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"Hitler -- You knew him -- what was he like?"

I have been asked that question a thousand times since 1945, and nothing is more difficult to answer.


I can help.

By his stubborn ways, his sustained outbursts of anger, he often reminded me of a senile old man.

--Albert Speer
Interrogations, by Richard Overy
Page 105

[Hitler] consciously wanted to annihilate the German people and to destroy the last foundations of its existence.

--Albert Speer
Interrogations, by Richard Overy
Page 106

[Hitler] consciously wanted to annihilate the German people and to destroy the last foundations of its existence.

--Albert Speer
Interrogations, by Richard Overy
Page 106

This has the ring of truth to it.
:rolleyes:

This has the ring of truth to it.


That it is true helps.

By his stubborn ways, his sustained outbursts of anger, he often reminded me of a senile old man.

--Albert Speer
Interrogations, by Richard Overy
Page 105

Yes, and why did oh-so "clever" Mr. Speer then become a faithful follower and paladine of this "stubborn" person in the early 30s and followed the "senile old man" until he was dead? :p

[Hitler] consciously wanted to annihilate the German people and to destroy the last foundations of its existence.

--Albert Speer
Interrogations, by Richard Overy
Page 106

And why did he speak in the last sentence of his political testament the warning that the Germans should keep "scrupulous observance of the laws of race and to merciless opposition to the universal poisoner of all peoples, international Jewry." (highly prophetical!) Why does he speak there of the "renaissance of the national Socialist future" and about a new spirit, which will arise after centuries from the ruins of the towns and monuments? Why did he after all appoint a government for the time after him to take care of the now following necessaries? Someone who "consciously wants to annihilate the German people and destroy the last foundations of its existence" shouldn't do that, should he?
Also in the "Bormann Protocolls" Hitler very well draws a picture of the future political landscape of Germany and Europe and speaks of the possibility that in 100 years or so some new genius will lead Grmany and NS to new greatness.

Ian Kershaw e.g. rejects that whole "Hitler wanted to annihilate at the end the German people" theory. The only evidence for that are a few alleged, dubious utterances transmitted by Speer.

Norgau,
I find this selective quoting from ian kershaw to be amusing.
If you put store in kershaw as an oabjective historian how about some of his other conclusions regarding the Fuhrer , some of which you will not find so easy to serve your rose tinted view of Hitler.
Hitler did want to operate a scourched earth policy which Speer resisted.
Hitler did say that the german people had proved themselves unworthy of him.
Did Hitler ver visit a single city the day or night after it had been bombed , No , not once.
As far as a new genius coming forweard , Hitler was an oportunist , not a genius , the words " some new " suggests that there was a first genius.
If you suggest Hitler was a genius , well he screwed up pretty badly , would you not say ?

I find this selective quoting from ian kershaw to be amusing.
If you put store in kershaw as an oabjective historian how about some of his other conclusions regarding the Fuhrer , some of which you will not find so easy to serve your rose tinted view of Hitler.

Some of Kershaw's analysis are reasonable and sound, others are not.

Hitler did want to operate a scourched earth policy which Speer resisted.

The "scourched earth policy" had in fact to do with the destruction of all ressources and infrastructure that could be useful for the Allies. So what?

Speer's self-stylizing attitude has been refuted to great parts by researches of historians Matthias Schmidt, Gitta Sereny and Dan van der Vat, partly also by the latest Speer biography of Speer's friend Joachim Fest. Also Speer tales like e.g. that he speculated killing Hitler in his bunker with gas are highly doubted by historians today.

Hitler did say that the german people had proved themselves unworthy of him.

Says Speer. Maybe Hitler said in his last days, when the war was lost, something of that kind that the Germans at last have been to weak to manage his great enterprise. So what? In his political testament as well as in the Bormann Protocolls he speculates quite much about an ultimate future of the Germans and a new spirit arising from the ruins. The claim that Hitler wanted to "annihilate" the Germans and worked for its final destruction has not much basis.

Did Hitler ver visit a single city the day or night after it had been bombed , No , not once.

What has that to do with an alleged attitude of Hitler trying to annihilate the Germans? It was after all the Anglo-Americans destrying German cities, not Hitler.

As far as a new genius coming forweard , Hitler was an oportunist , not a genius ,

If he would have been an opportunist, he wouldn't have made his own thoughts and conclusions and taken up the struggle against interior and esterior enimies, but just would have gone with the common ideologies and powers and especially with Jewry.

the words " some new " suggests that there was a first genius.
If you suggest Hitler was a genius , well he screwed up pretty badly , would you not say ?

The failure of a genius doesn't take away one little part of his geniusness, just as the triumph of meanness and amorality doesn't noble them.

Norgau, I see kershaw being demonised here on a regular basis , I see your use of him as" cherry picking ", which is hardly objective.

Speer , I am sure he wanted to put himself forward as best he could.
"Albert Speer His Battle with the Truth" .
Destroying Germany when the war was already lost so completely , was there much left that was vital which could be destroyed.
Hitler showing any concern for the suffering of the people might show that he was not going to eliminate them perhaps ?
All the same he never once visited a single bombed city to show solidarity with the people.

Hitler had an eye for the main chance , cunning , ruthless , dishonest , he was all of these things.
I would not regard him as a genius , if anything he was a psychopathy / sociopath.