Adolf Hitler Research Articles

The War of Vladimir. Nationalism, Narcissism, and Childhood Battles

Abstract The war in Ukraine has had enormous media coverage in the West, generating a wide-ranging debate concerning its origins, responsibilities, and consequences. The debate in the media raises an interesting question seldom explored in the study of nations and nationalism, specifically, the scarce incidence or penetration by expert knowledge into the theories of common sense and profane knowledge. In fact, despite the current consolidation in the scientific literature of the constructionist and modernist paradigm – of a sociological nature – other visions and interpretations of the past continue to be widely accepted and popularized beyond academia. This article analyzes the weight and influence of psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis in the social representation of nationalism. The persistence of psychopathological language in the profane interpretation of the conflict is explored using the discourse of the press and, in particular, the opinion columns published in various Western countries during the first weeks of the war. The article shows that the criticism and denunciation of nationalism are still being formulated nowadays with the voices of psychology and psychiatry, the psychodynamic vision of the authoritarian, and the vulgarized portrayal of Adolf Hitler.

‘Peace-Loving Countries, Unite!’ British Reception of Soviet Declarations on ‘Collective Security’ at the Turn of 1934

Soviet-German relations were very conducive for both countries after the Rapallo Treaty was concluded in 1922. There were some signs of difficulties during the Great Depression but they did not influence the willingness of Berlin and Moscow to cooperate. After Adolf Hitler came to power, however, the deterioration of bilateral relations of the two countries became apparent. Finally, at the turn of 1934, a wave of official Soviet declarations on starting cooperation with the ‘peace-loving’ capitalist countries against the aggressor within the framework of the collective security system took place. The article’s aim is to explain whether or not the British Cabinet took notice of these speeches and what attention it paid them. It is important to determine how the British diplomats interpreted these declarations and what was the justification for their viewpoints. Previously, London had tried to separate Germany from the USSR. Hence, the question as to the British government’s understanding of the new situation arised as do the potential steps taken on the international scene once German-Soviet cooperation ceased to exist at the end of 1933. The deterioration of Soviet-German relations had the potential to influence British diplomacy, which was devoted to the idea of collective security.

From Niche Narrative to Audio Blockbusters

From Niche Narrative to Audio Blockbusters

Women in Politics and the Public Sphere: Munich 1918/1919

Women have never been passive bystanders to the history being made around them and they have always found ways to contribute to shaping their world. Munich in 1918/1919 provides a useful site to examine women's experiences and roles due to the long-standing involvement of women in the peace movement and welfare work, as well as the foundation of the Bavarian Soviet Republic after the First World War. However, Munich in the early years of the Weimar Republic is most commonly associated with Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, an attempt by right-wing men to seize political power. Moreover, the 1918 revolution is also often told through the lens of male political figures. As a result, politics in the early twentieth century is easy to view as a male-dominated affair with women merely experiencing the effects of male political power. This era, particularly from the perspective of Munich, also becomes viewed through the lens of the rise of fascism, which obscures and distorts the alternative political visions many women held and worked towards. This article centres on women's experiences and roles in politics and the public sphere in revolutionary Munich to ask what opportunities the revolution and its immediate aftermath presented for women and how they were able to influence political decision-making despite huge barriers. Through an understanding of how their world was gendered, their role as political agents comes to the fore.

The Boy at the Top of the Mountain as a Source of Axiological Ethics for Holocaust fiction

AbstractThe main aim of this paper is to point out the artistic and other qualities of Boyne’s publication The Boy at the Top of the Mountain, especially in relation to what could be considered as a lack of scholarly reception of this artistic narrative. In summary, the transformation of Pierrot’s mindset from a humanistically minded bilingual boy to an uncritical recipient of Nazi ideas over the course of the narrative is effectively portrayed. It should also be noted that the change in axiological values in the narrative is influenced by events that entered the child character Pierrot’s life: for example, his stay in an orphanage or his long stay in a house on the top of a mountain owned by Adolf Hitler. Based on qualitative content analysis, the paper answers four questions: (1) How is Pierrot’s change of mind portrayed? (2) How does Pierrot as a child perceive Nazi ideas? (3) To what extent is the war the driving force behind the plot of The Boy at the Top of the Mountain? (4) Is The Boy at the Top of the Mountain suitable for children and young people to read at all?

Puterea și persuasiunea sistemului de propagandă nazist în Germania. Ascensiunea lui Adolf Hitler, 1928-1933

Peculiarities in German history led to the emergence of a “special path” (Sonderweg), which was represented by the rise of Adolf Hitler. Because Hitlerʼs influence was so large, and stretched in technique and approach, it shaped the diversity of interpretations of this phenomenon. The character of Adolf Hitler cannot be understood if we use an isolated reflection on what the demagogue, the mob agitator, and the dictator of the Third Reich meant. This study serves as a guide that provides a vision that brings together the opinions and arguments of specialists and a reflection built from articles and documents on one of the most interesting characters of history, a personality declared by TIME magazine “Man of the Year” in 1938.

Mussolini and the Jewish Question in the Diaries of Claretta Petacci

The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the attitude of the leader of Italian fascism, Benito Mussolini, to representatives of Jewish nationality. The diaries of Mussolini's mistress Claretta Petacci, which she kept from 1932 to 1937, are mainly used as a source. The work also explores the drastic change in B. Mussolini's attitude towards Jews, which occurred after an alliance was concluded with the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, in 1937. There is a connection between these events, since until 1937 Petacci's diaries said nothing about the Jewish question. The article also examines the attitude of Italian society towards the racial laws of 1938 against Jews, which was not at all unambiguous. As an analytical method, the interpretive approach of the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz will be used, who believed that the analysis of culture is not an experimental matter, but a hermeneutic one, engaged in the search for meanings, symbols and ideas. The scientific novelty of this study lies in a specific consideration of the Jewish question of Mussolini and his study based on the memoirs of his mistress Claretta Petacci. There are not many studies devoted specifically to this issue and specifically to this historical source. The main conclusions of the above study are that it was the alliance concluded in 1937 with Adolf Hitler that radically influenced Benito Mussolini's decision to introduce racial laws in Italy, since the Duce was not much concerned about the Jewish question until 1937. The author of the work also drew conclusions regarding the negative attitude towards anti-Semitic laws by the majority of Italian society: Italians did not accept them due to the lack of anti-Semitism and hostility towards Jews in Italy.

Pod fałszywym sztandarem „naszej cywilizacji” w obronie Zachodu

UNDER THE FALSE BANNER OF “OUR CIVILIZATION” IN DEFENSE OF THE WEST: SUCCESSFUL MYSTIFICATION OF ADOLF HITLER, FALSE HOPES OF PIŁSUDSKI’S SUPPORTERS (1933-1935)For Adolf Hitler, the most important goal was to build the power of the Third Reich and expand the armed forces necessary to implement his plans to fight communism, solve the Jewish question and gain living space in the East. The peace on the eastern border sought by Hitler could be the basis for an agreement with Józef Piłsudski, who sought to normalize relations with his western neighbor due to the danger from Soviet Russia. For Poland, aspiring to the role of defender of Western civilization and a bulwark against Russia and Eastern influences, it was necessary to stick to the values of the West, even though the Second Polish Republic, heading towards authoritarianism, deteriorated its relations with Western countries. After gaining power, Adolf Hitler began building a totalitarian state, consistently destroying the achievements of Western civilization in Germany. Aware of Poland’s desire to play the role of a bastion of Western civilization in the East, he used camouflage, falsely presenting himself as its defender, and called for a joint defense of the West against communism and Asian civilization. Hitler’s maneuver was facilitated by the fact that J. Beck and other Piłsudski supporters, unlike Piłsudski, used interests rather than values in international politics. Poland lost in the confrontation with Hitler because, contrary to its efforts and hopes for a policy of neutrality towards totalitarian states with an openly anti-Western and anti-civilization face, it did not gain the loyalty of its allies or the gratitude of its enemies.

World Domination and Genocide: The ‘Lochner Version’ of Hitler’s Speech from 22 August 1939, a Key Document of National Socialist Ideology

ABSTRACT On August 22, 1939, only days before the German invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler delivered an infamous secret speech before the leading Wehrmacht generals at the Obersalzberg. The American foreign correspondent Louis Lochner, as head of the Berlin bureau of Associated Press, was a key figure in securing, spreading, and publishing this speech during the World War II. Despite Lochner’s presence throughout the Nuremberg trials 1945/1946 as a reporter for AP, he was not called as witness to testify regarding the document which today is usually referred to as ‘Lochner Version’ of the secret Hitler speech. Later, while verifying this source during the 1960s, Lochner’s role was too underappreciated and even distorted by German historians. Therefore, until today, the Lochner Version of Hitler’s speech is either unknown, underestimated or misjudged. To reassess this central source for Hitler’s worldview and the global aspirations of National Socialist ideology, this article reconstructs its historical background and context for the first time. It argues that the Lochner Version is indeed the most authentic and reliable version available of this speech by Hitler. Only the Lochner Version reflects Hitler’s two ultimate goals: World conquest and genocides of all ‘inferior races’. Furthermore, it proves that all leading German generals knew of Hitler’s planned crimes against humanity even before World War II started.

The Birth House of Adolf Hitler: Conflict Heritage by Association

Situated in a beautiful medieval town center in rural Austria, amid an organic supermarket, small bakeries, and cozy coffee shops, lies the birth house of Adolf Hitler. Although Hitler lived in the house for only a short time, the house has for decades been the subject of an emotional discussion on how to deal with this taboo site. Eventually, in 2019 the Austrian government announced the top-down decision to model the house back to its 19th century structure-“long before Hitler was born there”-and to use it as a police station. This paper offers an initial academic approach on this complex site by embedding it in critical heritage theory to discuss some of the uncertainties that dominated the discourse and the decision-making on the house. These include the importance or pettiness of birth houses, material agency and it’s implications, and whether this house as ‚conflict heritage by association‘ can be of relevance in shaping a critical understanding of Austrian contemporary history.

Hitler’s Error of Memory: Symptom or Propaganda Ploy?

The purpose of this paper is to use the psychoanalytic understanding of parapraxes to explore the meaning of apparent errors of memory made by Adolf Hitler in speeches ‘prophesying’ the destruction of European Jews. Because historians have suggested the likelihood that these errors were deliberate, the concept of intentional parapraxes is explored and utilized. Whether deliberate or not Hitler’s errors, it is argued, were a product of a psychological conflict between the wish to take public credit for the mass murder of Jews and the need to keep these crimes secret.

CREATION AND ACTIVITY OF «ELITE» SCHOOLS IN GERMANY (1933–1945)

The article highlights the activities of elite schools and their creation. It has been revealed that from the very beginning of its existence, the Nazi regime in Germany sought absolute power over all spheres of German life. The field of education and upbringing had a specific importance in the ideology of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (hereinafter NSDAP).
 Significantly, the ideologues of the Third Reich emphasized the non-class nature of their movement, and the main criterion for achieving personal growth of social peaks was not belonging to a particular class, not property qualifications, but a person’s own abilities and personal qualities. However, the main qualities were blind faith in the Führer, ruthlessness towards enemies, and cooperative personality. For the first time in the entire existence of Germany, young people had a sense of their importance. Never before in German history have youth been so needed, and, at the same time, so criminally used. Social selection began to play a fundamental role in society, so it is not surprising that it also affected the sphere of school and youth education. The emergence of elite schools that educated future generals, Gauleiters, and party officials was a logical reaction to the current regime in Germany.
 In Hitler’s elite schools, the dream of educating new German people-lords was to become a reality. In schools named after Adolf Hitler, national-political educational institutions, and Reich schools of the NSDAP, the regime wanted to raise capable performers who, as Hitler’s heirs, should have the future. Children were drilled, taught military affairs, and formed their worldviews. They were obliged to “believe, obey and fight”, to fulfill the role of political fighters. Young people, attracted by the opportunity to engage in various sports, to have rich leisure time, and to have a promising future career, entered elite boarding schools. There, they were brought up with unconditional loyalty to the regime. During the war, graduates of Hitler’s schools were often fanatics. Only one in two survived.

From Crisis to Consolidation: Hyperinflation’s Role in Hitler’s Rise and Germany’s Economic Resurgence

The economic trajectory of Germany, transitioning from the Weimar Republic to Nazi dominance, starkly highlights the intimate nexus between political events and economic paradigms. The Weimar Republic, once a beacon of post-war resurgence, grappled with a storm of hyperinflation, misguided economic choices, and the crippling Treaty of Versailles, creating an environment rife with unemployment, social discord, and dwindling trust in governance. This tumultuous backdrop paved the way for Adolf Hitler, whose ascent wasn’t solely a product of charisma but also his pledges of economic rejuvenation and nationalistic fervor. Hitler’s economic overhaul was immediate and transformative: Hjalmar Schacht’s innovative MEFO bills, designed to invigorate the economy without triggering inflation, and the Four-Year Plan, underscoring German autarky, showcased a nation intent on self-sustenance and industrial fortification. Yet, the crux of Hitler’s economic vision lay in a robust rearmament program. While ostensibly an avenue for job creation and industrial revival, this program was unmistakably a blueprint for Hitler’s expansive European ambitions. This narrative encapsulates a rollercoaster journey from the Weimar’s chaotic economic downfall, through Hitler’s opportunistic rise amidst despair, to the Nazi regime’s intricate economic strategies, culminating in a rearmament policy that, while promising prosperity, ominously heralded global conflict. Through this lens, we gain insights into the complex economic machinations that influenced one of history’s most defining epochs.

Just an Illusion?

Just an Illusion?

Why does history surprise us?

The Russian military aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 unveiled the illusory nature of our faith in the stability of the global political system. This belief was largely rooted in our short-term observations and naive expectations that political structures and social relationships were fixed points in the evolution of history. However, the reality is that we cannot assume the socio-political order we know to be the sole possible state, nor should we expect the transition to new solutions to occur smoothly. This study presents three agent-based models demonstrating how changes in socio-political structures can exhibit a discontinuous nature. These models include a social impact model with a strong leader, a model of interactions among competing social groups, and a model of structural balance dynamics. The discontinuous changes observed stem from the multistability of multiagent models, and the resulting transitions are both irreversible and exhibit hysteresis behaviour. All the transitions considered correspond to tipping points and the critical parameter values calculated through analytical approaches agree with the results of agent-based numerical simulations. The outcomes of these models exhibit qualitative agreement with historical data, particularly concerning the causes of the First World War and Adolf Hitler’s ascent to absolute power in Germany, while also complementing observed variations in connection density within echo chambers formed by conservative and liberal communities in U.S.

Deeper than Belief: Intuitive Judgment as a Context-Driven Process

Abstract Based on “laws” of contagion and similarity, it is understood that people tend to believe that meanings associated with one object may be transferred onto another, and the meanings of the first may “contaminate” the second. The perceived contamination may influence the individual’s way of interacting with the object. We aimed to produce a rich description of individual differences that predict intuitive judgments in response to scenarios involving activation of contagion heuristics. Adolescents and adults in Germany completed a survey and provided rated responses to hypothetical scenarios. They also gave open-ended remarks on one scenario: whether they would wear a sweater that had belonged to Adolf Hitler if they were cold. Content analysis produced a composite description of reflections with insights into historical consciousness in contemporary Germany. Also examined was the extent to which quantitative responses were related to demographics, personality characteristics, supernatural beliefs, and responses to other scenarios.

Kulturelles Erbe und Arbeit im Exil: Die deutschsprachige Literatur und der internationale Film (1933–1945)

Considering the devastating impact of Fascism and National Socialism on exiles and their literary heritage through the lens of adaptation history, this essay focuses on German-language literature in international cinema from 1933–45 and, by implication, on the role of refugees in major film industries abroad. When Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor, most notable authors and filmmakers were forced to leave their homes in Germany and soon Austria. Many of them went to Paris and quite a few eventually made it to Hollywood. Several exile filmmakers sought to claim German-language literature for that ‘other Germany’ in foreign language films, but — especially after Hitler’s troops had invaded Poland — the literary canon of Germany and Austria was considered a liability by most international film producers. In desperate need of income, many exile authors actively pursued adaptations of their own works, but only rarely did their plans materialize, even for bestselling writers; Remarque, Seghers, and Werfel were among the lucky few. Max Ophuls’ effort to preserve at least a fragment of the German literary canon and ensure the survival of German culture abroad, by filming Goethe’s Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774), was an exception. For the most part neither international film studios nor audiences were interested in German literary culture during the Hitler era unless an exile writers’ works provided useful and entertaining insights into current challenges and/or had established a wide-ranging readership.

From Brushstrokes to Pixels: Analyzing the Evolution of Political Propaganda in Visual Media

Leaders, particularly those associated with fascist ideologies, employ visual media as a tool to construct and propagate certain doctrines within the general populace. In this scholarly endeavor, our pursuit revolves around elucidating the profound interplay between art and photography as potent instruments of persuasive communication. First, readers will meet a brief historical background of both mechanisms. Later, in the literature review, several studies will be presented in which critics have shed light on art and photography as effective ways for political propaganda, by analyzing their synergistic relationship and impact on individuals. The argument will be integrated with the works of both Roland Bathes and Walter Benjamin. In the final part of this paper, we provide a few visual representations of both Western and Eastern political figures – King Henry VIII, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, and Saddam Hussein – who have framed the population’s perception through the impact of their artistic weaponry.

Historical Events as ‘Magic Yarn Balls’

Abstract Historical analogies are widely invoked to characterize contemporary events. As we argue that historians should play a central role in assessing these analogies, or at least, that history should offer organized models to think about them, we present a framework for productively engaging with historical analogies in the public debate, policy discussions and elsewhere. First, we introduce the ‘magic yarn ball’ as a central metaphor to capture the textured complexity of historical phenomena in terms of similarity and difference. Second, we propose a general framework inspired by this metaphor to engage with historical analogies, centered on interrogation, individuation, and prospection. We apply our model by assessing analogies between the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany in 1933 and the inauguration of US president Donald Trump in 2017.

Forgotten Clones: The Birth of Cloning and the Biological Revolution. By NathanCrowe. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. 2021. pp. 336. $60 (Hardcover).

Forgotten Clones: The Birth of Cloning and the Biological Revolution. By NathanCrowe. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. 2021. pp. 336. $60 (Hardcover).