it. “Now is the time to show what we’re made of,” he stoutly de-
clared. “Let’s show we’re worthy of leading the nationalist
movement.”
Thus Adolf Hitler, revolutionary and would-be statesman,
prepared on this dull, overcast, chilly November to meet his
destiny. He, Ludendorff, and Göring decided to march their
men into the city center to prove that they were not finished.
They were sure of the people’s backing. Hitler had the infantry
cadets lined up outside the beer hall and delivered a powerful
speech to them. They swore allegiance to him. He felt immortal.
His hour had come. He sent armed men into the city to requisi-
tion funds; they took ,, billion Reichsmarks from the
Jewish bank-note printers Parvus & Company, and gave a Nazi
receipt in exchange. Meanwhile, Hitler acted to maintain order.
Learning that one Nazi squad had ransacked a kosher grocery
store during the night, he sent for the ex-army lieutenant who
had led the raid.
“We took off our Nazi insignia first!” expostulated the offi-
cer to no avail, as Hitler dismissed him from the party on the
spot. “I shall see that no other nationalist unit allows you to join
either!” Göring goggled at this exchange, as did a police sergeant
who testified to it at the Hitler trial a few weeks later.
The march into the city center would begin at noon.
Göring meanwhile sent shock troops to pick up still more hos-
tages. They burst into the city-council chamber at : ..,
singled out the Burgomaster and nine terrified Socialist coun-
cillors and frog-marched them outside. “They had it coming to
them,” said Hitler later, without a trace of remorse. “In that
same town hall a few months earlier we had heard them say that
Bismarck was the biggest swine and gangster in Germany’s his-
tory.” The hostages were not treated gently. “We ran the
gauntlet of punches, oaths, and human spittle,” protested So-