In the tea-house Hitler loved to hear amusing stories, and people who could tell them were very welcome. It would have been unthinkable to tell obscene stories or a dirty joke in his presence though◦– the bold comedian would receive an ‘if looks could kill’ look and be wise to excuse himself. The spiciest stories he tolerated were the ‘Graf Bobby’ kind. For example, a nobleman had been invited to a dancer’s flat where they had taken tea and afterwards taken a bath together. Now the nobleman had no peace wondering whether there had been something more on offer from the lady. Hitler would listen to stories like these with a contented smile. Often those present would score points off each other. I remember a conversation between Dr Goebbels and Dr Dietrich, the Reich press secretary. Dr Dietrich had stated that his best ideas came to him in the bath. Goebbels responded: ‘Then you should bathe much more frequently, Herr Doktor Dietrich!’ Sometimes in these sessions Hitler would laugh till he cried.
New arrivals at the Berghof were very welcome at the tea-house, where conversations gradually degenerated into monotonous repetitions for lack of fresh blood. Talk would become a murmur if Hitler fell asleep in an armchair, although as soon as conversation died away he would waken immediately. Hitler also showed great interest should two people get their heads together at the big round table in the tea-house, or perhaps discuss a document in an undertone, or hold an illustrated magazine in the hand and point to a particular section. Then he would want to know about it at once: ‘What’s new there?’ Awareness of this curiosity on his part was often used to skilful effect by clever guests. In this way certain matters could be brought to his attention which were otherwise delicate to broach. The Schirachs liked to bring along American magazines. Once, one contained illustrations of American women working in the armaments industry, in another two women boxed while standing in a sea of herrings. Hitler made fun of both but found the latter particularly objectionable.
While in the tea-house, Eva Braun would get a manservant to find out what new films had arrived from the Propaganda Ministry in Berlin. If Hitler did not require the Great Hall for a conference, after our return (usually by car, Hitler’s vehicle would have an adjutant, the manservant and Blondi besides himself as passengers) she would arrange a film show before the guests retired to dress for dinner.
The procedure for dinner was similar to that at midday. Guests sat near the warm stove or on the sofas with their many cushions which surrounded the great rectangular table. A hanging lamp spread warmth and helped create a pleasant atmosphere. Everybody would be waiting for Hitler who might be talking with a conversation partner either in his room on the first floor or in the Great Hall. Hitler’s talks always had priority, and it was not an infrequent occurrence that dinner would begin very late. As soon as Hitler entered, the midday ritual would be re-enacted: the manservant would appear and announce that dinner was served, and which lady Hitler was to accompany at table.
The mood at dinner was freer and the conversation less forced. The ladies would have dressed a little less formally and applied make-up to enhance their appeal. Eva Braun’s younger sister, who never economised on the lipstick, often motivated Hitler into recounting the children’s fable about how lipstick was manufactured in the Paris sewers. Eva Braun would hold her nose and plead in feigned despair: ‘Oh please, not again!’ The effect of this fable appeared to give Hitler a lot of amusement, which was why he repeated it so often.
In 1926 when Ada Klein was walking in Munich with a female friend they chanced to meet Hitler, who joined them. When a lady wearing heavy make-up passed in an open car, Hitler exclaimed: ‘Now I know why so many men have stomach complaints. During kissing they eat all that stuff on women’s lips!’ One day he selected a very beautiful bloom from a table vase and tossed it rather insolently to a lady, his expectation being that she would put the flower in her hair or jacket. On another occasion upon seeing a woman wearing a flower he offered her another which he thought suited her better. In the earlier years Hitler took pleasure in such gallantry. Ada Klein recalled that in the so-called Eckart Room at the Braunes Haus at Easter 1933 he withdrew a small yellow chick from the table decoration, took her hand, opened it, placed the chick very tenderly inside and closed the hand again.
In the evenings one would remain seated at table a little longer. After the meal, if there was a meeting in the Great Hall a film would be shown in the bowling alley provided there was no bowling. This was rare, however, for the noise from the alley could be very distracting in the Great Hall and generally we would retire to the living room and wait for Hitler’s conference to finish. Conversation had to be carried on in low tones, as mentioned, for the Great Hall was only separated from the living room by a velvet curtain. When Hitler was ready, this would be drawn aside by a waiter and Hitler would then ask: ‘Shouldn’t we sit at the fireside a little?’[120] That was always the prelude to an evening spent there.
The guests would descend five steps from the living room into the Great Hall, of which Hitler was particularly fond. It had a high ceiling and a floor area of almost 200 square metres. The floor was laid with a strawberr y-coloured pile carpet. Three marble steps led to the armchairs around the fireplace. There was little other furniture there. Two large cabinets, some chairs near the great window, a large conference table, a globe, a grandfather clock; then a piano and some small commodes. One of the large cabinets had handles carved in the shape of human heads. Certificates of citizenship and old weapons were displayed in it. In the other were old artefacts in tin behind a glass front. Magnificent Gobelin tapestries depicting hunting scenes covered apertures in the walls necessary for the film shows.
The large old masters in the Hall were changed regularly. Very often Nana by Anselm Feuerbach (Feuerbach’s long-term lover from Rome, the wife of a cobbler), a particular favourite of Hitler, hung near the fireplace. On the long wall of the Hall was a wonderful likeness of a woman dressed in red by Bordone, red carnations in the same shade of deep red always stood on a commode nearby. The most impressive thing in the Great Hall, which had a dark brown ceiling, was undoubtedly the magnificent window, nine metres wide. It could be sunk down to show the majestic panorama of the Untersberg mountain as if in a frame.[121] The mammoth rectangular table standing in front of the window had a top of Untersberg marble and proved very useful at conferences for spreading out large maps on its surface.
Amongst the seating about the marble fireplace, a gift from Mussolini, was a black leather sofa. It was of gigantic proportions, and in relation to the size of the Hall it looked good, but was extremely uncomfortable. The square footage available for sitting on was so enormous that it was not possible to sit and lean against the back rest. At the beginning of the fireplace session one would have to sit bolt upright on the edge of the sofa, but as the evening wore on the ladies would find it more comfortable to lean against the sofa back with their legs tucked under them. The sets consisting of upholstered chairs each with a small table and suitable for small groups of guests were much more acceptable.
120
Schroeder noted that: ‘the response would usually be muted, for the sessions round the fireplace tended to go on and on, and ended, if Hitler was not in a mood for conversation, in an oppressive, brooding silence.’
121
This large window was subdivided into ninety individual windows. Hitler, who was very proud of it, once remarked to his adjutant Wiedemann: ‘Really, I built a house around a window here.’