Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
www.cafegentz.com 2
Adam Bayne
and
the Silver Pheasants
an historical novel by
Adam Bayne
3
Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
Non-commercial edition issued for review purposes only
Copyright © 2022 by Adam Bayne.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever
without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or
reviews.
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Adam Bayne
For more information, or to book an event, contact :
[email protected]
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ISBN – Paperback : 979-8-36-753302-6
ISBN - Hardcover : 979-8-36-753807-6
First Edition : December 2022
Published by
SPICEMAD Media
11, Wessex Court, Kestrel Way,
Farnborough, Hants, GU14 7WY,
England, UK.
5
Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
Dedication
For Nur, Ruby and Albert
and
For Elizabeth
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Adam Bayne
Contents
PROLOGUE LONDON ENGLAND MAY 1941............................................11
CHAPTER 1 MUNICH GERMANY 1919. ....................................................13
CHAPTER 2 AT BERLIN UNIVERSITY, PROFESSOR HAUSHOFER
AND LEBENSRAUM.......................................................................................15
CHAPTER 3 THE BEERHALL PUTSCH, HITLER BETRAYED WITH
SIXTEEN COLLEAGUES SHOT DEAD. .....................................................19
CHAPTER 4 GOERING SHOT. HITLER WOUNDED AND ARRESTED.25
CHAPTER 5 HITLER IN PRISON WITH HESS. MEIN KAMPF
WRITTEN. ....................................................................................................... 31
CHAPTER 6 BAYREUTH WAGNER FESTIVAL AND A NEW ALFA
ROMEO ...........................................................................................................38
CHAPTER 7 FRANCE WITHDRAWS FROM THE RHINELAND,
GERMANY MOVES IN..................................................................................44
CHAPTER 8 US FEDERAL RESERVE, BANK OF ENGLAND, JP
MORGAN PLEDGE FINANCE FOR HITLER. ...........................................52
CHAPTER 9 WR HEARST BECOMES A MAJOR FINANCIER OF
HITLER. ..........................................................................................................56
CHAPTER 10 RUDOLF HESS MARRIES ILSE. HITLER OVER
GERMANY AIRBORNE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.....................................62
CHAPTER 11 EVA BRAUN AND GELI RAUBAL ......................................68
CHAPTER 12 LUNCH WITH GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF
ENGLAND, DINNER WITH HENRY FORD................................................77
CHAPTER 13 FISHING WITH EGON ON LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. DINNER
WITH JPMORGAN BANKER .......................................................................87
CHAPTER 14 BAYREUTH WAGNER FESTIVAL. GELI RAUBAL
SUICIDE. .........................................................................................................94
CHAPTER 15 CARIN GOERING’S FUNERAL. CA BANK AUSTRIA
BAILED OUT BY BANK OF ENGLAND.................................................... 103
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
CHAPTER 16 HITLER’S CHRISTMAS PARTY FOR THE SILVER
PHEASANTS................................................................................................. 110
CHAPTER 17 BERLIN GRAND PRIX 1933. NEW NAZI HQ OFFICES IN
MUNICH........................................................................................................ 116
CHAPTER 18 CIRCLE OF FRIENDS OF THE ECONOMY.
CHANCELLOR HITLER AND THE AUSTRIAN ASTROLOGER. ........ 121
CHAPTER 19 THE REICHSTAG FIRE. DACHAU CONCENTRATION
CAMP OPENED. .......................................................................................... 129
CHAPTER 20 HITLER CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY, WITH A
MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT................................................................... 137
CHAPTER 21 STOLEN ART AND SENDING GERMAN JEWS TO
PALESTINE. SURPRISE PARTY FOR HITLER. ..................................... 144
CHAPTER 22 THE KONKORDAT WITH POPE PIUS XI. US OIL
MAGNATES IN BERLIN............................................................................. 151
CHAPTER 23 THE SPEAR OF DESTINY AND THE AHNENERBE
PROJECT. LENI RIEFENSTAHL. ............................................................. 158
CHAPTER 24 KAFFEE HAG AND THE GUILLOTINE. HITLER PLAYS
A PRACTICAL JOKE. ................................................................................. 163
CHAPTER 25 THE NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES. TRADE MISSION
OF US INDUSTRIALISTS IN MUNICH..................................................... 172
CHAPTER 26 UNITY MITFORD MEETS HITLER AND EVA BRAUN’S
SUICIDE ATTEMPT. ................................................................................... 181
CHAPTER 27 GOLD WATCHES FOR CHRISTMAS FROM HITLER . 189
CHAPTER 28 DR FERDINAND PORSCHE, HITLER’S VOLKSWAGEN
AND A COWBOY BOOK ............................................................................ 196
CHAPTER 29 MAURICE GETS MARRIED, AND HELENE GETS
DIVORCED. THE GOLDEN GUN. ............................................................. 204
CHAPTER 30 TEXACO AND ESSO EXECUTIVES VISIT HITLER IN
BERLIN. THE 1936 OLYMPICS................................................................. 211
CHAPTER 31 SILVER PHEASANTS GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IN
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Adam Bayne
LONDON........................................................................................................ 222
CHAPTER 32 SS MAGIC CEREMONY, PREDICTIONS FOR THE
FUTURE, AND HITLER’S NEW CAR........................................................ 230
CHAPTER 33 GOEBBELS MARRIAGE COUNSELLING. THE SILVER
PHEASANTS’ HOLIDAY IN VIENNA. ...................................................... 239
CHAPTER 34 OCCUPYING AUSTRIA; THE ANSCHLUSS. PRESIDENT
HOOVER IN BERLIN. ................................................................................. 247
CHAPTER 35 HITLER PROMISES CHAMBERLAIN PEACE. LENI AND
UNITY LOVERS. .......................................................................................... 254
CHAPTER 36 ASSASSINATION IN PARIS. KRISTALLNACHT IN
GERMANY. THE SOFA PHOTOS.............................................................. 264
CHAPTER 37 LADIES OF THE REICH. BANK OF ENGLAND STEALS
FIFTY TONNES OF GOLD FOR HITLER................................................. 271
CHAPTER 38 BRITAIN DECLARES WAR ON GERMANY. UNITY GETS
SHOT. HITLER RELEASES BLITZKRIEG................................................ 280
CHAPTER 39 RUSSIAN-GERMAN NON-AGGRESSION WITH A
SECRET PROTOCOL. HITLER INVADES POLAND.............................. 289
CHAPTER 40 HITLER ESCAPES DEATH BY 13 MINUTES TWICE, AT
THE BURGERBRAUKELLER AND WARSAW.......................................... 297
CHAPTER 41 THE GROUSE WINE SOCIETY. ASTROLOGICAL
PREDICTIONS. STOLEN WORKS OF ART. ............................................ 306
CHAPTER 42 HELENE MEETS PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. LOOKING
FOR WERNHER VON BRAUN. .................................................................. 314
CHAPTER 43 THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE. HITLER’S
MEDICAL CONDITION, IS IT SYPHILIS?............................................... 323
CHAPTER 44 HITLER INVADES FRANCE. CHURCHILL MADE PRIME
MINISTER. DUNKIRK. ............................................................................... 331
CHAPTER 45 BATTLE OF BRITAIN. ALEISTER CROWLEY. TREASON
AND OPERATION THOR’S HAMMER..................................................... 339
CHAPTER 46 FRENCH CHAMPAGNE SUPPLIES. HESS APPOINTED
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
PEACE ENVOY. ........................................................................................... 346
CHAPTER 47 IAN FLEMING AND DENNIS WHEATLEY. F-DAY SET.
........................................................................................................................ 354
CHAPTER 48 THE BIRD HAS FLOWN. DOUBLE-CROSSED BY
CHURCHILL. ESCAPE FROM CAFÉ GENTZ......................................... 361
CHAPTER 49 A LUCKY ESCAPE AND FLIGHT FROM AUGSBERG.
SAFE IN SWITZERLAND. .......................................................................... 368
EPILOGUE. BERLIN APRIL 1945................................................................. 372
POSTSCRIPT................................................................................................ 375
THE SILVER PHEASANTS............................................................................ 375
OTHER PLAYERS........................................................................................ 377
THE FINANCIERS AND THE BANKS. ............................................................ 378
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ............................................................................... 380
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Adam Bayne
Prologue London England May 1941.
I watched the sunset over Green Park from my hotel room as I
nursed a glass of single malt. The windows were crisscrossed with
tape to minimise any bomb blast. The heavy black-out curtains
almost obscured the view. Adolf Hitler occupied Europe and
established his Thousand Year Third Reich in just a few months.
America was yet to join the war, and Britain stood alone against the
might of an industrialised Germany.
I had spent the last twenty years as a British undercover agent in
Germany, becoming a trusted advisor to Adolf Hitler himself.
As the Nazi blitzkrieg war machine swept across Europe, crushing
all opposition, Prime Minister Winston Churchill reviewed the
military options with his inner circle.
He was a pragmatist and knew that the best course of action was a
peace treaty with Germany to avoid millions of deaths.
I advised Churchill that Hitler was ready to discuss a negotiated
peace. Winston approached King George VI, but the King would not
accept any agreement with Hitler. In absolute secrecy, Winston and
his small team at Baker Street began negotiating peace with
Germany, and I was one of a handful of agents who knew about the
plan. The King and his family remained utterly unaware that the
plan existed.
We almost made it.
A peace deal was within our grasp, but destiny seemed to have a
different path for Adolf Hitler and the people of Europe.
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
It all started in 1919 when I left Cambridge University with a degree
in German Literature and a decent income of £500 a year from a
trust set up for me in my grandfather’s will.
I was to continue my postgraduate education at the University of
Munich in Germany.
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Adam Bayne
Chapter 1 Munich Germany 1919.
My mother was the personal secretary to Sir Frank Cavendish
Lascelles, British Ambassador to Germany. I was born in Germany
in 1897 and went to school in Munich until I was eleven. Thanks to
a teacher from Munich, I spoke perfect German with a Bavarian
accent. When we moved back to England in 1906, I attended
Westminster School and went on to Trinity College Cambridge.
While at Cambridge, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) recruited
me. It was the division of the British Secret Service Bureau, which
concentrated on covert overseas operations. The SIS became known
as MI6 during the Second World War, and they arranged for me to
attend Munich University in 1919. I was to study under Professor
Karl Haushofer.
After the Great War, the German Communist Party was officially
called the Marxist Spartacus League (MSL), and in January 1919,
the MSL organised an attempted coup in Berlin, the Spartacist
uprising. It failed, and the violence resulted in about two hundred of
their number dead.
The German and British governments were terrified that
Communism would become established in post-war Germany. My
brief was to infiltrate the newly formed far-right German Workers’
Party Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP) and report on Communist
activity in Munich and Bavaria.
During the briefing for my posting, I saw the top secret file
concerning a German national with a passionate hatred of
Communism and who was involved in anti-communist activities in
Munich. The file was opened when he was on holiday visiting his
brother in Liverpool in 1912. His name was Adolf Hitler, and I was
to seek him out and gain his trust.
By a strange coincidence, one of my fellow students studying under
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
my tutor Professor Haushofer at the University of Munich was
Rudolf Hess, a close friend of my target, Adolf Hitler.
Hess and I soon struck up a friendship. The Professor was a
decorated soldier who served with distinction on the Western Front
in 1915. He looked the part with his handlebar moustaches and
military bearing. Professor Haushofer also introduced us to Max
Hofweber, his aide-de-camp during the Great War. The Haushofers
often entertained us at their residence, where we met Professor
Haushofer’s son Albrecht.
When we met, Albrecht was only sixteen and well-tutored by his
father. He already had strong opinions on the direction Germany
should take after the disastrous war.
Rudolf Hess, my co-student, although only average height, was
distinguished by his very heavy black eyebrows, which gave his
whole face a rather sinister look. This sombre expression masked a
bright and cheerful intellect.
Soon the five of us, Karl, Rudolf, Max, Albrecht and myself,
became a passionate group discussing politics and geopolitics. Karl
introduced us to the concept of Lebensraum (more territory or living
space), later to feature in Adolf Hitler’s philosophy as an ideological
principle that justified German territorial expansion across Europe.
At this time, we were only a group of young idealists discussing the
state of the world, but we had not yet met Adolf Hitler, which would
change everything.
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Adam Bayne
Chapter 2 At Berlin University, Professor Haushofer and
Lebensraum
One afternoon in September 1919, Hess and I were sitting on the
grass outside the University. We had just attended Professor Karl
Haushofer’s lecture and were comparing notes. Hess said that the
night before, he had met a fascinating fellow named Dietrich
Eckhart at the German Workers’ Party meeting in the
Sterneckerbrau beer hall. Eckhart was most interested when Hess
explained Haushofer’s concept of Lebensraum and, after the
meeting, Dietrich took him to meet someone who had recently
joined the Party, Adolf Hitler.
My ears pricked up when Hess mentioned him, for that was the
person I was to contact. Eckhart was a founder of the Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei Workers Party (DAP), which had many sponsors and
supporters within Munich society and business circles. Hess told me
that he and Hitler had hit it off immediately, their political ideas
meshing perfectly.
Hitler had completely mesmerised Hess at their first meeting, and he
suggested that we ask the Haushofers to arrange a dinner so that the
professor and I could meet Hitler.
Later that evening, I visited the Haushofers. When I mentioned the
DAP, Albrecht asked if we had met Dietrich Eckert, who his father
knew well. I replied that Eckert had introduced Hess to Adolf Hitler.
When I asked that the Haushofers might host a dinner party to meet
him, Karl was initially reluctant but agreed and then dramatically
swore us to silence, which was rather typical of Karl Haushofer.
Karl told us that he was a founder of the secret Thule Society,
inaugurated in August 1918 and that Eckert was also a founding
member. The Thule society members included industrial
millionaires, high-ranking police, army officers and politicians. It
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
was the Thule Society that had sponsored and financed the DAP
Workers Party. Karl agreed that he would host a dinner party to
meet Adolf Hitler. We confirmed the date as Saturday, 20th of
September, at the Haushofer residence at their estate in
Hartschimmelhof, Pähl am Ammersee. Hess volunteered to contact
Hitler to ensure he would attend.
Hitler arrived on time as a passenger in Hess’s car. On that fateful
day, Albrecht and I arrived at the Haushofer estate mid-afternoon
and, as requested by Frau Martha Haushofer, brought along a basket
of ready-roasted schweinshaxe (pork knuckles) from the best
roastery in town. Martha prepared a typically Bavarian dinner of
barley soup with the main course of roast pork knuckles, mashed
potatoes and sauerkraut. For dessert, she had made her famous
apfelstrudel.
When Hitler walked in, I was somewhat disappointed. From what
Hess had told me, I was expecting a more impressive person. He
was about 180 cm tall and a skinny 75 kg, although he wore high-
heeled boots, making him look taller. He was pretty shy and was not
at ease with strangers. The first thing I noticed was his gaze. His
eyes were an intense blue, blazing and hypnotic, piercing my soul.
He asked if I was English. I said yes, and he replied that he loved
England and the English.
Over dinner, Hess mentioned Lebensraum and Hitler lit up,
spending many minutes discussing geopolitics in depth with
Professor Haushofer. Hess then brought up the subject of the DAP,
and Hitler’s charisma took over. He soon convinced us we should
come to the next DAP meeting and sign up. We heard ourselves
saying we would.
After dinner, I sat next to Hitler and asked him if he was still in the
army. He said he was, but it was causing conflict with his joining the
DAP. Army rules forbade membership in political parties. I said I
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Adam Bayne
had some army contacts by way of the British ambassador and
promised to see if I could help him.
We soon went home, and we thanked Martha for dinner. Hitler
extolled such appreciation of her strudel that she blushed. His
charisma worked on the ladies too.
The following day I wasted no time and made my report (marked
XC for extremely confidential) to Sir Neill Malcolm, Chief of the
British Military Mission in Germany. He said London would be
delighted that I had contacted my target, and I was to encourage
Hitler to join and develop the DAP. His deep hatred of the
communists would ensure the socialists of the DAP would never
merge with them. When I mentioned Hitler’s problem with the
army, Sir Neill said he would fix it. As soon as I saw Hess later, I
told him to expect good news about Hitler’s army problem.
The following week, Friday 12th September 1919, Hess and I met
Hitler again at a DAP meeting in the run-down Altes Rosenbad beer
house. I was surprised to see over a hundred people in attendance.
Hess wanted to tell Hitler the good news about his problem. After
the meeting, Hess drew him aside and informed him that his army
superior, Captain Karl Mayr, had permitted Hitler to join the DAP,
stay in the army and still receive his weekly pay. We were all
surprised when Karl Mayr arrived at our table and spoke privately
with Hitler.
When Mayr had gone, Hitler said he would be forever grateful to us.
Hess went away, pleased that his new master had thanked him. Hess
now became a committed servant to Hitler, ready to do anything he
asked, and Hitler now had financial support to further his policies
through the DAP.
With hindsight, I will never forget that meeting at Altes Rosenbad.
MI6 in London had ordered Mayr to support Hitler in developing the
DAP into an effective anti-communist organisation. Little did I or
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
my masters in London realise at the time, but we had been
instrumental in establishing Adolf Hitler’s political career, which
would be a catastrophe for the world.
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Adam Bayne
Chapter 3 The Beerhall Putsch, Hitler betrayed with sixteen
colleagues shot dead.
After Hitler had joined the DAP, Hess and I attended a few more
meetings. Hitler’s first speech was fascinating, and Hess helped him
write it. On Thursday, 16th of October 1919, over five hundred
people packed the Hofbraukeller.
Hitler said he had been shocked at the DAP’s lack of organisation
and administration, and he and Hess would set about organising it as
a political party.
For some time, Hitler had been discussing the renaming of the DAP
with Hess, the Haushofers and myself. We eventually decided to do
it. We thought he would call an executive meeting with the DAP
founders to agree on the name change, but we underestimated
Hitler’s strength and support. The news of his remarkable oratory
skills soon spread, and by late February 1920, just four months later,
over two thousand supporters attended DAP meetings. At that
meeting on the 24th of February, Hitler said he would announce that
the DAP would change its name to the National Socialist German
Workers Party or NSDAP, forever afterwards known as the Nazi
party.
Karl Haushofer, his son Albrecht, Hess and myself attended. Hitler
said it would be a watershed event and warned us it would be a
rowdy meeting. He introduced us to Emil Maurice and Julius
Schreck. Their Brownshirts were a paramilitary group of Maurice’s
henchmen formed from ex-soldiers who were out of work after the
war. Maurice ushered us into a corner at the front of the
Hofbräuhaus. Schreck told his men to look after us. It was the first
time I witnessed Hitler’s effect on a crowd. Within minutes they
were cheering and shouting. When Eckert and a few of his close
supporters voiced objection to the name change, the Brownshirts
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
swooped on them. They beat them with rubber truncheons and
forcibly expelled them. When I met Eckert the next day, I noticed he
had a plaster over one eye.
After the meeting over a few beers, Maurice and Schreck explained
they had been training their Brownshirts since the beginning of the
year and that Hitler was well pleased. This was typical of his way of
seizing power and control - ruthless and uncompromising. You were
either with him or you were against him.
I reported to my masters in London that Hitler had established a
vehemently anti-communism party known as the Nazis. I was to
help him develop the party as much as possible. London instructed
me to monitor developments and report back.
The next meeting we attended was on Monday 11th of July 1920.
Hitler had invited us to see another perfectly timed gamble. At the
Hofbrauhaus, he denounced the Nazi party’s leaders, Drexler and
Eckert, to a packed crowd surrounded by the Brownshirts. He then
surprised us all by resigning from the party. Only the Brownshirts
prevented the meeting from becoming a shouting match and brawl.
Hitler and his group retreated to the wirtsgarten (a small private
area) where we could discuss the situation. Hitler told us he had no
intention of resigning but was in a strong enough position to call the
party leaders’ bluff. He had told them he would only return as party
leader - the Fuhrer. The next day, Hess said to me that the leaders
had capitulated, and Adolf Hitler was now party chairman and the
Fuhrer in total charge.
My July 1920 XC report to SIS in London focussed on Hitler’s
remarkable achievements. In only one year, he had taken control of
the NSDAP, renamed it the Nazi party, and it was now a political
force to be reckoned with. It was well-financed too. Hess reported
five thousand members. My bosses were pleased with the way it was
developing. It left no political space for the Communists.
In February, I met Hermann Goering by chance at the Hofbrauhaus.
He was regaling a couple of ladies with his wartime exploits. I
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Adam Bayne
thought my German was accent-free, but he must have noticed
something in my speech. ‘Hey Englishman,’ he shouted, ‘come over
here and have a beer with us.’ I joined the group and soon
discovered he was a genuine flying ace who had flown alongside
Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. Goering made a scant
living as a contract pilot with Fokker and Swedish Airlines. Over the
next few weeks, we met often and became good drinking
companions as we were both extremely fond of beer and sausages.
At the end of February 1920, Goering was more than his usual jolly
self when we met for a beer. He told me that Swedish Count Eric
von Rosen had hired him to fly from Stockholm to his estate at
Rockelstad Castle, some 60 miles southwest. There Goering met the
Count’s sister-in-law Baroness Carin, who was visiting Rockelstad
for the weekend. He said he immediately fell in love when he saw
her coming down the stairs at the castle.
That weekend I was drinking at Hofbrauhaus with Hitler and
Maurice when Goering walked by. I called him over and introduced
him. The four of us got along like a house on fire, Goering keeping
us amused.
‘Did I tell you how I won the coveted Pour le Mérite?’ Hermann
would say after a few steins.
‘Yes’, we would shout in unison.
‘What about my Iron Crosses first and second class?’
‘Yes again’, we would shout, ‘drink more beer and shut up.’
Hermann and Maurice became firm friends during our boisterous
early days in Munich.
Between July 1920 and January 1922, I kept a low profile. The Nazi
party went from strength to strength. I went home on leave in
November 1921 for Christmas. Of course, there was a thorough
debriefing in London, and I returned to Munich in January 1922.
On the 3rd of February 1922, Hitler invited us all to a wedding in
Munich. Baroness Carin Axelina Hulda Countess von Kantzow was
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
to be married to Hermann Goering. Everyone had heard of
Goering’s heroic flying escapades in the Great War as wingman to
the Red Baron. Now he was marrying a Swedish Baroness. How
much more exciting can weddings be? It was a wonderful occasion.
I can say I liked both Goering and his new wife very much.
In March 1922, the Brownshirts were a band of three thousand
ruffians, and Hitler realised it needed a public leader. He appointed
Hermann Goering as Commander of the Brownshirt brigades, now
renamed Sturmabteilung or SA.
A significant event in Hitler’s life story was about to happen, and it
would always be known as ‘The Putsch.’ The last time I met him
before that pivotal event and his subsequent time in jail was at the
Haushofer’s residence at Ammersee. He told us he had taken
Herman Goering on board because the SA needed to be disciplined
and ready for action.
Albrecht and I suspected something big was in the air from trivial
things we picked up in our conversations with Hitler and Hess, but
we did not know precisely what.
On Thursday, the 8th of November 1923, Gustav von Kahr, leader of
the Bavarian government, had scheduled an official meeting at the
Burgerbraukeller. I was not at the Burgerbraukeller that evening
because Goering had asked me to look after his wife for the evening.
Later, when we had to smuggle him out of Germany, he told me
what had happened that evening.
While President Gustav von Kahr was speaking, Hitler with Hess
and Goering and about six hundred armed SA troops surrounded the
beer hall. The SA troops set up a machine gun post, and Hitler
jumped onto a table. He fired two shots into the ceiling with his
pistol and announced to the government officials that a Putsch
(coup) was taking place.
Hitler spoke to the crowded beer hall, ‘The national revolution has
broken out! Six hundred armed men surround the hall. Nobody is
allowed to leave.’ He went on to state that the Bavarian government
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Adam Bayne
was deposed and declared the formation of a new government with
General Erich Ludendorff as President. Dr Karl Alexander von
Mueller was part of Kahr’s team and reported that Hitler’s speech
had an almost magical effect on the Government officials in the
Beer Hall. He said, ‘I cannot remember in my entire life such a
change in the attitude of a crowd within a few minutes, no, almost a
few seconds. With a couple of sentences, Hitler turned them inside
out as one turns a glove inside out.’
With the crowd on his side, Hitler bundled President Kahr, Hans
Ritter von Seisser (head of police) and Otto von Lossow
(Commander of the Military School) into a private room where they
agreed to support Hitler and the Nazi party. Then he released them.
Goering told me that was probably the biggest mistake Hitler ever
made. Kahr and his associates immediately went to organise a
counterattack using Lossow’s soldiers from his Military School.
After a final speech to the crowd at ten-thirty, Hitler left the Beer
Hall.
The following day Hitler invited us to join a march to the
Feldherrnhalle (a monument in central Munich); he warned us it
could be dangerous. Of course, we joined in.
We marched towards the monument with more than two thousand
supporters. Munich was in chaos, and a detachment of Lossow’s
soldiers had blocked the way. Without warning, the soldiers opened
fire with machine guns. It was pandemonium. I grabbed Albrecht
and Baroness Carin, and we sheltered in a doorway. Suddenly the
Baroness screamed that her new husband was down, shot. Carin,
Albrecht and I rushed out with bullets flying and pulled Goering into
our doorway. This was not easy, as he was barely conscious. We
were all terrified as we huddled there with him bleeding. There was
shooting all around us, and adrenaline coursing through our veins.
Albrecht remembered that a good friend of his father, Dr Johannes
Stark, lived on Ludwigstrasse just off the Odeonplatz. We moved
off in that direction, supporting Goering between us.
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
Once again, Albrecht and I ran out into the hail of machine gun
bullets. Looking back at the carnage, we saw Heinrich Trambauer
and Andreas Bauriedl shot and fall dead. They had both been
carrying the Nazi flags just in front of Hitler. Hitler tried to hold the
flags but fell with Trumbauer and Bauriedl landing on top of him.
The fall dislocated his shoulder. We lifted Hitler between us,
dragging him into the shelter of another doorway.
We told him to come with us because we knew a place of safety. We
struggled on with Goering, still bleeding heavily and in severe pain.
We reached Ludwigstrasse without any further incidents. Dr Stark,
an early supporter of Hitler, took us off the street into the safety of
his home.
Later we counted twenty who had been shot dead, including sixteen
members of the Nazi party. Many more were wounded.
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Adam Bayne
Chapter 4 Goering shot. Hitler wounded and arrested.
Stark called his doctor friend, who dressed Goering’s wound to stop
the bleeding. The bullet was lodged in his groin. It was a severe
injury, and the doctor advised hospitalisation without delay. He
turned his attention to Hitler, gave him a mild sedative, pushed his
shoulder back into the joint, put the arm in a sling and told him he
could not use it for three weeks.
We were all in a state of shock. Stark’s housekeeper brought us hot
tea, and a homemade Prinzregententorte, a delicious Bavarian torte
with thin layers of sponge cake interlaid with chocolate buttercream.
Stark opened a bottle of schnapps, and I remember thinking how
hungry and thirsty the fear of imminent death had made us. We
looked out of the window, taking care not to attract attention. The
streets were clearing. We had not heard gunfire for at least two
hours, so we assumed the Putsch was over. Hitler was concerned
about the whereabouts of Hess. He had last seen him helping the
seriously wounded Ulrich Graf to take cover from the gunfire.
Hess later told us that Graf, one of Hitler’s bodyguards, had been hit
with five bullets but was recovering. Heinrich Trumbauer, the flag-
bearer we thought was dead, had survived and was expected to
recover even though he had sustained multiple bullet wounds.
By early evening Hitler realised his attempted coup had failed. He
sank into a deep depression, saying he would rather commit suicide
than face failure. Prophetic words, indeed. He kept saying, ‘Where
is Hess? I need him’ We realised there would be severe
repercussions from the failed coup. Hess’s organisational skills
meant that he had kept careful records of all members of the Nazi
party, and we assumed they would all be liable for prosecution.
Luckily, Albrecht and I had never formally joined the party.
Albrecht was under eighteen when it was formed, and as a non-
German, I was not allowed to join, so our names were in the clear.
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Dr Stark said we were welcome to stay but suggested we move out
in case the police started searching houses in the vicinity of the riot,
and we agreed. I suggested that I walk across the park to the British
Consulate, which was just over a mile away, and that Baroness
Carin should come with me. With British and Swedish passports, we
were unlikely to be accused of participating in the coup. I also
suggested that Albrecht go out to find Hess and let him know we
were safe. I insisted he be discrete. We all agreed to be back before
midnight.
Stark’s housekeeper helped us tidy up before we left and to remove
Goering’s blood from our clothes. It was dark when the three of us
went downstairs and opened the door. We went east to the
Englischer Garten. All seemed quiet, and the street was empty.
Albrecht soon disappeared into the darkness in the opposite
direction.
Carin and I were soon walking along Koniginstrasse. We were
highly nervous, given the events of the evening. A car pulled
alongside and called to us. A uniformed officer said politely that he
was curious about why we were out during a riot in Munich. We
both pretended not to speak good German, and I showed him my
passport. I said we had been visiting a friend when we heard the
gunfire, and now we were lost and trying to find the British
Consulate. To our amazement, he said we had better get into his car,
and he would take us there. Warily we climbed in, and he told his
driver to take us to the British Consulate on the other side of the
gardens. As we drove, we chatted with him in poor German and
learned that he was Sigmund von Imhoff, a senior officer in the
Munich police who reported to Otto von Lossow. He began ranting
about Hitler and his SA gang of rowdies. Neither did he think much
of Lossow as a commander. We remained silent. When we asked
him what he was doing out at night in Munich, he replied that
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Adam Bayne
President Kahr had ordered him to visit the Archbishop of Munich’s
residence and ensure the Archbishop’s guests returned to their
homes safely. ‘My God, they must be important people,’ said Carin.
‘Yes,’ replied Imhoff rather boastfully, ‘the vice-President of
Munich and Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli.’ Who unbeknown to us
all, in a few years, would become Pope Pius XII.
We soon arrived outside the Consulate, and Imhoff bade us farewell
by clicking his Bavarian boot heels to me and graciously kissing
Carin’s hand. A true gentleman of the old school.
Once inside, we told the Consul our predicament. The Consul, who
knew my position as an SIS agent, said the authorities had raided the
Nazi headquarters and taken the party membership lists. Gustav von
Kahr and his cronies were still in control of the city. Out of earshot
of Carin, I explained my brief to protect Hitler. I suggested we
evacuate our small team to the Albrecht residence at Ammersee,
about 45 km south of Munich. It should be far enough out of town to
avoid any police searches.
Within a few minutes, the Consulate driver appeared with the
Consulate’s official ambulance, complete with diplomatic number
plates and the Union Jack flying on the bonnet. Carin and I climbed
in, and we were soon outside Dr Stark’s townhouse in
Ludwigstrasse. Hitler could not believe his eyes and perked up
considerably when I said we were off to Ammersee. It was past
eleven by now, and thankfully, Albrecht had returned safely but
with no word of Hess except that he had been told he was neither
shot nor injured in the gun battle earlier. This news cheered up
Hitler a little.
By midnight and after saying goodbye and thanking Dr Stark, we
were all relieved to be in the ambulance and driving out of Munich.
Surprisingly, there were no roadblocks nor any sign of police
activity on the way to Ammersee. In less than an hour, we awoke the
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Haushofers. They were ecstatic to see their son Albrecht, relieved
that he was not hurt.
They were shocked to see Goering in such a state, and Martha made
a big fuss of Hitler with his arm in a sling. Martha was quite fond of
Hitler and made him go straight to bed.
We settled Goering as best we could on a chaise longue in the living
room, but before we were allowed to go to bed, Karl wanted us to
tell him everything that had happened over the last two fateful days.
He listened intently as we described our adventures and then
announced we must quickly decide our next steps because Kahr’s
government officials and the police would be searching for us.
It was now Saturday morning, and Goering needed urgent medical
attention. Carin said she had a friend who was the director of a
hospital in Innsbruck. She also knew the Swedish consul in Munich.
One of Karl’s students, Hans Frank, was a member of the Thule
society and lived nearby with his parents. Karl knew he had a
motorcycle. Hans came to the Haushofer residence and agreed to go
to the Swedish Consul with a letter from Carin. After that, he would
try to find Hess and bring him back to Ammersee. Hess would be
wary even though he had met Hans Frank at party meetings. If Hess
was worried it was a trap, Hitler wrote him a letter.
Frank was successful with his first task because we were all happily
surprised when a Swedish embassy car arrived at Hartschimmelhof
with a letter from the Consul saying the driver and the vehicle were
at Carin’s disposal. By two o’clock, the Goerings were on their way
to Innsbruck. The driver told us it was just over one-hundred-and-
fifty kilometres, and he expected to be there in two hours. As they
left the Haushofer residence, we were all greatly relieved that
Goering would soon get proper medical attention.
We received a message later that Goering needed to remain in the
hospital for several weeks after successful surgery. Meanwhile,
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Adam Bayne
Kahr had declared him a wanted man, so in January 1924, the
Goerings moved from Innsbruck to Venice, where Carin had
relatives. In May 1924, they even visited Rome, where they had an
audience with Pope Pius XI. It was not until after an amnesty for
Putsch participants in 1927 that the Goerings would return to
Munich.
Less than an hour after the Goerings had left in the Swedish
Embassy car and to everyone’s amazement, Hans Frank arrived on
his Megola motorcycle with Rudolf Hess as a passenger. Hitler was
ecstatic to see Hess, and over tea with us, I saw his mood change
from depression to elation. Hitler went from a suicidal mood to
telling us he would soon be the leader of a new Germany that would
rule the world for one thousand years. I realised then that Hitler
suffered from manic depression, which would worsen with time.
Hitler and Hess decided they had to go into hiding but did not want
the Haushofers involved as harbourers of criminals. Ernst
Hanfstaengl, who everyone knew by his nickname Putzi, had been
with Hitler at the Burgerbraukeller Putsch and told him if there were
any problems to go to his house in Uffing am Staffelsee which was
only 35 km south of the Haushofer residence. Hitler knew Putzi’s
American wife, Helene, very well, and we resolved that he and Hess
should meet with Putzi at his home to decide what to do next.
After an early dinner, Karl got his new Benz 16/50 motorcar, which
he was rightfully proud of. With only room for five in the Benz, I
was to follow on the Megola with Frank. We set off for Uffing. I
will never forget the distinctive sound of the Megola. Frank showed
me the unusual 5-cylinder aeroplane-style rotary piston engine
mounted inside the front wheel, making it a rare front-wheel drive
motorcycle. I do not think anyone has made a motorcycle quite like
it since. We left at six-thirty that evening and arrived at Uffing
within an hour. The Megola’s six-hundred-fifty cc engine meant we
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could easily keep up with the Benz. We eventually found the
Hanfstaengl’s tiny house in the dark, and Helene was surprised to
see us because Putzi had fled to Austria the day before. She, Putzi,
and their young son Egon (who Hitler later took as his godson) had
only been back in Germany a few months. Nevertheless, she was
pleased to see Hitler and insisted he and Hess stay with her. We
wanted to return as soon as possible, so Frank went home alone on
his Megola, and I travelled back to the Haushofer residence in the
Benz.
The next afternoon Sunday 11th of November, we received news that
both Hitler and Hess had been arrested at Helene’s house and taken
to Munich. By a stroke of ill luck, the police had been looking for
Putzi and knew where he lived. With hindsight, we should have
thought that to be a strong possibility, but we were all still stressed
after the shootings and the deaths. Helene later told us the police
were so polite when they arrested the two fugitives. After she
presented her American passport to the officer in charge, he
apologised for any inconvenience caused. There was already a silent
undercurrent of support for the Nazi party in the army and police.
I accepted Albrecht’s offer to stay with them in Ammersee for a few
days until the dust had settled. I then had my first good night’s sleep
for an age.
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Adam Bayne
Chapter 5 Hitler in prison with Hess. Mein Kampf written.
After their arrest, the County Court in Weilheim was the next stop
for Hitler and Hess. The magistrate transferred them into custody at
Landsberg prison, where they arrived on Monday, the 12th of
November 1923, at eleven in the morning. Hitler and nine others
were accused of various crimes related to the Putsch and the ensuing
gun battle. Their trial was set for the 26th of February, 1924. They
were remanded in custody.
The trial became a huge national and international media event. It
lasted for twenty-four days. I attended each day, and Putzi’s wife,
Helene Hanfstaengl, accompanied me. Hitler was at his best and
turned it into a courtroom drama. The dock became a propaganda
platform for himself and the Nazi party. Newspaper reports
portrayed him and his co-defendants as honest folk attempting to
replace a corrupt government. Their new nationalist party would
make Germany a great nation once more. Each time Hitler spoke, he
was cheered by the crowd in the court. The defendants had so much
public support that Kahr and his caretaker government had the
courthouse surrounded with barbed wire and a battalion of armed
police.
The New York Times edition on the 27th of February reported on the
trial and said that
‘AUDIENCE IS SEARCHED even women have to show they carry
no weapons’ and
‘HITLER HARANGUES COURT denounces General Lossow and
former dictator von Kahr.’
Heady stuff.
The international press corps had taken over the Hotel Regina, and
we spent many pleasant evenings with them there. We met
newspaper reporters from America, Australia and even Argentina
who were in Munich solely to cover the trial. Helene and I did our
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part for the Nazi party by giving the reporters exciting background
material.
I had seen quite a lot of Helene in the weeks after the Putsch. I was
surprised to discover she was an American citizen. She was a native
New Yorker who had met her husband (who she too, always called
Putzi) when he was attending Harvard University.
Putzi had fled Munich on the day of the Putsch gunfight and was
hiding out with relatives in Austria. Helene remained in Munich
with her son Egon who was three years old and looked after by the
nanny.
The defendants at the trial were: Heinz Pernet (Ludendorff’s son-in-
law), Dr Friedrich Weber, Wilhelm Frick (Chief of Munich Police),
Hermann Kriebel, General Ludendorff, Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess,
Wilhelm Bruckner (Hitler’s chief adjutant), Ernst Roehm, and
Robert Wagner (Regional Party leader).
Ludendorff was acquitted. Hitler, Weber, Kriebel and Pernet were
found guilty, and each was sentenced to a minimum of five years.
Frick, Roehm, Wagner and Bruckner were also found guilty, but
because pre-trial detention was counted as imprisonment, they were
immediately released on probation. Hess was sentenced to fifteen
months.
All those sentenced were incarcerated in Landsberg prison.
However, Hitler’s time in Landsberg was far from the imagined
unpleasant experience many historians report.
Helene, accompanied by myself and her young son Egon were
amongst the first people to visit him in Landsberg prison just days
after his sentence started. He was in a deep depression. He
announced he was on a hunger strike and would die in prison.
Helene had brought his favourite pastries and urged him to eat,
telling him that the German people needed him as their saviour. Her
exhortations, young Egon saying in perfect German, ‘Come on
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Adam Bayne
Uncle Adolf, have this pretzel,’ or perhaps the pastries themselves
brought Hitler out of his depression, and he ended the hunger strike.
Helene said that we would hold a birthday party for him.
So on 20th April 1924, we attended his thirty-fifth birthday
celebration, and we were amazed when over forty people turned up
inside the prison, not counting the warden and the guards. Even
Ludendorff was there, taking care not to burn his political bridges.
On another occasion, we took Albrecht to visit him. Albrecht was
shocked at the level of comparative luxury that Hitler had in prison.
He had rich and powerful friends supporting him. On that visit, we
met the prison warden Otto Leybold who told us that Hitler was a
model prisoner ‘sensible, modest, humble and polite to everyone,
especially the prison officers.’ Hitler’s charisma was genuinely
remarkable.
Because of a letter he asked Helene and me to write for him, we
were sure he knew he would not have to serve the full five years and
would be released soon. The letter was to Munich’s Mercedes Benz
dealer.
For some reason, Hitler did not like writing. Helene and I suspected
he had dyslexia. He also hated office administration work. The
communications with the car dealer did not reflect his current
situation as a prisoner facing five years in jail.
Hitler wrote that he could not decide whether to purchase a new
Benz 11/40 or the older model 16/50. He was concerned because
Karl Haushofer had a Benz 16/50 and, on a previous visit, expressed
his opinion that the higher-revving 11/40 engine may not be as
reliable as the well-proven 16/50. Hitler remembered riding to
Helene’s house in the 16/50.
He cheekily requested a discount because he said he had court costs.
He eventually decided on the 16/50 and confirmed to the dealer, ‘In
any case, please reserve the grey 16/50 that you have in Munich
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until I have clarity about my fate.’
These were not the actions of a destitute man likely to be in prison
for five more years. The visits by Ludendorff had resulted in some
agreement on his release. He expected to collect his new Benz 16/50
in months, not years.
The next time we visited, he had set up an office in his cell to work
on his now-famous book. He got Helene to review the early chapters
of this autobiographical manifesto. He first dictated the book to his
fellow prisoner Emil Maurice and then Hess.
On the copy he gave to Helene to review was his proposed title for
the book. ‘Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies Stupidity
and Cowardice. A Reckoning.’ Helene and I discussed the title, and
we suggested the snappier title of Mein Kampf (My Struggle). The
book was over a hundred and fifty thousand words. On a prison
visit, the publisher Max Amman recommended publishing it in two
volumes, the second to be completed after Hitler was released.
When he told us this on a visit in September 1924, it was
confirmation that he knew he would be released very soon. Max
Amann published Mein Kampf in two volumes, the first in 1925,
followed by the second in 1926. He later released it as a single large
volume. After Hitler’s rise to power in 1930, that version became a
best-seller. By 1944 it had sold over twelve million copies in
eighteen languages making Hitler wealthy. Our contribution to the
title change has never been acknowledged.
We made our final visit to Landsberg prison on Saturday 20th,
December 1924. It was the day of Hitler’s release after serving less
than a year of his sentence. We found him sitting in the back of
Professor Haushofer’s 16/50 Benz, borrowed for the occasion.
It was only four days before Christmas, and Munich was alive with
its famous Christmas markets. We told Hitler we had a surprise for
him, and he was tremendously excited. Helene had dressed in a local
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Adam Bayne
dirndl dress and looked amazing with her blond hair in plaits,
bewitching blue eyes and pale complexion. She was the epitome of
Isolde, an Aryan beauty from Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde.
No wonder Hitler could not take his eyes off her as she sat in the
back with him. I drove with Albrecht in the front seat. He was
smartly dressed in his father’s lederhosen, which he confided would
no longer fit his father.
I drove directly to the Benz dealer, who had the grey 16/50 ready to
drive away. We drove the two Benz 16/50s around Dr Stark’s house
and parked. I had never seen Hitler so happy; he was like a child on
Christmas eve – when Germans open their presents. He was almost
in tears as he sat behind the wheel. He got out and hugged us all,
Helene in particular. Hitler insisted Helene sit with him in his new
car. The five of us then walked out and spent a few hours enjoying
the wonderful atmosphere of the Christmas markets.
Even in those early days, I rarely saw Hitler take alcohol, but the
rest of us were all very merry from the many glasses of hot
Gluhwein we had consumed at the markets. The freezing
temperature was a good excuse. We all walked back to Dr Stark’s
house, which he had offered us the use of as he was away with
relatives. In 1919 Dr Stark won the Nobel prize for physics, and his
fame demanded he be away on a lecture tour. We made a final visit
to the Christmas market held in the Englischer Garten across the
road from the Stark house. We laughed as we remembered our
night-time flight from Munich after the Putsch just thirteen months
back. That night seemed like many years ago.
We both noticed that Hitler had a definite sweet tooth as he
managed to eat two heart-shaped Lebkuchen (traditional German
Christmas cookies) to each one that we ate.
Stark’s housekeeper Marie had prepared beds for us all, and Hitler
settled down to his first night of freedom for nearly a year.
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His fortunes had changed significantly while he was in prison. Rich
and powerful forces had been at work, including support from the
British Government via my contacts. The SIS wanted Hitler to
become a leading force in German politics, and British industry was
waiting in the wings to rebuild the German economy.
On the 30th of December 1924, Hess was released from prison, so
we had a joyous reunion and New Year’s Eve celebration at our
temporary accommodation on Ludwigstrasse. On New Year’s Day
1925, we walked along Schellingstrasse to Osteria Bavaria. It was
Hitler’s favourite restaurant and only a short distance from the Stark
townhouse. Hitler had his beloved grilled trout with butter sauce and
insisted that Albrecht and I try the veal schnitzel. We agreed it was
an excellent choice. Hess had roast duck with potato dumplings, and
Helene had Wurstsalat, a Bavarian sausage salad. I also remember
we had a Franken Sylvaner wine which came in a bottle with a
flattened shape known as Bocksbeutel. It was the first time I had
tried this dry white wine. Hitler had his favourite, a bottle of
Staatliche Fachingen mineral water known for its ability to
neutralise excess stomach acid, an ailment from which he suffered.
That lunch was a turning point for Hitler and the Nazis.
We had a wonderful time at the Osteria Bavaria, all oblivious to the
dark storm clouds gathering on the horizon for the Nazi party. I later
compared the happy memories of that lunch when in 1938, I
arranged for Unity Mitford to meet Hitler at the same restaurant.
And what a disaster that turned out to be.
The year flew by. After the bans on the Nazi party and the SA were
lifted, the party went from strength to strength. By Christmas 1925,
the party had over one hundred thousand members with financial
and political support from the upper classes in Munich. Hitler was in
his element, surrounded by infatuated Nazi devotees.
My 1925 end-of-year XC report for my masters in England
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Adam Bayne
indicated that the foundations of the SIS objective to put Hitler in
power and stop the possibility of the communist and left-leaning
socialist parties taking over in Germany had been successful. I
requested funds to be allocated in 1925 to prepare for the Nazi
party’s participation in the upcoming 1928 German government
elections. I was formally congratulated on the beginnings of a
successful mission with a personal note in his famous green ink
from Sir Hugh Sinclair, ‘M’ himself, the newly appointed head of
SIS.
Aided by professional marketing support and plenty of funds, the
party added another fifty thousand members and began to prepare
itself for the 1928 elections. As public support and interest in the
Nazi party grew, so did sales of Mein Kampf.
I had another home leave in May 1925, and at my debriefing at SIS
HQ in London, I met Sir Hugh Sinclair for the first time. He wanted
to know about ‘this Hitler man’, and he requested I send in an
Extremely Confidential (XC) report for his attention telling all I
knew about Adolf Hitler. After a few weeks with my family in
Tunbridge, Wells and a few days at Henley Regatta with some old
Cambridge friends, I was back in Germany to take Helene to the
Bayreuth Wagner Festival in July.
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
Chapter 6 Bayreuth Wagner Festival and a new Alfa Romeo
As soon as I arrived back in Munich, Albrecht met me with some
exciting news. Joseph Goebbels had come to see Hitler in Munich a
few weeks prior and was involved in a meeting which included the
Haushofers.
Albrecht told me the gist of the meeting. Goebbels had been to see
Gregor Strasser, who, after his release from his Putsch prison
sentence, was now the Head of the Nazi party in northern Germany.
Strasser was very impressed with Goebbels because Goebbels’s
guidance had won two elections in the Bavarian Landtag (state
legislation) in April and May 1924. Strasser then sent him to
Munich to meet Hitler and to put some of his ideas in front of the
Fuhrer.
Goebbels impressed Hitler as much as he had impressed Strasser.
Hitler also remembered him from the Burgerbraukeller Putsch.
Goebbels did not beat about the bush and told Hitler that the
Putsch’s failure meant that power could not be achieved by violence
at this time. He had to present himself as a credible politician. Now
that the Nazi party was recognised nationally and Hitler’s popularity
was growing, the party could gain legitimate political power only at
the polling station. Goebbels used the term propaganda. All
Germans remembered British propaganda in the Great War, and
Ludendorff had told Hitler it was one of the main reasons Germany
lost that war.
Goebbels was in the right place and met the right man at the right
time. He had brought a copy of Mein Kampf, which also impressed
Hitler. Goebbels returned with instructions from Hitler to his boss
Strasser to start a propaganda campaign and train all party
candidates on how to speak and present themselves. As Goebbels
had told Hitler, ‘No more tub-thumping revolutionaries, the Nazis
are now the people’s party who will replace the corrupt and useless
Weimar government’.
Goebbels had some innovative ideas, such as using the television
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Adam Bayne
and radio for broadcasts and deploying aeroplanes to get Hitler
around the whole of Germany for election speeches. He recognised
the power of his voice and charisma, admitting to the Fuhrer that he
had been wholly motivated the first time he heard him speak. That
was why he was at the Burgerbraukeller that fateful night.
We agreed that this was a change of direction that could have
immense consequences for Germany. We went to see Hitler the next
day.
He was full of the idea of propaganda. While we spoke, I mentioned
my planned trip to the Bayreuth Festival. Strangely, he changed the
subject. Later on, I found out why. He said he was invited as a VIP
by the organiser of the festival Winifred Wagner. Winifred was the
daughter-in-law of the great Richard Wagner himself. He asked if I
was taking Helene and when I said yes, he put on his naughty little
boy act and asked if she could wear the same dirndl dress that she
wore at the Munich Christmas markets back in January. This was a
side of Hitler that few people saw, and when Goebbels became
Reich Minister of Propaganda in 1933, his propaganda machine
filtered it out from the public eyes.
Hitler invited us to stay at the Villa Wahnfried, Richard Wagner’s
sumptuous residence in Bayreuth. I said we would meet him there
next Tuesday, the 21st of July. He went off humming the soprano
solo of Isolde’s vision of Tristan resurrected.
I considered this change significant and that it required an interim
XC report. I put one together and sent it off to Mansfield Smith-
Cumming (head of MI6, who always signed his memos with just C)
via the consulate. His reply came back saying this was good news
and that we must continue to give as much support as possible to
Hitler but nothing conspicuous. The Communist party was also
gaining strength and support, and we must never let it take control of
the German Government. C immediately authorised an increase in
my operational budget and copied the consul to inform him of my
high priority.
When I saw Helene that night, she giggled when I told her of
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Hitler’s request to wear the dirndl dress. She said she was very
much looking forward to the festival. I told her we were to be
Winifred Wagner’s guests at Villa Wahnfried and that I had another
surprise for her later.
On Tuesday, 21st of July, I arrived at Helene’s house in Uffing in my
new Alfa Romeo RL Super Sport. I went in to get Helene’s luggage
and watched her face when she saw the beautiful Alfa. She was
staring at my new car, and I was staring at this Wagnerian beauty in
her red and cream dirndl dress and golden plaited pigtails. By
destiny or luck, the Alfa had red and cream bodywork; with the roof
down, you could see the red leather seats. With eighty-eight
horsepower under the bonnet, the car was capable of over eighty
mph. I explained to Helene that I had bought the car from the Berlin
Embassy’s military attaché, who was returning to England. On that
sunny morning, we were soon on our way to Bayreuth, the wind
blowing in our hair.
We stopped off in Munich to get some traditional Weiss Wurst
sandwiches. Helene said they were as good as anything in New
York. About halfway to Bayreuth, we crossed the Danube into
Ingolstadt and stopped to eat our Bavarian white hotdogs washed
down with Bavarian white beer. It was now midday, and we had
covered over one hundred and fifty kilometres in under two hours. I
calculated we would be in Bayreuth by late afternoon. We topped up
with petrol in Ingolstadt and were soon on the road again with no
care in the world.
By four in the afternoon, we were outside Villa Wahnfried, and
Hitler came out to welcome us. He was arm-in-arm with Winifred
Wagner. It was apparent they had met before. Winifred was an early
member of the Nazi party and well known for her vociferous
antisemitism, something she must have inherited from Richard
Wagner.
Our bags were unloaded, and we were taken to our rooms by a
liveried footman. The Alfa was garaged for the night.
We came down to dinner that evening to sit in Richard Wagner’s
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Adam Bayne
gothic-style dining room. Helene looked spectacular. Her long
blonde hair formed into a tight plait, setting off the dirndl outfit to
perfection.
We had a superb meal with one of my favourite wines, a
Gewurztraminer from Alsace. Hitler cleverly seated himself between
Winifred and Helene and even had a small glass of wine, although I
was not the only one to notice that he made it more palatable to
himself by adding two spoons of sugar. We spent the evening
chatting about Wagner, his music and the programme for the coming
festival.
Hitler said being here and going to see Wagner’s opera brought back
memories of his time in Vienna. He recalled he was twenty-four
years old and an impoverished, struggling artist. His best friend at
the time, Rudolf Haeusler, took him to the Vienna Opera House as a
birthday treat but could afford only tickets in the standing section.
Hitler turned to Helene and said, ‘you look wonderful tonight, my
dear Helene, and I look forward to watching Tristan and Isolde with
you next week’.
‘Can you imagine standing for almost four hours?’ he asked the
ladies.
Hitler smiled, and I could see he was transported back to Vienna in
1913. ‘It was a Mahler-Roller production,’ he said. Winifred
interrupted his reverie and said the performance this year would be
just as good. Hitler was suddenly back in the room. His face
changed; he stared at the chandelier and said, ‘Times have changed.
I have an unstoppable destiny. I will become the Fuhrer of a Third
Reich that will dominate the world. It will last for one thousand
years.’ He seemed to realise where he was and said, ‘Germany has
recovered from the terrible years of inflation. We now have the
Americans and the British on our side. The Third Reich is coming. It
is our destiny. A toast, my friends.’
Hitler then turned to the sideboard and brought across a tray on
which was a set of antique Gerzit Stemware toasting cups. He
placed them on the table, poured a small measure of the
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
Gewurztraminer into each and passed them around.
He then solemnly stood up and said, ‘Zum Wohl. To the Nazi party
and the Third Reich.’
We all stood, raised our cups and repeated the toast. After we had
sat down, I remarked that Winifred had chosen such a good Alsace
wine. I noted that when I mentioned Alsace, for once Hitler did not
mention the Treaty of Versailles.
He had already switched from oratorical mode and was his jolly self
again. I noted this rapid change in mood seemed to be swifter the
more successful his Nazi party became and the more power he
wielded.
But this was nothing compared to the violent mood swings he would
display once he had become the Fuhrer.
I admired the toasting cups, and Hitler said they were authentic
antiques Maurice had found in an old shop in Bayreuth. ‘They are
yours now, my friend,’ he said, and I accepted them with grace.
They are now on my sideboard in England. I can see them as I write
this.
The next day was a whirlwind of politicians and German high
society, with many seeking out Hitler for a quiet chat under a tree in
the garden. Hitler was a master at recruiting financial sponsors.
Probably his biggest catch that day was Fritz Thyssen, who had been
introduced to Hitler by Ludendorff. Hitler met Thyssen again for
lunch on the Friday of the festival. Winifred told me proudly that he
had donated one hundred thousand Gold Marks to the Nazi party.
The donation was to arrive anonymously and indirectly via
Ludendorff. I noted down as many of the names of Hitler’s
supporters as possible.
By Friday, Helene decided to change out of her dirndl outfit into a
more modern Jeanne Lanvin silk dress with a startlingly short (for
1925) hemline. She had arranged for it to be sent from New York.
Hitler remarked that although he loved the silk dress, the dirndl was
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Adam Bayne
more suited to the Wagner festival. On Saturday afternoon, he
arrived at the Villa Wahnfried with a parcel for Helene. He had
arranged for his Munich office to buy two more dirndl outfits from
the finest lady’s tailor in Munich. They arrived in Bayreuth with a
driver.
Helene was overwhelmed when she opened them and gave Hitler a
big hug and a kiss. This was the first time I ever saw Hitler
embarrassed, his face glowing red. I remember I thought I caught a
look of jealousy in Winifred’s eyes. It was clear that both women,
each barely thirty years old, were deeply fascinated with Adolf
Hitler.
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
Chapter 7 France withdraws from the Rhineland, Germany
moves in.
As part of Goebbels’ propaganda machine, Hitler appointed
Heinrich Hoffmann as his exclusive photographer. He was an early
member of the Nazi party, and he was at the beerhall Putsch.
Goebbels had forbidden any other photographs of Hitler.
Nevertheless, I took my new camera with me to Bayreuth. I’ve been
told that plain sight is the best place to hide something. I was the
stupid Englishman taking holiday snaps to show his mother. When I
had the films developed on my return to Munich, I was surprised to
see that he was smiling in all the photos I had taken of Hitler at the
festival. All of Hoffmann’s were much more serious.
On the last Thursday of the Wagner festival, Hitler pulled me aside
after dinner and surprised me by asking if we could have a private
meeting on Friday. He had arranged for Emil Maurice to take
Helene and Winifred on a tour of the Altes Schloss Ermitage, which
used to be the palace of King Ludwig the Second. The outing would
be in his Benz 16/50. This was to be followed by lunch at Hotel
Bayerischer Hof. Afterwards, Maurice would take them to
Glashutten, the centre of German watchmaking. That would be a
short journey as it was only thirteen kilometres from Bayreuth.
Hitler’s new contact Fritz Thyssen was a good friend of Walter
Lange and had organised a private viewing of watches at A. Lange
& Soehne. He told me he had instructed Maurice to buy the girls any
watch they wanted, but I was to keep that a secret.
On Friday, after breakfast, the girls went off with Maurice, and
Hitler and I retired to Peter Wagner’s office. He had arranged to use
it for this private meeting. I was intrigued to discover what it was all
about, and even more so when I found out that the meeting was
between only Hitler and myself.
Hitler told me that France had withdrawn from its occupation of the
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Adam Bayne
Rhineland two weeks ago. He said an economic cooperation treaty
was on the table and expected to be signed soon. He had seen the
draft of the Locarno Conference. It established the eastern and
western borders of Germany. There would be no more whining from
that French communist Prime Minister Paul Painlevé and his
Belgian lapdog Poullet with his quasi-communist Socialist party.
Germany would soon be free from the stranglehold of the Versailles
Treaty.
Then Hitler stopped and looked at me intensely, his hypnotic eyes
drilling into my brain as they always did.
‘Adam,’ Hitler said, ‘We have known each other many years and
have seen much together. Would you do something important for
me? Something only the two of us must know about?’
I did my best to look troubled and looked at him directly and asked
what it was. He told me he wanted to establish a channel with the
British at the highest level to facilitate rebuilding Germany and to
keep the communists out of government. I replied that it would take
a lot of time and effort and would there be any financial
compensation? He laughed and told me that would not be a problem
as the party was now well financed, and sales of Mein Kampf were
growing.
I agreed and began my second career as Hitler’s secret liaison
officer to the British Government.
Hitler then said he could see his vision of Germany recovering from
the economic devastation of the Versailles Treaty coming true. He
said a weak and frightened government signed the Treaty and saw
no reason Germany should comply with any humiliating conditions.
He told me Jewish bankers drafted it as part of their plan to
dominate the world.
Hitler then explained his plans for Germany. Unilaterally ignoring
the terms of the Versailles Treaty would remove the economic
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stranglehold on Germany and allow the rebuilding of the German
industrial machine. Europe, particularly France, was afeared that it
would enable the German people to become the wealthiest and most
powerful in Europe. His longer-term vision of a Third Reich lasting
one thousand years was no longer a dream. His making it real would
involve implementing Haushofer’s concept of Lebensraum and
solving what he called the Jewish problem. Both issues could wait.
He could move on them once he had absolute power in Germany.
Phew! I thought to myself, this man has some impressive ideas.
Knowing that the Nazi party’s share of the vote was rising at every
election, I believed there was a good chance he could pull it off.
I thought the time was right to prove my worth and told Hitler that
on my last trip to London, through my father, I had managed to
arrange a lunch with Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for War.
Churchill asked about the situation around the industrial recovery in
Germany as I was on the spot, as he put it. He told me that the cost
of maintaining the British Army of the Rhine was one hundred
thousand Pounds per month. He explained that as their obligation to
the Versailles Treaty, Britain was obliged to keep fourteen thousand
fully armed troops in Cologne. When I mentioned the British
occupation of Cologne, Hitler drew his chair closer to me.
Well, I thought in for a penny in for a pound. I was sure this was not
top-secret information else Churchill would have said so. I told
Hitler that Churchill had told me directly that the British would be
withdrawn entirely before the end of the year. Hitler smiled and said
that his destiny was now unstoppable.
We left Wagner’s office with a big handshake - Hitler was not one
for hugging. He said, ‘Teil Zwei hat begonnen’ - meaning part two
had begun. I will remember those words forever.
I said I needed a rest, and we agreed to meet at four o’clock after the
girls had returned for afternoon tea. I went straight up to my room
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Adam Bayne
and wrote notes about the meeting while it was still fresh in my
mind.
The next day I briefed C via an XC report. His response arrived
twenty-four hours later. He was delighted to give the go-ahead,
mainly because my payments from Hitler would be a welcome
contribution to the department’s budget. The typical British
government response, I thought. I reported my contact with Fritz
Thyssen. His father, August Thyssen, was seriously ill, and Fritz
would soon take over the vast family business. I was authorised to
agree to cooperation between British and German industries.
Fritz would indeed be a wonderful entré into German industry and
its leaders. He was head of the German Iron and Steel Industry
Association and the Reich Association of German Industry. He was
also a board member of the Reichsbank.
Was Hitler a disillusioned lunatic, I wondered, or a serious politician
with a feasible plan to rule Germany? I had mentioned before that I
thought him to be a manic depressive, but I believe he had the
charisma to make his dreams and visions come true. He now
surrounded himself with a team of competent men. The Nazi party
was already becoming a significant force in German politics. I
thought he could do it. I was proved right, and horribly so.
But in Bayreuth in 1925, most other politicians viewed Hitler as a
ranting lunatic. His humble beginnings were viewed with disdain by
German high society.
At tea time, an excited and giggling Helene and Winifred greeted us.
They told Hitler and me to sit down and close our eyes. I do not
think Hitler had ever been in this position before, so he asked me
what to do. I said put your hands out like this and keep your eyes
closed which he did.
They presented each of us with a package. Hitler opened his with
visible excitement. Inside each box was a gold A. Lange & Soehne
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
pocket watch. We were both overwhelmed. Helene had been very
observant and noticed that Hitler never wore a wristwatch. He was
so pleased that he asked the girls to stand up and gave them a big
hug, as did I.
Then we noticed they both had new wristwatches, which we
proceeded to admire. Helene had chosen a white gold and diamond
watch. Its face was covered unless pulled up. It looked like a
bracelet, not a watch. Winifred had chosen a rose gold square-faced
timepiece with a matching strap. They were both elated. We had a
lovely dinner with more of my favourite Gewurztraminer wine.
Hitler demurred on this occasion, sticking to bottled water. Helene
and I retired to our adjacent rooms very happy indeed. Within thirty
minutes, there was a quiet knock on my door, and I let Helene in. It
was our first night together and is another memory of the 1925
Wagner Festival that I shall never forget.
The following day was Saturday. We came for breakfast, ensuring
our behaviour did not give away clues about our night-time
activities. I looked across the table at Winifred and Hitler. But they,
like us, were not giving anything away. I wondered to myself what
they had been up to.
We had planned to leave on Sunday, the 2nd of August, but Hitler
said he would stay a few days more. He said there were some things
he needed to resolve in Munich though they could wait a couple of
days. Then he whispered to me that the Nazi party would take over
the German government in a bloodless coup by winning seats in the
upcoming elections. President Hindenburg will then have no choice
but to declare him as Chancellor.
Helene and I said our farewells, and before we boarded the Alfa
Romeo, Hitler said, ‘See you next week in my office; we have work
to do.’ As I drove away, I thought I could see Hitler and Winifred
holding hands as they entered the magnificent villa.
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Adam Bayne
Halfway back, we stopped at Ingolstadt again and had lunch at the
Augustiner-Brau Theresienhof. It is one of the oldest breweries in
Germany, if not the world. Our waitress told us it was over six
hundred years old and had been making beer since 1294. She said it
was founded because the monks at the nearby monastery needed a
drink to brace themselves against the Bavarian winter. Helene and I
both had braised veal cheeks, mashed potato, and broccoli with sour
cream. We washed it down with the monks’ Weissbier.
‘What did Adolf mean when he said you have work to do?’ Helene
asked, so I said I was helping him work on the party's
administration, which now had funds, and he was paying me a
handsome salary. Congratulations and well done she said. Little did
she know, but I had to keep my relationship with Hitler top secret.
I spent the rest of 1925 quietly in Munich. I became accepted as
Hitler’s English friend and did indeed help him to reorganise some
aspects of his party. I also became very close to Hess, Hitler’s
principal administration manager.
I met with Fritz Thyssen, and we discussed how we could get British
aid to modernise his factories, some of which were still in quite a
state of disrepair seven years after the war.
I grew closer to Hitler when my prophecy of the withdrawal of the
BAOR happened in December. I also told him that the British
government was pushing hard to withdraw troops from the
Rhineland completely. It was a political mess—America, Belgium,
France, Britain, and even Siam had troops there. Hitler agreed when
I told him the French were being difficult. ‘Diese kommunistischen
Schweine’ he said which needs no translation.
My regular XC reports to C were received with thanks, and I
continued to be fed with valuable things to say to Hitler, such as
they were working hard to withdraw all troops from the Rhineland
and blaming the French for the delays.
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Café Gentz and the Silver Pheasants
Hitler told me that Goering had initiated communications with Pope
Pius XI in the Vatican and that the Pope would do all he could to
support Hitler’s vision of a Christian government in Germany.
When I asked him what that meant, he said the Pope was no lover of
the Jews. When that Pope Pius died in 1939, he was succeeded by
Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, previously apostolic nuncio (ambassador)
to Bavaria, who became Pope Pius XII. Eugenio was having dinner
with the Bishop of Bavaria on that fateful night in Berlin when
Carin and I were trying to find the British Consul to smuggle our
wounded out of Munich. After being elected Pius XII, Pacelli
continued his predecessor’s tacit support of Hitler and Nazism
throughout the Second World War, denying any knowledge of the
Holocaust.
Hitler also opened a channel of communication with Mussolini in
Italy. He told Karl Haushofer that Mussolini was copying his
Lebensraum theory, calling it his Spazio Vitale (vital space) and
making it a key concept in Italian Fascism. Karl Haushofer was not
a fan of Mussolini and said that Hitler should ignore the pompous
little Italian.
We were not in Munich to enjoy the Christmas markets in 1925
because we were to spend the festive season at Villa Wahnfried,
invited by Winifred, to which Hitler quickly agreed.
Elsa Bruckmann, the wealthy socialite wife of publishing magnate
Hugo Bruckmann, was invited along with her husband, although
they lived in their own majestic Villa next door to Villa Wahnfried.
It was the Bruckmann Company that published Mein Kampf. They
also published the controversial antisemitic works of British-born
Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who was married to Richard
Wagner’s daughter Eva. They were both in Bayreuth, staying with
the Bruckmanns and coming over for dinner at Villa Wahnfried.
When Elsa heard I only had a little Alfa Romeo with a canvas roof,
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