This seems to have been the turning point in his attitude towards Hitler – although with such a complex personality it is hardly possible to be sure. At least from this time on his feelings for the Führer and the Party which he and the Navy had done so much to promote from the very earliest days became increasingly ambiguous. He remained a committed nationalist, but, ever more pessimistic about the methods of National Socialism, he lapsed like thinking members of the Reaktion into despair.
