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Reading Summary 158-181
Evans and Jenkins
Adolf Hitler
Hitler’s Strengths-Most agree that Hitler had a magnetic personality  he was popular with some parts of German Society.
-Hitler recognized the power of speeches; he said that power of propaganda is the only way to move the people
-Hitler is recognized as one of the greatest orators of the 20th century; he usually spent hours practicing along before public meetings
He had a gift for understanding possibilities of a situation more than any of his opponents
Showed strong energy, will power and determination allowed him to play many roles in the Nazi party
Had a vision for Germany’s future and confidence in himself to be able to achieve that vision
-Hitler created a dictatorship that was so powerful, he had considerable support, and supported by the SA/ SS to nullify any opposition
-Hitler made it clear that decisions came from above and not from below.
Hitler’s Weaknesses-Hitler was neurotic, short-tempered, moody and very sensitive to any criticism.
-Hitler was horrified by death or illness; he was taking about 30 drugs in 1942. He was afraid of dirt and germs, and very picky about
his clothes, he wore gloves washed his hands and bathed frequently, he was a vegetarian and did not drink or smoke. His health was
deteriorating, by 1945 Hitler was dreadful, he was sleepless, poor eyesight, his left arm and leg shook, and had uncontrolled tantrums
The Nature of Hitler’s leadership- Hitler’s domination of the Nazi party and the idea of Fuhrer principle
-The NSDAP was Hitler’s party and represented nothing else.
The party was structured on a military bases and made wholly dependent on him
Elections ended and all local branches of the party recognized his leadership
Gauleiter (Gau- regional NSDAP leaders around Germany) were all brought under his control with economic and political activities.
SA was recreated and put under the control of Hitler
Associations were created for youth, women, doctors and teachers
-This led to the understanding that all party members were under Hitler
The relationship between Hitler and other leading Nazis
-Hitler depended largely on the other Nazi figures. All of them must have followed his orders blindly or else they were punished
-Hitler also had a small personal staff, like Schreck, Hitler’s chauffer, Schaub his personal bodyguard, Morell his doctor, and Eva
Braun- his unacknowledged mistress and lover.
Key roles played by leading Nazis in Hitler’s personal system
Herman Goring- number 2 Nazi deemed Hitler’s successor. Morphine addict. Seen as the most evil Nazi. Hitler fired him after
failures in the beginning of the war, was later arrested and sentenced to death but committed suicide.
Heinrich Himmler- Dreamt of the Aryan race. Became leader of SS in 1935. Established model camp in Dachau. Basically controlled
the concentration camps. Described as a ‘half crank, half schoolmaster’.
Joseph Goebbels- Physically handicapped from birth. Brilliant orator and propagandist. Was a left-wing supporter but had a change of
heart before the night of long knives. Goebbels played a major role in exploiting the Reichstag fire. Committed suicide with his family
and Hitler in his bunker in 1945
Rudolf Hess- Egyptian- born, was with Hitler in the beer-hall putsch Hess wrote part of Mein Kampf as Hitler dictated. He was
unknown and unimportant. Subordinated himself to Hitler and acted as his secretary. He did not crave power, but rather to serve Hitler.
Reinhard Heydrich- Deputy chief of Gestapo, Jewish blood but looked German, very intelligent. He herded Jews from Europe and
sent them to their death. Created idea to organize a Final Solution- Nazi policy of exterminating Jews. Agents from London
assassinated him in Prague. Hitler killed every single male in the village of Lidice.
Martin Bormann- Fuhrer’s official secretary in 1943. No one is quiet sure how he died, but he escaped the last few days of the war.
Albert Speer- ‘Master-builder’, he was to build monumental buildings in Nuremberg and Berlin. He was appointed minister of
Armaments and Munitions, under him production of weapons increased significantly. Sentenced to 20 years in Nuremberg trials.
Hitler- Master of the Third Reich or Weak Dictator
Master of the Third Reich- Hitler was in command of key decisions, his aims were strong and assertive. He adopted a divide and rule
policy, he was ruthless i.e. night of long knives. Hitler took decisions without the bureau interfering; Everyone tied themselves to
Hitler, and not the other way around. Hitler’s decisions came about from him and not by necessity.
Wear Dictator- Was a prisoner of his own personality he was lazy and indecisive. Hitler was a prisoner of others he depended on
other people to get to power. He never ran against the Gau’s decisions and his decisions were usually not his own. Hitler was a prisoner
of different forces within the state; he thought he could run everything. Prisoner of tensions, weak because Germany’s economy and
state
Reconciliation of different interpretations-Hitler complicated things, there seemed to be no coherent head of the state
-There was no one framework like that of Mussolini’s or Franco’s
- Goebbels wrote by the end of 1943 that Hitler had detached himself from the Gov.
-Had it not been for Albert Speer than perhaps the war would have ended quicker because he kept the industry going
Hitler’s Role in Policy Making
-Hitler had a vision of racial cleansing, in that purification of the blood from within, however it seemed like the dictator absented
himself from the routine business of the government.
-Hitler acted as the definitive source of authority, ye he had integrated many different factions and individuals who acted in his name
-Hitler swept aside international agreements in his territorial ambitions i.e. the Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia
-Hitler adopted ideologies that were aggressively policed by the SS. Such i.e. cleansing
-Hitler’s style of decision-making encouraged disappearance of an ordered government. For example, it probably took 3-4 years for
newly appointed ministers to meet Hitler.
-Hitler should have taken responsibility for the decline of the regime, which eventually spiraled into increasing barbarity.
-The competition between five heads of office made things more difficult and eventually led to repulsive policies, such as killing
handicapped children. He believed that the future of Germany lay only with the healthy youth, and not the crippled ones.
Hitler’s Aims
-Many historians argue that WWII was Hitler’s war, saying that he had planned the war himself, while others refer to Mein Kampf and
the Hossbach Memorandum, which became the principal document at the Nuremberg trials. These prove that Hitler had a blueprint for
war and which was followed out in practice.
-Taylor said that there was nothing different about Hitler; he argued that Hitler was not a planner but rather a person who had ideas but
had no clue on how to achieve them. Hitler’s aim according to Taylor was only to return Germany as a power in Europe. Taylor states
that other states were just as responsible as Hitler in initiating the war.
-According to Mein Kampf, Hitler’s ideology boiled down to two themes
1) Anti-Semitism- removal of Jews
2) Lebensraum or Living space which would have been largely at the expense of Russia.