Speer, Göring, and Horst Seehofer: in straight (1)English and (2)Deutsch

  

(Seehofer, Merkel, Schulz)

>>"I ask myself time and again how much of it was a kind of auto-suggestion," he (Speer) said on one occasion. "One thing is certain: everyone who worked closely with him (Hitler) for a logn time was exceptionally dependent onhim. However powerful they were in their own domain, close to him they became small and timid." ("I try so hard," Göring has been quoted as saying to Finance Minister Hjalmar Schacht, "but every time I stand before the Führer, my heart drops into the seat of my pants.")<<
- Gitta Sereny, Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth (1995, Knopf, pp- 136-7)

Horst Seehofer (CSU), the now ex-PM of Bavaria - the acknowledged de-fanged "ex-Lion of Bavaria" - recently spoke in precisely the same terms as had once Speer and Göring, concerning his own relationship to Merkel, before whom he admits to becoming "a kitty on her lap". He is now her new Interior Minister, THAT is what we are dealing with here.

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>> "Ich frage mich immer wieder, wie viel davon eine Art Autosuggestion war", sagte er (Speer) einmal. "Eines ist sicher: Jeder, der eng mit ihm (Hitler) zusammenarbeitete, war ausnahmsweise von ihm abhängig. Wie mächtig sie auch in ihrem eigenen Bereich waren, in seiner Nähe wurden sie klein und ängstlich." ("Ich versuche es so sehr", sagte Göring zu Finanzminister Hjalmar Schacht, "aber jedes Mal, wenn ich vor dem Führer stehe, fällt mein Herz in den Sitz meiner Hose.") <<
- Gitta Sereny, Albert Speer: Sein Kampf mit der Wahrheit (1995, Knopf, S. 136-7)

Horst Seehofer (CSU), der jetzt Ex-bayerische Ministerpräsident - der bekennende "Ex-Löwe von Bayern" - sprach kürzlich genau so wie einst Speer und Göring über sein Verhältnis zu Merkel, vor wem er gibt zu, "ein Kätzchen auf ihrem Schoß zu sein". Er ist jetzt ihr neuer Innenminister, mit dem wir es hier zu tun haben.

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(I'd met Gitta Sereny by chance in Berlin in 1993 while she was working on her comprehensive book on Albert Speer, according to her massive interviews with him at the end of his life. Shortly afterward I'd read her likewise impressive work, Into That Darkness, on Sobibor's Franz Stangl, with comprehensive interviews with him in his prison cell. Our acquaintance was short but left me very impressed with her before having even read her works.)