Why did not my father and all the others fight in
that struggle?
Myfather was a civil servant who fulfilled his
duties veryconscientiously.
Working from abovedownwards, he was the chief
patron of the movement to make Austria aSlav State.
These are certainly not looked uponas important
matters. Even attendance at the REALSCHULE could not alter my way of spending
mytime.
But this story of the Franco-German War had a
special significance forme on other grounds also.
But itappeared to him then as if that longing were
all in vain. He wondered whether I was in a sound state of mind.
It is a sort of basic word thatmay apply to any
form of Constitution.
Inminiature they were mirrors of loyalty from which
the older people mightlearn a lesson. That I had an aptitude for drawing was an
admitted fact. The old Austria was a multi-national State. General von Lossow, the
Bavarianchief of the REICHSWEHR no longer took orders from Berlin. These are
certainly not looked uponas important matters. He orderedthat I should give up
attendance at the REALSCHULE for a year at least. The Imperial House favoured the
Czechs on everypossible occasion.
At the same time my interest in architecture
wasconstantly increasing. This contradiction in my character made him feelsomewhat
anxious. That he should writeharshly of the French was only natural in the
circumstances.
This was in the fiftieth year of thelast
century.
Second, I learned to understand and grasp the true
meaning of history.
But this story of the Franco-German War had a
special significance forme on other grounds also.
Indeed he haddecided on that career for
me.
Leo Schlageters case was in many respects parallel
to that of JohannesPalm. For hours and hours I could stand in wonderment before the
Opera and theParliament.
In one column my qualification read verygood or
excellent.
But in the German Empire itself those who were then
its rulers sawnothing of what all this meant.