CRÜWELL: I am convinced that a great part of the FÜHRER’S success as Party Leader is accounted for by pure mass suggestion. It’s bound up with a kind of hypnotism, and he can exercise this on a great many people. I know people who are undoubtedly superior to him mentally and who yet fall under his spell. I cannot explain why it doesn’t affect me. I mean, I know perfectly well that he carries a superhuman burden of responsibility; what he said to me about AFRICA was astonishing, but I can’t say that (I was influenced). One outstanding thing is his hands—he has beautiful hands. You don’t notice it in the photographs. He has the hands of an artist. I always looked at his hands; they are beautiful hands, and there is nothing common about them—they are aristocratic hands. In his whole manner, there is nothing of the little man about him. What surprised me so much—I thought he would fix me with an eagle eye—I don’t mean I expected a long speech but… “Allow me to present you with the Oakleaves,” in a quiet voice, you understand. I had pictured that quite differently.494
In addition to being deeply impressed with Hitler, Crüwell offers evidence for his personal acquaintance with the Führer by using the sort of details that can only be observed in proximity, and those details, the general asserts, were different than he had imagined. In Crüwell’s tale, the
Telling stories of this sort was a way for the speaker to distinguish himself as someone special who had been allowed to come so close to the Führer. Crüwell’s interlocutor offers a relatively sober commentary:
WALDECK: All his notions are prompted by his feelings.
Crüwell immediately recognized this as a challenge and responds:
CRÜWELL: If he wants to influence his people, then he must behave naturally. If he considers the impression he wants to give, then it’s bad. I know very good soldiers who have always sought out someone on whom to model themselves. That’s always bad. He has an elastic step. He is very nicely dressed, quite simply, with black trousers and a coat. Rather more grey than this one, it’s not field grey. I don’t know what kind of material it is, and unlike GÖRING, he wears no decorations!495
Crüwell interprets Hitler’s tendency to follow his gut instincts as a sign of authenticity and a part of what makes him convincing. The general then continues his narrative with intimate details about the Führer’s ostentatiously displayed asceticism and humility. Excerpts like this make it clear how much Hitler’s reputation for charisma programmed people’s encounters with him, and how the unexpected impression the Führer made fueled further stories. Encounters with Hitler were self-fulfilling prophecies; faith in the Führer, an emotional perpetuum mobile.
