A Reaction to Hitler's Table Talk - Essay Example

It had a very casual atmosphere, conducive to the Fuhrer’s relaxed sharing of his inner thoughts and feelings. The Table Talks therefore reflect Hitler’s most intimate self, not known directly from his public functions and formal addresses. From 1941 to 1942, two notebooks of talks were compiled, published only after World War II. In this short paper, a few lines are taken for comment. This may be an inadequate way to react to these informal talks, but it is still a good start to inspire interest for this important account of his informal monologues.

I don’t dream of imposing my philosophy on a village girl Dreams are most intimate to persons, but somehow they can reveal the inner psyche of people. “Dreams,” in this instance refer not directly to the trancelike state during sleep, but to Hitler’s intention to respect the mind of a village girl, symbolic of the peasants among Germany’s people. Hitler knew he had a philosophy of life to impart to others, but he says he has no intention of coercing anyone to his point of view. If they will believe him, it must be through the rational process of persuasion and re-education.

In life, Hitler would show that he had the gift of persuasion, making coercion actually needless insofar as convincing people to his point of view. . In time, Hitler rose to the pedestal as Germany’s political leader. A biographer of Hitler wrote that at the height of his career, “for hundreds of thousands, soon for millions, Hitler became an idol whose rise they applauded with convulsive emotion. . . he strides down streets lined with shouting, sobbing people’ (Fest 66). Given the wide popularity and adulation of the people, Hitler in his Table Talks would have thought that imposing ideas on people especially so on a peasant girl would be a needless exercise.

Of course, there is another side to Table Talks, and this relates to actual developments brought about by Hitler’s Third Reich. Soon after he gained Chancellorship, concentration camps were set up in order to imprison and later to execute those who opposed the state, including journalists, clergymen, artists, soldiers, etc. Table Talks are therefore one way of saying one thing and doing something different from what are said. I don’t want to force National Socialism on anybody Hitler’s incarceration as a political agitator gave him time to read, reflect and write down his thoughts into a book, the Mein Kampf.

While he would admit his book was a confused piece of writing, it would reflect his ideas about National Socialism and its pan-Germanic utopian dream. For Hitler, National Socialism was a grandiose vision, not a simple political movement. Beyond nationalism and socialism, Hitler thought of world change along Darwin’s natural struggle of the fittest, the genetic breeding of a superior German race, and world domination that equals the Bolshevik dream of a communist globe. Hitler thought that the radical ideals of his mind will require subtle mass re-education.