Ben Wilson

So I think more likely it was just a kind of bad choice made under duress.

I do think what he was considering is I don't want to appoint Goering.

I don't want to appoint Anton Drexler.

I don't want to appoint someone who really could usurp my authority and become the leader of the party.

So he's ruling out those people and he knows Rosenberg isn't that.

but I don't think he knew that he was going to be as bad as he was.

Now, there is a lesson here that I think is worth sitting with, which is that in Hitler's absence, something had been revealed that was not immediately clear when he was present, which is how completely indispensable he was.

Without him, the German far right couldn't hold itself together.

He was the only force of unity that they had.

So this is referred to as the leaderless time.

And it shows everyone, Hitler's allies, his enemies, the broader public, Hitler himself, that Hitler is completely indispensable.

That he wasn't just a leader of a movement, he was the movement.

There is nothing outside of him.

If he just goes away, if he dies tomorrow, the Volkisch movement, National Socialism, it's done.

It's done.

And so it's just something to think about, that nothing demonstrates your irreplaceability like your absence.

I don't think you want to engineer a 13-month exit from your company or your organization, but I do think that's a tool that can be used appropriately sometimes.

So he's released from prison.

He can begin to work in politics again.

However, he can't speak publicly.