Mein Kampf
hibit his own cowardice brazenly as the result of a bravery higher than the heroic death of the honest soldier. Many listened in silence, others walked away, but a few actually agreed.
I was disgusted within an inch of my life, but the trouble-maker was calmly tolerated in the hospital. What could one do? The office surely must, and in fact did, know who and what he was. Yet nothing happened.
When I could walk properly again, I got leave to go to Berlin. Privation was obviously very severe everywhere. The city of millions was suffering from hunger. Discontent was rife. In various homes which the soldiers visited, the tone was like that of the hospital. It looked very much as if these fellows deliberately sought out such spots in order to spread their views.
But things were even worse, much worse in Munich itself. When I was discharged from the hospital after my recovery, and was assigned to the reserve battalion, I hardly recognized the city again. Anger, disgust and abusive talk wherever one went. In the reserve battalion itself the spirit was absolutely beneath contempt. One factor here was the utterly inept treatment of the active soldiers by old training officers, who had never spent a single hour in the field, and for this reason, if for no other, were able only in part to establish a decent relationship with the old soldiers. These old soldiers did have certain peculiarities which were explained by service at the front, but which were quite incomprehensible to the heads of the reserve troops, while an officer who had himself come from the front was at least not puzzled by them. Such an officer of course received a very different sort of respect among the men from that given the officers at the rear.
But quite aside from this the general temper was dreadful; shirking began to be thought almost a sign of higher wisdom, and faithful endurance as the earmark of inner weakness and purblindness. The government offices were full of Jews. Almost every clerk was a Jew, and every Jew a clerk. I was astonished at this wealth of warriors of the chosen people, and could not help comparing it with their sparse representation at the front.
The situation in business was yet worse. Here the Jewish people
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