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Show Hitler in Mental Decline? Close Observers Say Yes sZ- 'l Reliable Reports Indicate Fuehrer Subject to J? : Uncontrolled Emotions; German Physician J Believes He Will Have Mental 'Explosion.' I ' : Lt-'ii.r t, J By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Where is Hitler? That question can't be answered with any certainty at this writing and nobody seems to care. For more than a month, the communications from the German High Command have not borne the Fuehrer's signature. signa-ture. The anniversaries of two of the great events in Nazi history have come and gone, the celebrations were held with very little display in comparison with other years and entirely without appearance of the No. 1 Nazi himself. Hitler has made no public appearance for months. It is true that communications supposedly from the Fuehrer have been made public but always through a second party, notably the speech on the anniversary of the founding of the National Socialist party. The set excuse is that Hitler is with his troops in the Russian front. But at the rate that front is moving these days, it is doubtful if he is very near it. It is quite possible pos-sible that he is elsewhere or even nowhere but the interesting thing is that this man, who has managed to turn the world upside down, does not seem at all essential to the great political and military machine he has built-up. It may be functioning without him and this would seem to Indicate that if he is not dead, but should suddenly die, it wouldn't make much difference. Some time ago, a report received from underground sources was received re-ceived in London. It said that "Hitler "Hit-ler either has been given an ultimatum ultima-tum by his generals, who pointed out his military blunders, or he is suffering from one of his hysterical fits and is in ill health as a result of his Russian reverses." Recent Developments What about these fits? They are no fiction but well-authenticated events. Before several witnesses he has frequently burst into tears, and in other ways given vent to utterly ut-terly uncontrolled emotions. But these fits are of less importance than certain other likewise well-substantiated but not widely known developments devel-opments which have taken place within the last year or two. There are several stories which I heard from the lips of a man who has. closely watched Hitler's career from its earliest beginning. The man . is Fred Oechsner, a former colleague of mine. In fact, I was instrumental in having him sent to Berlin as correspondent for the Consolidated Con-solidated Press just about the time Hitler was beginning his political career. Long before anybody else took Hitler seriously, Oechsner wrote to me: "This man is some day going to be the bvfl in Europe's china shop." Oechsner, who is now in Washington, told me the following story which he also repeats in his excellent book, "This Is the Enemy." As you know. Hitler was always a teetotaler. He never drank anything any-thing but some very weak beer especially es-pecially brewed for him and he only took sips of this pale beverage. Recently his habits changed. "Persons who visited him at his headquarters early in the winter told me," Oechsner says, "that he was becoming grave and irritable and that it was not uncommon for him on a cold night to drink three or four glasses of grog. He also took occasional drinks of a Bavarian liquor called Enzian which is not unlike gin." Now Oechsner is an exceedingly reliable reporter and when he says the Fuehrer finished three grogs in an evening, I believe it also I believe be-lieve that a man unused to taking alcohol must have been higher than Berchtesgaden when he went to bed. Oechsner also said: "There is a German physician of international repute who believes that some day Hitler will have a brain disturbance of a serious nature. This physician has treated Hitler since 1921 and knows his physical condition as well as his personal life. It is his opinion that Hitler is an outstanding example exam-ple of a half-trained, half-educated person with a phenomenal talent for absorbing and co-ordinating information infor-mation and detail gleaned from other oth-er sources. This attention to detail and pattern, he says, is obvious in Hitler's drawings, in his speeches, his military campaigns. It is a phe nomenal mental power but some day it is going to explode." Suicide the End? Without revealing the source, ! have heard the opinion expressed bj a man who has seen and met witt Hitler many times and is exceedingly exceeding-ly familiar with his life, that it is quite possible that a mental decline has started which, he believes, maj end in suicide. On my own score, I may say that when I heard Hitler deliver his famous fa-mous speech at the start of the wai in 1939 in which he said that he was going to the front and would lead Germany to victory, that he would not take off his uniform until this had been achieved, and in the next breath named his successors, thought he was preparing for suicide. I doubt if he is now dead. He' may not even be ill but the thing is, there has been no report of any pubUc appearance for a long time. That, of course, is hearsay evidence evi-dence or long-distance diagnosis but what Oechsner reports comes from first-hand authority. So Hitler may already be in a padded cell and nobody seems to care! Fourth Term Does FDR Want It? Will the President run for a Fourth Term? A number of cross currents are definitely in motion, some directly moving toward an attempt to draft Mr. Roosevelt as candidate in '44; some which at present seem to be carrying him in the opposite direction. direc-tion. One thing that many people fail to realize is the fact that when the precedent against a man serving in the White House for more than two terms was broken, the first olive was out of the bottle and the chief obstacle ob-stacle to a fourth term was removed. re-moved. As has been pointed out, the American people never before wanted want-ed a man for a third term candidate, candi-date, although twice before candidates candi-dates would have made the attempt Grant and Theodore Roosevelt. When the first whispers for a possible pos-sible third term for Franklin Roosevelt Roose-velt were heard, I talked to a seasoned sea-soned political observer. He said: the President doesn't want to run again but he will be persuaded to by his friends. I make bold to state at this juncture junc-ture that exactly the same statement state-ment can be made today with one modification: The President doesn't want to run for a fourth term but his friends are trying to persuade him to. I feel sure that the President does not want to run again. I do believe he passionately desires to preside at the peace table. But some of his friends have a different view. As Joseph Tumulty, secretary to President Pres-ident Wilson, once remarked about the White House: "It's a nice boarding board-ing house, you hate like the dickens to move out." Friends' Demands Two things are acting in favor ol persuading the President: One, this earnest and insistent demand of his "friends" who don't want "to move out" and some of whom honestly believe be-lieve that it would be for the general good if the President stayed on. Their arguments are many. The second factor and the one which could elect Mr. Roosevelt for a fourth term, if he does run again, can be expressed in the well-known slogan, "Don't swap horses while crossing a stream." It is the reasoning rea-soning behind this homely expression expres-sion which, of course, provides the most persuasive argument to any President. On the other hand, if by 1944 Hitler Hit-ler has been defeated, the President might feel that he could serve even better at the peace table if he were not the head of a political party, if he were not bound by certain domestic do-mestic policies which the head ol an administration must administer with one eye on the votes in the nexl election. I believe that if the President felt positively that he would be allowed to play the principal role in the peace-making, even though someone else were in the White House (perhaps (per-haps a Republican), or if he felt that as President, he would be less effective as a peacemaker, he would not consider a fourth term. |
