Hitler and the Habsburgs
Page 26
35. outside the Hotel Imperial, a night he never forgot.: Toland, 455.
35. Franz Ferdinand’s nephew and heir.: Ibid.
35. seemed to have the world at his feet.: Ibid.
36. after their son Max was born there.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
36. hostess and undisputed mistress of the house.: Ibid.
36. but court protocol forbade her to use it.: Ibid.
36. an opportunity to play in the empty guardhouses.: Ibid.
36. in simpler carriages, they were ignored.: Ibid.
37. just as he and their mother had done.: Hohenberg, Princess Sophie de Potesta.
37. we sensed we were in a different category.: Brook-Shepherd, 93.
37. Eckartsau and Blühnbach for fall hunting.: Ibid.
38. the straitjacketed life her Aunt Sophie lived in Vienna.: Ibid., 109–110.
38. simply pressing his arm and saying, “Franzi, Franzi.”: Ibid.
38. kept in a glass case at Artstetten Castle.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
38. provided him a lifetime of financial security.: Ibid.
39. more than anything else, it was a family home.: Hohenberg, Princess Sophie de Potesta.
39. sailing on the Nile River seeking the warmth of the Egyptian sun.: Pauli, 51.
39. evergreen sent from Konopiste eased his homesickness.: Ibid.
39. “I won’t cut down their inheritance.”: Ibid., 57.
39. both times their Christmas trees came from Konopiste.: Ibid.
40. and dynastic solidarity with Russia.: Taylor, A.J.P. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848-1918, 494, Oxford, 1954.
40. elevating her status in the Empire and abroad.: Brook-Shepherd, Archduke of Sarajevo, 109.
40. she was warmly accepted by the Rumanian royal family.: Ibid., 183–186.
40. in grand style by the German Emperor and Empress.: Viktoria Luise, 12–13.
40. “marrying a lady in waiting or even chambermaids.”: Brook-Shepherd, 168.
40. would have to “face facts” and accept Sophie.: Brook-Shepherd, Gordon. Uncle of Europe: The Social and Diplomatic Life of King Edward VII, 261, Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich, 1976.
40. the personal intervention of Pope Leo XIII, to permit their marriage.: Pauli, 126.
41. that I am so happy was all your doing.: Pauli, 154.
41. vipers of the Habsburg court, his nephew and political heir, Karl.: Hohenberg, Princess Sophie de Potesta.
41. slow, painful death from cancer.: Bloch.
42. grave in the Catholic cemetery outside of Linz.: Ibid.
42. writer he considered their superior, William Shakespeare.: Delaforce, 214–215.
42. and Shylock his favorite villain.: Ryback, Timothy W. Hitler’s Private Library: The Books that Shaped his Life, xi, xii, xiii, Vintage Books, London, 2010.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE GRANITE FOUNDATION
43. would destroy the Empire and the peace of Europe.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
43. he also needed ideas and allies.: Ibid.
43. Popovici’s book became their bible.: Pauli, 215.
43. the federal government holding them together.: Arco-Zinneberg, Graf Ulrich, Meine Reise un die Erde, 100, Jahre Weltreise de Thronfolgers, 33, Verlag J & Sandler, J.H. Donau, 1993.
44. the oligarchs of Hungary, and Adolf Hitler.: Pauli, 120.
44. “destined to become simply large Bohemian landlords.”: Brook-Shepherd, 115.
44. entered into by a princess of the royal house.: Ibid., 64.
44. need for political reforms led to his untimely death.: Thiele, Johannes. Crown Prince Rudolph 1858–1889: Myth and Truth, 40–45 (Translated by Martin Kelsey), Christian Brandstätter Verlag, Vienna, 2008.
45. worst fears about the future of German Austrians.: Hitler, 92–93.
45. working-class neighborhood north of the city center.: Hamann, 41.
45. other Jewish philanthropists paid for its construction.: Ibid., 158–159.
45. many Jewish residents, and they befriended him.: Hanisch, 272. In Hitler’s Linz childhood, Czechs and Communists were generally viewed with suspicion, as were Jesuit priests due to their education and perceived political power. In Albert Speer’s autobiography, he wrote that Hitler told him his first awareness about race as a child was his dislike of his Czech classmates in Linz, 99. He concluded even then that Czechs must be stopped from immigrating into German Austria.
45. and politically meddling Jesuit priests.: Hamann, 29.
45. They split the profits 50-50.: Hanisch, 272.
45. the shabbily dressed antisocial artist.: Ibid., 240.
46. with prayers, doctors, nurses, and Jesuit priests.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard. Franz Ferdinand had few memories of his biological mother, Princess Maria Annunciata. Archduchess Maria-Theresa, who became his stepmother when he was seven, was to him his “real” mother, his “Dearest Mama.”
46. to learn everything and at the end knew nothing.: Hohenberg, Princess Sophie de Potesta. Franz Ferdinand was an introvert who as a public figure was expected to be an extrovert. Franz Ferdinand would today, in all probability, be labeled as a student with a hyperactive activity disorder.
47. “my time in Vienna was especially fruitful and valuable.”: Kubizek, 179.
47. “magnifying glass by the light of the moon.”: Hamann, 11. Hitler was an avid reader. Like many German and Austrian children, he enjoyed Karl May’s fictional tales of the American west, despite the fact that May had never been to America and had never seen a cowboy or Indian his entire life.
47. “contained more than the human mind could grasp.”: Kubizek, 181.
47. preferred spending his time talking politics.: Hanisch, 298.
47. “preserve and cultivate its nationality and language.”: Hamann, 91.
47. and continually fueled his self-righteous indignation.: Hanisch, 271.
47. and muttered more Jews than in Jerusalem.: Illies, 91.
47. who enjoyed baiting and mocking him.: Hanisch, 242.
48. waved his arms, and screamed at them.: Ibid.
48. from the room he and Kubizek once rented.: Hamann, 240–243.
48. campaigned for the union of Austria with Germany.: Ibid., 246.
48. his being arrested and expelled from parliament.: Ibid., 248.
48. crusade as a step toward annexation by Germany.: Ibid., 240.
48. “Away with Rome means away from Austria.”: Ibid., 252.
48. and politically loyal Catholics against him.: Ibid., 304–305.
49. and political dominance were threatened.: Ibid., 285. Hitler later incorporated many of Schönerer’s and Lueger’s techniques and speaking points into his Nazi Party speeches, rallies, and programs.
49. rave blissfully when he talks to them.: Ibid., 241–243.
49. “to get accustomed to the German environment.”: Ibid., 277.
49. mayor of the world’s sixth-largest city.: Ibid., 286.
50. mesmerized by the mayor’s political skill and acumen.: Ibid., 323–324.
50. the battle cry heard at his massive political rallies.: Ibid., 327. Lueger said of his selective Jewish friendships, “I decide who is a Jew.” Hitler also made exceptions to his anti-Semitism when it suited him. He not only allowed his mother’s Jewish doctor and Jewish commanders during the First World War to peacefully immigrate to America, but had as a frequent visitor to the Eagle’s Nest a young girl, Berhardine Nienau, known to have a Jewish grandmother. She referred to him as “Uncle Adolf.” Martin Bormann stopped the visits causing Hitler to complain, “There are people who have a true talent for spoiling my every joy.” Hoffman, 166.
50. and one-third of its university students were Jewish.: Ibid., 286.
50. a kind of terrorism here which couldn’t conceivably be worse.”: Jones, 11.
50. “wore the effigy of a hanged Jew on their watch chains,” but hung no Jews.: Czernin, Ottokar Count. In the Worl
d War, 50, Cassel & Company, London, 1919.
51. The Archduke, however, genuinely admired him.: Ibid.
51. saluted their nuptials as a “triumph of the heart.”: Pauli, 149.
51. “which would inevitably lead this state to destruction.”: Jones, 153–154.
51. and won his court case against Hanisch.: Hamann, 171.
51. “Yours, always faithfully, Adolf Hitler.”: Bloch, Hamann, 62.
51. “In everlasting thankfulness, Adolf Hitler.”: Ibid.
52. and watercolors directly to Jewish dealers.: Hamann, 173.
52. but his skill at self-delusion and his lies were his own.: Ibid., 380.
52. he could not understand why luck had turned against him.: Hauner, 8.
52. “and if I grasp it, I cannot understand it.”: Hamann, 62.
52. the high number of men being called into the army.: Ibid., 393, 395.
52. “under no circumstances do I want to serve in the Austrian army.”: Ibid., 395.
52. “where they found fame and honor.”: Hitler, 125.
52. “the most German of all German cities.”: Ibid.
53. “the granite foundation of all my acts.”: Ibid.
53. but never left me.: Ibid.
CHAPTER SIX
THE SPY, THE DRAFT DODGER,
AND THE PEACEMAKER
54. influence of Wagner’s music and Hitler’s words.: Hamann, 395–396.
54. and his newly recruited disciple.: Ibid., 398.
55. on that Babylon of races!: Ibid., 399.
55. “Letters left behind.”: Asprey, Robert. The Panther’s Feast, 260, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1959.
55. but the suicide of Austria’s spy chief was different.: Jones, 244.
55. “lengthy and brilliant” reports from him.: Asprey, 263.
55. “overexertion resulting from severe neurasthenia.”: Ibid., 262.
55. doubted the version of events unfolding in Vienna.: Ibid., 278–279.
56. “A flood of reproaches flooded over me.”: Ibid., 279–280.
56. “The damage he caused was slight.”: Ibid., 280.
56. Austria would be nearly defenseless.: Ibid., 293.
56. was a delicate task that would take time.: Ibid., 287–288.
56. war “between Germanism and Slavism.”: Taylor, A.J.P., 496.
57. and Catholic Austria to continence such a scandal.: Clark, Christopher. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, 102–103, Penguin, London, 2012.
57. labeled him a draft dodger.: Hamann, 394.
57. to study architecture, but never applied.: Jones, 251–252.
57. But I don’t believe that at all.: Hamann, 399.
57. to Vienna to claim the Habsburg crown.: Pauli, 242–243.
58. “accession to the imperial throne as long as possible.”: Ibid.
58. but he feared his blind spot for all things military.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
58. uniforms he himself sometimes designed.: Carter, Miranda. George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to War, 101, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2009.
58. and the fate of his Empire, to his generals.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
58. one of the reasons Adolf Hitler hated the dynasty.: Cassels, 126. Austrian Prime Minister Kurt von Stürgkh a member of Conrad von Hötzendorf’s war party, declared in his memoirs, “I firmly believe… that if Franz Ferdinand had come to the throne and been convinced that some other alliance would have been more profitable for Austria-Hungary, it would not have cost him one heart pang to abandon Germany and her Kaiser.” Stürgkh was himself assassinated in 1916.
58. tore the Habsburg’s multinational Empire asunder.: Hamann, 402.
59. a major factor in his decision to flee Vienna.: Ibid., 393–394.
59. and even on the Empire’s own allies.: Bostridge, Mark. The Fateful Year: England 1914, 168, Penguin Books, London, 2014.
59. He hung up on the General.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
59. “and struggle as long as I live!”: Ibid.
59. profile of a 1914 Austrian woman.: Pauli, 247.
59. “Christian zeal and integrity of her character.”: Storer, Maria Longworth, 674–675.
60. “a rather dubious light on Franz Ferdinand.”: Pauli, 247.
60. “through the eyes of his wife.”: Ibid., 193.
60. “changed while I have a word to say.”: Ibid., 222.
60. visit with King George V and Queen Mary.: Brook-Shepherd, Royal Sunset: The European Dynasties and the Great War, 274, Doubleday, Garden City, 1987.
61. “he has changed for the better.”: Ibid.
63. never spent another night in the Imperial Palace.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhardt.
63. they were searching for was in their city.: Hauner, 11. Resistance to military service was not tolerated in either Austria or Germany. The neighboring countries worked together to search for and arrest anyone they considered draft dodgers.
63. “the object of evading military service.”: Ibid.
CHAPTER SEVEN:
FATE
65. and of course I would pay the fine willingly.: Jones, 321.
65. “see fit to allow him to report in Salzburg.”: Hauner, 11. Hitler seemed to have an innate ability to charm people to his side, and even gain their sympathy when he needed them.
65. “and unable to bear arms.”: Ibid., 12.
65. where he was certain destiny waited for him.: Jones, 228. Hitler could be quite superstitious, and like Franz Ferdinand, believed in destiny and fate.
65. Häusler had moved out of the room they shared.: Hamann, 191.
66. a human-interest story printed in the London Times.: Illies, 149.
66. “to despise the joys of family life.”: Stephanie, 153.
66. before a firing squad and Charlotte’s insanity.: O’Connor, Richard. The Cactus Throne: The Tragedy of Maximilian and Carlotta, 329, 275–276. Despite the tragedies associated with the castle, it is not in any way gloomy, but radiates warmth.
66. held some memory of the doomed couple.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
67. “We must simply trust God.”: Pauli.
67. preferred traveling with his dogs rather than his family.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
67. promised to visit them again at Konopiste that June.: Ibid.
67. a post that had been vacant for eighteen years.: Illies, 178.
67. province he never wanted as part of the Empire.: Brook-Shepherd, 222.
67. their resentment of their expansion into the Balkans.: Ibid., 235.
68. “When it happens, take them, they are for you.”: Ibid.
68. “The crypt at Artstetten is finished now.”: Ibid.
68. with Franz Ferdinand to ask him further questions.: Ibid.
68. showed them his favorite view of his rose garden.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
68. unless their parents hosted a formal dinner.: Ibid.
69. Sophie, received a special invitation.: Ibid.
69. Duchess would leave for Bosnia in a few days.: Ibid.
69. “death to the Habsburg dynasty.”: Cassels, Lavender. The Archduke and the Assassin; Sarajevo June 28, 1914, 161, Dorset Press, New York, 1984.
70. “and the filthy Bohemian sow!”: Brook-Shepherd, Archduke of Sarajevo, 221 / Gerd, Höller. Franz Ferdinand von Österrecich-Este, Graz, 1982.
70. keys to his nephew Karl if he did not return.: Dedijer, Vladimir. The Road to Sarajevo, 165, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1966.
70. in his arms following her 1901 birth.: Brook-Shepherd, 104.
70. stay with his wife and children if anything happened to him.: Dedijer, 165, 262, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1966.
70. except there would never be another like it.: Hohenberg, Prince Gerhard.
71. “would never understand my absence.”: Brook-Shepherd, 233.
71. “some Serbian bullets waiting for me.”: MacMillan, Margaret.
The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914, 550, Random House, New York, 2013.
71. “my place is at my husband’s side.”: Pauli, 276.
71. “foresaw the catastrophe a hundred times.”: Czernin, 46.
71. “appalled him from beginning to end.”: Pauli, 268.
71. the one occasion when he did not get his way.: Brook-Shepherd, 269.
72. when he performed official duties.: Pauli, 265.
72. to search for his replacement.: Clark, 117.
72. hectoring for a war against Serbia.: Pauli, 283.
72. advance publicity for any trip by Franz Ferdinand.: Ibid., 275.
73. Railroad Street, Mastajbeg Street, Appel Quay, Franz Joseph street, Prince Rudolf Street.: Cassells, 144.
73. “a virtual challenge to fate.”: McMeekin, 5.
73. did not have direct control over them.: Ibid.
73. but the 525th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo.: Pauli, 270. Bilanski and Bosnia’s military governor Oskar Potiorek were political rivals, but neither was a supporter of Franz Ferdinand. Bilanski was considered an ally and “close confidant” of the conservative bureaucracy surrounding Emperor Franz Joseph. Thrice the Archduke had blocked Potiorek’s promotion in the army, believing he was all talk and no action. His disastrous performance in the First World War confirmed the Archduke’s assessment.
73. killed the Turkish leader of the conquering Islamic army.: Ibid.
74. including the police force responsible for guarding Franz Ferdinand.: Ibid.
74. “Let’s hope nothing happens.”: Ibid.
CHAPTER EIGHT
INSCRUTABLE DESTINY
76. were to be assassinated that morning.: Special Correspondent, New York Times. “Bishops Lanyi’s Death Recalls ‘Death Vision,’” October 18, 1931.
76. this prince of peace becoming Austria’s Emperor.: Ibid.
76. 28 June 1914. Half past 3 a.m.: Ibid.
78. and attaching a drawing of what he had seen.: Ibid. This is one of the most documented cases of what some people call extrasensory perception. The fact that Lanyi was a bishop and relayed his dream verbally and in writing to others prior to the actual events taking place helped make it so famous.
78. “I thought something like this might happen.”: Smith, D.J. One Morning in Sarajevo: June 28, 1914, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2008.
78. probably be given a medal in Vienna and a government job.: Brook Shepherd, AofS, 248–249.