians and poet ¢ around of an evening and [to Gulbransson or Thény giving forth their views on art, politics, $ price of a pound of meat. Discussions ensued that lasted far into over tankards of beer and bottles of an excellent Chianti. as an almost daily visitor; he had, I learned, been a house his early days in Vienna, but he was ther sore on the subject, as an artist. He was very fond of airing his views on art and e, which, however, were not taken seriously by any of the frequented the place. i Was often accompanied by one or two friends who, I was told, of his little political group. The most sensible of the band named Gregor Strasser, a very sound fellow with whom I Hitler’s closest friend at that time, however, seemed to be named Roehm, who later became chief of the StormTHE LIVING AGE Sonal ‘« friend, Baldur von Schirach, was entrusted gs aie ete Youth,’ the boy-scout organization i of jalist movement. h i Ai Be secuck me about Hitler was his extreme absten mC 7 ight a dish of vegetables, and mineral water was hy ag Sie never smoked. This reminds me of an amusing inated - : iPhecame Chancellor. The German vegetarians havea ene il rtheit league, and this paper came out with flaming headlineg. G Tans? Great Vicrory or German Vecrrarrans st E Hirier Becomes Cuancettor ac times instead of regaling us with chaotic speeches, Hitler woul, br hours on end in front of his mineral water, staring into space, not de a word, and apparently quite oblivious of his surroundings If tse occasions someone suddenly addressed him, he would startasif Is Of sleep, and stroke his forehead with his hand several times before re back to reality. of +t from Rites and art, Hitler’s chief topics of conversation were and clairvoyance. He had never visited Italy, but had apparently So ‘@ great deal about it, and he would somet alk for half an hour re Pend about the glories of ancient Rome the greatness of the Bi sats: There was something about his tallc rade one think of the abu Sof the Old Testament; he spoke as if he believed himself tobe at The only thing that dispelled the ill. was his frequent use an F we not found in the dictionary of a cultivated German. an , for the price of a plate tin Hitler retired with the soothsaye reg t with him in earnest conlertiia - a Bsting eet turned with anger upon a snide a on Bent defence nr, coout clairvoyance, and launc Bi # eo ee of every kind, and ee 199 der who had ks ant, too, of a Jewish c arlatan “i cap h A to himself the name of HanusseMy Ger = Hanussen, who subsequently founded am Fi vag tology, devoted to indirect propagands seks after Hitler’s accession to power aimee He and 28 Rasputin had been in Russie Oy uns vary ottd murdered in a field in is apeecin his death. Some sy ; ed Hitler that the star Fents {8 the beginning of the wineer of 32 “thar be his death to the jealousy of PRE at may be, the incident does not aPP’