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the statement that Hitler is certainly not intelligent enough to understand
this kind of consideration, and that he is also emotionally so devoted to
a few favorite ideas or prejudices that he is quite incapable of objective
consideration when they are involved. These are (1) the dogma of race,
(2) the hatred and fear of Bolshevism, and (3) the belief that his Nazi
religion must be adopted by Germans generally. I was also told that
Schacht has twice presented his resignation to Hitler and that on the
second occasion Hitler said to him, "If you retire today, you will be dead
tomorrow."
 
 
 Another report was that two of the most distinguished men of
science in Germany went to Hitler to try to persuade him to treat the
Jews better and that they were dismissed with gross insults. A further
story is that he has made a political testament nominating Goering as his
successor in the event of his death.
 
 
 It is said that Goering, who loves the flesh pots, ostentation,
and magnificence, is far more friendly to the rich than Hitler and would be
glad to preserve the old economic order with himself as one of the favored
few. Of course, I heard a great many other things about Hitler, Goering,
Goebbels and others that are common knowledge, but it is hardly worth
while to go on talking about such questions because there must be hundreds
of people who are better informed than I am.
 
                   *   *   *   *   *   *                    
 
 So far I have been setting down what was said of the present state
of affairs. In many respects, however, trends are more significant than
conditions at a moment, and I especially tried to find out what my informants thought about trends. On the whole, the opinions expressed about economic