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If you want to know how Hitler rose to Chancellor in Germany, read this book.


The writing flows and keeps the readers attention riveted. This is an important book and a must read for anyone interested to Nazi Germany.

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Haffner (the author) is able to take a look at ideas, and ideologies from a very neutral viewpoint and talk about them intelligently without emotional bias ("this is bad because Hitler believed in it"). If you want to understand the strange phenomenum -Hitler, this book is a must.

De book has as hypothesis that Hitler's actions could only lead to the ultimate defeat, but also that he tried to aggravate this defeat to make it as heavy as possible for the German people who had deserted him. Hitler had a two-pronged approach: on the one hand he wanted to fight a war for world rule, one the other hand he wanted to destroy as many Jews (and gipsies and homosexuals and mentally ill people) as possible. This last aim was in conflict with the first one because the people and infrastructure necessary for this left his generals with unsolvable problems. Also, Haffner shows that there were 2 opportunities (1938 and 1940) when Hitler could have come out with an enormous gain in territory if he could have been content with what he had achieved.
The only minor drawback of the book is in my opinion that, even though Hitler was the one who took all the decisions, he needed people to execute these decisions. Haffner brushes aside this side of things a little too easy, leaving Hitler as the sole criminal. Despite this drawback, this is till a very intriguing book.







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As the author points out (and as others such as Lucy Dawidowicz so famously in "The War Against The Jews'), this scapegoating effort was no only an expediency arising from the discontent and chaos of the Weimar years after World War One, but also a deep-seated cultural tradition extending back hundreds if not thousands of years. Indeed, questions regarding Jewish claims to citizenship had been hotly debated both officially and unofficially every place from the many legislative forums to the floors of the local pubs as long as anyone could recall. There was nothing new or novel about German prejudice against and antipathy for the Jews. And as he adds so succinctly, this was (and indeed is) a problem extending far beyond German borders. After all, we do well to remember that most European countries turned their backs on the problems of the Jewish émigrés attempting by the thousands to flee the coming horror in Nazi Germany. Indeed, many such as the Swiss and the French cooperated in handing over indigenous Jews to the German authorities during the war.
Moreover, the climate of blind indifference extended to the pulpits of the clergy, as well, and persistent rumors claim that the Pope himself was cognizant of the plight of the German and other European Jews and did little if anything to intercede. In fat, this book provides a yeoman's service by articulating and discussing a number of salient and competing interpretations, ranging from Daniel Goldhagen's controversial thesis enunciated in "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" to Christopher Browning's thesis as expounded in several recent books (see my reviews of both authors' works). Wistrich also recapitulates the differences between the so-called "intentionalist' and "functionalist' theories of the Holocaust, and as I have written elsewhere, I believe that while the evidence indicates a functional approach, I also believe that the same evidence is consistent with the idea that Hitler and the Nazis always intended to exterminate the Jews (along with all of the indigenous populations of the conquered territories to the east). All the functional argument really proves, as far as I can see, is that existential circumstances played into the execution of a standing policy which was a virtual cornerstone of Nazi social policy.
As someone professionally educated as a sociologist, I was fascinated by the author's discussion of the meaning of the Holocaust in terms of history, and the question as to whether or not it represented the "antithesis of Western Civilization" or its realization. This treads very close to a searing indictment made by sociologist Max Weber of the eventual drift of rationalism as practiced in western societies toward a kind of non-thinking and non-substantive form of the rational impulse, a shadow which contented itself with the forms and practices of rationalism but none of its intent and rigor. To the extent he was correct that such a society would become an "iron cage" imprisoning man and endangering everything good that he stood for, perhaps Mr. Wistrich is onto something here. Enjoy!

As the previous reviewer said, Wistrich does do a wonderful job of documenting his sources and I too got a lot of further reading and research ideas from this book.

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But, Hitler's Last Courier is making a difference. The message of the book is a magnificent paean to the honesty and integrity of the writer.
Armin Lehmann gives us a picture -- in meticulous, almost overly zealous, detail of how the Nazi machine worked in Germany. Idolatry of Hitler took over, became stronger than any religion, and all participants involved cheerfully allowed themselves to be brainwashed.
Little kids judged each others blondness, parents skillfully eliminated any non-Aryan ancestors from family trees. Armin Lehmann omits nothing. He even translates every military and youth-group term into English so that the reader will have a complete picture of the Nazi hierarchy.
As a youngster, it seems that duty and obedience -- part and parcel of many unsuccessful attempts to please his judgmental "SS"father -- were major priorities. And, on he went, to become a teen-age soldier, earning two Iron Cross medals for heroically saving his fellows even when he, himself, was grieviously wounded. His reward, at age 16, was being assigned as Courier in Hitler's final bunker.
So, why celebrate this book, this gray recount of Nazi bureaucracy, of Hitler's propaganda machine, of worship at the Nazi altar? What is there to gain from such an exposition?
In a word, everything!
Because at age 16, when Armin Lehmann was shown the carnage of the extermination camps, the residue of the ovens, the skeletal remains of both the dead and the barely living, he underwent a change that took charge of the rest of his life.
From that moment, he became a fierce advocate for non-violence, for peace, and a dedicated enemy of all hatred. And he has never stopped. He has given his heart and his soul to erasing even the most remote possibility that any kind of hate movement could ever arise again.
He pulls no punches, makes no attempt to deny guilt, fully accepts the karma that has painted his destiny as an activist.
This man is to be respected. Hitler's Last Courier was written for a reason. At this point in time, at this juncture between peace and a possibly deadly World War III, we must all heed the message his message.
This book is for all ages. Every potential skinhead, racist, Aryan Nation member, and homophobic kid on the block needs to read it, learn from it. History, in fact, does not need to repeat itself.

As I read this book, I remembered my own childhood during WWII. Growing up in California, learning hatred for the Japanese and Germans and blind patriotism for the USA. It never occurred to me to doubt or question just as it did not occur to Armin. He was a child and had no basis for comparison with what he was being told. When his lessons in courtesy and respect taught him to assist an elderly, blind Jewish woman across the street, an older teen beat him up to teach him a greater lesson about consorting with Jews.
By age sixteen as the war drew to a close, he was compelled to be a soldier in the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth). Wounded during his first engagement, he was assigned the role of courier for Artur Axmann (leader of the Hitler Jugend and, at the end of the war, commander of the Hitler Youth Home Defense Force which included a close-combat tank destruction brigade named after him).
Axmann took refuge in the cellars of the Party Chancellery in Berlin and Armin came with him - one of the last couriers of the Third Reich. He, like the other children bearing messages directly in the line of fire, was frequently wounded. Unlike most of the others, he survived.
Armin not only carried messages but assisted in the Infirmary with the wounded and in searching out supplies. When possible, he helped carry the bodies of the fallen back where they could be buried. It was also his role to take messages to Hitler, Bormann, Goebbels and others sheltered in the Fuehrerbunker.
In the final days, he and Axmann moved into the bunker complex where Armin witnessed the events surrounding the wedding and the suicide of the leader that he had so admired and followed. As I saw Hitler from Armin's eyes I realized what a pathetic, though evil, person he was. I was struck by the kindness Eva Braun showed to the exhausted young boy. What would lead a woman like this to marry a man like Hitler - to go to death with him?
This was a fascinating book because of the insight into the day-to-day life of a soldier in war, the molding of a young mind to believe things that were terribly wrong, the horror and tragedy of war for men, women, children and animals, the final days of men whose names after 60 years still send chills, and as a powerful reminder of the importance of a democracy, a free press and an open society.

For Russian tanks rumbled up the street behind him as he ran for dear life, their guns firing after him ...
Such is the essentially final, certainly climactic scene, set in mid-1945, of "Hitler's Last Courier"; whereas Lehmann's memoirs begin with also often horrifying family scenes, dominated by his overbearing Nazi father, dating from the early 1930s.
The whole 15-year span deserves our study and understanding, for only by realizing the bitterness of such a brutal upbringing can we appreciate the realities of its consequences such as the boy's simultaneous hatred of and avid desire to please his father, and his suceptibility to brainwashing and the acceptance of rank misinformation.
Even as young Armin's perspective outgrew his family's heavy influence, there was precious little relief; for now the state's constant oppression, hypocrisies, and lies could simply take over mastery as the dominant theme in his life, leading even to war.
Our word "incredible" is badly overworked, and for someone like myself, born in 1932 and still able to recall both prewar times and the vast changes that swept over us even in Canada from Sept. 1939 onward - for instance, the loss of my dear cousin Leslie over the English Channel in 1940, and those stabs of fear as German U-boats torpedoed ships and killed men right here in the St. Lawrence River - I unfortunately know all too well how tragically credible this book really is.
Buy the work, then, by all means! - together with such overview works as Sir Winston Churchill's compendious non-fiction series (for its broad perspectives as much as anything) and Erich Maria Remaque's war fiction (for its complementary human insights), if you are able.
I do however hope to see a Second Edition someday, providing photos, maps, and a table of major events during the period covered.
The present edition is a marvel; the next will surely excel, although a roomfull of books would be needed to tell the entire tale of such a massive, far-reaching conflict as World War II.

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Blitzkrieg is defined as 'a swift, sudden military offensive, usually by combined air and land forces'. Deighton adds - 'and as evolved by Heinz Guderian and used by his forces', giving credit to the man who perfected the concept. Indeed, the German breakthrough at Sedan in May 1940 (see Part 4 'The Battle of The Meuse') and the subsequent routing of the French army is a spectacular example of the use of Blitzkrieg. Offcourse any discussion about battles in France in 1940 must conclude with the Germans surrounding and trapping over 250,000 men of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the French coast near Dunkerque.
It is to do with Dunkerque that the most startling supposition emerges from the book. The introduction was written by Gen. Walther Nehring, who in 1940 was Guderians' Chief of Staff and was with him at Sedan. Nehring writes with conviction, and Deighton's arguments seem to support the view, that if not for a precipitous Halt Order by Hitler, the German forces could have captured the entire BEF. It is argued that the prospect of a 'Disaster at Dunkerque', rather than the miracle that we have come to know of, would have been too much for the British to stomach. The opportunity for sueing for peace and of obtaining an end to the war by May 1940, would have been a real possibility in such circumstances.

Dieghton points out that in May 1940 the only real difference between the German and allied armies was their leadership and tatics. Deighton gives a clear and easy to understand analysis tank warfare, as well as giving very good backgroung into the sorounding political and social situations that many WWII history books lack.

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From their humble beginnings, Bullock examines how Hitler and Stalin managed to gain positions of absolute power over their respective countries. Stalin is portrayed as an almost shadowy figure, spending his early career lurking in the background behind the public figure of Lenin, waiting his chance while expertly playing the game of power politics. Hitler, on the other hand, is depicted as a gambler, taking chances he wasn't expected to take, attempting to seize power through calculated boldness and his fiery public persona. With both men, however, Bullock stresses how they succeeded by going just a little farther than others, capitalizing on their enemies' perceptions of what they would and would not do.
Another comparison Bullock draws between Hitler and Stalin lies in the men's complete lack of anything that could appropriately be described as human feeling or comparison. To both, as Bullock says, other people were simply objects to be manipulated or obstacles to be eliminated. To Stalin the objective was getting and keeping power, to Hilter achieving his wild dreams of a German empire, with neither goal leaving any room for consideration of others. It seems to be this one characteristic, above all others, that Bullock sees as motivating the two dictators' action. The starving of the Russian peasants, the Holocaust, the purges, and the massive suffering of the war are all presented by Bullock as just extensions of Hitler's and Stalin's personal missions. He refers at one point to how casually Stalin was able to send to their deaths men with whom he had long worked, as if it required no more effort than the stroke of his pen. By discussing how easily both Hitler and Stalin brought such suffering upon others, Bullock provides a chilling view of just how inhuman these men were.
Bullock tells the tale of these two despicable, yet compelling figures with an expert balance of detatchment and emotion. Although he typically discusses his topic in a very matter-of-fact manner, he will occassionally pause and tell tales of the horrors of collectivization, or the purges, or the Holocaust, bringing an appropriate tone of righteous indignation to these events. Clearly, Bullock's intention in attempting to get inside these men's heads is to expose how truly evil they were, rather than attempt to put down some psychobabble to explain their actions. And one can't help but be moved in his epilogue, where he discusses his experiences in Jerusalem at the Holocaust memorials. If this book has a problem, it's its incredible density, but this is a very minor flaw. 4.5 stars.


Stalin was a creature of bureaucracy, the ultimate insider, someone who knew how to use the organization bonding the Communist Party together for his own rise to prominence and power, an increasingly clever, adroit, and masterful practitioner of power politics. He was nothing if not careful, cautious, deliberate, and shrewd. Hitler, on the other hand, was a gambler, a masterful politician, a bold, easily bored, and endlessly distracted dreamer whose natural ability to charm, captivate, and enchant helped him to rise by extraordinary means. In many ways, these men came to prominence in quite different ways; Stalin, by mastering the art of bureaucratic manipulation and quietly assuming key roles within the organization that gave him friendships, alliances, and information that he used masterfully to rise through the ranks of the faithful, and Hitler, the manic-depressive natural leader whose charismatic popular appeal and desperate, authoritarian, and often violent measures were used to gain political power through extraordinary means.
Yet Bullock shows how similar both men were in terms of the way they used their power once established to execute their national responsibilities, and in the way they ruthlessly pursued their goals without mercy, remorse or any concern for others who suffered for their sake. Both used extralegal means to maintain position, both cruelly purged potential rivals through purges or political overthrows. Both bordered on being psychotic; Hitler coming close to being declared certifiably insane, and Stalin by having all the symptoms of classic paranoia. Certainly both had personal histories that can most kindly be described as bizarre in terms of the ways in which they treated those close to them as well as the populace in general. Both also seemed convinced of their own central and unique role in terms of their country's destiny, and indeed each identified his own importance in terms of succeeding in accomplishing that historical mission. Also, both were guilty of massive crimes against humanity, both against the opposing forces they captured and their own subjects. Hitler persecuted German citizens who were Jewish, Gypsies, or otherwise "undesirables", while Stalin persecuted Ukrainians in general and peasant farmers in particular, not to mention the systematic purges of thousands of Army, Navy, and Air Force officers he or his cronies suspected of potential disloyalty.
This is a wonderful book in terms of its insights, unusual research sources, and provocative speculations regarding each of these two quite unique historical figures. The narrative carries itself in an entertaining, edifying, and comprehensible fashion, and his use of photographs and maps serves the text well. All in all, I would have to describe this book as a must-read for anyone seriously interested in how the personalities and characteristics of these two key leaders in 20th century history figured into the unholy calculus of madness and mayhem, otherwise referred to as World War Two. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

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Goebbels and Hitler were masterminds of this art and the book personifies their mastery of mass persuasion. In the photographs, Hitler is presented as a "normal guy" in civilian clothes, surrounded by adoring children at his retreat on the Obersalzberg. He is also presented as the omniscienet Fuehrer, presiding over mass rallies in Nuremberg, mesmerizing the audience. The photographs, all by Hitler's official photographer, Heinrich Hoffman, are excellent representations of a nation gone collectively mad, seduced by Hitler's paralyzing charisma.
One cautionary note: this book is not written by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The text is incidental and was certainly not penned by Goebbels, who scarcely appears in this book. Despite the misleading title, this is an essential book for anyone with an interest in how Hitler effectively and brutally utilized propaganda in the 30's.


It is both horrifying to read, because you know what happens even tually, but strangely fascinating, watching how the devil's mar- keter packaged him, complete with glowing testimonies from people coming from all walks of life. In all the photo ops, der fuehrer is shown smiling benevolently, as ecstatic crowds greet him. Yes there are the requisite baby-kissing, attentively listening to children, etc.
So, if you wish to study the black side of marketing and packag- ing a political figure-read this book. And remember it's lessons well when you are asked to vote for someone that is packaged a little too smartly.....there lurks no friend, but a savage mask- ing behind a sheep's clothes.
Well worth the price for it's historical value, as well as the wrenching reality that one has seen such slick packing of polit- ical figures before-remember The Selling of the President?

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Since then I have turned over a whole library trying to find an answer to that question. Three books go a long way toward explaining the phenomenon of Adolf Hitler: Ian Kershaw's two-volume biography; "Hitler's Table Talk" edited by John Toland; and now Frederic Spotts' "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics."
"Who is afraid of Adolf Hitler?" Frederic Spotts asks at the end of this extraordinarily revealing book. "Just about everyone," is his rhetorical response. Another question this book asks, tangentially, is "Who doesn't loathe Adolf Hitler?" Well, Hitler was personally responsible for the murder of millions of people and a war that destroyed Europe. All of this within living memory -- many of us were nurtured on the events of WWII. So how could any decent person admit to a shred of sympathy or even understanding for a monster like this Hitler? One would rather admit to sympathy for the Devil.
If you wish for any insight into a person's psychology, start with the music he likes and his taste in art. In this book Mr. Spotts makes the case that that these things were essential and central in Hitler's life and career and he does this convincingly. He also proves, to my satisfaction at least, that Adolf Hitler actually had some talent as a painter and an architect, not first-class by any means, but enough that he knew good stuff from trash and that he knew full well the "socialist" art produced during the Third Reich was trash. But one of the most revealing aspects of "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics" is what it reveals about us, the readers. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that much of the art and music and architecture Hitler liked, we like it too, and the stuff he didn't like, that turns us off also. Mr. Spotts concludes that Hitler's personality had many facets and the value of this book is that it forces us to look closely at them and open our eyes to the tiny glimmers of ourselves in there.

Though, as with any murderous tyrant, it pleased Hitler to grant indulgences. He allowed some artists in the Third Reich to get away with defiance that would have had anyone else killed. But these indulgences, Spotts observes, were not enough to inspire many of the artists who remained in Germany with anything approximating courage. Musicians like Richard Strauss and Wilhelm Furtwängler made huge accommodations and moral compromises with the Reich, relying on pathetically miniscule gestures to salve their consciences.
No-one who has not been in the same circumstances has the right to condemn them too easily, but at a time when extraordinary courage was called for they showed only human weakness. Though Strauss composed _A Hero's Life_ and Furtwängler conducted it, neither lived it. If we are tempted to believe that artists have special claims to virtue, or that interest in art is likely to lead a person towards virtue, then Spotts' book is an antidote for that sad illusion. Spotts is rightly hard on those artists who, like Karajan in particular, helped put a civilised gloss on Nazi barbarism.
It has been objected that to focus on the arts in the Third Reich instead of, say, the war in Russia or the Holocaust, is to trivialise the evil of Nazism. That view is mistaken. To focus on one part of a catastrophe where the horrors are more subtle is not to trivialise other, still more atrocious, aspects. Instead it is to show how its distinctive and chilling lack of humanity pervaded every aspect of Nazism. In focussing belated attention on the Third Reich's cultural politics, Spotts does not diminish our appreciation of the horror of fascism but enhances it.
Some information in Spotts' book may provide unwelcome news for vested intellectual interests. For example, Spotts exposes the rose-coloured portrait of Hitler in August Kubizek's _Adolf Hitler: Mein Judengfreund_ ("The Young Hitler I Knew"), showing it to be as fraudulent as the "Hitler" of Hermann Rauschning's imaginary dialogues. Hitler apologists have long clung onto "Kubizek's book", with - from their point of view - good reason given Kubizek's romanticisation of the young Hitler, but Spotts makes it clear that "Kubizek's" book was merely a ghostwritten hoax.
Another myth that is dying hard (though dying) is the one promoted by Köhler, Rose, Zelinsky et alia, claiming Hitler formed his political views and dreams out of composer Richard Wagner's operas and prose. Spotts shows that Hitler was indeed impressed at a young age by Wagner's opera _Rienzi_. But Hitler failed to note that in this early Wagnerian opera (Wagner himself dismissed _Rienzi_ as a "pecadillo of my youth") the Roman Tribune Rienzi becomes puffed up by the pride of his early successes, and is brought down by that unheeding arrogance. Rienzi fails to show compassion for those killed on either side, including his own, in Rome's brief civil war, preferring to spend his time and money on grand costumes and ceremonies, and he fails (eventually) to show mercy for those who fought against him. As a direct result of these failings he is overthrown by the Roman people: Wagner's actual message was obvious. It was Wagner's ill-luck that an evil lunatic, active a century after Wagner's opera was written, liked the sound his music made but failed to take note of his operas' meanings and messages.
But Hitler did eventually get Wagner's message, Spotts reveals, finding Wagner unpalatable after the defeat at Stalingrad brought home the lesson taught in Wagner's _Ring_ cycle: that pursuit of power destroys love and leads to moral degradation and downfall. From then Hitler could no longer bear to listen to Wagner, and in his last years turned instead to the schmaltzy operettas of Franz Lehar. There was no such person as "Wagner's Hitler", Spotts concludes; to Hitler, Wagner was only an opera composer. As an aside, Spotts noted that, Hitler excepted, the Nazi Party as a whole preferred Beethoven.
It would have been good to see more on the Reich's use of radio and film. Spotts hardly touches on Leni Riefenstahl's films, nor on films by other Nazi directors with similar amounts of artistic ambition, or pretension, but none of Riefenstahl's regrettable talent. The theatre under the Third Reich is also only barely covered. But in its central fields - music, painting and sculpture, and architecture including the abstract art of the autobahns - Spotts is comprehensive and authoritative.
Finally, it's important to note that Spotts is not being quite as ambitious as the book's blurb might suggest. Spotts does not "explain" Hitler, still less explain him away, by showing the extent of his artistic interests, and of his artistic disappointment. He writes only about one aspect of the great "catastrophe" (as Spotts called Hitler), but an aspect that contains considerable illumination on the whole.
Spotts provides a great deal of valuable information and insight on the arts in Hitler's Germany, with much that is (so far as I can tell) new and - mirabile dictu! - authoritative and reliable.
Cheers!
Laon
I knew that Spike suffered from depression, and I think in parts it was very apparent. The places that are especially poignant are when he relates a humorous tale, and then explain how he visited the place years later, and how the memories are too much for him to bear. In one particular paragraph he laments: "Oh, Yesterday, how you plague me!"
I love Spike Milligan and his comedy, and have read several run-of-the-mill internet bios on him but his own biography really brings him to life. A great read!