Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 (172 page)

72 
Karl Alexander von Müller,
Im Wandel einer Welt: Erinnerungen. Vol. 3: 1919–1932
, ed. Otto Alexander von Müller, Munich, 1966, pp. 302f.; see also the note from K. A. v. Müller: “Encountered Hitler repeatedly at the Bruckmanns. He had an immense but completely arbitrarily collected corpus of knowledge.” BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 101.

73 
Hess,
Briefe
, p. 346 (dated 23 July 1924). Rudolf Hess to his parents, 29 April 1927; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 39.

74 
See Schwerin von Krosigk’s essay on Hitler’s personality (
c
.1945); IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5; transcript of an interview with Heinrich Hoffmann dated 5 Dec. 1953; IfZ München, ZS 71.

75 
Wagener,
Hitler aus nächster Nähe
, p. 57. Müller (
Im Wandel einer
Welt, p. 303) wrote of a “Caliban-esque fury against the ‘arrogance of the educated.’ ” In conversation with Hans Frank, Hitler expressed his utter contempt for “the entire contradictory pretensions of professors and university priests” (
Im Angesicht des Galgens
, p. 47).

76 
Wiedemann,
Der Mann
, p. 194

77 
Hitler to W. Poppelreuther, 4 July 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde R 43 II/959. Hitler raised no objections to this letter being reprinted in Poppelreuther’s book,
Hitler, der politische Psychologe
(1933). Lammers to W. Poppelreuther, 10 Nov. 1933; ibid.

78 
Speer,
Spandauer Tagebücher
, p. 523, entry for 3 May 1960.

79 
Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus
, pp. 174, 176.

80 
See Wagener,
Hitler aus nächster Nähe
, pp. 180–2; Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus
, pp. 175f.

81 
Transcript of an interview with Mathilde Scheubner-Richter dated 9 July 1952; IfZ München, ZS 292.

82 
Schirach,
Ich glaubte an Hitler
, p. 31.

83 
Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus
, p. 49. See interview with Hermann Esser dated 16 March 1964, vol. 1: one of Hitler’s “passions,” which he never lost, was for black patent leather shoes. BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

84 
Hess,
Briefe
, p. 299 (dated 15 July 1923).

85 
See Rudolf Herz,
Hoffmann & Hitler: Fotografie als Medium des Führer-Mythos
, Munich, 1994, pp. 104–6.

86 
See Hoffmann,
Hitler, wie ich ihn sah
, pp. 196f.

87 
See ibid., p. 197; Heinz Linge,
Bis zum Untergang: Als Chef des Persönlichen Dienstes bei Hitler
, ed. Werner Maser, Munich, 1982, p. 67.

88 
Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus
, p. 174. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 143; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

89 
Fromm,
Als Hitler mir die Hand küsste
, p. 91 (dated 10 Feb. 1933). See also Duesterberg’s memoirs, p. 197: “The new Reich chancellor struck me as being like an ‘apprentice waiter’ helping out in a borrowed tuxedo in a second-rate establishment…It was hard to suppress my laughter.” BA Koblenz, N 1337/44. See also Dodd,
Nice to meet you, Mr. Hitler!,
p. 77, who wrote of Hitler’s hesitancy whenever he was around his diplomatic corps.

90 
Facsimile of the handwritten letter in Anton Joachimsthaler,
Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen
, Munich, 2003, p. 362. For the Napoleon quote see Volker Ullrich,
Napoleon
, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2004, p. 144. Here, too, Goebbels served as his master’s mouthpiece. On 21 Feb. 1936, after Hitler had once again spoken at length about the beginnings of the movement, Goebbels noted: “His life truly is a tale of adventure.”
Tagebücher
part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 383.

91 
Schroeder,
Er war mein Chef
, p. 55; see also Krause,
10 Jahre Kammerdiener
, pp. 29f.; Linge,
Bis zum Untergang
, p. 107.

92 
See, for example, Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/2, p. 280 (entry for 6 Dec. 1936), vol. 4, p. 49 (entry for 13 March 1937), vol. 5, p. 374 (entry for 9 July 1938).

93 
Quoted in Leicht,
Heinrich Class
, p. 288.

94 
Delmer,
Die Deutschen und ich
, p. 116.

95 
Ulrich von Hassell,
Römische Tagebücher und Briefe, 1932–1938
, ed. Ulrich Schlie, Munich, 2004, p. 216. See Rudolf Diels,
Lucifer ante portas…Es spricht der erste Chef der Gestapo
, Stuttgart, 1950, p. 57: “Even when he was talking to a single individual, he spoke as if he were addressing tens of thousands of people. Even in one-on-one conversations, he lapsed into the gestures of a mass orator.”

96 
See Wagener,
Hitler aus nächster Nähe
, p. 72.

97 
Dietrich,
12 Jahre mit Hitler
, p. 160; see Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 293 (entry for 17 March 1933): “Hitler palavered. That’s when he feels most comfortable.” See also the note by Blomberg: “When he’s talking to one or two other people, he actually only ever holds monologues.” Kirstin A. Schäfer,
Werner von Blomberg: Hitlers erster Feldmarschall. Eine Biographie
, Paderborn, 2006, p. 119f.

98 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 203 (entry for 21 July 1930), p. 285 (entry for 19 Nov. 1930), vol. 2/2, p. 225 (entry for 13 Feb. 1932), vol. 2/3, p. 221 (entry for 5 July 1933), vol. 3/2, p. 188 (entry for 20 June 1936), p. 318 (entry for 6 Jan. 1937): “Yesterday evening, the Führer spoke at length of the war. That’s his element.”

99 
Schlie,
Albert Speer
, p. 51; see Speer,
Spandauer Tagebücher
, p. 21 (entry for 11 Oct. 1946).

100 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 272 (entry for 22 June 1929), vol. 2/1, p. 325 (entry for 15 Jan. 1931). See ibid., vol. 3/2, p. 151 (entry for 7 Aug. 1936): “When I speak to him alone, he talks to me like a father. That’s when I like him best.”

101 
Ibid., vol. 3/1, p. 181 (entry for 8 Feb. 1935), vol. 3/2, p. 219 (entry for 21 Oct. 1936).

102 
Müller,
Im Wandel einer Welt
, p. 304. See also ibid., p. 301: there was a “terrible alien air” around Hitler that “separated him from all others.” See also the testimony of his secretary Johanna Wolf on 1 July 1947: “I don’t know if he was friends with anyone. He was very reserved.” Robert M. W. Kempner,
Das Dritte Reich im Kreuzverhör: Aus den unveröffentlichten Vernehmungsprotokollen des Anklägers in den Nürnberger Prozessen
, Munich, 2005, p. 54.

103 
Speer,
Erinnerungen
, p. 114.

104 
Ribbentrop,
Zwischen London und Moskau
, pp. 48, 45.

105 
According to Franz Xaver Schwarz, the NSDAP treasurer, Hitler was on informal terms with Streicher, Kriebel, Esser, Röhm and Christan Weber. He later withdrew the use of “du” with Esser. IfZ München, ZS 1452.

106 
O. Strasser,
Hitler und ich
, p. 93.

107 
See Wiedemann,
Der Mann
, p. 55. On the reunion see also Thomas Weber
, Hitler’s First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World
War, Oxford, 2010, pp. 260ff. Hitler seems not to have answered an invitation to all former members of the regiment to celebrate a joint Christmas party in 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/74. But he did make a generous donation so that 210 former “List men” could visit the graves of their fallen comrades in France and Belgium in July 1938. Hitler was presented with a photo album of that trip for his fiftieth birthday on 20 April 1939. BA Koblenz, N 1720/7.

108 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 371 (entry for 25 March 1931).

109 
See Speer,
Erinnerungen
, p. 57.

110 
Below,
Als Hitlers Adjutant
, pp. 35, 135.

111 
Handwritten letter from Helene Bechstein to Hitler, 21 April 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123.

112 
She complained in a letter dated 21 April 1933 about the poor treatment of the leader of the National Socialist Women’s League, Elsbeth Zander, by Robert Ley; ibid. See also Joachimsthaler,
Hitlers Liste
, pp. 92f. On Hitler’s birthday visit see Helene Bechstein to Rudolf Hess, 29 May 1936: “Wolf” had spoiled her, and “now that she was on her own, such attention being paid to her was twice as agreeable.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 2.

113 
See the exuberant thank you letters from Hugo and Elsa Bruckmann dated 4 Oct. 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123.

114 
Elsa Bruckmann to Georg Karo, 27 March 1934; BSB München, Bruckmanniana Suppl. Box 7; quoted in Käfer,
Hitlers frühe Förderer
, p. 70.

115 
Wagener,
Hitler aus nächster Nähe
, p. 128. See Konrad Heiden,
Adolf Hitler: Ein Mann gegen Europa
, Zurich, 1937, pp. 207f., who writes of Hitler’s “fundamental lack of love and emotional connection”; Alan Bullock,
Hitler: A Study in Tyranny
, London, 1990, p. 380 (“a man who admitted no loyalties”); Joachim Fest,
Hitler: Eine Biographie
, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, pp. 714 (“lack of social connections”), 716 (“impoverishedness in human relationships”); Ian Kershaw,
Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis
, London, 2000], p. 34 (“cut off from any meaningful personal relationship”).

116 
Speer,
Erinnerungen
, p. 56. See Hoffmann’s manuscript for his court trial (January 1947), p. 12; IfZ München, MS 2049; transcript of an interview with Heinrich Hoffmann dated 5 Dec. 1953; IfZ München, ZS 71; Heike B. Görtemaker,
Eva Braun: Leben mit Hitler
, Munich, 2010, pp. 24f. See also Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 92 (entry for 12 Aug. 1934): “Spent the evening at the Hoffmanns. The Führer read aloud parodies in Munich dialect. Very droll”; p. 378 (entry for 1 Feb. 1936): “Had coffee with Hoffmann. The Führer very relaxed.”

117 
Speer,
Erinnerungen
, p. 164. See Eva Rieger,
Friedelind Wager: Die rebellische Enkelin Richard Wagners
, Munich and Zurich, 2012, p. 53; Below,
Als Hitlers Adjutant
, p. 25: “He felt at home at Winifred Wagner’s. He enjoyed his life as a private person. He didn’t feel that sort of friendship with any other family and addressed them familiarly, which was a rarity for Hitler.”

118 
Hamann,
Winifred Wagner
, pp. 143, 314. See ibid., pp. 146, 209; Rieger,
Friedelind Wagner
, p. 53.

119 
See Dietrich,
12 Jahre mit Hitler
, p. 247; Peter Longerich,
Joseph Goebbels: A Biography
, London, 2015, pp. 252f., 361.

120 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 106 (entry for 15 Sept. 1934), vol. 3/2, p. 356 (entry for 2 Feb. 1937). See ibid., p. 135 (entry for 20 July 1936): “He loves Helga as if she were his own child.”

121 
Ibid., p. 299 (entry for 20 Dec. 1936).

122 
On the Baarova affair see Longerich,
Goebbels
, pp. 391–6.

123 
See, for example, the postcards sent by Rudolf Hess to Ilse Pröhl from Hamburg (2 March 1926), Leipzig (4 March 1926), Essen (18 June 1926), Osnabrück (19 June 1926), Nuremberg (2 Aug. 1926), Detmold (25 Nov. 1926), Essen (26 and 27 April 1927), Hildesheim (30 April 1927), Leipzig (5 Sept. 1927). On most of these cards Hitler had added greetings with his own hand. BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 37, 39. On the wedding, see Hess,
Briefe
, pp. 389f. (dated 14 Jan. 1928); Ilse Hess to the parents of Rudolf Hess, 15 Jan. 1928; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 41. A printed wedding card in BA Koblenz, N 1122/15.

124 
Hamann,
Winifred Wagner
, p. 165.

125 
See Hanfstaengl,
Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus
, pp. 83f.

126 
Speer,
Erinnerungen
, p. 136. See also Franz Pfeffer von Salomon’s statement dated 20 Feb. 1953: Hitler preferred to appoint people “who had something to hide or a weak point which he could use to apply the emergency brakes if he felt it necessary.” IfZ München, ZS 177.

127 
See Hanskarl Hasselbach’s memorandum “Hitler’s knowledge of human nature”; BA Koblenz, N 1128/33; Wilhelm Brückner’s memorandum of August 1945; IfZ München, ED 100/43.

128 
Richard Walter Darré, Notes 1945–1948, p. 181; IfZ München, ED 110, vol. 1.

129 
Heiden,
Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit
, p. 210. See Hanskarl Hasselbach’s memorandum “Hitler’s knowledge of human nature,” which quoted the dictator as saying that he only needed a brief moment “to say what sort of a person a given individual was and how he could best use that person.” BA Koblenz, N 1128/33.