Book Review: Hitler – The Memoir of a Nazi Insider Who Turned Against the Fuhrer
Author: Ernst Hanfstaengl
I’ve always been a World War II fan. My grandpa served in the war and although he rarely spoke about it, it’s always been something I’ve been interested in. Last Christmas my wife gave me this book and after reading the back cover I knew this would be good.
Ernst Hanfstaengl came from American and German parentage. He graduated from Harvard and ran the family’s business in New York after graduating. After 12 years he returned to Germany just as the political scene was heating up and a young newcomer to the scene, Adolf Hitler, began making a name for himself.
In 1921 Hitler was speaking at a beer hall and Hanfstaengl was mesmerized by his speech and decided he needed to get to know Hitler better and be involved in his political party. He was convinced that Hitler would one day, through his incredible gift of orating rise to power.
Upon getting involved, Hanfstaengl quickly became a major contributor to Hitler’s campaign. He was raised with a certain amount of prestige and knew the right people, was highly educated and had a keen understanding of politics in Germany and the world. Hanfstaengl became Hitler’s foreign press secretary and used his influence to set up interviews with media from around the world to help educate the world about Hitler and the Nazi party.
In his role as foreign press secretary Hanfstaengl had unprecedented access to Hitler and the other party leaders. He got involved very early in the process and as such had far more first-hand information about the way Hitler operated and evolved in to the horrible terror the world knew him as during the war.
Hanfstaengl didn’t always agree with Hitler and wasn’t shy about voicing his opinion and trying to influence and shape Hitler’s views and opinions. Hitler was surrounded by yes men that resented Hanfstaengl and did everything in their power to discredit him in Hitler’s eyes. It worked and as the war started and things got really crazy he was deemed an enemy of the state and forced to flee his homeland.
In the book Hanfstaengl shared some incredible experiences and insight onto how Hitler operated and what made him tick. Hitler believed that the power of speech was what moved people to action and focsed his tie and energy on speaking. In his opinion if somebody couldn’t speak well enough to incite a crowd to action then he or she wasn’t a good leader.
Hanfstaengl also shared specific mannerisms and insecurities Hitler had and the way he dealt with these insecurities. For example, Hitler had never traveled and had rarely left Germany. When Hanfstaengl made the recommendation that he learn to speak English n take some time to travel so he could better understand potential foreign allies of threats Hitler masked his fear of doing these things by claiming htat he didn’t have the time and couldn’t afford to be away from the party for an extended period of time.
Similarly, when Hitler was annoyed with someone Hanfstaengl could tell by the way he would address the person. For example, when he was agitated by Hanfstaengl he would pronounce his name a certain way that was clearly meant to be demeaning to him. Hitler would commonly exclude Hanfstaengl from meetings that would have benefitted from his presence. When these meetings ended poorly, instead of apologizing, he would say, in an accusatory sort of way, “Hanfstaengl, you should have been there.”
There were two things that really stood out to me in this book. The background and early history of Hitler and his rise to power were far more interesting than I had previously known. I’ve known and worked with people that have many of the same qualities and characteristics that Hitler possessed. The difference was the way it manifested itself. In Hitler’s case, these characteristics ended up going to the far extreme and manifested themselves in ways that not only drive him to success but excesses that led t the monstrosity that was Hitler. In people I’ve known and worked with, these qualities helped them achieve success but, in most cases didn’t go to the extreme that Hitler did.
The second aspect that stood out to me was his work as Hitler’s foreign press chief. Hanfstaengl was constantly battling with Hitler to do interviews and coaching him on messaging and the best ways to work with the press. Hitler never really understood the power of the press and the effect they could have on his reception from the world. In many cases, Hitler blew off interviews or flat out refused to do the interview.
In more than 18 years of doing PR I’ve tried to provide these same types of services to clients and battled with some of them over the same types of issues, In no way am I comparing any of my current or past clients to Hitler, but it was interesting to see he similarities in dealing with the press then and now and how Hanfstaengl had to crate, find and sell Hitler on the opportunities he created.
Had Hitler followed Hanfstaengl’s advice he would have done himself a huge favor. As it was, Hitler was too concerned with and caught up in other activities and neglected the media.
I enjoyed this book. The insights and detail into Hitler’s early life and his rise to power were something that I hadn’t previously read or heard about. I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in World War II history,
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