March 31, 2005

The personality of Adolph Hitler. A rare 1943 psychological analysis of the personality of Adolph Hitler that predicted, among other things, his eventual suicide -- is now available on the Cornell Law Library's Web site.
posted by Korzeniowski the Cat 19 years ago
  • KCat - I realllly wanted to read that, but it loads so very slowly (cable, but hindered by a wireless network.) Could you give me some highlights?
  • My girlfriend saw this somewhere last night; she was utterly amazed that anybody could surmise that Hitler might have liked to bully people. () There's also (on Nizkor) of an OSS "psychiatric report" on him, which looks rather similar to a book I read in the 1970s called The Mind of Adolf Hitler, also by Langer.
  • fucking vegetarians making my life hell for eating a deli sandwich.
  • Skimming briefly, things get hot around p. 36. "B. Predictions of Hitler's Behavior [...] 1. Hitler may be forcefully seized by the Military Command or by some revolutionary faction in Germany and be immured in some prison fortress.[...] 2. Hitler may be shot by some German.[...] 3. Hitler may arrange to have himself shot by some German, perhaps by a Jew. - This would complete the myth of the hero - death at the hand of some trusted follower: Siegfried stabbed in the back by Hagen, Caesar by Brutus, Christ betrayed by Judas... He could die in the belief that his fellow countrymen would rise in their wrath and massacre every remaining Jew in Germany... 4. Hitler may get himself killed leading his elite troops in battle. Thus he would live on as a hero in the hearts of his countrymen... 5. Hitler may go insane. 6. Hitler may commit suicide. [...] He will retreat, let us say, to the impregnable little refuge that was built for him on the top of the mountain behind the Berghof... There alone he will wait until troops come to take him prisoner. As a grand climax he will either (i) blow up the mountain and himself with dynamite; or (ii) make a funeral pyre of his dwelling and throw himself on it (a fitting Götterdammerüng; or (iii) kill himself with a silver bullet (Emperor Christophe); or (iv) throw himself off the parapet. This outcome, undesirable for us, is not at all unlikely. 7. Hitler may die of natural causes. 8. Hitler may seek refuge in a neutral country. [...] 9. Hitler may fall into the hands of the United Nations. [...]" I call bullshit on the lack of primary sources, double bullshit on these predictions; they cover most of the bases, don't they? I do think this is pretty interesting as a historical document.
  • I heard mendelev's brother was charged with the task of growing a swastica carrot. A swastarrot. Swastomato. Swasturnip. Swascabbage. You can just invent compound words in that language.
  • Swastofu Swastofurkey Holy god they won after all
  • Awesome link. Thanks!
  • The quiz is cool because it points out the similarities between the two, but it's kind of easy to tell the two apart by sty;e and context - ones wih references to America are generally Coulter, while Hitler's mention European Communism. (Also, Hitler's use of language is more elegant, even in translation.)
  • Got all but two.
  • And yes, just pick the better written quote, and that's Hitler's.