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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2009
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.
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
5 Kubizek, , op. cit., pp. 43–44; cf. also p. 38.Google Scholar
6 Ludecke, Kurt, I Knew Hitler (New York, 1937), pp. 44, 58, 96–97Google Scholar; Frank, Hans, Im Angesicht des Galgens (Munich-Grafelfing, 1953), pp. 93–94Google Scholar; Dietrich, Otto, 12 Jahre mit Hitler (Munich, 1955), pp. 39, 249Google Scholar; von Krosigk, Lutz Graf Schwerin, Es geschah in Deutschland (Tübingen, 1951), p. 199Google Scholar; affidavit of Otto Meissner, chief of the Presidential Chancellery, July 8, 1946, Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal (hereafter cited as “IMT Trial”) (Nürnberg, 1947–1949), XLII, 402, 403Google Scholar. Ludecke was one of Hitler's earliest foreign agents. His discussion of Hitler for the period prior to 1933 for which I have drawn on it, has well met the test of time. Frank was for many years Hitler's legal adviser, Dietrich, his press secretary. Both their memoirs are manifest apologias and have to be used with some care. The book by Schwerin von Krosigk, Hitler's Finance Minister, while also something of an apologia, is written with noteworthy restraint and, on the whole, a much more reliable source.
7 Testimony of Funk, Walter, 05 4, 1946Google Scholar, IMT Trial, XIII, 83Google Scholar; Hitler, to Kubizek, , 08 4, 1933Google Scholar, Kubizek, , op. cit., p. 126.Google Scholar
8 Ludecke, , op. cit., p. 609Google Scholar; Frank, , op. cit., p. 129Google Scholar; Hitler's Secret Conversations 1941–1944 (New York, 1953), pp. 143, 182–83, 405–07.Google Scholar
9 Dietrich, , op. cit., pp. 41, 249.Google Scholar
10 Hitler's Secret Conversations, pp. 406–07Google Scholar; also Hoffmann, Heinrich, Hitler Was My Friend (London, 1955), p. 69Google Scholar. Hoffmann was for many years Hitler's personal photographer. His book, strongly biased in Hitler's favor, is disappointingly uninformative. Because of Hoffman's close and extended association with Hitler the book seemed useful to corroborate other sources in a few cases where there was no reason to question its accuracy.
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
15 Ibid., pp. 124–62.
16 Greiner, , op. cit., pp. 43–45, 64–65Google Scholar. Cf. Mein Kampf, pp. 53–54, 81, 96–98Google Scholar; Heiden, , op. cit., pp. 56, 63.Google Scholar
17 Kubizek, , op. cit., p. 13.Google Scholar
18 Ibid., p. 188; see also Mein Kampf, pp. 461–66.Google Scholar
19 Kubizek, , op. cit., pp. 188, 192.Google Scholar
20 Picker, Henry, Hitlers Tischgespräche im Fuhrerhauptquartier: 1941–42, ed. by Ritter, Gerhard (Bonn, 1951), p. 415Google Scholar. I have used the German edition of Hitler's table talk whenever the translation in Hitler's Secret Conversations seemed inadequate.
21 Kubizek, , op. cit., pp. 182, 244–45, 248–51Google Scholar; Greiner, , op. cit., p. 83.Google Scholar
22 Mein Kampf, pp. 106, 113, 234, 407–12, 485, 601–02, 665, 678–79, 850Google Scholar; Hitler's Secret Conversations, pp. 37, 140, 266Google Scholar; Zoller, A., Hitler Privat (Dusseldorf, 1949), pp. 187–88Google Scholar. This is apparently the pseudonymous account of the experiences of one of Hitler's private secretaries; Trevor-Roper, H. R. (Hitler's Secret Conversations, p. xiii, n. 5)Google Scholar believes her to be Fraülein Christa Schröder. Obviously the story of someone who belonged to Hitler's immediate entourage, the book is very informative. Its verifiable data proved accurate, and it commends itself also by its restrained, factual approach. Undoubtedly one of the most valuable sources on Hitler's private life for the years 1933–45.
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
24 Heiden, , op. cit., p. 77.Google Scholar
25 Hitler, to Assessor Hepp, 02 1915Google Scholar. Photostat copy in Rare Books Division of Library of Congress. The German term, vergöttern, which Hitler uses, is even more emphatic than the English to worship.
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.”
27 Hitler, to Hepp, , 01 22, 1915Google Scholar, loc. cit.
28 Frank, , op. cit., p. 93Google Scholar; Ludecke, , op. cit., pp. 517–18Google Scholar; testimony of Keitel, Wilhelm, 10 10, 1945Google Scholar, Office of the U. S. Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression (hereafter cited as “Nazi Conspiracy”) (Washington, 1948), Suppl. B, 1283Google Scholar; Haider, Franz, chief of the General Staff, 1938–42, 02 26, 1946Google Scholar, ibid., p. 1562; Schulte-Mönting, Erich, chief of Admiral Erich Raeder's staff, 05 22, 1946Google Scholar, IMT Trial, XIV, 314Google Scholar; von Krosigk, Schwerin, op. cit., p. 220Google Scholar; Guderian, Heinz, Erinnerungen eines Soldaten (Heidelberg, 1951), pp. 401–02Google Scholar. Guderian was chief of the General Staff during the last phase of World War II and appears to be a reliable witness.
29 Dietrich, , op. cit., pp. 251, 256Google Scholar; Zoller, , op. cit., pp. 13, 20Google Scholar; von Krosigk, Schwerin, op. cit., pp. 199, 205Google Scholar; testimony of Goring, Hermann, 03 16, 1946Google Scholar, IMT Trial, IX, 373, 389Google Scholar; Hossbach, Friedrich, Zwischen Wehrmacht und Hitler (Wolfenbuttel and Hanover, 1949), p. 17Google Scholar. Hossbach's book is a factually reliable account.
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.
31 Dietrich, , op. cit., p. 137Google Scholar; Lochner, Louis P., ed., The Goebbels Diaries (Garden City, 1948), p. 523.Google Scholar
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
34 Zoller, , op. cit., pp. 24–25.Google Scholar
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.
36 Zoller, , op. cit., pp. 13, 34Google Scholar; Hossbach, , op. cit., pp. 20, 24Google Scholar; Ludecke, , op. cit., p. 271Google Scholar; Guderian, , op. cit., p. 275Google Scholar; Linge, , loc. cit., 11 2, 1955, p. 2Google Scholar; Hoffmann, , op. cit., pp. 201–02Google Scholar; von Schlabrendorff, Fabian, Offiziere gegen Hitler, ed. by Gaevernitz, Gero V. S. (Zurich, 1946), pp. 47, 72, 76Google Scholar. Schlabrendorff's book is a first-hand account and by all critical standards a highly reliable one.
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.
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42 Guderian, , op. cit., p. 241Google Scholar; Zoller, , op. cit., pp. 115, 196Google Scholar; Tischgespräche, p. 347Google Scholar; Mein Kampf, p. 577.Google Scholar
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
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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
49 Jodl testimony, 06 7, 1946Google Scholar, IMT Trial, XV, 545Google Scholar; Frank, , op. cit., p. 96Google Scholar; Tischgespräche, p. 187.Google Scholar
50 Göring testimony, 03 16, 1946Google Scholar, IMT Trial, IX, 389Google Scholar; Admiral Gerhard Wagner, 05 13, 1946Google Scholar, ibid., XIII, 468–69.
51 Ribbentrop testimony, 10 5, 1945Google Scholar, Nazi Conspiracy, Suppl. B., 1242–43Google Scholar; Frank, , op. cit., p. 141Google Scholar; also Linge, , in Watertown Times, 10 24, 1955, p. 2.Google Scholar
52 Zoller, , op. cit., pp. 86, 103, 150, 232–33Google Scholar; Hoffmann, , op. cit., p. 226.Google Scholar
53 Quoted in Die Gegenwart, 07 30, 1955, p. 501.Google Scholar
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57 Address of Nov. 23, 1939, IMT Trial, XXVI, 329Google Scholar; see also his speech to commanders-in-chief on Feb. 3, 1933, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, II (1954), 435.Google Scholar
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