Hitlers Psycological Profile

"What we need is a realistic appraisal of the German situation. If Hitler is running the
show, what kind of a person is he? What are his ambitions? How does he appear to the
German people? What is he like with his associates? What is his background? And most of
all, we want to know as much as possible about his psychological make-up-the things that
make him tick. In addition, we ought to know what he might do if things begin to go
against him. Do you suppose you could come up with something along these lines? ... Hire
what help you need and get it done as soon as possible. Keep it brief and make it readable
to the layman." (The Mind of Adolf Hitler. Walter C Langer. London: Secker and
Warburg, 1973, pp.3-10)



The following is the first part of Walter C. Langer's "A psychological Profile of Adolph
Hiter". The remaining 6 'parts' covering Hitler "As he believes himself to be ", "As the
German people know him", "As his associates know him", "As he knows himself",
"Psychological Analysis and Reconstruction", and his "Probable Behavior in the Future"
to be published on the site over the coruse of the next two weeks.


Background to A Psychologial Profile of Adolph Hitler
by Walter C Langer
Dr S D Stein


The United States Office of Strategic Services was established in 1942, being an offshoot
of an agency formed in 1941, known as the Coordinator of Information, at the head of
which was Colonel William J Donovan. Its task was to pool information gathered by all of
the intelligence services and to coordinate and organise psychological warfare in the event
of the United States entering the war. Since 1941 Donovan had been in touch with the
author of this study, Walter C Langer, who was a psychoanalyst. Donovan, now promoted
to General, headed the OSS when it was established in 1942. Although it was no longer
responsible for issues concerning overt psychological warfare, Donovan suggested to
Langer in the spring of 1943 that some form of comprehensive evaluation, from a
psychological and psychoanalytical perspective of Adolf Hitler, and his hold on the
German population, would be valuable:

"What we need is a realistic appraisal of the German situation. If Hitler is running the
show, what kind of a person is he? What are his ambitions? How does he appear to the
German people? What is he like with his associates? What is his background? And most of
all, we want to know as much as possible about his psychological make-up-the things that
make him tick. In addition, we ought to know what he might do if things begin to go
against him. Do you suppose you could come up with something along these lines? ... Hire
what help you need and get it done as soon as possible. Keep it brief and make it readable
to the layman." (The Mind of Adolf Hitler. Walter C Langer. London: Secker and
Warburg, 1973, pp.3-10)

Althought Donovan wanted the study to be brief and completed expeditiously, Langer was
of the opinion that the brief was "nothing short of monumental":

Hitler, clearly, was more than the crazy paperhanger depicted in popular prints. Up until
the age of twenty-five he manifested many of the characteristics that we now associated
with the "hippies" of the 1960s. He was shiftless, seemed to lack any sense of identity,
appeared to have no real sense of direction or ambition, was content to live in filth and
squalor, worked only when he had to and then sporadically, spent most of his time in
romantic dreams of being a great artist.... Nevertheless, this apparantely insignificant and
incompetent ne'er-do-well was later able, in the course of a relatively few years, to talk his
way into the highest political offices, hoodwink the epxerienced leaders of the major
powers, turn millions of highly civilized people into barbarians, order the extermination of
a large segment of the population, build and control the mghtiest war machine ever
known, and plunge the world into history's most devastating war. How could one, in a
short period of time, hope to unravel the psychological mysteries underlying such a
transformation? (ibid, pp.10-11)

In the course of carrying out the research Langer and field researchers interviewed
individuals in the United States and Canada who had had some contact with Hitler, as well
as scouring printed sources. They accumulated more than eleven thousand pages of
excerpted quotations and condensations that appeared to be relevant. These all appear in
The Hitler Source Book, which was appended to the study. The numbers that appear in
brackets in the text of the study files refer to the page numbers where the original material
can be found.

The raw material that was the basis for Part V, Hitler-Psychological Analysis and
Reconstruction, was reviewed by three psychoanalysts, who "were chosen for this difficult
task because psychoanalysis, alone, had devised a technique for exploring the deeper
regions of the mind and exposing the importance of early experiences and unconscious
components as determinants of personality development." (ibid, p.15) Langer
acknowledges that arriving at conclusions based on the analysis of interview materials,
rather than first-hand primary material deriving from interviews with the subject, was not
entirely satisfactory.

In approaching their task they concluded that in order to sift the raw material it was
necessary, first, to "agree on the fundamental nature of the character structure" of the
subject.

A survey of the raw material, in conjunction with our knowledge of Hitler's actions as
reported in the news, was sufficient to convince us that he was, in all probability, a
neurotic psychopath. With this diagnosis as our starting point of orientation, we were able
to evaluate the data in terms of probability. Those fragments that could most easily be
fitted into this general clinical category were tentatively regarded as possessing a higher
degree of probability-as far as reliability and relevance were concerned-than those which
seemed alien to the clinical picture. (ibid, p.17)

The pressures of war meant that the gestation of the study was considerably less than the
primary author had originally intended, it being completed in eight months. It was
designated Secret and few copies were apparently produced. It is not known what
influence, if any, it had on key decision makers. As Langer concludes:

I cannot honestly believe that it did. I am afraid that it came to late. The die had been cast,
and the tides of war were gradually turning in our favour. The final outcome would be
determined, not at the negotiating table, but on the battlefield. ... The goal we hoped to
achieve was the presentation of an unbiased and professional psychological appraisal of
Hitler-the man and his relationship to the German people-which might serve as a common
basis for decisions in the future.(ibid, p.22)


Preface


This study is not propagandistic in any sense of the term. It represents an attempt to
screen the wealth of contradictory, conflicting and unreliable material concerning Hitler
into strata which wll be helpful to the policy-makers and those who wish to frame a
counter-propaganda. For this reason the first three parts are purely descriptive and deal
with the man (1) as he appears to himself, (2) as he has been pictured to the German
people, and (3) how he is known to his associates. These sections contain the basic
material for the psychological analysis in sections IV and V in which an attempt is made to
understand Hitler as a person and the motivations underlying his actions.

The material available for such an analysis is extremely scant and spotty. Fortunately, we
have at our disposal a number of informants who knew Hitler well and who have been
willing to cooperate to the best of their abilities. The study would have been entirely
impossible were it not for the fact that there is a relatively high degree of agreement in the
descriptions of Hitler's behavior, sentiments and attitudes given by these several
informants. With this as a basis it seemed worthwhile to proceed with the study filling in
the lacunae with knowledge gained from clinical experience in dealing with individuals of a
similar type. This is not an entirely satisfactory procedure, from a scientific point of view,
but it is the only feasible method at the present time. Throughout the study we have tried
to be as objective as possible in evaluating his strengths as well as his weaknesses.

All plain numbers in parentheses refer to the page of The Hitler Source Book, a
companion volume in which the original material is to be found together with the complete
reference. Numbers in parentheses preceded by M.K. or M.N.O. refer to pages in Mein
Kampf and My New Order, respectively. A detailed Index to the original material is to be
found at the beginning of the Source-Book. A complete bibliography is appended to this
study.

It is hoped that the study may be helpful in gaining a deeper insight into Adolf Hitler and
the German people and that it may serve as a guide for our propaganda activities as well
as our future dealings with them.
Hitler as He Believes Himself to Be

At the time of the reoccupation of the Rhineland, Hitler made use of an extraordinary
figure of speech in describing his own conduct. He said, "I follow my course with the
precision and security of a sleepwalker." Even at that time it struck the world as an
unusual statement for the undisputed leader of 67,000,000 people to make at the time of
an international crisis. Hitler meant it to be a form of' reassurance for his more wary
followers who questioned the wisdom of his course. It seems, however, that it was a true
confession and had his wary followers only realised its significance and implications they
would have had grounds for far greater concern that that aroused by his proposal to
reoccupy the Rhineland. For the course of this sleep-walker has carried him over many
untravelled roads which finally led him unerringly to a pinnacle of success and power
never reached before. And still it lured him on until today he stands on the brink of
disaster. He will go down in history as the most worshipped and the most despised man
the world has ever known.



The following is the second part of Walter C. Langer's "A psychological Profile of
Adolph Hiter". The remaining 5 'parts' covering Hitler "As the German people know
him", "As his associates know him", "As he knows himself", "Psychological Analysis and
Reconstruction", and his "Probable Behavior in the Future" to be published on the site
over the coruse of the next two weeks.


Many people have stopped and asked themselves: "Is this man sincere in his undertakings
or is he a fraud?" Certainly even a fragmentary knowledge of his past life warrants such a
question, particularly since our correspondants have presented us with many conflicting
views. At times, it seemed almost inconceivable that a man could be sincere and do what
Hitler has done in the course of his career. And yet all of his former associates whom we
have been able to contact, as well as many of our most capable foreign correspondents,
are firmly convinced that Hitler actually does believe in his own greatness. Fuchs reported
that Hitler said to Schuschnigg during the Berchtesgaden [sic] interviews:

"Do you realize that you are in the presence of the greatest German of all time?"

It makes little difference for our purpose whether he actually spoke these words or not at
this particular time as alleged. In this sentence he has summed up in a very few words an
attitude which he has expressed to some of our informants in person. To Rauschning, for
example, he once said:

"Aber ich brauche sie nicht, um mir von ihnen meine geschichtiche Groesse bestaltigen zu
lassen." (717)

And to Strasser, who once took the liberty of saying that we was afraid Hitler was
mistaken, he said:

"I cannot be mistaken. What I do and say is historical." (378)

many other such personal statements could be given. Oechaner has summed up his attitude
in this respect very well in the following words:

"He feels that no one ins German history is equipped as he is to bring the Germans to the
position of supremacy which all German statesman have felt they deserved but were
unable to achieve." (669)

This attitude is not confined to himself as a statesman. he also believes himself to be the
greatest war lord as, for example, when he says to Raischning:

"Ich spiele nicht Krieg. Ich lasse mich nicht von `Feldherrn' kommandieren. Den Krieg
fushre ich. Den engentlichen Zeitpunkt zum Angriff bestimme ich. Es gibt nur eine
guenstigen. Ich warde auf ihm warten. Mit eisernor Entschlossenheit. Unc ich warde ihn
nicht verpassen..." (701)

And it seems to be true that he has made a number of contributions to German offensive
and defensive tactics and strategy. He believes himself to be an outstanding judge in legal
matters and does not blush when he stands before the Reichstag, while speaking to the
whole world, and says,

"For the last twenty-four hours I was the supreme court of the German people." (255)

Then, too, he believes himself to be the greatest of all German architects and spends a
great deal of his time in sketching new buildings and planning the remodeling of entire
cities. In spite of the fact that he failed to pass the examinations for admission to the Art
School he believes himself to be the only competent judge in all matters of art. A few
years ago he appointed a committee of three to act as final judges on all matters of art, but
when their verdicts did not please him he dismissed them and assumed their duties himself.
It makes little difference whether the field be economics, education, foreign affairs,
propaganda, movies, music or women's dress. In each and every field he believes himself
to be an unquestioned authority.

He also prides himself on his hardness and brutality.

"I am one of the hardest men Germany has had for decades, perhaps for centuries,
equipped with the greatest authority of any German leader... but above all, I believe in my
success. I believe in it unconditionally." (M.N.O. 871)

That belief in his own power actually borders on a feeling of omnipotence which he is not
reluctant to display.

"Since the events of last year, his faith in his own genius, in his instinct, or as one might
say, in his star, is boundless. Those who surround him are the first to admit that he now
thinks himself infallible and invincible. That explains why he can no longer bear either
criticism or contradiction. To contradict him is in his eyes a crime of 'lese majeste';
opposition to his plans, from whatever side it may come, is a definite sacrilege, to which
the only reply is an immediate and striking display of his omnipotence." (French Yellow
Book, 945)

Another diplomat reports a similar impression:

"When I first met him, his logic and sense of reality had impressed me, but as time went on
he appeared to me to become more and more unreasonable and more and more convinced
of his own infallibility and greatness ..." (Henderson, 129)

There seems, therefore, to be little room for doubt concerning Hitler's firm belief in his
own greatness. We must now inquire into the sources of this belief. Almost all writers
have attributed Hitler's confidence to the fact that he is a great believer in astrology and
that he is constantly in touch with astrologers who advise him concerning his course of
action. This is almost certainly untrue. All of our informants who have known Hitler rather
intimately discard the idea as absurd. They all agree that nothing is more foreign to Hitler's
personality than to seek help from outside sources of this type. The informant of the Dutch
Legation holds a similar view. He says:

"Not only has the Fuehrer never had his horoscope cast, but he is in principle against
horoscopes because he feels he might be unconsciously influenced by them." (655)

It is also indicative that Hitler, some time before the war, forbade the practice of
fortune-telling and star-reading in Germany.

It is true that from the outside it looks as though Hitler might be acting under some
guidance of this sort which gives him the feeling of conviction in his infalibility. These
stories probably originated in the very early days of the Party. According to Strasser,
during the early 1920's Hitler took regular lessons in speaking and in mass psychology
from a man named Hamissen who was also a practicing astrologer and fortune-teller. He
was an extremely clever individual who taught Hitler a great deal concerning the
importance of staging meetings to obtain the greatest dramatic effect. As far as can be
learned, he never had any particular interest in the movement or any say on what course it
should follow. It is possible that Hanussen had some contact with a group of astrologers,
referred-to by one von Wiegand, who were very active in Munich at this time. Through
Hanussen Hitler too may have come in contact with this group, for von Wiegand writes:

"When I first knew Adolph Hitler in Munich, in 1921 and 1922, he was in touch with a
circle that believed firmly in the portents of the stars. There was much whispering of the
coming of another Charlemagne and a new Reich. How far Hitler believed in these
astrological forecasts and prophesies in those days I never could get out of Der Fuhrer. He
neither denied nor affirmed belief. He was not averse, however, to making use of the
forecasts to advance popular faith in himself and his then young and struggling
movement."

It is quite possible that from these beginnings the myth of his associations with astrologers
has grown.

Although Hitler has done considerable reading in a variety of fields of study, he does not
in any way attribute his infallibility or omniscience to any intellectual endeavor on his part.
On the contrary, he frowns on such sources when it comes to guiding the destiny of
nations. His opinion of the intellect is, in fact, extremely low, for in various places he
makes such statements as the following:

"Of secondary importance is the training of mental abilities."

"Over-educated people, stuffed with knowledge and intellect, but bare of any sound
instincts."

"These impudent rascals (intellectuals) who always know everything better than anybody
else..."

"The intellect has grown autocratic, and has become a disease of life."

Hitler's guide is something different entirely. It seems certain that Hitler believes that he
has been sent Germany by Providence and that he has a particular mission to perform. He
is probably not clear on the scope of this mission beyond the fact that he has been chosen
to redeem the German people and reshape Europe. Just how this is to be accomplished is
also rather vague in his mind, but this does not concern him greatly because an "inner
voice" communicates to him the steps he is to take. This is the guide which leads him on
his course with the precision and security of a sleep-walker.

"I carry out the commands that Providence has laid upon me." (490)

"No power on earth can shake the German Reich now, Divine Providence has willed it
that I carry through the fulfillment of the Germanic task." (413)

"But if the voice speaks, then I know the time has come to act." (714)

It is this firm conviction that he has a mission and is under the guidance and protection of
Providence which is responsible in large part for the contagious effect he has had on the
German people.

Many people believe that this feeling of Destiny and mission have come to Hitler through
his successes. This is probably false. Later in our study (Part V) we will try to show that
Hitler has had this feeling for a great many years although it may not have become a
conscious conviction until much later. In auy case it was forcing its way into
consciousness during the war and has played a dominant role in his actions ever since.
Mend (one of his comrades), for example, reports:

"An eine eigenartige Propheseiung errinere ich mich noch in diesem Zusammenhag: Kurs
vor Weihnachten (1915) auesserte er sich, dass wir noch vieles von ihm hoeren werden.
Wir sollen nur abwarten, bis seine Zeit gekommen ist." (208)

Then, too, Hitler has reported several incidents during the war which proved to him that
he was under Devine protection. The most startling of these is the following:

"I was eating my dinner in a trench with several comrades. Suddenly a voice seemed to be
saying to me, 'Get up and go over there.' It was so clear and insistent that I obeyed
automatically, as if it had been a military order. I rose at once to my feet and walked
twenty yards along the trench carrying my dinner in its tin can with me. Then I sat down
to go on eating, my mind being once more at rest. Hardly had I done so when a flash and
deafening report came from the part of the trench I had just left. A stray shell had burst
over the group in which I had been sitting, and every member of it was killed." (Price,
241)

Then, also, there was the vision he had while in hospital at Pasewalk suffering from
blindness allegedly caused by gas:

"Als ich im Bett lag kam mir der Gedanke, dass ich Deutschland befreien wuerde, dass ich
es gross machen wuerde, und ich habe sofort gewusst, dass das verwirklicht werden
wuerde." (429)

These experiences must later have fit in beautifully with the views of the Munich
astrologers and it is possible that underneath Hitler felt that if there was any truth in their
predictions they probably referred to him. But in those days he did not mention any
connection between them or dwell on the Divine guidance he believed he possessed.
Perhaps he felt that such claims at the beginning of the movement might hinder rather than
help it. However, as von Wiegand has pointed out, he was not averse to making use of the
forecasts to advance his own ends. At that time he was content with the role of a
"drummer" who was heralding the coming of the real savior. Even then, however, the role
of drummer was not as innocent or as insignificant in Hitler's mind as might be supposed.
This was brought out in his testimony during the trial following the unsuccessful Beerhall
Putsch of 1923. At that time he said:

"Nehmem Sie die Ueberzeugung hin, dass ich die Erringung eines Ministerpostens nicht
als erstrebenswert ansehe. Ich halte es eine grossen Mannes nicht fuer wuerdigeseinen
Namen der Geschichte nur dadurch ueberliefern zu wollen, dasser Minister wird. Was mir
vor Augen stand, das war vom ersten Tage tausendmal mehr: ich wollte der Zerbrecher
der Marxismus werden. Ich werde die Ausfgabe loesen, und wenn ich sie loese, dann
waere der Titel eines Ministers fuer mich eine Laecherlichkeit. Als ihh zum ersten Mal vor
Richard Wagners Grab stand, da quoll mir des Herz ueber vor Stolz, dass hier ein Mann
ruht, der es sich verbeten hat, hinaufzuschreiben: Hier ruht Geheimrat Musikdirektor
Excellenz Baron Richard von Wagner. Ich war stolz darauf, dass dieser Mann und so viele
Maenner der deutschen Geschichte sich damit begnuegten, ihren Namen der Nachwelt zu
ueberliefern, nicht ihren Titel. Nicht aus Bescheidenheit wollte ich 'Trommler' sein. Das ist
des Hoechste, das andere ist eine Kleinigkett."

After his stay in Landsberg Hitler no longer referred to himself as the "drummer."
Occasionally, he would describe himself in the words of St. Matthew, "as a voice crying in
the wilderness", or as St. John the Baptist whose duty was to hew a path for him who was
to come and lead the nation to power and glory. More frequently, however, he referred to
himself as "the Fuehrer", a name chosen by Hess during their imprisonment. (901)

As time went on, it became clearer that he. was thinking of himself as the Messiah and that
it was he who was destined to lead Germany to glory. His references to the Bible became
more frequent and the movement began to take on a religious atmosphere. Comparisons
between Christ and himself became more numerous and found their way into his
conversation and speeches. For example, he would say:

"When I came to Berlin a few weeks ago and looked at the traffic in the
Kurfuerstendamm, the luxury, the perversion, the iniquity, the wanton display, and the
Jewish materialism disgusted me so thoroughly, that I was almost beside myself. I nearly
imagined myself to be Jesus Christ when He came to His Father's temple and found it
taken by the money-changers. I can well imagine how He felt when He seized a whip and
scourged them out." (905)

During his speech, according to Hanfstangl, he swung his whip around violently as though
to drive out the Jews and the forces of darkness, the enemies of Germany and German
honor. Dietrich Eckart, who discovered Hitler as a possible leader and had witnessed this
performance, said later, "When a man gets to the point of identifying himself with Jesus
Christ, then he is ripe for an insane asylum." The identification in all this was not with
Jesus Christ, the Crucified, but with Jesus Christ, the furious, lashing the crowds.

As a matter of fact, Hitler has very little admiration for Christ, the Crucified. Although he
was brought up a Catholic, and received Communion, during the war, he severed his
connection with the Church directly afterwards. This kind of Christ he considers soft and
weak and unsuitable as a German Messiah.

The latter must be hard and brutal if he is to save Germany and lead it to its destiny.

"My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Saviour as a fighter. It points me to
the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by only a few followers, recognized these
Jews for what they were and summoned me to fight against them and who, God's truth!
was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love, as a Christian and as a
man, I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord rose at last in His might and
seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific
was the fight for the world against the Jewish poison." (M.N.O. 26)

And to Rauschning he once referred to "the Jewish Christ-creed with its effeminate,
pity-ethics".

It is not clear from the evidence whether the new State religion was part of Hitler's plan or
whether developments were such that it became feasible. It is true that Rosenberg had
long advocated such a move, but there is no evidence that Hitler was inclined to take such
a drastic step until after he had come to power. It is possible that he felt he needed the
power before he could initiate such a change, or it may be that his series of successes were
so startling that the people spontaneously adopted a religious attitude towards him which
made the move more or less obvious. In any case, he has accepted this God-like role
without any hesitation or embarrassment.

White tells us that now when he is addressed with the salutation, "Heil Hitler, our Savior",
he bows slightly at the compliment in the phrase - and believes it. (664) As time goes on, it
becomes more and more certain that Hitler believes that he is really the "Chosen One" and
that in his thinking he conceives of himself as a second Christ who has been sent to
institute in the world a new system of values based on brutality and violence. He has fallen
in love with the image of himself in this role and has surrounded himself with his own
portraits.

His mission seems to lure him to still greater heights. Not content with the role of
transitory savior it pushes him to higher goals - he must set the pattern for generations to
come. Von Wiegand says:

"In vital matters Hitler is far from unmindful of the name and record of success and failure
he will leave to posterity." (493)

Nor is he content to allow these patterns to evolve in a natural way. In order to guarantee
the future he feels that he alone can bind it to these principles. He believes, therefore, that
he must become an immortal to the German people. Everything must be huge and befitting
as a monument to the honor of Hitler. His idea of a permanent building is one which will
endure at least a thousand years. His highways must be known as "Hitler Highways", and
they must endure for l onger periods of time than the Napoleonic roads. He must always
be doing the impossible and leaving his mark on the country. This is one of the ways in
which he hopes to stay alive in the minds of the German people for generations to come.

It is alleged by many writers, among them Haffner (418), Huss (410) and Wagner (489)
thath he has already drawn extensive plans for his own mausoleum. Our informants, who
left Germany some time ago, are not in a position to verify these reports. They consider
them well within the realm of possibility, however. This mausoleum is to be the mecca of
Germany after his death. It is to be a tremendous monument about 700 feet high, with all
the details worked out so that the greatest psychologicaI effect might be attained. It is also
alleged that his first errand in Paris after the conquest in 1940 was a visit to the Dome des
Invalides to study the monument to Napoleon. He found this lacking in many respects. For
example, they had put him down in a hole which forced people to look down rather than
high up.

"I shall never make such a mistake," Hitler said suddenly. "I know how to keep my hold
on people after I have passed on. I shall be the Fuehrer they look up at and go home to
talk of and remember. My life shall not end in the mere form of death. It will, on the
contrary, begin then." (410)

It was believed for a time that the Kehlstein had been originally built as an eternal
mausoleum by Hitler. It seems, however, that if that was his original intention he has
abandoned it in favor of something even more grandiose. Perhaps the Kehlstein was too
inaccessible to enable large numbers of people to come and touch his tomb in order to
become inspired. In any case, it seems that far more extravagant plans have been
developed. His plan, if it is to be successful, needs constant emotional play on hysteric
mass minds, and the more he can arrange the ways and means of achieving this, after he
dies, the more assured he is of attaining his final goal.

"He is firmly convinced that the furious pace and the epochal age in which he lived and
moved (he really is convinced that he is the motivating force and the moulder of that age)
will terminate soon after his death, swinging the world by nature and inclination into a
long span of digestive process marked by a sort of quiet inactivity. People in his `1000
year Reich' will build monuments to him and go around to touch and look at the things he
has built, he thought. He said as much on that glorified visit of his to Rome in 1938,
adding that a thousand years hence the greatness and not the ruins of his own time must
intrigue the people of those far-away days. For, believe it or not, that is how the mind of
this man Hitler projects itself without a blush over the centuries." (410)

There was also a time a few years ago when he spoke a good deal about retiring when his
work was done. It was assumed that he would then take up his residence in Berchtesgaden
and sit as God who guides the destinies of the Reich until he dies. In July, 1933, while
visiting the Wagner family, he talked at length about getting old and complained bitterly
that ten years of valuable time had been lost between the Beerhall Putsch in 1923 and his
accession to power. This was all very regrettable since he predicted that it would take
twenty-two years to get things in adequate shape so that he could turn them over to his
successor. (936) It is supposed by some writers that during this period of retirement he
would also write a book which would stand for eternity as a great bible of National
Socialism. (3) This is all rather interesting in view of Roehm's statement made many years
ago:

"Am liebsten taet er Heute schon in den Bergen sitzen und den lieben Gott spielen." (715)

A survey of all the evidence forces us to conclude that Hitler believes himself destined to
become an Immortal Hitler, chosen by God to be the New Deliverer of Germany and the
Founder of a new social order for the world. He firmly believes this and is certain that in
spite of all the trials and tribulations through which he must pass he will finally attain that
goal. The one condition is that he follow the dictates of the inner voice which have guided
and protected him in the past. This conviction is not rooted in the truth of the ideas he
imparts but is based on the conviction of his own personal greatness. (146) Howard K.
Smith makes an interesting observation:

"I was convinced that of all the millions on whom the Hitler Myth had fastened itself, the
most carried away was Adolph Hitler, himself." (290)

We will have occasion in Part V to examine the origins of this conviction and the role it
plays in Hitler' s psychological economy.

Hitler
As the German people know him


When we try to formulate a conception of Adolph Hitler as the German people know him
we must not forget that their knowledge of him is limited by a controlled press. Many
thousands of Germans have seen him in person, particularly in the past, and can use this
experience as a basis for their individual conception of him.



The following is the second part of Walter C. Langer's "A psychological Profile of
Adolph Hiter". The remaining 4 'parts' covering Hitler "As his associates know him", "As
he knows himself", "Psychological Analysis and Reconstruction", and his "Probable
Behavior in the Future" to be published on the site over the coruse of the next two weeks.
and

Hitler, from a physical point of view, is not, however, a very imposing figure - certainly
not the Platonic idea of a great, fighting Leader or the Deliverer of Germany and the
creator of a New Reich. In height he is a little below average. His hips are wide and his
shoulders relatively narrow. His muscles are flabby; his legs short, thin and spindly, the
latter being hidden in the past by heavy boots and more recently by long trousers. He has a
large torso and is hollow-chested to the point where it is said that he has his uniforms
padded. From a physical point of view he could not pass the requirements to his own elite
guard.

His dress, in the early days, was no more attractive. He frequently wore the Bavarian
mountain costume of leather shorts with white shirt and suspenders. These were not
always too clean and with his mouth full of brown, rotten teeth and his long dirty
fingernails he presented rather a grotesque picture. (F. Wagner) At this time he also had a
pointed beard, and his dark brown hair was parted in the middle and pasted down flat
against his head with oil. Nor was his gait that of a soldier. "It was a very ladylike walk.
Dainty little steps. Every few steps he cocked his right shoulder nervously, his left leg
snapping up as he did so." (279)

He also had a tic in his face which caused the corner of his lips to curl upward. (485)
When speaking he always dressed in a common-looking blue suit which robbed him of all
distinctiveness. At the trial following the unsuccessful Beerhall Putsch Edgar Mowrer,
who saw him for the first time, asked himself:

"Was this provincial dandy, with his slick dark hair, his cutaway coat, his awkward
gestures and glib tongue, the terrible rebel? He seemed for all the world like a travelling
salesman for a clothing firm." (642)

Nor did he make a much better impression later on. Dorothy Thompson, upon her first
meeting, described him in the following terms:

"He is formless, almost faceless, a man whose countenance is a caricature, a man whose
framework seems cartilaginous, without bones. He is inconsequent and voluble, ill poised,
and insecure. He is the very prototype of the little man." (307)

Smith (289) also found him "the apotheosis of the little man", funny looking,
self-conscious and unsure of himself.

It may be supposed that this is only the judgment of American journalists who have a
different standard of masculine beauty. However, while testifying as a witness in the-law
court in 1923, Professor Max von Gruber of the University of Munich, and the most
eminent eugenist in Germany, stated:

"It was the first time I had seen Hitler close at hand. Face and head of inferior type,
cross-breed; low receding forehead, ugly nose, broad cheekbones, little eyes, dark hair.
Expression not of a man exercising authority in perfect self-command, but of raving
excitement. At the end an expression of satisfied egotism." (575)

A great deal has been written about his eyes which have been described in terms of almost
every color of the rainbow. As a matter of fact, they seem to be rather a bright blue -
bordering on the violet. But it is not the color which has attracted people, but rather their
depth and a glint which makes them appear to have a hypnotic quality. One finds stories
like the following recurring over and over again in the literature. A policeman who is
noted for his antipathy to the Nazi movement is sent to a Hitler meeting to maintain order.
While standing at his post Hitler enters:

"He gazed into the police officer's eye with that fatal hypnotizing and irresistable glare,
which swept the poor officer right off his feet. Clicking to attention he confessed to me
this morning: 'Since last night I am a National Socialist. Heil Hitler.'" (Fromm, 369)

These stories are not all from the Nazi propaganda agencies. Very reliable people, now in
this country, have reported similar incidents among their own personal acquaintances.
Even outstanding diplomats have commented on the nature of his eyes and the way in
which he uses them when meeting people, often with disatrous effects.

Then there are the others, like Rauschning, who find his look staring and dead - lacking in
brilliance and the sparkle of genuine animation. (257) We need not dwell on his eyes and
their peculiar quality, however, since relatively few Germans have come in such close
contact with him that they could be seriously affected by them.

Whatever effect Hitler's personal appearance may have had on the German people in the
past, it is safe to assume that this has been greatly tempered by millions of posters, pasted
in every conceivable place, which show the Fuehrer as a fairly good-looking individual
with a very determined attitude. In addition, the press, news-reels, etc., are continually
flooded with carefully prepared photographs showing Hitler at his very best. These have
undoubtedly, in the course of time, blotted out any unfavorable impressions he may have
created as a real person in the past. The physical Hitler most Germans know now is a
fairly presentable individual.

The only other real contact the overwhelming majority of people have had with Hitler is
through his voice. He was a tireless speaker and before he came to power would
sometimes give as many as three or four speeches on the same day, often in different
cities. Even his greatest opponents concede that he is the greatest orator that Germany has
ever known. This is a great concession in view of the fact that the qualities of his voice are
far from pleasant - many, in fact, find it distinctly unpleasant. It has a rasping-quality
which often breaks into a shrill falsetto when he becomes aroused. Nor is it his diction
which makes him a great orator. In the early days this was particularly bad. It was a
conglomeration of high German with an Austrian dialect which Tschuppik (517) describes
as a "knoedlige Sprache". Nor was it the structure of his speeches which made him a great
orator. On the whole, his speeches were sinfully long, badly structured and very
repetitious. Some of them are positively painful to read but nevertheless, when he
delivered them they had an extraordinary effect upon his audiences.

His power and fascination in speaking lay almost wholly in his ability to sense what a given
audience wanted to hear and then to manipulate his theme in such a way that he would
arouse the emotions of the crowd. Strasser says of this talent:

"Hitler responds to the vibration of the human heart with the delicacy of a seismagraph...
enabling him, with a certainty with which no conscious gift could endow him, to act as a
loudspeaker proclaiming the most secret desires, the least permissible instincts, the
sufferings and personal revolts of a whole nation." (576)

Before coming to power almost all of his speeches centered around the following three
themes: (1) the treason of the November criminals; (2) the rule of the Marxists must be
broken; and (3) the world domination of the Jews. No matter what topic was advertised
for a given speech he almost invariably would wind up on one or more of these three
themes. And yet people liked it and would attend one meeting after another to hear him
speak. It was not, therefore, so much what he said that appealed to his audiences as how
he said it.

Even in the early days Hitler was a showman with a great sense of the dramatic. Not only
did he schedule his speeches late in the evening when his audience would be tired and their
resistance lowered through natural causes, but he would always send an assistant ahead of
time to make a short speech and warm the audience up. Storm-troopers always played an
important role at these meetings and would line the aisle through which he would pass. At
the psychological moment, Hitler would appear in the door in the back of the hall. Then
with a small group behind him, he would march through the rows of S.A. men to reach the
speaker's table. He never glanced to the right or to the left as he came down the aisle and
became greatly annoyed if anyone tried to accost him or hampered his progress. Whenever
possible he would have a band present and they would strike up a lively military march as
he came down the aisle.

When he began to speak he usually manifested signs of nervousness. Usually he was
unable to say anything of consequence until he had gotten the feel of his audience. On one
occasion, Heiden (499) reports, he was so nervous that he could think of nothing to say.
In order to do something he picked up the table and moved it around on the platform.
Then suddenly he got the "feel" and was able to go on. Price (241) describes his speaking
in the following way:

"The beginning is slow and halting. Gradually be warms up when the spiritual atmosphere
of the great crowd is engendered. For he responds to this metaphysical contact in such a
way that each member of the multitude feels bound to him by an individual link of
sympathy."

All of our informants report the slow start, waiting for the feel of the audience. As soon as
he has found it, the tempo increases in smooth rhythm and volume until he is shouting at
the climax. Through all this, the listener seems to identify himself with Hitler' s voice
which becomes the voice of Germany.

This is all in keeping with Hitler's own conception of mass psychology as given in MEIN
KAMPF where he says:

"The psyche of the broad masses does not respond to anything weak or half-way. Like a
woman, whose spiritual sensitiveness is determined less by abstract reason than by an
indefinable emotional longing for fulfilling power and who, for that reason, prefers to
submit to the strong rather than the weakling - the mass, too, prefers the ruler to a
pleader."

And Hitler let them have it. NEWSWEEK (572) reported:

"Women faint, when, with face purpled and contorted with effort, he blows forth his
magic oratory."

Flanner (558) says:

"His oratory used to wilt his collar, unglue his forelock, glaze his eyes; he was like a man
hypnotized, repeating himself into a frenzy."

Yeates-Brown (592) :

"He was a man transformed and possessed. We were in the presence of a miracle."

This fiery oratory was something new to the Germans and particulary to the
slow-tongued, lower-class Bavarians. In Munich his shouting and gesturing was a
spectacle men paid to see (216). It was not only his fiery oratory, however, that won the
crowds to his cause. This was certainly something new, but far more important was the
seriousness with which his words were spoken.

"Everyone of his words comes out charged with a powerful current of energy; at times it
seems as if they are torn from the very heart of the man, causing him indescribable
anguish." (Fry, 577)

"Leaning from the tribune, as if he were trying to impel his inner self into the
consciousness of all these thousands, he was holding the masses and me with them under a
hypnotic spell... It was clear that Hitler was feeling the exaltation of the emotional
response now surging up toward him... His voice rising to passionate climaxes... his words
were like a scourge. When he stopped speaking his chest was still heaving with emotion."
(Ludecke, 164)

Many writers have commented upon his ability to hypnotize his audiences. Stanley High
(455) reports:

"When, at the climax, he sways from one side to the, other his listeners sway with him;
when he leans forward they also lean forward and when he concludes they either are awed
and silent or on their feet in a frenzy."

Unquestionably, as a speaker, he has had a powerful influence on the common run of
German people. His meetings were always crowded and by the time he got through
speaking he had completely numbed the critical faculties of his listeners to the point where
they were willing to believe almost anything he said. He flattered them and cajoled them.
He hurled accusations at them one moment and amused them the next by building up
straw men which he promptly knocked down. His tongue was like a lash which whipped
up the emotions of his audience. And somehow he always managed to say what the
majority of the audience were already secretly thinking but could not verbalize. When the
audience began to respond, it affected him in return. Before long, due to this reciprocal
relationship, he and his audience became intoxicated with the emotional appeal of his
oratory. (Strasser, 295)

It was this Hitler that the German people knew at first hand. Hitler, the fiery orator, who
tirelessly rushed from one meeting to another, working himself to the point of exhaustion
in their behalf. Hitler, whose heart and soul were in the Cause and who struggled endlessly
against overwhelming odds and obstacles to open their eyes to the true state of affairs.
Hitler, who could arouse their emotions and channelize them towards goals of national
aggrandizement. Hitler the courageous, who dared to speak the truth and defy the national
authorities as well as the international oppressors. It was a sincere Hitler that they knew,
whose words burned into the most secret recesses of their minds and rebuked them for
their own shortcomings. It was the Hitler who would lead them back to self-respect
because he had faith in them.

This fundamental conception of Hitler made a beautiful foundation for a propaganda
build-up. He was so convincing on the speaker's platform and appeared to be so sincere in
what he said that the majority of his listeners were ready to believe almost anything good
about him because they wanted to believe it. The Nazi propaganda agencies were not slow
in making the most of their opportunities.

Hitler, himself, had provided an excellent background for a propaganda build-up. From the
earliest days of his political career he had steadfastly refused to divulge anything about his
personal life, past or present. To his most immediate associates he was, in reality, a man of
mystery. There was no clearing away of unpleasant incidents to be done before the
building-up process could begin. In fact, the more secrecy he maintained about his
personal life the more curious his followers became. This was, indeed, fertile ground on
which to build a myth or legend.

The Nazi propaganda machine devoted all its efforts to the task of portraying Hitler as
something extra-human. Everything he did was written up in such a way that it portrayed
his superlative character. If he does not eat meat, drink alcoholic beverages, or smoke, it is
not due to the fact that he has some kind of inhibition or does it because he believes it will
improve his health. Such things are not worthy of the Fuehrer. He abstains from these
because he is following the example of the great German, Richard Wagner, or because he
has discovered that it increases his energy and endurance to such a degree that he can give
much more of himself to the creation of the new German Reich.

Such abstinence also indicates, according to the propaganda, that the Fuehrer is a person
with tremendous will-power and self-discipline. Hitler himself fosters this conception,
according to Hanfstangl, who, when someone asked him how he managed to give up these
things, replied: "It is a matter of will. Once I make up my mind not to do a thing, I just
don't do it. And once that decision is made, it is taken for always. Is that so wonderful?"

The same is true in the field of sex. As far as the German people know he has no sex life
and this too is clothed, not as an abnormality, but as a great virtue. The Fuehrer is above
human weaknesses of this sort and von Wiegand (494) tells us that he "has a profound
contempt for the weakness in men for sex and the fools that it makes of them." Hanfstangl
reports that Hitler frequently makes the statement that he will never marry a woman since
Germany is his only bride. However, Hitler with his deep insight into human nature,
appreciates these weaknesses in others and is tolerant of them. He does not even condemn
them or forbid them among his closest associates.

He is also portrayed in the propaganda as the soul of kindliness and generosity. Endless
stories that illustrate these virtues are found over and over again in the literature. Price
(236) cites a typical example: an attractive young peasant girl tries to approach him but is
prevented from doing so by the guards. She bursts into tears and Hitler, seeing her
distress, inquires into the cause. She tells him that her fiance had been expelled from
Austria for his Nazi principles and that he cannot find work and consequently they cannot
get married. Hitler is deeply touched. He promises to find the young man a job and, in
addition, completely furnishes a flat for them to live in, even down to a baby's cot. Every
attempt is made to present him as extremely human, with a deep feeling for the problems
of ordinary people.

A great many writers, both Nazi and anti-Nazi, have written extensively about his great
love for children and the Nazi press is certainly full of pictures showing Hitler in the
company of little tots. It is alleged that when he is at Berchtesgaden he always has the
children from the neighborhood visit him in the afternoon and that he serves them candy,
ice cream, cake, etc. Phayre (225) says, "Never was there a middle-aged batchelor who so
delighted in the company of children." Princess Olga reported that when she visited Hitler
in Berlin and the topic of children came up during the conversation, Hitler's eyes filled
with tears.

The Nazi press had made extremely good use of this and endless stories accompany the
pictures. Likewise, a great deal is written about his fondness for animals, particularly dogs.
Here again, there are numberless pictures to prove it is so. As far as dogs are concerned,
the propaganda is probably fairly near the truth but it goes far beyond that point in other
respects. One writer even went so far as to attribute his vegetarianism to his inability to
tolerate the thought of animals being slaughtered for human consumption (405). Hitler is
pictured as an "affable lord of the manor", full of gentleness, kindliness and helpfulness, or,
as Oechsner puts it, he is the Great Comforter - father, husband, brother or son to every
German who lacks or has lost such a relative (668).

Another trait which has received a great deal of comment in the propaganda build-up is
Hitler's modesty and simplicity. His successes have never gone to his head. At bottom he
is still the simple soul he was when he founded the Party and his greatest Joy is to be
considered as "one of the boys".

As proof. of this they point to the fact that he has never sought a crown, that he never
appears in gaudy uniforms or does a great deal of entertaining. Even after he came to
power he continued to wear his old trench coat and slouch hat for a time and when he
donned a umiform it was always that of a simple storm-trooper. Much was written about
his fondness for visits from early acquaintances and how he loved to sit down in the midst
of his busy day in order to talk over old times. There was really nothing he liked better
than to frequent his old haunts and meet old friends while he was in Munich, or to take
part in their festivities. At heart he was still a worker and his interests were always with
the working classes with whom he felt thoroughly at home.

Hitler is also a man of incredible energy and endurance. His day consists of sixteen and
eighteen hours of uninterrupted work. He is absolutely tireless when it comes to working
for Germany and its future welfare and no personal pleasures are permitted to interfere
with the carrying out of his mission. The ordinary man in the street cannot imagine a
human being in Hitler's position not taking advantage of his opportunity. He can only
imagine himself in the same position revelling in luxuries and yet here is Hitler who scorns
them all. His only conclusion is that Hitler is not an ordinary mortal.

Phillips (868) reports the case of a young Nazi who once confided to him: "I would die for
Hitler, but I would not change places with Hitler. At least when I wake every morning I
can say, "Hail Hitler!", but this man, he has no fun in life. No smoking, no drinking, no
women! - only work, until he falls asleep at night!"

A great deal is made of Hitler's determination. It is pointed out over and over again that he
never gives up once he has made up his mind to attain a particular goal. No matter how
rough the road, he plods along in unswerving determination. Even though he receives
serious set-backs and the situation appears to be hopeless, he never loses faith and always
gets what he goes after. He refuses to be coerced into compromises of any sort and is
always ready to assume the full responsibility for his actions. The great trials and
tribulations through which the Party had to pass on its way to power are cited over and
over again and all the credit is given to Hitler and his fanatical faith in the future.

Even his refusal to permit ordinary scruples to get in his way is given as a sign of his
greatness. The fact that he did not communicate with his family for over ten years
becomes a great virtue since it meant a severe deprivation to the young man who was
determined to make something of himself before he returned home!

A great deal of publicity has also been given to his breath of vision, ability to penetrate the
future and his ability to organize both the Party and the country in preparation for
obstacles they will have to overcome. According to the propagandists, Hitler is the soul of
efficiency and has an extraordinary power of resolving conflicts and simplifying problems
which have stumped all experts in the past. In fact, his infallibility and incorruptibility
throughout are not only implied but openly stated in no uncertain terms.

He is also a person of great patience who would never spill a drop of human blood if it
could possibly be avoided. Over and over again one hears of his great patience with the
democracies, with Czechoslovakia and with Poland. But here, as in his private life, he
never loses control of his emotions. Fundamentally, he is a man of peace who desires
nothing quite so much as to be left alone to work out the destiny of Germany in a quiet
and constructive manner. For he is a builder at heart and an artist, and these prove that the
creative and constructive elements in his nature are predominant.

This does not mean, however, that he is a coward. On the contrary, he is a person of
outstanding courage. His way of life is proof of this, as well as his enviable record during
the last war. A great many stories about his decorations for bravery have been circulated
and particularly for his outstanding heroism when he was awarded the Iron Cross
first-class. The fact that the stories of his performance vary from one time to another does
not seem to disturb the people in the least.

Fundamentally, according to the Nazi press, Hitler is a man of steel. He is well aware of
his mission and no amount of persuasion, coercion, sacrifices or unpleasant duties can
persuade him to alter his course. In the face of all sorts of disasters and disagreeable
happenings and necessary measures, he never loses his nerve for a moment. But he not
hard in human qualities. He places loyalty and justice as the two of the greatest virtues and
observes them with scrupulous care.

Loyalty means so much to him that the inscription over his door at Berchtesgaden reads,
"Meine Ehre heisst Treue". He is the acme of German honor and purity; the Resurrector
of the German family and home. He is the greatest architect of all time; the greatest
military genius in all history. He has an inexhaustible fount of knowledge. He is a man of
action and the creator of new social values. He is indeed, according to the Nazi
propaganda bureau, a paramount of all virtues. A few typical examples may illustrate the
extent to which they are carried in their praise of him.

"Zunaechst Hitler sebst: Hitler is der Mann ohne Kompromiss. Vor allem kennt er keinen
Kompromiss mit sicht selbst. Er hat einen einsigen Gedanken, der ihn leitet: Deutschland
wieder aufzurichten. Diese Idee verdraengt alles um ihn. Er kennt kein Privatlehen. Er
kennt Familienleben ebensowenig, wie er ein Laster kennt. Er ist die Verkoerperung des
nationalen Willens.

"Die Ritterschaft eines heiligen Zieles, das sich kein Mensch hoeher steken kann:
Deutschland!... Hitler... uberracht (durch) seine warme Liebenswuerdigkeit. Ueber die
Ruhe und Kraft, die beinahe physisch von diesem Mann ausstraht. Man waechst in er
Naehe dieses Menschen... Wie er auf alle Dinge reagiert!... Eisern warden die Zuege und
die Worte fallen wie Bein... Der klassische Ernst, mit dem Hitler und seine um den Fuehrer
gescharten Mitarbeiter ihre Sendung nehmen, that in der Geschichte dieser Welt nur
wenige Paralellen." Czech-Jochberg: Adolph Hitler und sein Stab, 1933. (861)

"... such in den privaten Dingen des Lebens Vorbildlichkeit und menschliche Groesse ... ob
Hitler ... umbraust wird yore Jubelnden Zuruf der Strassenabeiter, oder aufgewuehlt und
erschuettert am Lager seine ermordeten Kameraden steht, immer ist um ihn diese Hoheit
und tiefste Menschlichkeit . . . dieset einzigartigen Perseonlichkeit . . . ein grosser und
guter Mensch. Hitler ist ein universaler Geist. Es ist unmoeglich der Mannigfaltigkett
seines Wesens mit 100 Aufnahmen gerecht zu werden. Auch auf diesen beiden Gebleten
(Architecture and History) ist Hitler eine unangreifbare Autoritaet. Unsere Zeit wird
diesen Ueberragenden vielleicht verehren und lieben, aber wird ihn nicht in seiner grossen
Tief ermessen koennen." Hoffman: Hitler, wie ihn keiner kennt, 1932 (899)

"Hitler is a modest man - and the world needs modest men. Therefore the people love him.
Like every good leader, he must be an efficient follower. He makes himself the humblest
disciple of himself, the severest of all disciplinarians with himself. In fact, Hitler is a
modern monk, with the three knots of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience tied in his invisible
girdle. A zealot among zealots., He eats no meat, drinks no wine, does not smoke. I am
told he takes for himself no salary but lives privately from the income of his book, `Mein
Kampf' ... Surplus funds he turns back to the S.A. His work day consists of eighteen
hours, usually, and he often falls asleap in the last hour of his work. There have been four
woman in his life - but only to help him along with service and money . . . He once gave a
lecture at Bayreuth on Wagner and `Deutsche Liedot' that astounded the musical critics
and revealed him as a musical scholar of parts ... Sheer opportunism never lured him as
much as the opportunity to preach his doctrines. His quality is Messianic; his spiritual
trend is ascetic; his reaction is medieval ..." Phillips: Germany Today and Tomorrow.
(868)

Hitler not only knows about all these writings but since he has always been the gutiding
spirit in all German propaganda and usually plans the broad lines that are to be followed, it
is safe to assume that he himself is responsible for the instigation and development of this
mythical personality. When we look back over the development of this build-up we can
see clearly that Hitler, from the very beginning, planned on making himself a mythological
figure. He opens MEIN KAMPF with the following passage:

"In this little town on the river Inn, Bavarian by blood and Austrian by nationality, gilded
by the light of German martyrdom, there lived, at the end of the '80's of the last century,
my parents: the father a faithful civil servant, the mother devoting herself to the cares of
the household and looking after her children with eternally the same loving kindness."

This is the classic way of beginning a fairy tale rather than a serious autobiography or a
political treatise. In the very first sentence of the book he implies that Fate was already
smiling on him at the time of his birth, for it reads:

"Today I consider it my good fortune that Fate designated Braunau on the Inn as the plaee
of ay birth."

As soon as Hitler came to power new weapons for self-aggrandizement were put into the
hands of the propagandists and they made good use of them. Unemployment dropped off
rapidly, new and imposing buildings were erected with astounding rapidity.

The face of Germany was being lifted at an incredible speed. Hitler was keeping his
promises; he was accomplishing the impossible. Every success in diplomacy, every social
reform was heralded as world-shaking in its importance. And for each success, Hitler
modestly accepted all the credit. It was always Hitler that did this, and Hitler who did that,
provided these acts were spectacular and met with the approval of the public. If they
happened to meet with disapproval, it was always one of his assistants who was to blame.
Every effort was/made to cultivate the attitude that Hitler was infallible and was carrying
through his mission of saving Germany.

It was not long before the German people were prepared to take the short step of seeing
Hitler, not as a man, but as a Messiah of Germany. Public meetings and particularly the
Nurnburg took on a religious atmosphere. All the stagings were designed to create a
supernatural and religious attitude and Hitler's entry was more befitting a god than a man.
In Berlin one of the large art shops on Unter dean Linden exhibited a large portrait of
Hitler in the center of its display window. Hitler's portrait was entirely surrounded as
though by a halo, with various copies of a painting of Christ (High, 453). Notes appeared
in the press to the effect that, "Als er sprach, hoerte man den Mantel Gottes durch den
Saal rauschen!" Ziemar reports that on the side of a hill in Odenwald, conspicuous as a
waterfall, painted on white canvas were the black words:

"We believe in Holy Germany
Holy Germany is Hitler!
We believe in Holy Hitler!!" (763)

Roberts reports:

"In Munich in the early autumn of 1936 I saw colored pictures of Hitler in the actual silver
garments of the Knights of the Grail; but these were soon withdrawn. They gave the show
away; they were too near the truth of Hitler's mentality." (876)

Teeling (585) writes that at the Nurnburg Nazi Party Rally in September, 1937, there was
a huge photograph of Hitler underneath which was the inscription, "In the beginning was
the Word . . .". He also says that the Mayor of Hamburg assured him, "We need no priest
or parsons. We communicate direct with God through Adolph Hitler. He has many
Christ-like qualities." Soon these sentiments were introduced by official circles.
Rauschning (552) reports that the Party has adopted this creed:

"Wir alle glauben auf dieset Erde an Adolph Hitler, unseren Fuehrer, und wir bekennen,
dass der Nationalsozialismus der allein seligmachende Glaube fuer unser Volk ist."

A Rhenish group of German "Christians" in April, 1957, passed this resolution:

"Hitler's word is God's law, the decrees and laws which represent it possess divine
authority." (550)

And Reichsminister for Church Affairs, Hans Kerrl, says:

"There has arisen a new authority as to what Christ and Christianity really are - that is
Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler ... is the true Holy Ghost." (749)

This is the way Hitler hopes to pave his path to immortality. It has been carefully planned
and consistently executed in a step by step fashion. The Hitler the German people know is
fundamentally the fiery orator who fascinated them and this has gradually been
embroidered by the propaganda until he lie now presented to them as a full-fledged deity.
Everything else is carefully concealed from them as a whole. How many Germans believe
it we do not know. Some, certainly, believe it wholeheartedly. Dorothy Thompson writes
of such a case:

"At Garmisch I met an American from Chicago. He had been at Oberammergau, at the
Passion Play. 'These people are all crazy,' he said. 'This is not a revolution, it's a revival.
They think Hitler is God. Believe it or not, a German woman sat next to me at the Passion
Play and when the hoisted Jesus on the Cross, she said, 'There he is. That is our Fuehrer,
our Hitler.' And when they paid out the thirty pieces of silver to Judas, she said 'That is
Roehm, who betrayed the Leader.'" ( 568 )

Extreme cases of this kind are probably not very numerous but it would be amazing if a
small degree of the same type of thinking had not seeped into the picture of Hitler which
many Germans hold.

Hitler
As His Associates Know Him


The picture the Nazi propaganda machine has painted of Hitler certainty seems like an
extravagant one. Even if we ignore the deifying elements it seems like the fantasy of a
superman - the paramount of all virtues. Extraordinary as it may seem, however, there are
times at which he approximates such a personality and wins the respect and admiration of
all his associates.



The following is the second part of Walter C. Langer's "A psychological Profile of
Adolph Hiter". The remaining 3 'parts' covering Hitler "As he knows himself",
"Psychological Analysis and Reconstruction", and his "Probable Behavior in the Future"
to be published on the site over the coruse of the next two weeks. and .

He seemed to have a violent dislike for going to bed or being alone. Frequently, he would
ring for his adjutants in the middle of the night after his guests had gone home and demand
that they sit up and talk to him. It was not that he had anything to say and often the
adjutants would fall asleep listening to him talk about nothing of importance. As long as
one of them remained awake, however, he would not be offended. There was an unwritten
law among his immediate staff never to ask a question at these early morning sessions
because to do so might get Hitler off on another subject and force them to remain for
another hour.

Hitler sleeps very badly and has been in the habit for some years of taking a sleeping
powder every night before retiring. It is possible that he demands someone to be with him
in the hope that the powder will take effect and he will be overcome with sleep. His
behavior, however, is not in keeping with this hypothesis for he carries on a monologue
and frequently gets very much stirred up about the topic.

This is hardly conducive to sleep and we must suppose that there is some other reason for
his late hours. Even after he has dismissed his adjutant and goes to bed he usually takes an
armful of illustrated periodicals with him. These are usually magazines with pictures
concerning naval and military matters and American magazines are usually included. Shirer
(280) reports that he has been informed that since the war broke out Hitler has been
keeping better hours and regularly has his first breakfast at seven A.M. and his second
breakfast at nine A.M. This may have been so during the early days of the war but it is
very doubtful that Hitler could keep up this schedule for any length of time.

Rauschning (275) claims that Hitler has a bed compulsion which demands that the bed be
made in a particular way with the quilt folded according to a proscribed pattern and that a
man must make the bed, before he can go to sleep. We have no other information on this
subject but from his general psychological structure such a compulsion would be possible.

His working day before the war was equally disorderly. Rauschning reports, "he does not
know how to work steadily. Indeed, he is incapable of working." He dislikes desk work
and seldom glances at the piles of reports which are placed on his desk daily. No matter
how important these may be or how much his adjutants may urge him to attend to the
particular matter, he refuses to take them seriously unless it happens to be a project which
interests him. On the whole, few reports interest him unless they deal with military or
naval affairs or political matters. He seldom sits in a cabinet meeting because they bore
him. On several occasions when sufficient pressure was brought to bear he did attend but
got up abruptly during the session and left without apology. Later it was discovered that
he had gone to his private theater and had the operator show some film that he particularly
liked. On the whole, he prefers to discuss cabinet matters with each member in person and
then communicate his decision to the group as a whole.

He has a passion for the latest news and for photographs of himself. If Hoffmann, the
official Party photographer, happens to appear or someone happens to enter his office
with a newspaper he will interrupt the most inportant meeting in order to scan through
them Very frequently he becomes so absorbed in the news or in his own photographs that
he completely forgets the topic under discussion. Ludecke (165) writes:

"Even on ordinary days in those times, it was almost impossible to keep Hitler
concentrated on one point. His quick mind would run away with the talk, or his attention
would be distracted by the sudden discovery of the newspaper and he would stop to read
it avidly, or he would interrupt your carefully prepared report with a long speech as
though you were an audience...."

And Hanfstaengl reports that "his staff is usually in despair on account of his
procrastination.... He never takes their protests in this respect very seriously and usually
brushes them aside by saying, 'Problems are not solved by getting fidgety. If the time is
ripe, the matter will be settled one way or another.'" (899)

Although Hitler tries to present himself as a very decisive individual who never hesitates
when he is confronted by a difficult situation, he is usually far from it. It is at just these
times that his procrastionation becomes most marked. At such times it is almost
impossible to get him to take action on anything. He stays very much by himself and is
frequently almost inaccessible to his immediate staff. He often becomes depressed, is in
bad humor, talks little, and prefers to read a book, look at movies or play with
architectural models. According to the Dutch report (656) his hesitation to act is not due
to divergent views among his advisors. At such times, he seldom pays very much attention
to them and prefers not to discuss the matter.

"What is known as the mastery of material was quite unimportant to him. He quickly
became impatient if the details of a problem were brought to him. He was greatly adverse
to experts and had little regard for their opinion. He looked upon them as mere hacks, as
brush-cleaners and color grinders...." (269)

On some occasions he has been known to leave Berlin without a word and go to
Berchtesgaden where he spends his time walking in the country entirely by himself.
Rauschning, who has met him on such occasions, says:

"He recognizes nobody then. HE wants to be alone. There are times when he flees from
human society." (275)

Roehm (176) frequently said, "Usually he solves suddenly, at the very last minute, a
situation that has become intolerable and dangerous only because he vacillates and
procrastinates."

It is during these periods of inactivity that Hitler is waiting for his "inner voice" to guide
him. He does not think the problem through in a normal way but waits until the solution is
presented to him. To Rauschning he said:

"Unless I have the incorruptible conviction: THIS IS THE SOLUTION, I do nothing. Not
even if the whole party tried to drive me to action. I will not act; I will wait, no matter
what happens. But if the voice speaks, then I know the time has come to act." (268)

These periods of indecision may last from a few days to several weeks. If he is induced to
talk about the problem-solving this time he becomes ill-natured and bad-tempered.
However, when the solution has been given to him he has a great desire to express
himself. He then calls in his adjutants and they must sit and listen to him until he is finished
no matter what time it happens to be. On these occasions he does not want them to
question him or even to understand him. It seems that he just wants to talk.

After this recital to his adjutants Hitler calls in his advisers and informs them of his
decision. When he has finished they are free to express their opinions. If Hitler thinks that
one of these opinions is worthwhile he will listen for a long time but usually these opinions
have little influence on his decision when this stage has been reached. Only if someone
succeeds in introducing new factors is there any possibility of getting him to change his
mind. If someone voices the opinion that the proposed plan is too difficult or onerous he
becomes extremely angry and frequently says:

"I do not look for people having clever ideas of their own but rather people who are clever
in finding ways and means of carrying out my ideas." (654)

As soon as he has the solution to a problem his mood changes very radically. He is again
the Fuehrer we have described at the beginning of this section.

"He is very cheerful, jokes all the time and does not give anybody an opportunity to speak,
while he himself makes fun of everybody."

This mood lasts throughout the period when necessary work has been done. As soon as
the requisite orders have bean given to put the plan into execution, however, Hitler seems
to lose interest in it. He becomes perfectly calm, ocoupies himself with other matters and
sleeps unusually long hours. (654)

This is a very fundamental trait in Hitler's character structure. He does not think things out
in a logical and consistent fashion, gathering all available information pertinent to the
problem, mapping out alternative courses of action and then weighing the evidence pro
and con for each of them before reaching a decision. His mental processes operate in
reverse. Instead of studying the problem as an intellectual would do he avoids it and
occupies himself with other things until unconscious processes furnish him with a solution.

Having the solution he then begins to look for facts which will prove that it is correct. In
this procedure he is very clever and by the time he presents it to his associates, it has the
appearance of a rational judgment. Nevertheless, his thought processes proceed from the
emotional to the factual instead of starting with the facts as an intellectual normally does.
It is this characteristic of his thinking process which makes it difficult for ordinary people
to understand Hitler or to predict his future actions. His orientation in this respect is that
of an artist and not that of a statesman.

Although Hitler has been extremely successful in using this inspirational technique in
determining his course of action (and we are reminded of his following his course with the
precision of a sleep-walker) it is not without its shortcomings. He becomes dependent on
his inner guide which makes for unpredictability on the one hand and rigidity on the other.
The result is that he cannoy modify his course in the face of unexpected developments or
firm opposition. Strasser (297) tells us that:

"When he was then confronted by contradictory facts he was left floundering."

And Roehm says that there is:

"No system in the execution of his thoughts. He wants things his own way and gets mad
when he strikes firm opposition on solid ground." (176)

This rigidity of mental functioning is obvious even in ordinary everyday interviews. When
an unexpected question is asked, he is completely at a loss. Lochner (154) supplies us with
an excellent description of this reaction:

"I saw this seemingly super-self-confident man actually blush when I broached the subject
of German-American relations.... This evidently caught him off-guard. He was not used to
having his infallibility challenged. For a moment he blushed like a school-boy, hemmed and
hawed, then stammered an embarrassed something about having so many problems to
ponder that he had not yet had time to take up America."

Almost everyone who has written about Hitler has commented on his rages. These are
well known to all of his associates and they have learned to fear them. The descriptions of
his behavior during these rages vary considerably. The more extreme descriptions claim
that at the climax he rolls on the floor and chews on the carpets. Shirer (279) reports that
in 1938 he did this so often that his associates frequently referred to him as
"Teppichfresser". Not one of our informants who has been close to Hitler, people like
Hanfstaengl, Strasser, Rauschning, Hohenlohe, Friedelinde Wagner, and Ludecke, have
ever seen him behave in this manner. Moreover they all are firmly convinced that this is a
gross exaggeration and the informant of the Dutch Legation (655) says that this aspect
must be relegated to the domain of "Greuelmaerchen."

Even without this added touch of chewing the carpet, his behavior is still extremely violent
and shows an utter lack of emotional control. In the worst rages he undoubtedly acts like a
spoiled child who cannot have his own way and bangs his fists on the tables and walls. He
scolds and shouts and stammers and on some occasions foaming saliva gathers in the
corners of his mouth. Rauschning, in describing one of these uncontrolled exhibitions,
says:

"He was an alarming sight, his hair disheveled, his eyes fixed, and his face distorted and
purple. I feared that he would collapse or have a stroke." (110)

It must not be supposed, however, that these rages occur only when he is crossed on
major issues. On the contrary, very insignificant matters might call out this reaction. In
general they are brought on whenever anyone contradicts him, when there is unpleasant
news for which he might feel responsible, when there is any skepticism concerning his
judgment or when a situation arises in which his infallibility might be challenged or
belittled. Von Weigand (492) reports that among his staff there is a tactic [sic]
understanding:

"For God's sake don't excite the Fuehrer - which means do not tell him bad news -- do not
mention things which are not as he conceives them to be."

Voigt (591) says that:

"Close collaborators for many years said that Hitler was always like this - that the slightest
difficulty or obstacle could make him scream with rage...."

Many writers believe that these rages are just play acting. There is much to be said for this
point of view since Hitler's first reaction to the unpleasant situation is not indignation, as
one would ordinarily expect under these circumstances. He goes off into a rage or tirade
without warning. Similarly, when he has finished, there is no aftermath. He immediately
cools down and begins to talk about other matters in a perfectly calm tone of voice as
though nothing had happened. Occasionally he will look around sheepishly, as if to see if
anyone is laughing, and then proceeds with other matters, without the slightest trace of
resentment.

Some of his closest associates have felt that he induces these rages consciously to frighten
those about him. Rauschning (261), for example, says it is a:

"...technique by which he wouldthrow his entire entourage into confusion by well-timed
fits of rags and thus make them more submissive."

Strasser (377) also believes this to be the case for he says:

"Rage and abuse became the favorite weapons in his armory."

This is not the time to enter into a detailed discussion concerning the nature and purpose
of the rages. It is sufficient, for the present time, to realize that his associates are well
aware that Hitler can and does behave in this way. It is a part of the Hitler they know and
are forced to deal with. We may point out, however, that they are not conscious acting
alone since it is quite impossible for an actor to actually become purple in the face unless
he really is in an emotional state.

There are many other aspects of Hitler's personality, as it is known to his associates, which
do not fit into the picture of the Fuehrer as it is presented to the German people. A few of
the more important of these merit mention. Hitler is represented as a man of great
courage, with nerves of steel who always is in complete control of every situation.
Nevertheless, he often runs away from an unpleasant, unexpected or difficult situation.

Bayles (2) reports two incidents that illustrate this reaction:

"Particularly noticeable is his inability to cope with unexpected situations, this having been
amusingly revealed when he laid the cornerstone of the House of German Art in Munich.
On this occasion he was handed a dainty, rococo hammer for delivering the three
traditional strokes to the cornerstone, but not realizing the fragility of the rococo, he
brought the hammer down with such force that at the very first stroke it broke into bits.
Then, instead of waiting for another hammer, Hitler completely lost his composure,
blushed, looked wildly about him in the manner of a small boy caught stealing jam, and
almost ran from the scene leaving the cornerstone unlaid. His enjoyment of the Berlin
Olympic Games was completely spoilt when a fanatical Dutch woman who had achieved a
personal presentation suddenly clasped him in two hefty arms and tried to kiss him in plain
view of 100,000 spectators. Hitler could not regain his composure or stand the irreverent
guffaws of foreign visitors, and left the Stadium."

This type of behavior is illustrated even more clearly in relation to Gregor Strasser
because the occasion was one of extreme importance to Hitler. Strasser threatened to split
the Party if a definite program could not be agreed upon. Hitler avoided the situation as
long as he possibly could in the hope that something might happen, that the situation
would somehow solve itself. When it did not he agreed to Strasser's demand for a meeting
in Leipzig at which their differences could be thrashed out. Strasser was in the restaurant
at the appointed hour. Hitler came late. Hardly had he sat down to the table when he
excused himself in order to go to the toilet. Strasser waited for some time and when Hitler
did not return he began making inquiries. To his amazement he discovered that instead of
going to the toilet Hitler had slipped out of the back door and driven back to Munich
without discussing a single point. (378)

Heiden (527) also tells us that in 1923 he was in conference with Ludendorff when he
suddenly rushed off without as much as an apology. In the spring of 1932 he ran out on a
meeting of the Verband Bayrischer Industrieller before which he was to speak. This group
was not kindly disposed to him but it was important for Hitler to win them over. He got
up to speak:

"..er stookt, sieht auf den Tisch, Schweigen alles sieht sich verbluefft an. Peinliche
Minuten. Ploetzlich dreht sich Hitler auf dem Absatz um und geht ohne ein Wort an die
Tuer."

The same thing happened a year later when, as Chancellor, he was to speak to the
Reichsverband der Deutschen Presse, Again he sensed opposition in the group and again
he fled from the scene, Olde (611) says:

"Das ist ein Trick, den der Fuehrer noch oft anwerden wird: wenn die Situation peinlich
wird, versteckt er sich."

At other times, when he finds himself in difficult situations, the great dictator who prides
himself on his decisiveness, hardness and other leadership qualities, breaks down and
weeps like a child appealing for sympathy. Raischning (267) writes:

"In 1934 as in 1932 he complained of the ingratitude of the German people in the sobbing
tones of a down-at-the-heel music-hall performer! A weakling who accused and sulked,
appleaed and implored, and retired in wounded vanity ('If the German people don't want
me!') instead of acting."

Otto Strasser reports that on one occasion:

"He seized my hands, as he had done two years before. His voice was choked with sobs,
and tears flowed down his cheeks." (381)

Heiden (280) reporting a scene at which the Party leaders were waiting for the arrival of
gregor Strasser:

"'Never would I have believed it of Strasser,' he (Hitler) cried, and he laid his head on the
table and sobbed. Tears came to the eyes of many of those present, as they saw their
Fuehrer weeping. Julius Streicher, who had been snubbed by Strasser for years, called out
from his humble place in the background: 'Shameful that Strasser should treat our Fuehrer
like that!'"

In extremely difficult situations he had openly threatened to commit suicide. Sometimes it
seems that he uses this as a form of blackmail while at other times the situation seems to
be more than he can bear. During the Beer Hall Putsch he said to the officials he was
holding as prisoners:

"There are still five bullets in my pistol - four for the traitors, and one, if things go wrong,
for myself," (253)

He also threatened to commit suicide before Mrs. Hanfstaengl directly after the failure of
the Putsch, while he was hiding from the police in the Hanfstaengl home. Again in
Landsberg he went on a hunger strike and threatened to martyr himself - an imitation of
the Mayor of Cork. In 1930, he threatened to commit suicide after the strange murder of
his niece, Geli, (302) of whom we shall speak later. In 1932, he again threatened to carry
out this action if Strasser split the (98) Party. In 1933 he threatened to do so if he was not
appointed Chancellor (63), and in 1936, he promised to do so if the Occupation of the
Rhineland failed. (255)

These, however, are relatively infrequent exhibitions although his associates have learned
that they are always a possibility and that it is wise not to push the Fuehrer too far. More
frequent are his depressions about which a great deal has been written. It is certain that he
does have very deep depressions from time to time. During his years in Vienna
(1907-1912), after his mother's death, he undoubtedly suffered from them a great deal.
Hanisch reports (64):

"I have never seen such helpless letting down in distress."

It is probably also true that he suffered from depressions during the war as Mend (199)
reports.

After the death of his niece, Geli (193O), he also went into a severe depression which
lasted for some time. Gregor Strasser actually feared that he might cnmmit suicide during
this period and stayed with him for several days. There is some evidence (Strasser, 302)
that he actually tried to do so and was prevented from carrying it out. It is also interesting
to note that for several years after her death he went into a depression during the
Christmas holidays and wandered around Germamy alone for days on end (957).

Rauschning gives us a vivid description of his condition after the Blood Purge of 1934. He
writes (716):

"Aber zunaechst machte auch er nioht den Eindruck des Siegers. Mit gedunsenen,
verserrten Zuegen sass er mir gegenueber, als ich ihm Vortrag hielt. Seine Augen waren
erloschen, er sah mich nicht an. Er spielte mit seien Fingern. Ich hatte nicht den Eindruck,
dass er mir zuhoerte....Waehrend der ganzen Zeit hatte ich den Eindruk, dass Ekel,
Ueberdruss und Verachtung in ihm herumstritten, und dass er mit seinen Gedanken ganz
wo anders war.... Ich hatte gehoert, er sollte nur noch studenweis schlafen
koennen...Nachts irrte er ruhelos umber. Schlafmittel halfen nicht.... Mit Weinkraempfen
sollte er aus dem kurzem Schlaf aufwachen. Er haette sich wiederholt erbrochen. Mit
Schuettelfrost habe er in Decken gehuellt im Seesel gesessen...Einmal wollte er alles
erleuchtet und Menschen, viel Menschen um sich haben; im gleichen Augenblick haette er
wieder neimanden sehen wollen...."

These are major crises in his life and we can assume that they probably represent his worst
depressions. Undoubtedly he very frequently has minor ones when he withdraws from his
associates and broods by himself, or periods when he refuses to see anyone and is irritable
and impatient with those around him. On the whole, however, it appears that the reports
of Hitler' s depressions have been grossly exaggerated. Not one of our informants who has
had close contact with him has any knowledge of his ever retiring to a sanatarium during
such times and there is only one source which indicates that he ever sought psychiatric
help and that was not accepted. We must assume that the many reports that have
flourished in the newspapers have been plants by the Nazi Propaganda agencies to lure us
into false expectations.

There are a number of other respects in which Hitler does not appear before his associates
as the self-confident Fuehrer he likes to believe himself to be. One of the most marked of
these is his behavior in the presence of accepted authority. Under these circumstances he is
obviously nervous and very ill at ease. Many times he is downright submissive. As far back
as 1923, Ludecke (166) reports that:

"In conference with Poehner, Hitler sat with his felt hat crushed shapeless in his hands. His
mien was almost humble..."

Fromm (371) writes that at a dinner:

"Hitler's eagerness to obtain the good graces of the princes present was subject to much
comment. He bowed and clicked and all but knelt in his zeal to please oversized, ugly
Princess Luise von Sachsen-Meiningen, her brother, hereditary Prince George, and their
sister, Grand Duchess of Sachsen-Weimar. Beaming in his servile attitude he dashed
personally to bring refreshments from the buffet."

On his visit to Rome, Hues (408) writes:

"When leading Queen Helene in Rome he was like a fish out of water. He didn't know
what to do with his hands."

To Hindenburg, he was extremely submissive. Pictures taken of their meetings illustrate
his attitude very clearly. In some of them it looks almost as though he were about to kiss
the President's hand. Flannery (698) also reports that when Hitler first met Petain he took
him by the arm and escorted him to his car. Hanfstaengl (912) reports that he found Hitler
outside the door of the banquet hall in which a dinner and reception were being given to
the former Kaiser's wife. He was unable to bring himself to go in and meet her Highness
alone. When Hanfstaengl finally persuaded Hitler to go in he was so ill at ease that he
could only stammer a few words to Hermine and then excused himself. Many other
examples could be cited. From the weight of evidence it seems certain that Hitler does lose
his self-confidence badly when he is brought face to face with an accepted authority of
high standing, particularly royalty.

This subservient attitude is also obvious in his use of titles. This is well described by Lania
(148) reporting on Hitler' s trial:

"In the course of his peroration he came to speak of Generals Ludendorff and von Seeckt;
at such moments, he stood at attention and trumpeted forth the words 'General' and
'Excellency'. It made no difference that one of the generals was on his side, while the
other, von Seeckt, Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr, was his enemy; he abandoned
himself entirely to the pleasure of pronouncing the high-sounding titles. He never said
'General Seeckt', he said 'His Excellency Herr Colonel General von Seeeke, letting the
words melt on his tongue and savoring their after-taste."

Many others have also commented on this tendency to use the full title. It also fits in with
his very submissive behavior to his officers during the last war which has been commented
upon by several of his comrades. It seems safe to assume that this is a fundamental trait in
his character which becomes less obvious as he climbs the ladder but is present
nevertheless.

The Fuehrer is also ill at ease in the company of diplomats and avoids contact with them
as much as possible. Fromm (369) describes his behavior at a diplomatic dinner in the
following words:

"The Corporal seemed to be ill at ease, awkward and moody. His coat-tails embarrassed
him. Again and again his hand fumbled for the encouraging support of his sword belt.
Each time he missed the familiar cold bracing support, his uneasiness grew. He crumpled
his handkerchief, tugged it, rolled it, just plain stage-fright."

Henderson (124) writes:

"It will always be a matter of regret to me that I was never able to study Hitler in private
life, as this might have given me the chance to see him under normal conditions and to talk
with him as man to man. Except for a few brief words at chance meetings, I never met him
except upon official, and invariably disagreeable, business. He never attended informal
parties at which diplomats might be present, and when friends of mine did try to arrange it,
he always got out of meeting me in such a manner on the ground of precedent... But he
always looked self-conscious when he had to entertain the diplomatic corps, which
happened normally three times a year."

Hitler also becomes nervous and tends to lose his composure when he has to meet
newspapermen. Being a genius of propaganda he realizes the power of the press in
influencing public opinion and he always provides the press with choice seats at all
ceremonies. When it comes to interviews, however, he feels himself on the defensive and
insists that the questions be submitted in advance. When the interview takes place he is
able to maintain considerable poise because he has his answers prepared. Even then he
gives no opportunity to ask for further clarification because he immediately launches into a
lengthy dissertation, which sometimes develops into a tirade. When this is finished, the
interview is over (0echsner, 665).

He is also terrified when he is called upon to speak to intellectuals (Wagner, 487) or any
group in which he feels opposition or the possibility of criticism.

Hitler's adjustment to people in general is very poor. He is not really on intimate terms
with any of his associates. Hess is the only associate, with the possible exception of
Streicher, who has ever had the privilege of addressing him with the familiar "Du". Even
Goering, Goebbels and Himmler must address him with the more formal "Sie" although
each of them would undoubtedly be willing to sacrifice his right hand for the privilege of
addressing him in the informal manner. It is true that outside of his official family there are
a few people in Germany, notably Mrs. Bechstein and the Winifred Wagner family who
address him as "Du" and call him by his nickname, "Wolf", but even these are few and far
between. On the whole, he always maintains a considerable distance from other people.
Ludecke, who was very close to him for a while, writes:

"Even in his intimate and cozy moments, I sensed no attitude of familiarity towards him on
the part of his staff; there was always a certain distance about him, that subtle quality of
aloofness...."(180)

And Fry (577) says:

"He lives in the midst of many men and yet he lives alone."

It is well-known that he cannot carry on a normal conversation or discussion with people.
Even if only one person is present he must do all the talking. His manner of speech soon
loses any conversational qualities it might have had and takes on all the characteristics of a
lecture and may easily develop into a tirade. He simply forgets his companions and
behaves as though he were addressing a multitude. Strasser (297) has given a good, brief
description of his manner:

"Now Hitler drew himself erect and by the far-away look in his eyes showed plainly that
he was not speaking merely to me; he was addressing an imaginary audience that stretched
far beyond the walls of the living room."

This is not only true in connection with political matters. Even when he is alone with his
adjutants or immediate staff and tries to be friendly he is unable to enter into give-and-take
conversation. At times he scans to want to get closer to people and relates personal
experiences, such as, "When I was in Vienna," or "When I was in the Army,". But under
these circumstances, too, he insists on doing all the talking and always repeats the same
stories over and over again in exactly the same form, almost as though he had memorized
them. The gist of most of these stories is contained in MEIN KAMPF. His friends have all
heard them dozens of times but this does not deter him from repeating them again with
great enthusiasm. Nothing but the most superficial aspects of these experiences are ever
touched upon. It seems as though he is unable to give more of himself than that
(Hanfstaengl, 898).

Price (230) says: "When more than two people are present, even though they are his
intimate circle, there is no general discourse. Either Hitler talks and they listen, or else
they talk among themselves and Hitler sits silent." And this is the way it seems to be. He is
not at all annoyed when members of the group talk to each other unless of course he feels
like doing the talking himself. But ordinarily he seem to enjoy listening to others while he
makes believe that he is attending to something else. Nevertheless, he overhears
everything which is being said and often uses it later on. (Hanfstaengl, 914) However, he
does not give credit to the individual from whom he has learned it and simply gives it out
as his own.

Rauschning (266) says:

"He has always been a poseur. He remembers things that he has heard and has a faculty for
repeating them in such a way that the listener is lead to believe that they are his own."

Roehm also complained of this:

"If you try to tell him anything, he knows everything already. Though he often does what
we advise, he laughs in our faces at the moment, and later does the very thing as if it were
all his own idea and creation. He doesn't even seem to be aware of how dishonest he is."
(176)

Another one of his tricks which drives people and particularly his associates to distraction
is his capacity for forgetting. This trait has been commented upon so much that it scarcely
needs mentioning here. We all know how he can say something one day and a few days
later say the opposite, completely oblivious to his earlier statement. He does not only do
this in connection with international affairs but also with his closest associates. When they
show their dismay and call his attention to the inconsistency he flies off into a rage and
demands to know if the other person thinks he is a liar. Evidently the other leading Nazis
have also learned the trick, for Rauschning (266) says:

"Most of the Nazis, with Hitler at their head, literally forget, like hysterical women,
anything they have no desire to remember."

Although Hitler almost invariably introduces a few humorous elements into his speeches
and gives the impression of considerable wit, he seems to lack any real sense of humor. He
can never take a joke on himself. Heyst (600) says, "He is unable to purify his gloomy self
with self-irony and humor." Von Wiegand (492) says he is extremely sensitive to ridicule
and Huss says (408) "He takes himself seriously and will flare up in a tempermental rage at
the least impingement by act or attitude on the dignity and holiness of state and Fuehrer."
When everything is going well he sometimes gets into a gay and whimsical mood in a
circle of close friends. His humor then is confined almost wholly to a kind of teasing or
ribbing. The ribbing is usually in connection with alleged love affairs of his associates but
are never vulgar and only hint at sexual factors (Hanfstaengl 910). Friedelinde Wagner
provides us with an example of his teasing. Goering and Goebbels were both present at the
time that he said to the Wagner family:

"You all know what a volt is and an ampere, don't you? Right. But do you know what a
goebbels, a goering are? A goebbels is the amount of nonsense a man can speak in an hour
and a goering is the amount of metal that can be pinned on a man's breast." (632)

His other form of humor is mimicking. Almost everyone concedes that he has great talent
along these lines and he frequently mimics his associates in their presence much to the
amusement of everyone except the victim. He also loved to mimic Sir Eric Phipps and
later Chamberlain.

Hitler's poor adaptation to people is perhaps most obvious in his relations to women.
Since he has become a political figure, his name has been linked with a great many women,
particularly in the foreign press. Although the German public seem to know very little
about this phase of his life, his associates have seen a great deal of it and the topic is
always one for all kinds of conjectures. Roughly speaking, his relations to women fall into
three categories; (a) much older women; (b) actresses and passing fancies, and (c) more or
less enduring relationships.

A. As early as 1920 Frau Carola Hofman, a 61 year old widow, took him under her wing
and for years played the part of [00010083.gif">[Page 77] foster mother. Then came Frau
Helena Bechstein, the wife of the famous Berlin piano manufacturer, who took over the
role. She spent large quantities of money on Hitler in the early days of the party,
introduced him to her social circle and lavished maternal affection on hm, She often said
that she wished that Hitler were her son and while he was imprisoned in Landsberg she
claimed that she was his adopted mother in order that she fight visit him. Strasser (300)
says that Hitler would often sit at her feet and lay his head against her bosom while she
stroked his hair tenderly and murmured, "Mein Woelfchen".

Since he came to power things have not gone so smoothly. She seemed to find fault with
everything he did and would scold him unmercifully, even in public. According to
Friedelinde Wagner (939) she is the one person in Germany who can carry on a
monologue in Hitler' s presence and who would actually tell him what she thought. During
these violent'scoldings Hitler would stand there like an abashed schoolboy who had
committed a misdemeanor. According to Hanfstaengl, Mrs. Bechstein had groomed Hitler
in the expectation that he would marry her daughter, Lottie, who was far from attractive.
Out of sense of obligation, Hitler did ask Lottie, but was refused, (904). Mrs. Bechstein
was disconsolate over the failure of her plans and began to criticize Hitler's social reforms
as well as his actions. Nevertheless, Hitler mde duty calls fairly regularly even though he
postponed them as long as possible (939).

Then there was also Frau Victoria von Dirksen, who is alleged to have spent a fortune on
him and his career (554), and a number of others. In more recent years, Mrs. Goebbels has
taken over the role of foster-mother and looks after his comforts, supervises his household
and bakes delicacies of which he is particularly fond. She, too, has been acting as a
matchmaker in the hope that he might marry one of her friends and thereby draw the bond
between them even tighter. To Ludecke, (177) she complained, "I am no good as a
matchmaker. I would leave him alone with my most charming friesnds but he wouldn't
respond." There was also his older half-sister, Angela, who kept house for him at Munich
and Berchtesgaden and, for a time, seemed to play a mother's role.

Winifred Wagner, the daughter-in-law of Richard Wagner, has also caused a great deal of
comment. She is English by birth, and, from all accounts, is very attractive and about
Hitler's own age. She met Hitler in the early 1920's and since that time has been one of his
staunch supporters. He became a frequent visitor at the Wagner home in Bayreuth and
after his accession to power, built a house on the Wagner estate for himself and his staff.
After the death. of Siegfried Wagner, reports all over the world had it that she would
become Hitler's wife. But nothing happened in spite of the fact that it seemed like an ideal
union from the point of view of both parties.

Nevertheless, Hitler continued to be a frequent guest at the Wagner's. It probably was the
nearest thing to a home he has known since his own homebroke up in 1907. Mrs. Wagner
undoubtedly did everything in her power to make him comfortable and Hitler felt very
much at home. There were three small children, a boy and two girls (one of them is our
informant, Friedelinde) which added considerably to the home atmosphere. The entire
family called him by his nickname "Wolf" and addressed him as "Du". He felt so secure in
this house that he often came and stayed without his bodyguard. He sometimes spent his
Christmas holidays with the family and became very much a part of it. But further than
that he was unwilling to go, even though the marriage would have been exceedingly
popular with the German people.

B. Then there were a long line of 'passing fancies'. For the most part these were screen and
stage stars. Hitler likes to be surrounded with pretty women and usually requests the
moving picture companies to send over a number of actresses whenever there is a party in
the Chancellory. He seems to get an extraordinary delight in fascinating these girls with
stories about what he is going to do in the future or the same old stories about his past
life. He also likes to impress them with his power by ordering the studios to provide them
with better roles, or promising that he will see to it that they are starred in some
forthcoming picture. Most of his associations with women of this type, and their number,
is legion, does not go beyond this point as far as we have been able to discover. On the
whole he seems, to feel more comfortable in the company of stage people than with any
other group and often came down to the studio restaurants for lunch.

C. There have been several other women who have played a more or less important role in
Hitler's life. The first of which we have any knowledge was Henny Hoffmann, the
daughter of the official party photographer. Henny, according to reports, was little more
than a prostitute and spent most of her time among the students in Munich, who alleged
that she could be had for a few marks. Heinrich Hoffmann, her father, was a member of
the Party and a closet friend of Hitler. By a queer twist of Fate, Hoffmann had taken a
picture of the crowds in Munich at the outbreak of the last war. Later, when Hitler became
prominent in Munich politics, Hoffmann discovered Hitler in the picture and called it to his
attention. Hitler was delighted and a close relationship sprung up between them.
Hoffmann' s wife was also very fond of Hitler and played a mother role towards him for a
time.

With the death of Mrs. Hoffmann, the home went to pieces from a moral point of view
and became a kind of meeting place for homosexuals of both sexes. There was a good deal
of drinking and great freedom in sexual activities of all kinds. Hitler was frequently present
at parties given in the Hoffmann home and became very friendly with Hermy. The
relationship continued for some time until Henny, who was a very garrulous person by
nature, got drunk one night and began to talk about her relationship to Hitler. Her father
became enraged and for a time had little to do with Hitler.

Up to this time Hitler had steadfastly refused to have his photograph taken for publication
on the grounds that it was better publicity to remain a mystery man and also because if his
picture appeared it would be too easy to identify him when he crossed Communist
territories. Shortly after the above described episode, Hitler named Hoffmann as the
official Party photographer and gave him the exclusive right to his photographs. These
privileges, so it is alleged, have, in the course of years netted Hoffmann millions of dollars.
Among Hitler's associates, it was supposed that Hitler had committed some kind of sexual
indiscretion with Henny and had bought Hoffmann's silence by granting him these
exclusive rights.

In any event, Henny was soon married to Baldur von Schirach, the Leader of the Nazi
Youth Movement who is reputed to be a homosexual. His family were violently opposed
to the marriage but Hitler insisted. All differences between Hitler and Hoffmann seem to
have disappeared and today he is one of Hitler's closest associates and exerts a great
personal influence on the Fuehrer. We shall consider the nature of Hitler's indiscretion
later in our study since it is not a matter of common knowledge and would lead us too far
afield at the present time.

After the Henny Hoffmann episode, Hitler began to appear in public with his niece, Geli,
the daughter of his half-sister, Angela, who had come to keep house for Hitler in 1924. At
the time this relationship matured her mother had gone to Berchtesgaden and Hitler and
Geli were living alone in his Munich flat. They became inseparable companions and
became the subject of much comment in Party circles. Many of the members, particularly
Gregor Strasser, felt that this was poor publicity and was creating a good deal of
unfavorable talk. Other members had Hitler brought on the carpet to explain where he was
getting the money to clothe Geli and sport her around if he was not using Party funds for
this purpose.

Hitler became very jealous of Geli's attention and refused to let her go out with any other
men. Some claim that he kept her locked in during the day when he could not take her
with him. For several years the relationship continued over the opposition of the Party.
Then one day Geli was found dead in Hitler's apartment - she had died from a bullet fired
from Hitler's revolver. There was considerable commotion. The coroner's verdict was
suicide but Geli was buried in hallowed ground by a Catholic clergy. There was much
speculation whether she killed herself or was killed by Hitler. Whatever the facts my be,
Hitler went into a profound depression which lasted for months. During the first days after
the funeral, Gregor Strasser remained with him in order to prevent him from committing
suicide. Ludecke (178) says: "The special quality of Hitler's affection (for Geli) is still a
mystery to those closest to him."

For a few years after Geli's death, Hitler had little to do with women except in a very
superficial way. Along about 1932, however, he became interested in Eva Braun,
Hoffmann's photographic. assistant. This relationship did not develop very rapidly but it
has contimed. In the course of time, Hitler has bought her many things including
high-powered automobiles and a house between Munich and Berchtesgaden where, it is
alleged, he frequently spends the night on the way to or from his country estate. Eva
Braun is also frequently a guest at Berchtesgaden and in Berlin.

[Transcription note: Bracketed [Page] links provide access to the individual images from
which these transcriptions were made]

Oechsner was told that after one of her visits in Berchtesgaden some of her underwear
was found in Hitler's bedroom. Wiedemann, according to Hohenlohe, says that she has
sometimes spent the entire night in Hitler's bedroom in Berlin. It is reported by Norburt
(605) that Eva moved into the Chancellory on December 16, 1939 and it is said that Hitler
intends to marry her when the war is over. Beyond that, we know nothing about this affair
except that Eva Braun has twice tried to commit suicide and that one of Hitler's
bodyguards hurled himself from the Kehlstein because he was in love with her but could
not respass [sic] the Fuehrer's domain.

The affair with Eva Braun was not exclusive, however. During this period he has also seen
a good deal of at least two moving picture actresses. These have been more enduring than
most of his associations with actresses and much more intimate. Both of these girls were
frequently invited alone to the Chancellory late at night and departed in the early hours of
the morning. During their stay they were alone with Hitler behind closed doors so that not
even his immediate staff knows what transpired between them. The first of these
relationships was with Renarte Mueller who connitted suicide by throwing herself from the
window of a Berlin hotel. The other was with Leni Riefenstahl who continued to be a
guest at the Chancellor up to the outbreak of the war.

Hitler's associates know that in respect to women Hitler is far from the ascetic he and the
Propaganda Bureau would like to have the German public believe. None of them with the
possible exception of Hoffmann and Schaub (his personal adjutant), know the nature of his
sexual activities. This has led to a great deal of conjecture in Party circles. There are some
who believe that his sex life is perfectly normal but restricted. Others, that he is immune
from such temptations and that nothing happens when he is alone with girls. Still others
believe that he is homosexual.

The latter belief is based largely on the fact that during the early days of the Party many of
the inner circle were well-known homosexuals. Roehm made no attempt to hide his
homosexual activities and Hess was generally known as "Fraulein Anna". There were also
many others, particularly in the early days of the movement, and it was supposed, for this
reason, that Hitler, too, belonged to this category.

In view of Hitler's pretense at purity and the importance of his mission for building a
Greater Germany, it is extraordinary that he should be so careless about his associates. He
has never restricted them in any way except at the time of the Blood Purge in 1934 when
his excuse was that he had to purge the party of these undesirable elements. At all other
times, he has been liberal to a fault. Lochner reports:

"The only criterion for membership in the Party was that the applicant be 'Unconditionally
obedient and faithfully devoted to me'. When someone asked if that applied to thieves and
criminals, Hitler said, 'Their private lives don't concern me.'"

Ludecke (179) claims that in speaking of some of the moralists who were complaining
about the actions of his S.A. men, Hitler said:

"He would rather his S.A.men took the women than some fat-bellied moneybag. 'Why
should I concern myself with the private lives of my followers ... apart from Roehm's
achievements, I know that I can absolutely depend on him.'"

Rauschning says (264) that the general attitude in the Party was: "Do anything you like
but don't get caught at it."

This attitude towards his associates certainly did not make for high standards in the Party.
Capt. von Mueke resigned from the Party on the grounds that:

"Die Voelkische partei ist nicht mehr die Partei der anstaendigen Leute, sie ist herunter
gekommon und korrupt. Kurz, das ist ein Saustall"(614)

Rauschning (276) expresses a similar sentiment:

"Most loathsome of all is the reeking miasma of furtive, unnatural sexuality that fills and
fouls the whole atmosphere around him, like an evil emanation. Nother [sic] in this
environment is straightforward. Surreptitious relationships, substitutes and symbols, false
sentiments and secret lusts - nothing in this man's surroundings is natural and genuine,
nothing has the openness of a natural instinct."

0ne of Hitler's reactions which is carefully hidden from the public is his love for
pornography. He can scarcely wait for the next edition of DER STUERMER to appear
and when it reaches him he goes through it avidly. He seems to get great pleasure out the
dirty stories and the cartoons that feature this sheet. (658: 261). To Rauschning Hitler said
that the STUERMER "was a form of pornography permitted in the Third Reich". In
addition, Hitler has a large collection of nudes and, according to Hanfstaengl and others,
he also enjoys viewing lewd movies in his private theatre, some of which are prepared by
Hoffmann for his benefit.

He also likes to present himself as a great authority and lover of good music. One of his
favorite pastimes is to lecture on Wagner and the beauty of his operatic music. There can
be no doubt concerning his enjoyment of Wagnerian music and that he gets considerable
inspiration from it. Oechsner (675) reports that he has been able to observe Hitler closely
while he was listening to music and saw, "grimaces of pain and pleasure contort his face,
his brows knit, his eyes close, his mouth contact tightly." Hitler has said, "For me, Wagner
is something godly, and his music is my religion. I go to his concerts as others go to
church."

According to Hanfstaengl, however, he is not a lover of good music in general (895). He
says that about 85% of Hitler's preferences in music are the normal program music in
Vienna cafes. This is probably why Hitler rarely attends concerts and in later years, seldom
goes to the opera. His preferences now seem to run to musical comedies and cabarets in
addition to the movies he sees at the Chancellory. Pope (229) says that Hitler frequently
visited the MERRY WIDOW in which an American actress played the lead. He says, "I
have seen Hitler nudge his gauleiter, Wagner, and smirk when Dorothy does her famous
backbending number in the spotlight." In this number, Dorothy's costume consists of a pair
of transparent butterfly wings, or sometimes nothing at all. Hitler watches the performance
through opera glasses and sometimes has command performances for his private benefit.

Much has been written by the Nazi propaganda bureau about his modest way of living.
This, through the eyes of his associates, has also been vastly overrated. Although he is a
vegetarian, most of them feel that his meals are scarcely to be considered as a form of
deprivation. He eats large quantities of eggs prepared in lO1 different ways by the best
chef in Germany and there are always quantities and a large variety of fresh vegetables
prepared in unusual ways. In addition. Hitler consumes incredible quantities of pastries
and often as much as two pounds of chocolates in the course of a single day. Nor are his
personal tastes particularly inexpensive. Although his clothes are simple, he has an
incredible number of each article of clothing. All are made of the finest materials that can
be procured and made up by the best workmen.

He also has a passion for collecting paintings and when he has his heart set on one, the sky
is the limit is far as price is concerned. The only thing that is really modest about his living
arrangements is his bedroom which is extremely simple and contains only a metal bed
(decorated with ribbons at the head), a painted chest of drawers and a few straight chairs.
Friedelinde Wagner and Hanfstaengl, both of whom have seen the room with their own
eyes, have described it in identical terms: namely that it is a room that one would expect a
maid to have and not a Chancellor.

Although he is presented to the German public as a man of extraordinary courage, his
immediate associates frequently have occasion to question this. Several occasions have
been reported on which he has not carried through his own program because he feared
opposition. This is particularly true in connection with his Gauleiters. He seems to have a
particular fear of these people and rather than meet opposition from them, he usually tries
to find out on which side of an issue the majority have aligned themselves before he meets
with them. When the meeting takes place, he proposes a plan or course of action which
will fit in with the sentiments of the majority. (718)

According to Hohenlohe he also backed down before three Army generals when they
protested against the rapid developments in the Danzig question, and that before Munich,
he decided to postpone the war because he discovered that the crowds watching the
troops marching under the Chancellory windows were unenthusiactic (661).

Furthermore, they must wonder about the necessity of the extreme precautions that are
taken for his safety. Most of these are carefully concealed from the German public. When
Hitler appears he looks for all the world like an extremely brave man as he stands up in the
front seat of his open car and salutes. The people do not inow of the tremendous number
of secret service men who constantly mingle with the crowds in addition to the guards
who line the streets through which he is to pass. Neither do they know of all the
precautions taken at the Chancellory or at Berchtesgaden.

Before the war his house at Berchtesgaden was surrounded with eight miles of electrified
wire. Pillboxes and anti-aircraft batteries were set up in the surrounding hills (Morrell,
462). When he visited at Bayreuth, troops were sent in weeks in advance to set up
machine-gun nests and anti-aircraft batteries in the hills immediately adjoining (Wagner,
934). Lochner (158) reports that when he travels in a special train he is accompanied by
200 SS guards who are more heavily armed than the retinue of any German emperor.
After the war started, his train was heavily armored and equipped with anti-aircraft fore
and aft. And, yet, when the newsreels show him at the front, he is the only one who does
not wear a steel helmet.

There is, consequently, a considerable discrepancy between Hitler as he is known to the
German. people and Hitler as he is known to his associates. Nevertheless, it appears that
most of his associates have a deep allegience to Hitler personally and are quite ready to
forgive or ignore his shortcomings. In many cases, it seems as though his asociates are
quite oblivious to the contradictory traits in his character - to them he is still the Fuehrer
and they live for the moments when he actually plays this role.