Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris

expert eye over the entire typescript.
    Two German scholars had the most profound influence on my work, and I would like to express my especial gratitude to them here. I had the privilege of working for a time with the late Martin Broszat, Director of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, and profited immensely both from his expertise and from his inspiration. Working in Munich in the late 1970s under his guidance was a formative experience for me. A second crucial influence has been that of Hans Mommsen, formerly of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, with whom over many years now I have enjoyed good friendship as well as continued scholarly dialogue. When I first told Hans that I had decided to write a biography of Hitler, his immediate response was: ‘I wouldn’t, if I were you.’ I fear the biographical approach to Hitler is not one he will ever find fruitful. But even where our interpretations of Hitler differ, I hope he will detect unmistakable traces of his own influence on my approach. My admiration for his own scholarly achievement goes hand in hand with my most sincere thanks.
    Some friends have contributed more than they perhaps realize. This applies especially to the late William Carr, and to Dick Geary, as it does to Joe Bergin, John Breuilly, Joe Harrison, Bob Moore, Frank O’Gorman, and Mike Rose. Not least, it applies to Traude Spät.
    The support I have received from the University of Sheffield, especially from my colleagues in the Department of History, which I have felt privileged to be part of over the past few years, has been of great importance to me. Above all, I would like to thank Beverley Eaton for her quite exceptional help and encouragement during the entire period that I have been writing this book, and even before that arduous task began.
    Finally, as always, I would like to thank my family for all they have done to make this work possible. Only Betty, David, and Stephen know the full extent of my debt of gratitude.
    I. K.
April 1998

1
FANTASY AND FAILURE

‘When the postmaster asked him one day what he wanted to do for a living and whether he wouldn’t like to join the post-office, he replied that it was his intention to become a great artist.’
    A neighbour of the Hitler family in Urfahr
‘I was so convinced that I would be successful that when I received my rejection, it struck me as a bolt from the blue.’
    Hitler, on failing his entry examination to study
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna



2
DROP-OUT

‘Wherever I went, I now saw Jews, and the more I saw, the more sharply they set themselves apart in my eyes from the rest of humanity.’
    Hitler, in
Mein Kampf
‘In those days Hitler was by no means a Jew hater. He became one afterward.’
    Reinhold Hanisch, a friend of Hitler in 1909–10

3
ELATION AND EMBITTERMENT

‘Overpowered by stormy enthusiasm, I fell down on my knees and thanked Heaven from an overflowing heart for granting me the good fortune of being permitted to live at this time… There now began the greatest and most unforgettable time of my earthly existence.’
‘And so it had all been in vain… Did all this happen only so that a gang of wretched criminals could lay hands on the fatherland?… In these nights hatred grew in me, hatred for those responsible for this deed.’
    Hitler in
Mein Kampf,
on his feelings at
the beginning and end of the First World War

4
DISCOVERING A TALENT

‘I was offered an opportunity of speaking before a larger audience; and the thing that I had always presumed from pure feeling without knowing it was now corroborated; I could “speak”.’
    Hitler, in
Mein Kampf
‘Herr Hitler especially is, I might say, a born popular speaker who, through his fanaticism and his populist style in a meeting, absolutely compels his audience to take note and share his views.’
    One of the soldiers addressed by Hitler
at Lechfeld in August 1919
‘Goodness, he’s got a gob. We could use him.’
    Anton Drexler, leader of the DAP,
hearing Hitler speak for the first time, in September 1919

5
THE BEERHALL AGITATOR

‘The national workers’ party must provide the basis for the strong assault-force that we are hoping for… I’ve set up very capable young people. A Herr Hitler, for example, has become a motive force, a popular speaker of the first rank. In the Munich branch we have over 2,000 members, compared with under 100 in summer 1919.’
    Captain Karl Mayr to the exiled putschist
Wolfgang Kapp, 24 September 1920
‘Are you truly blind