Hitler's Table Talk
"Hitler's Table Talk" (Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier in German) is the title given to a series of World War II monologues delivered by Adolf Hitler, which were transcribed from 1941 to 1944. Hitler's remarks were recorded by Heinrich Heim, Henry Picker and Martin Bormann and later published by different editors under different titles in four languages.
Martin Bormann, who was serving as Hitler's private secretary, persuaded Hitler to allow a team of specially picked officers to record in shorthand his private conversations for posterity. The first notes were taken by the lawyer Heinrich Heim, starting from 5 July 1941 to mid-March 1942. Taking his place, Henry Picker took notes from 21 March 1942 until 2 August 1942, after which Heinrich Heim and Martin Bormann continued appending material off and on until 1944.
The talks were recorded at the Führer Headquarters in the company of Hitler's inner circle. The talks dwell on war and foreign affairs but also Hitler's attitudes on religion, culture, philosophy, his personal aspirations and feelings towards his enemies and friends.
- Author Appeal: Given it was basically Hitler monologuing at the dinner table about whatever was on is mind, that's the motive of the entire collection of discussion in the book.
- Author Tract: The whole point. It's Hitler's dinner ramblings about whatever he wanted to go on at length about and often did collected in book format.
- Author Filibuster: Even the people invited to listen to the actual talks noted Hitler just wanted them to listen, not comment, and he could just go on for hours on a long-winded spiel about whatever was on his mind.
- Doorstopper: Given the sheer length of the material clocks in towards up to nearly a thousand pages, depending on edition.