Gradually the bad period of Adolf Hitler’s life was coming to an end. As a painter he was living an independent life and surviving. He no more had to work as a labourer to make both ends meet although he still could not afford rich spreads.
Earlier when he used to do labour work he felt very tired and it would feel hard to concentrate while reading books being exhausted. That was the pre 1909-10 period. Now he could do his studying without feeling taxed. He painted to make survival money and read books for joy and enlightenment.
Some people took him for a cynical character.
Meanwhile he met Reinhold Hennish who had some salesman talent. Adolf and Reinhold struck a deal to work in partnership. Adolf Hitler would paint and Hennish would sell.
Before that Adolf had gone home to meet the family after a lot of pondering over the matter. He badly needed some capital to buy the painting material in some quantity for economy. He met his step-sister Angela and borrowed money from her. She had married and was living in Linz with her husband. Adolf also met Paula who insisted upon accompanying him to Vienna. He had hard time explaining to her the precarious situation he was in. He promised that as soon as he was professionally set up he would send for her to live in Vienna.
Adolf-Reinhold partnership worked fine for some time. Adolf was becoming a saleable painter. His life began to see minor prosperity. When Adolf had no money he never ate a hearty meal and now he had some money but no sense to honour its importance. Adolf’s mind was not at peace or contented. He had even begun to doubt if becoming a successful painter was the aim of his life. The work no more satisfied him.
He would just sit in a cafe, read newspapers and magazines. He read political news and tried to analyse them according to his own theories. He became as passionate as a politician or a journalist. The politics infected his mind so much that the painting began to appear a meaningless exercise. He stopped painting.
Hennish tried to reason with him and ask Adolf to keep painting because their survival depended on it. Sometimes Adolf would see the reason and paint. But most of the time he got annoyed and he would scream at Hennish madly spitting anything that came to his mind. The people made fun of him as a half mad painter.
But Adolf would not care. He reasoned that the people were too stupid to realise that the tragedy of the Germans was too grim for any sane mind to stay cool.
He read the religious books of all faiths. He delved in the Roman history and related tales. The books on the political history were his staple mental diet.
Once he went to see a drama with Hennish which was called something like ‘Keleman’s Tunnel’. Adolf got very much impressed by the dialogue delivery skills of a character. On the way back, Adolf began to sing the praises of that character passionately. Hennish ignored his harangue. He knew that any comment by him would give Adolf a reason to launch against him to give a vent to his frustrations. He knew the habit of Adolf who could resort to physical violence as Hennish was a frail person. The threat became more real as he realised that Adolf knew that he had been cheating on him. He ran away. Adolf chased him but could not get his hands on Reinhold Hennish. He had disappeared into the darkness.
Hennish materialised at night and apologized to Adolf who relented. Hennish went to sleep while Adolf got busy on his canvas with brushes and colours. He painted all night and completed a piece.
In the morning he showed it to the other man and said, “Hennish! This is the best work I have done. I love it. It should not be anything less than 50 Crowns.” Hennish also admired the painting overtly but covertly thought that the painting was nothing extraordinary.
Tired of all night painting Adolf Hitler went to sleep. Hennish departed to sell the painting.
In the evening Hennish returned and put 5 Crowns on the hand of Adolf. The latter stared at the salesman. He seethed in anger and screamed invectives at Hennish.
The two came to physical blows. Adolf pummelled him in fury. Somehow Hennish managed to flee from the scene.
Adolf went to the police station and reported against the fraudulent Reinhold Hennish. After the banishment of the salesman Adolf had to sell his paintings himself. Most of his paintings were based on the subject of architecture. Thus, painting had become his life support. He could not survive without it.
But his mind was restless. The exercise of painting only gave expressions to his feelings. Adolf wished for something more. He wanted to see his feelings and ideas playing constructive roles.
