Hitler, no doubt briefed by Goebbels on Hamsun’s genius, wanted to talk only about writing, Hamsun only about politics. The eighty-four-year-old (who had recently suffered a stroke and was deaf) refused to be deflected, even committing the gross sin of interrupting the Führer. At one point the old man wept openly as he unburdened his pain. ‘The Reichskommissar’s methods do not suit our country,’ he told Hitler. ‘His Prussian ways are intolerable. And then all the executions. We can’t take any more.’ Furious, Hitler responded by throwing up his arms in disgust and walking out on to the
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