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Hitler — Twelve Years After

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Andreas Dorpalen
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Extract

Twelve years have passed since Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker at Berlin. Since then a number of aides and associates have published their memoirs, but on the whole the literature on Hitler has been surprisingly meager. Some of those who could have told us more about him did not survive him long enough to do so, while few of the survivors were articulate enough to set down their recollections in writing. Nevertheless among recently published reminiscences dealing with the Fuehrer a few do contain data that are new and significant. Taken together with the Proceedings of the Nürnberg Trials and the records of his informal table talks, they cast some additional light on that sinister and elusive figure.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , October 1957 , pp. 486 - 506
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1957

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References

1 Kubizek, August, The Young Hitler I Knew (Boston, 1955). This memoir, very sympathetic to Hitler, but not uncritical, was written forty years after the events which it discusses had taken place. However, its credibility is greatly enhanced by the photographic reproduction of numerous postcards, and letters from Hitler as well as sketches and blueprints by him. While it may be inaccurate in details, there is no reason to doubt its general reliability; the book is written with evident sincerity.Google Scholar

2 Ibid., p. 181.

3 Greiner, Joseph, Das Ende des Hitler-Mythos (Vienna, 1949), pp. 20–22, 63–67, 112–13, 115, 134Google Scholar. This book also was written some forty years after the event. It seems much less reliable than Kubizek's and in some parts quite implausible. However, with critical caution some useful information can be derived from it.

4 Kubizek, , op. cit., p. 41Google Scholar. Cf. Heiden, Konrad, Der Fuehrer (Boston, 1944), p. 44Google Scholar

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11 Kubizek, , op. cit., pp. 47, 58, 76.Google Scholar

12 Ibid., pp. 42, 84.

13 Ibid., pp. 84–86, 90.

14 Ibid., pp. 165–73; Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf (New York, 1941), pp. 29, 161–62.Google Scholar

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23 Hitler's addresses to his commanders-in-chief, Aug. 22 and Nov. 23, 1939, IMT Trial, XXVI, 339, 332Google Scholar; Secret Conversations, pp. 452, 564.Google Scholar

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26 Hitler, to Amann, Max, 10 8, 11, 12, 1917Google Scholar, negative photoprint copies in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress. The name “Amann” is consistently misspelled as “Aman.”

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30 Testimony of Frank, Hans, 04 18, 1946Google Scholar, IMT Trial, XII, 6Google Scholar; Funk, Walter, 05 4, 1946Google Scholar, ibid., XIII, 83; von Schirach, Baldur, 05 23, 1946Google Scholar, ibid., XIV, 392. Cf. the remarks of S. S. Chief Himmler, Heinrich, 07 16, 1942Google Scholar, on his inability to hold Hitler's attention, as reported in Kersten, Felix, The Kersten Memoirs: 19400–45 (New York, 1957), p. 132Google Scholar. Kersten was Himmler's osteopath. His book is in parts hard to accept, but may be entirely reliable. It has been cited here because the passage in question is credible and corroborates the statements of Frank, Funk, and Schirach. While these latter statements may be suspect as defense maneuvers of men on trial for their lives, Himmler's corresponding statement was made in 1942, at a time when he could have had no possible interest in minimizing his position with Hitler.

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32 Heusinger, Adolf, Befehl im Widerstreit (Tubingen, 1951), pp. 289–90Google Scholar. By all critical standards a reliable account.

33 See Führer's Tagebuch 1934–43. Carbon copy in Manuscripts Division of Library of Congress. See also Dietrich, , op. cit., pp. 161–62.Google Scholar

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35 Ibid., pp. 15, 21, 74, 80, 142; Dietrich, , op. cit., p. 251Google Scholar, Tischgespräche, pp. 297–98Google Scholar; Linge, Heinz, in Watertown [N. Y.] Daily Times, 11 2, 1955, p. 2Google Scholar; Nov. 7, 1955, p. 2. Linge's report seems generally reliable although he is sometimes confused on dates.

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37 Italics mine.

38 Mein Kampf, pp. 847, 849, 855.Google Scholar

39 Ibid., p. 613.

40 Guderian, , op. cit., p. 309Google Scholar; testimony of Milch, Erhard, Göring's chief of staff, 03 11, 1946Google Scholar, IMT Trial, IX, 84–85Google Scholar; Kesselring, Field Marshal Albert, 03 12, 1946Google Scholar, ibid., IX, 190; Goring, Hermann, 03 16, 1946Google Scholar, ibid., IX, 373; Jodl, Alfred, Hitler's chief of staff, 06 3, 1946Google Scholar, ibid., XV, 308.

41 Frank, , op. cit., pp. 335–36.Google Scholar

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43 Frank, , op. cit., p. 320Google Scholar; testimony of von Ribbentrop, Joachim, 10 10, 1945Google Scholar, Nazi Conspiracy, Suppl. B, 1252Google Scholar; same, quoted in Die Gegenwart, 01 15, 1955, p. 52.Google Scholar

44 Hossbach, , op. cit., p. 23Google Scholar; Frank, , op. cit., pp. 211–12Google Scholar; Dietrich, , op. cit., pp. 44–45, 48–49Google Scholar; Hitler in telephone conversation with von Hessen, Prince Philipp, 03 11, 1938Google Scholar, Nazi Conspiracy, V, 641–42Google Scholar; Guderian, , op. cit., p. 400Google Scholar; Linge, , loc. cit., 11 5, 1955, p. 2.Google Scholar

45 Hitler, to Mussolini, Benito, 06 21, 1941Google Scholar, Sontag, R. J. and Beddie, J. S., eds., Nazi-Soviet Relations: 1939–1941 (Washington, 1948), pp. 349–53Google Scholar; Hoffmann, , pp. 84, 86.Google Scholar

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47 Testimony of Jodl, , 06 3, 1946Google Scholar, IMT Trial, XV, 294–95Google Scholar; Guderian, , pp. 370, 387, 408, 410.Google Scholar

48 Semmler, Rudolf, Goebbels—The Man Next to Hitler (London, 1947), 02 13, 1945, p. 177Google Scholar. A helpful source, if used with some caution. Dietrich, , op. cit., p. 120.Google Scholar

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53 Quoted in Die Gegenwart, 07 30, 1955, p. 501.Google Scholar

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58 Keitel, testimony, 10 10, 1945Google Scholar, Nazi Conspiracy, Suppl. B, 1283.Google Scholar