Insane or Just Evil?

This article delves into the medical state of Adolf Hitler throughout his entire life. It brings up quite a few controversial points, however chief among them is whether Hitler was truly evil or whether he was just so insane and paranoid from his various medical disorders that he could not make any logical decisions. The article explains a large number of the diseases and disabilities that Hitler suffered from including hypertension, headaches, heart problems, vision problems, bladder infections, and much more. The question that this brings up though is, were these the true reasons for Hitler’s evil actions? The author of the article does not extend his specific point of view on the subject, however based on the medical evidence presented and what points he chooses to elaborate on, he seems to believe that these diseases played a part in Hitler’s decision making, however when it came down to it the only person at fault was Hitler himself. I share the author’s point of view on this subject, because based on the wide range of diseases that Hitler was afflicted by, he would obviously make rash decisions. Even in the article it says, “Hitler believes that his father was half-Jewish and had died of syphilis.” This in itself may have affected Hitler’s classification of syphilis as a Jewish disease. However, I do not think that these diseases can in any way be used as an excuse for Hitler’s behavior and decisions that he made during his life. So was he insane or just pure evil? I would have to say both.

Murder Artisit

In the article the “Murder Artist” by Terry Teachout, the idea of how Adolf Hitler’s artistic skill influenced his political rule is addressed. It starts out by saying that Hitler originally wanted to be an artist, that even when he applied at a German worker’s party he said he described himself as a painter. Hitler had even said that “[he] became a politician against [his] will. If someone else had been found, [he] would never have gone into politics; [he] would have been an artist or a philosopher.” Hitler’s passion and artistic knowledge could have been used in innocent ways if given enough encouragement. However, Hitler ended up using the expressive power of art for a “more practical and far-reaching use.”

The article then goes on to discuss Hitler’s “aesthetic talents…were in fact at the heart of his political self-understanding.” It mentions how Hitler planned to create cultural monuments that would change the face of Germany and immortalize himself. However, he did not only plan to use art after his conquer, but also to conquer Germany. Many of his speeches and media were planned out by him to help influence his audience. Everything was organized, especially the seating charts, to centralize all of the focus on him.

Overall this article does a very good job depicting the importance of art in Hitler’s life and his use of hit to dominate over others.

Hitler Articles

Before he was the sociopathic leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler was an artist, bum, and in some eyes a revolutionary. He was able to gain a tremendous amount of support due to his inspirational speaking and undeniable leadership. He did not, however, always have this power. In the early 1920's, many people doubted his ideals and his conviction to fulfill them. In this article (Alan Stern), he is compared to Mussolini because of his idea to establish a government of German Fascists. This article also says that, "the German republican press assure us that the Bavarian workers will have nothing to do with him or his followers." Oh how they were wrong. Despite all the predictions that Hitler was no more than a t-shirt, Hitler was still able to gain great following. The Republic government was so worried that they banned several of his meetings and processions. Hitler gained this support by linking a common enemy, communism and capitalism, with his own personal enemy, the jews. He linked these two by saying, "The world's capital is Jewish;Marxism is Jewish; Marxism and capitalism are responsible for the desperate straits the world is in, Therefore, Down with the Jews!" Overall, this article described how Hitler would be unable to gain support. The article made it seem like Hitler and his followers were nothing but a bunch of jive turkeys. They said he was less than Mussolini because he lacked conviction and was incapable of definite lines of action. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

How did Hitler turn out the way he did?

As I navigated various sites searching around for Hitler's biography, it came to me how vastly they different on some points, but how they also agreed on others. All the sites basically talked about how Hitler, when he was a student, and later, when he was homeless in Vienna, formed his ideas about how Jews should be treated, and how to solve Germany's economic woes. However, how he came up with these ideas, two very different sites caught my eye. One site said that he was taught by an important political figure. Another claimed that while staying in Jewish-funded homeless shelters, his bitterness against them formed. Where these sites differed even more, though, was on Hitler's childhood. The first site said that he suffered through a miserable childhood, and was of a "moody, lazy, and unstable temperament." The other one, though, talks about how Hitler was a talented and motivated child who yearned to join a peaceful monastery as an adult. The fact that these sites vary so much on the issue of Hitler's youth intrigues me; it seems that the best way to figure out his mentality - and how to prevent it from re-surfacing in our youth - would be to find out what caused it, and no one clearly really knows what did. I think that it would benefit our world to a great extent to have the key to Hitlers' mind through his childhood, and I am surprised that more research has not been done into the topic.

Insane or Not?

I read an article in the New York Times titled Insane or Just Evil? A Psychiatrist Takes a New Look at Hitler. There have been many historians who have thought Hitler was “mad” because they cannot or do not want to believe that a sane person could commit such evil acts. Although Hitler had many physical ailments and even some psychogenic complaints he did not suffer from anything so severe that it could be used to excuse his crimes. Dr Redlich, a retired professor of psychiatry at both Yale University and the University of California at Los Angeles researched Hitler for years to disprove this theory that he was insane. Redlich concluded that even though Hitler exhibited many psychiatric symptoms, “he most likely was not truly mentally ill.” He believed Hitler “knew what he was doing and he choose to do it with pride and enthusiasm.” I agree with Dr Redlich. I believe Hitler was sane. The reason he committed these horrific crimes may never be known.

Adolf Hitler was Crazy

Adolf Hitler was remarkably similar to Dr. Gregory House from House. Both were geniuses in their main fields, politics appealing to the masses and advanced medicine, respectively. And, according to this article, from the Holocaust Teachers' Research Center online, Hitler had many extremely odd personality issues, just like Dr. House. (It is important to notice the bias on any piece about Adolf Hitler, because he was such a volatile character; this article has very little, seeing as it's designed to help teachers teach impartial information). Hitler had "almost hypnotic power" over his subordinates, with his grand visions and eloquence. But he also had intense disputes with his more-experienced generals about tactics and frequently flip-flopped on important decisions, often with disastrous results for his troops. He was determined that a complete social upheaval was not necessary, but he saw nothing wrong with abolishing the political system and crowning himself ultimate dictator. He condemned his army to death by refusing to surrender, and was bordering on insanity. By 1943, he was being kept alive by injections, which may have had a hand in his later madness.

This article has much more information than just on his mental health; I just thought that was a new look at his life, and more interesting than the rest of the article. It is impartial and factual, and a good resource to learn about Hitler's life.

The Hitler Cult

In an article from Ken magazine barely predating World War II, I was able to gain some firsthand perspective regarding the rise of Hitler (stern). In this article, the author was shocked by the dedication of the German people towards their leader, Adolf Hitler. In the primary accounts, Hitler was described as a man who had an untouchable social and political status. Women scoffed at the idea of him honoring their gender with an offer of a hand in marriage. The author described a secret policeman's eyes as being so enveloped in vigor and rapture that it led the writer to foresee Hitler's deification throughout Germany. Hitler, In 1938, had indeed already begun to lead a cult following. Too radical you say, calling the whole German nation a cult. Well it seems that the ideals and ethos they so willingly obliged for years are radical enough to compare to the extremism of some cults. Disregarding their unabashed desire to accept any new idea or fresh prospect of wealth before the war, it is virtually unfathomable to imagine a whole society uniting under such immense anti-semitism and thug-life activities. Think of it this way: After the first World War, germany was left with a stock of shocked and vulnerable brains that seemed to be wiped clean by such a heavy and costly defeat only a decade before. Hitler, being the opportunistic politician he was, saw these unmolded brains and using a deadly cocktail of twisted morals and hatred, molded the brains until he couldn't mold no mo'. The entire nation of Germany, in some sense, was brainwashed.

Controversy between State and Law

Starting off with the line, " after 62 years after his death, Adolf Hitler could loose his citizenship," Der Spiegel's article in the online economist was very thought provoking. This article interviewed German political figures on the issue of revoking Hitler's German citizenship. Many people, such as Isolde Saalmann, would like to take a symbolic step forward through this act. When Hitler became a German citizen in Braunschweig, he wrote down fraudulent information in order to quickly receive his papers and gain influence in government. Much of Braunschweig today is behind this revocation; however, the German constitutional law states that they cannot take a person's citizenship if he would become stateless. This is an interesting toss up - should we follow the constitutional law or acknowledge the horrid past and make a symbolic change for the future.

Hitler the Traitor

On April 13^th, 1931, The New York Times published an article about the tension that was present in the Nazi party. The famous Nazi leader, Hitler was not always favored in his party. Hitler favored his voters rather than his Guards and Troopers. Hitler ordered them not to make any resistance to President Paul von Hindenburg's decree suppressing freedom of assembly, freedom of the press and free speech. The Troopers saw this as a betrayal of the party:

“Instead of obeying, Storm Captain Stennes and his "brown shirts" seized the only Hitler newsorgan in Berlin, Der Angriff, filled an entire edition with abuse of the owner,* sent it out headlined TRAITOR HITLER!”

In the article we see other accounts of the party not being supportive of Hitler’s actions and decisions, such as the payment that the party members received.

Hitler was always seen as the supreme leader of the Nazi party, which followed his word and did whatever was asked of them by him. In reality, there were moments were the people stopped and though, “Is this man right for us?” To justify Hitler’s actions, it was said that he tried to get in a few more party members into the German Cabinet, by appealing to the people, rather than his own party. This would increase his political power in Germany and help him win the seat of power. This tactical approach might seem very rash because he has the chance to lose the support of the enforcers, but this holds a bigger chance of succeeding in pushing him up to the command of Germany. Hitler knew this and picked the wiser path-to do everything in his power to get picked as the next ruler of Germany.

The Passing of a Titan

By the end of April 1944 the majority of the war in Europe was over. Just days away from capture, Berlin, no longer the glorious center center of the third reich that it had been for the last decade. Himmler, the SS leader was trying to discuss a surrender with the allies, and when the seriously corrupt and delusional Hitler found out, he had Himmler arrested and his assistant in Berlin shot. By that point, Hitler knew that the end of the war was there. Instead of fleeing the country as advised by his peers he gave his last statement which said that he had made decisions that no mortal man had made and that everything that he did was for Germany and for the love of the people. At 3:30 pm the Fuhrer shot himself. Before being cremated, a piece of the skull was sent to a Russian archivist and then after being burned his remains were sprinkled over the Elbe River

The Final Days

We have looked quite a bit at Hitler as a speechmaker, a leader, a war chief, and a scheming murderer, but in the article "There was such a feeling of joy"; six years of agony and hope, then one bright day of dancing in the streets., one will learn about the gloomy death of the most sinister yet powerful leader of our time. It would appear appropriate for the most evil man on earth to have a most horrific end, and in fact Hitler's death was one of a somber atmosphere. After marrying his long-time mistress and girlfriend Eva Braun, Hitler prepared his death on the eve of April 28th, and day of April 29th. He claimed that he never wanted a war, that his crimes were at the faults of "the international Jewry and its helpers," and that he was a victim of his officers (article contains information about the last days of war for Hitler's right hand man Heinrich Himmler.) For me, it is shocking that the man who started it all, ended it all (rarely do we see the problem solved by the creator of the problem.) Hitler obtained so much power that he was untouchable, however his one weakness came in the form of fearing failure. He felt only appropriate that he be the one to kill himself. It is ironic how the ruler of arguably the greatest military of all time ended his life huddled away in a bunker, where he shouted orders that would soon be given to his anxious yet hesitant troops. Hitler's bunker was directly beneath the Berlin Chancellory. He died directly beneath the hall in which his life as supreme dictator began. A revealing article on the last days of WWII, and the most socially corrupt leader of our time.

Adolf Hitler - Adams

This article I found from Time.com is a very opinionated piece. The author acknowledges not being a professional historian, but her points are convincing and very strong. Over the course of the article, she addresses many things and these have furthered my thinking on Hitler's rise to power. First, as we saw in the video of Hitler's speech in class, it is clear that his presence and speaking are powerful, especially for a man of his intentions. He had a great charm and like we decided after watching that video in class, if you saw that with no prior knowledge, you would believe and want to support this man. We have no learned quite so much on the resistance to Hitler. The author asks that question, was there any? While the others were too weak to fight Hitler's power, "Germany railed behind him." People of such high education and class backed Hitler's ideas, showing how great a influence these people have over the rest of society. These peoples are government officials, lawyers, doctors, scholars, and more. Through such strong descriptions of Hitler's effects on the world, she not only asks how one person could lead this whole movement, but how a person could do such things. She describes his childhood, but i guess that isn't really the big question. Yes, it is appalling to think about how bad a man Hitler is, but its more how did anyone let this happen. It could have been Germany's economic state and how Hitler offered a change and hope. Sound farmiliar? Obama was on a similar platform when on the path to power. We supported him because he offered a better future, which is something Hitler used to appeal to his audience. I agree with everything this author of the time's article talks about, even though her use of language is quite strong. 

In the article I found, the writer argues that democracy is the producer of this monster; Adolf Hitler. Ian Kershaw, the writer, believes Hitler got to such high power through democracy. Because he was able to get some power by doing it the "right" way, he took advantage of that and began to take more power into his own hands. Ian Kershaw also states that even today, skilled politicians know how to and go on to do do, manipulate the system into gaining higher status and more control. I agree with him on this. Although we don't see exactly what politicians do to get to where they are, I believe that some of them have the skill and know how to "trick" the system. In addition, one thing that separates today's politicians with Adolf Hitler, if and when they do manipulate the system, they do not want to kill or anihilate anyone.

A Tormented Childhood Leads to a Life of Anger

Obviously, Hitler wasn't a fun-loving, young child when growing up in  Austria-Hungary. After reading an article from the New York Times analyzing the connections between Hitler's dysfunctional childhood and his actions later in life, it is quite clear to me that much of Hitler's crimes against humanity may have never occurred had he had a different home life. The article goes on to explain that Hitler grew up with a violent father who often beat both his mother and him. This combined with Hitler's confusion about his sexual identity, gave Adolf a fear of weakness. Even though there was resentment towards his father for the pain that he caused both him and his family, Hitler always looked up to his father's masculinity. There is no way that Hitler's lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem were simply coincidences based on how his life turned out. His struggling artist stage was him embracing his more feminine and sensitive ways. When that failed, he gave up on embracing himself. He wanted to prove to himself that he could be tough and strong. After being bullied his whole life, it was his turn to bully. And that he did. Hitler wanted a masculine identity, no weakness, no failure. He got so caught up in proving to himself that he could be an authority, and that he could be a man, that he ended up changing the world for the worst. So can we go as far to say that if Hitler's father had spared his wife and son of a beating, that our world as we know it would be without World War II? Possibly. 

Hitlers Inauguration

Through being a very influential public speaker, Adolf Hitler gained power, this has become common knowledge. He promoted his ideas and grew his very own following. However, in the end it was the previous Chancellor that had to give him the reigns over Germany. This was the turning point, and this is exactly what is discussed in the times article titled “Hitler into Chancellor” which can been seen in the February 6th 1933 edition of time magazine. This article goes through both a historical background of what got Hitler to where he is currently (meaning feb. 1933) along with a fair amount of dialog straight from the “inauguration”. This was truly a huge turning point for not only Germany but for the world. Little did we know that just a few years later we would be fighting yet another world war. Throughout the ceremony in which Hitler was being made Chancellor, he brought up recent events, such as Mussolini and his march on Rome.
“‘With what power, Herr Hitler,’ growled Old Paul, ‘do you seek to be made Chancellor?’
‘Precisely the same power that Mussolini exercised after his March on Rome!’ chirped cheeky Adolf.”
Not only did this article give a summary of the ceremony, but it also described Hitler’s struggle for power, which included defeating Germany’s Communist party. The most interesting part about this article though, is how it is written in the past. This gives us America’s view on Hitler before the concentration camps and the slaughter of 6 million Jews. Surprisingly enough this article doesn’t display nearly as much hatred as articles today, in fact it displays virtually no feelings at all about Hitler and his Socialist movement. However, this isn’t to surprising because, at this time, Hitler had not done very many things that would be important enough to be heard by the entire world. So in this point in time, people had no opinion on Hitler, which is why this article simply displayed the facts and the story line of Hitler becoming Chancellor rather than an opinion.

Once Upon a Time Hitler was not a Threat

William C. White discusses in his article, Adolf Hitler, The Man and His Program, the threat of Hitler before WWII. White inaccurately compares Hitler to the “racket” the Klu Klux Klan once made in America. In March 1932, when this article was written, the Klu Klux Klan was the most concrete comparison to Hitler and his followers. From the tone of this article, I sense that America allowed Germans to idolize Hitler and his ideals because the Germans were helpless from the depression. Hitler was their hope, and the consensus in America was that there was no harm in letting Hitler reassure the broken Germans. This idea was completely misguided, yet it was supported by the impressions of Hitler reporters published. The Germans, in the eyes of the Americans, were suffering from the inheritance of reparation payments for a war they did not fight in or cause. Hitler did not try to pacify the anger of the Germans, instead he “offer[ed] someone to blame for their misfortunes— the Jews.” Hitler gathered the people’s anger and hurled the combined fury into the most destructive accusation in history.
Hitler himself did not have a proper German citizenship until after he was released from prison, and not long before his nomination for the Presidency of the German Republic, yet he later condemned people that did not fit within his Aryan racial state.
The article argues that Hitler is only a threat if he manages to take power, which at the time was completely improbable because Hitler had vowed he would not take the reins of power through illegal means, and statistics provided evidence proving that Hitler could not win the majority in an election. Whoever calculated those numbers focused on mathematical laws and forgot to account for the capabilities of the human mind: people are unpredictable, especially in a state of perpetual desperation. Turning to Hitler was not a rational decision, but none of these people had asked to be subjected to the Treaty of Versailles either.

Hitler's Death

The New York Times piece that I read was about the day that Hitler died. That day, hitler realized that the war was going to end and he was going to be on the losing side. Only days earlier, Mussolini was captured and killed in Milan. He knew that there was nothing that he could do to retaliate from his defeats, but he didn't want to fall into the hands of the Russians, so he decided to commit suicide. His personal pilot suggested that he flee to another place where he could be hidden and safe like Jerusalem, where he had many followers. He didn't want this though. During his final dictation, he proclaimed that everything he had done and all the decisions that he made where for the greater good of Germany. He also said that he had to make more difficult decisions than anyone else ever in history. Before he committed suicide, he ordered his followers to burn his body once he was dead and dispose of it in the Elbe River. Personally I believe that the reason that Hitler wanted to commit suicide was because he couldn't accept that he was defeated. He never wanted to see the day that he lost once and for all so he made sure that he never would. Also, i think that the reason he wanted his body burned is because if he had a corpse, people would later find it and he never wanted anyone to ever find him. Unfortunately for him, it is believed that his skull was found recently with the bullet hole in it. It was believed to have been removed before cremation and sent to Moscow. When it was finally unwrapped, the women holding it said that her hands were shaking.

Jesse Owens Captures Olympic Title

When I think about the Olympics, I think of the world uniting to compete in friendly competitions, the one time that the world stops fighting with each other to come together to have athletic contests. Sadly, the Olympics always seem to start controversy whether it is good or bad press towards a country. In the article I just read by Arthur J. Daley was written in 1936, a day after Jesse Owens had just acclaimed the title of "worlds fastest human". The 1936 Olympics were being held in Germany and while Hitler had attended the Olympics, his view toward them did not seem to be the same as many other citizens around the world. Daley had addressed the Olympic scores for that day, and along with the scores had brought up an issue of Hitler refusing to shake the two African-American track stars hands, Owens and Metcalfe. The article addresses this issue in a more calming manner than I would have expected. The take that Daley has given the issue was a bit more sarcastic, saying "If Hitler is going to avoid the Afro-Americans, he is going to have his work cut out for him." In order for Daley to still continue the positive approach and light attitude towards the Olympics it was probably important for him to not dwell on such a shameful act. However, the article finishes saying Jesse Owens title was reclaimed, saying the Germans had found a way to deny the African-American of his world record. The Germans have said that Owens mark was disallowed because of a wind, Daley said, "From the stands the breeze looked like a crosswind, but one can never tell about those things." To me, it sounded as if Daley had agreed with the Germans, or simply trying to make sense of what they had done. I would have expected a different reaction from the media, I know today it would have been very different, giving the Germans bad press for what they have done. While reading this article, I immediately thought of the issue in Dubai regarding the UAE, United Arab Emirates. The UAE has denied access to the Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer who is ranked 48th in the world for female tennis players, Peer has said "Politics should be kept separate from sports" which I agree entirely. It is hurtful to see athletes denied access to compete or to a record they clearly won because of their race or where they are from.  

The Only Dead Man Still Feared

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889. He killed himself only 56 years later. In those 56 years on this green earth he changed history forever. His spot in history will be tainted forever. Before moving to Germany, Hiter was an artist. He moved to Germany in 1913 and after being in WWI, he joined the National Socialist (Nazi) Party. He was appointed chancellor in 1933 and became complete dicatator the following year. He then began to radically change Germany by creating ghettos and concentration camps. After it was all said and done, Hitler and his Nazi Party had killed nearly six million Jews. Many ask what sparked Hitler to do such brutal and disgusting things. We have a few pieces of evidence to help us understand this sick and vile man. These reasons were represented in the article I read in Time Magazine titled Adolf Hitler. The author, Elie Wiesel, explained, "We think we know everything about the nefarious forces that shaped his destiny: his unhappy childhood, his frustrated adolescence; his artistic disappointments; his wound received on the front during World War I; his taste for spectacle, his constant disdain for social and military aristocracies; his relationship with Eva Braun, who adored him; the cult of the very death he feared; his lack of scruples with regard to his former comrades of the SA, whom he had assassinated in 1934; his endless hatred of Jews, whose survival enraged him--each and every phase of his official and private life has found its chroniclers, its biographers." All of these reasons are given to sympathize with Hitler. Well I don't buy it for one second. Everyone has problems. There is not one person in this world who is perfectly content. He is the worst man ever to live. He ended six million innocent lives. He felt Jews didn't deserve to live. He felt that Jews were not human. This concept is represented in the begining of Maus when the author displays for us, "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but theey are not human." For this exact reason, Art Spiegelman depictes all Jews as mice and all German as cats. In the article I read the author also discusses Hitler's sucess and how compared to other leaders in his time such as Mussolini and Franco; Hitler was far more sucessful. He was able to convert an entire nation: economically, judicially, educationally, and industrially. Sadly, not only was Hitler crazy, however he also was smart. He used his intelligence to gain power of Germany and later Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic countries. Others ask how so many people were fooled and tricked by Hitler's propaganda tricks and why so many people let what was going on happened. And the answer to this is that many people were fooled with his false sense of hope, others were scared away by the S.S. and gustapo, and finally some tried to stop all of this but their attempts were too feeble to affect the Fuhrer. The main point that I think is important for everyone to understand is that Hitler was a paranoid who when received power ran with it a lot farther than any sane person would. The sad thing is that Hitler knew what to do with this power and how to convert non-believers. His main tactics were hope and fear. The scariest thing is that not only do I and many others still fear Hitler but I believe our world has not moved on from this horrific event. A perfect example of our modern day Hitler is Obama. He has used what I believe is false hope to win over our country and also instilled fear in our citizens of what republicans would do if elected. I am not completely against Obama, however I think he may be leading us down the wrong path as a nation. I know that Obama will not do anything like Hitler did I just hope he doesn't do anything to ruin his spot in history like Hitler did.

Hitler - Man of the Year?

On January 2, 1939, Time magazine published its article on The Man of the Year for 1938. Today, we often think of this recognition as an honor and an award that goes to a person who has made a difference in the world. We assume this difference to be good, but 1938's man of the year was Adolf Hitler. While much of it is simply background on Hitler's life and his rise to power, this article provides an interesting view on what people at the time of Hitler's rule who were not from Germany thought of Hitler. The writer portrays Hitler's actions as "ruthless, methodical" and shocking, but he also describes Hitler as the most powerful man in the world who achieved this status though determination and his incredible ability to speak. He talks about how Hitler was a "genius" for being able to so throughly suppressed all expressions of free will and for being able to develop an army strong enough to hold off the forces of an "apparently impotent world." So, while he does portray Hitler as an evil man, he also seems to almost admire Hitler's genius and his ability to cast a shadow over the rest of the world - a world unable to stop him. He closes the article on the note that Hitler will also probably be a prominent figure in 1939 and the years to come. Even during the time of Hitler's rule, people realized how impactful his actions were going to be for years to come.