28 Kurt Lüdecke, I Knew Hitler: The Story of a Nazi who Escaped the Blood Purge, London, 1938, pp. 22f. On Lüdecke see Lothar Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis: Das Doppelleben eines Diktators, Berlin, 2001, pp. 302ff.
29 Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 217.
30 Karl Alexander von Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt: Erinnerungen. Vol. 3: 1919–1932, ed. Otto Alexander von Müller, Munich, 1966, pp. 144f.
31 See Ernst Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt in die Politik und die Reichswehr,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 7 (1959), p. 190; Ludolf Herbst, Hitlers Charisma: Die Erfindung eines deutschen Messias, Frankfurt am Main, 2010, p. 119.
32 See the first prototypes of the swastika flag drawn by First Treasurer Rudolph Schüssler in 1920–1 in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2559. See Karl-Heinz Weissmann, Das Hakenkreuz: Symbol eines Jahrhunderts, Schnellrode, 2006.
33 See Tilman Allert, Der deutsche Gruss: Geschichte einer unheilvollen Geste, Berlin, 2005.
34 See Hellmuth Auerbach, “Hitlers politische Lehrjahre und die Münchner Gesellschaft 1919–1923,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 25 (1977), p. 19. On the early agitation of the NSDAP see also the undated notes by Rudolf Hess (August 1920): “Red has been chosen for good reason. Those workers who have not yet been won over are outraged by the misuse, in their eyes, of their beautiful colour red for ‘reactionary’ purposes.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 27.
35 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 16, p. 127 (dated 24 April 1920), no. 100, p. 131 (dated 11 May 1920), no. 91, p. 119 (dated 6 April 1920).
36 Ibid., no. 435, p. 752 (dated 3 Dec. 1922).
37 Ibid., no. 185, p. 297 (dated 17 Jan. 1921).
38 Ibid., no. 248, p. 411 (dated 24 May 1931). See ibid., no. 377, p. 611 (dated 12 April 1922): November 1918 was “no achievement, but rather the beginning of our collapse.”
39 Ibid., no. 96, p. 128 (dated 27 April 1920), no. 120, p. 162 (dated 15 July 1920), no. 405, p. 692 (dated 18 Sept. 1922). Joachim Riecker (Hitlers 9. November: Wie der Erste Weltkrieg zum Holocaust führte, Berlin, 2009, p. 97) sees the agitator’s “unquenchable thirst to avenge and erase [German] defeat in the First World War” as his most important source of motivation. But Riecker’s attempt to draw direct connections from this to the Holocaust is misguided.
40 Ibid., no. 93, p. 124.
41 See Boris Barth, “Dolchstosslegende und Novemberrevolution,” in Alexander Gallus (ed.), Die vergessene Revolution, Göttingen, 2010, p. 133.
42 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 147, p. 236 (dated 22 Sept. 1920). For the above quotes see ibid., no. 108, p. 143 (dated 11 June 1920), no. 126, p. 169 (dated 1 Aug. 1920), no. 141, p. 225 (dated 5 Sept. 1920). As early as late 1919, Hitler wrote a pamphlet with the polemical title “The Forced Peace of Brest-Litovsk and the Peace of Reconciliation and Understanding of Versailles?” (ibid., no. 72, pp. 101–4), which was widely distributed among soldiers stationed in Munich. See Othmar Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren: Hitlers prägende Jahre im deutschen Militär 1918–1920, Paderborn, 2013, pp. 166f.
43 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 249, p. 412 (dated 26 May 1921), no. 252, p. 417 (dated 29 May 1921), no. 315, p. 515 (dated 11 Nov. 1921).
44 Ibid., no. 224, p. 368 (dated 24 April 1921).
45 Ibid., no. 227, p. 374 (dated 3 May 1921).
46 Ibid., no. 368, p. 590 (dated 1 March 1922). See ibid., no. 383, p. 638 (dated 5 May 1922): “But Rathenau perpetrated his biggest swindle in Genoa when he tossed Germany’s assets into the Entente’s insatiable maw.”
47 See ibid., no. 103, p. 137 (dated 31 May 1920), no. 108, p. 144 (dated 11 June 1920), no. 197, p. 318 (dated 13 Feb. 1921).
48 Ibid., no. 252, p. 414 (dated 29 May 1921); no. 264, p. 444 (dated 20 July 1921).
49 Ibid., no. 138, p. 212 (dated 25 Aug. 1920).
50 Ibid., no. 141, p. 233 (dated 5 Sept. 1920). See ibid., no. 147, p. 234 (dated 22 Sept. 1920), no. 205, p. 336 (dated 6 March 1921), no. 412, p. 708 (dated 25 Oct. 1922).
51 Ibid., no. 1239, p. 217 (dated 25 Aug 1920).
52 Ibid., no. 129, p. 176 (dated 7 Aug. 1920).
53 Ibid., no. 160, pp. 250, 254 (dated 26 Oct. 1920).
54 Ibid., no. 140, p. 220 (dated 31 Aug. 1920).
55 Ibid., no. 96, p. 127 (dated 27 April 1920), no. 203, p. 333 (dated 6 March 1921).
56 Ibid., no. 101, p. 134 (dated 19 May 1920).
57 Ibid., no. 96, p. 127 (dated 27 April 1920), no. 187, p. 300 (dated 27 Jan. 1921).
58 Ibid., no. 239, p. 394 (dated 15 May 1921).
59 Ibid., no. 305, p. 505 (dated 21 Oct. 1921), no. 405, p. 692 (dated 18 Sept. 1922).
60 The writer Carl Zuckmayer, who attended a Hitler event in the autumn of 1923, was struck by the “numbing hammering of repeated phrases in a certain contagious rhythm.” Zuckmayer concluded: “This was practiced and skilled, and it possessed a terrifying, primitive, barbaric effectiveness.” Als wär’s ein Stück von mir, Frankfurt am Main, 1966, pp. 384f.
61 Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 198.
62 See Martin H. Geyer, Verkehrte Welt: Revolution, Inflation und Moderne. München 1914–1924, Göttingen, 1998, pp. 96f.
63 See Steinert, Hitler, p. 125.
64 Fritz Stern, Kulturpessimismus als politische Gefahr: Eine Analyse nationaler Ideologie, new edition, Stuttgart, 2005, is still the standard on this topic; Kurt Sontheimer, Antidemokratisches Denken in der Weimarer Republik: Die politischen Ideen des deutschen Nationalismus zwischen 1918 und 1933, Munich, 1968 (student’s edition).
65 Quoted in Auerbach, Hitlers politische Lehrjahre, p. 26.
66 See Reginald H. Phelps, “Hitlers ‘grundlegende’ Rede über den Antisemitismus,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 16 (1968), pp. 390–420 (text of the speech on pp. 400–20). Also reprinted in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 136, pp. 184–204.
67 For the source material see Phelps, “Hitlers ‘grundlegende’ Rede,” pp. 395–9. In a letter to Theodor Fritsch on 28 Oct. 1930, Hitler claimed to have “intensively studied the Handbook on the Jewish Question in his early years in Vienna.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930–März 1932. Part 1: Oktober 1930–Juni 1931, ed. Constantin Goschler, Munich, 1993, doc. 32, p. 133.
68 Cited in Phelps, “Hitlers ‘grundlegende’ Rede,” p. 400.
69 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 273, p. 452 (dated 12 Aug. 1921).
70 Ibid., no. 275, p. 458 (dated 19 Aug. 1921).
71 Ibid., no. 171, p. 273 (dated 3 Dec. 1920), no. 285, p. 471 (dated 8 Sept. 1921), no. 585 (dated 23 Feb. 1922), no. 223, p. 366 (dated 21 April 1921).
72 Heinrich Heim to Fritz von Trützschner, 12 Aug. 1920; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/18. On 3 Nov. 1943, an employee at the NSDAP Archive added the following note: “The letter to Herr von Trützschner was written in 1920 by today’s Ministerial Council Heim (Party Chancellery) and returned as undeliverable. It was given to me unopened by Party Comrade Heim for the Party Archive. The letter contains an extraordinarily interesting characterisation of the Führer and his stance back then on the Jewish question.” On Heinrich Heim’s biography, see Werner Jochmann’s introduction in Monologe, pp. 11f. See also the exchange between Rudolf Hess and Heim in 1936/38 in BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 7.
73 Karl Mayr to Wolfgang Kapp, 24 Sept. 1920; Erwin Könnemann and Gerhard Schulze (eds), Der Kapp-Lüttwitz-Ludendorff-Putsch: Dokumente, Munich, 2002, p. 526. In a letter of 11 Dec. 1920 to the Pan-Germanic leaders Heinrich Class and Ernst Bang, Munich Police President Ernst Pöhner recommended Hitler as “a first-rate organisational and agitating force,” who had become known as “the best speaker of the National Socialist German Workers Party in all of Bavaria.” Quoted in Johannes Leicht, Heinrich Class 1868–1953: Die politische Biographie eines Alldeutschen, Paderborn, 2012, p. 288.
74 Klaus Gietinger, Der Ko
nterrevolutionär Waldemar Pabst: Eine deutsche Karriere, Hamburg, 2009, p. 220.
75 Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 50. See also the characterisation of Hitler: “A powerful forehead, blue eyes, the entire head like that of a bull and a voice with a wonderful everyday tone as well.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3: Zwischen den Reichtagswahlen Juli 1928–September 1930. Part 2: März 1929–Dezember 1929, ed. Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, 1994, doc. 62, p. 342.
76 Margarete Plewnia, Auf dem Weg zu Hitler: Der “völkische” Publizist Dietrich Eckart, Berlin, 1970, p. 67.
77 Transcript of the testimony from 15 Nov. 1923 in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2180. See Hermann Esser’s testimony for Ralph Engelmann, 5 March 1970: “Eckart regarded Hitler as the only man capable of making a popular movement into something huge. He knew exactly that Hitler was the sort of speaker these masses needed.” BayHStA München, Nl Esser.
78 Fest, Hitler, p. 196.
79 Hitler, Monologe, p. 208 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942).
80 For the acquisition of the Völkischer Beobachter see Drexler’s note from 1940, reprinted in Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, pp. 128f.; transcript of a conversation with Hans Georg Grassinger, the operations manager, on 19 Dec. 1951; IfZ München, ZS 50.
81 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 175, pp. 277f. (dated 18 Dec. 1920).
82 Timothy W. Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life, London, 2009, p. 29.
83 Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 781.
84 Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef: Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler, 3rd edition, Munich and Vienna, 1985, p. 65. Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923–1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 4, p. 51 (entry for 15 March 1937): “The Führer…talked about Dietrich Eckart. What a gentleman!”
85 Hitler, Monologe, p. 161 (dated 28/29 Dec. 1941), p. 208 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942).
86 Transcript of a conversation with Mathilde Scheubner-Richter on 9 July 1952; IfZ München, ZS 292. For further information, see also Ernst Piper, Alfred Rosenberg: Hitlers Chefideologe, Munich, 2005, pp. 57ff.; Gerd Koenen, Der Russland-Komplex: Die Deutschen und der Osten 1900–1945, Munich, 2005, pp. 266–8.
87 Cited in this order in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 106, p. 140 (dated 6 June 1920), no. 124, p. 166 (dated 27 July 1920), no. 197, p. 319 (dated 13 Feb. 1921), no. 72, p. 451 (dated 4 Aug. 1921), no. 352, p. 560 (dated 30 Jan. 1922).
88 Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908–1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 264 (dated 14 Sept. 1920), p. 267 (dated 11 April 1921). After the first meeting with the “tribune” he had become “an enthusiastic follower within minutes,” Hess wrote to Ilse Pröhl on 10 July 1924 from Landsberg prison; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33. For Hess’s participation in putting down the Soviet Republic see his letter to his parents, dated 18 May 1919; Hess, Briefe 1908–1933, pp. 240–2; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 21. On his close relationship with Karl Haushofer see Hess’s letters to his parents, dated 19 May 1921 and 8 May 1923; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 27, 31.
89 Unpublished memoirs of Gustav Ritter von Kahr, p. 877; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51.
90 R. Hess to Kahr, 17 May 1921; Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 32–134 (quote on p. 133).
91 See Albrecht Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer”: Der Wandel von Hitlers Selbstverständnis zwischen 1919 und 1924 und die Entwicklung der NSDAP, Munich 1975, pp. 72–89 (on DSP), pp. 95–109 (on the merger of the parties).
92 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 129, pp. 173–9, no. 132, p. 181 (dated 8 Aug. 1920).
93 Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer,” p. 100.
94 Ibid., p. 99.
95 Quoted in ibid., p. 109. In conversation on 31 Oct. 1951, Gerhard Rossbach described his first impression of Hitler with the words: “A pathetic civilian with a badly knotted tie who had nothing but art on his mind and always showed up late. Brilliant speaker with great powers of suggestion.” IfZ München, ZS 128.
96 For a summary of the contents, see Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer,” pp. 111–16. Dickel was an adherent of Otto Damaschke’s ideas for land reform and had established a housing project for workers in the moorlands near Augsburg, which he named Dickelsmoor. See Franz Maria Müller, “Wie Hitler Ausburg eroberte. Erlebnisbericht aus der Frühzeit der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung” (undated, post-1945); IfZ München, MS 570.
97 Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer,” pp. 119f.
98 Ibid., pp. 121f.
99 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 338, p. 539 (dated 5 Jan. 1922). For Hitler’s hatred towards education professionals see Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929–1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 57.
100 Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 163.
101 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 262, pp. 436–8 (dated p. 438).
102 Quoted in Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer,” p. 128. Committee member Benedict Angermeier resigned in protest over Hitler being named NSDAP party chairman. See the testimony of his sons Paul and Kurt Angermeier, 22 Jan. 1952; IfZ München, ZS 20.
103 Reprinted in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 138–40.
104 Quoted in Maser, Frühgeschichte, p. 276.
105 On the party conference of 29 July 1921 see Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 269, pp. 447–9, no. 270, pp. 449f. NSDAP Vice-Chairman Oskar Körner reported on 4 Aug. 1921 to Gustav Seifert (Hanover): “All existing misunderstandings within the party, which were caused by external elements, have been completely eradicated.” IfZ München, MA 736/141.
106 On the party charter of 29 July 1921 see Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer, pp. 132–50.
107 Quoted in Maser, Frühgeschichte, p. 280.
108 Quoted in ibid., p. 281.
109 See Emil Maurice’s affidavit on 16 March 1946; IfZ München, ZS 270. On the creation of the SA see Peter Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone: Geschichte der SA, Munich, 1989, pp. 22–5. The founding proclamation is reprinted in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 144.
110 On Röhm see Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, pp. 15–22.
111 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 301, p. 499 (dated 5 Oct. 1921).
112 On the violent attacks on Jews in Munich see Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität, pp. 97ff.
113 Hitler, Monologe, pp. 122f. (dated 2 Nov. 1941). See also ibid., p. 146 (dated 30 Nov 1941): “I could only use people who knew how to brawl.”
114 See a report on this meeting in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 145f.
115 Rudolf Hess to Klara and Fritz Hess dated 7 July 1922; Hess, Briefe, p. 291.
116 Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 147.
117 Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 563–7 (quote on p. 567). See also the report on the meeting in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 316, pp. 515–17 (dated 12 Nov. 1921).
118 Fest, Hitler, p. 211.
119 Large, Where Ghosts Walked, p. 144f. See also the Austrian consul general to Munich’s report in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 153f.
120 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 399, p. 679 (dated 16 Aug. 1922). A further demonstration planned for 25 Aug. on Königsplatz was banned. See diaries of G. Feder, vol. 4 (entry for 25 Aug. 1923); IfZ München, ED 874.
121 Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 615. See also Hitler, Monologe, pp. 144f (entry for 30 Nov. 1941): “As soon as we were outside, we gave them such a hiding that the street was clear within ten minutes.”
122 See the overview provided in Maser, Frühgeschichte, pp. 320f.
123 See Auerbach, “Hitlers Lehrjahre,” p. 36; Pätzold and Weissbecker, Geschichte der NSDAP, p. 67; Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 157.
124 See Michael H. Kater, “Zur Soziologie der frühen NSDAP,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 19
(1971), pp. 124–59 (these figures on p. 139).
125 See Heusler, Das Braune Haus, p. 120.
126 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 116, p. 156 (dated 3 June 1920). See also Tischgespräche, p. 204 (dated 8 April 1942): “The entire initial years of the time of struggle were aimed at winning over workers for the NSDAP.”
127 Notes by Rudolf Hess, “Der Nationalsozialismus in München” (undated, 1922); BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 6/71.
128 From the transcript of the Reicherts’ daughter Antonie Reichert’s questioning on 20 June and 9 Sept. 1952; IfZ München 287; see Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 53.
129 See Toland, Adolf Hitler: Volume 1, p. 142f. (based on Helene Hanfstaengl’s recollections).
130 See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 42f.; David G. Maxwell, “Ernst Hanfstaengl—Des ‘Führers’ Klavierspieler,” in Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring and Rainer Zitelmann (eds), Die braune Elite II: 21 weitere biographische Skizzen, Darmstadt, 1993, pp. 137–49. Peter Conradi’s biography, Hitlers Klavierspieler: Ernst Hanfstaengl—Vertrauter Hitlers, Verbündeter Roosevelts, Frankfurt am Main, 2007, is little more than a paraphrasing of Hanfstaengl’s memoirs.
131 Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 52.
132 Ibid., pp. 52f. For further books in Hitler’s library at the Thierschstrasse residence, among them Einhart’s German History (the pseudonym of Pan-German Heinrich Class), see Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, pp. 49–51. Antonie Reichert said that Hitler owned “a lot of architectural literature” as well as a gramophone and a collection of Richard Wagner records; IfZ München, ZS 287.
133 Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 55
134 Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 188, p. 303 (dated 27 Jan. 1921). See also Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 109; Maser, Frühgeschichte, pp. 282–4. Less enlightening is Wulf C. Schwarzwäller, Hitlers Geld: Vom armen Kunstmaler zum millionenschweren Führer, Vienna, 1998, pp. 32f.
135 On 12 April 1923, during the period of hyper-inflation, the Willi Bruss Bank in Berlin transferred to Hitler’s account a “donation in support of your anti-Semitic efforts” of 200,000 reichsmarks. BA Koblenz, N 112 8/7. See also documents concerning further donations in 1923. The chairman of the Pan-Germanic League, Heinrich Class, gave 3,000 marks in August 1920 and also supported Hitler financially in the years that followed. See Leicht, Heinrich Class, pp. 286f.
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