Hitler

In 1871 a customs officer in the Austrian-Hungarian empire changed his surname from Schicklgruber to Hitler which proved to be fortunate for the fourth child of his third marriage, Adolf (one of only two from six who survived). The idea of thousands of arms being raised to shout ‘Heil Schicklgruber’ wouldn't have had the same effect as ‘Heil Hitler’. Alois was ‘pompous, status-proud, strict, humourless, frugal, pedantically punctual and devoted to duty’ in his work but at home was ‘an authoritarian, overbearing, domineering husband and a stern, distant, masterful and often irritable father who was frequently drunk’. Klara Hitler was devoted to her children and submissive to her husband. While not a mummy’s boy Hitler was devoted to her.As a boy Hitler emerged as a leader in war games and adventure stories, which appears to have continued throughout his life. His aptitude for drawing led him to conclude he was going to become an artist. His interest in the arts extended to the anti-Semitic Wagner and his operas. His personality, like that of his father, was overbearing and opinionated. He viewed himself as the great artist of the future. He travelled to Vienna and applied for membership of the Academy of Fine Arts which he failed, although the Rector agreed he was suited to architecture rather than painting. This disappointment was followed quickly by the death of his mother. The family doctor described Hitler at the time as a boy who ‘lived within himself’. Between 1908 and 1913 Hitler lived the life of a drop out in Vienna. While he saw women as subservient and prefered them to be stupid Hitler was more of an abstainer from sex than the closet homosexual that later detractors claimed.. He experienced poverty, flirted with socialism and came to detest Social Democracy. Yet his description of his time in Vienna was doctored when he wrote Mein Kampf.Early in his career Hitler considered himself a person who considered all aspects of a problem before reaching a decision. This was not borne out in practice. After the Munich Putsch fiasco in 1923 Hitler fled and hid for two days. He had tried to emulate Mussolini’s march on Rome in the mistaken belief that he could overthrow the Weimar Republic. In 1934 he vacillated over the decision to destroy the SA and, even after the Night of the Long Knives, hesitated about killing Rohm. Shortly before the outbreak of war he sacked two generals on what were trumped up charges influenced by those amongst his cronies who wanted more power for themselves. He surrounded himself with acolytes who did not provide him with the support required, gradually reducing his ability to control the governance of the Reich itself. The government broke up into ‘the near anarchy of competing fiefdoms and internecine rivalries’. Theoretically in control Hitler rambling outpourings ‘were the purest expression of unbounded megalomaniac power and breathtaking inhumanity’.Hitler contributed his survival from the final assassination attempt on his life in July 1944 to Providence when, according to Kershaw, it was the luck of the devil that he avoided more than a dozen attempts on his life between the outbreak of war and Operation Valkyrie. In addition, although there was widespread opposition to the Nazis it was not organised and not encouraged by the Allies who did not want to alienated the Soviet Union. Valkyrie reinforced Hitler’s belief nothing would happen to him as he fulfilled his self-proclaimed destiny. Not all those involved in the Valkyrie were executed but over 200 were. Newsreels of the show-trials were circulated as a warning. Hitler still believed in his own ability, ignoring Rommel’s warning that ‘the unequal struggle is heading for its end’.Goebbels’ declaration of ‘Total War’ was an admission that the war was not going well for the Germans. By the end of 1944 the UBoat war was lost. The Luftwaffen were ineffective and Hitler imagined his new rockets would win the war. Hitler was physically ill and mentally deranged, convincing himself that he could still win the war in the west. When things went wrong he blamed everyone but himself.Yet it was Hitler whose ideas had become fossilised which prevented effective direction of the war. He was obsessed with the war, relying less on reason and more on gambling with the fate of other Germans. It was obvious that he had grown old before his time and by 1944 was a stooped, warm out parody of the great dictator. Surviving twenty-eight pills a day he developed Parkinson’s disease and shuffled rather than walked. As all decisions required his authorisation he was unable and unwilling to delegate and effectively became paralysed in his thinking. Having lost the ability to sway the masses he stopped talking to them creating a chasm between rule and ruled. His only role was preventing the end to the war which he did by clinging to his fantasy world. Upon hearing the Russians had broken into Berlin Hitler knew the war was lost but pretended he would lead the fight for control of the city. Goring claimed Hitler was no longer head of state and said he would surrender to the Americans in the west. Hitler (under Bormann’s influence) declared him to be a traitor.The hubris of Hitler’s rise ended with the nemesis of his downfall. It was all so predictable yet it could have been different as the corporal not imagined himself to be a great general. Those who supported him proved to be more even fanatical than himself, the Goebbels murdering their children rather than live in a non-Nazi world. They were not the only ones. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Leipzig did the same with over a thousand attributable to propaganda about Soviet brutality, although in practice it was on a par with Nazi brutality. Kershaw’s book reads like fiction. Regrettably it is factual, specifically separating reality from myth. A must read book for everyone, five stars.

With hindsight, this abridged biography of Hitler was an excellent choice. Professor Sir Ian Kershaw has previously addressed the subject in two separate volumes: Hitler 1889 - 1936: Hubris and Hitler 1936 - 1945: Nemesis, however, don't underestimate this abridged version, which according to the author, has had some of the minutiae deleted whilst retaining the critical content, which excluding the index still results in a hefty 974 page biography. Notwithstanding these aspects, this is a well-written and extremely interesting secondary source that will appeal to both the general reader and the academic. Ian Kershaw is not in any sense revisiting the subject as an apologist, quite the reverse. He makes absolutely clear throughout the narrative and the Epilogue that Hitler was the catalyst, saying 'Never in history has such ruination - physical and moral - been associated with the name of one man', (p.968, 2008, Penguin). The argument is that Hitler was totally bitter and humiliated by Germany's capitulation, leading to the armistice on 11 November 1918 and then the subsequent impractical reparations imposed by the allies. These were deeply felt psychological factors that fuelled Hitler's thinking and actions after he was formerly named Furher on 2 August 1934 and remained so until his suicide on 30 April 1945. So the Holocaust or Shoah was Hitler's sole responsibility? Its not quite that straightforward, as you will discover when you read this biography, hence the initial point about not being an apologist argument. As will become clear, Hitler was lazy and certainly no administrator... but he was the Nazi party's voice - he could talk and talk. The actual carrying-out of his intimated or in some cases verbal instructions (he wrote little down on paper) was left to those below him, which brings us to the nub of Ian Kershaw argument, which he terms 'working towards the Furher.' Its an argument that makes sense and ties-in with the Nazi era. This is a biography which, as you might expect of a specialist on Nazi Germany, is both thoroughly researched and well written, yet at the same time is easily understood and certainly well worth reading.

This is an exceptional piece of work. I have to say that I'm not always that great at finishing large books and when this turned up I genuinely got the feeling that I'd probably get so far and exhausted myself.But I flew through it and couldnt put it down. Ian Kershaw's writing is truly fantastic and his style kept me hooked. I often found myself referring to the maps and looking up certain things online to helpe understand but that was part of the enjoyment for me.I'd fully recommend this book to any one interested in Hitler, Nazi Germany, the Third Reich etc

It’s hard to say what Kershaw has done is not significant. I think if anyone writes a 900-odd page book on anything (and this is condensed from two volumes), you’re on sure footing to say it is a very useful and informative bit of work, within reason. This is a massive effort, that is rightly praised and critically acclaimed.I trusted Kershaw to interpret sources, although with a usual mistrust of historians and their sources dashed in, and I never felt, throughout the book, that it was as long as it was, which is quite a trick. It never dragged or seemed padded.For me the main realisation was that all the societal and government informal ‘filters’ which generally pick up characters who are atypical and dangerous and discard them failed. And for this I believe Hitler represents someone who impacted our continent and politics merely by accident.I loved that Kershaw didn’t tackle psychology, although the books introduction scared me a little, and he largely spent the book dispelling the fate-based claims of many Hitler narratives.As I say, my take away was Hitler’s ascent was mere bad luck. Kershaw did a good job out outlining exactly what he thought Hitler was good at, but a great many other things he was bad at too.A good book, without being great. Certainly something like the Power Broker I thought was a better biography.

One of the most influent historians writing a complete work, accessible to the general public. The result is nothing else than the ultimate monograph on Hitler.The basic questions the author tries to give an answer to are: 1. How was it possible for a man like Hitler to get the power? 2. How was it possible that he could maintain the power, an advanced nation like Germany gave itself hands and feet to a man like Hitler? The answers are clear and chilling, because you understand that similar phenomena, albeit in different forms, can potentially happen again everywhere.