Hitler's Table Talk
Encyclopedia
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
conversations and monologues delivered by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, which were transcribed from 1941 to 1944. Hitler's remarks were recorded by Heinrich Heim
Heinrich Heim
Heinrich Heim was a lawyer and NSDAP Ministerialrat who transcribed and co-published with Werner Jochmann transcripts of Adolf Hitler's informal talks, known colloquially as Hitler's Table Talk. Heim's version of the table talk was published in 1980 under the title Adolf Hitler Monologe im...
, Henry Picker
Henry Picker
Henry Picker was a lawyer, stenographer and author who co-transcribed and first published transcripts of Adolf Hitler's informal talks, known colloquially as the Table Talk.-Biography:...
, and Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
, and later published by different editors, under different titles, in three different languages.
Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
, who was serving as Hitler's private secretary, persuaded Hitler to allow a team of specially picked officers to record in shorthand
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
his private conversations for posterity. The first notes were taken by the lawyer Heinrich Heim, starting from 5 July 1941 to mid March 1942. Taking his place, Henry Picker took notes from 21 March 1942 until 2 August 1942, after which Heinrich Heim and Martin Bormann continued appending material off and on until 1944.
The talks were recorded at the Führerhauptquartiere
Führer Headquarters
The Führer Headquarters , abbreviated FHQ, is a common name for a number of official headquarters used by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and various German commanders and officials throughout Europe during World War II...
(Führer Headquarters) 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
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, personal aspirations, and his feelings towards his enemies and friends.Domarus, Max (2004). Speeches and proclamations, 1932-1945. Wauconda IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, p. 2463.
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, and covered, in some instances, non-overlapping times frames due to ongoing legal and copyrightCopyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
issues.
All editions and translations are based on the two original German notebooks, one by Henry Picker
Henry Picker
Henry Picker was a lawyer, stenographer and author who co-transcribed and first published transcripts of Adolf Hitler's informal talks, known colloquially as the Table Talk.-Biography:...
, and another based on a more complete notebook by Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
(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
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. This was followed by the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
translation in 1952 by François Genoud
François Genoud
François Genoud was a noted Swiss financier and a principal benefactor of the Nazi diaspora through the ODESSA network and supporter of Middle Eastern liberation groups during the post-World War II 20th century. He was considered the Swiss financier of the Third Reich.- Early life:Genoud was from...
, a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
financier. The English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
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. 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. The original German content of the Bormann-Vermerke was not published until 1980 by historian Werner Jochmann. However Jochmann's edition is not complete, as it lacks the 100 entries made by Picker between 12 March and 1 September 1942.
Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
, who was the Minister of Armaments and War Production for Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, confirmed the authenticity of Henry Picker's Table Talk in his 1976 memoirs. 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." 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
Max Domarus
Max Domarus was a German writer, historian, researcher, archivist, translator, and publicist.Domarus is best known for his historical work on the speeches of Adolf Hitler. Domarus was the translator and editor of the 3,400-page, four volume set entitled Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations...
, Hitler insisted on absolute silence when he delivered his monologues. No one was allowed to interrupt or contradict him. Magda Goebbels
Magda Goebbels
Johanna Maria Magdalena "Magda" Goebbels was the wife of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels...
reported to Galeazzo Ciano
Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari was an Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law. In early 1944 Count Ciano was shot by firing squad at the behest of his father-in-law, Mussolini under pressure from Nazi Germany.-Early life:Ciano was born in...
that, "It is always Hitler who talks! He can be Führer
Führer
Führer , alternatively spelled Fuehrer in both English and German when the umlaut is not available, is a German title meaning leader or guide now most associated with Adolf Hitler, who modelled it on Benito Mussolini's title il Duce, as well as with Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also...
as much as he likes, but he always repeats himself and bores his guests."
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, the questionable manner in which Martin Bormann may have edited his notes, recommended caution using the Table Talk as a historical source, and disputes over which edition is most reliable.Hitler's comments on religion
Recent controversy has arisen regarding the reliability of François Genoud'sFrançois Genoud
François Genoud was a noted Swiss financier and a principal benefactor of the Nazi diaspora through the ODESSA network and supporter of Middle Eastern liberation groups during the post-World War II 20th century. He was considered the Swiss financier of the Third Reich.- Early life:Genoud was from...
French translation and Hugh Trevor-Roper's English translation of the Table Talk, particularly with respect to Hitler's statements regarding Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. According to historian Richard Steigmann-Gall
Richard Steigmann-Gall
Richard Steigmann-Gall is Associate Professor of History at Kent State University, and was the Director of the Jewish Studies Program from 2004 to 2010. He received his BA in 1989 and MA in 1992 from the University of Michigan, and his PhD in 1999 from the University of Toronto...
, the statements found within the Table Talk seem to "reveal an unmistakable rupture with his previous religious attitudes." Historian Richard Carrier
Richard Carrier
Richard Cevantis Carrier is an American historian. He is best known for his writings on Internet Infidels, otherwise known as the Secular Web, where he served as Editor-in-Chief for several years....
maintains that much of Trevor-Roper's English edition is actually a verbatim translation of Genoud's French, and not the original German. Carrier shows that a textual analysis
Content analysis
Content analysis or textual analysis is a methodology in the social sciences for studying the content of communication. Earl Babbie defines it as "the study of recorded human communications, such as books, websites, paintings and laws."According to Dr...
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. 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."
One disputed example includes Hitler's statement that, "Our epoch will certainly see the end of the disease of Christianity." The original German reads, "Die Zeit, in derw ir leben, ist die Erscheinungd es Zusammenbruchds ieser
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."
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, sondernw eil ich darin eine Verhöhnungd er 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."
According to Carrier, there are also crimes of omission
Omission bias
The omission bias is an alleged type of cognitive bias. It is the tendency to judge harmful actions as worse, or less moral than equally harmful omissions . It is contentious as to whether this represents a systematic error in thinking, or is supported by a substantive moral theory...
. 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.
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
Resurrection of Jesus
The Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus states that Jesus returned to bodily life on the third day following his death by crucifixion. It is a key element of Christian faith and theology and part of the Nicene Creed: "On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures"...
, in favor of a spiritual one. Carrier suggests these criticisms are only directed at Roman Catholicism and the institutionalization of religion generally. Historians Richard Carrier, Werner Jochmann, and Richard Steigmann-Gall
Richard Steigmann-Gall
Richard Steigmann-Gall is Associate Professor of History at Kent State University, and was the Director of the Jewish Studies Program from 2004 to 2010. He received his BA in 1989 and MA in 1992 from the University of Michigan, and his PhD in 1999 from the University of Toronto...
state that Hitler was certainly religious, citing him expressing a belief in God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, divine providence
Divine providence
In Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...
, and Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
as an Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
opponent of the Jews
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
.
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
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
, Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
, and Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
. However Nazi General Gerhard Engel
Gerhard Engel
Gerhard Michael Engel was a highly decorated Generalleutnant in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
reports that in 1941 Hitler asserted, "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so." Similarly Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber reported that Hitler "undoubtedly lives in belief in God....He recognizes Christianity as the builder of western culture."
Steigmann-Gall, in his study on the Nazis' attitude towards Christianity, states that Hitler's criticism of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in the Table Talk, if reliable, reflects a newly formed anticlerical
Anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
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
Protestant Reich Church
The Protestant Reich Church, officially German Evangelical Church and colloquially Reichskirche, was formed in 1936 to merge the 28 regional churches into a unified state church that espoused a single doctrine compatible with National Socialism...
. 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. In Hitler's view, Jesus' true Christian teachings had been corrupted by the Apostle
Apostle (Christian)
The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex...
Paul, who had transformed them into a kind of Jewish Bolshevism
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
, 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." The Table Talk also shows he continued to wish for a united Christian Church of Germany.
External links
- Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944 - by Hugh Trevor-Roper
- Hitler's table talk and other extraneous sources - by Jim Walker