Hitler had an extensive personal library with over 16,000 books.
Hitler’s reading interests were diverse, including military books and philosophical works.
Hitler was influenced by esoteric and obscure writings, not just mainstream literature.
Adolf Hitler had a voracious reading habit. While still a young man, he would often read every book in the library. In Vienna, he spent much of his time reading. He read thousands of books, and he memorized large portions of his favorites. Odd enough, Hitler probably read more books than anybody else in history. Adolf Hitler even neglected Eva Braun because of his reading obsession. More than 16,000 books lined the shelves of the dictator’s personal library. In 2003, Timothy W. Ryback, a historian, analyzed the books Hitler read. Hitler read the writings of Karl May, Wilhelm Busch, Karl Marx, and many more.
Adolf Hitler was a bookworm. Even as a World War I soldier, he chose to spend what little money he had on books rather than on hookers and cigarettes. While stationed in the trenches, Hitler read the tract of an architectural critic who railed against the “over-alienation” of Berlin by non-Prussian structures.
Hitler, the mass murderer, was either unaware or unconcerned that this German nationalist architecture critic was Jewish. His reading binge had a meticulous quality to it; he read the books diligently, sometimes till the small hours of the morning. Even after Hitler became dictator of the German Reich, he continued to be a bookworm.
Hitler’s holidays in early August 1933. (Attribution: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2004-1202-502 / CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Hitler wasn’t concerned about illiteracy, which plays a major part in Bernhard Schlink‘s international blockbuster “The Reader.” Once, as Hitler was enjoying a cup of tea and some books in the “Berghof” in the Berchtesgadener Land, he was suddenly interrupted by Eva Braun. After he sent her out with a scathing monologue, Eva stumbled down the steps outside his room as her face flushed with anger.
After spending the night buried in a book, Hitler would come out the next morning and give a comprehensive explanation of what he had read. As a reader, Hitler favored books with reference sources and encyclopedias. As the story goes, there was a time when a debate arose about just how magnificent Napoleon Bonaparte really was as a leader. Hitler mysteriously walked into the next room, retrieved the “Großer Brockhaus,” and then returned with the right answer he was looking for.
Some of the books that Hitler is believed to have read:
“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”
“The Will to Power” by Friedrich Nietzsche
“The Decline of the West” by Oswald Spengler
“The World as Will and Representation” by Arthur Schopenhauer
“Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Friedrich Nietzsche
“The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century” by Houston Stewart Chamberlain.
How Many Books Did Hitler Have?
However, Hitler was not only an avid reader but also a collector. In 1935, Janet Flanner of the “New Yorker” reported that Hitler had 6,000 books in his personal collection. A decade later, there were 16,300 books in his library collection. In the end, only around 1,200 volumes were recovered from Hitler’s private collection that was dispersed among homes in Munich, Berlin, and Berchtesgaden. Hitler’s books are stored today at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, on standard steel shelving.
Timothy W. Ryback, a historian, paid Hitler’s library a visit. He has cleaned off the book spines, combed through the pages for notes and drawings, and later written a literary biography of Hitler: “Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life.“
We know from Dante that anybody attempting to go into the Inferno must be accompanied by a guide, a Cicerone. Timothy Ryback’s guide down into the monster’s head was a German-Jewish scholar named Walter Benjamin. He killed himself at Portbou, France, in 1940, with the Gestapo on his heels and an impassable border in front of him.
Even Hitler’s love of books couldn’t compete with that of German philosopher Walter Benjamin. He believed that someone’s personal library was like a window into her or his whole being, and a person’s personality could be “read” by the collection of books he or she amasses over the course of a lifetime.
But just as Hegel claims that the owl of Minerva doesn’t take to the air until nightfall, one can only accurately assess the spirit of a given era once it has passed into obsolescence, so too can the soul of a bookworm be understood only after he has passed away. And this is the case with Hitler.
In What Ways is Hitler Portrayed in the Books He Read?
Hitler read anything that caught his eye, which made him an extremely diverse reader. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of mundane details too, including the fact that half of Hitler’s book was devoted to military books. It has also long been known that Hitler adored Karl May‘s Native American works. As the tides of battle turned against him, Hitler sought solace in May’s Wild West fancies, perhaps hoping that at the last minute, battalions of Old Shatterhands would rescue his Nazi Germany with a cunning plan of attack against the red Comanches and Yankee bombers.
Adolf Hitler read the books of the Jew-hater Paul de Lagarde with great perseverance. The film director Leni Riefenstahl suggested to Hitler the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s volume of books, who taught Völkisch socialism (a German ethno-nationalist movement) and was a fanatical Jew-hater. While the German philosopher Nietzsche was also more often linked with the Nazis, he was a Jewish critic but not a Jew-hater.
Hitler liked Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s books, which were full of hatred for Jews and taught Völkisch socialism, a German ethno-nationalist movement.
The book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” written by Nietzsche, enthralled Hitler immensely. The ideals of self-mastery, self-cultivation, self-direction, and self-overcoming, as well as the idea of the “Übermensch” or “superman,” inspired him in particular. Hitler was particularly taken by the book’s repeating themes of accepting one’s destiny by embracing all of life’s tragedies and joys and perpetual recurrence—the belief that all events in one’s life would happen again and again, indefinitely. Also, the book “God is Dead,” the prediction of the Übermensch, and another of his books, “The Will to Power,” which is essential to human nature, all inspired Hitler’s thoughts.
Among the books Hitler owned is a beautifully bound copy of the “Words of Christ,” but it is hard to interpret from this that Hitler was a devout Bible reader. He cherished the books, not only “Robinson Crusoe,” but also “Don Quixote” and “Gulliver’s Travels.” It’s true that Shakespeare was one of Hitler’s favorite authors, as he often quoted the poet. The 1925 edition of Shakespeare’s works, translated by Georg Müller, was found in his possession. Shakespeare was responsible for several turning points in his country’s history. On the other hand, the possible books of Goethe, Schiller, Dante, and Schopenhauer were probably destroyed during the Allied bombardment.
Hitler often recited lines from “Julius Caesar” and “Hamlet,” such as “Thou shalt see me at Philippi” or “To be, or not to be, that is the question.”
This all can be quite humiliating to find out. Because Adolf Hitler is not the kind of person you want to share a love of Shakespeare,Miguel de Cervantes, or even Jonathan Swift‘s Gulliver’s Travels with.
But Thomas Mann’s famous article “Bruder Hitler” is one antidote that does calm our annoyance about the books Hitler read and liked. Timothy Rybeck probably did not know about this article, otherwise he would certainly have cited it. Before World War II broke out, author Thomas Mann saw something of a kindred artist in Hitler, whom he both despised and was captivated by.
He writes, “It’s all there, in a shameful way: the difficulty, laziness, and miserable indefinability of childhood; the inability to be accommodated; the half-stupid vegetating in deepest social and mental bohemia; the fundamentally haughty; the fundamentally thinking oneself too good; the rejection of any reasonable and honorable activity.”
Many Obscure and Occult Writings
It is sad that this avid reader turned out to be a murderer. Many of the books in Hitler’s collection have esoteric or otherwise hard-to-find subjects. An obscure author called Ernst Schertel reflects Hitler’s mind better than Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, or Gottlieb Fichte.
Riedel, in his work titled “The Law of the World: The Coming Religion,” criticizes the materialism and goal-orientedness of the average European by pointing out that they base their beliefs on facts rather than on anything internal to themselves. According to the book, the real genius is “ectropic” in the sense that it can create an entire universe from nothing via the application of its devilish will.
Hitler put several thick and passionate pencil notes of approval on the book. The “ectropic” was the term that defined his leadership.
Hitler’s ideas were influenced by an after theory from a cheap, sensationalized booklet rather than Martin Luther or German idealism. For years, it has been known that the “Ostara” series booklets, written by Austrian “racial theorist” Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, had a significant impact on young Adolf Hitler. This information was revealed in Wilfried Daim’s book “Der Mann, der Hitler die Ideen gab,” (The Man Who Gave Hitler The Ideas) which also highlights the pornographic elements of these booklets.
At the end of reading Timothy Rybeck’s thorough investigation, one is left feeling unsatisfied. Even with Walter Benjamin as a guide, it is impossible to fully understand the mind of the mass murderer, and this is likely because there is no real mystery to uncover.
Hitler, in his core, was empty and void. Attempting to comprehend him leads to nothingness. He was a blank slate who enjoyed reading.
The National Socialists used war games and the militarization of mass groups to shape young minds. The Nazi leadership dispatched many young individuals who had been raised under National Socialism to the front lines, where many of them died. “Not alone did the English drop bombs, but they also dropped ration cards (…). leaflets included, and they’re the unpleasant kind. My faith is unmovable. God will be with us, and our cause will be just if A. Hitler can lead us to victory. I just can’t bring myself to be hateful of the English. They are Germans, too.”
In spite of the bombing of Berlin and other towns and the bleak news from the Eastern Front, 15-year-old Liselotte’s belief in “Führer, folk, and fatherland” remained unshaken on August 28, 1943. These journal entries were written by a girl, reflecting her thoughts and feelings about the war from 1942 to 1945 through the lens of a child raised in a National Socialist society.
After the Soviet loss at Stalingrad in February 1943, she wrote the following: “Germany is under severe distress now. Stalingrad. It’s sad enough to make you shed some tears. Still, I refuse to give in to weakness. That’s why we can’t afford to give up and admit defeat. The greatest of our German people have shed their blood at the front, and we dare not dishonor them in this way.” By November, however, the young people’s outlook had brightened once more: “Hitler gave me fresh optimism in triumph, he talked of landing in England and of retribution for the bombing horror.”
The methods used by the Nazi government to brainwash its young citizens
Diary entries like Liselotte’s show the extent to which the National Socialists were effective in indoctrinating and molding a generation of youngsters and young adults in accordance with their ideological ideals. A whole generation’s worth of kids grew up learning and believing in National Socialist slogans and concepts like duty and devotion.
They were raised to believe in Adolf Hitler and their “racial” supremacy. Moreover, as Nicholas Stargardt of Oxford University recounts in his book “Children’s Lives Under the Nazis,” many children were trained to have an inflated sense of responsibility, leading them to sacrifice themselves and others in the war’s last months. On the 8th of November, 1943, Liselotte questioned herself: “Is it not our holy responsibility to continue the fight?
Also, if we all die, 1918 will be over. Adolf Hitler, I believe in you and the German victory.”
The Nazis aimed to instill their ideology in the brains of future generations as early as possible. They employed their youth groups for this purpose. The Hitler Youth (HJ) was the most influential of their youth groups. Its beginnings may be traced back to 1926. Beginning in the spring of 1940, all children ages 10 to 14 were required to join the Jungvolk and pledge loyalty to Adolf Hitler, making membership mandatory for all youths between the ages of 14 and 18 already in 1939.
The Jungmädelbund (JM) and League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel, BDM) were formed to represent and advocate for the rights of the girls. Virtually all German children and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 18 were members of the organizations since participation was required by law.
Additionally, in 1933, all other youth groups were outlawed as well. The idea was that the Nazi state would instill its ideology directly and offer paramilitary training for youngsters via physical exercise, rather than leaving instruction only to schools and homes. Hitler and the Nazi leadership relied on this kind of indoctrination to ensure their continued rule for the foreseeable future.
Topics like “Germanic Gods and Heroes,” “The People and Their Blood Heritage,” and “Adolf Hitler and His Fellow Fighters” were featured in the HJ units’ curriculum. Children were exposed to the age-appropriate propaganda radio broadcast at structured events including parades, field trips, and family night.
Children were tasked with gathering herbs from the woods and sorting through trash in the city, where they found items such as clothing, metal, and even bones. Girls knitted socks and mittens for troops at the front, assisted in kindergartens, and served food and coffee at railway stations to passing soldiers, many of whom the girls later corresponded with via letters.
Inherently prepared to lay down their lives for others
Some young people were tremendously drawn to the military because of the feeling of community it fostered, the appeal of a sense of duty, the uniforms, and the freedom they were promised once they were distant from their families and schools. Joachim Lörzer, a contemporary witness, recalls feeling quite mature in his HJ outfit at the age of twelve. According to him, in 1944, he was completely ready to give his life for “Führer, folk, and fatherland.”
Decades later, some kids said they didn’t care about politics because they were too busy hanging out with their pals and having fun. Others remembered the torturous drills that everyone had to do, while others felt a profound sense of idealism. Postwar interviews with former war children revealed widespread feelings of “betrayal” and “abuse” among those who, like Liselotte, had trusted the dictatorship and its promises. National Socialism gave them the false sense of superiority they needed to believe in their own uniqueness before sending them unprepared to their graves.
Fast-tracked military training
The militarization of youth was already visible by the time World War II broke out, but it grew more so after the war’s outbreak. Military training centers were established where any 15-year-old could be taught as a mini-soldier within three weeks, and the Hitler Youth’s shooting duties were increased. It wasn’t until 1943 that boys became common flak helpers.
The conflict shaped the future of Germany’s youth. Repeatedly, soldiers were seen making their way inside classrooms. In schools and other public buildings, students and visitors might see maps depicting the front lines. German kids chanted war poetry as they built model battleships in art class. Nazi propaganda films like “Our Flags Lead Us Forward” (Hitlerjunge Quex), with the revealing caption “A Film of the Sacrificial Spirit of German Youth,” were distributed to children as Christmas gifts. In the movie, a boy who is a firm believer in the HJ is killed by his “communist” companions.
In the front, the dads helped their kids with their assignments
(Credit: The Wiener Holocaust Library Collections)
Families were profoundly affected by Nazi ideology. The dads were in the thick of battle, but they kept in touch with their kids through field letters. They keep coming back to the same story of struggle in their letters to one another. Some dads encouraged their children in letters by telling them to “hold your own” and “be a strong, courageous German girl.” On the other side, we observe that dads serving overseas penned touching letters to their children, offering handmade gifts or helpful guidance for the future. Some of the letters include schoolwork that had been graded and returned to the parents by the children after being corrected by their dads.
The National Socialists attempted to inject their philosophy into the domestic sphere, but they were only partially successful. Historians note that there was a limit to the amount of time family conflicts could last. According to ex-BDM women, they never betrayed their own parents. However, there is still case-by-case data that contradicts the overall trend. There was a lot of love and support inside the family, even though everyone was a dedicated Nazi adherent.
The top Nazis assemble a final posse
Letters and diaries written by youngsters in the severe tone of Wehrmacht reports demonstrate the extent to which Nazi ideology permeated the world of children. In 1939, a 14-year-old wrote, “The industrial heart of Upper Silesia is almost completely in German hands, and the city of Lodsch has been taken. Führer in Lodsch.” German children became used to their putative leadership position, whereas children in the occupied areas of the East were taught to admire and follow the “Herrenmenschen” (“Master Humans.”)
A Polish BDM volunteer wrote home to her family, “They are insolent as nothing and gape at us like marvels of the world,” arguing that Polish youngsters should be forced to work. Another BDM girl described how, when she was a little child, her father had told her that the Poles, because of demographic shifts, would swiftly overrun the German Reich if nothing was done. To put it simply, she was terrified of this happening.
As the battle progressed and the Nazi regime’s ideology hardened, the regime’s true inconsistencies and relentless cruelty became clear. Nazi officials betrayed the same individuals they had praised for years as the “future of the people” by sacrificing them when defeat was certain. Formed in 1944, the Volkssturm enlisted all able-bodied males between the ages of 16 and 60 to fight in the “final victory.” The young people’s sobering experience stood in sharp contrast to their solemn allegiance to the Führer.
Tools, training, and standard-issue garments were all in short supply.
There were only 40,500 rifles and 2,900 machine guns in the Volkssturm’s main arsenal by the end of January 1945. These weapons were a mishmash of primarily foreign and antiquated models, and ammunition for them was sometimes scarce. The lads were provided ancient, black SS uniforms from the pre-war years (…) and – especially unpleasant for 15-year-olds who wanted to prove what they could accomplish for the Fatherland – French steel helmets.
A contrast between idealized notions of warriors and the harsh reality they face
Günter Lucks, a Hamburger, was one of those deployed to the battlefront in Vienna. The 16-year-old had joyfully obeyed his reporting order to the Volkssturm. “I finally felt like an adult, like a real soldier in the making. And I was pleased to be of service to the Fatherland at this most important time.”
However, instead of excitement and chivalrous warrior romance, disillusionment and dissatisfaction swiftly set in. He told his mother on February 25, 1945, that he was sick of military training at the Reich’s camp at Lázn Luhacovice, Moravia. “You’re correct, I’d rather be in the post office 10 times over.” Following a brief period of training, Lucks led a group of HJ youngsters to the advancing front near Vienna.
Captain Otto Hafner was perusing a chart when Lucks and his company marched up. Subsequently, Hafner reflected, “They were boys, with babyish complexions and oversized field blouses. Their small fingers hid behind the long sleeves, the narrow faces under the far too enormous helmets. (…) It was a major worry of mine. Should I send these kids into battle against the Russians?”
When Günter Lucks fired his first shot, he was near Brno, and the experience was “surreal” for him. Unlike many of his companions, he made it through captivity until the conclusion of the war. Nearly 60,000 German boys aged 15 to 17 who were born between 1927 and 1929 lost their lives during the war, most of them as a result of conscription in 1944 and 1945.
There were almost 1.5 million people in all cohorts from 1920 and 1929.
The brother of Liselotte was also enlisted in the Volkssturm. “Girls should also learn to use the Panzerfaust as Bertel has. They could hold her own against any tank.
” In her diary for April 1945, Liselotte made an interesting observation. After waiting a few days, she finally put pen to paper and wrote: “Bertel was sent to the front lines only the day before. It breaks my heart to see boys as young as 15–18 riding out on trucks or bicycles, armed with a carbine, pistol, or bazooka. My heart swells with pride for our boys, who still charge the tanks when they hear the word. However, they are hastily being put to death.”
Liselotte’s journal shows that she has serious misgivings about the Führer and the government, even at this early stage. The revelation that the Nazis had executed Wehrmacht commanders was a turning point that led to this shift in view. The diary entry of April 12, 1945, says: “To hang a German, a Prussian officer! Curse them, curse the whole Nazi mob, these war criminals and murderers of Jews.” The girl makes one of the very few references to Jews. In their journals and correspondence, many Germans chose to remain quiet about what happened to the Jews.
It was on May 17, 1945, when Liselotte made her last note in her diary. She’d heard that Bertel and the rest of the HJs had all perished. The teen observed: “So many, many soldiers shirked and chickened out, but Bertel was much too enthusiastic for that. For whom then? For Hitler? For Germany? Poor, hardened youth!” A realization that arrived, sadly, too late.
Hitler’s personal physician was waiting for him when he awoke in the wee hours of the morning. Hitler rolled up the sleeve of his pajamas and moaned, “Doctor, I’m very delighted when you arrive in the morning.” He had, as usual, stayed up all night and only fallen into a narcotic slumber early in the morning after taking barbiturates.
The doctor administered the daily “vitamin” cocktail through injection. Its energizing effects were felt right away. Adolf Hitler was grateful for it. Since the conflict was still raging outside, crucial choices had to be taken.
Hitler believed his personal physician, Berlin urologist Dr. Theodor Morell, had supernatural abilities. Hitler’s secretary, Traudl Junge, said thereafter that Hitler had been “downright hooked on Morell,” and Hitler himself believed the drug had saved his life several times.
To the extent of becoming hooked, like a fixer who awaits his dealer’s daily arrival.
Vitamin cocktail, or so they said
At the very least, there were valid reasons to dispute Morell’s claim that the “Vitamultin A” ampoules he gave Hitler every morning contained nothing but vitamins. Crystal meth, or pervitin, was added to the supposedly vitamin-rich concoction, lending further credence to the claim.
It was discovered in the 1979 research “Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler” by U.S. psychiatrist Professor Leonhard Heston of the University of Minnesota and his nursing wife Renate Heston that vitamins alone did not work as energy boosters. Hitler’s Germany had only Pervitin, a mild stimulant, at its disposal.
Theodor Morell and Hitler.
The Hestons concluded through interviews with eyewitnesses, reviews of medical literature, and analysis of Morell’s legacy that Hitler was likely prescribed a combination of vitamins, pervitin, and caffeine by his personal physician to augment the effects of methamphetamine.
General Building Inspector Albert Speer, a close friend of Hitler’s who passed away in 1981, found the Hestons’ research to be “the first scientific medical examination of Hitler’s medical history,” thus the argument must have some merit.
Chocolate for housewives
Japanese scientist Nagai Nagayoshi first synthesized methamphetamine in liquid form in 1893. Research on a private method of making the psychoactive compound started in 1934 in Germany, and Temmler-Werke GmbH was granted a patent for it in 1937.
It wasn’t until a year later, under the brand name Pervitin, that the medication finally made its way into pharmacies, and at first, it was completely free. “Housewife’s chocolate,” or chocolate mixed with Pervitin, was a huge hit. The firm advertised it as “Pervitin makes housewives happy.”
The stimulant’s euphoric and disinhibiting effects, together with its ability to boost focus and performance while simultaneously dulling the sensations of pain, fear, hunger, and thirst, quickly piqued the attention of the Wehrmacht.
Soldiers are pepped up with “Panzerschokolade”
Millions of doses of Pervitin were distributed, especially during the “Blitzkrieg” attacks on Poland and France in 1939 and 1940. “Tank chocolate” (Panzerschokolade), “Stuka tablets” (Stuka-Tabletten), “Pilot’s marzipan” (Flieger-Marzipan), and “Hermann Göring pills” (Hermann Göring-Pillen) were some of the street names that the armed forces used to refer to the substance.
Between April and June of 1940, the Wehrmacht received 35 million tablets of methamphetamine, which they purchased from both Temmler-Werke (who had the rights to Pervitin until 2015) and Knoll AG (which was situated in Ingelheim and had released their own formulation, Isophan).
Every single German soldier, from infantrymen to fighter pilots, carried about a supply of “Wachhaltemittel” (as the company named it). Substance dependence developed in several of them.
A future Nobel Prize winner puts in a request for Pervitin
On November 9, 1939, a young soldier wrote to his “dear parents and siblings,” explaining that “the service is tight and you must understand if subsequently I write to you only every two to four days.” “Today I write mainly for Pervitin.”
May 20, 1940: “Perhaps you could obtain me some more Pervitin for my supply,” a 22-year-old Polish soldier from occupied France wrote. This time, he wrote on July 19, 1940, “Send me some more Pervitin soon, if possible.”
The young private went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972, having become an author. Heinrich Böll was his name.
Doctors on the front lines detected a pattern of widespread drug use. Reich Health Leader Leonardo Conti told the National Socialist German Medical Association in Berlin on March 19, 1940: “Whoever wants to eliminate fatigue with Pervitin can be sure that the collapse of his efficiency must come one day.”
The message he was trying to send was not yet heard. Only after a sex scandal broke did the Ministry of the Interior feel compelled to place Pervitin and other methamphetamine preparations under the Opium Act on July 1, 1941, effectively banning them. A drug distributor in Berlin unlawfully obtained significant amounts of Pervitin and distributed it not just to pharmacies but also to a brothel.
What Hitler now faces
Hitler and his physician had a lot of trouble with the new legislation. While it’s true that Hitler had immunity from prosecution, the control authorities now had a direct line of sight to every pill of methamphetamine being distributed.
Hitler’s personal doctor, Morell, now had his “Vitamultin” produced in his own Hamma factory to prevent the news of Hitler’s drug addiction from spreading.
Gold-wrapped pills were readily available to Hitler at all times. There were reports of his consuming up to 12 of them daily. For the most part, but especially in times of crisis. Indeed, right up to the moment of his death.
The Hestons believe that by early 1942 at the latest, Hitler was now receiving the stimulant through intravenous injection in addition to oral medication. As a result, Hitler’s personal physician had to make a daily trip to the Reich Chancellery.
Known as the “Reich Master of Injections”
The overweight celebrity doctor Theodor Morell was not well-liked by Hitler’s inner circle. Morell was referred to as the “Reich Master of Injections” by Luftwaffe leader Hermann Göring (who was himself addicted to morphine) and the “unsavory, obese crank” by Colonel General Heinz Guderian.
Eva Braun, Hitler’s wife, complained to her partner that the doctor Morell was unclean. Hitler told her that Morell was not there to be touched but rather to maintain his health.
By his own admission, Hitler made a promise to his “beloved doctor” in November 1944: “If we both come through the war happy, then you shall see how much I will pay you.”
There, Adolf Hitler had a methamphetamine dependency. Many of his men, including a future Nobel laureate, used “Hitler Speed” to get psyched up before heading into war.
Bibliography
Ohler, Norman (2017) Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-1-328-66379-5
Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 in Braunau, Austria.
Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933.
Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, as Russian troops approached Berlin.
Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 in the village of Braunau, near the Austrian border with Bavaria, the son of a low-ranking customs officer. For the first 25 years of his life, he drifted from place to place on his own. Twice rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he broke down and made a living doing odd jobs, such as beating carpets. Just before World War I, he joined a prejudice shared by many in Vienna and began to see Jews as the scourge of Europe.
The Life of Adolf Hitler
Hitler joined the war as a corporal. He was a loyal soldier in the army and earned a medal twice. In 1918, his vision was damaged in Ypres, and during the treatment, he decided to become a politician. In 1920, Hitler was enrolled in the small German Workers’ Party and soon became the leader. By 1923, he had given the party a new name: the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi for short.
He created the SA, a bandit group of former soldiers, and gave the party’s message with a kick and baton in Munich for the first time. The plan to overthrow the Bavarian government as a way to get ready for an attack on Berlin failed, and Hitler spent all of 1924 in prison for his part in the failed uprising.
There he wrote his first book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), with the help of a friend, Rudolf Hess, who would later become the vice president of the Nazi Party. Hitler underestimated democracy in his book through the theories he made with prejudices collected from various sources. He expressed his hatred for Jews and Slavs and shared his intention to create a Lebensraum (habitat) in Eastern Europe based on his idea of a superior race. However, Hitler had learned from the Munich fiasco and decided to use parliamentary means to eradicate democracy. He put together a group of people who were loyal to him. Some of them were self-taught, like Goebbels, Goring, Ernst Rohm, and Heinrich Himmler, who were in charge of propaganda events like the Nuremberg Rallies.
Even Hitler’s most loyal fans hadn’t read My Struggle, which is full of long, self-centered ramblings and half-grown racist assumptions.
By using his oratory skills, Hitler washed the nation’s brain in a short time on a series of trips, with the promise of a new and powerful Germany that would rise from the ashes of old Germany.
Nazi Election Tactics
During the campaign, Hitler always focused on two strong themes that deeply affected the hearts of most Germans. The first is the tale of the German Army being stabbed in the back in 1918. According to the theory, if the weak politicians had not surrendered by then, Germany would have won the world war. The second was the argument that the provisions of the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty turned Germany into a second-class nation by seizing German territory, requiring very high compensation, and forbidding the rearmament of Germany.
According to Hitler, the Weimar Republic, founded in 1919, ruled Germany in the interests of Jewish-capitalist cooperation. Big business saw Hitler as a defense against Communism, and his hatred of Jews gave the unemployed and poor a scapegoat to take the blame for their problems.
The 1929 Great Depression helped the Nazis become the second-biggest party in the Reichstag in 1930. In the 1932 elections, the number of unemployed reached almost 6 million, while the Nazis became the largest party in the state. It was two months before Hitler achieved his political goal.
The Nazis asked the Germans to boycott a Jewish store in Berlin. Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) resulted in thousands of Jewish shops being destroyed in 1938.
What Was the Night of the Long Knives?
In the spring of 1934, Hitler began receiving reports from the SS and the Gestapo that SA leaders were preparing a conspiracy for him. The reports were fake, but Hitler believed them. SA was now a force of 2.5 million people, and many leaders like Röhm were proposing a pure socialist revolution. Furthermore, the Regular Army should have been led by a single defense minister, with the SS and SA led by Röhm. It was time for SA to be brought into line.
Early on the morning of June 30th, SS officers took Röhm from his bed. He was sleeping in a hotel outside Munich. He was thrown into prison and was offered suicide. Röhm said, “If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself.” Instead of Hitler, two SS officers performed the task. During that night and weekend, many other SA leaders and Hitler’s political opponents were assassinated. This is known as the “Night of the Long Knives“.
Ernst Röhm.
Some officials say hundreds of them were killed; others say it was thousands. Despite the fact that these events were widely publicized, no one objected, including the press, the church, soldiers, or the party itself, demonstrating how Hitler enslaved the German people.
Hitler advocated cleaning up the SA in the Reichstag on the grounds that Röhm was homosexual. Hitler was able to persuade army officers that SA was no longer a threat, and it was at this point that Hitler benefited from the slaughter because he needed the army’s support. On his deathbed, Hindenburg wrote a telegram to Hitler saying, “You have saved the German nation from serious danger,” and continued, “He who would make history must also be able to shed blood.“
Hitler’s Enormous Power
Hitler stole a large number of artworks for Germany during World War II or hid them elsewhere.
Hitler took on the chancellor’s post in 1933 after receiving the support of almost one of every two Germans in the election held three months ago. For the next five years, he established his own administration without knowing any rules, crushed all possible sources of opposition, and eventually boasted that “It is my ambition not to know a single statesman in the world who has a better right than I to say that he is a representative of his people.“
By 1937, the unemployed had fallen from 6 million to 1 million. Hitler had created an extensive public service program, with particular emphasis on road construction. He also created a program for the armament industry, which had made great strides. Previously, a 100,000-person army with no modern weapons was transformed into a formidable fighting force.
It was a slap in the face for England and France because it simply violated the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler struck blow after blow, retaking the Rhineland in 1936 and swallowing Austria and the Czech Sudetenland in 1938, but the Western powers responded with shaky protests.
On the other hand, the Nazis’ obsessive campaign against Jews was gaining momentum, and the horrible days of the “Final Solution” were getting closer.
Who Were the Gestapo, SA, and Ss?
Hitler’s names and uniforms were those of fearful organizations.
Gestapo: Geheime Staatspolizei, or Secret State Police, was founded in 1933 by Hermann Göring to arrest and interrogate political criminals.
Sturmabteilung: Also known as Brown Shirts, the Nazi militia power was founded by Hitler in 1923 and eliminated in 1934.
Schutzstaffel: The arm of the Nazi Party in black uniform, passionately bound to Hitler. It was first established as the Führer’s bodyguard, then expanded and became an army. Although the difference between the two is not clear, it had two branches: the Totenkopf or “Skull” SS, charged with concentration camps, and the Waffen or “Warrior” SS, which claims to be an elite military unit. The difference between the two is often incomprehensible.
Neville Chamberlain and His Crucial Mistake
Chamberlain and Hitler 1938.
When British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned home from his meeting with Hitler in Munich in September 1938 where he received the promise of not getting attacked, he said, “I believe it is peace for our time.” Of course, this has its place in history as a big lie.
The Rise of the Nazis and Hitler
Let’s evaluate how Adolf Hitler and the Nazis conquered the country step by step. This is a significant example of how economic issues in countries can damage people’s decision-making abilities.
The troops endlessly flowed through the Brandenburg Gate in front of the imposing Chancellery building from the lush Unter den Linden boulevard. The torches held high by the soldiers created a river of fire. It was the evening of January 30, 1933, and Berlin was witnessing the most magnificent scenery in its history. That afternoon, the president of the nation, 85-year-old WWI hero Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg, appointed Adolf Hitler as the German chancellor.
The Nazi propaganda machine had transformed Hitler into the “Führer (leader) of future Germany“—the man who would wipe out the shame of the peace treaty signed in Versailles after World War I. Hitler was once dubbed the “little Bohemian corporal,” but the time had come for National Socialism. As the “Heil Hitler” shouts surrounded the Chancellor building, the marching SS guards and SA troops in brown shirts lifted their arms bearing the swastika and gave a Nazi salute.
Once a simple worker in Vienna, Adolf Hitler never concealed his disdain for democracy and the Weimar Republic that rose from the ashes of the German Empire, which was defeated after Kaiser Wilhelm retreated from the throne. Making Hitler prime minister meant some kind of gambling. However, his National Socialists were the largest party in the German Parliament (Reichstag). The conservative politicians who agreed to form a coalition government with him believed that Hitler would inevitably settle down due to the responsibilities of his duty.
The Planned Reichstag Fire
The Reichstag fire and mentally handicapped Dutchman.
The Reichstag elections in the first week of March provided an opportunity to see whether the German nation approved the new government. However, just before the day of voting, the Nazis gained the upper hand: On the evening of February 27, Hindenburg had dinner with people working with him in Herrenklub, just around the corner from the Reichstag. He suddenly saw something shining outside on the street. Everyone ran to the windows. They saw the Reichstag’s huge, gilded dome sparkling.
Adolf Hitler had dinner at the house of Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, and was listening to the record on the gramophone. A phone rang to report that the Reichstag was on fire. Hitler and Goebbels were on the scene within minutes. They immediately declared the fire an arson act and that the communists were attempting to start the “red revolution“.
As Hitler watched the Reichstag collapse, his right-hand man, World War I air hero and current Reichstag President Hermann Göring, shouted, “Every Communist official must be shot.” The next morning, while the smoke was still rising from the remnants of the Reichstag, Hitler convinced Hindenburg to declare a “state of emergency.” The right to liberty was suspended, and the police were given the authority to arrest and detain anyone without a trial.
Thousands of communists and liberals, including the Reichstag members, were gathered and imprisoned. A young man was arrested and convicted of setting the Reichstag on fire. However, there was an overriding belief that the explosion that led to the fire was actually the job of a Nazi detachment that took action upon the open orders of Goebbels and Göring.
Shortly after the Reichstag fire, Marinus van der Lubbe, a former communist and mentally disabled Dutchman, was arrested and put to death for setting the fire. Although he admitted his guilt and was known as the arsonist, Lubbe has been proven to be ruled by the Nazis.
Nazis Undid Democracy
The new chancellor, Adolf Hitler, passes by the people of Berlin next to President Paul von Hindenburg.
The Nazis tried to impress and convince the mass of voters, sometimes by frightening them and sometimes by flattering them. However, they still did not achieve the majority in the March 5 elections. Still, 44% of the votes, which was more than any other party, gave Hitler the power to get rid of democracy and set up a dictatorship in Germany.
Hitler decided to open the new Reichstag with a stage show at the old Garrison Church in Potsdam, where the great emperor Frederick the Great was buried. Again with cunning symbolism, March 21 was chosen as the date of the ceremony, and this date was when Bismarck opened the first Reichstag in 1871. Everything was prepared to emphasize that the old Germany is integrated with this new Germany.
The houses in the old capital were completely decorated with Swastika flags and red-black-white imperial flags. Elderly army officers in imperial uniforms at the church were next to the Nazis in black and brown clothing.
While Hindenburg prayed for Hitler, saying, “to save the old soul of this famous temple from selfishness and party fights, thus bringing the nation together as a proud and free Germany,” Hitler kneeled and thanked the president for restoring the pride and honor of the motherland.
Two days later, the Reichstag gathered at the Potsdam opera house and approved an Enabling Act, which gave Hitler unlimited authority, with an overwhelming majority of 441 against 94. German democracy took its last breath.
By the summer of 1933, all political parties except the National Socialist Party were closed. The state’s and the party’s solidarity were officially confirmed by law in December. To emphasize this point, the “Hitler salute” was made mandatory while the national anthem played.
In June 1934, the German nation accepted the dictation of Hitler by displaying no reaction to the sinister “Night of the Long Knives.” During the bloody weekend, many former comrades, including the ones who helped Hitler come to power, were also among the killed.
Important Dates About Adolf Hitler
April 20, 1889: Birth of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in the remote Austrian hamlet of Braunau. At the age of fourteen, he lost his parents: a customs officer and a lady of peasant stock.
February 24, 1920: Hitler presents the Nazi doctrine
Adolf Hitler gave his first public presentation of Nazi doctrine to an audience of around 2,000 people at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. It was his idea to form a Nazi party in order to establish a “racist national socialist state.” Five years later, in 1925, Hitler released his book program “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle or My Battle).
January 30, 1933: Hitler becomes German Chancellor
Hitler was named Reich Chancellor by the President of the German Republic, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, despite his weak credentials for the position. He had a bad attitude toward the Nazi party’s top dog, whom he called a “Bohemian corporal.” A new administration of “national concentration” was ordered into place by Hindenburg and given to Adolf Hitler to lead. Hitler became Chancellor, Göring became Prussia’s Interior Commissioner, and Frick became the Minister of the Interior, all key posts held by members of the Nazi party in the new administration. After Hindenburg passed away on August 2, 1934, Hitler took over as head of the German Reich.
February 27, 1933: Reichstag fire
There was a fire at the German parliament building during the night. A Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe was arrested near the inferno’s epicenter. As the new chancellor, Adolf Hitler promptly found him guilty, labeling the crime a communist conspiracy. The NSDAP used the incident as an excuse to wipe out communists in Germany. The next day saw the arrest of four thousand CP leaders.
March 16, 1935: Hitler reinstated military service
Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor of Germany, declared the reinstatement of mandatory military duty. Also, he wanted to double the strength of the army from 100,000 to 500,000. The Allies, including France, England, and the United States, watched helplessly as the Treaty of Versailles was broken for the first time. Hitler was now very open about his plans to build an aggressive and formidable army.
September 15, 1935: Creation of the Nuremberg Laws
Hitler’s first anti-Semitic measures were enacted at the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. Among other things, Hitler stripped Jews of their German citizenship and outlawed their relationships with, and even friendships with, “Aryans.” These regulations were the first step in a process of exclusion that would ultimately lead to the “Final Solution” and the Nazis’ 30 months in power.
March 7, 1936: Germany violates the Treaty of Versailles
The Ruhr Neutral Zone was occupied by the Wehrmacht. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler proclaimed the Treaty of Versailles’s clauses null and unenforceable, including those that required Germany to demilitarize the Ruhr. Despite widespread indignation, Western nations did little to stop Germany from breaking international law. It had been a year since the unauthorized reinstatement of mandatory military duty. In 1938, when the Führer authorized an invasion of Austria, the agreements on the boundaries were once again disregarded.
March 13, 1938: Hitler carried out the Anschluss
Hitler authorized an early morning invasion of Austria after the forced resignation of the Austrian government. The Austrians applauded the Reich’s troops, who quickly and easily took control of the land. The German chancellor marched through his hometown, Braunau am Inn. In the guise of the “Anschluss,” the “attachment,” Hitler announced the reunification of Austria and Germany.
This reunion between the two nations, outlawed under the treaties of Versailles and Saint-Germain, was attempted as early as 1934 but failed under the threat of Italy, and still the Western democracies did not respond. In a referendum that Hitler orchestrated, the people of Germany and Austria overwhelmingly voted in favor of the annexation. As the Nazis moved Austria to the eastern side of the board, it became known as the “Ostmark,” or eastern march of the Reich.
September 30, 1938: Signing of the Munich Agreement
At midnight, in Munich, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and the British and French prime ministers, Chamberlain and Daladier, signed an agreement settling the status of Czechoslovakia. France and Britain caved in to German demands after twelve hours of discussions in order to prevent a new war in Europe. Despite its reluctance, the Czechoslovak government ultimately caved in to the demands of the major nations and admitted that their country had violated the Treaty of Versailles and Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
The gathering was a huge success for Germany. The following day, Hitler invaded the Sudetenland, starting the process of demolishing Central Europe’s lone democracy. Over time, the Munich Agreement came to represent the inability of European democracy to effectively counter Nazism.
August 23, 1939: The German-Soviet Pact
In Moscow, the Soviet Union and Germany signed a 10-year no-aggression deal. Their sphere of influence over Eastern Europe was allocated according to a covert system. Hitler declared war on Poland on September 1, having secured the Soviet Union’s neutrality in the process. Stalin then proceeded to conquer Romania, the Baltic States, and Finland as a result. When Hitler attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, he violated this treaty.
September 1, 1939: The Wehrmacht invades Poland
Hitler invaded Poland 20 years after the conclusion of World War I, a conflict that many survivors hoped would be the “la der des ders” (the final one). The next day, both Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War II had officially begun, and before it ended in 1945, it had claimed the lives of almost fifty million people. Poland’s antiquated military would be quickly defeated. During the Nazi occupation, Poland’s situation was especially grim.
May 10, 1940: Hitler invades Belgium
After France and England declared war on Germany, it took Germany 7 months to break the western front. In this way, the Führer ended the “phony war” by unleashing his army against the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. 8 to 10 million Belgians and Frenchmen took to the highways in a matter of days. On May 15 and May 27, respectively, the Dutch and Belgian armies capitulated. On June 14, the Germans invaded Paris, prompting Marshal Pétain to request an armistice, which was agreed on June 22.
June 22, 1941: Operation Barbarossa in the USSR
The Soviet Union was invaded by German forces. Barbarossa was the codename for this military mission. Even after being warned by his secret agencies, Stalin did not believe Hitler would violate the non-aggression agreement they had struck two years previously. Winston Churchill, the British prime minister and an outspoken opponent of Bolshevism, quickly declared his support for the Soviet Union. Despite early success against a weakened Red Army, the Wehrmacht was unable to advance on Moscow due to the onset of winter.
The Nazis conducted a considerably bloodier war in the Soviet Union than they did in the West because they saw the Slavs as subhuman and communism as their major opponent. Inciting more national pride among all Russians was exactly the wrong move.
July 20, 1944: Assassination attempt against Hitler
The “Führer” was spared a murder attempt by the German military aristocracy while attending a conference at the headquarters in Rastenburg. The Home Army’s Chief of Staff, Count Claus von Stauffenberg, plotted the offensive to either reinstate the monarchy or establish a conservative dictatorship. He detonates the device himself by sliding a suitcase full of explosives beneath the conference table. However, the lucky break came when someone shifted the luggage. It exploded around noon, far from Hitler. His wounds were minor. Himmler took over after Stauffenberg’s execution that same night.
30 April 1945: Hitler commits suicide
Hitler and his lover Eva Braun killed themselves in their bunker on April 30, 1945, as Russian troops were getting close to Berlin.
