NAZI BROWN HOUSE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 675, 30 October 1933, Page 2

NAZI BROWN HOUSE

HITLERISM AT HOME QRGANISATION D1RECTED FROM FINE CONVERTED PALACE. * MUNICH HEADQUARTERS. Nazi wa* born in Bavaria; MSunich is its domlcile. Munich, the gentle city of art and music. I't seems an anomaly that this slow-paced, peaceful city should be the focal point of a movement so energetic, so aggressive. For political purposes the leaders of the National Socialist Party have to spend the larger part of their time in Berlin, where Chancellor Hitler has his home. But the real home and heart of the Nazis is in the Bavarian capital. Promi this point the organisation directs * its activities ithroughout Germany (says a writer in the BaTtimor& Sun. The main council wigwam of Big Chief Hitler is a four-storey converted mansion or small palace known as "Braunes Haus." And brown it is, a wholesomje, mustard brown in stucco. Tbe Nazi men tell you that brown was chosen for the party coloui' because it symbolises the good earth. Braunes Haus is Nq. 45 Birenners'trasse, in the best residential sec- . tion of the city. Just five minutes' walk from Qdeons Platz, where "Main Street," Ludwigstrasse, ends in a stately Greek temple. Between two pious-faced stone lions on the steps of this temple is an enormous green wreath wreath ibeside which always stand two brown-shirts at rigid attention. This wreath commemorates the death of some score of Nazi fighters whose lives were sacrificed in the first clash with the existing authorities in 1923, Forty-five Briennerstrasse stands a short distance hack from the street, and has a wide, green garden at ■either side, a garden filled with elms and oaks and flowers and shrubs. This house was purchased by the Hitlerites dn 1930, and is said to have cost 5,000,000 marks. Considerable alterations were made. Three or four other ■buildings in the block also house Nazi offiees. There is always a bustle of activity in the neigbbourhood of Brown House. Party leaders come and go. Visitors from all over the 'Rieich, drawn by the urge to see the power house from iwhich emanates tne vast current of Nazi energy. The. "Main Office." Adolf Hitler spends a few days of almost every week in Munich, travelling hack and forth from Berlin in an airplane presented to him hy his enthusiastic followers. In Brown House is his main office. Here is also the .Senate Chamber; some half-dozen large rooms filled with clerks occupied, with the detail work of the organisation; a judicial chamber wherein party disputes are settled; and in the basement two well-equipped restaurants — one for the officers, one for the men. iOne enters Brown House from the street through a handsome hronze portal. Aibove the door a plaque with the inscription "Deutschland Eriwache," and at either side a party standard in cast metal — a Roman eagle perched on a circle with the swastika heneath. Two men of the Schutstaffel (the special Nazi hodyguard) stand at this entrance. The uniform of these men is not the traditional brown of the Storm Troops ■but black. Black boots, breeches, jacket (red swastika band around left arm), and a rakish hlack cap. Like those peaked caps Grover Wlhalen wished on the New York police force during his gay day as commissioner. On the front of these Nazi honnets is a metal skull-and-crossbones. Not th'e conventional skull-and-crosshones em- ' ployed by druggists and piratcs, but a genial deaths-head with fan-shaped aurora borealis of hones heneath. Hall is Impressive. .The hall within is spacious, impressive, with shiny light-hrown marble floors and walls. The ceiling a pattern, of futuristic swastikas in heavy relitf. At the hack of the hall, facing the entrance, is a iwide, inlaid wood desk, behind which several more of the S.S. men efficiently meet the incoming 'public. i; One's credentials are presented at ithis desk. At the left, in racks, stand; a scol-e or more of the party 's red marching hanners, mounted on dark polished rods crested with silver emhlems. In front of these grouped flags is a bronze bust of Bismarck, looking world-wearied and a little contemptuous. A Busy Spot. Every hour of th'e day the entrance pf Brown House is alive wtih movevment. The atmosphere, cheerful but ibusinesslike. You state your business and miove on. No time is wasted. As the Nazi visitors come and go, each ■one receives and returns the salute. Heels are clicked together, riight arms are raised smartly forward and slightly upward, stiff and straight from the shoulder. The Hitlermen are parti-

cular that this should not be confused with the Fascist salute, in which the arm is elevated almost perpendicularly. Yariations of this gesture date hack to the Romans, ibut the Nazis like their own special style. Hitler, ibeing the mos't saluted man in the world to-day, has had, perforce, to modify the gesture — ihe gives the sa- ; lute usually iwith only a forearm movement. Up one flight of the winding stairway is another smaller hallway. Facing the doors are heavy panelled doors ■ leading to the Senate Chamber. This chamber is the pride and joy of Nazis. It is large, rectanigular, and high' ceilinged. Its colour scheme is lacquerred and ash-rose. .Around three sides ' of the room red-leather-covered arm- • chairs are arranged in a double row. These seats are deeply upholstered — ■ almiost too comfortable, one might think, for the earnest obligation of Senatorial doings. At the far end of the room, set into the wall, is a handsome hronze plaque, bearing the six great dates of the National Socialist party. Beneath this qlaque are seats for the Senate leaders and a- table, severely simple in design. On the " central area of the floor is a rug, ashrose, into which is woven an intricate elaboration of the swastika design. The walls are panelled in squares of del-icately figured walnut. Hitler himself desiigned this room and all its furnishings. The Senate has not yet heen formed, but within a few months the 64 memhers will be appointed. . This body will meet once a month and will exist for the purpose of handling the laihour questions of the Reich. The Priv.ate Officte. Opening off th'e Senate Chamber is the private office of Herr Hitler — also of his own design. Facing the door is his desk, of full-finished dark wood. At the left of it, on an easel, stands an oil portrait of Hindenburg, gift of the President; on the right, a bronze bust of Mussolini, presented to Hitler hy II Duce. On the walls hang two portraits of Frederick the Great, and a death mask of the great Frede- ' rick, of whom Hitler is an intense admirer, It is interesting to note that this death mask hears a striking resemblance to Disraeli (especially Mr. George Arliss' representation of Disraeli in the play), though the portraits show no suggestion to this likeness. The tahle in* the centre of the room is bare except for a small hronze fig'ure of a kneeling man struggling fo ' hurs't asunder the bonds with which 'his hands are fastened behind his iback. This well-known hit of sculpture takes on a particular significance 1 in this setting. There are no other objects in the roomi except a ibookcase and an oil painting depicting a vivid, harrowinig: scene of trench warfare. The visitor feels strongly the impress of the Ghancellor's personality in this office. Most of Hitler's work here is done at night. His days Iwhen in Munich are likely to he filled with speech making, intervicws, and consultations outside of the office. But usually three or four night hours are spent at his desk.