Page 117 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

104 The French Diplomats

Hitler, his ability through his powerful oratory to move masses of people
to follow him blindly, his deep hatred of the West and especially of France,
and his ruthlessness. the dispatch certainly should have alerted his superi-
ors in Paris that they—and France—now faced a formidable adversary. Be-
cause it is so forcefully written, the document makes possible comparisons
between François-Poncet’s views in 1933 and those he held in the following
six years, and thus facilitates an evaluation of the argument of his critics
who considered him inconsistent and misguided, and therefore ineffective
as an analyst of Nazi Germany.
to understand Hitler, François-Poncet contended, one had to keep in
mind that he was an autodidact; he had not progressed beyond secondary
school (Realschule), and although he read a lot as an adult, he limited him-
self to those authors whose ideas he found congenial: arthur d. Gobineau,
Houston stuart Chamberlain, Paul de lagarde (the first two advocates
of racial doctrines and the third a fervent anti-semite), and to a lesser ex-
tent Nietzsche. Once he had adopted their ideas, he held on to them with
“unshakable fervor” and showed no interest in thinkers who held views
different from his. “if intelligence consists essentially of a critical spirit,”
François-Poncet wrote, “then Hitler is not intelligent.” On the other hand,
as a demagogue Hitler was intelligent in the way he presented his ideas to
rouse public support. He never hesitated to repeat his views; nor did he
ever consider alternative positions as plausible. in addition, he possessed
certain “feminine characteristics” such as tendencies to be sentimental and
to suffer “a sudden nervous collapse.” Whenever he lapsed into one of these
states during a speech, he appeared to succumb to “hysteria,” during which
he tended to advert to various major events in his life, most notably his at-
tempted coup d’état in Munich in 1923.
Hitler was also a man of uncommon determination and stubbornness.
after his party declined by two million votes in the elections of November
6, 1932, he appeared to be “finished as a political leader.” the Nazi Party was
out of money, support for the movement had declined, and Hitler himself
was being challenged for the movement’s leadership by strasser. Many of
his followers were discouraged, but he refused to give up. He took all the
necessary measures to silence the opposition within his party, and he ex-
uded an air of confidence. Most important, he never lost faith in his ability
to persuade the masses to follow him, and within weeks he succeeded in
reaching the heights of power, in good measure because the political class

He left school at the age of sixteen without taking the examinations necessary for a de-
gree.