If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that

this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed"

to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received
any payment for this "stripped book."

CONTENTS

A CONCISE BIOORAPHY OF ADOlF HITLER

A Berkley Book I published by arrangement with

the author
Preface:Hitler's
William
Hitler's
IHow
TheWas
Hitler's
Hitler
Hitler
Main Nazi
Hitler Mustache
Hitler's
in Wardrobe
Diet
Patrick
Names
Women
Swastika
Combat
Fuehrer's
Backstage
Hitler's
Henry Speaks
Kampf,
Ford's
the
toDog Dentist
Hitler
and Titles
Volkswagen
Hitler
Hypochondriac
Use Hitler's
Nazi
This Meclal
Book
Book, and Why 56
39
45
77
61
83
87
29
33
50
64
10
71
22
16 vii
PRINIlNG HISTORY
2.
15.
14.
11.
16.
13.
4.
3.7.
8.
10.
12.
9.
1.
5.
6. v
Fountain Books trade paperback edition published in 1990
as The Hitler Fact Book
Berkley edition I February 2000

All rights reserved.

Copyright 1990, 2000 by Thomas Fuchs.
Book design by Carrie Leder.
Cover design by Steven Ferlauto and Marc Yankus.
Cover illustration by Marc Yankus.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part,
by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
For information address:
The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is

http://www.penguinputnam.com

ISBN: 0-425-17340-2

BERKLEY-
Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY and the "B" design
are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.

PIUNTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
vi CONTENTS

17. Hitler's Bookshelf 91

18. Hitler at the Movies 95
PREFACE
19. Hitler Laughs 99
20. 104 How to Use This Book, and Why
Games the Fuehrer Played
21. Hitler and Music 109
22. The Art Dictator 114
23. Hitler the Builder 119
24. Private Finances 124
25. Mussolini, Stalin, Franco 130 Was design
Hitlerthe
really a vegetarian?
Volkswagen? WasIs he
it true he helped
homosexual?
26. Hitler and the USA 135 Did he consult with astrologers before making deci-
sions?
27. Hitler's Horoscope 140 For the foreseeable future, for better or worse, stories
28. Hitler's Atomic Bomb 144 will be told about Hitler, assertions made. He and his
hideous career are regularly invoked on subjects ranging
29. The Olympic Patron 150
from health food to mass murder. A book like this one
30. Why Didn't Somebody Kill Him? 156 may therefore serve as a useful reference, providing
31. 164 quick access to reliable information.
Was Hitler Really Anti-Semitic?
But the book has a larger pUrPOse-to make Hitler
32. Hitler's Corpse 172 real. To some degree he has already become a legendary
33. Hermann Goering 177 creature, rather like Dracula or Frankenstein's Monster,
the stuff of horror movies and comedies. Although we
34. Joseph Goebbels 183
might prefer a Hitler cast out from the human race, it
35. Heinrich Himmler 189 would be foolishness of the most dangerous kind to re-
Notes and Sources 197
move him from the flow of history and ignore the po-
235 tential for evil that exists in all populations and
Bibliography
245 institutions.
Chronology
Index 271 Popular interest in Hitler never flags, and since this
book first appeared in 1990, the stream of books and

vii
 PllfACf Ix

articles about him and Nazi Germany has only grown. tempt to understand Hitler's character-how it fonned;
There have been no great discoveries, no new facts that indeed, what was its real nature? For example, did Hitler
might alter the story but particular authors continue to kill only because he believed murder was necessary to
bring their particular sensibilities to bear on different accomplish his ends, or did he revel in it, finding exul-
aspects of Hitler's life. tation in destruction and death?
In 1997, the distinguished historian John Lukacs pub- The dust jacket of Rosenbaum's book features Hitler's
lished The Hitler of History, a book which, in large part, baby picture, an image that signifies the mystery that so
is actually about books on Hitler. Lukacs demonstrates
intrigues Rosenbaum. How could someone born of flesh
that there can be no single, objective account of the man and blood do what Hitler did? After reading numerous
and the monstrous history he made. The subject is too books, Rosenbaum visited with scholars who have spent
complex and all who write about Hitler either begin with their lives studying and writing about Hitler. The result
or develop a point of view, which shapes their account; is a series of fascinating interviews. Inevitably the ques-
for example, was Hitler a natural consequence of the tion of evil arises: Does evil exist apart from evil acts?
German history preceding him or an aberration? Is it only an adjective or does it name something-per-
Some of Hitler's biographers have argued that Hitler haps an inchoate, incomplete form of human nature?
was little more than a power-hungry opportunist; others, A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler does not venture
that he was driven by psychosexual obsessions; still oth- into speculation or abstraction. I believe it continues to
ers, that he was a man of ideas genuinely bent on trans- be of value because it serves a simpler function, provid-
forming Europe and the world. Lukacs himself has an ing concrete details and anecdotes in an easily accessible
argument to make. Although Hitler is often portrayed as format. Readers can peruse it straight through or, guided
a reactionary determined to return the world to some by the contents and index, go directly to areas and items
vaguely defined pre-modem condition, Lukacs believes of immediate interest. No matter what the approach, the
he was actually a revolutionary, inspired and abetted by reader will soon confront the malevolent storm of Hit-
social, political and intellectual changes unleashed in the ler's soul-his hatred of Jews, his warmongering, the
modem world. Perhaps most importantly, Lukacs refutes unremitting drive to dominate the world and everyone
those historians who, in their portrayal of Hitler and his in it.
historical context, have sought to exonerate him or min- A reader who finds a particular item literally incred-
imize his personal responsibility. The fact that circum- ible or wishes to pursue it more thoroughly can check
stances favored his rise does not absolve Hitler of his
the notes and sources section beginning on page 197.
enormous guilt. This is keyed to the bibliography, which follows it.
In 1998, the essayist and novelist Ron Rosenbaum Because the book is organized by subject areas rather
published Explaining Hitler, an account of his own at- than dates, readers interested in the sequence of events
x PREFACE

might wish to refer to the chronology, which starts on

page 245.
There is no surer way to pull the cloak of mystery
from a man than to provide a physical description of OlE
him, in this case beginning with that feature which is so
emblematic of him-his mustache. Hitler's Mustache
. . . the ridiculous little smudge which made him
look as if he had not cleaned his nose.

-E. HANFSTAENGl

Hitler's
among mustache was ita was
his supporters traditional
thoughttype, butabsurd
to look even
and ugly on him. In 1923, Ernst Hanfstaengl, a close
associate, suggested he let it grow out to the ends of his
lips. Trying to be tactful, he told Hitler-leader of a
Nazi Party that was still obscure and weak-that the
short brush style was unfashionable.
Hitler's response was characteristic. "If it is not the
fashion now, it will be later," he said, "because I wear
it."
Anecdotes like this may help make Hitler accessible-
if not fully understandable-and this is necessary be-
cause the very enormity of his crimes leads to his often
being represented as either sub-human or as a supernat-
ural figure, a demon. Both misconceptions are danger-
ous. They make him unreal, with the possible
consequence of our forgetting that what he did can be
done again.
2 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler HITLER'S MUSTACHE 3

It is for the sake of seeing Hitler just as he was that He regularly used eyeglasses and although he was
this collection of anecdotes and facts has been assem- photographed wearing them, publication of these pho-
bled. tographs was forbidden. Some have survived, however,
The source material is abundant, enormouS. Probably including one with an X through it, made on the proof
no one in history has been more closely observed and sheet by Hitler himself.
reported on. There is even an account of how he culti- Hitler's eyes are important historically because of
vated the famous forelock which, like his mustache, was the mystical qualities sometimes attributed to them; fol-
an essential identifying element of his appearance. After lowers frequently describe them as blazing, hypnotic,
the war, one of his secretaries described the procedure dominating. In objective fact, they were physically prom-
to an Allied interrogator:
inent-large and slightly bulging-and Hitler made a
He would bend over forward and comb his hair point of using them for dramatic effect.
It was his practice, when meeting someone for the first
down before his eyes just like a woman does, then
time, to stare with what he imagined to be a penetrating
he would make the part and just loosely comb
gaze. Not surprisingly, this made a profound impression
back the left portion so that with a jerk of the head
on many visitors, especially those who had come to the
the left forward lock would drop over his fore-
head-and this happened all the time during his interview wanting this to be their unforgettable meeting
speech making. with the self-described "greatest German of all time."
Others found the famous stare "opaque, dull."
Hitler's hair was dark brown, almost black. His collar
and shoulders were often flecked with dandruff. HiUer's Head

Hitler's head was not remarkable, although he thought

TIle HypMtic Stare it was. In February 1937 he summoned a distinguished
Hitler's eyes were blue, or blue-gray. An officer who surgeon, Professor Ferdinand Sauerbruck, and a team of
worked at Headquarters during the war made the re- phrenologists to take measurements of his skull. These
markable observation that Hitler sometimes crossed experts concluded that the various dimensions of Hitler's
them, "in jest." head (e.g. the distance from chin to forehead, from eye
By the time Hitler was in his late forties, he had be- socket to eye socket, and so on) were: "Just like Na-
come farsighted. Reports sent to him had to be typed poleon's" and "Nothing like it since Frederick the
out on a "Fuehrer typewriter," the letters of which were Great!"
about twice normal size, (almost half an inch high). Hitler was delighted and had their findings written up
 HITlER'S MUSTACHE 5
4 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler

in a 130 page manuscript which was carefully stored in cusing on the possibility that he may indeed have had
his private library. only one testicle. The debate has not been conclusive.
Phrenology-the attempt to correlate skull measure-
ments with intelligence and character-fitted in well General Clnstitutien
with Nazi ideas about racial superiority, but of course
this "science" is no science at all. The conclusions of Although inclined to hypochondria, Hitler in middle age
any particular investigation seemed to depend almost en- was a vigorous man with ruddy cheeks and excellent
endurance.
tirely on the investigator's preconceived ideas. In 1924,
when Hitler was on trial for his failed early attempt to There was an ominous significance to his good health,
seize the government, the prosecution produced Max particularly because it was linked to his fear of physical
von Gruber, Professor of something called "racial hy- decline. Despite repeated public assurances that he de-
giene," who testified that Hitler's features demonstrated, sired peace, he said something else to his Generals on
"bad race, mongrel. Low receding forehead, ugly nose, April 20, 1939, the day he turned fifty. He told them he
broad cheekbones, small eyes, dark hair ... " wanted to fight a war soon, while he was still strong. As
the years passed, he explained, he would lose the stam-
ina war required.
Height and Weigllt Less than five months later, on September I, he in-
For some reason, a common myth circulates to the effect vaded Poland and began World War ll. (Franklin Roo-
that Hitler was abnormally short. In fact, he was just sevelt was fifty-seven; Winston Churchill, sixty-five.)
under five feet, ten inches.
He weighed about 155 pounds, but this is necessarily
only an estimate. Hitler could not be weighed as an or-
dinary patient would because his personal peculiarities
included a refusal to undress for medical examinations.
According to one of his doctors, "Hitler had an extreme
disinclination to let people see his body. Even I never
saw him completely unclothed, let alone checked him
over in that state."
A wartime Allied song began, "Hitler, he only has one
ball ... " Since then, perhaps hundreds of pages have
been written in serious debate as to whether or not there
was anything unusual about Hitler's genitals, often fo-
 HITlER'S DOG 1
wooden box. An Army sergeant named Tornow was de-
tailed to attend to her full-time.
Whenever Hitler traveled, BIondi went with him, to
TWO his mountain villa, to the government Chancellery in
Berlin, to his various military headquarters. And when
Hitler's Dog the tide of war finally turned against the Nazis, Blondi-
in a twist possible only in the kind of state Hitler had
I love animals, and especially dogs.
created-began to assume enormous importance.
-HITLER With the German front in Russia in danger of com-
plete collapse, Hitler's Generals wailted desperately to
withdraw and consolidate their forces, but Hitler would
have none of this. He was rigid in his strategy-no re-
The man who
capable murdered
of normal millions
affection, butsometimes seemed
in everything he treat, ever. The Generals were frantic, and then they re-
did, Hitler ultimately revealed an utter indifference to alized BIondi offered an opportunity.
any life but his oWn. The sad story of his dog BIondi During even the most pressing military crises, Hitler
illustrates the point. took breaks between conferences, to walk BIondi and
Hitler was fond of dogs and was rarely without one. put her through her tricks. The Generals, who often went
In 1941, Martin Bormann, a top aide, sought to ingratiate along, discovered that when BIondi performed well, Hit-
himself by giving his Fuehrer a magnificent German ler mellowed, and in these brief periods of good humor
shepherd bitch named BIondi. would sometimes take their advice. Of course, if BIondi
The gift was a great success. Hitler enthusiastically didn't do well, Hitler remained intractable. One of the
began teaching BIondi tricks. Soon she could fetch, jump officers later recalled, "I sometimes had the impression
through hoops, clear a six-foot fence, even climb a step- that the outcome of the Russian campaign depended
ladder and beg. On special occasions, Hitler would have more upon BIondi than the German general staff."
her "sing" for guests. Despite BIondi (or perhaps she really wasn't very ca-
Hitler became devoted to BIondi. Delighted when he pable), the German armies were steadily tom to pieces.
thought she was pregnant, he was deeply disappointed In time, as the Russians closed in on Berlin, Hitler
when he realized she was merely overweight. moved into his bomb-proof bunker beneath the Chan-
BIondi always slept in Hitler's bedroom, in her special cellery garden, from which he continued to issue orders
6 and battle plans, concocting elaborate but completely
8 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler
HITLER'S DOG 9

groundless schemes for turning the cataclysmic defeat

into victory. he squeezed, breaking the capsule and releasing the cy-
anide.
BIondi, meanwhile, had managed to give birth to five
After it was over, the ever suspicious Hitler came into
pups, specially accommodated in a kennel built for them
the bathroom to make sure BIondi was dead. He said
in the bunker. Of the litter, Hitler was particularly taken
nothing and his face displayed no emotion. Then he re-
by one he dubbed Wolf, a favorite nickname. No one
but Hitler was allowed to touch Wolf. He would stroke turned to his study, to continue planning his suicide.
Soon after, for some reason which is not recorded,
the pup with great tenderness, murmuring its name over
and over. Sergeant Tornow shot the pups.
Finally, even Hitler had to admit the war was lost.
There was only one defeat left, and this he was deter-
mined to avoid. He had a morbid fear of being captured
alive by the Russians, imagining among other things that
they might put him on exhibit in a cage in Moscow. His
recourse was suicide.
He intended to use cyanide, supplied in small glass
ampules by the S.S. But then the unthinkable happened.
The S.S. was headed by Heinrich Himmler ("the faithful
Heinrich," Hitler called him), and Hitler learned that
Himmler, operating out of reach in the north, was trying
to open independent peace negotiations with the Allies.
That made him a traitor.
Hitler quickly came to the conclusion that the cyanide
supplied by Himmler's S.S. might not be cyanide at aU.
Perhaps it was only a knockout drug. Perhaps Himmler
was planning to deliver him unconscious but alive to the
Russians, for cash or favor. The cyanide had to be tested.
Hitler chose BIondi for the test.
Sergeant Tornow, BIondi's keeper, and a doctor
named Haase took the dog into the bathroom. There,
Tornow held her jaws open while Haase used a pair of
pliers to push the ampule to the back of her mouth. Then
 MEI. KAMPF, HITlER'S BOOK 11

given rooms there. Although imprisoned, life was not

unpleasant except for one problem-Hitler's endless ha-
rangues. Hour after hour, he talked on and on about his
THREf ideas, his plans, his destiny, himself. Then one of the
prisoners had an ingenious idea. He urged Hitler not to
Mein Kampf, Hitler's Book waste these precious words. Instead of merely speaking
them, why not save them for posterity by writing them
Hitler's first battle was with the German lan-
down? Why not write a book?
guage, and this fight, at least, he has not won. Hitler promptly borrowed a Remington typewriter
-DOROTHY THOMPSON, 1939 from the prison warden and set to work, dictating to his
chauffeur, Emil Maurice, who typed. (Maurice was soon
replaced by Rudolf Hess.) Hitler later said he was
spurred on by the heavy clacking of the Remington's
keys. And by the music. A gramophone played intoxi-
Toto learn
studyabout
whata he
man's
has mind, it is usually
written-but instructive
Hitler wrote a cating, heroic Wagner records over and over as Hitler
book so long and incoherent few people have been able paced and ranted.
to read it. Nevertheless, it made him a millionaire. By the time of his early release "for good behavior"
The book is Mein Kampf, and much of it was written at the end of 1924, the book was well under way. Al-
in jail. though it was eventually published as Mein Kampf
In 1924, Hitler was serving a sentence in Landsberg (which means "My Struggle"), this was not Hitler's orig-
Fortress for his attempt to overthrow the government in inal title. Until he was dissuaded by his publisher, he
the so-called Beer Hall Putsch. This violent, blatantly had planned to call his book: Four and a Half Years of
illegal episode had resulted in the deaths of sixteen Nazis Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice.
and three policemen, but key members of the govern- Mein Kampfis a vicious book--chaotic and vile, like
ment secretly sympathized with Hitler's aims and he was the mind of its author. In it, Hitler expounds the idea
treated well at Landsberg. Many jail personnel regularly that the German people are a superior race who ought
greeted him with "Heil Hitler!"; admirers sent so many to rule the world; he calls for a war to defeat France and
gifts his suite of rooms began to look like a cross be- her allies and for German colonization of much of Rus-
tween a delicatessen and a flower shop. sia.
Hitler was not alone in his confinement. Other top Jews are depicted as engaged in a systematic attempt
Nazis rounded up after the failed overthrow were also to corrupt and wreck all that is civilized and decent.
10 Among Jewish tactics, we are told, is the raping of
 MElfi KAIIPF, HITlER'S BOOK 13
12 A Concise Biogr8JIhy of Adolf Hitler

the great work. The first who claimed he had managed

German women in order to poison good German blood.
the task would be stuck with the dinner check for all.
Hitler got much of his anti-Semitic ideas-including
One of the men on whom this trap was sprung was Her-
the grotesque sexuality-from tracts he had read in his
mann Goering, the fat future Air Force chief and second
youth. Similarly, the section of Mein Kampf devoted to
in command to Hitler. He responded to the question by
the uses of propaganda was largely lifted from other
laughing out loud. Even Joseph Goebbels, future head
sources (see chapter 17, "Hitler's Bookshelf"). fq, of Propaganda for the Third Reich, admitted (with some
The autobiography in Mein Kampf is largely untrue.
show of guilt) that he had been unable to get through
Hitler's book was not a big seller at first but after he
Hitler's book. At the evening's end, reports Strasser,
became Chancellor in 1933 it became required reading-
each diner had to pay his own check. None of them had
or at least a required ornament-in almost every
actually read Mein Kampf
German home and office, as well as a de rigueur grad-
Of course, none of the Nazis really needed to. They
uation present. Ultimately, a law was passed requiring
all knew who Hitler was and what he stood for. It is
every municipality in the land to buy and give a copy
commonly asserted, however, that had the leaders of
to each new married couple.
other countries read Hitler's book, they might have
Hitler received an author's royalty, and Mein Kampf
soon made him a multimillionaire. The process was has- stopped him before he plunged the world into war.
There was, understandably, little interest in Mein
tened somewhat when he ordered the publisher (a Nazi
Kampf outside of Germany until Hitler came to power
firm) to raise his royalty from the customary ten percent
in 1933. But then, Hitler attempted to disguise the full
of the cover price to fifteen.
extent of his ambitions by allowing only abridged edi-
Although tens of millions of copies of Mein Kampf
tions to be published abroad. Much was omitted, includ-
were sold, its style was so convoluted and repetitious
even dedicated Nazis couldn't get through it. One of ing his plans to destroy the world's democracies. Most
of the anti-Jewish diatribes were left in, Hitler apparently
them, Otto Strasser, picked out a few short passages and
believing these would not have an adverse effect on gen-
quoted them in a speech he gave at a Party rally in 1927.
The Fuehrer's words were applauded vigorously. Later, eral world opinion.
At least one world leader was not misled by the
at a dinner not attended by Hitler, some of Strasser's
colleagues asked if he had actually read Mein Kampf abridged edition. The copy which belonged to Franklin
Roosevelt is preserved in the library of his Hyde Park
When he admitted he had not, everyone else at the table
home. On its flyleaf, President Roosevelt wrote this:
confessed the same shortcoming. More diners were ex-
pected, so those already present made a secret agree-
The White House-1933- This translation is so
ment. As each new diner arrived-and all were veteran,
top-ranking Nazis-he would be asked if he had read expurgated as to give a wholly false view of what
14 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler IIEII KAMPF, HITLER'S BOOK 15

Hitler is and says-the German original would Sometimes he was right, and ignored his own warning
make a different story. at immense cost. He said Germany must never ally her-
self with the Soviet Union for that would inevitably un-
The British were equally well informed. Their Em- leash a war that would result in "the end of Germany."
bassy in Berlin supplied them with detailed descriptions More than a decade later, in August. 1939, he con-
of the full-length version. These and other digests were cluded an alliance with the Soviet Union that allowed
circulated throughout the government by the Foreign Of- Germany to seize half of Poland (and the Soviets to take
fice and studied carefully. the other half). And that, of course, triggered the Second
Mein Kampf was not ignored. The problem seems to World War.
have been that few people could bring themselves to
believe Hitler would really attempt what he threatened.
He was, after all, a politician and politicians must anchor
themselves in reality or disappear. Only a savage lunatic
would actually try to conquer the world.
In 1939, British and American publishers issued com-
plete translations of Mein Kampf without Hitler's ap-
proval. All profits were donated to charity. The Book of
the Month Club offered it as a main selection, but had
to downgrade it to "alternate" because of lack of sub-
scriber interest. A number of short pamphlets and digests
highlighting Mein Kampf's true nature did achieve sales
in the hundreds of thousands, including one prepared by
Alan Cranston, who later became the senior Senator
from California. (The American publishers of Mein
Kampf sued Cranston's publishers over copyright in-
fringement. This became the basis for an enduring pop-
ular legend that Cranston was sued by Hitler.)
Hitler made any number of predictions in Mein
Kampf Some were wildly wrong; for example, he did
say that ultimately Japan and the United States would
go to war but he also asserted that Britain would be
Japan's principal ally in this struggle.
 HITLER'S NAIIES AID TITLES 17

birth register. He claimed that his father was one Johann

Georg Hiedler.
FOUR Despite the fact that Hiedler had been dead for twenty
years, Alois' s claim was accepted and Schicklgrober be-
Hitler's Names and Titles came Hiedler-which can be spelled several ways, in-
cluding the form Alois chose and Adolf made notorious.
... Schicklgruber seemed to him so uncouth, Alois's motive for the name change is obscure; evi-
so boorish, apart from being so clumsy and im- dence suggests a maneuver to obtain a legacy.
practical. Because the identity of Alois's father-Hitler's grand-
-AUGUST KUBIZEK, BOYHOOD
father-cannot be established, many myths have flour-
FRIEND OF HITLER
ished, including the one which asserts that Hitler was
part Jewish. There is no evidence to substantiate this,
and much to discredit it.
The significant point is simple. Hitler did not know
who his grandfather was and yet (or perhaps because of
Because
gree onHitler's career
the image depended to
he projected, an such a great
awkward de-
name this uncertainty, according to historians who have in-
would have been a severe handicap. Even the most obe- vestigated his psychology), a crackpot theory about ge-
dient and adoring of Nazis might have had difficulty netic purity became the basis of Nazi philosophy. Mter
saluting his Fuehrer with a crisp "Heil Schicklgrober!" Hitler came to power, a citizen who wished to prove he
Journalists in Austria, in the years when Hitler was was "uncontaminated" by non-German (most particu-
still only threatening to annex that country, were the first larly, Jewish) blood, had to be able to trace his lineage
to claim Hitler's real name was Schicklgrober. They at least through his grandparents, and this Hitler himself
meant to mock him, and to suggest he was illegitimate. could not do.
In fact, Hitler was born Hitler, but the truth about Schi-
. cklgrober is significant. AdoH
Schicklgrober was his grandmother's name, and she
was unmarried when her son Alois was born; thus, Hit- Hitler liked to point out that his first name was a con-
ler's father was named Alois Schiklgrober. It was not traction oftwo old German words, "Altha" and "Wolfa,"
until he was thirty-nine years old that he appeared at the which taken together mean Noble Wolf.
local church and asked that his name be changed in the "Herr Wolf" was the name he chose when it was nec-
essary for him to travel in secrecy in the early days of
16
Nazi Party intriguing. When he telephoned Winnifred
18 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler HITLER'S NAIIES Aln TITLES 19

Wagner, the great composer's daughter-in-law and an agreed to his demand and he was hailed as the Fuehrer.
important early supporter, he identified himself with a People closely associated with him continued to use
coy "Conductor Wolf calling." Another doting dowager nicknames and address him familiarly. Throughout his
addressed him as "my little wolfie." career members of his entourage usually referred to him
In later years, after he had pitched the world into war, as "der Chef," (the Chief).
he gave many of his field headquarters melodramatic As his power grew, he sought ways to further glorify
wolf designations-Wolf's Glen, Wolf's Lair, Were-
himself. Late in 1931, Party members were officially di-
wolf.
rected henceforth to address him always and as nothing
Finally, it is reliably reported that Hitler's self-
less than, "mein Fuehrer."
identification with wolves went so far that in moments
On January 30, 1933, Hitler acquired a new and very
of distraction he would absentmindedly whistle a favor-
significant title when President Hindenburg appointed
ite tune, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
him Chancellor of Germany. (The President was the
Chief of State, while the Chancellor ran the govern-
Ide ment.) A year and a half later, when Hindenburg died
In the early days, Hitler's associates often addressed him (of natural causes), Hitler eliminated the title of Presi-
with nicknames such as "Ade," "Adi" and "Ahi." In con- dent, assumed the powers of the office, and created a
versation, many used the familiar second person pro- new government title-Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor.
noun, "du," rather than the more formal "sie." (Later, Hitler said, "Anyone at all can be made a pres-
Behind his back, some Nazis referred to him as "the ident, but it's not possible to give the title of 'Fuehrer'
Manitou." "Manitou" is an American Indian term for a to a nobody.")
kind of haunting spirit, often malevolent. At the end of June 1934, Hitler secured his power
with a brief but thorough wave of murders known as the
Blood Purge. Its victims included opponents outside the
fIeInr
Party but it was principally directed against a Nazi fac-
"Fuehrer" means Leader. In July, 1921, Hitler quit the tion making demands he found inconvenient. The most
Nazi Party in a dispute over policy, saying he would prominent member of this faction was Ernst Roehm"
return only if he were acknowledged as the Party's leader of the brown shirt Storm Troopers and formerly
Leader without question. Since it was Hitler's single- a close Hitler associate.
minded energy and oratorical power which had earned After these murders, no one used the familiar "du" in
the obscure Party any attention at all, the members addressing Hitler.
 HITlER'S NAIIES AID TITlES 21
20 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler
ing him. Like the Nazis who would survive the war, he
Grofaz was already ducking the blame.
In the end, Goebbels apparently decided there was no
In the wake of the conquest of France in June 1940, Fuehrer, no Leader, but Adolf Hitler. Within hours after
Hitler's sycophantic underlings competed in their gush- Hitler's suicide, Goebbels killed himself, as did his wife.
ing compliments. Foremost among these was his Chief Before this final act, which they regarded as proving
of Staff, Field Marshal Keitel, who dubbed Hitler their devotion to their Fuehrer, this monstrous couple
"Grosster Feldherr aller Zeiten" (Greatest Commander
poisoned their children.
of All Time)-commonly contracted to "Grofaz."
Thereafter, Hitler gurgled with pleasure when he was
thus addressed or when the term was skillfully dropped
within earshot.
In 1942, Hitler assumed one more title, "Oberster Ger-
icttshel"
'" " which means Supreme Judge. His word was
now quite literally the law. This of course only formal-
ized a situation which had prevailed for years.
By 1943, it was becoming increasingly clear to every-
one that the Nazi cause was doomed, or at least Hitler
was. An English journalist noted that Propaganda Min-
ister Goebbels wasn't using the word Fuehrer nearly as
much as he once had in his articles and speeches. In-
stead, the term "Fuehrung" often appeared. "Fuehrung"
means the Leadership, of which the Leader is only a
part. Was Goebbels preparing the public for something?
After the war, it was learned that when complaining to
his inner circle about the course of the war, Goebbels
often muttered, "If I were the Fuehrer ... "
Fortunately for Goebbels, no one seem~ to have men-
tioned these mutterings to Hitler. As for the public use
of Fuehrung, Hitler was getting to the point where he
no longer wanted to take responsibility for what was
happening. Routinely, he complained that his Generals
were letting him down, not following his orders, betray-
...-

THE NAZI SWASTIKA 23

19208, Hanfstaengl departed from the usual repertoire

with a sampling of music Hitler had never heard be-
fore-the marches used at halftime in American football
FIVE
games. Hanfstaengl described college cheerleading and
"the deliberate whipping up of hysterical enthusiasm."
The Nazi Swasti~a He told Hitler about the thousands of spectators being
led in roars of, "Harvard, Harvard, Harvard, cab, cab,
A new age of magic interpretation of the world
cab!" and about "the hypnotic effect of this sort of
is coming.
thing."
-HITLER Hitler was wildly enthusiastic. "That is it, Hanf-
staengl, that is what we need for the movement, mar-
velous." And as he said this, Hitler "pranced up and
down the room like a drum majorette."
Hanfstaengl concludes his account of this extraordi-
Hitler imagined
but when himselfwere
the Nazis a great
just originator, a genius,
getting started and
nary episode by saying, " ... 'Rah, cab, cab!' became
needed their own slogans and symbols, he seemed in- 'Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil!'-that is the origin of it and I
capable of actually creating anything. He was, however, suppose I must take my share of the blame."
good at borrowing and adapting. Some of his sources
are surprising.
Heil Hitler

Sieg Heil!
At one time, using "Heil" (Hail) as a greeting was com-
pletely free of sinister connotation. Merely an enthusi-
... means "Hail Victory!" An essential element of the astic form of "Hello," it was a customary salutation in
huge Nazi rallies was the repeated, coordinated shouting Austria and Bavarian Germany, where the Nazi Party
of phrases like "Sieg Heil" and "Heil Hitler." Hitler got got started.
the idea for this from an old American custom. In the Party's early days, Nazis commonly used the
His friend Ernst Hanfstaengl, although German, had Heil greeting among themselves, as in "Heil Hanf-
been sent by his parents to study at Harvard. He also staengl" or "Heil Ludecke." In time, the phrase "Heil
happened to be a skilled amateur pianist, and Hitler fre- Hitler" became a kind of insider's password by which
quently had him play the Wagner melodies he found Nazis made themselves known to one another. Ulti-
relaxing and inspiring. One night, sometime in the early mately, as part of establishing an exalted status for Hit-
ler, it was ruled improper for anyone but him to be
22 addressed with "Heil."
....

24 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler THE NAZI SWASTIKA 25

After the Nazis came to power, "Heil Hitler" was des-

IIZi
ignated the official "German greeting," to be used by all
citizens in all communications, verbal and written. This Apocryphal tales surround the word, "Nazi"; the truth is
directive was widely obeyed, usually with genuine en- simple and straightforward.
thusiasm. The group Hitler joined in late 1919 was called the
German Workers' Party. Four months later, to show its
HiDer Salute
affinity with other radical nationalist organizations, the
group added a designation used by many of them-Na-
The rigidly outstretched right arm salute was copied tional Socialist. Thus, the still small organization ac-
from the Italian Fascists of Benito Mussolini, who was quired its long name-National Socialist German
firmly in power by the end of 1922, when Hitler still Workers' Party.
only dreamt of ruling Germany. Indeed, for years, Hitler Hitler wanted to dump all this and use the simpler
was routinely identified in American and English news- "Social Revolutionary Party" but he was not yet in con-
papers as the German Mussolini. trol. By the time he was, he was stuck with the unwieldy
Hitler bragged that he could hold the salute far longer name.
He and fellow members called themselves National
than any of his subordinates and at ceremonies and re-
views did exhibit a remarkable endurance. Contempo- S~ialists; "Nazi" was a common and not inherently de-
rary legend ascribed this to a collapsible spring support rogatory contraction of this.
under his jacket sleeve. However, American reporters broadcasting from Ger-
It is certain that it was highly dangerous for bystand- many before the war were ordered to drop the term and
ers not to give the Nazi salute when Hitler's Storm to always employ "National Socialist" instead. The Ger-
mans had come to the conclusion that as a word, Nazi
Troopers paraded through a city's streets. The marchers
had "a bad sound" in America and that getting rid of it
would break ranks and attack any who thus failed to
would improve their image.
show their respect, often beating them senseless. This
happened so commonly that American tourists were
warned by the American Ambassador to either give the TH1I Reich
salute or get off the street when they saw a parade com-
Hitler's regime is often referred to as the Third Reich.
ing. a term vigorously promoted by Propaganda Minister
Goebbels. "Reich" means "Empire." The first Reich was
the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages; the second,
the one established by Bismarck and ended by Ger-
many's defeat in 1918.
r-

26 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler THE NAZI SWASTIKA 27

Hitler himself rarely referred to his rule as the Third in a church in the town of Lambach. The bishop of Lam-
Reich, and at the beginning of World War II actually bach's coat of arms included a swastika, and one was
outlawed its use. He spoke simply of the Reich, as carved above the pulpit.
though there had never been another. August Kubizek, his boyhood friend, reports that Hit-
Nazi propaganda also described the regime as the ler again encountered the ancient symbol while reading
Thousand Year Reich. This term has a particularly lethal about Nordic gods and early German tribes and thought
history. In June 1934, a year and a half after becoming it important. "Adolf said at that time that the German
Chancellor of Germany, Hitler ordered the wave of as- people needed a symbol which would represent the basic
sassinations and executions called the Blood Purge, di- concept of Germandom."
rected principally at rivals within the Party. He excused After the First World War, Hitler toyed briefly with
these murders by saying his rivals had been plotting rev- the idea of writing a "monumental history" of mankind.
olution, and promised there would be no further up- He scribbled a brief outline for this and when he
heavals in Germany for a thousand years. In fact, of sketched the design fora cover, he included a swastika
course, his Reich lasted little more than twelve years. flag.
However, the swastika was not a great Hitler discov-
De Swastika ery. It had been used for years by many of the radical
right-wing groups which flourished throughout Germany
A tremendous amount of nonsense has been written and Austria. The Nazis were among the last to pick it
about the purported occult power of the emblem the Na- up but then Hitler did make every effort to employ it to
zis adopted as their own-the swastika. This sort of maximum effect, lavishing his personal attention on de-
thing pleased Hitler very much because he knew people signing the badges, flags, standards and armbands fea-
were awed by mystery, and swayed by it. turing it. He insisted it always be a black swastika set
In fact, the swastika is an ancient symbol, most prob- in a white circle and-most importantly-the back-
ably meant to represent the sun wheeling across the sky. ground must always be red. That was the color that cap-
It first appeared in ancient India, is found in cultures tured people's attention, he said, adding this was
throughout the world, and-until the Nazis got hold of something he had learned from the Socialists.
it-was regarded for thousands of years as a symbol of In time, the swastika and Nazism were synonymous.
good fortune. (In some mythologies, a swastika whose On March 12, 1933, six weeks after he became Chan-
arms point to the left instead of the right signifies dark- cellor, Hitler announced that henceforth whenever the
ness and evi1.) German flag was displayed, the swastika flag of the Nazi
Hitler may have first seen a swastika (arms pointing Party would fly alongside it.
right) at the age of seven, while taking singing lessons Finally, at the annual Party Rally in Nuremberg in
...

28 A ConciseBiographyof Adolf Hitler

September 1935, he decreed that the swastika alone

would represent both the Party and the nation. The one-
party state was firmly established. (At the same time, the SIX
notorious "Nuremberg Laws" were promulgated, forbid-
ding marriage between Jews and non-Jews, and depriv- Henry Ford's Nazi Medal
ing all German Jews of citizenship.)
Henry Ford-to Europeans, the incarnation of
wealth in its alluring bulk.

-KURT LUDECKE, HITLER AIDE

Inof 1937, Hitler created

the German a special new
Eagle Order-for medal-the
foreign Cross
friends of the
Reich. The first American to whom it was awarded was
Henry Ford.
Consisting of a Maltese cross bracketed with four ea-
gles and four swastikas, it was clearly a Nazi medal and
although its presentation to Ford was ostensibly only to
honor him on his seventy-fifth birthday, it may have re-
ally been acknowledgment for past services rendered to
the Nazi cause.
The connection between Hitler and Ford went back at
least fifteen years. In 1922, a reporter visiting Nazi head-
quarters in Munich noted that a large portrait of Ford
hung on the wall beside Hitler's desk.
Without question, Ford and Hitler had something in
common, at least at that time. They both hated Jews.
Ford had bought an American newspaper, the Dearborn
Independent, and used it to publish a long series of ar-

29
r""

HENRY FORD'S NAZI MEDAL 31

:II A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler

tides which claimed that for centuries Jews had been ler, he would have been financing revolution.
systematically conspiring to destroy Christian civiliza- It must be said that despite renewed assertions in the
tion. 1beir crimes, Ford insisted, included starting the wake of the uprising-and a U.S. Congressional inves-
First World War. tigation-no concrete evidence was ever found proving
The Dearborn Independent was a small town paper that Hitler had received money from Ford. In 1927, Ford
when Ford bought it but achieved a nationwide circu- professed a change of heart and disavowed his anti-
Semitism.
lation of nearly 750,000 a week, in large part because
Ford dealerships throughout the country were required However, eleven years later, in April 1938 and well
to seH it. into the rapid Nazi rearmament, when Hitler asked him
Eventually, the Independent's anti-Semitic articles to build a truck and automobile assembly plant in Berlin,
were collected and published under the title, The Inter- Ford agreed. Construction was soon under way, and in
national Jew. The German translation became a best- July Ford was awarded his swastika-studded Cross of
seller. the German Eagle Order.
Hitler was enthusiastic about The International Jew, In October of that year, another famous American re-
had copies prominently displayed at Nazi headquarters, ceived the Cross-Charles Lindbergh. It wasn't anti-
and ultimately ordered it translated into a dozen other Semitism or industrial support that endeared Lindbergh
languages and distributed throughout the world. to Hitler, but a convergence of views on American for-
There may have been an even more sinister connec- eign policy and Nazism. Lindbergh said repeatedly and
tion between Ford and Hitler. Rumors circulated in the publicly that the United States ought to stay out of Eu-
early 1920s that Ford was pouring money into the Nazi ropean affairs, by which he meant the United States
Party; the story was plausible enough for the senior ought not to oppose Hitler.
American Vice Consul in Munich to visit Hitler in per- He said any such intervention would be doomed be-
son and ask about it. cause Germany's air power made her unbeatable, and in
Hitler denied the rumor but his words suggested he any event he evidently didn't think Hitler was evil and
was hopeful. He said, "Mr. Ford's organization has so dangerous because he argued that Nazism might well be
far made no money contributions to our Party." superior to democracy as a form of government.
It was soon clear that had contributions been uncov- Hitler could not have invented a more perfect propa-
ered, the United States would have been involved in a gandist.
serious international incident. About eight months after Undoubtedly, neither Ford nor Lindbergh knew what
the Vice Consul's visit, Hitler attempted the violent Hitler really thought of the medal he gave them, the
overthrow of the government which became known as Cross of the German Eagle Order. In a private conver-
the "Beer Hall Putsch." If Ford had been financing Hit- sation with his cronies, he made a remark that was an
32 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler

extraordinary combination of nationalistic arrogance and

penny-pinching. He said he had created the special
medal so no purely German decoration would be defiled
by being given to a foreigner. Also, "this new decoration SEVEN
will be a lot cheaper than the gold or silver cigarette
cases which the Reich was formerly wont to present to The Fuehrer's Volkswagen
foreigners."
The Volkswagen-and I think our war experi-
In his heart, Hitler almost always had contempt for
ences justify us in saying so-is the car of the
those who served him.
future.

-HITLER

A year after Show

lin Auto takingof
power,
1934Hitler announced
that he would doatfor
the Ger-
Ber-
many what Henry Ford had done for America-<:reate a
mass-produced car anyone could afford. The result was
the Volkswagen beetle, the biggest selling car of all time.
Hitler had always been fascinated by automobiles, al-
though he never learned to drive one. He used chauf-
feurs, claiming he dared not drive because of his
political prominence. In the event of an accident. he said,
the blame would inevitably fallon him. Perhaps this was
his sole motive but it is quite likely that he refused to
attempt driving for the same reason he rarely undertook
anything new. Learning to drive would have meant a
period of awkwardness and failure. Hitler believed a
man who intended to rule the world should never be seen
falling short in any respect. He must appear infallible,
always and at everything.
33
 THE FUEHRER'S YOLKSWAGEI 35
34 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler
Germans, the idea of producing an automobile the av-
Hitler's interest in cars was so great as to be one of
erage German could afford did not originate with Hitler.
the few things which could distract him from his politi- Ferdinand Porsche, famous for his high performance
cal career. In the years when he was campaigning for
cars, had been developing a "people's car" (volkswagen)
power, he traveled incessantly throughout Germany, for some time when he was summoned for a meeting
speaking at rallies and meetings; but sometimes, when with the Fuehrer in May 1934.
he arrived in a town he had not been in before, he failed
Hitler looked over Porsche's designs and ordered
to show up for the scheduled appearance. The aides who
changes, directing the car be air-cooled and that it be a
went looking for him did not bother with bars or broth-
four-seater so it could serve as a family car. It was at
els. They knew they would find him browsing at the
local automobile dealer's showroom. this meeting that he also gave the VW its characteristic
At first he could afford only used cars but as his fi- shape, and one of its most famous nicknames. For the
sake of streamlining, he said it "should look like a
nancing improved, Hitler moved up to new cars-al-
beetle."
ways Mercedes, and always powerful. On one occasion,
in Nuremberg, when he was bragging about his latest Because almost everything Hitler did was destructive
200 h.p. acquisition, two colleagues challenged him, and repulsive, it may seem inconsistent that he was ca-
claiming that on ordinary roads, with curves and traffic, pable of suggesting anything useful. He may have just
all that power would give him no advantage. Hitler took gotten lucky on this. During the war, he decided that
the dare and granted the two a fifteen-minute head start naval designers erred when they put propellers at the rear
on the road back to Munich. of ships. The Navy at the time had its hands full with,
They raced off but soon realized Hitler was catching among other things, the Battle of the Atlantic and trying
up, so when they got to the next town they turned off to supply the North African campaign, but Hitler ordered
the road and hid behind a church. The trick worked. resources be devoted to the building of a ship with its
Hitler roared by and kept going. After he had cleared screws along the side.
the town, the challengers got back on the road and, keep- The project was a flop. Indeed, Hitler's ideas about
ing out of sight, trailed him as he spent the rest of the science and technology-and his insistence in exerting
day in a frustrated attempt to pass them. Later, in Mu- his will in these areas-proved to be a substantial hand-
nich, when they confessed what they had done, he icap in the development of advanced weapons which
stalked off in anger. might have changed the outcome of the war (see chapter
28, "Hitler's Atomic Bomb").
TIle Is lien Although Hitler did have some good ideas about the
Volkswagen, the official name he chose was not one of
Although Volkswagens became so closely associated them. Porsche wanted "Volkswagen" but Hitler insisted
with him as to be popularly dubbed "Baby Hitlers" by
r""

THE FUEHRER'S VOLKSWAGEN 37

36 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler

marks was roughly the equivalent of $400.

on "KdF-Wagen." KdF was a contraction of the German
Ultimately, more than three hundred thousand Ger-
words meaning Strength Through Joy.
mans subscribed for the new car. Some, no doubt, sub-
The Strength Through Joy program provided vaca-
scribed with optimism; others were only obeying the
tions, recreational facilities and other amenities that were
unwritten rules of life in a totalitarian state.
supposed to make life beautiful for German workers and
The total number of Volkswagen cars actually pro-
their families. The program achieved some popularity
duced before the war barely exceeded two hundred, and
but many Germans referred to it by another phrase the
initials of which are also KdF-Kotz durchs Fenster- these were given to top Nazi officials, including Hitler.
His was kept at his mountain estate near Berchtesgaden
which means Vomit Through the Window.
because it was particularly well suited to the steep, nar-
At some point, Hitler gave up and began using row roads.
"Volkswagen" himself.
It was Hitler's habit each day to walk from the
Berghof, his chalet, to a small tea house nearby. When
Handmade Models Only it was time to return to the Berghof, he often called for
The first, hand-built Volkswagens were shown in 1938, his chauffeur and his Volkswagen. (It was grayish-blue
in color, as were all the VWs.)
four years after Hitler announced the program, but they
As Hitler pursued his bellicose foreign policy, the
were not available to the public.
German public began to suspect the Volkswagen factory
Asked when they would be, the German Press Attache
might not be making what the customers were paying
in Washington joked that the VW ought to be called
"Christ" because "everyone talks about Him without for. A new joke circulated: a worker at the VW plant
decided he would get a car for himself by sneaking out
having seen Him."
the parts and assembling them at home. Imagine his sur-
To get the Volkswagen into mass production, the Na-
prise, went the story, when he was done and found the
zis came up with a unique twist on time-payment. In-
stead of the customer making a down payment, getting finished product was not a family car, but a motorized
gun carrier.
the car, and then paying it off, Germans were expected
By the time the main Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg
to pay the full price in advance and thus underwrite the
was fully operational, there was no question of its pro-
production. People who elected to do this were given a
ducing cars for civilians. Instead, the plant began turning
booklet into which they were to paste stamps they re-
out the German equivalent of the Jeep, called the Kubel-
ceived in return for a weekly 5-mark payment. After four
wagen ("Bucket Car"). Years after the war, this model be-
years and eleven months of this, they would have paid
came a great commercial success, marketed in the U.S. as
the full sales price of 990 marks (plus 200 marks for
''The Thing." During the war the factory also produced a
insurance), and the car would be theirs. A thousand
r'
38 A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler

version of the Kubelwagen called the Schwimmwagen,

for amphibious operations. It had a sealed, waterproof
body and a retractable propeller (in the rear). EIGHT
The factory also produced airplane parts and at one
point was assembling sixty V-I "buzz bombs" a day. Backstage Hitler
The V-I, the first of Hitler's "Vengeance Weapons," was
the pilotless robot jet used against London. Agitation, moral indignation, sympathy, shock,
A series of Allied bombing raids succeeded in putting sincerity, condolence, reverence-he had a
the VW factory almost completely out of operation by posture for everything.
August 1944. It was only after the war that bomb dis-
-ERNST VON WEISZACKER,
posal experts discovered how close one particular bomb NAZI DIPLOMAT
had come to putting an end to the Volkswagen forever.
It had scored a direct hit, falling right between the two
great turbines which powered the factory. An explosion
would have destroyed them and the Volkswagen car
would probably have become one of the "might have Hitler wanted
inspired. to beheseen
In fact, was as impulsive,
a cool emotional,
manipulator who
beens" of history. But there was no explosion. The direct carefully planned for maximum effect. He even had him-
hit had been a dud. self photographed after buying new clothes so he could
By the summer of 1945, the plant was back in pro- study his appearance from all angles. If the result was
duction, assembling a small number of Kubelwagens for unsatisfactory, the new clothes were discarded.
the occupying British. At the very end of the year, the When Hitler decided to change the style of his mili-
production of VW Beetles began. By March 1946, a tary hat, someone had an ingenious idea which spared
thousand cars a month were coming off the assembly him the modeling sessions. A wax sculpture of his head
line. was made and sent to the hat factory, where the various
The original three hundred thousand subscribers never styles were placed on it and photographed. But when the
got anything for their money, but by 1948, the VW was pictures were delivered to Hitler, he suspected a plot.
finally being offered through a regular dealership net- There was nothing wrong with the hats. It was the
work. wax head; the mustache on it was too broad-rather like
By the time production of the basic model was dis- Stalin's, in fact-and Hitler suspected he was being in-
continued in the middle of 1985, more than twenty mil- sulted.
lion had been sold ... none of them called KdF-Wagens,
39
but all of them shaped like beetles.