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O. S.

S. Confidential

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ANALYSIS OP THE PERSONALITY OP ADOLF HITLER

With predictions of his futiire behavior

and

suggestions for dealing with him

now and after Germany's surrender

1V
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Henry A. Mtirray, M D^
IlP.rvard
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Psychological Clinic

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FOREWORD

Aim
present an
The aiid of this memorandum is (1) to

with an
analysis of Adolf Hitlera personality
hypothetical formulation of the manner of its
to make a
development; (2) on the basis of this,
confronted
few predictions as to his conduct when
mounting successes of the Allies; and (3)

by the

how the TJ. S

to offer some suggestions as to
condition
Government might now influence his mental
do so), and
and behavior (assuming it sees fit to
custody, after
might deal with him, if taken into

Germany's surrender.
personThe proper interpretation of Hitler's
und9rstanding_the
ality is important as a step in

E3Icholo2L-2l'llJ.I2lSi^

^^^ - ^^^^^ *^^

for a
typical Nazi exhibits a strain that has,
- as a
long time, been prevalent among Germans
of the German
step 1ft tmderstanding the psychology
the eleva^
people. Hitler's uaprs code nted appeal,

deni-god, can
tlon of this man to the status of a
tl.>iit he and his
be explained only on the hypothesis
the ne^da, longings,
ideology have almost exactly met
Germans.
and sentiments of the majority of

-v-V.t5^.S.-..

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- 2 -

The attainment of a oleat In^reaslon of the

psychology of the German people la essential If

after

stirrendei*,

they are to be converted Into a

peace-loving nation that la willing to take Its

proper place in a world society*
Sources of Information for this Analjals; -

As la well known, there are no thoroughly re*

liable sources of information about Hitler's early
life and what la known about him since 1918 is in

many respects insufficient or contradictory.

This analysis haa been based, for the moat
part, on the following material:
1,

2.
3.
4,
5,
6.

Data supplied by the Office of

Strategic services
Hitler's MEIN KAMPP, New York,
Reynal & Hitchcock, 1959
Hitler's MY NEW ORDER, New York,
Reynal & Hitchcock, 1941
Heiden, K., HITLER, A BIOGRAPHY,
London, 1936
Rauschnlng, H., VOICE OP DESTRUCTION,
New York
'Baynes, H, G., GERMANY POSSESSED,
London, 1941

It la generally agreed that MEIN KAMPP is not to be

relied on as a factual document, but as the translators

say in the introduction to the American edition,

this work "is probably the best written evidence
of the character, the mind, and the spirit of Adolf

Hitler."

An analysis of the metaphors used in

- 3 -

in the attempt to
MEIN KAMI^.has prpved reieardlng
personality.
discover the underlying forces of his
Sales, has also
MY NEW ORDER, edited by Roussy de
.

been utilized extensively.

MAN

HITLER THE
A paper published by W.H.D. Vernon,
Abn. & Soc.
- NOTES FOR, A CASE HISTORY {Jour, of

iritten under my
Psychol., 1942, 37, 295-308), was
of the ideas
general auper^/ision and contains most
and myself on this topic
of professor G, W. Allport

in the fall of 1941.

3o far as they were crystallised
in toto as an
This artlcie by Vernon is included
the necessity
introduction, thereby relieving ma of
analysis that follows)
of rests-ting (in the detailed

all th^

-fiotmaottly'

known facts.

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OdMtESTS Of THIS BEMORAIIDOM

Section

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MemorahdjM

COU^IIiENTIAL MEMORANDim

containing
A.

^lef Analyala

of Hltlera Personality.

B.

Pradlctlona of Hitler* a Behavior,

C.

Suggestions for the Treatment of Hitler.

D.

Sixggeatlons for
;

;the i?reatiiaent

of the.

G8rnn People.

giitwflttea

by Henry A. Murray, M.D.

Harvard Paychological Cllnlo,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Committer for National Morale,
New York.

A.

Brief Anal ysis of Hitler's Personality

Dynamical Pattern. Counteractive Type .

or
There 1 little disagreement among professional,

even ampng awateui*, psychologists that Hitler's

personality Is an example of the counteractive type,

a type that le marked by Intense and stubborn efforts
(1)

to overcome early diaabilltlea, weaknesses and

humiliations (wounds to self-asteen), and sometimes

also by efforts (11) to revenge

eults to pride.

ThJ-s la

ln*ur:

achieved by

o?

m?; ana

and Inof an

.-

Idealego. Reaction Pormattofa which Involvea (1) the

repression and denial of the Inferior portions of

the self, and (11) strivings to become (or to Imagine
one has becosiej the exact opposite, represented by

an idealegOt or Image of a superior self successfully

accomplishing the once- Impossible feats and thereby

c\irlng the wounds of pride and winning general

respect> prestige, fame.

This Is a very common formula

normal (within

limits) and widely admired In Western cultures, but

In Hitler s case all the constituent forces of the

pattern are c ompulsively extreme , and based on

weak neurotlo Structural foundation *

trends are these:

(1)

Dgmi^anc_e^g_Su^il^

a,

The cM.i9f

Counteracti ve Keed for

(2)'

Counteractive Aggres-

s ion. -Re vehgo;

(5) Repre ssion of Conscience. Com-

pliance. Love;

(4) f>roje Ctlon of Crltiol zable

E lements of the Se lf.

Counterac tive Heed for dominance,

1,

Superiority.- The developmental formula for this

is as follows

(1)

Intolerable feelings of in-

feriorlty (partly because of yielding to the will

of a harsh and unjaet person), lep.o^nR

contempt of

o-jm

tr^

(ii)

inferior traits (wepkr:68n, timidity.

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submiasivenesa) and the fixed determination to repress

them in oneaelf and to condemn them in others,

5iccompanied by (iii) admiration and envy of power

in others and a vision of self as ultimately sxiperior

(idealego) leading to (iv) repeated efforts to become

superior (counteraction out of wounded pride), encouraged by moments of extreme self- confidence in

which one believes oneself the equal of one's vision.

This, as we have said,

is'

very common form

of development, but in Hitler the trend is so intense

and

*;he

c:)ranonly

balancing forces (affection,

con/3cienca,. self-critic5.a:n, humor) are so weak that

we

.lir^tified in

a3pe

icRnis

speaking in speaking of megalo-

(delusions of omnipotence), despite the fact

that the sian has succeeded in getting a large pro-

portion

ci:

tfca

Germr.i pscple to believe that he is

(i)

tliat he

sv.perlor:

b^a bean divinely appointed

to lead them to power and glory, and (ii) that he

is neve r wron g and henoe must

be^

fcllowed with blind

obdlenoe, come what aayo

Hitler's underly5.ng inferiorifcy feelings, his

basic self-contempt are shown by his choosing as

e riteria of

supe riority (traits of

1 do... lego)

attribute*

and capacities that are the very oppoaits of what he

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This may be Illustrated

ia himself or one was.

by his fervent eulogy of

(6)

(b>

brute strength ;

purity of blood ; and (c) fertility ,

'

(a)

1.

Admiration of Brute Strength,

Contempt of Weaknesa .- Hitler has always worshipped

physical force, military conquest, and ruthlesa

He has respected, envied, and emulated

domihation.

the techniques of power , even when manifested by

hated enemy.

ft

Prom first to last he has expressed

contempt o f weakness , indecision, lack of energy,

'

fear of consc5.ence;
and ye t -

mjbler has man y Weaknesses

lR::?ge

. There is a

feminine component in his consftitution.

As

dependent
a child he was frail and sickli, e motionall y
on his mother,

fie

never^dld any ma nual work, never

engaged in athletics,

wis

turned down as forever

hfUi tot conscription in the Austrian Army.

tt

Afraid

of his father, his behavior was out wardly submissive

and later he was ahnoyihgly gubgervierit to his superior

officers,

Poiir ygars in

the Jpank of corpbr%l.

the Army, he never rose above

At the end he broke

a war neurosis, hys terical blindhe G<< .

doirtt

Even lately,

in all his glCSry, he sviffera frequent emdtibrial

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collapsqa in which hg yells and weeps.

mares from a baa consoiehce

He has night-

and he has long spells

when energy,' confidence and the power of decision

abandon

hJjii.

Sexually he is a full-fledged masoohist/

Admiration of Pure Noble German

1 (b)

Blood. Contempt of Jewish. Slav and other Blood y

Hitler has always ext piled the superior qualities

of p\ire< unmlxedji and uncorrupted German blood*

admires the aristocraoy.r

He

Oonoxirrently he has never

ceased expressing his contempt of the lower classes

and

^r-,

^s

aversion to admixtures of the blood of other

races, of Jewish blood especially;

ahd.yet -

Hitler

oxm Oriplha are Not Noble or

'

Beyond Reproactw , Hitler comes from illiterate

peasant stoolc derived from a mixture of races, no

pure Germans among them.

'^Mt*..

His father was Illegitimate,

was married three timqa, and is said to have been

conspicuous for sexual promiscuity*

wd^ a domestic servant*

Hitler's mother

It is said that Hitler's

faether's f*ther was a Jew, and it is certain that

hid Kodfajbher was a Jew ;

and that one of his sisters-

managed a restaurant" for Jewish students in Vienna

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and another was, for a time, the mistress of a Jew*

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Hitler s appearance,' when he wore a long heard during

hie outceiat Vienna dasrs, waa said to he very Jewish,

Unlike

Of these facts ho Is evidently ashamed*

napbi^on^ he has 'rejected.

iElll

his relations*

As a partial explanation of his complex about

impurity of blood it nmy be said that as a boy of

twelve/ Hitler was caught engaging in seme sexual,
experiment with a little girl; and later he seems
to have developed a s yphllophobla
1

fear

'Of

with

a diffuse

contamination af the blood through contact

it is almost certain that this irrational

with it woman,

dre$d was partly due to the association In his mind

,'-!

of sexuality and excretion.

He thought of aexual

relations as something exceedingly filt hy*

1,

(c)

Advocacy of fertility. -^ Fertility^

the family as the bieeding ground of warriors, multi*-

plication of the German race - these have been cardinal

points

lii

Hitler's ideology;
and yet '

Hitler himself la Impotent ,- He is unmarried

and his old acquaintances say that he la incapable
of consTimmatlng the sexual act in a normal fashion'.

This infirmity we must recognize as an instigation

to exhorbltant cravings for superiority,

Unable to

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'

7 -

demonstrate 8ale power before a woman, he is impelled

to oompehsate by exhibiting wsurpaaaed power before

men in the world at large>

1.

Achievement of Power thrcmgh Oratory. ^

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Hitler coiald neitheS? change his origins nor decree

tried
his potency, and unlike. Mussolini he has never
to develop himself physically, but he became for a

while the most powerful individual in the world, pri-

marily by the use of ma8S~iht6xicatihp; words

Aristotle

has said that the mStaphor is the roost potent' force

on earthy and Hitler, master of crude metaphor, has

confirmed the dictunl.in this generation.

By seducing

^he masses with his eloquence , and getting them to

accept him as their divinely appointed guide^ he compelled the smaller circles of industrialists, politic
oians and military leaders to fall into line also.

Hitler speaking before a large audience is a

man possessed^ comparable to

man, or shaman..

primitive medicine

He is the inoarnatioh of the crowd ^s

unspoken needs and cravings ; and in this sense he has

been created, and to a large extent invented, by the
people of Germany.

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Hitler has 6onipaFed the masses to a woman who

must be courted with the arts and skills known to

passion oniy;,iMid It Is not unlikely that the emotional
soiirce of his oi*glastlc speeches were childhood tantr

by which he succesafdlly appealed to his ever-Indulgent

mother*
1.

(e)

Significance of the Counteractive

Pattern, - Counteraction Is essential to the develop-

ment of strength, but In Hitler's case It has been

extravagent and frantic*

He has not ascended step

by step, building the structure of his character

solidly as he went; but Instead has roished forward

with panting haste, pretentiously.

As a result,

there Is a fjyeat distance between Hitler at his best^

,and

Hitler at hJs.WoJ'at ; which means -that when he is

overcome at last by a greater force he will collapse

suddenly and eo^letely * and as an utter wreck.

2.

Cototiteraetlve Aggression, Revenge .

That

the will to powei? and the craving for superiority

can not account for the idiole of Hitler's psychology

is evidenced by his iBtmeagurab le hatred , hatred ex-

pressed in the absence of an adequate stimulus, an

Incessant need to find some object on which to vent

his pent-up wrath.

This can be traced back with rela-

tive certainty to experiences of insult, humiliation

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and wounded pride in childhood.

The source of such

was Hitler's
insults, we have many reasons to believe,
his wife
father, a coarse boastful man who ruled
and his
(twenty- three years younger than himself )
injustice.
children with tyrannical severity and
2,

(a)

Explanation . - The hypothesis is

as a boy
advanced, supported by much evidence, that
blinded)
Hitler was severely shocked (as it were,
his parents,
by witnessing sexual intercourse between
'

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swear revenge,
and his reaction to this trauma was to
the lost glory
to dream of himself as reestablishing
of
<^'r

-^

Ma

mo^^bfi^

^y overcoming and humiliating his

actido
The boy's relative weakness made this
of revenge
impossible, apd so the drive and passion
Mm undflr tension.
was regressed and locked up within
stimulus
Only much later when a somewhat similar
his
the subjugation and humiliation of
occurred

father*
iV

4.1'

1918 motherlapd (Hitler < term for Germany) in

a short
aa this Qnerg^ ftf^revenge released, after

period of shpote and hpterical blindness.

Hitler exhibited
This would expiflJi the fact that
,

the age
no ei^rgetic ambitious d rive of his own from
of 13 years (when

his,

father,

tM

enemy, died) to the

the conqueror
age of 29 years (when a new enemy,

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i 10 .

of the motherland, appeared).

It also helps to account

for Hitler s relentless devo>tlon to the rehabilitation

of Qenaany , a fact which Is hard to explain in a man

who IS so extremely egocentric in other relittions.

In Mein Kampf Hitler repeatedly speaks of permany
as ^ heloved woman,

'

In this connection it may be said

(Hot>

that the evidence is in favor of Hitler's hatrlng

experienced the common Oediptia CoAplex (love of mother,

hftte

of father)^ but that in his case this pattern

gro-

was repressed and submerged by another pattern:

f bund admiration-, envy and emulation of his father '

inasculihe power and a contempt of!

feis

feminine sufahiisiveneag and, weakness *

parents ere amblvaleht t& him ;

mottier's

Thus both

his father was

hated and respected; his mother was loved and de

,;vte

pre elated.

Hitler's conspicuous actions have all

been in imitation of his father, not his mother.)

Whether this gent^iplJ hypothesis la correct
or not. It la oartain

iiyat. tttere

la a vast reservoir

of resentmerjt and revetige in Hitler' s make-up which

accovints for hit 6ult of feCTitalitjir and his mSnjr abta
:

of inexcusable destructivenesa and 6rueltf#

Hi It

possessed by what amounta to a h6M:ciaal^'66M|flll8loli

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which has no vent in a weak piping time of peace

there(Tinless he "became an outright criminal), and

fore

he.

has constantly pushed events toward war, or

s cape goa ting,

g.

fbl

Si<^nif ioanee of Revenge

>

As a

result of the fact that resentment is the mainspring

to
of Hitler s career , it is forever impossible

hope for any mercy or humane treatment from him.

His revengefulness can be jsatisfied only by the

extermination of his feountless enemies.

5,

Repression of Conscience. Compliance. Love. . -

Unlike Gpering and other associates. Hitler is no

neurotic
healthy amoral brute. He is a hive of sec ret
compunctions and feminine sentimentalities whicfr

haTro

embffti#
had to be stubbornly repressed ever since he
revenge
his career of ruthless dominance and

on

{instigated by real or supposed insults).

Every

new act of unusual cruelty, such as the purge of

and
1934, has been followed by a period of anxiety
depletion , agitated de .lection and nightmares

which

can be interpreted only as the unconscio us operation

of a had conscience .
fti

Hitler wants

Vo arrive at the state where

notfaittg so

much

he can commit": crimes

of
without guilt feelings; but despite his boasts
not been
having transcended Good and Evil this had

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possible.

- 12

The suicidal trend in his personality-

is eloquent testimony of a repressed self- condemning

tendency*
In conjunction with the repression of conscience

and the advance of hat 6 there has been a repression

of affection and sympathy, as if "his spirit seemed
,
to chide such weakness as unworthy of its pride

a reaction

which sometimes occurs in childhood after

an experience of unbearable disillusionment occasioned,

by the felt treachery of a beloved person.

find

**a

One may

vigilance of grief that would compel the

soul to hate for having loved too well."

Hitler *s

affiliativQ tendencies have alwayst been very weak ;

he has never had any close personal friends; he l#

entirely incapable of normal human relationships.

This is due, in part, to the cessation in early life
of sexual developments
3.

(a)

Self- Vindicating Criminality * -

Paradoxical as it may seem. Hitler's r epeated crimes

are partly caused by' conscience and the n e cessity
of appeasing it .

For having once set out on a life

of crime, the man can not turn back without reversing

his entire grotind for pride and taking the humiliating

path of self-abasement and atonement

The only method

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he'fetaa

la

odT.

ftS

.eaethoi? aoJb of aggression, and so to

li wer^^f by the criterion of auccesa, that

fit^^i^y Is

fais

fled

>.

eubduittg his motintlng uncDnscioua guilt

tus cOiftBiti

fjjpQ-^ ey

^^ : - ^'y^

favorpd

m4 J*iE^t>
S#

Cia)

l^y

fortune and therefore .fngti-

Failure, is the only wrong,

Significanoe of the Rgp ressJcn cf

Conaciehes by Suocesaful -Criminality. - As soon aa

the tlmi ceises when repeatea offensive actlona end

in .failure.^ Eltler will 16ae faith

lift

Ma

biriself and

daatiny^ and h^coine the helpleag victim of h is

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^
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t*eprea^9d cohgcte ncg^ with auicide or mental breakdown

aa the most likely outcome.

*

Self

Projection of Crlticlzab X Q Slem ents ofjthe^

Hitler perceivea in other people the traita

or tendenciea that are criticizable in himaelf

Thua, inatead of being devoxired by the vulture of

hia own condeiiining conscience or of hia own diadain^
he can attack what he apperceivea as evil or con-

temptible in the external world,

arid

conacioua (moat of the time) of hi

hia own inferiority.

so remain un-

own guilt or

Thia mechani s m whereby

man

aeea hia own wicked Impulaea or weakneaaea in othera^

la called projection ^

It ia bne way, the paranoid

way ^ of maintaining; aelf- eateem .

^li^

The mechaniam

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octtj?a

d^60iastatXy In nitldx* thst it is possible

id& of thd i^epudiated portions

t<5

g* a

of

bli^ OUtt pej^soneiXitjf

irery, gftod

in ethejpa *

tl^efitchery*,

by not'lclng what he condonma

tjing^f oot^ruption, war-mon.cep-

.;:.ptchanissa would
et6

ipg,

$M8

JULsftatrpiMl eoijsequfinces
flot

)bve

had more

bis sanity if he had

^iatid ae0 govej^hance. cwep it by consciously

adopting
tt

f'or*

(aid

-goed political stj?J5ttegy) the practice

hXf^raitkg Jii$

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opponents o

^?Sll^i4-^3Bi?.^'^ HltXerleS dynamical pattern,

as dlesci?l^ed| ooWeaporirlM clceely to that of paranoid

insanity #,

tfx!eed

he has *e7:hibitod.. at one time

anothel?, all of the cla3fliical s sTrpioins of

,

schig;dphf*enia

or

pMrcn^d

hypersensitivity^ panics of anxiety^

irrational jealousy^ delusions of persecution, delusions

t!ff

omnipotence, and mess iahs hip.

H0ir Is it^

then, that Hitler has escaped con-

finement as a dangerous psychopath?

This interesting

question will be considered later,

5,

Reactions to Opposition an d Frus trat:ion. -

Opposition is the stimulus wliich startles Eitler

into life,

in the face of it his powers are gathered

and augmented.

When opposition becomes stronger

resulting in severe frustration, his reaction has

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of tQii

as f Qilidtwa

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taatinim

ftf Jpftge

in tears

fto4,

(1

emotional outbursts

d6d accusatoj^y indignation ending

self*plt5r;^ sttcceeded

by (ii) periods

of iMptJEL^ extidustion, melancholy and indecisivefcess

tlon

(fii^dOB^ganidd
ftiid

sometimes by hours of acute dejec-^

disquieting nightmares) leading to recupera-

tion; aod finally (iii) confident and resolut e de^

^slsi6n tQ;<|gUiQt^er&ttabk with great force and ruth-

f be entire cycle may' run its course in

lessnessi
24 hours |-

off

decision of

it
thisi

maybe weeks before

the aggressive

third stage is reached.

For years this pattern of reaction to frustration

hias

m$t with success; each counterattack has

brought Hitler nearer to his goal*

Since the turn

of fortune on the Russian front, however, the number

of frustrations have, increased and Hitler's counter-

attacks have failed, at times disastrously.

There

is no structure for defense in Hitler's personality:

he can only strike when inflated with confidence,

or collapse when confidence abandons him *

a

As time goes on, therefore, we can anticipate

ah increase in the intensity, frequency and duration
of Hitler's periods of collapse, and a decrease in

the confidence and power of his retaliations.

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A point to be

16 -

remernbei^ed'

about Hitler Is that

he started his career at scratch, a nonentity with

nothing to .lose ^ and he .^elected a fanatical path

for himself Krhjch requires ^^9
pucfceas

ending

complete

(omnipotence) 6r utter failure (death)\

No compromise Is possible.

sonally

fitn

#1ld

Since It Is not he per-

has to do the fighting, his collapses can

occ\ir In |)j*lvate at Berehtesgeden.

cuperate, and then

orice

where he can re-

again come hack

!7lth some

new and always more desperate plan to destroy the

enemy

<i

There Is a powerful compulsion In him to

sacrifice him se lf a n d all

""o

f Germany to the revenge-

ful annihilation of Western culture ^ to die, craggln|^

all of Europe with him Into the abyss.

This he would

feel was the last resource of an Insulted and unendurable existence

7.

Hised for

Creation^ Painting^ Ardhltecture ^

Oerman State, Legend of Self ,- We surmise that

Hitler's early enthusiasm for painting was due to
the fact (1) that this was the one exercise at which
he excelled In school (and thus It offered a compensa-

tory form of achievement); (11) that It provided an

acceptable outlet for a destructive soiling tendency
repressed In Infancy; and (111) that painting, and

'

>;

.
7''~-^-k'^^;:^-'n:-^iyf-^,^ir

.^'^T<-y^i'^::^^^^0.<

^>!;';-flft,^;r*/.;%t;^/v>^>^!^''^^

i*i.r*?'<K^

^ 17 -

especially ajrchltepture later, also called for much

'<jonstructJlV|iaeSiS|

which served to balance (operate

as a reaettea formation to/ and atonement for) the

"prlmltitfe.Madei^y'to destroy.

Hitler has always

enjoyed the falfiting of ruined teinples (just as he

has iiked t@ contemplate the destruction of cities

Inhabited

fey

his $nemies )

but he has likewise taken

pleasure ia pa itttlng immense castles (just as he has

'occupied himself? designing buildings

Reich).

fo.r

che Third

A careful study of Hitler *s writings and conduct

has conVinoed us that he is not entirely devoted to
destruicticaa, as so

many claim.

In his nature there

(lacking,

Is a deep valid strain of creativeness

to be sure, the necessary talent).

His creativity

has been engaged in combining elements for an ideology,

in organizing" the National Socialist farty, and in.

composing the allegory of his own life

He is the

author and leading actor of a great drama.

Unlike other politicians. Hitler has conducted
his life at certain seasons as a Romantic artist

does, believing that it is the function of a nation's

first statesman to furnish creative ideas, new policies,

and plans

- 18 -

Represaed Need for t^aaalvity and Abagexaent ^

8#

ttaaochiaitt t^

aexual

Hitler a lotig^concealed aecret hetero-

faJltliSS!^

analysis

metaphora

h&s been expoaed by the ayatematic

anil c(>rreia t ion

usea In

iate

of the three thouaand odd

Kampf ,

Meiti

stiady were later 60nfirxned

who ^claims to know***

The reaulta of thla

by the teatimony of one

It is not neceaaary to deacribe

Ita peculiar fbattires here; a-offlce it tc 3ay that

the sexual pattern has resulted from the fusion of

(i) a -.primitive
I*

'a

paaaive

excretory s65,llng tenden cy^ and (ii)

'

ipag c chlstlo teri i^eh cjg-

feminine component

(hypertrophy of the

hia nake-up)^

iri

The aeccnd

element (masbchiam) derives much of ita atrengfch

\

from an uhcohacioua heed for' punlg&iheht

tendency

which may be expected in one who haa aasiduoualy repreased^ out of swollen pride, the aubmiaaive reactions
(complianoie;^ co-operation, payment of debts, expression

of gratitude, acknowledgment of errors, apology,

confession, atonement) which are required of every-

body who would adaptively participate in social life*

While Hitler consciously overstrives to assert his
infinite superiority, nature instinctively corrects
the balance by imposing an erotic pattern that calls

for infinite self-abasement

'

t^d^'\.l\^

- 19 ^

This erotic pattern, however, is not a strong

force in Hitler s personality, nor does it comprise
his entire libidinal investment,

other patterns

-^

it alternates with

repressed (or as some claim overt )

homosexuality , for example

What is important to recognize here is that the
purpose of Hitler's prolonged counteractive efforts
is not solely to rise above his hijnblc origins, to

overcome his weaknesses and ineptitudes, but rather

to check and conquer,'^ by means of a vigorous Idealego

reaction format on, an Underly ing positiv e cra ving

for passivity

'a nd

subnl ssion*

There is no space

here for the mass of evidence bearing en

but a few examples can be briefly listed:

thit*

(i)

point

j^,

the

large feminine component in Hitler's physical constitution',

also his feminine tastes and sensibilities;

(ii) his initial

identification with his mother;

(ill) his exaggerated subservience, in the past, to

masterful superiors (army officers, Ludendorff, etc.);

(iv) attraction to Roehm and other domineering homo-

sexuals;

(v)

Hitler's nightmares which, as described

by several informants, are very suggestive of homosexual panic; (vi) some of Hitler's interpretations
of human nature, such as when he says that the people

"want someone to frighten them and make them shudderingly

jr- r

^)jr *

'-'S- "i'^'!^< r-j-'T>

'r-^ -

''r"';.i;5W:'(ii

20 -

aubmlsalVe'*;.(vll) Hitler 'tf repeated aaaertiona that

he Intendai like Sulla, to abdicate power (after an

orgy of conquest tith full catharsis of his hate)

and live quietly tf himself ,/pa in ting and designing

buildings; and finally, (viii) recurrent siiicidel

threats.
II,

E.S. ttleoc^htricityy Dedication to the leaki ng

de ally Power ful Germdhy

of ah-

To trae 3em?an,

frierid or foe, has ever. claimeJ thab Hltjai- is not

sincere in his dovc tion to the Pr;;.53iah

ideal for genaany>

Ji ilit a riata

Thus we can say that he

lias

'

been

ideocentric (dedicated to an idea) for the lest twenty

years.

Because the idea consists cf a plan for a

society from which the majority of his fellow country-

men will supposedly benefit, we can apeak of him aa

aociopentrio (S) also.

But since this interest in

hia countrymen is clearly secondary to his personal

ambition

- fame,

(E) first; and so

immortality - we put egocentricity

write - E. S. Ideocehtricity.

It

la rare to find so much ideocentrlcity in a narclstic

personality; but only those who are incapable of such

dedication are likely to doubt the reality of it in

Hitler,
1,.

Inaociatioh in Oermany. ^ Since Hitler and

-.v;.

<^--^v^!!:^-::^^<^-f^ :i:-5^vt

^>^^T^?:^^^%*V^;'

':,^.Y^J%^^^

1^
r-.<-;;iSt-yr.--.

21 -

a large "body of .the German people are mutually

agreeable, we can speak of him as Inaoclated ^

accepting and accepted.

It ia Hitler's intense affec-

tion, for the Re.ich (perhaps felt to this e::tent only

Iby

a nationalist born outside its ho^^ndaries) that

has acted as a decisive factor in (i) his winning the

support of t he people and so satisfying, his will to

power; (iiV

f^

iving

sense of mission;

the feellng /of vo\nii6n, the

hitn

(iii) providing xporal

uatificatioii

(in his- own mind) for many illegal, acts; and (iv)

keeping him r el stivel y sane, by bringing him into

'

association with a group of like-minded men and so

delivering him from the perils of psychclogical

isolation.
j

TKbte

The supposition that in Hitler's mind

Germany is identified with his mother helps to. explain

the fervor of his dedication.)

III.

Sentiments . -

Most of Hitler's sentiments ere well known and

have already been listed:

his high valuation of

Power, Glory, Dictatorship, Nationalism, Militarism,

and Brutality; and his low valuation of V'eakn^ss,

indecision. Tolerance, Compassion, Peace, Rational

Debate, Democracy, Bolshevism, Materialism, Capitalism,

*#-

W^^^^^VW^^^ff^^^^^^^^'^^i^^

>/*?

mr^

- 22 -

the Jewish Race, Christianity*

would be

A simplification

of regarding him as the advocate of

that;

the aggressive ingtinet (War. Power and Qlorj) vs .

the acqiilsitive inatiflct (Business . Peace and

pyoaperity) ^ -Two qtiestions deserve special considerations

(1) Why, when he was living as an outcast

in Vienna, did Hitler not become a Commuiiiat? and

(2)

What is the explanation of Hitlei-'s extt'eme

Anti-Semi tismt
i,

ttotermihahta of flitler-^a Ahti-Conmiunisriv.

1,,

(a)

mobile individual.

Hitler's father was an upward

Starting as a |>easant, he worked

his way into the lower middle class, establishing

a boundary between himself and those below him,

Both parents respected their social superiors.

"

Thus

Hitler instinctively retreated from too close association with the workmen of Vienna
!

(b)

Hitler was too frail for construc-

tion work, was unable to hold a Job, and therefore

had little opportunity to become associated with a

tinion.

1.

(c)

Having been an ardent natiohalist

since the age of 12, Hitler's line of c^le^ivage (conflict

between nations) did not conform to the communists'

line of cleavage (conflict between classes

iL^^x,

r:^|wS"S-;" /

'''

''',-''

'

MM':

n^

23 -

j.:^

X.^(d)

Hitler has always been an advocate

Of the hie rajfchical principle:

government by the

I'ittest, rigorously trained and proved in action,

1?he

ideal of

a wide

COramunisni,

on.

the other hand, calls for

diatribution of power among those

\jn trained

to rule*
1.

(e)

Hitler's sentiments have been with

militarism from earliest youth.

The materialism of

Communism never appealed to him..

1.
-the

(f

Lacking sympathy for the underdog,

humanitarian aspect of Communism did not attract

him.

Hitler has always been a bully,

Z.

Petermihahts of Hitler* s Ahti- 3emiti8m^. ^

2,

(a)

The influence of wide-spread Anti-

Semitic sentiments (represented especially by such

.

men as Lueger and Peder), traditional in Germany.

;>^

2,

(b)

Hitler's personal frustrations

required a scapegoat as focus for his repressed aggres'-.

"i

he
sion.^ The Jew is the classic, scapegoat because

does
r^f.*

ttot

fight back with fists and weapons,

V'.

2.

(c)

The Jew was an object upon whom

Hitler could suitably project his own inferior self

(his sensitiveness, weakness, timidity, masochistic

sexuality).

^'^^.u-f.jK^^irriv^-^

24 -

2.

(d)

After the Versailles Treaty the

German people also needed a scapegoat.

Hitler offered

them the Jewish race a an act of political strategy.

2,

(e)

Having assembled a veritable army

of gangsters. (Nazi troopers) and aroused theli? fight-

ing spirit^ it was necessary tor Hitler to find some

object upon whom these men could vent their brutish
passions, to canalize anger away from himself
2<

(f)

Jew8> being non-mill tiarls tic,

could only impede his program on conquest.

In

eliminating them he Ibst no sizeable support*

2

(g)

Jews were associated with several

of Hitler's pet antipathies:

business, materialism^

democracy, capitalism, communism.

2,

(h)

Some Jews were vefy rich and Hitler

needed an excuse for dispossessing them.

iV.

I^ormal Structure

.Hysteria Sohlzbphreniia ."

Hitler has a relatively weak character (ego

structure); his great strength comes from an

emotional cow^lex which drives him periodically.

Usually he can not voluntarily force himself to stick

fe*

-^
"

to a routine of wprkj he must be compelled from inside,

lifted on

a.

wave of pessiOn.-

His id (Inatlnctual

forces) and ego 6roluntary control) are in league;

his superego (conscience) is repressed*

- 25 -

1.

Hysteria

Hitler has exhibited various forms

of hysterical dissociation, most notably in the two

symptoms which constituted his war neurosis in 1918,

namely blindness and aphonia (mutism)

He experiences

periods of marked abstraction, violent emotional

outbtirsts, visions of hallucinatory clarity.

In

speaking before crowds he is virtually posoisaed .

He clearly belongs to the sensational cMipany of
^V^^v

history- making hysterics, combining, as he does,

some of the attributes of the primitive shaman, the

religious visionary, and the crack-brained demagogue

L-V*

Consummate actors, one and all.'

It is important to note, however, that Hitler
ha a a large measure of control over his complexea

way,
He uses n emotional outbxirst to get his own

turning it on or off as the occasion requires.

As

Srikson says, he "knows how to exploit his hysteria...

what
Oh the stage of German history. Hitler senses to
extent it is safe and expedient to let his own person-

ality represent with .hysterical abandon what lives

in every German listener and reader."
2.

Schizophrenia .- Psychiatrists are not' un-

familiar with borderline

and schizophrenia.

S*;)

staterSj,

lying between hysteria

In gome cases the former develops

':..

/.TWvrv^;.y.:)S^.,r^^Wi^^X^^

"^-^'^i^^ff^fl^^^^^

- 2S

into the latter

(a

serious Variety of Insanity).

Since Hitler, as noted above, has exhibited all the

Syttptoms of paraooid aohizbphrehia ^ the possibility

of a complete mental breakdown is not remote.

Hero again, however, it should be observed that

fearanoid dynamics can be used very effectively in

rouaing a nd focussing the fbroes of a minority party

or of a defeated nation .

The strategy consists chiefly

In (i) painting vivid and exaggerated word-pictures

of your
of the crimes and treacherdus evil purposes

powerful opponents (delusions of persecution); (li)

persuading your own group of its innate superiority

(iii)
and glorious destiny (delusions of grandeur);
'

'

subduing conscience by asserting that your common

have
end Justifies the meana, that your opponents
used the most dastardly means in the past; and (iv)
blaming your enemies for every frustration, every
these
disaster that occurs. In consciously employing

tactics Hitler has exploited his own paranoid trends

'

>^"

and retained some governance over them.

Thus the answer to the question. How has Hitler

escaped veritable insanity? might be this:

(i) he

has gained a large- measure of control o ver his

hysterical end perahoid trends by using them

-*K

."v.'^/^v-;c-^:.'%

""'^j^?

;;:

"^^-

r^^c^W^^-'v'^r j-^>r :-v-

^>:>:r-.

- 27 -

conaclously and auccessfuHy in the achievement

of hisaima;

(ii) he haa identified himaelf

dedicated himaelf to a aooiocehtrio purpoae,

with and
the

creation of an ideal Gannany, which haa served to

diminish the paina and perils of an isolated egocentrism; and (iii). he has beeA aupi'emely successful

in imposing his visions and delusions (conforming,

as they did, with existent trends) upon the German

people, and so convincing them of his unparalleled

superiority.

Thus his irreal world

feas

become reel,

insanity is sanity .
V.

1.

Abili ties and jSf^eetlye traits . - Hitler

su(ib66s has depended to

i'

'

targe extent upon his own

peculiar abilities and traits:

1*

(a)

The ability to express with passion

the deepest needs and longings of
the people.

1.

(b)

The ability to appeal to the most

primitive as well as to the most

ideal tendencies in men.'
H./"''

1.

(c)

The abilitf -to simplify complex

probfiitf and arrive at the quickest

solution
1.

(d)

The ability to use metaphblf and draw

0# traditional imagery an^ iyth in

speaking ahd writing.

- 28 -

<4rV'^'

Ji
ir:r.

The ability to evoke the sympathy

(d)

and protectiveness of his people.

']

The leader's welfare becomes a matter

*

iV

(f )

of concern to them*

Complete dedication to his mission;

abtindant self-confidenae; and stubborn

adherence to a few principles.

!

(g)

Mastery of the art of political

organization.

1.

(h)

Tactical genius; precise timing.

1,

(i)

Mastery of the art of propaganda.

Principles of f>olitical Action . -

2.
t

Among the guiding principles of Hitler's^

-^1

political philosphy the following are worth listing:

&

(a)

Success depends on winning the

support
2#

(b)

of>.

the masses*

The leader of a now movement must

appeal to youth*
^r^'-

2.

(c)

The masses need a sustaining ideology;

it is the function of the leader to

provide one.
2.

(d)

People do not act if their emotions

/4

are not roused.

2. .(e)

Artistry and drama are necessary to

the total effect of political rallies

and meetings^

I^Sfei^:^^

jf^y-^^-;-^,
;5^;,,.;;,..
*''^*ft

'if

30 -

Tather Ignominloualy, and Hitler should eventually

B^'

^'

be delivered into our hands,.

The General Staff

will no doubt become the rulers of Germany if Hitler's

mental condition deteriorates much further (Option #5).

2;

Hitler may be shot by some German . - The

and
man ha a feared this eventuality for many years

today he is protected as never before.

not inclined to shoot their leaders.
1^'

Germans are
This is possible

but not very likely.

5,
koroe
t;he

Hitler way arrange to have himself shot by

German, perhapy by a ^ew . r This would complete

myth, of the hero f death at the hand of some

trusted follower:
Hagen, paegar

by

Siegfried jstabhed in the back by

Brut\is> Qhrist betrayed

by Judas.

It might increase the fanaticism of the soldiers

with
for a while and create a legend in conformity
arrange to have
th ancient pattern. If Hitler could
9wne paranoid llk9. himself ^ kill him, then He
a
Jew,

could die in the belief that his fellow countrymen

would rise in their wrath and massacre every remaining

Jew in Germany*.

Thus he might try to indulge his

insatiable ravengefulneas for the last time.

4,

Hitler may' get himself kill ed leading his

elite, troops in battle

- Thus be

would live on as a

>:/ &V

,t-.

.'^nx^.n^s,

-^
.

;.

- 31 -

'

h3

::-;*;

It ia not

heco in the hearts of his countrymen.

which would
unlike ly, that he will choose this course,
viw, first
be very undesirable from bur point of
to all
because his death would serve as an example
death-defying
his followers to fight with fanatical
it would
energy to the bitter end, and second, because
who led
insure ^tier's immortality - the Siegfried

Slav.
the Aryan hosts against Bolshevism and the

This is one of Hitler 'a^ favorite poses.

S.

ftitler may go- in sane

.^^

The man has been on

for years and

the verge of paranoid schizophrenia

failure
with the mounting load of frustration and

forces of the
he may yield his will to the turbulent

unconscious.

'"

This would not be undesirable frCm pur

o..".^".

were hidden
standpoint, because, even if the fact
deteriorate
from the people, morale would rapidly
the hero would
as rumors spread, and the legend of
Hitler became
be severely damaged by the outcome. If
hands of
insane, he should eventually fall into the

i--'^>^''

the Allied Nations

S.

.VrtJ,

^^i^'^r*

liaay

commit suicide .

Hitler has often

vowed that he would commit suicide if his plans

do
miscarried; but if he chooses this course ho will

most dramatic possible

it at the last moment and in the

,-!,--

[C-*.

Hitler

'

'

- 32 -

mannel-.

He will retreat, let

tia

say, to the impregnable

him on the top of

little refuge that was btiilt for
(Berchtesgaden)
the mountain behind the Berghof
troops come to take him
There alon0 he will wait until
either (i) blow
prisoner. As a grand climax he will
dynamite; or (ii)
up the mountain end himself with
and throw hiiraelf
make a funeral pyre of hia dwelling
or (iii) kill himon it (a fitting oBtterdammerung;
Chriatophe); or
self with a silver bullet (Emperor
This outcome,
(iv) throw himself off the parapet.
unlikely.
.undesirable for us, is not at all
,7V

,
Hitler may die of natu ral causes

country...
Hitler may aeek refuge in a neutral
of his associates might
This is not likely, but one
Switzerland in a plane and
drug him end take him to
should stay there to write
theti persuade him the t he
Since
the German folk.
his long-plfenned Bible for
people would seriously
the Hero's desertion of his
be more
damage the legend, this outcome would
desirable than some- of the other possibilities.
8.

g.

Hitler may fall into the hand s of the

likely,
United Hatiohs .^ This is perhaps the least

but the most desirable, outcome.

^

t;^"

^'v^/,:

'^i^^^^^itm^^^^
.A.J

- 33 -

been swayed
in asking these predictions we have
chief concern
most by the supposition thet Hitler's

consequently
13 the immortality of his legend and

according to
he will endeavor to plan his own end
pattern.
the most heroic/ tragic and dramatic
(dramatic
Optipns #5 (insanity to some extent) and #3
strike us as
suicide), Qt #4 (death at the front),
roost

probable today.

Propaganda measures should, if possible, be

devised to prevent #4 and #5.

C.

aupgeations for the Tregtment 'of Eitlor

Ir

After the Defeat of

s'vA."/

4.,ir

(^.erm any,

one
An into custody by th e Ttnited j?a.ti6ns.- Any

Of the conventional punishihenta

""i5^Mt'

,'

'

if Hjtlor is

a trial followed

by exile
by execution, by life imprisonment or

of Hitler's
will provide a trafgio ending for the drama
element
sensational career; and thus contribute the
to the resu rrection and perpetuation

'that is noeess'ary

of tha Hitlerien legend ,

'"hat can the

Allies do that

legend?
will spoil the tragedy and thus kill the
following plen is
As an answer to this question, the
suggested..

It should work if properly executed.

- 34 -

Bring the Naei leaders to trial;

(a)

1.

condemn the chief culprits the death, hut proclaim

Hitler mentally unbalanced.

Commit Hitler to en insane asylum

(h)

1.

and house
(such as St. Elisabeth's, Washington, D. C.)
for his
a comfortable dwelling specially built

him in

occupancy*

I.et

the world know that he is being well

troatedf
1,

Appoint

(c)

committee of psychiatriata

faculties
and paychologiata to examine him and test his
at r^gwler intervals f

Unknown to him, have sound'*

They will show his fits

films taken of bis l?ehavly.

the world,
and tirades end condewhationi? pf everyone in

including t^e German peoples

1. (d)

Exhibit rogUlarly to the public

of these soundof the entire world aelectod segments

he is,
reels, ao thet it een be teen how unbalanced
mediocre his performance on the customary teats.

how

If

the

taken in a routine, atilentific and undramatio manner

pictures will become quite tireaome ofter a while

or
and the people will get bored with Hitler in a year
so.

(Trust spolence to. take the drapa out of anything.)

1^

(e)

Hitler's oaae showld bo presented

to the world as a leason:

di

"This is what happens to

:r' 'Uf^kjj*.Vv}- it**-'

'""'*'-

il<

:'^*

'Hi' ^uC-^'fif'^

'<'

"

".VI.'

f~H

-k",^4..

-^v'^dkf.^J,^, '*,

-f

- 35 -

the world."
crack-brained fanatics who try to dominate
powerful deterrent to
As such it could serve as a

domination.
others with fantasies of world
Hitler's personal1. (f ) A thorough study of

importance to psychiatry
ity would be of considerable
documented book
and the publication of a carefully
act as a deterrent
on the subject would not only
future would-be Hitlers,
(publi3ho4 in popular form) to
contribution to science.
"but would ^e a significant
T^^f>^T. Wow and the .Cosaation of HdstJlitJes.
2.
accelercte Hitler8
The aim should be either (i) to
deterioration, to drive him insane; or (ii)

mental

the perpetuation of his

to prevent hip frop irisuring

legend by ending

hi

life dramatically and tragically.

TheJPe are various

paychoiogical techniques avail-

nervous brerkdown,
able for accelerating Hitler'?
here. None could be
but they will not be oonsidored
repeated military setbacks.
30 certsiniy effective as

measures which
Shall limit ourselves to a few
from arranging
might serve (2. (a)) ijo detar Hitlep
himself, and (2. (b))
a hero's or a martyr's death for
of his legend
to make him believe thft the immortality
VJQ

>

hands of the
will not suffer if ho falls into the

United Nations.

2*

(ft)

^6

Flood Germany with coraraunlcatioha

(leaflets, short-wave , long- wave , official speeches,

underground transmission from Sweden, Switzerland,

be
Turkey) telling the .people that Hitler can not

trusted, that he is planning (quoting Hess, Strasaer^

Hanfstaefigel, Iteuschnlng and other Na?;is in England

their
and America) to l^ave them treacherously to
be a sly
fate by getting himself killed. This will
trick of his to insure his own prestige and future
fame.

cares
He does not care for the Gorman people; he

only for bis Oim glory.

He is ho better than a sea-

to
captain who quits his ship, leaving his crew

drown.
*

Drop vivid cartoons of Hitler rushing

front
ludicrously forward to hie death on the Russian
Germans he
a guilty conscience over the noble
(out of

has condemned to die there for his glory);

also

and
cartoons of his arranging to have himself shot,
this as
others of his committing suicide. Interpret
people,
the easy way out, a cowardly betrayal of his
."jf^

of
the act of a bad conscience, the qulntcsaenco

vanity.
'tv

Warn the people against

prophet, the Judas Isparlot of the German Revolution,

etcetera.
%y,,

him,, the false

pamphlets
If hundreds of these leaflets,

^^Bkh

- 38 -

use of these
By the repeated and not too obvious
by a conflict
two messagea Hitler wduld be faced
might be inbetween (D a self-annihilation which
a peaceful
terpreted as a cowardly betrayal, and (2)

old age at Saint Helena.

He might choose the latter

the Allies
and so alloir himself to be taken by
ther^ was to be
Only later tould he discover that
is
no .Saint Helena for him. This trick of ows
the resurrecjustified by the necessity of pi?eventing
to rouse
tion of the memory of Hitler aa a superman
revolutionaries.
future generations of criminals aid

p.

I.

anpi pestions

Tftening

for the Treatment of the

the>>^kdo#t^

of Geyffianyta Faith in

th^ir Whole trust

Hitler.- the German people have put
military coiamander
in Hitler. He is their:tai^ > as h6

representing "a special OlasS

cdiiild

be their man.

the conduct
Having taken the entire responsibility for
and so
of affairs, he has become tl^eir conscienc e

relieved them temporarily of guilts

The^jrido

German
system and security- system of each individual
is thus based on Hitler^s genius and success.

The

of
bulk of the people will not easily be persuaded

.*"-;

-.^^^-^^n'nr^-^

- 39 -

his incompetence and falseness.

They will cling as

his omniscience
long as possible to the illiision of
Vvhen it
because without this they have nothing.
catasf.v. ^t^iftnchantment wil l be sudden and
comes,

trophic to -German morale generally.

physical
The Allies can rely on the march of
disenchantment
events to bring about the eventual
events will march
of th German people; but since
disencbantfaster aiid the W8^ viU end sooner if this
be hastened by other means, the Allies should
jnsnt

cm

sentiments
not overloo)5 the power of wopds to change
may prove
and attitudes. The foiLlowing suggestions
of sow value
1.

(a)

Technique o f communication.- One

leaflets
effective wethod would be th^t of prlntit^^
containing the r^ames^ ran^ and regiments of German

soldiers ?>edently taken prisoner

hardly succeed in

p'reventJlig an^^ious

The Gestapo could

parents from

news
picking up these leaflets to obtain the latest
of their sons at the front.

Communications of this

sort might start somewhat as follows:

NEWS PROM THE

it

FRONT.
' '^

Among the 20^000 German soldiers who surrendered

happy
to the V<orld Army In Sicily the following were

land of free
at the prospect of going to America, the

.;.

;->;

i-.s^(.y.vJ'<-;>.-'.

i;'-:v"..f-;

-40 -

speech and free aOtlon:

Corp. Hans Schmidt, Capt.

Why are you laughing?"

Heinrlch Wittels-j etc. etc.

they were asked..

"Because,

they answered, "we are

going to the United States; whereas you are going

^o

the land of the False Prophet and the Geatapol"

etc., etc.

We suggest that HEWS PROM THE FRONT be distributed

in
at regular weekly intervals, like a newspaper;
and
order that the GerwEns will learn to expert it
that
look forward to it, sJtnce it will contcin news

they can npt obtain in apy other way.

could
Mixed in with the lists of German prisoners
to the.
be printed the messages that we Tish to impart

people.
1.

(b)

Name fdr Ritler - In the minds of

Germans the woi^ "Hitler** is ^till surrounded

protect his
by a layer of reve^ntial feelings which
not
image from attack. Therefore it would be better

piany

to refer to

hiffl

(except occasionally) by name.

more subtly effective would bo the

term;

vise

False prophet or P'also Messiah.

Much

of another
Iiater more

dorogatpry terms - the Amateur Strategist, Corporal

.V

SatQn, World Crlml^nel No. l - might bo effective.

>-''.,':'%-;-'

- 41 -

1*

gtifeatlt?tttlon

fc)

ffe* (jeiinatt <5l5ialeotdr*tJ?u6t;iir

U0ed t6
b^

jp^ettaaedl-oa

att0,

0!9?BftB

COOa^quently,

$01110

tUft
lis

in<3i

la igprked by a atrcint

aceriiioe,

^m

^eti thla

eotl*?' * &0J| tbe Abaolute, fche^

Fuetoj? *

i^ilb

my

e#|if*

^te hajypy end b^&lthy',

to breajc their pr^aent?

t0 attltf tf a aatlafactory aubatitutf is

eU^aoo

iJhi d^^majia

pri^$QtJ.t;ad*

vAliae

abefi

trer^hi,^!

of a Higher Symbol

will not recdily accept

a.

that iM Ideatlfla^ in their minda with th^

apeclal prterencea of an enemy*natlon (Ifem^crSQy,

et<|4

i it

inuat

aomethlng higher. som ething aUpra-*

'

aitiotial tbt wlU'e:clt0 the reapeat of

peoples

Ther^ la a greet need now, rather than later,

^Xiikef.
fei?

aU

9om

fea. of t'orld federation s

But

Iftolfing

^iSi

the Auiea^ In their meaaago to Oat^mcny^ aho^X<3^^

Ag^inat Hltle^^ th0

terme that auggeat Ita apirit*

li^la Prophet, the propag$ndiata

ahouXd apeak of the

World Cohac ierice (the name of God can not be Uaed

without hypocriay), and ahouXd a]^eak of the forcea
aa
of Rusaia, Great Britain^ France, and the Amerlcaa
the World Army *

Quo a ti on:

(N.B* Suggeatlon for one leaflet:

Wh haa aeduced the Gormen people from

their true p^th?

Who haa turned their hcarta agcinat

the Conaciea0t of the World?

V-lio

la reaponaible

thla time fo^ Germany a Qncirclemont by the World

Army?)*

to

bf effective the terma "World Conacience"

m^^

42 -

ft^'^oria

Ajioy^

miSBikQa fy^m

of

fiyg^

lidt&enf dp

quota tleris,

thfist"

Ma

asQ^f eased

(|t|;$rW6w3.

sad

efeouldi

m$ii$lii * *^m$H%it!i^ i^tMJ^QA th 6dei

Wveldpaeat of

of

cfiiiefil eenteuipt

W^ ^WHOa fSS F^Kf

lieli

i&$a.98

li6

''world

titte3S;t)^gated ^dljliion

|^<#f deiii6ast*6filg Sl,deii

lleia
'

froquontly,

b^'Jf'epoatfe^

-iSti^t

tlie

'

tltlef

tlid ITixtir ?iis*tf efld

the

i^tibliely

edtoii*8tie f6J the t^lififi loaSei*,

this p&lttt shtwild

(jfi

Muaaelini'a foil will do

niuch.

fed

i(S|)finted.)

to Tjndejttino

morale, end no 0||>0J?tuaAty'ah6tild bo

Gepmfiti

to

ssiissed

deatlriy
arid
fifej*Q#^th^ eoijinedtiI.gftt 1?o^#een' M HJij.oi'^ii
l.U
Ml
inj
I

fH. lfJ

I.

..."

lijiss6iitti$
J
'

:.

II

i:

II

iw

..

...

Xi

II

l<

'

dMMi
i

it}

'

'*'

'

'

'

i*^

il

IIWW M.ui

III

<i

tJdclln and ffilX of the

"

^he Cbhceptioh of t)estiriy *

'

^mextxH bolioVo 1 i^redoatlhatioiii (thQjtmvo.of

'

-"y^

fttllt*e),

t*id

and all ootnnrunlcatlona eddl^eaaed to them ahotild

bo written aa If thd dofont of tho felae Prophet

WGim a forefone

concluaion.

Some meaaagea ahotild

eoQ from tho ^Voioo of ffiatoi'y*.

^

% (fj

fitelhg 'Advantage of Hitler*

ii!-.

..^/;; J'

:V.;

43-

y^IilUr*

dQt50fioi?atJlnS*-

t^ tho

fl^e<}lsG

Thit gljouXd

0f

mamQd

nip ^xamplQ

a^Mn. Eoeple /

mn$olitiX h64 OoUap$0d

of'

fes

9tctus and role in

io-

ViJo

talking
that

Hitlej? i# in the h^nds

of the Spirit
cental af0eiali9ta>>hat haa b^cowo
that a inan
P^ "!> yo^ s^^ii belldve
iPasOiSBif
'*

wfaoao

sanity bsa

0in l6ad'

i:

;,

(M

*
6ettiieny*a Oho fomoini nff Ally. Japan^

Mzi'to^im should bo

'

Japan in

by Guilt

agrinat the
the Q^rmaii people to viotory

woridt'V

fhe

tsQen ootaplotoly Widejrmined

xn ironical

(Constantly ooupled with

or satirical manner*

For example J

the Japanese,
Tho Ha^ia and their blood^brothcrsj
willingneas to die for
have boibh demonstrated their
thro^
summer one million of them have

Satan
airay

-*-'tiiia

tbQlr

uvea

fiivilization,"

in a

ftjitile

attempt to destroy

who is responsible for this ignoble

the Conscience
league of Germany and Japan against
of the World?"

"A fact to be explained:

are dyi&g every day fighting

Gorman-Aiiierieans*

^f

li.

^i^

that?

Gcnrians

Japanese against
VrtiiS

la responsible,"

.\.

'

..

- 44 *

pUenlng

(4}

Hiunieh Student Manifesto. - In

&0rman^ hinti for one line of

JJieSdages to

propa^indd can

l>

obtaified from tfee revDlutionaX':^

manifesto distributed Xagt year

bjr

students at the

University of Wml^h*
84

gesAft f^^oB
IS*

(al

HHiX

&t Wa j* 6rltfeinai$

Pis^ciiel^glcally i% la important

that at tie ^i tt thi leader 6| th STszl Pert?:, b

th

Oft

t sttrren4l and slgft the ^eaef tt^aty*

the Alliea
giifigtttera

dh<rt*id itisiaU

'

#b^d

severe

"ife

thi8> shduHd dreg

tM

without dereatfiny froai their hidihg ^laees

and foree thea t$ alga*

peint

m
(A

be Justified.)

first*

little trlcirery at thlt

Th$ tennS shcmld be

Later when a aoro l-epfesentative

be made
goverh^ent has been established tha.tenns can
lenient. Thus in the futuro the dictators will

more.

liation of.
be recalled In coiinectloh tith the humi

unconditional suirrehder ;

whereAs the democratic

terms*
govemwettt will get the credit of securing milder
2* (b) A World Court, at least one member

immediately
of which la a SWISS and one a Swede | should

publish a list of war criminals, ad complete as possible,

ahd heutrial countries should be officially warned
that

fto

mn

on this list must bo given s^nctuary^

-.
*

'

45 -

.v;:c.vV''*i.''*

coTintry
ThB Allies 9houia b9 prepared to Invade any

^tet haj?bor>

iwor Id

2> (V)

shpuid

.b

must not

'

criminal,

The trial 6t the war crirainala

carried out with the utmost despatch.

h0-

allowed to drag

It

months, as this

impression of
wouia" give the (SermShs convincing
jnoaral w^atoess and incompetence ^

r^generatien*

oui*

and postpone their

ta oonneQtion with the trial a short

explaining
reiaahle book should' be published in aerman
brotherhood
the naturd of international law (thi

by the
of nations). and exposing the crlmQS committed
fas^sistt in A.B.O* language,
:

A pamphlet oomparing the terms of the Versailles

with Germany's method of dealing with conquered

T^-eaty*

couhtriea shouid.be given wide circulation*

after the
3^ Treatment of the German Peop le
(^ftflflfltton of Hostilities. '

I%-i!i aitimed"that Germany,

will be invaded and

tho^
OOAupiOd IfAa^lled- forces I that aiwwitanaously
civilians in
will be upl-lsings of slava labor and of
blood will be
C^^cupied territories; that raUch GeraaA
agilled* ^This is as it should be

a fitting Nemesis*

and eventually restore

Tha- Allied ttoops will march in
prdflki**

This function of restoring order will mcke

Germans,
their presence more acceptable It thi

m.:

,-'-

T* "^

-^

V-.*!v^^*fv*

"*

$tV^

48 -

^i*i<rte0i

tb^ w id.U firva t ho Gorman

pdopie ptdfiMJiial? tomlliattd, J?6t#i*3ei* dlson^hantaa,

%Q Obeying

artel ti?arf ntjeiiaaX' autilioritjy*

hairs iiQ d6paadaba; ttx gttidoa

ther*

wiU

\iili hd

>e wava of eriwe dnd

m^mg

y^&n^spifee^d*

of ietetiae uiiaMl^iiity tiei

aoeial aystett
paitt

aM

to

co6Wl
slol;<l^*

fefa6vicrtp*

Apathy

iraaaed thj^ough a parlod

ietpfajfatlett

fall ^i?t^ esaia

itill

fehor will

^pmnf

wait tfi

aa a

auffet

ojptiftcati<m in ^H.^ta*

Mai^^ianlzatleR ahd aojifualou will bo geae^al,

Qjjtaatlng a hi?aadtas

indiyldualisiH *

^6iid

f<i*

6 ftalda J^bla

eixlta of ^ixit^ma

^art of the popwlatiort

iiU he weighed d&^m by a hsavy aooae of guiit*

should. lead to % l^avliml of rNsiigloa*
"...
*

the
.'

'

f ha soil ^ll

'

i^ch

laid for

ft

aplritiual ia#fiai?attoa; arid pax^haifS

^ewmm, m^ w^V
im

%<j

cjerawayi

idXi ifibetit tH futui

aastiiaad thati. ^sha

mil

tftaia^

Alliaa dll

affteiaht

dBB^litai!i|.t

guaji^aafeaea

agaihat

tMiS\xtnjimpt!tBo%mi *dll tajfe sta&a to li<|ai<5aa

thft ^t(hjj5e* C3taaa|

tala^aa
<

*tll ^ravefit raarmanieat and tho

ofraw niatenala.

a aoft peace for

Aa Dr. Fde rater has aald:

Germany will be a v ery hard peace

for th6 german people, dollverlftls them to the Prusalart

caste who led them

aats?63r.*

!tii*

- 47 -

m-.'-

m^i

thy

gmem

<5stla4 ta

'6r

the

eaithj|

(3)

thsa
la np human I6i Q tiL^^hdrity higheJ?
*i>f

tlJf^lJ

feh

the O^xsnaa stats i. (4 > that fowet li to

tje

ifeof e dve^ythiiitj 4a4 (S J that Might Wftkea

,

]jfi

ei*

ar deaUiit ?lth i

Jr6

aad

&&ai|.ea

Mght

"fiyy

l*o^6iiiaa.

* all

?^

staff oring

hatred Qf atreg efi^oftehta

wefek oi^ffoeota; 8fr6gfn<s,

sf

o(iateiB|t

mti&n

dXiaiiona f graadsm?; delusiona

pArahelcl tredti

pereoutt6s;

aad

gooi

Mtist
tiestiaa th# (SoK^siaa '^$?hftXe$taUs' *s

realise thttt

f^m

there

*Ji<i^

sii&pt4tu9eag

^^^ "^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^ rtactioe

troatrtent
^^djtibly.ths fll-at .foui* stefs ta thd
<aa b
of; a aiiiflQ, ^ai6fl0id DorstShaXltr
'

6&hir4i'aioh

e>^

Qwrasuay.

adapted te the

jt attesiftiaa tht va

piyahi^
6t. foi^g^t thftt tha 0i4i I their

$tU\
,

Pi rat Step ^-

not t^

siQ^0as

physician mist
tfae petlent .

fgcih the "respect of

(i)
caji

'The

iffuat

twtod'

Individual paranoid * Paranolda

atiC^esafmiXy If th^^y are not tftprasaod

- 48 -

/'..

(conteietisj;?'
il|(|pt,

fiJP

ilficen^eloualy) by the ability, knowledge,

6r/^lfed|^

flra^etlc folc0, at the physioian*

i>3g-

tfeia^toa, 8i6cd ^i*afi6i^s ibeiiif ftiU

'

|il3SlM*^ "^^

(ti)

'
.

fritiae* eaii 8!leblft *

heaa aheald &t b paimitttd*

i^^ak

adifiitj

segiindnt0 that

m%tm%%t with

fhes^

l?tt

sm

a Bkiftefy t>t

(SettHfthS

seidiejiis) we' wei^e

<b)
'

oi*

led te expect***

i&thS adaii*^ *S?detoiSesa, preclalbii,

'3.

ahoiad b

splendid mss^ not ths

dsgehepttes (deafir6tl6'so-ldleis)

(litUSSiSft

tJteited

Rowdltieaa and dj^uhken*

bf thi best g0ne**eXa*

eoa^lldd ta

aeet^i are

be ^ifei fittest thit th^

66tii^y Q**attf ahduid-

^oBffiAhddd

oeT

b&rbarlfeft^
T?he

mf-^

efficiency*

Second Step ,- The potential WortBj

of the patient ahouid oe fully
acknowledged .
'

(1) vtndivldual paranoid * 1?he in*

dWeXXihg. brtimlng hungef

-Of

the |)arattold is fbr reccgnl*

ilon, poW| and gloxy pralae froft thcao whom he

feapecta*

^Phla

hunger

ahotil<I

be appeaaed aa aoon

aa poaSlblMli 80 that the .paraneld thinks to hlmaelf:

The great mSiS sfJ^J^eclatea me.

the worXd***

fftgethei* we can

It, is aa if he thought:
'

PatheV Snd I am his choaew

aon."*

face

"Se IS.God the

rjT5.^l^5:^vr5.-:rprf-.>--.?)!r^"'t':*>'<"'-'-

.'

- 49 -

Klfe^'

(11)

Germany .-^ Germany's country-

of
aid, It^ inuslO, tetlstaric culttire and rafinuments
ttfuty thduld bo appJ^QClatei and ga?ai$od4
oeciii>*at Ion

of
'

Th<J

aimy

should waftifoat Intana^ latQi?eti% in the

to
cltu;^Q of Old GeiiBatty ahd ooaij^ote Indlfforenco

ail repent deveXopments;/ The

tif-oopS

should he instructed

the
and- QOached by lecttires aftd gttde*bbdks covei?lng
'

district.} they will oocupy*

the wftr la not

'

tfoa.

TWj

ahould be told that

ujitii the heart of the German

oeoplis iMta beeii won.

9c:^ana' of the old' school ahould be hired to

teach

thfl

Oerman language; to guide the goldiers

on tourd of the country and of muaotuns,, to teach

native '.art^ and skills*

Ooncerta should bo arranged,

omitting piecee that have boen specially favored by

the Nazis
.shijuld
'

iditiottS of bi?oka burned by the^ Nazis

be publiiSh^d and put

All thi will

provide edu^atioh
tittej

aeiHre a
fol?

ots

sale immediate ly,

double purpose*

It will

our troops and oecupy their

thua hftipiag to maiat^itt tnorale.

Also the

^ubaei'ged laferiority feelings aftd resentment a of

the Seraiaftrwill be alleviated*

w^r*-

- 50 -

'"

3 (0)

-.

Third Stop ..- Inalght ahould be tactfully

pyovldeSTo irfctle at a tlmo .
(1)

.;

Individual. i)6l^n&id.* V6i>y

gp^duaily* ateii by step, tha patiaat la enlis^htened

FiPi4a ta

to hia cwm parejiaoid nweheiaiatta*

>s

being

un<sx*itlolable and always In tha n.^h% tma% be gi^adu*

ally replaaed
hia

fey piplda

<itm raaobanisJiia

i baing able to

r%m

abave

and cj?ifcicta M-aiaalf 1 prii^e

being atrang enaii^ to admit

aoijie

ift

waateQaasea and ei*raa

Vk 8ha*ld ia 9i8de %^ lindayatand that ha. has been

vlafeiala^4 ^y

over hla

jparaea

tfi'a9)8sl-0ua

pi'opei?

aalf*

Ijui?in$ the

wbioi galhad control

ootUi^ae

of theae

talks the physielftft ahiouid freely oonfaaa his own

weakneases and errors, the patient being treated

aa an eq\ial.

(ii)
ol*

(Jerttart

6ormany *

5*he

laat ten yeara

hlatoJ*y shfiuld b0 interpieted a a a violont

iftyao tioua fever, a |>aaaeaaion of t)^ spirit,

took hold of tie peop1.e aa soon aa they gave

whieh
oai?

to

ibe faiae prophata of F*aaciaiB

A aerlea of ai-tlclea, edltoriaXs, eeaaya and short

baoka ahoiaid M;^wyitteft noi by Oormaha in this oonntry
,

(Thojoaa Mann,
^aicled

Reihhold Niebuhr, fooj^ater, and othei?a)|

poaalbly

W siiggeationa

tt^

psyahlatsi'ista/

to be pubiiahad ih design newspapers and diatribu^d

^*

-^^^-rr^^r-^^

- 51 -

"^iaajfa o?is<5atlaXljr -p^^haj^f aigaed

'

truil*

In

tiiBOi

tftjs

ilaja;,

la^deratjaad^ tfaat

i*awifetli4^

and

dol\4tiomS| fefelK^&ei'i^i end

]?<s^lvQ efe-feotivcij?

&*i&ti^l4 i

i)* )aiat;6*^(siX aeqiAifiadf

iaali' %(i

^ apiade plume

ofifi of the Ha;^a.

l^iSr

O^iifjaa

^K^ *oi^l4

\ia&fi^j?y rlfetJiDts

people 8i&old be

m^HM

^^m

6f tastittetm^l

Tb AlXioa sbimld b^

awg?5|iiiawa ^JflSttgh t6:

thai** oira onre and

aladeods*

5^

(a)

feil*eea*

admit

gourth Step , *> The pctle^fe' should

Insooiated In s group .
(i)

l>Q

ihdlvldua 1 pa raftoid < &vlftg

attaiftdd a moaa-uire of satlefaction by wiftftlag the

p4gpa6t and friendship of hla phplclan

aiid theft havlttg

galood aom ittStght aed coGtreli th pc^tiont la readj^

oS? glpoup th(^j?ftpsr*
4ili

outaldd

ht0 pla<d and

fh* group

hfii

gi?oupst.

#atai?^

ho

catt

b^ perattadod t

(jj:^duallf ha must lo^ro to taka

crOopoJ^fetd

joiaa ahould

an oqiiai feaslS with othera*

hfi'v^Q

a goal#

W^^^^^^^^Wi^S^^W^

- 52 -

(il)

Qermany .^ If Germany is to

^e converted,' it is of the utmost importance that

aome strong end efficient super- government be estalvlished as soon cs possible, providing a new world
conscience , that her people can respect.
Germans

anjist

As said above,

have somethifig to look up to - a God,

a Fuehrer, an Absolute, a

national ideal.

It can

not be a rival nation, or a temporary alliance of

It must be a body - a strong body with

nations.
a police.

force - which stands above any single state.

attract the
A supranational symbol would. eventually
deference that is now focussed upon Hitler. Lacking

such
a

symbol, many Germans will certainly fall into

state of profound disillusionment and despair.

as
At the proper time Germany should be insocieted
nations
an equal in whatever le6gue or federation of

been established,

has->

prom here on

,t he

therapy of

single paranoid

personality fails as an analogy^ principally because

the German people will not be in the position of a

patient who comes willingly to the physician's office.

.

The Nazis will be in no mood to be educated by their

enemies.

Furthermore it would be very presumptuous

of us to try it.

The most that the Allies could do

'^^^^^^i^'^^/ry'^f^'^y- :-

>

--^A;-

'^

-\- -' '"^";^;:p:?55^^^

- 53 -

;w?ul^

^Ji

until
to eloae oil schools a nd universities,

been
^Oti*faao$8t teachers and fedultles hsd
dealing
'Phfl f^reatest problem will he In

X^deiim3.H4

.end hardened
wltli a whol gi^merdtion of brutalized

yOUSg Ni*

(Perhaps exhibition games of soccer^

tve en American
io^^tbaXl, Isei'OSse end baseball be

introduce ideas
an^. English regiments would servo to

much else must

of fail* play tad sportsmanship; but
be dOd * l>y Ortrmen educators .
fCii.the eofiveraion of

Germany

the.

most effective
With*

world federation.
agenor. wili ^^ some form of

im tMa ^^

Allied Vl6tOirr

ltt]>ort&i3t oeiJdeilU0n<ses

m'.\;

iU

have no permanently
'

^
:

m^^^m^^'^-^^WW^^'

^:^'f^'^r;-^yi^rr^^i^-{i,^^^^^

^^^>-..

sm^tm

HltXey the

mn

-^

tp^

^]tx pBse History

^t
w*

W-

H*;

.^essftSQ

'

FTjr,

,_^

.*v^-^-'^^'''A^:'^^T??^*^"^Vj?<^F25^-*>

;-

itliie^

-'.

'

..,

<

'^:-

.J .55

*re dx4M, it la no moiMi t^ntetK?*

tlsaa the

psyelkdlogiocil pfl piotiarod which thd't&feit thdt&aoliretf

aoy case atudy one

lauat

begin

"by ftaking

who

the auh^eet i, whenoe he coimei who were hia forheara*

Heiden (S) ^eaentd

abXe*

Btere

.t!p

moa* reliable genoalogy nvpil-

we note only oertoiu important pointa.

SitXer'a foxier ^ AiOie, wae born the illegitimate

a on bt Iteria Anna' Sohieklgafuber in

of Spital,

.the

village

f0 was auppoeed to be the a on of Johann

Oeorg Hiedler^
bojce the

1857 in

However^ to his fortieth yepr,^

name of hia mother Sohicklgrtiber.

Aloif

Only

)2
then^ when Oeorg Hledle^ waa (if atill alive

eighty- five yeertf of nge, and thljrty-five yeora nfter

the death of hia mother, did he trke the noma Hitler
the maiden name of his mot her- In- law

As Heiden aays,

"In the life history of Adolf Hitler no mention is

ever made

of.

the grandparents, on his. father's side*

1 January S, 1877

^ There seems to be no record of hia death.

^=?V
^. Ik.

V^^:^-':^
;

flit

^ tails t^v**'iai?3.y l^i?#r walr ^o

jt^m^opa*

flirt.

fiiS?f

im^m

raaay.

wa apt

A<$#iJf ajl,H9a? g^^iiOfat?^!?

*ai.tj

tK

60 ^fcBdwa rmn^ (i|

sidee 0# %h6 f eraiiy w^*

1si>

W^

pother '

suggest; thot

lif^ibpnn

Ocorg HledUl

7b ea^^atorti oo both

^6eat

t'^'fl* ^^

of W|iidi>^tartai| id^JaXf iXiltei*atse and very

Al^ii

t Tl?t

Si-ti9i*#

ft

^^

dltriet

inlrt*ed

e^bbieJ?, had by the cg

fert^ a6hivd tha pOUitlon of'ftn Austrian cu#tftBi

t^ adue^tioa Jfor tfel* poeltlon wc the
^rli.ftial*

oet*'|.but4a Pf hie

yo0r9 h4#

Sdfiioi?!

rlret

di^

whom he warrled six

i<l

mfej

poXjj3lit

ft

Glaali who, fifteen

gls second wife,

1883*

weeUii loteaf*

three <>ath ifiter, an ^<mary

Klcta

AlSha

"J*,

died In a yen r< and

J.88S

(5^

he marrifd

dtfttaat otisln*

to
In ft|>^0j?taoe Heidea has ^coinpered Alois
iilndenbm'g. (i),

Gunther (5) describes his picture

as showing a big, round, hairless skull? small,

sharp* wicked eyes; big bicycle- handle nous to Chios

and heavy chin.

He was a hcrsh, stern, ambitious

and punctilious men (5; 8),

Alois' wife, Klara, Is described (5) as being
a toll, nervous

young woman, not as strong as most

peasant stock, who ran off to Vienna as

girl to

j,

^r-^sfr^ j.-:t:,*F Jiji

^:^''L

v^

-\

- 57 -

retiirn aft# ta

in heir acwiai

in-her

0iirl]f

eicih:>esilYO

S8 dodtei*

tiitti|i)#.

tbviUn t$

e(atly pXitdd

hX^

gyy

(1)

describes he j*

ttiXX, irlth t>a*bnlsh

o^l

Xdg

fl

eep&d for one

(* <Jtni

yiiii^i

hair

f&09 6nA heatttlfully

^yei,

itfilfl$f|

Modest, kindly

wOin&n*.

Addlf

llt>l6i> lii^ Ifl

aacertaiflnd*^ Has Aloli

his own

years *^

Ji&thes

l$0tg

fts

fftl*

ea can be

i'lfth tshild, the third of

tmt th tllft t^ lt*e more than two

fhia i^

n^etuXd sett

0S

fi

large factor in

channellllig th p%ftt aff$tldli for Adolf which all

the eYideaot

80di8ti

t6 dho shi bdre him.

In retiirn^

Adolf, who fwiredand opposed hi$ father ^* as he

himself admitg
mother, and'

prostratad

wtuifl

wltsli

gave all his affection to his

she diad of canee|> iA 1903 he was

gfief (8; Sj 1),

Adolf aa d boy and youth was soDiewhat tall,

sallow and old for his age, with largo melancholy
thoughtful eyes#

He was neither robust nor sickly,

and with but the. usual, infrequent ailments of

a.

Heiden points out that the tincertain details of

Hitler* a family have had to be collected from stray
publications, that Hitler is reticent to the point of
arousing suspicion, about his life story (8)
* Aloi8 children we^e Alois, 1882 (son by first wife);
Angela, 1883 (daughter by second wife)r Oustav, 18851887; a daughter, 1886-1889; Adolf, 1889; Edmund,
1894-1900; Paula, 1895 or 1896 (children by third wife).

-.5$

e0waia

ft^<l

8i(",m
\?l5lk^

6<?ia3?al

Hta

^Uef

except y>hB% be bii&el#

tb^

hiai;
twojs

thttt

la

idtjicfttiOfii

ttlU

free -*

tfae penuto^s,

end

Wd know little

mi -* that he e^rly

RB ajrtlst}. that this, oiitroged his father,

irh0 atetEily dfttejuiiiied

pt

iiwih eo irero

owtaaialiat

About M&i^>"e?lf

his OdCtor acya

feufe

mm

if99t<iei%ionii

tn tbi. JBduiatseipat

rntd to

(9)

t^

laeke

g^od civil servant

thttt vc 6 pferpetual struggle between

with hia

niothel*

aiding with Adolf and finally

sending him. of f to Vie&na tp complete bis art education

when hia fathes? died,.

BXOapt for history and geography

trhlch caught hit ijaaginfttion he neglected his studies,

t<i

find in Vienna, whos

be.

felled his art examination,

that hia lack of formal education was a barrier to

entering the architectural school

At the age of nineteen, when hia mother died,
he went te Vienna to spend there three lonely and

miaorable years, living In

"flop- houses" (7), eking

out a living by begging, shoveling snow, peddling

^ A Gorman author of Indian stories.

S This in contraat to Hitler' a own account of himself
as a bit of a yoiang tough (9)

m
fm':-^

lbo^ of any S6H

9|]^e liid iddfiit 'bd^^n

lifi#

biii fitl'>Sdttltlstti

|da*

>f

aXX *ft*

t ^fjrital^

and dnti^SXavisnB/ hid atl-

t 1912 h *

to'

Muni d&

ati<i

tiiti^ mtf. '*iitjjueftidi? aitl8*^ ^l6itt't |>oatcard painter,

t6ohBiaX ds^aftsnad and dccaalonal botise-palnter

titiar managed to earn

fioma

sort 6f a living" (8, 25)

X% 1$14 bd ehliated in the army with great enthusiast,

performed hla dutlea irlth distinction and

tma

bravery,'''^

woiinded, sent home to recover, and in liiarch, 1917,

aa back at the front.

He waa aloof from comrades,

iealoud In his duty, and very lonely.

Through all

the war he received no letter or parcel (8),

The *ar over and with no home to go to. Hitler

in 1919 was appointed an eapionage agent of the
insxirgent ftetch^wehr which had just put'doim the

Soviet Republic in Munich*

Shortly thereafter he

came in contact with Anton Drexler and what was to

become later tht Ha zl party had Its beginning.

Further than this it is not necessary to follow

Hitler *s political history.

It is too well known

and the basic structure of his personality was already

7 Militcry awards were: Regimental Diploma for
Conspicuous Bravery, Military Cross for Distinguished
Service, Third Class, The Black Wounded Badge, and
The Iron cross. First Class. (8).

formed*

-60

Lcter years hsve only brought to fruition

latent tendenclea and laid the final product open

for the world to wonder at.

We must' now turn to a

closer exawiriatlori of this structure,

HITLER'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND MANNER

Portraits or moving pictxires of Hitler are

corinion

enough, yet it is well to draw attention to various

aspects of his physique

To most non-Nazis Hitler

has no particular attraction.

rate waiter.

He resembles a second-

He is a smallish man, slightly under

averags height.

His forehead is slightly receding

end his nose somewhat incongWEoa with the rest of

his face.

The latter is somewhat soft, his lips

thin,, end the whole face ejcpreasionless

The eyes

are a neutral grey which tend to take on the color

of their momentary surroundings,

The look tends to

be storing or dead crnd locking in sparkle.

There is

aa essentially feminine quality about his person

which Is portrayed particularly in his strlkiingly

well-shfij)^4 ond expressive hands

(2} 8; IS; et

alV)*

Hitl.era monner is essentia^Lly awkward ond all

hi-sl

mo^ients jerky except perhaps the gestures of

has caused an amazing number of different*

deaoriptiona of hia actual eye color.

%his t^ct

- 61 ^

Ms

handa.

He appears shy nnd ill

cit

eaae;

in dompany

and seems seldom capable of carrying on conversation.

TTsiially he deelairas

while his associates listen*

often seems listless .and moody #

He

This is in marked

contrast to the dramatic energy of his speeches and

his skillf\xL play upon the emotions of his Vast

audiences^ every changing mood of which he appears

to perceive and to turn to his own purposes g

At

times he is conciliatory^ at other times, he may burst

into violent temper tantrums if his whims are checked

in any way ^(16)

ATTITUnES, TRAITS, AND NEEDS CHARACTERISTIC OP HITLER

A t tl tude 8 t owa rd Na tur e , Fa t e , Re 1 igi oh ^

and last words are often significant,

tteljti
'

begins with

-^

First

Kampf
-

sentiment of gratitude to Fate, and

almost its last paregrnph appeals for vindication

t6 the aoddess of History,

however, all through

the book the]pe ere reforehces to

Providence, and Destiny.

1

Etcmei

NattiPe,

"Therefore, i believe today

cm acting In the sense of the Almighty creator:

by warding off
work* (9, 84).

the.

Jewe 1 am fighting for the Djpfd'd

This feeling of being directed by

greet forces outside one, of doing thd Lord's work.

Is the essence of the feeling of the rellglcutf ntystlc^

^v

No matteJ? how pagan Hitler 'a othiool and aoolal

may be,

quellty computable to

fchey have e

Id^Hias

t^eligloiMl

Moreover, all through hla aata and vapda,

exporienoe.

both spoken and written, la thla extreme exa'gga^tlon

pf hla own self-importance - he tJ^uly faala hla

diylne miaalon
a .martyr fa

(16.)

>

even to the p6lnt of foroaeelng

death (16)*

Aa far aa outhorljpod religion ia conodraed.

Hitler recognized both Ita atj?ength and weakheaaoa

(9;

Ijg)

and adopted freely wheteyer he fonhd aarvlee**

T*hat he

able for hia own ends*

strides dOtm Pretestant

and Catholic alika la dua merely ta the^onv^fitipn

that theao religiona are but old huska and muit glye

wayto

the new (9)

'SPpward

one the

ona.

conaclenoe hia. attitude ia a dual

ohr.

hand he repudiates it aa an' ethical

guide, heaping contempt on it as a Jewiah ihvention

a

blamish like ciroumciaion (15).

He adorns as

fopla thoaa who obey it (16).

But in matterf of

action he waita upon hia

voice, 'Ttoledi

inn.oi*

t'

have

the inher inoorruptibla oonviotion, thla la the ^Pli^

tioa, X do nothing.. #1 will not act, 1 w^li wait'

no matte

jB^

what hcpgena.

thea J kfiow the

tim

But if the yoi^a fj^s^tfV

haa ^onie to aot" (14^ i&l)*

Like Soofataa ho liatana to hia feaimon*

- 6$

toward nfower
Hltler*a Attll;iJ49
n
"

rt

II

'

'

'

'

"

'

'

gig

ooct

li

.1

'

'ti9et4.
V
I

for
I

.I

il l

Aggros 8 tpD <> Tq the Germon people and the wQi?ld et

Xcrge^ Hitler appeors as a man of tremendoiie strength

Yet those who ere

of will, determination, and. power ^

or have heon close to

hltt

(eg^, 16) Imow

th^thd

Is

oonsclous of being powerful and Impresses others as

auoh only at certain times ^

When he Is declaiming

to a great throng or when he is op one of his

solitary walks through the mountains, then Hitler Is

oonsclous of his destiny as one of the great and powerful 6f the ages

But In between these periods he

feels humiliated and woak^

At such

tinges he is

irritated and unable to do or decide anything;^

It

is these feelir^gs of his own weakness that no doubt

have determined to

great extent his ideas on the

All weakness must be knocked

educatloii of youths

out of the new German youth, they must be indifferent

to pain, have no fear of death, must learn the art of

self-oommandj foy only in this way

creative Godmen (15)

car3|

they become

Hitler ^s feolingi! of weakness

and power probably also determine his attitudee towards

peoples and natidfis.

fioiw HfiBOa do;

ftot

Per those who are weak, or for\

display; j^owdr^

"hd

bpfi

only

cortteifflpti

"^y gl^eat paiiUcaX''o|portliiilty li.fs in my dellbf?:%td

U8d of poiver ^t o titte imati there ere still illusiohS'
abrocd 60 t.o the forces that iftoiald history" (16^ 271).

those

l^br

iho

64

ore st4*ong he hs* f'eellhga of teapect,

fecr, subinlsalvjiea (4;^? 16).

the great wee period

For the K?itlii of

hpd great respect (9),

"he

T>t

only contempt for the powerlesa Indian re Voiutloncrlea

who tried to oppose 3H.tiflh imperial powetf

For the masses ovea -whom he

htos

He compares- t^em to

contempt.

-a

(9^).

sway. he feels

woman

whoi

'tuiily

prefers

to submit to the will of stsmeone ^^trongor (9)

harangues the crowd at night whon they are

less resistant to the will ;Of another

every psyohologlisea txlolc to break

audience
mai$Q

In the Qerooo pa^ople

fo:r

underatapds his subjects

hitJiaelf

will of an

a ictoging for automissloa,

of'

T>eo<nifle

Xooeliaeas (^)

opi^

>

they are SO like

(4).

Olosely related to his at titudo towrrd

and

Houses

He 3kps ae pf all the cohditions which

their flti3atle; their feelings

fl^

ti^^ and

(9)..

the.,

He

of the

Jail

powej?,.

sic elements of Hitler's per^nollty

struoture, t4 a deep;'lying need for aggresaicsi,

ddatructlOtt;^ brutality.

It was with hia in phrntasr

at least in childhood"

(9-5

And thare id

d.Yideu(j

^^ It is interesting to. note: tteeit the wnr agoli^st.

Bi?it&s;ti appe<^j?a Qttly to, have .l^i'Oken out Ijeeauae
.Httler was oovlnood that she would n (St end could
forces.
iiot H^laat tfto fitf^ngt^ of the denaan ared

w^
of it from hla days in Vienne (7)

that

We knew: too C9)

outbreak of the fii^st groat war was

tb(9

ly thrilling experience f or

hixn.

tremendo-ua'

Since the war we

have seen his adoption of so- colled "^communist'*

methods of dealing with hecklers (9), the ipurder of

his close friends, his brutality toiwird' the Jews^
his deatiniotion of one sinall hrtion after another,

and his more recent major war against the rest of

the world,

But this element of his personality is

so patent that it hardly need dddtanonting

andn' towprd
attitude toward the Jew& II
flttler*8
Vn
I

III

II

ii

AD^;;1^392ilti8iD
ftQQB#-^
a
11^1

"i

'I

II

II

Ji t

II

iB not on tuQcommon thing and

Europe

hajj

a long history of it but, as has been pointed

out, "in the case, of Httlcr^ the Jew he 6 been elevate^d,

so to speak^ to a degree of evilness Which he had"

never befbrt obtained^ (10, 8).

That this hetred is

of a more than usual pathological nature is suggdated

by the morbid oomiection wb^cii Hitler mekes between

the Jew cod. disease, bieoddiSdcie, syphilis (d),

and filthy excreencea

of.

all aorts.

The Jew

in fact is. opt oven e beast, h4 is a creature tsutsido

nature* (1$)*,

not only

He is at the root of all thlnga etril

111 Oeriiiaiiy

hi deatunietion may
thiJi i^ointi,

but eleawhere and only through

th(^

too, thfit

world be aa^ed*

It it at

Mtler** feelinga about race

-.^^''.

66 .

For him there is en

find axprdsaiofi.

inaejf'

emotioaal

diMjnaction between sex, ajrphliis, blood liufmHty'^

Jewis^esa end the degeneration of pure,

and virile

ipeclfil

atroina.

hdfiith]r;

Like the need f6r

dggreaalon, hia fenr of the tointlng of blood i

mojor

el^iJiont

fi

16 Hitler 'a j^eraonolity structure.

Hitler's Atti tude toward

'

Am *'

Thet Hitloi?8

attitude^ toward s^x la pothologidal is already clear

fiom

whpt has "been aaid abova.

The best sources

we have do not, however, tell ua explicitly what It

la that is wriohg with Hitler 'a aex life*

feet t^at his' cloao associate,.

R?>bra,

as*

Prom the
well e many

of the o'erly Nazis *ere bomoaexuala it hea been a

matter of gossip thet Hitlei* too la affected in this

way.

All rellabie sources, however, deny that there

la any evidence whatever for such an idea (8)*

In

fact, Hitler appears t6 beve no close men friends,

no intlmotas at 11,
addressed with

Rfihm iWta the- otSy one

the' intliiiote "du"

(5)

whom be

and It la

reported the t no oho has succeeded since the latter 'a

doa-tk to such a

Most

pokltioa of latitocoy.

txi'

regai^d to' Women, the reports pre conflicting.

o^'

the recent "books- by newspaper nen (e,g,, S)

st'ross Hitler *t' asceticism, his dialnterast in women.

B-f

.s

57

'

'

'

'

-.

Howovei*, Selden (B) doetments hla Ipvo affairs, end

tVh

HBhfsoh

Sts?isai3r

(18), t?nd Rauschriittg (15) have

oonaiderQbl to sey about his attitude toward the

oppoaite

As far as can

aeaf.

oompletely locking.

lie

in= r^spiact,.

oacertrlnedf. It 1&

evon contemptuous

(71^^;

it la Oppbi^tttolatle (18; XS) and In the actual searanl

relationship there is aoioethlng of a perverse

along with a peculiar enslavement to

hia'

choice (8)

'

It

Hitler fascinating
company,
attd ila

^t

la;

the.

notT:y?e

pdrtner of

certaiij thrt many women find

(16;;

71 and that he likes their

it ia alao true fehpt he hrs he-ver morrlod,.

every love affair the bi^eak waa mode, hot by

Hitler, but by the ledy eonoerned

(8).

In one cftaa,

that df hia hlecii, Oell,, there was real tragedy

volved for either he murdered- her In

according to Straaaer's evidence

fit of paaalon,,

(13),. or he so

and upset he*- thrt she committed suicide (8),

one'

I'n^

abased

Finally,

must mentloii again hia frenzied outburst against

syphilis in

llteifi

ICampf (9) aa if the whole eormatt'

nation -were o veat putrifying hotbed of this loathsome de'^eaae.

Hoieohk atot<jents

(8)

thpt

"Isheite

la 8<ftethl^g wrottg" witli Hitler'* sox life is surely

im eloquenti underatctemont*'

fO-.

.>'^

68 -

*
.

Hitlef

3 n ee<S to

Talk; This rather obvtoua

no$^ la worth noting at thia point, aftar what hap

Jfiiat

baen aald

abova.-''^

Bvei* ainoa

Hitler

aiaeovary

of hla faollity as a 8peakar,'hl own people and the

wor^

have been deluged with hia woid$

The manbeif

orape^ehea la large, varying in length from one

ani$

a half *o two hours, though there are aeveral o^

thrin

In private,

and even fovir hours' duration.

morepver, tltler ooldoa ponve^^ses,

whott he

addressea ia a new audience

foS?
t<S

eaoh individual
be harangued,

th tta momenta of depreasion he must talk to prove

to hitoaelf his own strength and in moments of

exaltation to dominate othera (l^K

Hitlera Attit ude toward Art .* though Hltler^s

father intended

hiib

to.be a ilvll servant, he himself

oraved to be an artist and his failure to be recognliied

as such by the Vienna sobool waa one of his most

traumatie experiencea (9),

Aa' ptihrer

hla intereat

in .art continues and he shows distinctly favorable

attittjdea toward music, painting, and architecture*

A* is well known, Wagner la Hitler's favorite

we mig^t almost ^ay only , composer.

At twelve

he wai dllptivated by Lohengrin (9), at nineteen in

"'A

V'

Vienna he waa championing the merit a of Wagner aa

"
'

'

'

'''-''^^''.r'-'<'5r^'/<r^'^,'rir'
r-.v.t'

59

ttgaiikltt Kft^iirt

(7)^ ttn^ ad Fuhx^di^ h^ had ttdn Di#

Mdi8tftyin^y o^r & htmd^sa

all df ngAta ae6t^ (19)
IBA

gdti ainQtioA&l' ]^dleaa

aetioni.

flia iairti

(1SI)

tiaidd
fiLa

aie^

td kBdws

thdii* i'an^ltien

It)

inapifwtidn

ffi^

his

eic^le%> fadlinga abdut aexi

t&t* pixm.tf, hi 'ftttitudaa

^ir6i?a

fo^

all fl2)d atittulua tnd taltifdi^aindnt

ift

jad di-ifik/

thd plotii

paraofti,. aftd tbiit. <>f hia- fair&t-it* cfirapoaai*.

19 i]QtaiS9atliig, foi exaa^ldi tb&tj Sltleip has

Nutfinbairg,
fiiattS

thf towa

irtiieh Wagiaej pei^sonlf'itd

Ife

efaoftett

in

St&ha/ at tha official alta of the ttaatln^ ot

linigi<*

Infludlida

fiwraii!*

lltlar axteiidd beyond

the ra^lsi of siuaie bd that ot lltsk>atit**

Among

tha PuhWJr ftvoilt# i-aadlflgd ara Wageei?4i pDlitleal

vritingit aod oottaelottaly

copied

iriLgnr*tf tturgid

ot tj|i<;oaeiO(ialf

and botot^aaMii

h has

mkm^P with

reattltlhg ityla hieh eoeordltig to fiildah bftdh

tratiiiforflia

of

hmtt
'

Xti

^a living 'aentenoe into a eoAftised h^ap

ijadi|tstible worda" (8, 308),

tha fiald of painting there are t*o matters

to cdfiaidar

>

Hitler*

ourn

toward the work of others.

work and hia attitude

As regards the former,

we have evidence that during his Vienna days Hitler

showed little ability except for copying the painting

^y-

Prom the analytic point of view this may well be

interpreted as a compensation for sexual difficulties.

11.

*^*'

^S?!j^''

^-'

70

of

(7)*, Seme, of

otherrfl

/l>wavaj?i

'Qolor,

airplay

1jljo\j|jb

jfxjiwai

aad wifeh

%mr& ^mt&iii
th

(jf

jftp1S3f

O^bft

df<ilat

all

j?Xi6^;

49lSQi

fu*^ii!ff.^^vtden

with

aojd *ltfe Bortti4?4

li;|aral and Qxplloits nudea (ifj 1S)

dai^s art

.of

f. of

QOnMlwIadt iHi^lmaT^d

ftM flag sita

aoii^ts

IftWJjf

il^te^y^lii^ **,

otjbara* Hitler has suri'isundad hlmatlf

pi4lii*i^ f

txt*ttt<

oj?$nljiWoi aad

papiOovip*iott,

p.9(p1q

|^'3tty lidg5$

|'a4?

t not?hig oHglJMil..

1?bi?e

l^ paklntlga '$^^m *
old

fl^l^

aoja*

%mt ^

th, *or4c8

A<^

ijiiX4tirjr

of

vaiP3f

hla oowaaiad

ha a isean .pjJ^ged of It a aaditfoiais,

and

almaaltO qualitiaa aa atJ?aaaa<l Inat^ad*

it ia

that Hitler

intafaat fiada its

|j?aa.tst eiifeUt*

iraat <aal of %imi

m9v

"by

a]*a

tLppiffivea

artlatlo

H -apahda

ajfehlUaoli^'a dtoaigaa

a,

and all

tha <|tualltiea whlah Hitleir atraasea and

! tha huildlAga of the

4evaty*fl*jc!0tbi0a(i
.$ro\j0aida
fti^a

Masaivamaas, expanaivaoeaa, al?a, end claaala

i4>ffl

'dsi^

aewnaa ^utldiata aod attauwanti mi$% ^i approirad

tiB^(^j^tnt
^

iri ja? ohltacti*i-a

Garmany.

neur

Hla

motor roads i tha aonferenco

at Hutattborgi and his retreat at Berchtesgadan

all eafeaa^laa of

tfcta^e

emphaaaa*

:;;^';rr''^

by

niiay wi^ltara

t&

fiftuiiclmlDg

(6; IS),

j^-^vr'' <->r;r^c->?:'

i^^

Hltlei? hioiself* accordlflg

(1)V accr4it>t hi vegeterianiaoi and

hi$ abatinei^cd fx^oA t^obaooo and alcohol to Wagner's

InfXueftca,

He aettbaa nmcb of

tiba

decay, of oivillza*

tion to abdominal poiaoQ^llg th^j^^ygh exceaaea*

a$cetlatiii

of

Mtler'a ie all

a people who, on the whpie,

of drinking.

thi| nojre

This

8tH-klng.aqiong

$0^4' heairy,

eateip* and fond

It la itorthy of note, however

thftt

at

timea Hitler l not averae to Q0j?t8in ty|>ea,of over*

indtilgence.

He 1*1

example i exoeaal-veljr foad

foi?

of aweeta,: 8eetneat8| and pea try (7j 1^), and will

eonaiane them in lar^^ q^antitiea*.
.

ttttler'a ieotiliar Abilitiea

cated, ia'nev^rtheleaa

ft

Hitler, the lanedu*

man of unuaual ability,

partic-alarly in eertaih areaa where formal edvcatioh

la of little

Wlue

and even in areaa where It ia

auppoaed to be important .

More than once we find

thoae who know 'him (e.g.^ Rauachning (16) atreaaing

hia extraordinaS*y ability to take a complicated problem

and reduce it to very aimple terma.

It ia hardly

nepeaaery to doetmient Hitler* a ability to iinderatand

and .make uae of the weakneaaea of hia opponenta, hia
s^k-

:*

>:?'

.''^

'

i-

ibiXity to divide them and stl'lke the 6q

Tjy

q^i

hi* tense of timing so as to atrlkff at the most

opportwoe moment*

It It oertaln^ boieye3P thiit

these abilities of Hitler's Iwve 4eflnil^t# Umltaitloos

has' beftoxo more,

^t2er
oantflLQt

and more initiated (l$) from

with what Is aatwRlly

oo<?\^riii^

h*i lasiAfflclent; or incsorreet data on

hi:

lans atlsfactory

peo^iei outslcis the

suld to

ISurppefih,

aji'

thMl

i^ oh

4eolsioos Jlore.over* his Own framt

la an

apd

OJP

%d b

Pfern^

iattdei#*;aAdl&g

milieu*

H^

of

bati coa*-

se^uenttlf , f re<^ueiitly mls.ii4ertood hotfe apitlsh

aS(|

Americiin points

o.f

vle-w trifeh unhappy. p0i*lti

to

his own program of expajjsloh*

Overt Evidence of ttalad Jus tmeht * Certain facts

Symptomatlo of maladju$tment ;have already "been mentibnedj,

such as his peculiar relatlohdhip to women*

Here there have to be added others of a less specific

nature.

Hitler suffers from severe incomnia and when

he does sleep has violent nightmares

(16)

At times

he suffers frtan hallucinations, often hearing voices

on hie long solitary walks (16).- He has an excessive

fear of poisoning and takes extreme precautions to

guard against it bo,th Ih hla f ood and in his bedroom

(Id).

Here the bad must be made only in one specific

rF.

J ^^

n
wky

M^ tAimat

.(is)*

cmtburaii of

irox>l

ttotiliritjr

steadily,

but;

with expXoislve

th AKtollest d0elal(^a dfiEaAd9 gi^eat affort

b^k to work tiimdalf up to it*

biaa)e

Sven

or not At all (X6; 8).

Aisd

ha

Whet) thwtrted^ ha wiXX

out into ao iiysta.rioaX tantxnsa^ aooXdini

ini

higb-pitehad toods^ fdaming at tha mouthy and atampiiig

with

tjoconti'oilftd fuj?j (i$)

wton^

ai) iiBpoi!>taiit

bafora
1]&

.hiau

sev^rai dcc^aions,

apoeeh waa dua, ha haa stood ailant

audiana^ and than waXkad out on

tha eaae ot

ha was

Oi^

ai(

ataddailiX:^

leaat one <intat^atlonaX

tQ

It the Nazi p^rts ia daatroyad op

thi|

(lerm^h Raioh fai!^ (5),

THE SOXmCES

bxOfldcast

and inajcpXicabXy 6ut oft th#

FlneXXy^ thera ia HitXax*'8 thi*aat

Traits 4

thexa (X6).

<yp

#iJi?

oosnait auicida

pXana ot the

itlTLM^S MAIADJ^STltENfS

The sohieold temperament ^ one such as Hltlei?*S|

which combines hoth a sensitive^ shy, and Indrawn natuHf

with inhibit lona

t>t

fee Xing toward othera, and at the

aame time. In way of. compenaatlotii vloXent aggresalve-

neaa^ caXXousnasa, and brutaXlty^ from one point of

lew

of conatltutlonaX paychoXogy Is usxiaXXy aasoclated

with a. particular type of physique.

It Is difficult

from the aort of photograph avalXabXe to cXaaalfy

n
Id pfobabXf falla

HitX#^'d fhyj9iqu$ ^d(surdteXy

E5?dtfl6hiner*s

thlatlc

pyknic CIX).

l^gj*6up

tbotigh ^^^rglng on th

Thia vouXdi pXttoa him in tha achlzopfaranlo

of teinpex<atndnta*'

grdi2|$

ixi

ta^oa of ShaX4on*a ayatett,

tti

ha la pirobabXy cXadaifiabXa aa a 443 with a conal^arabla

dagi'da:

&f

that is, an aaaentleXXy

$y)landi(}8i0iiphy,

maaouXiaa body but ona ahoKring famlnitia^ eharacteriatiea

Xa0 (X7).
piobabXy

>

/
iaoj*a

howaYer, la the sociaX

itiitpoi'tant,

miXiau and tha faiaiXy alttiatioo In which HitXer graw up.

Ifl

patHarehal aoolety^. hia

a atrongiy

paJ?tiouXsi?'i^ aggiNaaix^e afld

hla sen, AdoXf ;

llhia

flithef .waa

probabXy binitaX toward

wouxd produce an individuaX

both very ^ubtniaalva' to authoi^ity and at tha same tima

boiXlng
fe:now

of^

Ovai* tith

rebeXXiouaneaa to lt#

Further, we

thi axtreme attacteiiient wfelch HltXer had for

hia mother f

If, as seems most XikeXy, he hes never

outgrown thia, 12 there might be a protest in hia

nature against this ensXavement, which in turn might
give rise to a deep unconscious hatred,

possibXe

source of -frightfuX "unconscious rage.^-^ pinaXXy,

*

___^_^.,.^_..____^,^,

^^ Note HitXer'a frequent and unusuaX use of the woihI

MbtherXahd for Germany (9).

^^ HitXer's hatred of meat and Xpve of sweets ia

said to be often found in cases harboring an unconaciOTia
hate of the mother (X5).

':-',-ri^-yiKJ--^fTJ'T^-,.}-'^^T^'^

f^C'-''

,.?::-

..

,.

'^

-.,,,..,.,

j...^T./v-;;:-i7^;.;!%.r^>/.,,.-... ,.. :;

,..:

75 *

t;h

consistent

fi|ilu|*e

t^ftOhlevi his flUtiatie

amfeltibns, his l9iasXln^ ao^ poverty in Vieflnai his

fai^ui^

to.

arrlTS

higha if status thea that of

at. aiiy

eorpot^l in his beXovad artt^ (a), aiX laust have

stiWttXated in highest degree whatever originai tendency

there was
l?"he

toirtird

hrtttaXity and destruetlvenese*

sttresa;f Hitier<s"Ahti6einitisfli; Anti-

soctsX wixieu in whleh tttXer

SeBltisfii was pfirt*of the

^ew

\ip*

Be admits hlirweXf (9) thai he syolded the

only Jewish boy St school and It Is known that antl*

Serattlsia and. asc>tleiitt

were strong la Oatholic

ruraX ooBBBunlties in Burope-.

tn Vienna,

of'

course,

Hitler came In cdntaet with violent antl*Seaitlc

literature and It is at thld period that he claims
hie deep-rooted= hatred tpv the
1?h

Jrtfws

was born (9)*

^theXogioal str^agth of thii hatred suggests

that thei^ were ^ejPtaln psychological as we'll as

cultural reasons for it*

What they were we can only

We

Btirmise but we 0*t| llt certain possibilities.

fenow that

the name Hitler is a common Jewish one

appear(8), that Adolf was teased about his Jewish

ance in Vienna,^^. There, is, too, the mystery of ._..,.
.

^* It Is interesting that Hitler's description of the

first Jew to arouse his hatred is almost word for
word the same as Hahisch's description of Hitler in
Vienna (?)

;'v^?;;/i?r^rV^

Alois Hitler's true parentage which

hift

a<m may hve

We alfo know that many of the people whe helped

known.

him, gave him food, and bought his palntinga were

Jews.i^ To have to accept kindnesses from people he

disliked would not add to his love of them*

^t

there must he* more to it than this f^r Hitler's aiitl*

Semitiam is bound up with hie morbid concern with

syphilis and phobia over contamlnstioo
of the

Oetttiah

race.

of^

the blood

This, therefore, leads to a

disQussion of Hitler's theories.

!$Ouroes

of.

Hi tlei'<s Theories of Ha ce and Blood .'-

The concept of the superiority of the Aryaa race

of course, not new with Hitler*

waa Houatoh Stewe^t Ch8mberl.aih*'

f Wsgrie?

a-ljO

ii,

Its grettJ exponent

In the writings

the; same c6eeptio is jixalted.

Butf

the eonjifcaot repetition of the ide* af 1>lood, pure

bio04# and unto ieted blood. which occurs In Vein Kaapf

ftil

Thla

for
ift

a-

moi?e

than purely cultural explanation

suggested ^11 the wore forcefully because

of the association which Hitler makes between im-

purities of blood which are due to disease (syphilis)

and impurities in the blood of a superior race due
to mixture with a racially inferior stock; further

^^ His rejection of the Jew may also stem from the

rejection within himself of the passive gentle elements
which are prominent in Hebrew-Christian thought.

77

to

thi

-.

faoti ttattt h^'fiointd to th^ Jews as the

of beth.

source

How it 1$ knoim that syphilophobia often hd$

its wots In the chil4hdoa dlscoV^dfy of th^ nature of
sesmsi eongre^s hstwsen the patents.

With $ f^thei*

who was an ilXegitiottite and poselhly of Jewish orlgtni^^

and a stirong mothei* fixation, suoh e diJooveff ^y the

child Adolf nay elX have laid the bdsis of a syiphilo^
**

phobia which some adventure with 6 Jewish prodtii^ute

in Viannn fanned to a full flaroe,^*^

the fea^ of his own infection,

being is then

aliL

Terrified by
the hatred in his

d^ii^ected towaxxl the ^fews*

I.'

Sltlei*s pejpsonality stdm^ttii^e, though, falling

withlis the

nrevttsit

thr p&2*ahold
Of grandetuf

typtf^

nm

be deseHbed as of

ileitis ion*

of persecution and

i^nge^ tmf

#ith

Vhii steiAs frotn a s^do-matochistic

split in hit peifsonality (4)

integral with these

altei?nating and opposed' elements in his personality

are his fear of infection, the identification of the

^^ The name Hitlel* la Jewlah as was pointed out#*

^'^ This Is mere conjecttire and

must be treated as
But it Is the sort df explanation which fits
known psychological facts
such*

n
a the aourtid of

J'swi

thitti

^angeaent of the aexwaX

x*iatlon8

tjo

#hft

Inf ^otitjflji

*ftd

f\WciJloft wliieli

op&0aitet x tt1anoiX

$&m

mice*

Itt pafeiM^e*

The drama and tragedy tf Hitler i|Xi^ ^e tha

psroje^tloh oiato tha world of
aiid

iii

hia 6tteajta to^'aolvt th^ia*

wllJh

Mi

aJDdk

The apllts.

tft

Hitlar*a

tnother j whom hi i^aa^iotiately loVed,

atidwltlj hta futher, whom

dual

twier eonflileti

aeema alaarljr to-^t due to hia identlfica-

pei^aciiiAlity

tim both

om

hfe

hfited and fearad,

fhii

(jontradiQtorjf ldentlftcatlo (th ^ne la

gentla, paaatve, femlainaj th otha* hrutftl, aggraMtva,

aaadtiline

reaialta *^ whenever Hltlef

M- ^lyiQ$

the

aggreaalve r01^ ** also in a de|i hati'ed and contaaipt

for hi$ i0thar and lova and. a4i>i*'tlon for hla
-

father*

fhla inner, ooof Hat id

eit)ie"c ted

into the

world whera Oenwafty opmea to repreaant the-aiotheri

ajid

the law and #9 for a tiaar

the Tathsr*

,J"U8t

-*

th Auatrian state<

aa the father in the cause of hla

mixed hlood, the a our ce of hia domination and puniah^

.

ment, and of the restrictiona Of his own artiatic

development; just as in the childiah interpretation

of sexual congress the father attacks, strangle*,

and infects the mother,, so the Jew, international

Jewish capital, etc., encircle and restrict Oermapy^

th)?eateA find attack hef and Infect he 1> with linpurltles

of blood.

Out of the hatred of the fathei* and love

of the mother^oame the desli>e to esve her.

becomes the savior of

Gerinanif,

So Hitler

wh6 clesnses her of

infection, destroys her eneniies, breaks their eneirclement, removes every re$trii:tion upon her so that she

may eatpamd Into new living space, uhcramped and unthrottles*

At the same time. Hitler is cleansing

himself, defending himself, casting off paternal dominatl<>n

and restriction.
Hot ohly is the Pa the j* feared but he ie a source

of jealousj^ for he possesses, at liaset in part-> the

beloved mother.

So he must be destroyed to permit

cbmplete possession.

The doatru'ctloh of the father

is achieved symbolically by the destruction of the

Austriea. state and oomplete domination and poasession

of the mother, through gathering all Germans in a
eeoQion ROloh*

But the mother is not only laved but hated.

Por

she id weafe, besides hd is, enslaved to -her affections

and she reminds

hiia

all too muoh, iA hit

domiAant father, tt his

So, though he depends

ori

oiiin

i*0t'6

da

gentle sensl^i^d nature.

the German people' for hia

poait'ion of (ic^iolnanGe, he deapiaes and hatea thenii

80 -

ha dpmlna1;aa, them and, hecausa he fears hla v^rj

love of them^ he leads them Into the deatruqtlve-i-

ness of war where multitudes of them are destroyed.

Besides, the Jewish element ip his father idantificatlon permits him to use all the so-called

Jewish^

tricks of deceit, lying, violence, and sudden attack

both to subject the German people as well as their

foes.

To be dominant, aggressive, brutal is to arouse

the violent protest of the other side of his nature.

Only severe anxiety can come from this; nightmares

But fear is assuaged

and sleepless nights result.

by the fiction of the demands of Pate, of Destiny,

of the Polk-Soul of the German peopl^.

The denouement of the drama fipproachea

at'

ev^ry

The fiction of the command of Pate

aggressive step.

only holds as long as there Is success --greater and

greater success to assuage the mounting feelings

Aggression, therefore,

of anxiety and -guilt.

limitj it

succasa

Whati that is
s*..

go beyond the highest point of

Q$itinot

hfis

reaqhed, the personality

may coliLapse unde|^ the flood of its own guilt

"

<i

<

feelings *;?-^

^^

It i&, therefore', quite poaalfclo that

that HttXei? id partly eohsblbue of tjhla we Ijnow

froui hla own thireats of auicido and reference* to
dylnt fo** the, Oorman people '(9).

W:

^.

- 91 -

Hitler will do awtty with himself at whatever moment

Oerman defeat' beednea 8iiffied.ent enough to dastiroy
the fiction of Pate which hag shielded him front the

violence of his own gtiilt,

fie

my

then tuin upon

himself the des true tlvsneisd whicth so lon^ hdd been

channelled toward

hiaf

pdcpld

an<5

their neighbdrd.

BlBLIOGHAPHy
X.

Bloch, E.

M^ PATIENT HITLER.
Collier* , March 15, 1941.

2,

Dodd, M.

.THR"CTOr"!EHBK3SY EYES.
New York: Harcoiift, Brace, 1^59 .

3*

Parcigo, L*

4..

6.

7.

8.

'

GERMAN PSYCHOLOGICAL WARPARE

New York: Conmltteb on NatlOEial
Morale, 1941.
ESCAPE PROM PREEDOM.
Proine, B
New York: Parrar it Rlnebart, 1941.
INSIDE EUROPE.
New York and London: Ba^'peri, 199<5.
GERMANY: JEKYLL AND HYDE.
Haffrior, S.
London: Seeker & Warbiaro, 194^.
t WAS HITLER'S BUDDY.
Hanisiab,..R.
New Republic, April 5, 1939.
HITLER, A^BIOGRAPHY.
Helden, JC.
London: Conatable, 19S6.
MEIN KAMPP.
Hitler, A.
New York: Reynal & Hltobeoek, 1959.
MY NEW ORDER.
Hitler, A.
New York: Reynal & Hltohcock, 1941.
Kret9chmer,E. PHYSIQUE AND CHARAqTER.
New York: Harcourt, Bi^oe, 1925.
Krueger. t. INSIDE HITLER.
New York: Avalon Pre$J, 1941.
-CULT*
HITLER
W.
Lewla,
London: Dent, 1959.
June 23, 1941.
Life,
,

9.

10.

11.

12.

'

1$.

15.
16.

Vr,
IS.

X9*

A PSYCHIATRIST LOOKS AT HITLER.

Republic, April 26, 1939.
New Republi(
Rauschning,B*HlTLER speaks.
London: But terwojfth, 1939.
Sheldon^W^fl, THE VARIETIES OP HUMAN PHYSIQUE.
New York: Harper, 1940.
AND I.
HITLER
Q
Str^saer,
Boston: Houghton Hiffllfij 1940.
Vier^Ok, P* MEfAPOLITICS.
New York: Knopf, 1941.

Medlcus.

SECTION

Iltetailed

HI

Analyajs of HI tier 'a PersoJiality

I'

I'"

(Written especially
for psycholo.glsta
and psychiatrists

'^'iS'

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- 82 -

PQRE7rORI>

SO THE DETAILED ANALYSIS

In writiog tlils analysis of Hitler* a personality^

the /use of certalis technical words was unavoidable.

Although I have attempted to follow as simple and

Intelligible a fox^ as possible, I could not, without

much circumlocutioii and vagueness, get along without

three terms

Need (roughly synonymous with Drive , impulse,

This is a force within

tendency, purpose, instinct)^

the subject (!.

the individual whose behavior

is being studied) which inclines him to strive tov^rd

a

certain goal, the attainment of v/hich reduces momen*

tarily the tension of the need.

Needs vary in kind

and in strength*

?ress (plural:
,_from an^ object

press).

This is a force, emanating

(usually a person) in the environment,

which is directed toward the subject .

A press (for

the subject) is the need or drive in the object, which,

if successful, would harm or benefit him.

Press

vary in kind and in strength.

Cehthexis

This is the power of an object

to arouse feelings of liking (positive cathexis)

or of disliking (negative cathexis) in the subject.

It is also permissible to aay that the subject

.''-

.^

<.'f>'j

,'.-

- 83

"positively cathects^ or simply "cathects" (values,

admires^ loves) one object; of that he *'negf?tively

dathecta^

^e

(de]^ re elates^

sCorhs, fesrs, hates) another^

cathexia (potency) of objects

--^

to evoke behavior in the subject

their ability
can vary in kind

(poaitlva Of riegative) or in strength*

1^

STATSir^IT OP

PROBLEM

THli;

Thirty 3pa^rs ago Hitler was

common

biim^

an

unemployed nonentity, a derelict of the polyglot

society that

ias

Vienna,

'it i*as

his pal, Hanisc-h^ has written,

what he wps' really waiting for*

don't know myself*'

'?and

miserable life,^
I once

asked him

He answered:

I have never seen such helpless

letting-down in distress.

'

Twenty years later Hitler was dictator of all

Oermany.

He was not waiting for anything; but demanding

and getting all that a boundlessly ambitib\is man could

want.

Many people thought that they had never seen

such resolute confidence in victory.

Three years ago> at the age of fifty-one. Hitler
was the^ most powerful and successful individual on
earth, on the one hand, the most worshipped, on the
other, the most despised.

In Germany he was virtually

84 ^

he had unlimited power; he was always

demlgodt

right; h#, ould do no wrong; he wco the savior of the

Vaterlandij

the.*

conqueror of Europe, the divinely

There was a Hitler

fippolnted |)rophet of a new era.

Stragse or Hitler Platz in every town.

"Hell Hitler^
The

Wa3 the Cdnvential greeting for acquaintances*

man^s pictura was prominently displayed in every

puhlic buildifig^^ in every railroad station, in millions

of homes

Hla autoMography was accepted as the Bible

of ^ revolutionary fplk religion.

to Christy

The

matt

Hitler was compared

is Chiefly interesting as force that

has affected ^the lives of

rabrTi

people on this globe

than any men' in history, aided, to be sure, by new

How was

and miraculous instj7uments of communication.

it possible

Tor

man so Insignificant in stattire and

appearance, so deficient in bodily strength and emotional

control, so lacking in intellectual attainments

how was it possible for such

mm

to succeed where

the mightiest aermans of the pest had failed?

kind of

V/het are his

man is this Hitler?

abilities and disabilities?

vihet

chief

Whet conditions in

Germany were conducive to his meteoric rise to power?

vrhat is he

likely to do next?

And, if the Allies

-as

get thelx* hands qb hla, .&)w

ha will never rise

aglilil

odrS

hd bo treated so that

as a legendary figure

tjo

mati^gate another Satanic revolution against cultured

These are among the

that have been f^ced

(iru'eatidnfl

in thia t*aper
1?he"

aspects of Bltlera persenality that especially

require explanation are these:

mart's

tha intensity of the

dedlcatlcn tc the CJ^eatlon at an itJeal; the

nature of his life-di?ai8a;

"or

Mission^ as he conceives

it; the fanati(SisiB cf his sentiinants

gliqi

Pe^er>

.,^^

Olory, Dictatorship, lUlitarism, Brutality^ the

Aggressiird Instinct, Hationalisni, Puritf of Bi66dj

and the fanaticistt of his sentiments

cori

V'eakness,

Indecision, Tolei?ance, Compassion, peace, R^itlonal

Debate, Democracy, -Bolshevism, the Acquisitive Instinct^

Materialism, Capltailam, thd Jewish Hace, Chris tlenity*

Also of interest arej

power

ovei* the

the nature of his oratorical

emctions cf the masses; his painting

and architechtufal interests; the vagaflea of his

sex instinct; and the significance of his neurotic

and psychotic symptoms*

- 86 w

II, I^HTSICAI. OOKSTIfUTION

(A

point of fxindajnontdl Iinp6tan60 I0 thd larga

gyoio (fQiaini;ie) eomponent in Hitler's constitution*

His hips are tdde ana his shoulders reletivoly
nariQW.

Hia niuacles are flabby; his lfl$a thin and

spindly, thQ lattei- being hidden in th6 past by

heavy boots and more recently by long trousers*

He

passionate
is hollow cheated, end in the throes of

speech His voice sometimes breaks Into shrill falsetto*

youth,
In contrast to his ttagcuXine ideal for Oenttan

Hitler's physical strength and agility are definitely

b<sl&w the average,

fie

was frl as a child, never

labored In th^ fields, oeref played

rou^

has long tapQj?ing eeissltiire fingera.

games.
Ih Vienna,

h6 was too weaic to be ettployed on constyuotion Jobs

and before the outbreak of ^'orld

We.r I

was rejected

by the Austrian Army as permanently disqualified

for service.

He was discouraged after one attempt

to ride a horse, and in the last twenty years his

exercise has b&en limited to short walks.

Some

informants say that he is physically incapable of

normal soxixal relations.

His movements have been

- 87

doscrlbed es womenlsh

-^

dolnty ladylike wny of

walking (when not asstimlng a mllitcry carriage In

public), of famine to gestures of his arms

peculiar graceless Ineptitude reminiscent

of, a

girl

thx^owlnga baseball^

2*

Medical

arid

Paychlatrlc Hlstogy

Hitler has suffered from nervous gastritis, or

Indigestion, for ttahy years.

This Is probably a

psychosomatic syndrome, part and parcel of his general

'

neurotlclsm*

A German psychiatrist who examined Rltlor'a medical

record In World War i has" reported that the diagnosis
of his condition was hysterical blindness.

In other

words, he did not suffer fiom mustard gas poisoning,

as publicly stated, but from a war neurosis

Xt has

also been said that he was not only blind but

d\mib,.

and (according to one Informant) deaf.

Soma years ago a benign polyp was removed from
a

vocal chord.

Hitler Is a victim of temper tantrums which have

Increased In Intensity and frequency d\irlng the last
ten years.

A typical seizure consists of

(1)

pacing,

shouting, cursing, blaming, accusations of treachery

'

'

"

'

''7'V '^'V,''!

'#*'J|- -fS'T../'^

- 88 h

and botrQyGl; (2) weeping and exhibitions of selfpity; and ($) falling on
mouth, bltlt^g the carpet.
OVe^e

his

the-

floor, foaming at the

The man has some control

these epileptiform attacks, using them to get

OAvn ifvay

with his close associates.

Hitler also suffers from agitated deprossions,

affrighting nightmares, hypochondriacal states in which
he fears that hd "will be poisoned or die from cancer

5f the stOinftch.

lit i

APPEARANCE ANU^PRESSIVE ATTITUDES

The moat aignificant fact about Hitler's appoar-

anco la Ita utter Inalghlficance.

He Is the proto-

type of the little men, an \jnnecessary duplicate,

apparently, that one would never

twice.

tvirn to

look at

For ten years, notwlthstcnding, Oermons have

been gazing at him and^ spellbound, seen the magnetic

figxire of one

who could have said and done what Hitler

has said ahd done.

Comments have chiefly centered on Hitler's eyes

and his hands.

Although his greyiah-blue eyes are

usually stary and dead, impersonal and unseeing, at

times he looks a man or woman straight in the face

with

a fixed,

unwavering gaze that has been described

^j-'.-r-

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^..'---x

v
;

v^^Vt^rf^^

/tij

rv.

-ATtiTr?

^?;

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^'-y^X

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3d

Behind

ea l^o'^ltlvtXjp hypo^i

t?i

bebitudl ^aejaftcf

of oxptessioB seBie dt^Qarn an l^tdssd fXQnd of

p689l,0Batl4 dddl6ti(*

Eia 'hdnd arV stiMkingXj

w$ll*9hapod and eaiproaaiT, and

audlanco Vbt at* uaed

j^aXms

iTaXloi*

oplat and

'haranguing an

good effeot;*

t^o

totaXXy Xajjklng in dlatln^tlon*

hl oheaka

tii

Hia features a id soft,

and pxtffy* hi* ha^dsbaka Xoo# his

cXaiaoiy.

Such f^atui^as oan hatdly

be appraciatad by the varaga visitor aa bvidanoea

of an li?on Man*

la hi9 raaetiona to tha worXd, HltXai* pXaya

amny

pat>tjat

tb^^ ta the expreaaiohlesa HitXai*j

Xtka a dunany atandihg with upiaiaed hand in the front

of a lat*wheeXed wot orcai*

down the

fip?eat

thai t

aoyei at a aX^w pace

avenue between aeirled j?ank8,of ahouting

worahlpfuX adhetenta,

There la the embarr^aaed HitXey ^

iXX at eaae, eiren aubaeirvient, in the presenoe of a

atrangai?! an eriatbcrat^ a great generoX, or a king
(as on hla visit to Italy)*

giiXer . the soft,

a?here is

goCKil*fitured

the graciotis

Austrian, gentXe^

InfornjaX, end oVen liiodeat, w^Xcoiiiing friendly adndrera

at hia irlXXa; aa well as the aentimentaX Hitler ,

weeping over

deed canary*

fhen there is the tactical

* 90

'

Hi tie ^^ who cdmed In at

tshe

orltleai moinent with- ti

aaringly right deoisiotij an4 tho ttygticeX HitXcg l

hinting of a thousand years of superiority for th

German folkj the e6aaoaa.ed Bitier > shrieking with
fanatlcaX fury as he exhorts the aasaesj tho

hysteridalHitler* rolling on the oarpet or ahald.ng

with terror as he wakes from
ati^athetld

HitXer

,,'

Xlmp/

a nightfljarej the

indoieritj>

and indecisive}

and at aXl tiaes, the soaphox Hitlerj ^eady to go

off haif-<?ocked on a long tirade even though he i

addressing
^

the.

singXe individual*

Of aiX these, it is

tacticaX Hitler, the myatioal Hi tier, and the

poasessed Hitler which have been chief Xy inatrumental

in 'winning the position he now hoXds.

It is because

of these pewerfuX inhabitants of his being that people

hay^ accepted and tolerated the leas appeaXing or Xess

...

-^^;t^r-^-y-!'7r-vr.:

9X

Maria Anna SchlcklgimbQi' has an lilegltimato

sdft, Alois,, born in Stronea> noai Spltal
jahana (Jeorg fiiedler (tiltiat*) m Mel*! Anna
Schlcklgruber
Birth of p-ara PoelsX in Spltal

1837

1830

*Aloi8 Schickligruber log^tlitti^edas A16id mtXer

Al9i8 fitter m* Anna OXaal*Horer (14 years
older)
l>ath of Anna Qlasl^Eorer In Braunau
Alola Hitler . Pranzlska'lfiatzolbergei?
BtJ?th.,of Alois Hitler JJ?#, 2 month* after

'

1883
188S
cal88$

marriage
Bllfth of Angela Hitler
Delith of Pran^lska llatzelberger

1884
1884
1865.

J*|i

Alois Hitler (47 years) m, Klara Poelzl

Birth of two chlWren who die in Infancjr
i88d, Apr* 20
,
\,
Bi^th of Adolf Hitler in Braunau
Family move to Passau (Bavnrla) on Austrian
boiler*
Alois Hitler retires on a pension
cal893
Pamils^'move to Lambach (24 miles from Llnsi);
CathbUe oonvent
Birth of Paula Hitler
calB96
^
Family itfbve to Leondlhg (suburb of I^lftZ);
cal900
Technl<5el School
1903, Jan. 3
Death of' Al^la Hitler
Family iwya to Linz
A^olf Hitler attends school in $^teyt^
1904*5
1907, Octijflitler fail* to pass examlnatioh of Acedemy
of Arts, Vienna
1907 Dec* 21
'
Kla*^ Hitler dies, (A* H, is 18 y^j?i* old)
190l,Jan A. Hi moves to Vienna
^
1908, Oct, A. H* fails a second time to pass examination
of Academy of Arts
A, H. moves to Munich,
I9l3
.

Hot all these datea are reliable; most of the

early ones are from Ounthers INSIDE EUROPE.

m
A,

dHILDHOb]) ANC ADOLESCfiRCB

1889

X907

I. B^mil]r Seletloftg

|ph|

1:,

"

"

^^

'

dr the cenfualofi %Tm%

^(J8i0

to Hltlej*'a fouetweJ?^' aisti^pal?

tla0

ftfejtaa

hfefl

efl

arisen tn

iw^jftrd

soon a iw reaXl

Sitiet' htia b^en- varlotialy fj>aildi Bldlati,

Hledle^, ^ettlar

b^f iJiffes?orit

lilltej?ate peaaant^ajnlijr*
yrhtQ botli

deaoendod

father and mother

^enibara of the saaa

Adolf HltlojiHa paronta

froni on

Hitler (fathor'a grand*

graat-gpndfather)| an inhabitant

of the culturally baokward Weldvlertel dlatrlct,

tipper Austria,

KarBhal

Hifidenburg

Al6li Hltloa ^^
HitlfiJ<*f fatllGi?,

Note tettemblahee
to Rlhdenburg.

p'

94

Family at itoi*? iindPepg one Mt3^o^ iPathey

dblef faeta

tlid

t^^aritig'

on eu dna3.3r^i9

ai*a

Acdoraiug t$ aa

(ai

Aiot ffltXer nrhleb hav0

l)6ufc

tliea9

iii<it;dpy

0r4ai?ed

Auati*ian <^ee3,Xoi*i ^ultfinsty Mai^la

gimbejp

^aHah

wi

raaaoift al)

homa

aauti' t>ac^t( txi hatf

ii^Jtef*

IB Xlna mX%h
(t)>

Itt

tha go4fatie

tha ^otrntry*

jraw^

ftalf*

lari* pirina

efbiaaon Adolf ^

aay

avafttj^

la

.no

Alaia HI tie* waa lllagltlmate

doubt mada

t^a

9i tba llttsXa c<jmunlty^ gpital,

a1}

ijpt

ijhia

tibia byi^ttlMala*

and aa aiich vaa

Bayluipa It

Sohiiekl^

may ^va been

tha fa a* tba* ba aaieotad a

of vt anna I ta

?6

Vtermaa4( family*

If thia i tima,. AlOta

^andaUr

thd

pregnaoil during he i? ewployflienii aa a

bflieaiiia

aai^ant In a

Am&

fey

auffer tbe c^ntampt

i

natfor thla raaaon tbat

which ha

iaa reaj?ad#

he laft hla bona

an early aga to seek bis fortune In Vienna,

Alola Hitler atarted life Ba i simple

(o)

'<5ol)bler

but finally Improved bis status by becoming

a cuatoma

official.

For a time he patrolled the

(lamian-Auatrlatt border, was known as a

'man-hunter^

Ee was very proud of this position, believing that

It antltled blm to lord It over those of the cl&ss

tbat

bEid

oaee scorned hlm^

)
,*

<-

*i:*vV

!j-

,.

^, '^^^^

^ 9 -

(d)

In appeerence Alois Hitler resembled Marshal'

Hindenburg.^^ He had a walrus moustache, under which

protruded sullen and arrogant

iff

lower lip#

He wore

an uniform^ his badge of dtatus; and as a border

patrolman carried

and ran after women.

revolver on his person.

Hs smoked

It is said that he frequented

the vi Ilia ge pub and enjoyed nothing so much as recount-

ing his accomplishments to a receptive auditory*

He

was a coarse man, with boasts and curses forever on

his tongue.
(e)

He died of apoplexy^

He was twenty- three ye&rs older than his

wife, a peasant girl who had once served as a maid

in the house of his first wife*

Thus, the father s

greater age, his higher social status, the traditional

prerogatives of the husband in the German family, the
man's over-weening pride

all supported him ih

maintaining a master- servant relationship with his

Prau Hitler was nervous, mild, devoted, and

wife.

submissive.

In his own home, Alois Hitler WaS a

tyrant*
(f

In his treatment of his son Adolf, it is

said that the father was stern and harsh*

Physical

punishments were frequent. He seems to have looked on

his son as a weakling^, a good-for-nothing, moonstruck

^'

if.

._^,^^^.^^v**^>^.:^.*f^^::^.'

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,
,,

98 -

aream^i*; at tlnos porhapd hla vanity imagined a

fjuccesaful career for the boy, which would still further

lift the fpmlly status, and so when young Adolf announced

his intention to be an artist the father, perceiving
the frustration of his dream, put his foot down

"An artist, no, never as long es I live." (K.K. 14).

(g)

.There is some doubt about the complexion of

Alois Hitler s political sentiments,

Haniach reports

that "Hitler heard from his father only praise of

Germany and all the faults of Austria;" but, according to Heiden, more reliable informants claim that
the

father, though full of complaints and criticisms

of the government he served, was by no means a German

nationalist.

They say he favored Austria against

Germany*
(h)

It is not unlikely that Hitler in writing

his sketch of the typical lower class home drew upon

his personal experiences, and if this is true, the

following passages give us an interesting side-light

on the character of the father:

But things end badly Indeed when

the man from the very start goes hir^Q way
(Alois Hitler ran after other women') and
the wlfe^ for the sake of her children^
stands up against him. Quarreling and
naming set in,, and in the same measure in
which the husband becomes estranged from
hit: wife he becomes familiar with
(1)


P^^-

;\^

'J

97 -

alcohol, '''lien he finally comes home on

Stuiday or Monday night, drunk end brutal,
but always without a last cent and penny,
then God have mercy on the scenes which
follow. 1 witnessed all of this personally
in_ hundreds or scenes and at the beginning
wit h both disgust and indignation
-^
##V
(M.K. 58U58).

The other things the little fellow

hears at home do not tend to further his
respect for his Surroundings # Hot a
single shred is left for humanity, not
a single institution is left \anat tacked;.
starting with the teacher, up to the
head of the State, be it religion, or
morality as such, be it the State or
Society, no matter which, everything
is abused, everything is pulled down
in the nastiest manner. into the filth
of a depraved mentality ^ (M.K# 43).
(i)

Relations to father

'"

There are reasons to believe that the boy Adoif

was very much afraid of his father in his early years;
that ho was timid and submissive in his presence;

but when he was out of reach of his father^s immense

authority (when his father was out of the house or

when the boy was at school under less severe disciplinarians) he was often unruly and defiant.
had no respect for

He

lenient system of government

Not until he was eleven did Adolf dare to oppose

his father.

vocation:
.

Here the issue was the selection of his

Herp Hitler wanted his son to follow in

his footsteps and become a State official; but the

- 98 -

boy podded ha wanted to be an ertlst.

Of this

eobfliot between father and son. Hitler writes:

(i)
His doxnineering nrtiire, the
result of a life-long struggle for existendo^
would have thought it unbearcble to
leave the ultimate decision to a boy
who, in his opinion, was inexperienced
and irresponsible (VI.K4 11 )

(ii)
No matter how firm and determined my father might be in carrying
but his plans and intentions once made,
his son was Just as stubborn and
obstinate^.* (V^K. 12)

-he opposed me with the

(iii)
resoluteness of his entire nature. ..The
old man became embittered, and, much as
I loved him, the same was true of myself
and now the old man relentlessly began
to enforce his authority.
(M.K. 13-14).
It is obvioua from thede and other passages,

as well as from local hearsay, that the i*elations of

Adolf and his parent from 1900^1903 (when the father

died) were exceedingly stormy.

It wns a classical

father-son conflict.
(j)

Hote l

Hitler s attitude to old men.

In

many places, in KEIN KAMPF and in some of his recorded

conversations. Hitler speaks of old men in a derogatory and

edntemptudus

mannei:'*

it is often very suggestive of what

might have been hie sentiments tbimrds his sixtyyear-old father

mother)

(twenty**- three

years older than his

The following quotations might be cited

in i 1 Ills t rat ion:

99 -

Rauschnlng: Everywhere, Hitler

complained, there were nothing but aterlle
old men In their second childhood^ who
bragged of their technical knowledge and
had lost their sound common sense,
(I)

Hitler, quoted bv Helden:

Mv Kre&t adversary, Reichapxsldent von
HLdenburg,;ii tOdey (^ptt^pVe yoo^
in
of age.
I erf fortj-ttoNfl^n4;^ feel
hcpP^
berf ect health- ArJ^^ilbthliig #11
the
to me. fot^^m'f^oeimm^Mii^P^a of
assigned
great task which frChddSiS&^Ps
to me.
(II)

8*

Mother
(e)

f>er8 6helity

of Mother

The pertinent facts

ajTs

thoaf i

Klara Poelzl was an exemjjlajpy housekeeper.

Her

everything had
home was always spotlessly lieeh,
furniture.
Its place, not a speck ot dust on the
relatively young
She had a gentle nature. Her
domestic
age, her docile character, her years of
service

all inclined her to compliance end

Christian resignation.
of life with an

The trials and tribulations

Irascible husband resulted in a

permanent attitude of abnegation.

Toward her son

whims
Adolf she was ever devoted, catering to his
i^as who
to the point of spoiling him. She it

encouraged his artlstlo ambitions.

.|;<^,V--'^^TJ^*^.> v^L "^H^S^iT

'^'-i

-H^f:;j%'>v.s5^>*>>'iWii?:^;:yc\^i^

"

o^f^-^r*^'

>.

.>>\

>'**^3?^V'^fS^i:?^>^)^^'.^^^'^.

't^

Tho mother

',^5 3^

100-

opis rated,

troQst In the summer of 1907

on for- ofincer of the

dlod ivithin six months.

fsnd

I,:

;'^-:

Tt is very llkely^-thfit the disease

v^rrs

inrrkod by

"LI-

uloc'rctiona of the -chest, wall,

r-.ncd

^tiotnstBseG

in the

lunss

>^^'

^*"-

^^V^XLER'S -mother:!^

r'^
-J'--

Relation^-.- to^

(b)

-.."Hi tier- beta

Mother

.-^iTM

written very little and said nothing:-

v.:

"^..-^

publicly

eibout his

mother, but the few scraps

obtsiri-o-ai*^

suggest many youthful years of loving depondoncc

r^'

upon her/ Hitler speeiks ofr

mo tTi$T. devoting herself to
the caros of the housetiold looking after hei.children .wlth^ eternally the same loving
fi)

v.-^-.

'^:""

,..'*the

kindness, (M^K*

^.^
.

M^^

S)

|:
:7J-

V!

:',4-!,;,

*:

J4 ..^

^m

^^-;r,N.v-^

'
:

;"\^*v'

'

r>

^..

.^;

"*

.-

"^i^

"'r

^--^

>

^V' ''-'.

^4';i^;"'

lOX ^

for three or four of tfa^ygjy^l^^

betweerv Ma father's and his mother ''tfleffChi;
Adolf mtierliaid away a good deal of hi#
time aa'fch^ Indulged apple of his mother's
eye. Sy -allowed hlra to drop his ^ie^.
at the I^Aischulej she encouraged htm In his
ambltlbfisTtobe a painter; she yielded to
his eveiywlsh.at)urlng these years, It Is
report^dl^ thflK i^lationittip between mother
adoration.
arid son wil marked by r^lprocal
most
(at
Hitler's aniazlriis self^ai^aurarice,
(ii)

>

times) can be attribute^' in part to the

iSpi-ession pf these yea^ wheri at the age
or thirteeft hi;^., father. Cted and he succeeded
to th6 p6wer and became the littliT dlatatojp
of the family V: 3* pl?rj^othei^. Alois.
had left by this .tlm0^1ft;o<l he tras' th* tmXt
maiev
* Wehold, o*:^?*- ^"'f^JS^r^S^^L
hapfel^it'daysi'they seemed like a/di'eaaf to me,
v..
ana At ^^y were ^"^ :(M,t. 25).

:",;'--*...

titler warites: "My aiotlier^s

deatk.>;wa#^ tei-riblB, shock <?ciinew*f i->r<l
;/^^

(lii)'^!:

(isr) .Sbr* Blooh>epolSa^t^%;Ad

,:
cried wh^n, he heard of hla mother 'ajjiifwdeath
liiR^ At bpei-aticn and later at hej?,
do^tqi?
.!*.
exSbiledgre^t grief... The
JgJJ,
Afts*;
sorrow,
with'
prostrate
ap
anyone
/seeit
^e Catholic^cemetery, Adqlf /^
tfee -buri^t
sWyea;by'he|''g^y^lon^Jffer th dther*

-ha<t,dep8X?tejy.K<,f>j3^*%j

%T^'"
llb^Jti.

';*. "4^

-:eitlerwoi"r the* picture of his

mother over his breasf la th? field during
World War 1.
'

fV).'

That .the mother-child relationship was a compelling, though rejected, pattern

for Hitler may be s-urtnised from (1) his
attachftient to %ubstitutf others' durlri^
his po3.t^var years^ i^X M^, ^^^T^"^,^ r
'mother imagery' in speaking and wrltln|.
and (3) his seleotloh of picture^ of Madonna
and child to decoratethl rocms.
(vl)

^:

|.

itn-v- ,j>y^-y~.

.^^>4v^f'/;-;^-,'^

105 -

(c)

SlbllDga

It is

oertalnthat there were two older children

Sl>"

In the household diirlng Adolf's early years.

The

father had been inarried twice before; there was

half-brother, Alois Hitler, Jr., and

Angela Hitler.

a.

half-sister,

We know nothing of Hitler's relation-

ship to the former (who much later turtied up in Berlin

as proprietor of a restatirant).

The half-sister,

Angela, married Herr Raubal, an official in the tax

bureau in Linz.

Later she managed a restaurant for

Jewish students at the Univera^ity of Vienna.

For

some years she was Hitler's liouaekeeper at Berchtes-

gaden, until she married Professor Martin Haumizsch

of Dresden, where she now lives.
(i)

Several informants have stated that

there is a younger sister, Paula, born whep Adolf

was about seven years old.

Consequently, he must

have experienced the press Birth of Sibling during

his childhood.

very peculiar,
Vienna.

This younger sister, it seems, is a

a e elusive

person who now lives in

It has been said that she had affairs with

several men in

t\arn,

one of whom was a Jew.

believed that she is mentally retarded.

It is

-.^jf^.'-X'^"' *'*?'

r#<

v'""-^:")C>'*

104 -

Thero are reports of two children

(11)

vho died In Infancy before Adolf was

th<e

"'**

bom*

One of

may have been Ednrand^ d* Gustaf , mentioned by

some informants*
$,.

Boyhood fteactioha. Activities ^Pnd Interests

Very little reliable information exists as to

Hitler's childhood.

Most informants, however, agree

on the following points:

(a)

Physical Weakness.- Adolf was a frail lad,

thin and pale.

He did not participate in any athletics

or enjoy hard physical exercise.

He was sensitive

and liked to be with his mother, look at books, sketch

landscapes; or take walks by himself.

He liked to

daydream about Germany's wars, but he did nothing to

school
fit himself to be a soldier. When he tired of
(ashamed of his inferiority in scholarship), he became

nervously sick (feigned lung trouble ) , and his mother

permitted him to drop out and stay at home.
(b)

Low Tolerance of Frustration,- One can bo

certain that, as a child, Adolf reacted violently to

frustration

which were

He undoubtedly had temper tantrums

reifiapded

by his mother's ready compliance

the
to his wiah^i?^ (This was hi way of "courting

soul of the common people".)

about food, we can be sure.

He was also finnicky

;\^'^^

>'

'>,'^.-

- X06 Vr

'
.

(c)

Rebolliousnesa and Ropooted Aggression

At home discipline was capricious:

His father was

often tanusually severe, his mother inordinately

lenient ,

As a result, he developed no steady and

consistent character; he alternated between subservience

(tp placate his father) and unruliness'.

Lansing: His first teacher

recalled. ..that he was a quarrelsome,
stubborn lad who smoked cigarets and cigar
stubs collected from the gutter or begged
from roisterers in the public houses.
(i)

that Hitler
told him- that the people of the Innviertel
were great brawlers and that, as a boy,
he used to love to wAtch their fights.
Also, that he used to enjoy visiting a
fine exhibition in Line of deadly weapons.
What others abhorred appealed to him.
(N.B., Here is fair evidence of repressed
aggression (sadism) during boyhood.)
(li)

^nish reports

Hitler, as a: mere boy of ten,

became passionately interested in reading
about the "amazingly victorious campaign
the
of the heroic German armies during
be-,
had
Franco- Prussian War". Soon this
expeirience".
come *my greatest spiritual
(M.K. 8).
(ill)

raved more and more about

everything connected with war or militarism.
(iv)

(M.K. 8).

A careful examination of the

first chapter of MEIN KAMP? will convince
any psychologically ti^liWil reader that
Adolf's vigorous adivptsacf of the cause of
Germany as oiiposed td thst of Austria from
ted a^
the age of eleven onward -J^epre sen
legitimate substitute for his repressed
(v)

Ih

S'-f',-.

106 -

.V.'

rebellion against hia father. Inspired by hlis

history teacher. Professor Poetsch (fathersurrogate), and a long line of German military
heroes, the boy could give vent to his pent-up
resentment by publicly proclaiming his devotion
to the German Reich of Bisraark and vehemently
denouncing the authority of Austria (symbol of
his fathom). In MEIH KAMPP Hitler writes at
length of his possession of
:

intense love for my native

German- Austrian coxintry and a bitter hatred
against the 'Austrian' State. (M.K. 22-23).
(vi)

,. an

Speaking pf the youthful Nationalist movement

that he Joined, he writes:
V.

...it is rebellious; it wears the

forbidden emblem of its own nationality and
rejoices in being punished or even in being
beaten for wearing that emblei|p. ..the greeting
was Heil; and Doutschland ubef alles' was
preferred to the imperial anthem, despite
(M.K. 15).
warnings and pxinishments .
(vii)

It was during these days that he first began

to play the rfele of a young agitator.

I believe that oven then my
(viii)
ability for making speeches was trained by
the more or less stirring discussinns with
ray comrades .. .For .pbvious reasons my father
could not appreciate the talent for oratory
of his qtaarrelsome son. (M.K. 7).

The boy's ideas of greatest glory revolved round

the victories of the Franco- Prussian War.

Why was it that Austria had not

taken part also in this -^r. why not my father
I had decidedly no sympa-cny
(M.K. 9).
,.,?
for the course my father's life had taken.
(M.K. 7). During the years of my \mruly youth
nothing had grieved me more than having been born
(ix)

MM-'

at a tltno when temileteif glory we|i #ly

erected to merchant^ 6>p State offitl|ri
(M.K* 53plJ
(his father's profession)*
*'somotlltng*
become
to
I, too, wanted
(M^K-* S6),
iDut In no event an official.

These quotations supply further eiriaolnce

of Adolf's repressed hatred of his father and of the

fact that negativism end wilfulness had become es-

tablished patterns before puberty.

(d)

Passivity, or Illness, as Means of

Resistance,- Hitler manifested a significant aspect

his
of his nattire when he determined to frustrate

father's intention to make a civil servant out of

himi

The policy he adopted was that of resistance

through indolence and passivity.

(i)

I was certain that as soon as

my father saw my lack of progress in school

...he would lot mo seek the happiness
of which I was dreaming, (M.K, 14).

Later, after his father's death, whon he wanted

by making
to leave school, he won his mother's consent
himself sick.
t

Impressed by my Illness my mother

(i)
agreed at long last to take me out of school...
(M.K. 24).

After this he spent two years of shiftless

activity around the house, which set the pattern
Vienna.
for his passive drifting, and dreaming days in

. 108 -

(e)
frcon

Lack of Friends.- No friendships dating

boyhood have ever been mentioned and it is not

likely that the boy was at all popular with his class-

During adolescence he was said to be quiet

ma tos

serious, dreamy and taciturn.

Sexual Misbehavior.

(f

A Nazi who visited

Leonding much later and looked up the school records

there foxind evidence that at the age of eleven or

twelve Adolf had committed a serious sexual indiscretion with a little girl.

For this he was punished

but not expelled from school.

4
(a)

Conclusioria

Hate for Father^ Love for Mother >

(Oedipus

Complex ), This has been noted and stressed by numerous

psychologists; and some evidence for it has been listed
here.

Rarely mentioned but equally important is:

(b)

Respect for Power of Father^ Contempt for

Weakness of Mother #

Hitler is certainly not a typical

product of the Oedlpui complex, and more can be learned

about the tmderlying forces of his character by

observing which parent he has emulated, rather than

which parent he has loved.

In MEIN KAMPP, he writes,

"I had respected my father, but I loved my mother."

'

- 109 -

He might better hovo sold,

>Si?

ih

"I lovod my mother, but

I respected ray father", because respect has always

jneant more to him than love.

(c)

Identification with Father .

Although Hitler

has not the physique or temperament of his old man,

being constitutionally of another type, it is evident

that he has imitated, consciously or unconsciously,

many of his father's traits and none of his mother's.

(d)

Adolf Hitler's will to power, his pride,

aggressiveness and cult of brutality are all in

keeping with what we know of the personality and

r'i

conduct of Alois Hitler.

The son's declaration that

he has demanded nothing but sacrifices from his ad-

herents is certainly reminiscent of the father's

attitude toward wife and children.

...his son has vindoubtedly inherited, amongst other qualities, a stubbornness similar to his own... (M.K. 14).
(i)

m-

(e)

The father's loud, boastful, and perhaps

drunken, talk, at home and at the pub (described by

some informants), may well have provided his young
son with an impressive model for emulation.

The

nbtion of being a village pastor had appealed to

Alois Hitler and that of being an abbot appealed
to his boy, no doubt for the same reason
opportvinity it afforded for oratory.

the

- 110 -

(f)

Father and son each left home to seek his

fortune in Vienna.

In MEIH KAMPP there are several

Indications that the image of his father's success

in Vienna acted as a spur.
tooj hoped to wrest from Pate
the success my father had met fifty years
earlier ... (K.K 25).
(i)

I,

And I would overcome these

obstacles, always bearing in mind my father's
example, who, from being a poor village boy
and a cobbler's apprentice, had made hls^way
up to the position of civil servant. (M.K. 28}.
Adolf Hitler sported a walrus moustache
(ii)

(g)

like his father's for a number of years.

He finally

trinmed it in imitation of a new exemplar, Peder.

Adolf Hitler's invariable uniform and
(h)
Hitler's
pistol may well have been suggested by Alois

uniform and pistol

(i)

(1

(d)).

great
It is said that Alois Hitler had a

rise
respect for the class system; was proud of his
looked down
in status; envied those above him and
father
upon those below him. If this is true, the
of s6ntiwas Inatrtmiental in establishing a pattern
son's
ments which itka of determining importance in his
of his
career. Adolf Hitler has always been envious
any
superiprs and deferential j ha has never showed

affinity for the prpl^tari^^i.

II"

-.

(3)-

father

Ill--

Ado.if Hitlor has

-ava^? the

hung

a portrait, of hia

study at Berchtesgadan-

de^)^ In his

Thla is a signal honor, since the likeness of oj^ly

three other men

Moltke,

s-nd

Frederick tha Greats Karl von'

Mussolini -- have been selected for

inolualon in- any of Hltlar^a

vjhete

te^-^^;.:

rooitia-

Th^^re is no-

any picture of his mother.

Hitler's Study at Berghof

Desk faces portrait of Alois Hitler.

Aloitt,

it.

us

la 8ftid> waQ a smoker, a drinker and

a lecher; and today hie eon is remarkable for his

ahatemloiisneee.

Thus, in these reapects the two

But we should not /forget that Adolf

are different 4

Used t9 pick upoiiiar butts and smoke them as a boy;

he dreok beer and wine In his early Munich days ; and

In the last flifteen years has shown a good deal of

Interest In women*
O^ere can b* no doubt then that. Hitler greatly

enTled andL admlreil the power and authority of his

father; and although he hated him as the tyrant wbq

opposed and frustrated him personally, he looked on

him with awe,

was.

and.

admiration, desiring to be as he

Speaking of his old man, the son confessed in

his autobldgraphy that ^uhconaoloualy he had sown

th# seeda for a future which neither he nor 1 would

hiive

graaped at that time.**

(M. S4)

Henceforth

Adolf Hitler* s attention and einulation was only to

be evoked by a dominating ruthless man, and if thlia

man happen^ to be in oppoaitlmi te hlm| then he

would hate and respect him slmultaneoiisly*

Hitler's

admiration for strongly endurinif- institutions

very similar. It

se^imsj

sixty- yea^^ aid parent*

to his admliratlen
He wrlt^*j

foi?

^^
his

113 -

(1)
, Incredibly vigorous power that
inhabits this age-old institution (Catholic
Church)

(ii) ...he (Lueger) was dispo8e4*<*to

secure the favor of any existing powerful
institutions, tn order tha.% he mi^t derive
from these old .so\irces of strength the
greatest possible advantage. *
(k)'

Identification with Mother .- In Hitler's

11

II

'

II

li

-li-

II

f ill

constitution there is a large gynio (feminine)

component and he has many feiminine traits, some
hidden.

Consequently, in view of his avowed- love

for his mother, we must suppose that there was a

dispositional kinship or biological identification,

between the two diu7ing the boy's earliest years.

Adolf naturally and spontaneously felt the way

his mother felt.

own ittakin^*

This, however, was not of his

There is some evidence that in Hitler's

mind "Germany" is a mystical conception which stands

for the ideal mother--a substitute for his own im-

perfect mother.

But there are no indications, in

any event, that Hitler admired his mother or any

wqman who resembled her, or that he adopted any

0^ her sentiments^ or that he was even influenced

by her in any important way.^

Hence, the conclusion

is that Hitler had many traits in common with his

mother; but

thai? he

repudiated these traits aa

evidences of weakness and femininity, and in so

doing repudiated her.

- 114 -

(k)

Rejection' 6f Mother >-" To the extent that

Hitler respected and emulated his father^ he AlH^

respected and denied his mother.

Some evidence to

demonstrate tkis point will be brought forward in a

later section/ Hitler probably loved his mother very

much as a person; but his strong dependent attachment

to her was a humiliating sign

t>t

his incapacity to

take Care of himself^ and hence he wad fbrced to

little the relationship.

be-*

At eighteen years he was too

near to her weakness^ not feminine enough and yet not

male enough, to respect her.

He writes:

(i)
I owe much to the time in which
I had learned to become hard (in Vienna)*.
I praise it dven more for having rescued
me from the emptiness of an easy life (in

Lih with his mother), that it took the

milksop out of his downy nest and gave
him Dame Sorrow for a foster mother 4'..
(M.K. 29).
'flaAls6lt

fested a

reports thaf in Vienna Hitler mani-

cjueer

idealism aJ)out love^; but had very

little respect for

tiae

believed eemld be had.

female Sex.

Every woman he

This remark falls in with

the evidence to be presented later which suggests that

for a time Adolf wa a indignant with his mother for

submitting to his father, and

for so doing.

Since he

haiel

Iri

the end scorned her

always been

X15 -

contemptuous of physical weakness, one might ejcpept

him to be contemptuous of women; and there are some

facts to show that this is true*

It is even possible

that after Herr Hitler's death the adolescent Adolf,

adopting his father's role to some extent^ sometimes

lashed his mother with insolent words and maybe struck
her*

If this were true, it would help explain his

exceeding grief on the occasion of her death, guilt

contributing to his dejection, and it might explain a

striking passage in MEIN KAMPP in which Hitler

des-*

cribes the typical lower class family.

VJhen> at the age of fourteen, the
(i)
young lad is dismissed from school (Adolf
dropped' school when he was about sixteen
years), it is difficult to say which is
worse: his unbelievable ignorance as far
as knowledge and ability are concerned, or
the biting impudence of his behavior, combined with an immorality which makes one's
hair stand on end, considering his a^
(Adolf's immorality came to the notice of
his teachers atr ^he age of twelve years ) .
The three- 3^6ar- old child has now become a
youth of fifteen who despises all authority
(Recall Adolf's conflict with hia father)..*
Now hj9 loiters about ^ and God oly knows when
he comes home (See p. 7,. ."caused my mother
much grief, made me anything but a stay-athome").; for a change he may even* beat the
poor creat\He who was once his mother, curses
God and the worlds.. (M.Kt^ 43-^44)
(1)

Evidence will be advanced later to show

that one of the most potent impressions of Hitler's

early life was that of a r e lationship In which a

- lis ^

a domineering and severe old man

(hiaifftthei')

bullied

and flibornfully maltreated a gentle and cbaiplJant woman

(hi a mother ).

The effects of bein^ reai?ed under these

conditions were lasting:

the experience made it im-

possible for him to believe in, hope for, or enjoy a

relationship marked by peace, love, and tenderness

(m)

The outstanding press of the b6ys early

life were those of p - Aggression and p

>

Rejeotion i

The former came mostly from his father? the latter from

many people.

Among

t;he

specific causes of

thlis

idea

of having been rejected we would list (1) the birth

of a younger sister, Paula, in 18^95 or 1896;

opposition of his father; (3)

at school; 44)

(2) the

his repeated failtires

his lack of friends; (5) the death

of both parents, making it necessary for him a

penniless xineducated and unemployed orphan, to face

the world alone.

The sense of being rejected by his

family is in many i>assages expressed in connection

with his feeling of being excluded from membership

in the German nation.

This point will be taken up

later.

Are we' not the same as all the

(i)
other Qermans? Do we not all belong' together? This problem how began to whirl,
thrbxigh my little head for the first time.
After cautioias questioning, I heard with
envy the reply that not every Geri^n was
fortiinate enough to belong to Bismardk's
Reich. This I could not understand. (M.K* 9).

lis

*.

(%i) An uhnaturdl separation ffom th

great cofnmon Motherland* (M.K.O* 469)
(n)

Repudiation of ?ast

S(9Xf

and Pamily Connection a

Knowing Hitler's fanatical sentiments against mixed

marriages, impure tlood, the lower classes, and the

Jewish race , it is important to note the following

facts:
His forebears come from a region in

(i)

which the blood of Bavarians, Bohemians, Moravians,

Czechs, and Slovakians have mixed for generations*

Without doubt all of these strains are represented

in him.

His father was illegitimate; his grand-

(ii)

father may have been a Viennese Jew.

His godfather, Herr Prinz, was a

(iii)

Viennese Jew.
(iv) His father had three wives,

waitress, one

one a

domestic servant, and a number of

fi

women on the side (hearsay).

(v)

His father begot at least one child

out of marriage.
(vi)

Kiara

Poe^p:|.,

his mother, was Alois

Hitler's second cousin once removed and also his ward

(

twenty- thr^e years younger).

Special permission from

the Ch\arch had to be obtained before he coiild marry her.

- 117 -

(vll) Angola Hitler, Adolf i older half*

sister^, ran a restaurant for Jeaiah students In Vienna

Paula Hitler^ Adolf fl younger slater,

(vlll)

was the xolstreas of a Vlennedie Jew for a while.

A cousin of Hitler's is feehle^minded,

(ix)

most of the other members of his clan are Ignorant,

Illiterate, or mentally retarded

He himself had tb

repeat the first feBV of Realsohule (Technlbal High

School) and failed to gradttate.

'

Thus, Hitler has spent a good part of his life

cvirslng and eondexahlng people who belong to his layer

of society, who resemble members of his own clan ^ who

have characteristics slMlar to his own.

hftnd,

On the other

the Iddal he has det up, the person he pretends

to be. Is thd exact opposite of all this*

We

haire a

fairly clear case, then, of Coimteractloh against

Inferiority feeXliigs and self-^contempt.
1908, when he' left

^r

Between

and 1958, after the AAsehlUscr,

Hitler ne^er visited his hcme^ and never cdmtnunlcated

with his relatives

sister Angela )

(e^tcept In the case of hi half-

TKillke Hapoleon^ hd did not CArtf

hlidl

family along with him aa he ascended to thd heights

of power*

iri

thls^we see a Rejection of hlq paat self

and family connections*

* 118

(o)

Ide^tif JQetlQQ

wlttet

aqrn>any - 51tler'

egQCQntrlsm, has always t>een so marked; he has been

su6h a Bohemian, if not a lone wolf, in many phases of

his career that his tindoubted devotion to Germany strikes
one as most unusual*

Since this devotion began at an

early age and was the factor^ more than any other which

decided that he would becoiae a supreme success rather

than an utter failxire, it is worth while noting here
the forces so far mentioned which brought about this

intense insociation:
.

(i)

Influence of Ludwig poetsch, his

teacher, who, serving as a substitute father^

glorified the history of Gennany and presented

Bismark's Reich as an ideal,
(ii)

Influence of a strong nationalist

association among Hitler's classmates,

(iii)

Cathoxis of power.

The figures of

Frederick the Great, Bismarck and others offered better

foci of admiration than did Austrian heroes.
(iv)

Insociation with a more powerful nation

satisfied his youthful pride, raised his status in his

own eyes, and allowed him to reject his inferior
A\istrian selfv.

- 119

(v)

a biarrier.

-'

Bfelghtenod cathexls of an dbieot behind

This la a genejal principle:

that an

Individual will Ideallae an 6bjedt that he

quite attain

-i-

so

but yet so fa^.

iiaai

<San

not

In this

eonneotloh it Is interesting to note that the great

majority of dictators have not been natives of the

country that they came to dominate.

Hitler's con-

tinued sympathy for Germans outside the Reich Is evi-

dently a projection of hi ^ own pelf-pity: s$. Ostmarklan.

(v-1)
(Memel returns to the
Reich) I thereby lead you back into that
home which you havs not forgotten and which
has never forgotten you*
(M.ir*0, 614),
(vl)

the father*

Displacement of defiance against

By identifying himself with Germany, the

^

boy Adolf found an object

eVeit

greater than his

stem

father, which permitted him to give vent to his frus-

trated rebelliousness against his Austrian parent.

(vii)

Gettnany aa a aubstltute mother.

In v*lew of the press iejectlon suffered in childhood,

it is likeljr

find iduch

will be prd'sented later

a

kind of foster parent.

evldenca

fifr

thi hypothesis

that Germany represented

It is even possible that

Hitler as a child entertained a foster parent fantasy.

Ha speaks of toeing BavaJrlan by bloody a statement.. for

which there Is no known justification^ This point will

be fully discussed later in describing his devotions

to Germany's cause in 1918, the hour of her deepest

humiliation.

In many places Hitler speaks of Germany

in words that one might use in speaking of a beloved

woman;

the longing grew

(vii - 1)
stronger to go there (Grermany) where
since my eftrly youth X had been drawiqi

and secret love*

by secret wishes
""^^
{U.K. 151).

What I first bad

(vii ^ 2)
looked upon as an impassable chasm
now spurred me on to a greater love
for my coxintry than ever before".
(M^-K. 55)
Heiden^ quoting
from Hitler: The hiindreds of thou-n
sands who love their country more
than anything else must also be
loved by thair country more than
anything else.
(vii - 3)

appeal to those
who, severed from the motherland,
have to' fight for the holy treasxire
of their language., .find who now in
painful emotion long for the hour
that will allow them to return to
the arms of the beloved mother...
(M.K. 161)^
(vii 4)

The common expression for German? is Fatherland,

but Hitler very often subistitutes Motherland,

He

speaks of "the common motherland," "the great German

- 121 -

Jiiotherland,*' "the

Oerman mother of all life".

This Is not unnatural^ since he once a very de-

pendent adolescent, was left penniless and iinbe

friended after the death of his mother.

We are

not surprised, therefore, to /ind him speaking of

being removed "from the emptiness of

ari

easy life,

that it took the milksop out of his downy nest and

gave him Dame Sorrow for, a faster mother" and

speaking

also of the time "when the Goddess of

Misery took me into her arms".

It is reported

that he was mothered by several older Icdies

his early Munich days
in such relationships.

afid

iiri

teemed to find comfort

In 1920, for example, he

found a sort of home with Prau Hoffman.

He always

had to send her, according to Hqiden, his latest

portrait, on which he would write, for example:

"To my dear> faithful little Mother, Christmas,
1925, from her respectful Adolf Hitler,"

- 122 -

B, VIENNA DAYS

1908 - 191S
The 'chief facts pertinent to the present analysis
are these:
1,

Klara Hitler was operated on for cancer of

the breast In the early summer of 1907,

21, 1907, she died.

On December

Two months before her death,

Adolf Hitler went to Vienna and was examined by the

Academy School of Art.

He failed.

He moved to.

Vienna In the winter of 1908, and the following

October presented himself again at the Academy.
the drawings he

,br ought

But

as illustrations of his work

were considered so lacking in talent that he was not

allowed to take the examination.

He was told he

would make a better architect than painter, though

he himself reportis that he was a better colorist

than draftsman.
2.

Some account of these years has been given

us by Haniach, a "btmi" from Bohemia who befriended

him.

They were fellow members of the same hostel,

or flophouse.

The first thing Hitler said to Hanisch

sounds like a projection of (1) press Rejection and

(2)

press Aggression.

He said (1) his landlady had

dispossessed him and now he was without shelter, and

(2)

had begged a dxninken man for a few pennies

1x6

but the latter had raised his cane and Insulted

him.

Hitler was very bitter ab6ut this.

5*

Hitler wore a beard during this period and

in his long overcoat looked very much like a certain

type of Oriental Jew not uncommon in Vienna.

had a

n\janber

Hitler

of Jewish acquaintances and sold post--

cards that he painted to Jewish dealers,

Therd was

no evidence dtiring these first years of any hostility

to Jewst

Only later, after he had listened excitedly

to the speeches of the anti-Semitic mayor, Lueger,

did he beccxne an avowed, and somewhat later a fanatical,

Anti-Semite himself
4.

Hitler was exceedingly laiy and procrastinating

in doing his little water colors during these days.

He was much more interested in haranguing the other

Inmates of the hostel on the subject of politics.

Already he had vague notions of founding a party.

5

He devoted some time to thinking up little

devices for making money through trickery.

According

to one informant, his name is in the Vienna police

records as havifig been accused of theft, and it is

suggested that his departure for Munich in 1913 was

prompted by a desire to avoid serving

term in Jail*

- 124 -

6.

Hitler's friendship with Hanisch came to

an abrupt end when he accused the latter of stealing

money from him.

This has the flavor of a typical

Hitlerian projection.
7.

Hanisch reports that Hitler's love for

Germany and his hate for Austria were vociferously

expressed on all occasions during these years.
8.

Hitler was shocked by what he saw of sexual

practices in Vienna.

Hanisch speaks of his having

a purity complex.
9.

According to one informant. Hitler is down in

the police records of Vienna as

10.

e^

sex pervert.

In 1913, Hitler left Vienna and entered the

country of which he had long yearned to be a citizen.

He became a resident of Munich.
11.

The press of Rejection is perhaps the out-

standing feature of the Vienna period.

There was in

the first place the rejection by the Academy of Arts,

which Hitler felt was based on his inadequate education.

This left a resentment against intellectuals generally

which was never stilled.

The following excerpt sums

up his conclusions on this point.

^ 125 -

(I)
Generally/ it Is the chlldx^en of
higher place,, momentarily well-to-do parents
who. In turn are deemed worthy of ft higher
education. Hereby questions of talent play
a subordinate rdle.
.

Many bther passages speak eloquently of Insults

to his pride received at the hands of the privileged

world of the gay capital

the ^aciously patronizing attitudes
(i)
of a certain part of the fashionable world
(both in skirts and trousers) whose 'sjrmpathy
for the people* is at times as haughty as it
is obtrusive and tactless.
-

(II)
Vienna, the city that to so many
represents the idea of harmless gaiety, the
festive place for merrymaking, is to me the
only living memory of the most miserable time
of my life t

12*

Hitler Spent five years in Vienna.

Living

as he was, penniless among the penniless of the lower

class, he himself experienced, and he was in close

touch with others who experienced, the basic wants

and viewpoints of the depressed victims of civilization.

Here, certainly^ was much food for thought

He also attended sessions of parliament and numerous

political mass meetings, and observed the proceedings

critidally*

Prom the start he was constantly^

occupied with the question:

pro-^

why does this pplltlcal

movement fail and tha^ one succeed?

It was natural

for him to think realistically, and strategically; not

V}.-

- 126 -

tQ make the common xnlstake of supposing man to bo

better than he is, and yet taking full account of

his heroic potentialities, having observed that

millions of simple untutored men will gladly fight and

sacrifice their lives for

an-

ideal vividly presented.

In addition; Hitler spent many hours in the public

library looking ov^r histories

social questions*

arid

books dealing with

MEIN KAMPP proves that the young

man from Llnz who could not get through Jligh School
was capable of profiting by what he saw and read, and
that these five years of drifting and Irregular em-

ployment were by no means wasted.

The flophouse and

the beer hall were his Heidelberg and University of

Vienna.

He writes:

(I)
So in a few years I btiilt a foundation
of knowledge from which I still draw nourishment today. (M.K# 29).

At that tiziie I formed an image of

(II)
the world and a view of life irtilch became the
granite foundation for my actions. (M.K. 30).
13.

For the Vienna period the critical question

psychologically is this:

why did Hitler, living among

the proletariat, find the developed Ideology of communism

repellent and the embryonic ideology of fascism appealing?

The chief determinants of his cholk^e, as they occur to
me are these

'

- 127

(1)

middle class.

Hitler's father belonged to the lower

Having moved one

riong

up the ladder by

jee^raof effort, his pride compelled- him to draw a

sharp. line between himself and those below him.

No

one has stated this principle of behavior better than

his son:

(1-1) The reason for that

which one could almost call 'hostility'
is the fact that a social class, which
has only recently worked its way up
from the level of manual labor, fears
to fall back into the old, but little
esteemed, class, or at least fears being counted in with that class. In
addition, many remember with disgust
the misery existing in the lower class;
the frequent brutality of their dally
social contacts; their own position in
society, however small it may be, makes
every contact with the state of life
and culture, which they in turn have
left behind, unbearable*

This explains why members of

the higher social cla^s can frequently
lower themselves to the htimblest of
their fellow beings with less embarrassment than seems possible to the 'upstarts'

For an upstart is anyone who,

through his own energy, works his way
up from his previous social position to
a higher one.
M>nally^ this relehtlesg "^struggle
kills all pity One s own painful
Scramble for existence suffocates the
feelingdf sympathy fo?^ thd misery of
thosQ left behind^ (M.K. 31-32).

128 *

V.

Brought up by such a father, it waa natural fop

Adolf Hitler to envy and admire hia social superiors.

and look with contempt upon those of a lower station.
As the American editors of MEIN KAMPP have put it,
(ii)
Hitler, conscious of belonging
to a higher social caste than his fellow-*
workers.. .instinctively retreats from the
idea of accepting solidarity with them.
(M.K. 55).

Hitler had already been identified

(iii)

for some years with the German Nationalist movement

and so his unit of i nsociation (group identification

and belongingness) was greatly threatened by the com-

munists

'

unit of insociation, the manual workers of

the world.

-The former would lead logically to a

war between nations, the latter to a war between

classes.

Communism was the greatest enemy of nation-

alism.

Parallel to his naturalistic senti-

,(iv)

ments was Hitler

*s

enthusiasm for the military, a

professional class which is antipathetic to

commianists generally.

The former finds its goal in

Power and Glory j the latter in Peace and Prosperity.

(v)

Hitler had great reverence for the

strong and contempt for the weak and therefore

favored a stratified social system,

dictatorship

- 129 -

or the elite*

There was no compassion In his make-

up; he had little sympathy for the \inder-dog#

His

Ideology ims founded on the rise to power of nature's

supermen involving relationships of dominance and
sulnnlsslon among men.

notion of equality.

Communism was founded on the

130 -

C.

WAR EXPERIENCES
1914

1919

The record of these years Is conflicting, but the

following points are prohahly true and pertinent to

.

our theme
1.

In enlisting in the Army, Hitler became incor-

porated for the first time.

an accepted

meitibar of a

Never before had he been

This

respected institution.

to
was not only a great relief to him, enabling him

forget the long series of past failures, but it pro*

vided a ground for pride and a sense of sectirity.

At

last he and the German nation were one.

2,

There is no evidence that Hitler was ever

in a front line trench.

It seems that he served as

ground
a messenger and was required to traverse
that was being shelled by the enemy.

appears, was

Hitler, it

quick to offer himself for dangerous

at
tasks of this kind and was said to be an adept

running and then falling or seeking shelter behind

some obstacle when the fire became intense.
he showed courage.

In this

There is nC record, however, in

been
the War Department of any episode such as has

described in connection with his winning the Iron

Cross, First Order,

Apparently he was awarded this

- 151 -

supposedly
medal aftel- he had left the Front,
Allies.
one of the last offenalved of the
gassed
marked
Informants have commented on Hitler's

3.

'

offering to
subaerviehce to the Superior officers,
menial tasks,
do their washing and perform other
an extent that
courting their good graces to such
his comrades were disgusted.
4.

company
Hitler Ta3 the only man in his

package's from home, *nd

never to receive any nail or
when the others
at Chfistmas and other occasions
he sulked moodily
were receiving gifts and messages

instance of press reby himself. Here is another

jection.

that in
It is hard to explain the fact
prompted above the
four years of service he was not
by one of his officers
rank of corporal. The comment
is the only explanathat he' was ft neurotic fellow
5.

tion that has been advanced.

6.

was not gassed

It seems cej'tain that Hitler

but that he suffered

to any serious extent in 1918,
which
war neurosis, hysterical blindness,

from a

and perhaps his

also deprived him of his voice
illness was concomitant
hearing. This psychosomatic
Mother Germany, and it
with the final defeat of his

'

'

1 ":i'*ii- .'f

.-> :+i-

.^T-

'

----i

iV

,.

-. I-Tflll

JiT.aSSW i,V>?H?

'.

153

v.^:;

I
-/

that
waa after haari.ag^'the news of her capitulationhe

^jLad

his viaj

his sight

c:i

bis tasli.aa aavior.

-of

restored.

Vh'as

?,;.'

Suddenly

ri*"

.'

"T'T

tT.-"

^^^^'

^^(:^??5dB:2t^^.:f

Hitler with fellow patients

at Pa 9 walk, 1918

7.

Ih 1918 Hitler, the soldier, became very

disturbed at 'the surprising amtess of Allied propareaction that

ganda and then occurred

a"

of his \vhole character,

namely,

to- &cq'ali:*e

# -

^'^

"

\\

typical

admire and then

the tachniqT^e powerful opponent*

{1}

.to.

v/as

V/e

had

chance to "become acqueiintad

with the "incredible dl^ol-pllnea of our opponents^

propaganda/ and still today it la my pri^e to
hava found tha means * -f or- beating finally Its
Tv^C) years later I ^m maater in
'very makers.
this <iraft,

*:

%
"

^'

."^

"'.;_,_.-

-.

'..

.....

..

p.

- 133 -

D. POST-WAR EISTORY

1919

Prom 1919 to the present Hitler's doings are

less obscure then for the periods so far reviewed.

A great many of the facta are a matter of common

knowledge and we will not review them in this section here.

A few pointa, however, are worthy of

being highlighted
1,

For a year or two after his release from

the military hospital. Hitler was more or less foot-

loose, "a stray dog looking for a master," according

to one informant;

Undoubtedly there were more

instances of press, rejection to embitter him.

2.

He was still a member of the Heichswehr

when his superior officer, discovering his ability

in public speaking, assigned him the task of indoctrinat-

Ing the soldiers with the desired ideology.

he was asked to speak to a civilian group.

Later
This

success encouraged him to go further and enter politics

for life.

Hitler's realization that he bad the power

to away large masses of people was the second crucial

factor, next to his Revelation in the hospital while

blind. In determining his cafeer.

succesB hinged on

hlfl

His phenomenal

mass-rpuaing talent.

- 134 -

3.

After hearing Pedar speak. Hitler was prompted

to .join a small group that called Itself the National

Socialist Worker?. Party.

Within a year he was Its

moving .spirit and sole leader., and it might fairly

be said that he waa its creator as it now exists,
the difference betTreen its status before he Joined

and soon afterwards being so great.

No doubt

Hit?wfar

had been making speeches in

fantasy since his boyhood and had done a good deal

period,
of informal haranguing throughout this whole
first as the adolescent ringleader of the young

Nationalists at school, second as a ham politician

among

tlie

derelicts of the Vienna slums, and third

sudden emergence
as a corporal behind the lines, but his
- 1923
as a spiritual force d\iring the period 1921

brought him into a much magnified sphere of activity

which was qualitatively different.

from

lilEIN

A selection

KAMPP, which is unquestionably autobiographical

of how
in reference, might be quoted here as a hint
the transformation was apperoeived by him:

In the monotony of everyday life even

Important people often seem unimportant and they
hardly stand out over the average of their
surroundings; but as soon as they are faced
by a situation in which others would despair
child
or go wrong, out of the plain average
innot
visibly,
grows
the ingenious, nature
i*jo
those
all
of
astonishment
frequently to the
_

.135 ^

hitherto had an oppoit\inity to ohaerve him,

who had meanwhile grown up In the smallness of
bourgeola life, and therefore. In consequence
of this process, the prophet has rarely any
honor In his own country. Never Is there a
l)etter opportunity to observe this than doir In
war,' In the hours of distress, when others
despair, out of apparently harmless children,
there Shoot suddenly heroes of death-defying
determination and ley coolness of reflection.
If this hour of trial had never come, then
hardly anyone would ever have been able to
guess that a young hero Is hidden In the beard*
Nearly always such an Impetus Is
leiis boy.
needed In order to call genius Into action.
Pates hammer stroke, which then throws the one
to the ground, suddenly strikes steel in
another, and while now the shell of everyday
life Is broken, the; erstwhile nucleus lies
open to the eyes of the astonished world.
(F.K. 402-5).
4..

of
It seems clear that It was (1) the defeat

Germany and

(2) the

opposition against which he had

behavior
to strive that acted as Instigators to his

from then on, which became more and more aggressively

dominant.

The Idea of being a revolutionary was a

necessary in^etus to action.

We National Socialists know that with

this opinion we stand as revolutionaries In
the world of today, and that we are branded as
auch. But our thinking and acting must not
be dete groined by the applause or the rejection
of oxir tlme^ (M.K. 695-5).
5.

Hitler was chiefly attracted during these

early years to a homosexual, Ernst Roehm, a superior

officer with an upperclass background. The physical

- 136 -

strength and social assurance of Roehm were much

dnvied and, to have the political backing of such a
figure, gave Hitler a sense of security.
6.

Up to the famous Munich Putsch, 1923, Hitler

was conspicuous in his worship of and flattering

especially
subaervienqe to ranking officers in the Army,
Ludendorff
in the^e days in his relations with General
a
but from 1984 on, although he never entirely lost

certain ,embarrassment in the presence of his former

superiors, there was a change from abasement to

dominance and even arrogance in dealing with aristocrats

and war lords.
7,

The chief points in his political program

were these:
(a)

wiping the Versailles Treaty off the

books,

(b)

denial of war guilt,

(c)

resurrection of Germany as a military

power of the first order,

(d).

mllitaris tic expansion, dominated by

the motive of revepge against the

Allies, and
Soon afterward*

(e)

Anti-Semitism.

(f

the purification of the German people

by a variety of hygienic measures was

added as an essential aim or policy.

. 157 -

8.

During the years from 1923 and 1935, Hitler's

emotional outbursts, his tantrutns of rage and indignation, his spells

>of

weeping and threats of self-

annihilation increased in f rectuency and intensity.

This can be partly accounted for by the faot

ttiat

they were effective in bringing his associates

around to his point of view.

Instead of antagonizing

the group of revolutionists who with

hiio

were plotting

tonsxtfp power, these frightful orgies of passion

served to intimidate them.

Everyone sought to

avoid topics that would bring about the fits.

9.

Among the reasons given in extenuation of

the cold-blooded purge of 1934 were (a) that the

victims were disgusting homosextials and (b) that

they were plotting to snatch the power and superilede
him.
10.

During the last twenty years, nimora have

periodically arisen and spread to the effect that

Hitler was enamoured of this or that young woman;

most of these were either fabricated for one reason

*

or another or premature, since the appeal that cer-

tain women, of the stage particularly, had for Hitler

was generally short-lived*

The one, affair that

stands out is that with a nineteen- year- old Angela

- 158 -

('

(Oell) Raubal, his niece.

Hitler wAa often in her

company and was pathologically jealoua of any attentions shown her by other men. .Two informantf have

stated positively that Hitler murdered the girl,

but the official report was suicide .

Whichever story

a
is correct, however, we gain the impression of
peculiar and stormy relationship.

Rumors have it

that Hitler's sexual life, such as it is, demands

women, the
a xmique performance on the part of the

exact nature of which is t atate secret.

11.

A great deal has been made in Germany of

Hitler's asceticism, but this, when

you, .ccoe

down

by
to it, amounts to a vegetarian diet, served; him
o/.
the best chef in' the Reich, and a great variety
soft driiiks in place of hard liquor*

It is said

after
that he did not permanently give up meat until
the death of his niece Oeli *

V. PERSONALiry STRUCftJRE

A. EGO, SUPEREaO, AND ID

1,

Ego

According to the criteria we are acouetomed

to uae In meaaurlng ego strength and structvre,
'

Hitler's ego Is surprisingly We iik*

Here we are

of cotirsa using the tern ego to apply to an institu-

tion of the personality (nbt to narclasisBi, or selfesteeai).

Hitler is cwisplcuously low In the following

powers
^a)

Defi<;lent at?lllty to organize and

coordinate his efforts .

.

(I)

During

Ms

boyhood, especially

at the time he was living as an Indulged youngster

his mother's apartment, Hltle^d activities :were

markedly Irregular and aimless.

He

ti^s

unable to

apply himself except when his impulse prompted him

to do so
(II)

Hitler wis never

an^

Hanlsch reports that in Vienna

ardent worker, was. unable to

get up in the morning, had difficulty in getting

started, suffered from paralysia of the will.

He

always stepped work the moment he had earned a little

money, explaining that "he must have some lie dure, he

was not a eoolle".

'

t^

.* X40 .

AciBordlng to Rauschnlng, "H6

(Ill)

does not know how to work steadily.

Incapable of working.

Indeed, he Is

Be gets Idea?, Impulses, the

realization of which must be feverishly achieved

and Immediately got rid, of .

He does not know what

It Is to work continuously.

Everything about him

la 'spasm'^ to use a favorite woi?d of hl4B.

(Iv)

Although Hitler prescribes

'

disciplined order of work for those about hlm> he

hlniself lives like an artist or Bohemian.

lUs habits

are aa erratic and Irregular as his temper.

go to bed at eleven
at seven or at noon.
(v)

P*M.,'

He may

or four A.M., getting up

He Is rarely p\inctual.

According to Rauschnlng again;

"Hitler seems a man of tremendou* will powers but

the appea:pance Is deceptive.

'

He is languid nhd

apathetic by nature, and needs the stimulus of

nervous excitement to rouse him out of chronic lethargy
to.

spasmodic activity,.."
(b)

Deficient ability to re golve conflicts. -

EHltldr ha S; always suffere<f from periods of Indeclslve-

neas and mental confusion that Inoapacltate him to

the extent

of*

being unable to make any. decision or

come to any conclusion".

Then. quite suddenly his

-^

..

Ul

inner voice will speak, but as. a rul^, not until

the situation has become threatening^

As Roehm says,

"Usually he solves suddenly, at the .very last moment...

only beca\ise he
(c)

vacillates

find

procrastinates."

Deficient ability to control emotion

even
His tantrums have been often described., and

thought it be admitted that Hi tier, has

capacity

such
to turn them on and off as he sees fit, stilly

unmanly display of infantile intolerance to frustration,

or tears and shrieks, is entirely out

of

keeping with his own ideal of the Jron Supermensch.

Rauschning: fMy own experience of
(i)
a
him and what I have learned from others indicate
lack of cpntrol amotinting to total demoralization."
(d)

Deficient 6 b.1ectivity >-^lA8tQrtioh of

projechuman behavior and social events by frequent

tions giving rise to delusions

(e)

of;

all.Qrt.

Disjuhctivitv 6t thought and speech .

:

speeches
All. of Hitler's writing* and reported
ex*
exhibit a disorganization of ideas.^d verbal
preasion which at times verge's on the pathological.
(f)

Insight deficiency # * Hitlei? has never

errors
shown any capacity to perceive or admit his
determinaand defects. Part of this, is a ;Conscious
tion to folloit the policy of denying them, this

being considered by him politically expedient.

- X4a (g)

Inability to keep his word and jCttlfiH

oblif^ationa
.^^

^^

^^

^^^^ ^^^^

^^^ ^^^^^

^^^^

cards with perfect ease every thing that a moment

before has passed as a fixed principle..

His political

attitude is characterized by two things:

first, an

unbelievable capacity to tell fslsehcod, end second,

of
a quite disarming naivete, a tot^l innocence

promises and assertions. made only a moment before,

(h)

In contrast to these signs of weakness /

Hitler is high, sometimes very high, on the following

cr iteria:
(i)

power to dp. what he wants to do and

has the capacity to do,

(ii) counteractive restriving,

(iii) power to resist undesirable coercions

from society,
(iv) power to resist dictatorship of ooh-

ventlonal superego,
(v)

initiative and self-sufficiency,

(vi) ability to take responsibility and

effectively direct others^

(vii) long apperceptive span (taking account

of a distant future in making decisions.
(i)

The situation may be briefly formulated

energy
by stating that Hitler bperatea on t halamic
planning.rather than o n conacious will en d rational

accomplish
Possessed by fanatical paadion he can
moderate
which those who act on cooler and more
things,

plan fall to tchleve*

Tbff

f&tt^, in other worda,

oomes from the Id, and the ego is tiaed In Ita

aei?-

This comblaatlon i* typical of the g^ngiter;

vice.

hut Hl'tler la different frott th ordinary type,

artiat.
havitts flome of the attributes of the romantic
He 1 a compound, say, *f Lord Byron and Al Q&pone,
2.

Id

Under the term id I am including all unconseioua

poychic proceaaea

principally affective and

conatlve proceaaea which emerge suddenly without

voluntary effort and take poaaeaaion of the ego

tout

alao unconaclous Intellective proceaaea resulting in

atadden Ji*dffBenta and deciaiona.

Such proceaaea are

an Important part of every mana paychology*

It la

only when they play a unuaually dominant rSle in

determining action that we

a tree a them.

They are

especially prominent in the Intuitive type. Hitler

being one of these,

^tler'a aentimenta Ih tbla

regard confoi^^ to his behavior*

muat distrust the intelligence
and the conscience and must place our trust
We have to regain a new
(^ur instincts.
(Quotfedi by Rauschning).
simplicity.
(i.)

Wa:

...Qver- educated people, stuffed

with Imowiedge and intellactj but bare of any
(11)

sound Iniitincts .

 144 -

,*.0f secondary Importiince is

(111)
the training of mental aMlltlea. (H.K 913).
.

Hitler's basic assumption, as Max Lesner polnti

out. Is that there are no logical categories in the

perception of values but only an lnt\iltlonlsm that

la Its own principle and Its own Jus tlf' cation.

He

functions. In other words, as does a creative artist,

which Is unusual in one who chooses politics as his

field,

It is his dependence on involuntary processes

that gives rise to

hils

inability to make dscisions

about a hundred and one little mattsxis that com^

to him in the routine of his daily OfScupation,

must

He

upon the spirit'.

-nati

(Iv)
Its the subconscious the work
It matures, sometimes it dleS.
goes' on.
Unless I haV'e the inner incorruptible conviction: this is the solution, I do nothing.
Not even if the whole party tried to drive me
I will not act; I will wait, ho
to action.
hfiippsna.
But if the voice speaks
what
matter
has
pome to act. (Quoted
time
the
know
then I
chining
fromi Raus
)*
.

Many a<$qiiaintahO$s have remarked on Hitler^ s

periods of abstractlott And r^Very.

'

He "spent his

time building castles in the air**, Hariiach reports.

"I had the Impressl^o.n,'' writea RausChnlhg,

"that he

was not listeniftg.*his thoughts ware far away^"

Another informant, Roberts, believes that Hitler,

145-

large
wrapped. up In his dream world, is unaware of a

part of the practical activities and even brutalltiea

ot.

hla party.

His movements would be impossibly

Goebbels,
without the continued co'operation of men like

Ooering, and Hlnmler.

Because of the tremendous

must
downward pull of unconficioua processes Hitler
it were,
often ptai himself up by the bootstraps, as

to meet an emergency.
(v)

I go

my way with the certainty

and security of a soitoambullst.

Among id processes we should stress particularly

hlin
that ^dynamic pattern of energy bolted up in
This
which we call the unity and orienting themas.

monomanla.cal
compound of motivations, which amounts to a
a rigid,
idea* will be fully described later. It is
thalamltJ
fanatical, and indurable reservoir 6f the
threa times
energies which, on release,, have two or
bear upon any
the potency that a normal man brings to
collaboration
one reasonable objects The ego Is in
service,
with this unconscious complex,, operates In its

check
and can, within limits, call it intd play or
indeed.
it momentarily. On appropriate ocoasions,
possessed
Hitler makes, good "use of his capacity to be

by the complex.

He dramatizes it, whips it up, and

mouth,
intoxicated by the worda that pour out of his

deliriously gives vent to his passion.

yj'

146 -

Also characteristic of one who so readily aeqtdeacea

to the deml-\irge la Hitler s superatltlousness, his

feeling that he la an object of divine protection^

his tendency to Interpret striking events as slgna
or omens of success or failure*

Like many a rellglotis

leader he Is said to hear voices and see spirits.

Here we would compare him to Joseph Smith, the founder
of Mormonlsm, the chief difference being that Smithes

voices gavd him permission to free the sex Instinct,

whereas Hltler^s volces^ncburcige brutality and
destructlont

Hitler also bears compiarlson to Mary

Baker Eddy*
i;

Hysteroid Personality .^ It Is clear from

what has ^een said that Hitler has manifested many

features of the hysteroid type of make^up#

Besides

the definitely recorded hysterical attack of blindness

and iaphonia (In 1918), there are his paroxysms of

emotion, his hallucinations, coming out of nightmares,
his sudden revelations and hearing of Inner voices,

and the periods of day-dreaming and abstraction, all

of which are reminiscent of hysterics, inspired and

uninspired, of which the history of religion furnishes

so many striking examples.

perhaps, to Joan of Arc.

Here he might be likened,

&

147

Schizophrenic Festva^ea .^ It will be made^

clear ad we go on that Hitler is possessed by a

complete seini^deltisional system characteristic of

paranoid schizophrenia.

Beside this, many of the

symptoms which have been listed in the previous!

paragraph tinder hysteroid personality are also

typical of schizoid states*

The enormous banked--up

hate and revenge fulness "in the man and the acts of

cruelty i*iich he is able to execute apparently with*

out the normal recriminations of conscience are also

symptomatic of schizophrenia

Although it might be said that Hitler is an

hysteric on the verge of schizophrenia, and this

may be truer today than it was a while ago, still

it must be acknowledged that conditions in Germfiny
have been such and the man^s success in imposing his

delusional system on his fellow coiintrymen has been

so phenomenal that he has remained within the

boundaries of technical sanity*

3.

Superego

Iti fBems

deary that Hitler in not an amoral

brute like Qoering or the majority of his followers,

that is to say, his close ^follQWers*

ego but it is repressed,

tbie

Be has a super-

mechanisms of the ego

148 -

being set up against its interference.

The con-

ditions that usually prevail might be described ai

an alliance between the ego and the Instinctual

forced of the id against the dictates of the super^

egoe

g|*eat

deal of endppsychic energy is wrapped

up in this effort to repress and deny the superego

and the guilt feelirigs that it gives rise tOe

Its

activity, however, can he Judged by (1) the vehemence

of his affirmations of brutality (and thus his denial
of conscience),

(2)

the Justifications that he feels

called upon to give when his actions are particularly

repellant to the conscience of. his world, and (3)

certain syinptons that are generally recognizable as

indications of unconscious superego activitye

Surely Hitler is speaking of himself as well

as of others when he writes:

Only when the time comes when the

(i)
race is no longer overshiidowed by the. consciousness of its own guilt, then it will find internal
peace and external energy to cut down regardlessly and brutally the wild shoots, and to
pull up the weeds

That Hitler sees himself as the destroyer of an

antiquated Hebraic Christian superego is shown by many

passages

am freeing men from the restraints

of an intelligence that has taken charge; from
the dirty and degrading modifications of a
(ti)

- X49 .

chimera called conscience and morality,

and from the demands of a freedom and
personal Independence which only a very
few can bear.

We must be ruthless We must

(Ql)
regain our clear conscience as to ruthlessmess.
Only thus shall we purge .our people of
their softness and sentimental Philistinism^
and their degenerate delight In beer- swilling.
(Iv)

I recognize no moral law In

politics*
(v)
Conscience Is a Jewish invention*
It is a blemish like circumcision.

ObvlOtisly Hitler Is posing here as the Nletzschean

Antl-Chrlst who Is going to create a new superego

for mankind^ the exact antithesis of that which has

prevailed since the establishment of Christianity.

This pose, however, is for the benefit of his close

followers such as Rauschning, who has recorded the

above aasertions.' **Moral commonplaces,^ he affirms,
''are

indispensible for the masses.

Nothing is

more mistaken than for a politician to pose as a

non-*moz^l superman.

**

The tenor of many of Hitler's

public speeches, however, prcmM that he has not

entirely conquered his superego, acquired during

early years tander the influence of his pious mother,
the Catholic monaaj^ery at Lambach, and his teachers

at school. 'The following may be taken a^ examples

of an \mqulet conapience:

150 -

It (Storm Troop) did not want

to establish violence as its aim, but it
wanted to protect the messengers of the
(vl)

spiritual aim against oppression by violence.

(K.Kt 790)

However, I did not wish to

(vii)
carry out my purposes by force, instead I
did my utmost to accomplish my ptirpose by
persuasion alone.
It never has been my in(vtii)
tention to wage wars, but rather to buildt##
(M.N.Ot 836).
(ix)' I forbade the sacrifice of
more human lives than was absolutely
ndcessary. (Speaking of the war with
Poland* M.N,0. 723)

There is.no question that Hitler succeeds in

repressing his superego most of the time.

He has

consciously and openly committed most of the crimes

on the calendar, so much so that the diagnpsis
,

'^psychopathic personality" or "moral imbecile" seems

almost justified; however, there are many indica*

tdLons that a

superego of sorts operates unconsciously.

After the bloody purge of 1934, for example, it is

said that he was not able to sleep quietly for weeks.

At night he prowled restlessly up and down.

His

expressions and feazftd nightmares can be explained

in part^ as rissultants of disquieting guilt feelings

Also to be included in this category are his frequent

thoughts of suicide.

These are often avowed, to be

* 151 /

8ure^ wl1;h the purpose of linpresslng

hlis

close fDllbw-^

ers, but they are also In conformity with an unconscious

According to our hypothesis^ In fact^ we

tendency.

would attribute a good many of Hitler's

aggression to his superego.
appease conscience.

latisr acts of

They are crlmetf

ti3

Bavlh^ once started da a career

of brutality^ he can only' c^ulet the palrt of a bdd

conscience by gpink on with ever greater ruthlessness

to aohley e successes ^ and so to'ddmohstrate to him'

self and others that dod at^proves of him and his

'

methods t
so

This dynamism^ however, can work only

far^s his ^ggrecislons

Irj

are successful; that Is,

only good fortione can prove that conscience (anticipa-

tory anxletsy) was wrong

afraid of after all.

there was nothing to be

--^

Failure will undoubtedly be

followed by gtillt feelings.

Further evidences of superego -activity can be

found In the charactisr pf

the'

pi^ojectlons so common

In Hitler's speeches and writings, as we shall now

show*
I

,^

...
/

-152^

4.

6y

Ego Defenae Mechanlsma:

ffep

Pro.^eetlon

the moat common form of defenae mechanlrflm

in Hitler 'a peraonallty ia that of projeiitlon.

Thla

worka in the aervi^e of aelf-eateem, in blinding him

both to hia guiltineaa and to hla inferiority.

There

ia
ia no record of any caae in which thia. proceas

uaed ao often and ao intenaely.

It operate* ao

promptly and conaiatently, indeed, that by paying

cloae attention to the objecta that gitler

acoma

and-obndemna one gets a fairly accurate and <?omprehenaive view of hia own id.

HLb caae ia rather un-

uaual in that he haa conacioualy adopted and

furthered what was once no doubt a purely unconacioua

mechanlam. For example, he aaya, "As aoon aa by one
the other
own propaganda even a glimpae of right on
one 'a own
aide is admitted the cauae for doubting of

right ia laid."

The necessary corollary to this

proposition would bS:

As soon as one's 6wn wrong

wrong of
is admitted the cause for doubting the
opponent is laid. He also has enough know-

oneU

of
ledge to realize that accusations are evidences
this is the
guilt, for he says, "If they now say that

entire
signal that Germany now wants to attack the

seriously:
world, I do not believe that this is meant

fe'v

- 163 -

such could QDly be tho expression of a bad conscience."

rental rkabXe

statement to be made by the world's

greatest projector.

Two or three Illustrations would suffice to make

plain th* nature of Hitler *8 projections, but they

represent such' unique descriptions of himself that a

larger collection of examples will be of interest to

psychologists
(i)

In Vienna, Hanisch tells

ixB,

Hitler

wore a long coat given him by a Jewish friend, ^an

incredibly greasy derby on the back of his iMad.

His hair was long and tangled, and he grew a beard
on his chin such as we Christians seldom have, though

one is not uncommon in* .the Jewish ghettos Hitler,

at that time looked very Jewish, so that I often

joked with him that he must be of Jewish blood,

since such a large beard rarely grows on a Christian's
chin***

'

Compare this to Hitler ^s accdurit of the first

conspicuously Jewish person he met in Vienna.

"I

suddenly came upon a being clad in a long cliftan,

with black curls*

thought^*'

Is this also a Jew?

was my first

Then he goes on to list the rejiellent

traits of the Jew:

^Later the smell of these caftan

- 154 -

wearers often made

zae

111. Added to this was their

dirty clothes and their none too heroic appearance."

Recalling Hitler's immorality at school and the fact
that he is down (according to one Informant) in the

Vienna police records as a sex pervert, the following

"Aside from the physical

statement is pertinent:

uncleanlineas, it was repelling suddenly to discover

the iboral blemishes of the chosen people."

(ii)

Hitler was charged with theft in

Vienna, according to one informant, and yet Hitler

broke off his friendship with Hanish by wrongfully

accusing him of having misappropriated a water color

of his worth fifty Kronen.
(iii)

In

Wly

life Hitler oscillates

between extreme energy and utter listlessness, and yet

"All passivity, all
Hitler:
inimical to
senseless,
inertia is
life."
(iv)

wrong.

Hitler has never admitted to being

According to the Nazi creed. Hitler is always

right, and yet --

'

"These Impudent ras6als

Hitler:
(intellectuals) who always know everything better than anybody else.*^"
"The intellect has grown autocratic,
and has become a disease of life."

- 155 -

(v)

Hitler has often affirmed that he waa

governed by inatlnct and int\aitlon rather than by

reason*

Hitler: "The people.,. are so

so feminine in their nat\irs and
attitude that their activltieo and
thoughts are motivated leas by apber
considerations than by feeling and
sentiment."
(vi)

Roehm has said;

.'

"He doesn't even

seem to be aware how dishonest he is."' By now the

whole world agrees that' Hitler is a monumental liar.

Hitler t "what a race (Jews);

As such they have been nailed down
forever... the great masters of lying."'
.

(vii)

-b

Hitler has a way of staring at people

as if he were attempting to hypnotize them.

Hitler; "They,, .tried to pierce

me even with their eyes. Innumerable
faces were turned toward toe with
Sullen hatred,"
(viii)

Hitler's favbrite entertainment

is to witness private performances of naked dancing.

.

Hitler; "Chicherin -* arid with

him a staff of over two hundred Soviet
Jews --visits the cabarets^ watches
naked. dancera perform for his pleasure,,*"
(ix)

Below I have lieted a m?.scellany

of Hitler's statements which are more acciorate as

descriptions of himself than they are of others.

a.

156 -

In such hours I had

sad forebodings and was rilled with

1 was faced by
a depresslnR. fear.
a doctrine TsoclAl Democrats) consisting
of egoism and hatred; It could be
victorious, following mathematical
laws, but at the same tlire It could
bring about the end of mankind.

Social Democracy.., directs

a bombardment of lies and calumnies
towards the adversary who seemed most
dangerous, till finally the nerves of
those who had been attacked give out
and they, for the sake of peace, bow
down to the hated enemy.
b

They (opponents at Nazi

c.
meetings) resembled a powder keg that
might blow up at any moment, and to
which the burning fuse has been attached.
d.

-For his

(the Jew's) entire

activity is unrestricted by moral obligations,

e.

I talked until

my tongue was

weary and till my throat was hoarse. ..

of the destructiveness of their Marxist
p
doctrine of irrationality.
...we will not let the Jews slit
our gullets and not defend ourselves.
f.

(Jew). ..the higher he climbs,

the more alluringly rises out of the
veil- of the past his old goal, once
promis'^d to him, and with feverish
greed he watches in his brightest heads
the dream of world domination step
g.

into tangible proximity.

They (Marxists) began to treat

h.
us as genuine chief criminals of humanity.
For this peace proposal of mine
I was abused, and personally insulted.
Mr. Chamberlain, in fact, spat upon me
before the eyes of the world...
1,

 X57 -

*.lt was in keeping with our -own

harmleesnesfl that England took the JpJJ^y
of some day meeting our peaceful activity
with the brutality of the violent egoist.
1.

...the outstanding features;^ of

Polish bharacter were cruelty and lack or
morjBl re9tj*alnt.
)t.

projections
The intensity and frequency of these
delusion.
amply justify the diagnosis of paranoid
5.

'S>

idea lego

compound
The Idealego, as we define It, is a
the subject, which
of images, engendered in the mind of
level of aspirarepresent what he would like to be, his
his career,
tion, his best self at the height of

reaching the goal of his ambition.

the man

The idealego may

that of a great
be the figure of a master criminal or
dependent
benefactor or prophet, its exact nature being
Id, ego, and
upon a host of factors stemming from the
that the idealsuperego. lii Hitler's case it is clear
and unego is the aominant force of his conscious
in
conscious life. We shall discuss, it presently
drives and
connection with his major configuration of

sentiments*.

108

MAJOR CONPIGTJRATION OP OVERT DRIVES AND SENTIMEHTS

B.
(

Aa a rule it is difficult to demonstrate a

clear-cut integration of evert drives and sentiments

ir)

an individual, either (1) becavise the majority of

people are not integrated according to a very fixed

and consistent pattern or (2) because the configurations,

important
such as they are, are not wholly discernible,
elements being repressed and lonconscious to the subject.
conscious
We use the term orienting thema to include both

and unconscious elements.

In Hitler's case, however,

between the
it is not expedient to make a distinction

major configurations of overt drives and sentiments

and the orienting thema, because the latter has been
made explicit in word and deed
consistent and obvious type.

ftid

is of a relatively

Hitler is one of the

relatively few men who has largely lived out his fantasy.
are the
The main elements of his major configuration

following:
X.

f>68itiv9 Cathexis-^ of power

Hitler's' sentiments in favor of power as opposed

cathexis
to all forms of weakness may bo divided into (a)
rulers
of powerful nations and (b ) cathexis of powerful
*

Posikve cathexis

- value, attraction,

power to evoke

love, respect.
the reverse: power to evoke

cathexis
Negative
aversion, scorn, hate.
.

- 169 -

'

(1)

Poaitive cathexls of powerful gfoupa

(natlona ).
The vety first enthusiasm entertained by the boy

Hitler

iras

an ftdnilratl on for Germany.

We have already

noted his membership In the itatlonallst movement as a

school boy and listed the determinants of this enthusiasm.
The following quotations will Illustrate the persistence
of this attitude In later life.

Hanlsch: Hitler always took the

Government's, part.. .Invariably approved
of all such violent methods as necessary
for the Stabs* s sake.
a,

Hitler: In Vienna I continued

had
done before, to follow up all
as I
events In Gisrmany with the fiercest enthusiasm, no matter whether political or
cultural questions were concerned. With
proud admiration I compared the rise of
the Reich with theadecllne of the Austrian
State. (M.K, 69-70).
b.

'

Hitler: Pxoissla, the germ cell of

the Reich, was created by resplendant
heroism and not by financial operations
or oom^rclal affairs, and the Reich Itself
was in turn only the most glorious reward
of political leadership and military deathdefying courage. (M.K. 201).
c.

It was Hitler/ s love of power that attracted him

to the history of Great Britain.

d. Hitler: No nation has more carefully prepared its economib conquests
with the sword with greater brutality
and defended it later more ruthlessly
than the British. (U.K. 189).

160 -

England did not conquoi?

India toy the way of Justice and law: she
conqaiored India without reig^rd to the
wishes, to -the views of the natives, or
to their formulations of justice, and,
when necessary, she has upheld this
suppremacy with the moat, toiratal ruthlesihess. (M.N.O. 103).
e.

Hitler:

Hitler has always admired the ruling classes

everywhere as Opposed to the underprivileged.
Hitler: Our big industrialists
f.
have worked their way to the top by
reason of their efficiency. In virtue of
this seliection, which merely proves their
higher race, they have a right to lead.
(ii)

(rulers)

positive catheacia of powerful individuals

It is difficult to say whether it was the figure

of a powerful individual or the vague sense of a power-

ful class or nation that first excited Hitler's admiration,

have

tout
toe en

certainly in

ti^' co\arse

of his life there

a series Of heroes who have

siasm a^^, shaped his ego ideal.

stirred his enthu-

Among these may be

mentioned his teacher of history, Ludwlg poetsch; the

fervent

antli- Semitic, -Georg

von Schoenerer; the Viennese

mayor, Karl Lueger; Richard Wagner; Frederick the Great;

Bismarfek; the Kaiser; and

Mussolini

>:

It Infuriated me
a.'^' Hi tie J?:
even more. than the Viennese Press...
expressed its objections against the
German Kaiser. ..Such things made the
toiobd rush to my head.

- X6X -

He said. ..Wagnex*
was a nghtar^ there was more greatness
and power in Wagner.
b.

flanlsch:

Over Hitler's desk han^s a

portrait of Frederick the Great,
Hitler
all Germany's historic characters.
has chosen as his hero.
c.

^^il

Heiden: Roehm's frank hrutal

energy iJdemed to inspire ft blissful
sense of security in Hitler.
d.

Hitlert In those dayii -- I

I conceived the most
admit it openly
orofound admiration for the great man,.
great
what will rank Muddolini among the not
determination
of this earth is the
to share Italy with Marxism.
e.

is marked
The figui^e of power admired by Hitler
and absence of
by cournge, fldlitary valor, brutality,
6f him
sympathy or compassion, tt is characteristic

weakness
to interpret humane feeling a s
2,

Heed for t)eferenc e toward

Differing from

"a

t6wer

good many other would-be dicta-

<ai8plftyed, and still to

tors or revolutioniata. Hitler
deference towards his
some extent displays, a marked
a pattern
superiors, exhibiting thereby, no doubt,

presence of his
that he was forced to adopt in the

overbearing father.

Heiden: Subordination he took

r to
seriously down to the smallest details
never to
respect one's superior officers,
discontradict, to submit blindly. Hitler
clothes
the
for
solicitude
llBj^l swvile
boots fltnd food of his superior officers
(i)

^ges

si^g

(ii)

Strassei?.":.

Hitlei:*'^

attitude towarda

the General wa3 obsoqyi^^^J. ^^ was In agreesienf

with. everything Lxiden^orff said*

Hitler and Presiflent Hinde^nbui^s

on the Dsy of Pot^dscm
March J 1933
'

/.

, ;'.[LT.::/^.r.

'^ w>zj>r^;5.;*y: *'+?i7>

*.'^

-z':*;- .it*. <r;

.^v. -^\. vj
:

,r^.

'"^V^?^*^'

^il53

V .

'

>li'ijV*"'i- i:r

f-'fir'V*"

s
^ '4 "

A-^\-- t.'^.^.fM w.'

Ji

..,

Kote the subaervierice of

.

Hltlei? 'a

"boiw*

In the midst of the Munich

Eeiden:
Putsch Hitler exclaimad to Kahi- in a hoarsa
joii as
vole!.' "Bxesllency, I will stand behind
raithfvinT as a ao^!".
"!

(ill)

In the; coui-s^ of his peroraLamia:

(iv)
tion he. came to apaak of. Generals Ludendoi?ff

and von' Seeckt; at such momenta ho. stood at

attention arid trvmip^ted forth the words "genei^al
and "ESccellency'^ It mads no difference that
one of the generals was on his sld^, -while the.
other, von Seeckt, commander-in-chief of the
Reichayrehr, was his eriemyi he- abahi^ on ad himself
entirely to the pleasure of pronouncing the hlghsounding titles* Ha never said "General Seecict ,
he said "His Excellency, Herr Kolonal General
von Seeckt", letting the words melt on hLs tongue
At this moment
atid savoring their after-taste.
sergeant.
profesalonal
he was the typical

-J

,,

'

-H

;.

^.'

Nepsative Cathajcls' of "Weafcnesa

5,

Eitler'a, sentliuents ih^ this category are the

'
;

,,

natural completots of
power.

A'

his.

high positive oathexis for

few illiAstrations will suffice.

164 -

Hitler: A atiPonger generation will

drive out the wenkllnga, becaiase in its
ultimate form the urge to live will again
a
and again break the ridiculous ^fetters of
"
Individual,
so-called "humanity" of the
that its place will be taken by the "humanity
order
of nature, which destroys weakness in
strength.
to give its place to
(i)

...these upper layers

will
(of intellect\iaU) Ift^ the necessary
in.
weaker
always
power. For will power is
in
than
circles
these secluded intellectual
people.
primitive
the masses of the
(ii)

mtler:

Jewish
Christ-Creed with its effeminate pity-ethics.
(Rausohning)
(iii)

Hitler:

.. .the

Hitler: Anybody who is such a

poltroon that he can't bear the thought of
someone near by having to suffer pain had
better join a sewing- cirale, but not my
(Rauschning)
p^rty comrades.
Hitler: Unless you are prepared
(v)
Our
to be pitiless, you will get nowhere^ because
not
it,
opponents are Aot prepared for
too
they are humane... but because they are
(Rauschning).
weak.
(iv)

4,

IdealegOy Powerful Individual .

Tlie

process involved here is

ner.ely

that of

the positively ct;)iect?ed

the internationalization of

powerful individual described above .

What was

orice

the goal
external became internal and was accepted as
notion- of the. powerful
of endeavor. Around this central
based on
individual there has developed an ideology
in nature. The
the so-called aristocratic principle
superman, leader
final conception is that of a super

- 165 -

of a nation of supermen who govern the globe.

This

notion is deeply imbiadded in the German character as

a result of (1) the autocratic position of the father

in (i^rman family structure; (2) systematic indoctrina-

tion in the home and in the schools; and (3) the

position of Germany among the European nations, a

powerful community encircled and for a long

tinie

eclipsed in power and glory by Prance and then Great

Britain.

The main source's of Hitler's ideology are

such men as Carlyle, through his life of Frederick the

Great, Oobineau, Wagner, Houston Stewart Chamberlain,

Nietssche, and Georges Sorel

fteflexjohs eur la Violeftce)

Not that Hitler read all or even most of these alatho^s

but their ideas were transmitted to him through various

secondary sources li^ch he read ea^rly and took to

heart during his years in Vienna.

1?he

follo^ng

quotations give an outline of Hitler's philosophy,

...most important,
Hitler:
the necessity
namely,
life
in
precondition
526)
;(M.ir.O.
to be strong.
(i)

Hitler, quoted by Rauschningj

where there is a. firm will.
follows
But fortune
Cii)

Hitler: Always before Gbd and

has the right to carry
stronger
the world the
(M.N.
0. 50).
will.
through what he
*

(iii)

<iv) Hitler, quoted by Rauachning:

Brutality is respe<sted. Brutality ftrtd physical
strength. 'The plain man in the street respects

. :.

166 ^

ruthleasne ja
nothing but brutal strength and
J"
"SrsT^Via la an excellent e^fPl
^f
^"^
crux
the
p?ijeition and sums up in a nutshell
of Hitler's personality.
Hitler: In the end, only the urge
^j^^^^
for selfipreservatipn will ;*^??;^J;y
aa
"humaniry",
so-called
Under its pressure
stupidity,
of
mixture
the expression of. a
^
cowardice , an imagintiry a^PJ^^SLiS sun.
March siJ
will melt like snow under the
(U.K. 175).
(v)

'

Hitler: Every view of life,.,

unleJ^?
will remain without Importance...
of a fighting
banner
the.
.principles have become
(M.K. 675).
movement.
(vi)

by
Hitler: Terror is not t)roken
(K.K. 494-5)
power ofilnd but by terror.
Hitler: The terror in the workrvll)

(viii)
shops, in the factory in
rat lops
on occasions of mass demon st
i^^s <>|
long as^l\l^'^l'^
aa
q.
S" accompanied by success
<M.K. 58).
terror.
and
force
great

^^^lH^^l^Hi^Vi^
.

met by aS equally
$.

Social Idee t

t>6Werful Folk.

understand Hitler's
One will not be able to
force, its maintenance
personality, its extraordinary
influence on the German
this side insanity, and its
of hia emotional
people witiliut taking full account
he concelvea
a
identification with an ideal Germany a
efforta to the creation
It and the dedication of his
prlnciplea of hia program are
of such a Germany. The
of quotations
expressed in the following series

- 167 -

Hitler, quoted by Rauachnlng: There

will be a Herren<*Cla$s, an hlatorloal class
tempered by battle and welded from the moat
varied elements*
(I)

Hitler: ... (The Polklsh view) feels

the obligation In accoidance with the Eternal
Will that dominates thla universe to promote
the victory of the better and stronger, and to
demarid the stibmlsslon of the worst and the
weakar. (H.K. 580).
(II)

Hitler: We recpgnlBe that freedom can eternally be only a consequence of

power and that the source of power Is the
will. Consequently, the will to powei* must be
strengthened In a people with passionate ardor.
(M.N.O. 24).
(ill)

Hitler: Hia (Youth's) entire

education and development has to be directed at
giving him the conviction of being absolutely
(M.K. 618).
superior to the others.
(Iv)

Hitler: The parliamentary principle

of decision by majority, by denying the authority
of the person and placing in its stead the member
pf the crowd in question since against the
(M.K. lOS).
arlatocratic idea of Natiire,
(v)

Hitler: We want to be the supporters

of national reason, of
dictatorship
of the
brutality and
national
of
national energy,
(M.N.O. 66).
resolution.
(vi)

One
ffiLtler, quoted by Rauschfiing:
(vil)
foroe
tbfe% is and. remains eternally the same:
Bnplres are made by the isword, by superior force

not by alliances*

What must

bi9

pointed out here Is (1) that Hitler

came in to Qerm^y as an outsider

.(h

was not reared

in the system), (2) that he started operating with a

relatively slipl, clearcut, fanatically held conception

168 -

Of the proper eocial, pattern,

(3) that ha atartea

with

party
small nucleus and built a rapidly growing
that
according to his preconceived social ideal, (4)
to Include most
this, party usurped power and spread

a.

of the nation:

Hitler: The N. S. G. W, P. must

(viil)
master!
not be the masses' slave, but their
(M.K. 698).
and, finally,

(5) that

Hitler's social.ldeal is not

the national
confined to the German people within
wherever
boundary but to the German folk or race
that he envisages
they are. It is a world dominion
alike.
by people that are cons titutionally
is the
What we have here in the slpplest terms

to the
Master-Slave pattern of social relationships
is most distincexclusion of all other patterns. What
presence of this idea,, which is as old
tive is not the

'

the absence of other patterns,

as the history of man, but
contempt for sympat;hy.
the complete substitution of

6,

Power.
Need for Dominance. Ruthless Will to

powerful,
Hitler's positive oathecatlon of a
described, as
nation and a powerful ruler has been
in which Power
well as his creation of a social ideal
point. His deference,
was to be carried to Its furthe.^t
to face with representa^
even obsequiousness when face
described. What we have
tlves of power has also been

- 169 -

the gradual change

now to deal with 18 the problem of
We can say,
emiAaaia frtnn deference to dominance.

of

Ideal

jxustlflcatlon that If F^tlere

I think, with aome
that the nation
pattern had existed In Germany,

aoclal

an iron man, he might

had been under the. dictatorship of
place In the eyatem aa a
have been willing to take his
'corporal in the army,
aubordlnate, Juat aa he did aa a
pattern was not in
but the fact that av^ch a aoclal
it. He became
operation atimulated him to Inaugurate
after another,
diaaatlafied with one political leader
degrees forced himself
Kahr, Ludendorff , etc., and by
his scheme somebody
into the rfile that according to
finding no one
must fill. It is as if a masochlst,

auffioiently aadiatic to gratify his

that r^e himself.
eroticism, were to decide to adopt
of the possibility of
we have to take account here
Listening to flitlei^'s
vicarious pleasure in either rSle.
sense of his Idehtlflcawords, wo often get a certain
adopting the 'submissive
tlbn with the aadist whe^ he is
the masochlst when he
r^e, <^d his identification with
To exj^laih the identificala acting as a brutal tyrant.
assume an elementary heed
tion with the sadist, we must
power,'which gets aatisfied
for domlnanae, or wiU to
Anyhow, it Is clear that as
this roundabout Way.
to play a

in

i^e

- 170 -

timdv went on during the years after

World War 1,

Hitler's attitude unden&ent some modification.

Prom

the obtrusively submissive corporal he became the

obtrusively dominant leader of a party.

Heiden: ,..(Aa time i^ent oh) he felt
(i)
himself superior to his re cognized superiors.
The obedient soldier was transformed into one
who knew better, the \anderling into one who
ctild do things. better,
.

This change was concomitant with Hitler*

discovery of his own oratorical powers.

He gave
The ambi-

way more and more to the demon within him.

tious sadist, his infantile belief in omnipotence

the
beihg reactivated by the hyaterieal approval of
came into his own, We are dealing here with

masses,

enemies.
a personality who enviously admires his

His

frustrate,
enemies are those who dominate ahd oppose and

him with, force.

He hates the person who embodies

ao patterns
this force but he worships the force and as

himself on the object of "his hate.

This explains

their
why Hitler was attracted to tha Marxists and

methoda for gaining power.

He want to school not only
turner
to the Marxists. He has a great admiration for
the organization and UJethods" of the Catholic
Church. He speaks again and again of ^o^ "^J J.
British
he learned by studying the propaganda the
admiration
expresses
used during the war. And he
for American advertising technique.
(13)

I.

in*

Hitler: Wd had a chance (dNirlng

World War I) to becoiie acquainted irtth the Incredible discipline cf our oppunents V propagandli
And still today It is y pr^de to have f otind the
means. .^for beating flnnlly Its very laairers.
Two years later I iHiar" isAster In his craft.
(ill)

The picture^ we get here la that of a man who,

like a great number of Oermana, entertains the ooncep-^

tlon of an Iron man who will save Germany, and wonders

at the

aaise tlaie whettier

he hlii^elf has not the neCeisary

genius to be Ihet Ircn manv

A$ time went on. Hitler

oane more and more to Identify himself with the hero,

but even at th mcmee^

ijlrtrt

he

mtta

approaching the

very stonnli o^ his power he was- overcome. with mlSt

glvlngs.

perhap* he was not thla superman but merely

the mrldge to the superman, as Hie tsssche often said

of himself.
(iv)

Hitler r

We

aM

are. In a small wayj

I wait for Christ

iltee St* John^ (the Baptist).

^tier, quoted by
(v)
He is
map. 1* among \i|>t

Rauscbningj The
hare I Sow are you
hew
a secret* I have
you
tell
will
I
satisfied?
seen ttof Vlsieh of the new mien '- fearlesa and
formidable. X shrank f rem |ilml
(9#B Eete Is a suggestion tb^t
exercise of pdwif there Is a grd&ter
the
b^yond^
-shrinking before a still greater
enjoyment
force*)

- 173

7*

Ideptlfl cation wltii MemXQgo *

A few quotations will be sufficient

t^o

show the

extent of Hitler's Identification with hla <nm (and

the average Genoan's) Idealego.
(I)

Hitler, quoted by Jhiasell:

Who won the canipaign in Poland?

I dldl
I-

Who gave the orders?

X dldl

Who had all the strategic ideas

which made victory possible?
I dldl

Who ordered the attack?

Ich, Ich, Ich, IchI
(II)

Hitler, addressing Schuschnlgg,

quoted by Puchs:

Do you not realize that you are in

the presence of the greatest German everknown to historyl
(ill)

Hitleri

men Germany has had

fm

I am one of the hardest

decades^ perhaps fbr centuries,

equipped with the greatest authority of any German

leader.. .but above all, I believe in my success,

believe in it unconditionally* (M,N,0. 871)^

(iv)

Hitler, addressing the Supreme Commanders

before the polish campaign, quoted by Lochner:

^in

IB the laat anilyil* theie ar* only

three g^eat statdsnidn iii th^ world, Stalin,
oonilats
I, and llu*s6Xifil.*.otir strength
Genghla
-brutality.^
our
in
a6d
in our ap6d
td
dhildreft
and
woii^n
of
mllliadaa*
KhaA lad
hajjipy
a
and
premeditation
alatightar flth
heart, metory seea In feim solely *5^w^4ff,^
it 'a a matter of irtdlfferfoufider of a etate.
i*hirt a weak western Europeafl
eh6e to
elvlUMitlofl will say ahout aie. I ha^e Issued
the coflBilind -* and I'll haire afoybody whe^
uttera but one word of crltlclfi ^bcefislited
that our war aim does
by a firing squad
certain lines, but
reaching
not consist In
of th eneftj*
destruction
In thephyslcal
death-head
my
placed
have
Accordingly, I
orders to
readlneai...wlth
foraiatlons In
and withmercilessly
death'
theai to send to
6hiMrei4
and
women,
toert,
out cooroasslett,
of Polish derivation and language;

Hitler sees himself not only as Germany's greatest

strategist and war lord but as the chosen Instrument
founder
the savior -of the German folk, arid the
of Ood,

Christ's
6f a new spiritual era which will endure, as
years.
kingdom was designed to endure, for a thousand
Hitler
is not to be wondered at, therefore, that
It

has often identified himself with Christ,

(v)

Hitler:

Therefore, 1 believe today

am acting In the sensa of the Almighty Creator:

warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's

tljat I

By

work*

<M.K. 84),

Hitler: My feeling as a Christian

points me to my Lord and Savior as a
fighter. It points me to the man who once
in loneliness, surrounded by only a few

- 174 ^

folXowers, reoognJLzed those Jews tar jib&t

they were and s-ummoned men to the fight
ftgalnat them an<ai who, Oods tj?uthl wa
greatest not as a stiffs re r but as a
fighter. In boundless love as a Christian
and as a man X read through the passage
which tells us how the X.ord rose at last
in his might and seized the scourge to drive
ou^ of the^f emple the brood of vipers and
adders. I rectjgnize more profoundly than
ever before the fact that it was for this
that He had to shed his blood upon the
(M,N.O 26).
cross*
'

vftien..*! see these men standing

Hitiler:
in their queues . .then I believe I would be
no Christian, out a very devil, if I felt
no pity for them, If. I did not, as did our

Lord two thousand years ago, turn against

those by whom todajr this poor people is
(M.N.O* 27).
plundered and exploited.

Hitler may very well have reaXizod that he could

not make of

his.

resplendent.

physique anything very imposing or

Perhaps it was an uncanny wisdom on his

part that paused

appearance of

a,

hiro to adopt,

or at least, retain, the

Anyhow,

typical lower middle class man.

type by an adherence
he stands out among others of his
trooper or the
to the uniform of a commonplsc^ storm

vestments of an average

^jitizan:.

He has not yielded

a fine
to the temptation of dressing himself up in

uniform or In imperial robes as did Napoleon.

After

a
the war, he went about in jack-boots swinglfflg

has
hippopotamus- hide whip and a plastic surgeon
and he has
removed superfluous fat from his nose,

- 175 -

'

stxMlied as ooBaclo^aly aa any actoir the walk, the

geaturaa^ and the manner

8\tL table

to hia pdaitloh;

but atill^ deapite thtae and many othet efforta to

create a aatlafyJ^ng viaual impresalon, he h^a pre^

aerved Certain modeatlea that have Ingratiated him with

certain olaaaea In Germany.

Adoordlng to the legend,

he la a humble aacetlo man, and thla holda, deaplte

the known fact that In hla atudy at tl Berghof a hQge

portrait of hlmaelf aa Fuehrer hangs over him eternally,

8,

Reed for Aggresalon. Sadism

The Marqula de Sade maintained that his cruelties

were not Inflicted with the purpose of giving others

pain but rather to Increase to the utmost his own
sense of power; thus, according to. hla version, aggres-

sion waa aubaldlary to dominance.

In Hitler's case,

however, although the will to power Is the central

principle, fxtoed with It la

a,

vlndlctlveness which

takea pleaaure In the painful htmilllatlon of hla

adversarlea.

Bnough llltistratlons of the aadlam mixed

up with Hitler

need for dominance have already been

given; we on^y need to point out here what Is known

the world over, namely, that his Ideplogy of power

has been expressed In definite aetlona of aggression.

- 176 -

particularly against weaker, helpless individtials

and groups.

Statements such as the followiiig have been

the precursors of unprecedented hrutalitys

(i)

quoted by Rauschnigg: I shall

Hitlei,

spread terror by the surprise employment of all my

measures.
(ii)

Hitler^ quoted by Helden:

There- will be no

peace in the land until a body is hanging from every

lamp post.
(iii)

Hitler, quoted by Rauschning:

But even if

we could not conquer them, we should drag half the

world into destruction with us, and leave no one to

triumph over Germany.

There will not be another 1918,

We shall not surrender.

An account of Hitler's personal aggressiveness

against another man is given by Heiden:
(iv)

(At the M\anich Putsch)

The first to be

arrested was the Standard leader. Count Spretl.

The

young Count was set in front of Hitler; he made a

movement toward his pockety as though to grasp his pistol.

Thereupon Hitler raised his whip^ struck Count

Spreti on the head with the stout iropbound end, and

threshed him on the face in blind fury tmtil Count

Spreti collapsed

r^

J>

i77 -

The pvirge of 1934^ the anti-Semitic atrocities,

the unspeakable crimes committed in Poland, these and

many other actions executed or o>rdered by Hitler demonstrate

the extent of his sadism and revengefulness*
9.

Need for Insociation (Collective Identification)

Hitler's psychology cannot be \anderstood if he is

considered apart from his identification with the German

people, or rather with his ideal for Germany

Prom the

very beginning, we have evidence of his desire to become

a

member of the Reich, which, to be sure, was more in

the nature of a fantasled insociation with a vaguely

conceived tradition than it was a desire for relationship with concrete individuals*

Until he enlisted in

the German Army, there are no definitive instances of

his ever belonging to an organized group, -unless it

was -a little Nationalist's Club in school.

No doubt

this long period of egocentric isolation increased his

need, for insociation*

We note that at school he showed

tendencies to be an agitator; and Hanish tells us that

in Vienna be was continually talk ii)^ up the idea of

forming

ati

association among his flophouse friends for

financial or political purposes*

Although

iri

a sense

he was a lone wolf (he went by the name of Wolf), it

was also true that he had to have followers about him*

One of

th.e

178

first things he created was a bodyguard

and the creation of the National Socialist Party was

essential to his achievement*

Hitler is inconceivable

without the masses, but it was not so much the concrete

individual party members whom, we have in mind here,

rather Hitler's conception of the German Volk, with whom

in his imagination he was identifiedt

He believed,

and the people believed, that he loved Germany, and

if Germany is perceived in his terms there is no reason

to doubt this dedication,

v/ithout this, he would have

become a criminal or live 4 out his life as a futile and

penniless paiftter of postcards,

it was this feeling

of oneness with Germany and the fact that^ he could

identify his revengefulhess with the heed for aggression

latent fn the German nation which ehabled him to hold
his grouhdv this side Insanity

Once the Party had

conquered the German people, he could function corporo-

centrlcally rather than egocentrically.

It v:as this

that saved him and won him adherents.

10.

Need fo r Creation (Social

It was hot Germany as it was or had^ b^en that

Hitler represented but rather the ideal social pattern

which h wished to impose on the country.

Not only

179 -

during his days of rumination. in Vienna but later

it was necessary for

hiin

to construct an ideology

from diverse sources in terms of which he

preach to the people

Nonis of the

-coiild

elements were

original with him hut some inventiveness was required

in developing the precise combination of principles

that became the cre^d of the Nazi Party.

Besides this,

he wag continually preoccupied with inventing means

to his goaltf, which involved a considerable aihoiint
of creative thought; thus, to a certain extent, he

functioned as a creative artist and certainly

con--

ceived of tdLmself as such.

Or mus'fe' not tiie task of

(i): IBLtler:
the leading statesman be seen in the birth
of a crdiitive idea or plan in itself, rather
than in the ability to make the ingenuity of
his plans understandable to a flock of sheep
and empty-heads for the purpose of begging their
gracious consent? (M.K. 101-102).
11.

^eed for Exposition .

Having Arrived at his major policy, his ideological

goal with its subsidiary aims, it was necessary to

communicate these to

thiei

people, and so to create a

Party and later a nation dedicated to the achievement

of the determined goal.

Hewi the need for exposition

took the form of writing MEIN' KAMPP, but more especially

the forpi of speeck- makings

Hitler is eloquent in

180 -

stressing the importance of the orator as opposed

to the writer when it conies to immediate potency in

instigating action.

We must certainly rate the need

for exposition as maximally strong in Hitler's perIn boyhood he was already haranguing his

sonality.

schoolmates and his family.

Likewise in Vienna and

at Company Headquarters dtiring the war, and everlasting-

ly from then on he has continued to make speeches to

real or imaginary audiences.

His chief function, per-

haps, as he conceived it, was to convert the German

people to his way of thinking -and thus to create the

Germany that he was devoted to in his imagination.

One final point:

insociation, creation, and

exposition were fused by Hitler's conception of himself

as mouthpiece of the whole people.

He was not creating

an individualistic philosophy and imposing it on

Germany, but rather, as he saw it, giving voice to the

Here the

deepest heeds and longings of the masses.

editors' of MEIN KAMPP have, something to say:

who most strongly

of the unified
desires
senses the needs and
and Stefan
Nietzsche
as
who
nation, and not he
in
"slaves"
-the
of
use
makes
George believed
a
of
happiness
and
triumph
order to assure the
more regal aristocracy than the world has known,
in short, fcr all his elements of patriotic
mysticism. Hitler is no Platonist, bu^ a Spartan
in the simplest sense. That iS why Germans have
found it so difficult to resist him. As one of
them has put it, "He flatters us all into acquies(M.K*Nbt$, 127*8)*
cence. -"
.

(i)

The leader* is he

'

181 -

In so far, as Hitler conforms to this rale, he is

egocentric, corporocentriCj, and ideocentric all at once.

Orienting 'l?heina

12

Much evidence could be brought to bear to demonstrate

that Hitler's energies would never have been fully-

involved if it had not been for Germany's, defeat and

collapse,

to that time, he had political convictions,

tip

to be sure, but the sufficient stimulus was lacking*

The critical point came, as was mentioned above, when
he lay blind in the military hospital
to reinstate

hij^

ar>d

made his vow

Therefore, we

fallen motherland.

would be inclined to put Hitliar's orienting thema,

the plot of his active striving, in these words:

The treacherous, overpowering, and contaminating, th^

weafcehifig and depreciation,

df a pure and nob l e object

is the tragic spectacle which arouses th6 hero and

'

ificites him' t6 agitate revenge.

tie

'

'

'

As L ^ad^r and Me ssJah ^

cempels the, objebt, by sheei* wilj and eloqviehce ,

to adopt a cbursS of ruthless dggressjoh, the goal

feeinp^

to annihilate the contamlhator and aggressor^

and- so,

guided by its almighty ruler and redeemer ,

'

to become supremely pure, powerful, and superior, and

'

thug everlastingly respected .

His work done, the

hefcb.

182 -

f e linq-ul 3 he s powe r and di e s

re ve red a 3 the

pi'ogenltor of an un corrupted and masterful race that

Dtfill

live on
(N.Bi^

tin

(the

fulfllAent

of his word.

elements of purity and contamination

will be fully discussed later.)

13

Lack of Need Affiliation^ Need Nurturance .

Hitler's strong drives for aggressive dominance

and self-assertion have been described.

These are

the features of the man's personality which have

attracted and shocked the world but what is more distinctive perhaps is not the presence of these all-too-

human tendencies but the lack of opposing drives which

in normal people balance and mitigate the evil effects
of rampant egocentrism*

Hitler has sh6wn extraordinarily

little ability to establish and maintain friendships,

to adjust himself to the needs and wishes of other

people and a minimum of sympathy for hviman suffering

and affliction.

Whatever tendertcies of this sort he

once possessed have been long-since trampled \inder

foot.

^185C.

MINOR CONFIGURATIONS OP NEEDS AND SENTIMENTS

Hitler is a peculial'ly single-minded fanatic and

the

'^gi^eater

part of his energies haVe been caught up

In the major configuration outlined in the previous

section.

Anyhow, other cdnflgurationis and .patterhB

of behavior are of relatively little consequence in

a:

Nummary analysis of this sort.

Suffice it to

mention:1.

Need for Sex.

'

111*

II

Although the Press has led the German people to

believe periodically that Hitler had found, the girl
he was looking for all these yeai?6, a good many close

observers have come to the conclusion that he is asexual.

It

ii3

generally said that Germany i3 his beloved, his

mother an^ his wife, and that when he addresses the

masses, whom

hk.

thinks of as feminine, he is courting,

appealing to, complaining to, and arousing the woman

of his heart.

That this is not entirely satisfying

to his sex instinct will be indicated in a later

section i
2*

/^

Need for Creation (Architectvire)

mt-ler's ambitions to become an architect were

frustrated by his lack of education and talent, but

184 -

since he has "become supreme ruler of Germany he has

given free play to this interest.

He has had a part

in planning and designing a number of the recent

buildings, system of roads, etc.

This tendency is only

of significance to us in so far as we can infer from

the products of his mind certain underlying forces;

f

therefore, we will postpone consideration of this

side of his character rintil a later section.
it should be noted here that Hitler *s interest

in architecture is very real*

It forms an essential

ingredient in his. system of sentiments.

The evidence^

for this is not limited to his own statements but is

furnished by a close study of his metaphors.

of architecture as the queen of the arts.

He speaks

No doubt

painting and architecture were connected to some

extent with a certain voyeurism, but they also had
other significances.
S'^ggQ stive of

The following passage is

voyeurism:

I had eyes for nothing but the

(i)
buildings. ..all day long, from early morn
-until late at- night, I tan from one sight to
the next, for what attracted me mcftt of all
were the buildings* For hour a "on end I would
stand in front of the opera or a^dmire the
'parliament Buildings; the entire Ringstrasse
affected me like a fairy tale out of the
(M.K. 26-27).
Arabian Nights
.,

185 -

In accordance with the conventions of symbolic

interpretation, it is possible to conceive of these

impressive buildings as psychic equivalents of the

mother whom he has lost.

We are also reminded here

of the unique claustrim which Hitler had constructed

for himself on the

of the mountain behind his

top'

retreat kt Berchtesgadent

D.

TYPE OP PERSONALITY STRUCTURE: COUNTERACTIVE NARCISM

.The drives, sentiments, and traits so far listed

and discussed -- ,Hitler*s high idealego, his pride,

his dominance and aggression, and his more or less

successful repression of the superego -- Indicate

that his personality structure corresponds to that of

pounteractive Nardisni,

The implication of this term

is that the manifest traits and symptoms of Hitler^

personality represent

reaction formation to \inder-

lying feelings of wounded self-.esteem*

When one

examines syi^tematically the common manifestations of

Co\interactive Narcisra, one finds that

^fxe

majority

of them are clearly exhibited in Hitler* 3 behavior;

therefore, by running over- the list of these common

ch?tracteristics we can bring together some loose ends

and subsume them all under one formulation^

Here we

186 -

shall not attempt to bo exhauativo but satisfy ourselves

with some of the more typical manifestations

1.

Naroigensitivity; ^ low tolerance of belittle-

ment, depreciation, criticism, contradiction, mockery,

failure; inability to take a joke; tendency to harbor

grudges, not forgetting and forgiving.

Hanisch: Hitler could never stand

(i)
any criticism of his paintings*

Hitler could not stand to

(ii) Hanisch:
be contradicted. He would get furious. He
couldn^'t restrain himself, would scream and
fidget with his hands.
(iii)
Rauschning: He looked round apprehensively and suspiciously, with searching glances
at us*
I had the impression that he wanted to
see if anyone was laughing*
2.

n Recognition (Self-^ Exhibition )

;-

self-display;

extravagant demands for attention and applause; vainglory.

Hitler ^s appearance at meetings and

(i)
rallies are dramatized to the fullest extent.
He is c^r^ful to have electric lights shining
on him in such a way as to produce the most
striking effects possible, etc., etc. However,
one gets the impression the exhibitionism is
at which
limited to talking before a crowd
times it is extreme --but that ordinarily he is
self-conscious and ill at ease, and does not
|)articularly enjoy showing himself in public,
although he must do this to maintain' his power*

3.

n Autonomy (Freedom) ;- self-will; to insist

on a sufficient area of liberty, on free thought, speech

and action*

Resistance or defiance in the f^c^ of force-

ful coersions or restraints; to combat tyranny.

187 -

It is said that Hitler was unruly as

aiyouth, intolerant of frustration. After his
father's death he was given his own way and
after leaving. school became increasingly resistant
He was never able
to rules and regulations.
He wanted to be an artist and
to hold a job.
live like a Bohemian. We must therefore place
him high on this variable although in him it
does not take its usual form (defenisive individualHitler
ism), due to his political ambitions
masses..
the
needed the alliance of
(1)

:.

Hitler: The thought of being a

slave in an office made me ill; not to be
master of my own time, but to force ah entire
life-time into the filling in of forms.
(ii)

(M.K. 12).

Heiden: Peder...also said that

(iii)
the Ptehrar must be educated in systematic work.
For this purpose he had selected an officer,

"

who was to serve Hitler as secretary, to map

out' the day's work according to the clock and,
in general, to introduce order and a programme
into the Ptbhrer's activity.- When Hitler heard
this, he banged his fist on the table and
shouted, "Who do those fellows think they are?
But he
I shall go my own way, as I see fit."
secretary.
accepted the
4. n Dominance

(Self -^Sufficiency)

When one is in

position of authority, to plan and make decisions

v/ithout consulting others; to refuse to change an

announced decision; to resent disaigreements and

interferences; to.be annoyed by opposition; to insist
on being sole ruler of on^'s province

home, business,

political party, nation.

Heiden, quoting Hitler: I am not
contending for the favor of the masses.. .I
alone lead the movement, and no one can itapose
(i)

'

188 -

conditions on me so long as I personally

bear the responsibility. And I once more
bear the whole responsibility for everything
that occurs in the movement*
5*

Refusal of Subordinate Position :- to avoid,

refuse, or leave a position which does not do Justice

to one*s felt powers or accomplishments; to want the

first place or nothing (fusion with n Autonomy)*

(i^

Hitler's refusal to accept membership

He insisted on complete

in the Cabinet in 1932*

power.
5*

Reluctance to Admit Indebtedness

;*

to be

disinclined to express gratitude or acknov/ledge help

received, to deny or minimize the contribution of
others.

Rauschning: Hitler has always been

(i)
poseur . He reinembers things he has heard
and has a faculty of repeating them in such a
way that the listener Is led to believe that
they are his own.
a

7#

Oouhteractive Achievement

:-

persistent

efforts in the face of unexpected obstacles; or

restriving after

defeat; or repeated and enduring

attempts to overcome fears, anxieties, deficiencies

or defects; efforts to defeat

a.

once successful rival,

Heiden: When others after a defeat

(i)
would have gone home despondently, consoling
themselves with the philosophic reflection that
it was no use contending against adverse circumstances. Hitler delivered a second pnd a third
assault with sullen defiance. V/hen others

>

189 -

after a success would have become more cautious,

because they would not dare put fortune to the
proof too often and perhaps exhaust It, Hitler
persisted and staked a bigger claim on destiny
with every throw.
(ii)
The very first condition for s\lch a
manner, of fight with the weapons of pure force
is, and will always be, perseverance* .As soon
as intermittent force alternates with indulgence,
the doctrine to be suppressed will not only
recover again and again, but it will be able
to draw new values from every persecution*
Only in the eternally regular use of force lies
the preliminary condition to success*
(M*K* 222)#
8.

n Rejection (Verbal Depreciation)

;-^

to

belittle the worth of others, especially if they be

superiors, rivals, and potentifetl critics (fusion of

verbal Rejection

and.

Aggression)

Rauschning: Hitler distrusts everyone

who tries to explain political economy to him.
He believes that the intention is to dupe him,
and he makes no secret of his contempt for this
branch of science.
(i)

Hitler: My mind was tormented by

(ii)
the question: Are these still human beings,
worthy of being part of a great nation? A
torturing question it was...(M.K. 54)
Hitler: it brought me internal
(ill)
happiness to realize definitely that the Jew
was no German.
(M.K. 77)."
jt.#*armed in one's mind
Hitler:
(Iv)
with confidence in the. dear Lord anc^ the unshakeable stupidity of the bourgeois. (M,E. 585).

9,

190

Counteractive Aggression

>^

to repay an

insult in double measure -- a tooth for

tooth;

to revenge an injury; to attack opponents, superiors,

and frustrators.
(I)

Verbal

to accuse, condemn, curse,

damh, depreciate, or mock an enemy to his face, or

behind his back by criticism, slander, subtle under-

mining of prestige, smear campaigns, etc.

There are h-undreds of illustrations
It is Hitler's conviction that:
of this*
"One can only succeed in winning the soul
of a people if ^ apart from a positive
fighting of one's own for one's ov/n aims,
one also destroys at the same time the
supporter of the contrary." (M.K. 468)
(II)

Physical

to attack or kill the

depreciating, injuring or frustrating object.

Purge of 1934, Anti-Semitism,
10^

Intradeference (Compliance )

V^/ars,

etc*

obadlance

to own intuitions and impulses; self- trust; fidelity

to own feelings, -sentiments,, tastes, judgments, ex-

periences.
Hitler: But I knew just the same
(I)
that my place would be there where my inner
voice directed me to go.

Nothing will move me to

(II) Hitler:
go another' way but the way which experience,
insight, and foresight tell me tj^ go. (M.N.O* 374)
(N.B., Illustratioiia of this are plentiful;
see Id.

lit

191 -

Creation and Cathectlon of an Idealego ;-

satisfaction with one's ideal, with the height of

one's aspirations; identification with this ideal.

Many illustrations have been given

(i)
under Idealego and Identification with Idealego.
12.

idealego IntreLdefei?ence (Respec t) ^ self-

esteen; satisfaction with conduct, abilities and

accomplishments of self.
Although, as I shall attempt to prove.
(i)
Hitler's character structure is a reaction
..formation to tendencies of which he is highly
contemptuous, both these tendencies and the
contempt. are largely unconscious to him. Much
more conspicuous in his conscious psychology
are his superiority feelings, his self-esteem,
his outf lying self-confidence.

Hitler (at the age of nineteen years)

(ii)
waited with pride and confidence to learn
the result of my entrance examination
I was
so convinced of my success that the announcement
of my failure came like a bolt from the blue.

(M.K. 27).

Hitler: I devoted myself en(iii)

thusiastically to my passion for architectvire.
I was able to read or draw late into the night.
Thus my belief that my
I was never tired.
beautiful- dream of the future would become
reality, perhaps only after many years, was
strengthened.. I was firmly convinced .that
some day I would make a name as an architect.
'.

(M.K. 45).

./

(iv);
(tlitler believed himsQ^f a man of
destiny even while serving as a ci^rporal): In
those months^ for the first time^ I felt fully
the whims of fortune which kept me at the front
in a place where any lucky move on the part
of a negro could shoot me down, while somewhere
else I would have been able to render a different

192

service to my cotintry. For I was ^old

enough to believe even then that I wouia
have succeeded in this. (M.K, 244)*

Hitler addressing Schuschnigg,

Do you not realize that
quoted by Puchs
you are in the presence of the greatest
German ever known to history!
(v)

13.

verbally

to defend'dne's self-esteem

n Defendance:

by blaming

by offering excuses and justifications,

by
Qther^, by depreciating the judges,

personality, etc.
exalting other aspects of one's
the
Hitler's prime method of defending,

others (extrapunistatus of. his sdlf ia'by blaming

methods are these:
tive reaction). Two other common
Connecting se-lf with other
(i)
(respectable or great) people, who have
l^^ppen
done the same, or had the same
defect
same
the
from
to them, or suffered
(n Rec).
Hitler: If we committed high
did the
treason, then countless others
as I do
long
so
guilt
I deny all
same.
company those
not find added to our little
gentlemen who helped... (M3.0. auj.
'

Proclaiming worth of criticized

or of self
part of self,, or another pa?t,
to assert the merit of
as' a whole (A Rec)
a Refect
what others condemn; to balance
with an asset; to wipe o^^v^i^fl^i^^J^n
-^r in
recalling one's successes in this
(ii)

some other, field.

Hitler:- I believe that as a

the eyes
Nationalist Socialist I appear in
a wild
of manv bourgeois democrats as only
I still
SL! Lt :l^ .1W man
.{j-^'^^S^:
0. 4U4;..
.. (M.N.
European,
better
self to be a

193 ^

Throughout the whole of Hitler's spoken and

written words are to be found many evidences that
he highly approves of the traits attributed to him

in this section and, more than that, advocates their

"adoption as the preferred pattern of behavior- for

the whole nation.

Hitler:
if a people is to become
free it needs pride and will-power, defiance,
hate, hate and once again hate, (M.N.O. 49)
14,

Insult as stimulus

;*^:

It is characteristic

of the proud counteractive type of personality that

his energies are not engaged unless he has been

insulted or injured or imagined himself belittled in

some way.

Thus the man of this sort will often

actively seek such a stimulus.

The following

quotation illustrates this important principle:

Hitler:
If we had been attacked
(i)
at that time, nay, if one had only laughed at
us, we would, have been happy in both evenbs.
For the depressing thing was neither the
one nor the other, but, It was only the complete
lack of attention we encountered at that time.
This was true mogt of all for my person*
(15, K, 490),

'

15*

Compulsive Crimix>allty :- Having started

on a courge of revengeful aggression instigated by

a

real or supposed -Insult the individual is often

led to act or to plan actions which are opposed by

194 -

Therefore he is compelled, if he

his conscience.

is to fulfill his resolution of revenge, to repress

his superego*. This often results in a condition of

mounting lanconscipus guilt which must be further

subdued by a repetition or extension of the criminal

behavior in order, as it were, to prove, by the

success attending this conduct, that it is favored

by fortune and hence right.

This is demonstrated

in Hitler's case and is an important dynamical

principle of

his,

personality.

It is necessary for

him to commit crimes, more crimes, in order to appease

his superego.

As soon as successful offensive action

becomes impossible, the man will become a victim of

a

long-repressed superego, a condition which will

lead to suicide

or.

mental breiakdown.

195 -

VI. DYNAMICAL INTERPRETATION

OF THE lilA JOR CONFIGURATION
A.
'

REVENGEFUL DOMINANCE AS A COUNTER*

ACTION TO INSULTED NARCISM

analyzed
Almost all psychologists who have
it by referring,
Hitler's personality have interpreted
formula: craving,
among other concepts, to Adler's
unhearable feelings of
for superiority coming out of
conception with
inferiority . We also agree to this
of Insult (wounded
special stress laid upon the press
tension of
narcism) and the consequent residual
then finding expression
revenge bolted up for years and

in the Cult of Brutality.

Even some of his non-

the
psychological associates Reached essentially

same conclusion.
(lO

however

Rauschning:

Every conversation,

this man
unimportant, seemed to show that

hatred. Hatred of
was filled with an immeasurable
Almost anything
what? It was not easy to say.
and his hatred.
might suddenly inflame his wrath
need of something to
He seemed always to feel the

hate
(ii)

RauchniRg:

In the harshn;)ss and

is something
unexampled cynicism of Hitler there
a hypersensitiveness.
more than the repressed effect of

195 -

which has hsndicapped its bearer.

It is the urge

to reprisal and vengeance, a truly Russian-nihilistic

feeling.

Rausohning:

(iii)

hatred

Hatred

personal

rang out in his words, revenge for early

ye^rs of poverty, for disappointed hopes, for a life

,

of deprivation and humiliation.

(iv)

Heiden:

Anyone acquainted with the

unhappy life of this lonely man knows why hatred

and perse cutibn mania guided his first political

footsteps.
the'

In his heart he nursed a grudge against

world, and he ventd it on guilty and innocent

alike.

His cracking voice, his jerky gait, his,

sawing gestures expressed a hatred of which all who

saw him were conscious.

Hitler has experienced almost all the varieties

of press that in our experience are capable of giving

rise to wounded narcism; chiefly the following

deserve mention:
!

Pl:tyaical

inferiority :- Hitler *s youthful

frailty and general bodily awkwardness and weakness

has already been described.
2.

Press of aggressive dominance^Jlnsult) ;- Know-

ing something of the character of Alois Hitler, we can

safely infer experiences of abasement and hvmlliation

suffered by the son*

-.197

Press of rejection:- S6me evidence for this

3*

has already been given,

Press' of lack

4.

(Sec. IV), and more will follow*

(poverty and low social status );-

Here we would point especially to the four years of

living among the derelicts of Vienna.

Press of failure

5.

;-

The failure to graduate

from the Realsohulej the failure to pass the examinations

of-

the Academy of Arts; and the failure to make

his living in Vienna -- these and many others were

summated to produce feelings of humiliation and inadequacy.

6.

rivals

;"

'

Press of subordinate office, success of

'

The fact that Hitler was not promoted in

the Army beyond the position of corporal and that he

must have seen many younger men being advanced above

him helped to aggravate his wounded pride.
7.

Sexual inferiority :- Perhaps crucial in this,

whole cluster of debasing press is Hitler's reported

inability to have sexual intercourse

This may be

due to physical or psychic impotence.

8.

Breakdown of courage

:-

Hitler's war neurosis

is a sign of a breakdown of nervous stamina ^n the

face of overwhelming odds, which was probably experienced

by him as a humiliation, especially in view of his ego

ideal.

(a)

.;

198 -

Our own hypothetical reconstruction

of the traumatic events which led to the feeling of

insulted pride would be somewhat as follows:

(i)

Abasement and humiliation of the mother

as the result of the press of a^ggressive dominance

and insult from the father, leading eventually to

the death of the mother.

According to our hypothesis

the boy Hitler identified with his mother on the

lowest level of his nature

for revenge:

This led to the desire

aggressive dominance and humiliation

of the father.
(ii) Press of rejection coming from the

father and perhaps to some extent from the mother

(birth of younger sibling)*

This led to the boy'g

desire for supraflliation, incorporation in a larger

and more p owe rful^ group, namely, Germany, and a feeling

of superiority (glory) in this fantasied alliance,

together with the justification of releasing aggression

against his Government, Austria.

(iii) Abasement apd himiiliatiop on self as
a result of the press aggressive dominance and insult

from his father.

(i)

This is similar to th travima in

except here it is on his own account entirely.

199

It led to the same counteractive need for aggressive

dominance and vengeance, the goal being hiomlliation

of the father and omnipotence for himself

The death

of his father when he was thirteen years old and the

,

five subsequent years when he had his mother pretty

much to himself may. have served to engender the

confidence (enjoyed throughout his life) that he
.

v;ould

eventually suQceed as ruler,

(iv)

Humiliation of self in Vienna as

the result bf press rejection,- press deprivation,

and press aggressive dominance.

Since many of the

prominent positions in Vienna were held by Jews,

some of Hitler's anti-Semitism, aa well as his hatred
.

of Vienna,

can be attributed to humiliations received

from the upper classes during these years*

These

wounds to pride helped to augment the mounting

residual tension of aggressive dominance..

Later

his acceptance as a soldier in the German Army

served to relieve his painful feelings and give him

feelings of exultation similar to those experienced

when he joined the Nationalist's Club as ^ boy*

(v)

Hixmiliation of self (war ^neurosis)

concomitant with the humiliation and abasement of

his motherland as the result of press aggressive

200 -

dominance and insult (Versailles Treaty) at the

hands of the Allies,

As in the previous four cases,

this led to the need for aggressive dominance with

the aim of reinstating the ppwer and glory of Germany

and wreaking vengeance on the Allies

The hypothesis of identification with the mother
on a physical erotic level calls for the assiomption
of strain of femininity in Hitler,

combined with a

trend of passive homosexuality and for this we must

now list the evidence.

.1.

Femininity, Passive fiomosexuality. Masochism .

(a)

The feminine component in Hitler's

physical constitution had already been described

(i)

Feminine traits.

Hitler/s senti-

mentality, his emotionality, his shrieking at the

climax of his speeches, his artistic inclinations,
his sudden collapses, his occasional softness

these are all typical not so much of a woman as of

a

woman in man#
(ii)

Identification with mother.

belief that he is going

to:

Hitler's

die of cancer as did his

smother is suggestive of an underlying empathic relation-

ship

(ili)

201 -

.Abasement to superiors, strong

males. Instances of exaggerated submisslveness to

powerful superiors have already. been listed.

Cathexis of male symbols.

(iv)

Hitler

has a special liking for a multiplicity of tall,

conspicuous columns in architecture and for paintings

of stallions

(they must never be mares).

Attraction to homosexuals followed

(v)

by their murder.

It is known that Hi t lis r had a special,

admiration for Roehm; whether it was this individual

or Hitler himself who was chiefly responsible i n

attracting such

large proportion of homosexuals to

the Nazi Party is uncertain, but it is known that

after two or three months of anxiety and delusions

to the effect that. Roehm and his fellow homosexuals

were plotting' to usvirp power Hitler had them all

njurdered in the purge of 1934.
(vi)

Homosexual panic.

Some of the

nightmares described by several informants are very

suggestive of homosexual panic*
).

Rauschning: Hitler wakes at

night with convulsive shrieks. He shouts for
help.' He sits on the edge of his bed, as if unable to stir^ He shakes with fear, makipg the
whple bed vibrate. He shou,ts confused, totally
unintelligible phrases. Hq ,gasps> as if
imagining himself to be suffocating^. .Hitler
.

202 -

stood swaying In his room, looking wildly about

him.
"Hel
He I
He^s been herel" he gasped,.
His lips wq re blue.
Sweat streamed down his
face.
Suddenly he began to reel off figures,
and odd words end broken phrases, entirely
devoid of sense then he suddenly broke out,
"There, therql
In tho corner l Who^s that?"
He stamped and shrieked in the familar way**.
A number of metaphors used by Hitler, images
of being stabbed in the rear, recur in his writings*
(vii)
Hitler:/ The development has shown
that the people who stab with stilettos in
Germany are more powerful than before.

(viii) Hitler:
Slowly the fear of the
Marxist weapon of Jewry sinks Into the brains
and souls of decent people like a nightmare.
(M.K. 447).

Hitler: One bejgins to tremble

(ix)
before the terrible enemy, and thus one has
become his final victim. (M.K# 447).
(x>
Hitler: There can navey be tmity
between- those who manned the walls in the hour
of danger, and those who in the last moment
pushed the stilelbto into their backs.

Hitler: God be thanked, this is

(xi)
just the meaning of Germanic democracy, that no
unworthy climber or moral shirker can come in
the back way to rule his fellow citizens* . .but
should, nevertheless, such a fellow try to sneak
in, then he will be easily found out and ruthlessly rebuffed. Out with you, cowardly wretch!
Step bapk, you ar^ soiling the steps; the front
stairs leading to the Pantheon of History is
not for sneaks but for heroes. (M.lK. 117).

Pertinent at this poipt, perhaps, is' Hitler's

fear of being poisoned by some deathly; powder sprinkled

on his bedclothes; as was shown on his visit to Rome

203

and at other times, his bod must be made up by a

woman in a particular way, never by a man

(b)

Need for abasement;

submissiveness has been desoribed

Hitler's exaggerated
(B^

(ii)), but a

few more notable quotations should be added to transmit

the passion that sometimes accompanies this' tendency
in Hitler.

They are all ^strongly, suggestive of

masochism ^
Hitler, quoted by Rauschning: The
plain man in the street respects, nothing but
brutal strength and ruthlessness -- women,
too, for that matter, women and children.
They need wholesome fear. .They want to fear
something* They want someone to frighten them
and make them shudderingly submissive
(i)

I
Hitler, quoted by Rauschning:
-fearless
man
new
the
have seen the vision of
and formidable,: I shrank from him.

(ii)

Hitler: I^ike a woman, whose psychic

(iii)
feeling is influenced less by abstract reasoning

than by an uhdefinabie, sentimental longing for

complementary strength, who will, submit to the
strong man rather than dominate the weakling,
thus the masses love the ruler rather than the
suppliant. (M.K 55)
(N.B^i.

Another excellent example of

projection of self).

Hitlerr He who would win the great

masses mustv know the key which ppens the door
Its name is not objectivity,
to their hearts*
that is^' weakness, but will powey and strength.
(iv).

(M.K. 458).

:,

204 -

Hitler has a peculiar habit of falling to the

ground suddenly when faced by a critical situation or

insurmountable frustration*

Ho does not struggle

persistently until he is completely overpowered but

he makes an enormous show of strength and, when he

sees the odds are against him, .\inexpectedly collapses.

Together with these

critical abasements, we

might include thq inti'aggressivo tendencies:

his

preoccupation with suicide and death,

(c)

Cathexis for Hitler Youth ,

(i)
Hitler, quoted by Rauschning: But
my magnificent V youngsters! Are there finer
ones any^'here in the world? Look at these
young men and boys J What materia 11 With
them I can make a new world

did the eyes of

. .how
Hitler
my boys (Hitler youth) shine when I made clear
to them the necessity of their mission. (M.K. 729).
(ii

:'

..vanity in a beautiful,
Hitler:
(ili)
well shaped body (to be encouraged by men
wearing less concegiling clothes).
It is reported by Rauschning that Hitler has

had overt homosej^ual relationa and in this connection

has mentioned three lovers; one, Porstor (Gauleiter
of Danzig)

Repression of Femininity, 'Counteraction

II.
by Identification with Powerful Male Idea ego
The ruthlesg

aggressiveness of Hitler is the

trait which first strikes the eyes of the whole world.

205

but It is not tho healthy aggressiveness of a full-

blooded male animal but

reaction formation to the

tendencies which we have subsumed -under inferiority,

femininity, passive homosexuality.

Hitler^s aggressive-

ness i3 the compulsive frantic hate of a neurotic for

some unreyenged insult of infancy.

The varieties

of expressions of this vindictive will to power have

already been fully listed.

There remains only. to

be mentioned the many indications that we have of

an intense and lanrelen ting' self-contempt which has

causedl

him to admire what he

is-

not, the very opposite

of hi&self .^

III*

Need for 'ihtrarejecibioh (Self^ Con tempt )

'

Under the heading proj^ectlons^ we

enimie rated

many instances of where Hitler attributed the traits

of his inferior' and rejected self to external objects.

Air of these i and there were many

of them, ihight be

cited as evidenaes^ of self- contempt, sihce they^^

represent refusals to acknowledge aspects of himself.

Here

we' ha^ve

t6 call: attentlpn^

opposite tendency,

namely that of praising the antithesis of what he is

or has been in reality.

(a)

206^

Hitler has talked incessantly of

superiority of bteed.

He has praised the aristocracy

as the noble result of the process of natural selec-

tion

the nobility were the superior race'.

He,

in contrast^ was born of; lowly stock, sevefral members

of his family being mentally retarded,

one feeble-

His mother was\ a simple peasant and dbmestic

minded.

servant, and his father an illegitimate son who begot

an illegitimate child.
(b)

:\

Hitler hag scarcely one Of the attributes

which. hi's own experts ascribe' to the Nordic race,

and he cpuld never )3ecome

guard; and yet he says

my young men be

--

member of his own elite

"Strong and handsome must

will have them fully trained in

all physical exercises.

youth

I intend to have an athletic

that is the first and chief thing,"

Note

that Hitler has never had the slightest aptitude for

athletics*
(c)

Hitler is vmmarried and has ho children,

and yet preaches increase of population, the sanctity

of the family, and the necessity of bearing more and

more Germans.

- 207 -

(d)

istic anarchy

individualHitler's own life is one of

yet he
self-willed and disorderly and

pxmctilious
preaches "my new order" and demands
discipline from his subordinates
are many more of
All these contrasts, and th^re
/of Hitler's selfthem, are pitiful demonstrations
the diagnosis that we
loathitig and as such clinch
nearest to a recorded conhave outlined here. The
that has ever come: to
fession of his own self-contempt

reported by Rauschning.
us is a statement of Hitler's
young,
I km hegihnilng with the
(i)
Y^s, .we are old
we older ones ai-e used up,n the
marrow. . .we
We ar e rotten t
alreadv
f^^'ttl:.A rZ ".n^ .entimenUi.- We are bearing
pas t; ana have on
; ^^ ^!::L If' humiliating
Xou of serfdom
our bi^Xthe dull recoiiec L
youngster^l
magnificent
my
and servility.. But
.-./.
,etc*
\
'-'

..

.'

.^

"^

The uninitiated but .pure manmagic

himself in Kling>.or'3
is tempted to abanddn
excesses of corrupt
and
gardeS! to the lusts
th. elite of
llviS^ation, instead of ^joining
e,puioux
kniehts who guard the secret of 411
allmen^_^f
;?^^!?ro .>.! .offering frott the
: How cTn^i^i^puriry
V, LI : corrupted
...mount the
ement?
aton
ourselves and make
steps. of a new nobility,

Ml)

'

bi^

IV.

e Jewish Race.,
we q^tlve Cathexis of th

This is as good

M place

as any to mention Hitler's

Anti-Semitism and toliat what

seer^s

to have been, in

of this sentiment:
his case, the chief determinants

1.

208 -

The influence of a number of political,

thinkers and speakers whom he admired:

Lueger,

Ped^r, Eckartj^ etc.

2.

His repressed hatred and the need to find

an object on which to vent it:

the suitability^

of the Jew as a scapegoat because he does not fight

with

fistai and Vreapons*

3*

The suitability of the Jew as an object

on which to project his own repudiated background

and traits:

his Jewish god-.f a ther-^ and posjsibly^-^

his Jewish grandf a thei^); his physical, timidity and

sensitiveness,; his; jpol:ymprphou3 sexual impulses

4*

The recognition thaV the repreased

aggression in the German people after the Versailles

Treaty required a scapegoat^ condemnation of the

Jew as good political strategy
5^

The realization^ after having 'once embarked

on the road to militarism, that the stirred- up

aggression of his f ollbwers needed some outlet

a

warming up period

during the years they had

to wait before .they were strong enough to declare

war on a foreign power*

a common enemy would

Directing. aggression against

greatly diminish the likelihood

of its being turned against himself

209 -

3*

The intensity of his Anti-Semitism is partly

accoiinted for by one of his principles of political

focus, hostility on a single enemy at a time*

action:
'?

In building his military machine the anti-

militaristic Jewish people could not be of much help

to him;

At bottom Fascism Xb the advocacy of the

aggressive drive over and above the acquisitive drive

(with which the Jew has generally been identified)
.

etnd,

by the same token, it is the substitution of

Power and Glory for Peace and Prosperity, a material-

istic paradise on earth (with which Cpmm-unism and the

Jew have also been identified)*

Finally, the Nazi

doctrine of fanatical irrationality (thinking with

the blood) is antipathetic to the intellectual

relativism of the Jew.

Thus there ara several

fundamental points of opposition (as well 6s certain

points of kinship) between Nazi ideology and Jewish

ideology^

210 -

VI.
SECTIONS B, C, D, E.
DEVELOPIvIENT OP HITLER S SEX COMPLEXES

(Omitted from this edition)

By careful study of the three thousand me taphcirs

that .are to be found in MEIN KAMPP it was possible to

work out. the chief patterns of Hitler's emotional and

perverse sexual^ complexes.

The conclusions reached by

the uae of this method were later verified in a conversakT

ti on with a man who has questioned two of the women

with whom Hitler has 'had relations.

There were no

discrepancies between the conclusions reached here

and these first hand reports.

Although the discovery

of these sexual patterns is helpful to a psychiatrist

in arriving at a complete formulation of Hitler's

character and therefore indirectly pertinent to the

.final diagnosis and the predictions of his behavior,

it has no bearing on the political situation.

quently,

.the

Conse-

sections dealing with this aspect of his

personality have been omitted.

211^

VII.

ABILITIES AND PRINCIPLES OP ACTION

/'7

Hitler has

number of unusual abilities of which

his opponents should not be ignorant*

Not only

is it important to justly appraise the strength of an

enemy but it is well to know whether or not he possesses

capacities and techniques which can be appropriated to
good advantage

Hitler s chief abilities, realiza-

u^.

tions, and principles, of action as a political figure,

all of which involve an uncanny knowledge of the

psychology of the average man, are 'briefly these:

1.

Pull appreciation
of the importance of the
n
^m
-

'

'

,.";....

..,

,1.1

,.

masses in the success of any movement

-'

Two quotations

might serve to bring out this point.

(I)
Hitler: The lack of knowledge of
the internal driving forceai of great changes
led to an insufficient evaluation of the importance of the great masses of the people;
from this resulted the scanty interest in the
social question^ the deficient and insufficient
courting of the soul of the nation's lower
classes* ..(M.K. ISS).

Helden speaks of "Hitler's frequently

(II)

\.

.-noted incapacity to Impose his will in a small

circle, and his consummate skill in winning over
a crowd prepared by publicity ajid stage management, and then, with its aid, vanquishing the
,

small circle, too."

2r

Recbghitibn of the inestimabj.e value of winning-

the support of youth; realization of the Immense momentum

212 -

given a social movement' by the wild fervor and

enthusiasm of young men and women*

Here we must al3o

include the importance of early training and indoctrination.

An identification^ through feelinp;> with the

3.

deepest needs and sentiments of the averap;e German

and the, ability to give passionate expression to these

longings.
4.

Capacity to appeal to the most pfdmitive.

as well as the most ideal^ inclinations in man\

to

arouse the basest instincts an d yet cloak them with

nobility^ justifying all actions as means to the

attainment of an ideal goal> Hitler has seen that men

will not combine

arid

dedicate themselves to

common

purpose unless this purpose be an ideal one capable

of survival beyond their generatioh.

He has perceived

also that although men will die only for an ideal

their continued zest and enterprise can be maintained
.

only by a succession of more immediate and earthly

sa tisf actions
5g

are

as-

<!'

Ajppreciatiori of the fact that the masses

hungry for

sustaining ideology in politJoal

action as they are for daily bread*

It is with the.

masses that religious belief has taken root, and

maintained itself and in the last decades the

213 -

ideologies of communism and fascism have also flourished

among the common people

It is an error to believe

as many democratic leaders do that the average man.

cannot understand and cares nothing for political

Hitler is most specific on this point,

philosophy.

two quotations from his writings being particularly

pertinent,

All ft)rce which does not spring from

a firm spiritual foundation will be hesitating
and uncertain* It lacks the stability which
can only rest on a fanatical view of life*
(i)

(M.K. 222).

Every attempt' at fighting a view of

life by means of force will finally fail, \mless
the fight against it represents the form of an
attack for the sake of a hew. spiritual direcOnly in the struggle of two views of
tion.
life with each pthei*. ;Can the weapon of brute
force, used continuously and ruthlessly, bring
about the decision in favor of the side it
supports. (M.K. 223).
,(ii)

The ability. to analyze complex social condi-

8.

tions into a few domi nant human forces j -Hitler is

Speaking the truth when he says, "I have the gift of

reducing all problems to their simplest foundations...

A gift for tracing back all theories to their roots

in reality."

He has the ability, Rauschning tells

us, "of breaking through the wall ^f prejudices and

conventional theories, of the experts, and in so doing,

h9 has frequently discovered amazing truths.".

214

The ability to portray conflicting human

forces In vlvld^ concrete iinagery that is linderstandable and inoving to the ordinary, man >

down to the use of metaphors In

th(3

This cornea

form of Imagery

which, as Aristotle has said, is the most powerful

force on earth*

Public speakers of recent years

seem to have overlooked the importance of this principle^

relying more on the marshalling of

objective

cold,,

facts and figures*

The ability to draw on the traditions of

8.

the peoples and by reference to the great classical

mythological themes evoke

the,

deepest unconscious

The fact that the unconscious

emotions in his audience*

mind is more intensely affected by the great eternal

symbols and themes, (that it naturally thinks in
these terms,) is not generally understood by speakers

and writers*

Undoubtedly in Hitler's case the

permeability, of his ego to unconscious processes

has made this form of utterance more natural than
it would be for others.

Realization th^t enthusiastic pblitical

9.

'

not
placei if the emotions are
does not take
action
m
II
"
i" n

ii

>ii

*!

Ml.

'

'

'

'

"^

'

'

"

^1.

II

II

I,

involved *

Hitler has always insisted that he was

bringing about a veritable conversion in the

- 215. -

personalities of his adherents rather than a mere

intellectual agreement with his views.

Realization of the importance of artistry

10*

and dramatic Intensity in the 6pn'ductaride of large

iheetlriga,
iiaiiM Wf
r
I

ii B

ill

rallies,

|,iw

111,1,11,

i{

.,,

involves
This
^

arid
feiatival a.^
M m n n
n
il

ii

ii

ii

not only an appreoiation of what the artist

writer, musician, and painter

--

the

can accomplish

in the way of evoking pbjpular support but also the

leader's recognition of the necessity of his participa-

tion in the total .dramatic effect as chief character

and hero.

Thus Hitler has. become master of all the

arts of high-lighting his own role in the movement

for a greater Germany.

Democratic leaders, on the

other hand ^ disregarding the fact that, the artist

is trained aboVd all others to animate the human

spirit, have disregarded this important aspect dt life,

11.

The ability' to appeal to the sympathetio

concern and protectiveness of his people, to represent

himself a*. the bearer of their burdens and their

future,, with th^ result that many people, particularly

the womett, feelt^hderly. arid Compassibnateiy about

him, being always careful to avoid inflicting undue

annoyance or suffering on their Xea'der.

The intense

loyalty of Hii:ler'a Body Guard is an illustration of

this protectiVeness.

12.

215

Dedication to his mission .

This most

essential of all Hitler's characteristics should

perhaps have been mentioned first.

What is involved

here is an intense and profound insociation with the

German people, or at least with his vision of what

the German people might become.

All close observers

have agreed that Hitler is sincere ih this feeling,

and whether this is strictly true or not, he has

succeeded in convincing his people that he is

passionate and devoted patriot.

It is the spectacle

of his far-*seeing dedicated vision and firm dedicated

utterances which arouse the selfless energies of

his followers.

Citizens of democratic countries

who have been brought up in the tradition of extreme

individualism cannot readily appreciate^ this sub-

mission of the leader to

social purpose.

They

are naturally skeptical of Hitler ^s sincerity and

believe that it is forced and artificial.

on the contrary,

I submit,

that it is this insociation, as we

have stressed abbve, which is responsible for the

maintenance of Hitler's partial sanity, despite the

presence of neurotic and psychotic trends.
13.

Self-confidence and sens6 of infaliibiiity.

This might have been detrimental to Hitler's popularity

217 -

if his decisions had often met with failure, but in

as mutfh as his rise to power was almost phenomenal

and evehtfl proved that he was so often right in his

predictions, his claim to infallibility was accepted

word was eventually reverenced as a divine

and- his

pronouncement
14

Fanatical stubbor nness In his adherence

to a few principles and to one coromon^bial *

Hitler, quoted by Deuel: Only

(1)
storm of glowing passion can turn the
destinies of nations, but this passion can
only be roused by a man who carries it
within himself.
a

.,.the forceful impression- of

great pverwheimlng viewpoints. . the
convincing force of \inconditional belief
(M.K. 570).
in them.
(ii)

Mastery,

15

tion4

of-

the art of political. Ofj^aniza -

Here vindoubtedly Hitler was assisted by

several of his shrewder associates, but his own

judgment in matters of organization was usually

influential "above that of the others

16

Ability to sxirround himself with devoted

ai des whose talents c-omplemeht his own .

In many

respects Hitler is deficient, especially in the

practices of orderly adrainistration,; but he was

capable of finding sufficient skill .among 'his ad-

herents and make them work for him regardless of

their failings in other respects.

17

Mtler

218

Is Tonusual in hi3toj?y in his concep-

tion of the le ader as a creator of social forms.

'

'

'

..

Holding this view,

it^ is

.1.1

I
1

I..

natural that he should

conduct hi a life at certain seasons as an artist

does, seeking rest and seclusion and waiting for the

vision or plan to develop in his subconscious.

What

other: politicians refer to as his bohemianism, his

disorderly and romantic style of life is .very comparable to the pattern which authors have found most

effective in the production of their works

Tempera-

mentally indeed. Hitler is the arch-romantic.

might suppose that this way of governing one

One
a

life

has no place in, politics, but without question in

this instance mahy^ of the startling innovations intro-

duced by the Nazis are the results of Hi tier*

reliance upon the creative imagination directed toward
social issues.
18*

Most of the world will concede that Hitler

has tactical genius

The particular feature that

has impressed most observers has been" his uncannily

precise timing of decisions- and actions.

has put it,

As Thyssen

"Sometime^ his intelligence is astonish^

ing.# miraculous political 'intuition, dexjoid of all

moral sense, but extraordinarily precise.

Even in a

very complex situation he discerns what is possible,

and what is nott"

- 219 .

19

The fact that Hitler ha a repudiated the

operation of conscience in arriving a^ political

decialona has eliminated once and for all the force

which checks and complicates, the forward-going

thoughts and resolutions of most socially responsible
statesmen*

Thus, Hitler

Vs

course is immensely

simplified since it is not incumbent upon him to

respect the dictates of conscience and so reject a

path of action which appeals to him as being most

effective.

Other statesmen, on the contrary, must

either renounce certain, programs or pull their punches*

20

Hitler has boasted that he learned the use

of terror from the communists and employed it with

more effectiveness than his instructors*

'

21.

Mastery of the art of propagandas

This has

consisted in the following of certain rules such as:

never to admit
blame

fault or wrong; never to accept

concentrate on one enemy at

time

blame that

;
(

enemy for everything that goes wrong; take advantage

of every opportunity to raise a political whirlwind.

Many of the specific abilities listed above are

exercized as part and parcel of his quite unusual

power as

popular orator

220 -

So much has been written

about Hitler's ability to galvanize an audience by

his gestures, the cadence of his sentences, the

resoluteness of his declarations, the passion of his

appeals that any further description here would
superfluous.

X>e

It is clear that Hitler becomes transported

during a speech and exhibits'

personality that is kept

in the background at other times.

When face to face

with his public he becomes a clairvoyant, shaman in

a trance,

as he relinquishes normal controls and

allows his emotions full sway.

221 -

PREDICTIONS

I shall assume that from,

now on the Allied

Nations. will be closing in on Germany; that Hitler

will be confronted by an increasing:.xrumber of military

setbacks in the field, by the devastation of

one'

industrial center after another, ^nd by the spread

'

of a defeatist spirit among the civilian population.

How will be behave?

There are various possibilites,

some of which are more or less desirable, others

more or 16ss undesirable, from the Allied standpoint.

It is possible, however, that some .of the liess

desirable final acts of his career may be prevented.

The chief possibilities are these:

Hitler ^s behavior will become Increasingly

1.

neurotic

his capacity to make correct decisions,

to devise effective strategy, to encourage his

people, will diminish steadily.

For eight months

there have been signs of such a breakdown of psychic

strength.

Hitler has not appeared and spoken in

public at customary' occasions, or, if

Ije

has spoken,

his words have lacked confidence and ^lustaining

value.

Several times there have been rumors that

he had retired, to Berchtesgaden, the victim of

nervous Illness

222 -

Whether this is true or not, it can

be certainly predicted that Hitler will experience

an increasing number of hysterical seizures in which

he will pace and stamp the floor, shriek with rage,
'

and eventually collapse in tears

He will seek the

solitude of his refuge in the mountains where he will

be tormented by dreadful nightmares and melancholia,

and become inert

Then^ after a period of recuperation, he will

arrive at a new plan of aggressive offense.

military Staff

are"

If his

opposed to it, he will assume

command himself, and lead his troops on- another

desperate assault against the Russian lines.

If

unsuccessful, he will have more nervous seizures,

relinquish command, and again retreat to Berchtesgaden*

Hitler has no capacity for sustained defense.

He will speak less and less in public, because

he cannot face his people if his star is not ascending.

He can speak" only when he anticipates progress or

after a victory.

The Russians have shattered Hitler ^s

confidence; and without confidence h0 is paralyzed.

If he stbod before his followers now he would probably

weep^

- 223 -

Without doubt he will become inci^easingly fearful

of being poisoned, betrayed,

VTiatever else happens,

or shot*
the above course of events

will almost certainly occur

Hitler will becbipe less

and less of a leader; others will take over.

On the

one hand, the military staff; and, on the other,

Himmler, Ribbentrop, Goering, Goebbels, Pffrster and

There will be dissensions between the Army and

Koch*

the Party; as well as

bet^itfeen

the Party leaders*

But

the people will be kept ignorant as long as possible

of Hitler^s failing nerves,, and they will not easily

lose their faith in him.

Furthermore, he will always

reserve and exercise the right- to step in at any

moment and dictate what shall be done.

Thus we can

expect to. hear nothing of him for a whtlis and then

suddenly he will appear unheralded at some spot and

something new will happen/

2.

of

-a

Hitler may go insane

He has the make-up

paranoid schizophrenic, and the load of frustra-

tion and failure that is coming to him may crack his

resistance, causing him to yield his will to the

turbulent forces of his vincohs-cious.

This is not

undesirable; because, ev^en if the truth be kept

hidden from the people^ the greatest source of strength

in Germany will

be*

224 -

removed from the scene of action^

,

and morale will rapidly .deteriorate as rumors spread.

Furthermore, the Legend of the Hero will be severely

damaged by such an outcome.

There is no good historical

instance of the deification of

military or political

leader who was defeated and went insane.

Finally, if

Hitler became insane, he would probably fall into the

hands of the Allied" Nations, and this, as I shall
argue, would be the most desirable possible out come
3.

Hitler may get killed in battle

At a

critical moment Hitler may decide to lead his

e'^lite

troops against the Russians, exposing himself so that

he will get killed, and so live in the hearts of his

countrymen as

valiant hero.

He is very likely to

choose this course^ most undesirable from our Allied

point of view.

It is undesirable, first, becausiS

his death will serve as an example to all his followers

to fight^ with fanatical death-defying energy to the

bitter end, and second, because it will insure Hitler's

immortality

-*-

the Siegfried who led the Aryan hosts

against Bolshevism and the Slav*

4

Hitler may be killed by

Serman :

-^

Hitler

la most efficiently protected and it is not likely

that anyone will wilfully attempt to kill him.

But

he may contrive to have someone, a half-crazy paranoid

225 -

like himself. Instigated to do the deed at some

prearranged moment when

person in public.

he"

purposely exposes his

If he could arrange to have a

Jew kill him, then he could die in the belief that

his fellow countrymen would rise in their wrath and

massacre every remaining Jew in Germany.

would get his ultimate revenge*

Thus, he

This would be the

most dastardly plan of alt, and the very most undesir^

It would increase the fanaticism of the soldiers,

able.

and create a Legend in conformity with the ancient

pattern, Siegfried stabbed in the back by Hagan,

Christ betrayed by Judas -- except

Cftesar by Brutus,

that here the murderer would not be a close follower.

However, it is just possible that Hitler could persuade

the beloved pBrster to kill him.

commit ^1.suicide;
Hitler may
r
^ H

5.

M ill

II

.n

il

III

IP

I..

Itll.

11

>

.ll.*!

Hitler has often

vowed that he would commit suicide if his plans

miscarried; but if he chooses this course he will do
it at the last moment and in the most dramatic possible

manner*

He will retreat, let us say, to the impregnable

little fortress he has built for himself on the top

of the moiwtain beyond the Berghof (Berchtesgaden)
/

There alone he will> wait urftil troops come to take

him prisoner*

Ais

a:

clima-jc he

'

will blow up the moun-

tain and himself with' dynamite, or make a fvineral

226

pyre of his retreat and throw himself on it

G8tterdamerung) or kill hTmself with

(as did the

(a

suitable

silver bullet

Emperor Christophe), or possibly throw

himaelf off the parapet.

This is not at all unlikely.

For us it would be an und^esirable outcome*

6.

Hitler may seek refuge in

neutral country : -

It is not likely that Hitler, concerned aa hq is with

his immortality on .earth, would take so cowardly a

course.

But one of his followers might drug him, and

take him in a plane boxond to Switzerland, and then

persuade

hiir

that he should stay there to write his

long-planned Bible for the Germanic folk.

Since the

heroes desertion of his people would considerably

damage. the Legend, this outcome would be much better

that either 3 or 4.
?

Hitler may dle i -There is no reason to

believe that Hitler will die of natural causes in the

next three or four years; but he might poison himself
and have it announced that he had died of cancer of the
stomach, or some other incurable illness.

This out-

come would be natural..

&m

Hitler may be seized by th^ military command

or by a revolutionary faction in Germany before the

end of the war and immured in some j>rison fortress.

This event is -diffioulfe to envisage from, what we

surmize and have been told of the popularily of the

man and the protection afforded him, but if it were

to transpire, it would put an ignominious end to
the.

myth or the invincible leader and eventually

deliver him into our hands

9.

Hitler may fall into our hands before or

after the Germans have surrendered:^

the next most desirable outcome after

perhaps the least likely*

This would be
8 but is

SECTION IV

Predictions of Hitler'sIII!Behav ior in the Coming Futiire

I

>

II

n.

(See Section I, Part B)

II

SECTION V

Suggestions for the Treatment of Hltl^er >

Now and After Germany s: Surrender /
-

>

(See Section I, Part C)

Secition VI

Suggestions for the Treatment of Germany

(See' Section' I,'

Part D)