Hitler- a Life Read online

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  © Peter Longerich 2019

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted

  First published as Hitler: Biographie

  by Siedler Verlag © Peter Longerich, 2015

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  Acknowledgements

  I should like to express my thanks to everyone who helped me write and

  publish this biography. It could not have been written without the sup-

  port of the staff of the various archives and libraries I consulted. I am very

  grateful to them all, and in particular, once again, to the staff at the Institute

  for Contemporary History in Munich for their tireless efforts.

  In the early stages of this book I had the opportunity to discuss its sub-

  ject’s personality with a group of psychoanalysts in Hamburg and a circle of

  psychotherapists and psychoanalysts in Munich. I am grateful for the help

  I received from Sabine Brückner-Jungjohann, Christiane Adam, Gundula

  Fromm, Ulrich Knocke, Rüdiger Kurz, Astrid Rutezki, Dirk Sieveking and

  Gudrun Brockhaus, Falk Stakelbeck, Heidi Spanl, and Corinna Werntz.

  My sincere thanks go to Thomas Rathnow and Jens Dehning of Siedler

  Press and to all their colleagues at Siedler, and also to Daniel Bussenius and

  Jonas Wegerer for their work in editing the text.

  Munich, October 2015

  Contents

  Abbreviations

  x

  Introduction 1

  Prologue: A Nobody

  7

  I. TH E PU BLIC SELF

  1. Back in Munich: Politicization

  49

  2. Joining the Party

  63

  3. Hitler becomes Party Leader

  82

  4. The March to the Hitler Putsch

  98

  5. The Trial and the Period of the Ban

  120

  II. CR E ATING A PU BLIC IM AGE

  6. A Fresh Start

  143

  7. Hitler as a Public Speaker

  164

  8. A New Direction

  173

  9. Conquering the Masses

  191

  10. Strategies

  224

  11. On the Threshold of Power

  247

  III. ESTA BLISHING TH E R EGIM E

  12. ‘The Seizure of Power’

  279

  13. First Steps in Foreign Policy

  333

  14. ‘Führer’ and ‘People’

  346

  15. Breaking out of the International System

  358

  16. Becoming Sole Dictator

  368

  viii

  Contents

  IV. CONSOLIDATION

  17. Domestic Flashpoints

  403

  18. Initial Foreign Policy Successes

  415

  19. The Road to the Nuremberg Laws

  425

  20. A Foreign Policy Coup

  438

  21. ‘Ready for War in Four Years’ Time’

  447

  22. Conflict with the Churches and Cultural Policy

  477

  23. Hitler’s Regime 500

  V. SMOK ESCR E EN

  24. Resetting Foreign Policy

  527

  25. From the Blomberg–Fritsch Crisis to the Anschluss

  540

  26. The Sudeten Crisis

  555

  27. After Munich

  584

  28. Into War

  612

  VI. TRIUMPH

  29. The Outbreak of War

  651

  30. Resistance

  674

  31. War in the West

  689

  32. Diplomatic Soundings

  705

  33. The Expansion of the War

  718

  34. Operation Barbarossa

  741

  35. The Radicalization of Jewish Policy

  763

  36. The Winter Crisis of 1941/42

  777

  37. The Pinnacle of Power

  796

  38. Hitler’s Empire 827

  VII. DOW NFA LL

  39. The Turning Point of the War and Radicalization

  845

  40. With His Back to the Wall

  878

  Contents ix

  41. Defeat Looms

  905

  42. 20 July 1944

  914

  43. Total War

  924

  44. The End

  935

  Conclusion 949

  Notes

  967

  Bibliography

  1215

  Illustrations

  1287

  Index

  1289

  Abbreviations

  (A)

  Abendausgabe (evening edition)

  AA

  Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office)

  ADAP

  Akten zur deutschen auswärtigen Politik

  AHA

  Allgemeines Heeresamt

  (B)

  Berlin edition

  BAB

  Bundesarchiv, Abt. Berlin

  BAF

  Bundesarchiv, Abt. Freiburg

  BAK

  Bundesarchiv, Abt. Koblenz

  BDC

  Berlin Document Center

  BDM

  Bund Deutscher Mädel

  BHStA

  Bayrisches Hauptstaatsarchiv

  BK

  Bayerischer Kurier

  BMP

  Bayerische Mittelpartei

  BT

  Berliner Tageblatt

  BVG

  Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe

  BVP

  Bayerische Volkspartei

  CŠR

  Tschechoslowakische Republik (Cěskoslovensk. republika)

  DAF

  Deutsch
e Arbeitsfront

  DAP

  Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

  DAZ

  Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung

  DBFP

  Documents on British Foreign Policy

  DDP

  Deutsche Demokratische Partei

  DNB

  Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro

  DNVP

  Deutschnationale Volkspartei

  Domarus

  Hitler, Adolf, Reden und Proklamationen 1932–1945, ed.

  Max Domarus

  DSP

  Deutschsozialistische Partei

  DStP

  Deutsche Staatspartei

  DVFP

  Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei

  FRUS

  Foreign Relations of the United States

  Abbreviations xi

  FZ

  Frankfurter Zeitung

  Gestapo

  Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police)

  Goebbels TB

  The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels

  GPU

  Vereinigte staatliche politische Verwaltung

  (Gossudarstwennoje Polititscheskoje Uprawlenije)

  Gruppenkdo. Gruppenkommando

  GVG

  Grossdeutsche Volksgemeinschaft

  GWU

  Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht

  HJ

  Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth)

  HL Heeresleitung

  HSSPF

  Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer

  IfZ

  Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich

  IMT

  International Military Tribunal

  Inf.Rgt. Infanterieregiment

  JK

  Hitler. Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905–1924, ed. Eberhard

  Jäckel and Axel Kuhn

  KAM

  Kriegsarchiv München

  KdF

  Kraft durch Freude

  Kp. Kompanie

  KPD

  Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands

  KPdSU

  Kommunistische Partei der Sowjetunion

  KTB

  Kriegstagebuch (war diary)

  KTB OKW

  Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

  (Wehrmachtführungsstab)

  KTB Seekriegsleitung Das Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung

  k.u.k.

  kaiserlich und königlich

  KZ Konzentrationslager

  LA Berlin

  Landesarchiv Berlin

  LHA

  Landeshauptarchiv Linz

  LT

  Linzer Tagespost

  (M)

  Midday edition; in the case of VB, Munich edition

  MB

  Münchener Beobachter

  MGM

  Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen

  MK

  Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf

  MNN

  Münchner Neueste Nachrichten

  Ms. Manuskript

  MSPD

  Mehrheitssozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands

  (N)

  Norddeutsche Ausgabe (North-German edition)

  xii

  Abbreviations

  NARA

  US National Archives and Records Administration,

  Washington

  NL

  Nachlass (private papers)

  NS nationalsozialistisch/Nationalsozialismus

  NSBO

  Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenorganisation

  NSDAP

  Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

  NSDStB

  Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund

  NSFB

  Nationalsozialistische Freiheitsbewegung

  NSKK

  Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps

  NSV

  Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt

  NZZ

  Neue Zürcher Zeitung

  OA Oberabschnitt

  OA Moskau

  Osobyi Archive, Moskow

  OB

  Oberbefehlshaber (commander-in-chief )

  OBdH

  Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (c-in-c of the army)

  OKM

  Oberkommando der Marine (navy high command)

  OKW

  Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (armed forces high

  command)

  ÖStA

  Österreichisches Staatsarchiv

  PA

  NS-Presseanweisungen der Vorkriegszeit

  PAA

  Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes, Berlin

  PolDir. Polizeidirektion

  PrGS

  Preussische Gesetzsammlung

  (R) Reichsausgabe

  RAD Reichsarbeitsdienst

  RDI

  Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie

  RFM Reichsfinanzministerium

  RFSS Reichsführer-SS

  RGBl. Reichsgesetzblatt

  RIB Reserve-Infanterie-Brigade

  RIR Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment

  RM Reichsmark

  RMBliV

  Reichsministerialblatt für die innere Verwaltung

  RMI

  Reichsministerium des Innern

  RPL Reichspropagandaleitung

  RSA

  Hitler, Adolf, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen

  RSHA Reichssicherheitshauptamt

  RVE

  Reichsvereinigung Eisen

  Abbreviations xiii

  SA Sturmabteilung

  SAM

  Staatsarchiv München

  SD Sicherheitsdienst

  Sopade

  Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands im Exil

  Sopade

  Deutschland-Berichte der Sozialdemokratischen Partei

  Deutschlands Sopade 1934–1940

  SPD

  Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands

  SprkAkte Spruchkammerakte

  SS Schutzstaffel

  StA Riga

  Staatsarchiv, Riga

  StAnw. Staatsanwaltschaft

  StJb

  Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich

  TB

  Tagebuch (diary)

  TP Tagesparole

  TWC

  Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals

  UF

  Ursachen und Folgen. Vom deutschen Zusammenbruch 1918 und

  1945 bis zur staatlichen Neuordnung Deutschlands in der

  Gegenwart, ed. Herbert Michaelis and Ernst Schraepler

  USPD

  Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands

  UWW

  Unser Wille und Weg

  VB

  Völkischer Beobachter

  VEJ

  Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das

  nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933–1945

  VfZ

  Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte

  VK

  Völkischer Kurier

  VZ

  Vossische Zeitung

  YV

  Yad Vashem

  ZStL

  Zentrale Stelle Lugwigsburg

  1. M.

  Erstes Morgenblatt (first morning edition)

  2. M.

  Zweites Morgenblatt (second morning edition)

  Introduction

  Arguably no individual in modern history has managed to accumulate

  such immense power in such a relatively short space of time as Adolf

  Hitler; no-one else has abused power so extravagantly and finally clung on

  to it so tenaciously, to the point where his regime collapsed totally, with the

  loss of millions of lives. Hitler is thus an extreme example of how personal

  power can be acquired and monstrously abused – a phenomenon that bursts

  the confines of a conventional historical biography. In Hitler’s case even the

  interpretative model frequently employed by historians of exploring the

/>   interaction of structural factors and individual personality is inadequate. For

  we are dealing with a figure who did not exercise power within the frame-

  work of established constitutional politics or the generally accepted rules of

  a political system, but instead dismantled this framework and created new

  structures of power to suit himself. These structures were indissolubly linked

  to him personally, and indeed in general his dictatorship represented an

  extraordinary example of personalized power. The regime’s ‘structures’ are

  inconceivable without Hitler and Hitler is nothing without his offices.

  Yet at the same time this dictatorship cannot be reduced to Hitler as an

  individual or explained in anything like adequate terms by his biography.

  We must instead adopt a much broader view that takes in the history of the

  period as a whole: for example, the phenomenon of National Socialism, its

  causes and roots in German history, and the relationship between Hitler and

  ‘the Germans’, to name but a few factors. While any interpretation that

  dwells too much on Hitler himself risks falling into ‘Hitlerism’ and begins

  to read like an apologia, any comprehensive examination of the historical

  circumstances and conditions runs the opposite danger of losing sight of

  Hitler as an agent and presenting him as a mere puppet of external forces, a

  blank screen on which contemporary movements are projected. That would

  result in Hitler, of all people, being marginalized as a figure of historical

  2

  Introduction

  importance and his personal responsibility within this historical process

  being obscured.

  The main challenge of a Hitler biography is thus to explain how such an

  extreme concentration of power in the hands of a single individual could

  arise from the interplay of external circumstances and the actions of that

  individual. On the one hand, it must present the forces that acted upon

  Hitler and, on the other, those that were set in motion by him.

  Contrary to a widely-held view, our present-day knowledge of National

  Socialism is by no means complete or even close to being complete.

  Historical research into National Socialism has developed many specialized

  branches and is constantly bringing new knowledge to light on a very wide

  range of aspects of the movement and the regime. One thing becomes clear

  from looking at a cross-section of these studies, namely that Hitler was

  actively involved in the most disparate areas of politics to a much greater

  extent than has hitherto been generally assumed. He himself created the

  conditions in which this could happen, by bringing about the step-by-step

  fragmentation of the traditional state apparatus of power into its component

  parts, ensuring that no new and transparent power structures developed, and

  instead giving far-reaching tasks to individuals who were personally answer-

  able to him. This consistently personalized leadership style gave him the