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Show The March on the Danube s W. Stephen Ivith Writet af HitUr't Background ssd Its Influence of Hit Plans rer a Nssi Austria. y covering up an old and unpleasant ' i chapter in his life with a brand-: brand-: new one, just as he has embcl-! embcl-! llshfd the scene of the Inglorious "beer putsch" in Munich with an ' Imposing monument erected un-' un-' der his supervision. He is sure to put the "Academy of Painters" out nt business as a set of dunderheads dunder-heads and then build a new institution insti-tution with his own trustees and j his own board of examiners, j Wtthrr Hitler ' In the rare autobiographic ron-I ron-I fidtnccs of his book, "Mein j Kumpf." Hitler alludes briefly to i his experiences in the lodging i house as a "passage through the , gross air of the nether regions," I More ample and intimate details ! of his life there have been revealed by one whom he had never suspected sus-pected of aspiring to be his biographer bi-ographer -a man who slept in one of the cots nrxt to him. Herr Arnold Hainisch, a waiter out of a job. After Hitler had achieved a measure of notoriety. Hainisch, who had remained in Vienna, waa without much trouble Induced to Het down his observations of Hitler Hit-ler and to tell the story of their common adventures in a little volume which he called "Der Wahre Hitler" or "The True Hitler." Hit-ler." The book waa not inaptly named. It is neither a libel nor a hymn of eulogy. It is the plain record of a human experience. It is dynamite in Germany, for Its mere possession there means a long term in a concentration camp. It is today quite rare in Austria and even In Switzerland, where the press speaks of it as "out of print." Two-Bit Artist According to Hainisch. neither he nor Hitler was overstrenuous in the pursuit of regular employment. employ-ment. Hitler painted little pictures on postal cards and Hainisch peddled ped-dled them among tha shopkeepers, shopkeep-ers, who. either more or less discriminating dis-criminating than the examiners of the academy, liked them and paid as high as 25 cents for good served every noon free to all comers com-ers at the gates of the near-by monastery. In the evening benevolent-looking, elderly passerrfby wera invited to donate a few "groschen" to a couple of struggling strug-gling artists. Hainisch had the Boswellian eye for all the whims and oddities of his subject. He seized all tha familiar touches, most of them ludicrous, some of them tragic and none of them edifying or inspiring. Hit Hitler Myth The little volume of Hainisch has done incalculable damage to the Hitler myth in the chancellor's native land. The Austriana and least of all the Viennese could not understand how Hitler, the subject for idle jest and merriment merri-ment among Vienna's submerged ten thousand, had managed to reach such dizzy heights of power in Berlin. The Austrian disaffection disaffec-tion toward Hitler has embittered him all the more because it has proved a weak link In his foreign policy to the open joy of London and Paris and even to the secret delight of Rome. Hainisch has disappeared, no one knows where, but even were be to fall Into the hands of the nazis, the impressions scattered by his book could not be wiped out by a volley of machine guns. All this passive hostility and resistance re-sistance in Vienna and in tha provinces can now be met only in one way. Austria must be taken by the throat. A reign of terror must be set up in Vienna just as in Berlin and Munich. People perhaps cannot be forced to forget for-get their impressions, but they can be frightened into silence and submission by the mailed fist. Dreams of Conquest Thus the world may soon witness wit-ness a spectacle unique in all its history. The real Hitler, the man of flesh and blood, the figure that stepped out of the pages tof "Der Wahre Hitler," will be driven out of Austria to make room for a stuffed, heroic,1 legendary figure put together by Dr. Gocbbels and In an annex to his mountain home. Villa Berghof, Chancellor Hitlrr has with th aid of his favorite architect, Herr Professor Profes-sor Adolf Ziegler. constructed a giant modfl of the city of Vienna. It is 10 meters 132 8 feet In width and 20 meters (8A f,-et in length, surpassing In size any similar creation cre-ation outside of a national museum. mu-seum. Nothing could more tellingly telling-ly depict Hitler's attitude on the question of Austria. The present stute of affairs in Europe forbidding for-bidding his personal visit, he compromises com-promises with his heart's desire for a vision of the city by walking around and surveying this massive mas-sive replica, pending the great march to the Danube. Hitler's Pride Touched Vienna sharply taut hen Hitler's personal pride. The furious resentment re-sentment of a prophet rejected of his own people is gripping his soul - a most intimate and compelling com-pelling motive, quite apart from all the cogent political considerations considera-tions for joining that city with the reieh. When, after his long absence. Hitler comes back to Vienna, it will be in the mood of a stern creditor eager to settle old scores. The account between the city and Hitler began when the latter, barely 19, entered the gates, coming com-ing from his little home town In the provinces and carrying with him a collection of sketches and drawings and a firm belief in his artistic genius. The sketches and drawings he offered to the examiners in the "Academy of Painters" in support of an application appli-cation for a free scholarship. They were rejected promptly and curtly. curt-ly. He tried the "School of Architecture" Archi-tecture" with no better result. Wants Memorial In Vienna Disillusioned, penniless, with no prospect of employment, young Hitler invoked the step-motherly, grudging hospitality Vienna then offered and still holds out to the unfortunate within its wails -to men of all axes and conditions ones. At any rate, the two men generally managed to eat, though their bill of fare fluctuated according ac-cording to the state of business. When business waa good Hitler posed as the "kuenstler" or artist, and Hainisch as the "kunst-haendler" "kunst-haendler" or art dealer. On rare occasions they feasted on the famous fa-mous "backhaendel," fried chicken in Viennese style. When business was bad they dropped their dignities and disguises dis-guises and turned into "fechtbrue-der," "fechtbrue-der," which is something like the Herman equivalent for panhandlers. panhan-dlers. On such days their menu consisted of a thin potato soup his men. Hitler yearns for an early conquest con-quest of Vienna and a grand triumphal tri-umphal entry. Whatever may have been the themes of discussion between be-tween Hitler and Mussolini it is a foregone conclusion that der fuehrer wanted to reach a final understanding about Austria. If the conferences between the two i dictators did not clear away the last; obstacles to Hitler's seizure and possession of Vienna the Berlin-Rome axis Is the thinnest of diplomatic fictions and will not last long. , (Copyright, 1937, for The Telegram) who, after their last failure, want to attempt a new start in life and' lack the means to pay even for the humblest roof. These public shelters are known as "maenner asyle" or "asylums for men." In one of the dingiest of these municipal lodging houses, located in the Brigittenau, the bowery of Vienna. Hitler spent a great part of his early manhood -three most formative years in every life: 20. 21 and 22. This asylum still stands 1 where it stood then in the police district No. 20. Hitler is eager to blot it out and replace it with a great memorial of his own design, |