There is still a great deal to be learned about Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945). Had he notsimultaneously chomped down on a cyanide capsule while pulling the trigger on his WALTHER7.65 mm pistol which he had shoved into his mouth, the Fuhrer would be 133 years old today.Yet we know so little about his growth and development, personality, thoughts, and behaviors.We do not know who really resides behind his Fuhrer mask. Adding to this formidable dearth ofinformation of truths and facts, biography believes it knows him and his Perfect Plan for theNew Nazi Order well enough to educate. Hitler historians know that at best writing a biographyof Adolf Hitler is a precarious chore, elements that trigger disruptive controversy are often, ifnot generally, excluded, or simply blazed away in the bombing conflagrations of 1945.Today, general readers, WWII armchair buffs, serious aficionados, Hitler scholars,researchers, and writers are thankful for the republication of earlier books by Casemate andPen & Sword, Fronthill, Greenhill, and other publishers for their Hitler titles. Below are two(distributed by Casemate, and one new Hitler book from Harper of HarperCollins. From theseand seven such books to follow during the course of the week, readers will judge for
themselves the answer to this reviewer’s original question.
Reviewed and highly recommended by Don DeNevi“HITLER’S GIRL – The British Aristocracy and The Third Reich on the Eve of WWII”, by LaurenYoung. Harper/HarperCollins: 2022, 229 pages, hc; $29.99. This fascinating book by Lauren, anacademic and policy consultant specializing in U.S. security and defense, and lecturer at YaleUniversity in Political Science, presents for the first time an alternative history of pre-WWIIdemocracy. Lauren contributes case histories that augment the threat and danger posed by theBritish Fascists in the mid to late 1930s. An aspect of British history never fully told. Well, doneLauren.“HITLER’S LAST WITNESS – The Memoirs of Hitler’s Bodyguard”, by Rochus Misch, Introductionby Roger Moorhouse. Frontline Books, Pen & Sword, Ltd: 2014, 254 pages, hc; $29.99. Email:
[email protected] This memoir of one of Hitler’s elite bodyguards is priceless in that
ordinary buffs such as us are privy to an inner world hither unavailable to everyone. Equallyrevealing is Rochus Misch’s eyewitness descriptions of the last day of Hitler’s life, Misch’sbreak-out and capture, followed by his nine years in Soviet captivity, then his account ofreturning to Germany and beginning a new life. This reviewer was especially affected byChapter 15, “Negotiations and the Goebbel’s Children” — in short, Frau Magda, mother of all sixof the children, poisoned them all, one at a time. Writes Rochus, “How can one murder one’schildren? How can a mother murder her children? All six? ‘Mish, Mish, you are a fish’. I can stillhear their joyful children’s voices as they teased me when I jumped past. Such lovely kids. Howoften have I been asked later what I thought when Hitler died? ‘Finally,’ I thought. ‘Finally.Hitler is dead.’ The most dreadful thing I experienced in the bunker was not his death but ofthose children.’ I have come to terms with many things over the years, but never, never this.”“LIVING WITH HITLER – Accounts of Hitler’s Household Staff”, by Herbert Dohring, Karl WilhelmKrause, & Anna Plaim; Introduction by Roger Moorhouse. Greenhill Books, Pen & Swords Books:2018, 230 pages, hc; $34.95. Email: www.greenhillbooks.com. This fascinating collection ofmemoirs and interviews paints an intimate picture of Hitler by members of his household.These eyewitnesses were in a peculiar position connected to Hitler, but totally unconnected tothe world shattering events that were going on further afield. The reader in introduced toHitler’s daily routines, his valet, housekeeper, and chambermaid. Obviously, we get a deepersense of Hitler in close proximity, including intimate details of his habits, health, personalrelationship with Eva Braun, Martin Bormann, and military men who visited or arrived forconsultations.All three provide invaluable insights of the Fuhrer’s unusual psyche, contributing to our better
understanding who it really was behind the Hitler mask.
