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But in those first few months back in the Fatherland, he [Eppler] held to his conviction of the goodness of the Fuehrer as his sheet anchor. For him - for a time — Hitler was the dedicated leader who was all that Germany needed, wise, intelligent and far-seeing.
It was a shock to discover that he too could be a loutish, ranting peasant.
Some time after his arrival in Berlin, Eppler was called in to see his departmental chief, von Braun, and told to prepare himself for an important interview. The Mufti of Jerusalem had recently arrived in Berlin and was to have his first meeting with the Fuehrer ; of all the Arabic-speaking members of the various Intelligence units it had soon become apparent that Eppler was by far the most fluent in the language as well as being sufficiently cognisant with the march of Middle Eastern events to be able to handle such an encounter between two such different representatives of two such different worlds.
"You have been given the great honour," von Braun told him, "of being called in to act as interpreter when the Mufti is received by the Fuehrer. There will be important subjects about which the Fuehrer will have to make decisions, and no doubt the Mufti will have his comments to make upon them. We are relying upon you to translate, fully and faithfully, every nuance of what the Fuehrer says, and to be strictly accurate in letting him know the comments of his guest."
Eppler said, "It is indeed a great honour. I am very grateful and very proud. I shall do my best to be worthy."
Von Braun said, dryly, "In that case, we must first do something about your bearing and the manner of your address. You appear, Eppler, to have learned something about soldiering during your sojourn on Riigen, but you have obviously learned very little about meeting high officers of the Party. Your salute is sloppy and your fervour is conspicuously lacking." He pressed a button on his desk, and the door opened to reveal a Standartenfuehrer of the S.S., Hitler's elite corps. He made four heavily dramatic steps into the room, went rigid, and then lifted his hand in salute.
"Heil Hitler!" he said, in a voice that sounded like a fanfare of trumpets. Von Braun lifted his hand in reply and then indicated Eppler. "Take him out and teach him to do likewise," he said.
For the next eight hours, Eppler paraded around the ground behind the Abwehr headquarters, under the eye of the arrogant peacock from the S.S., learning how to give the Nazi salute, how to infuse the right amount of excitation into his voice as he shouted "Heil Hitler ! " He was eager for the coming encounter with the great leader, and he practised hard. And when, next morning, he led the Mufti into Hitler's room in the headquarters in the Wilhelmstrasse, he did not let his tutor down.
For what happened next, Eppler's own words are probably most descriptive. "The Mufti approached the Fuehrer and held out his hand for Hitler to shake, and then, as he saw that no handshake was to be given, he drew it back and put his hand to his heart and his head, in the Arabic way, and sat down. Hitler at once said to me : 'Tell him that I welcome him here, and that I am glad the Arab peoples recognise that Germany has their interests at heart.' I translated this, and the Mufti nodded. Hitler went on, 'And now I will tell him my ideas of Pan-Arabism.' When I did not translate this, he said sharply, 'Tell him.' I said, 'But, my Fuehrer, there is one important thing you have forgotten. You have forgotten the coffee.' Hitler said, turning to Doctor Schmidt, his usual interpreter : 'What is this fool talking about?' I told him, 'This is the Mufti of Jerusalem, my Fuehrer. Even with minor dignitaries in Arabic countries, it is usual to start with coffee. It is the custom. We must not talk before coffee.' Hitler stared at me coldly. 'I do not drink coffee,' he said. Meanwhile, the Mufti, who understood a little German, was beginning to stir restlessly, and said to me in Arabic : 'Is there some misunderstanding ? Is your Leader not pleased to see me?'"
Eppler reassured him. Speaking quickly, in a thick Palestinian accent he hoped only the Mufti would be able to understand, he said, "The great Leader is not used to our customs. He is used to servants who come begging for mercy, not dignitaries of your eminence who come offering help."
And once more he said to the Fuehrer : "It would be an insult not to offer His Excellency coffee. I ask you, my Fuehrer, to believe that it would create. a very bad impression."
Hitler sprang to his feet and made for the door, shouting: "I will not have anyone - anyone, do you hear, drinking coffee in these headquarters!" And he went out, slamming the door. Doctor Schmidt leaned towards Eppler and whispered, "You have made the Fuehrer very angry."
Eppler said, "You are making the Mufti very angry. And he is important to us."
Five minutes later the door opened again and Hitler marched in and sat down, staring in morose irritation at his guest. Presently, an S.S. man appeared with a tray in his hand and set it down on the table between the two men.
On it were two glasses of lemon-barley water. And as the Mufti began to sip at his, Hitler launched into a ninety minute lecture on Pan-Arabism.
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