Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography

by John Toland

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian John Toland’s classic, definitive biography of Adolf Hitler remains the most thorough, readable, accessible, and, as much as possible, objective account of the life of a man whose evil affect on the world in the twentieth century will always be felt.

Toland’s research provided one of the final opportunities for a historian to conduct personal interviews with over two hundred individuals intimately associated with Hitler. At a certain distance yet still with access to many of the people who enabled and who opposed the führer and his Third Reich, Toland strove to treat this life as if Hitler lived and died a hundred years before instead of within his own memory. From childhood and obscurity to his desperate end, Adolf Hitler emerges , in Toland’s words, "far more complex and contradictory . . . obsessed by his dream of cleansing Europe Jews . . . a hybrid of Prometheus and Lucifer."

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Germany, Biography Memoir

1676 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
John^Toland - 17th century theologian, Philosopher & Satirist
John^^Toland - American writer and historian (WWII & Dillinger)
John^^^Toland - Article: "The Man who Reads Minds"

John Willard Toland (June 29, 1912 in La Crosse, Wisconsin - January 4, 2004 in Danbury, Connecticut) was an American author and historian. He is best known for his biography of Adolf Hitler.[1]

Toland tried to write history as a straightforward narrative, with minimal analysis or judgment. This method may have stemmed from his original goal of becoming a playwright. In the summers between his college years, he travelled with hobos and wrote several plays with hobos as central characters, none of which achieved the stage.[2] At one point he managed to publish an article on dirigibles in Look magazine; it proved extremely popular and led to his career as a historian.

One exception to his general approach is his Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath about the Pearl Harbor attack and the investigations of it, in which he wrote about evidence that President Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance of plans to attack the naval base but remained silent. The book was widely criticized at the time. Since the original publication, Toland added new evidence and rebutted early critics. Also, an anonymous source, known as "Seaman Z" (Robert D. Ogg) has since come forth to publicly tell his story.

Perhaps his most important work, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971, is The Rising Sun. Based on original and extensive interviews with high Japanese officials who survived the war, the book chronicles Imperial Japan from the military rebellion of February 1936 to the end of World War II. The book won the Pulitzer because it was the first book in English to tell the history of the war in the Pacific from the Japanese point of view, rather than from an American perspective.

The stories of the battles for the stepping stones to Japan, the islands in the Pacific which had come under Japanese domination, are told from the perspective of the commander sitting in his cave rather than from that of the heroic forces engaged in the assault. Most of these commanders committed suicide at the conclusion of the battle, but Toland was able to reconstruct their viewpoint from letters to their wives and from reports they sent to Tokyo. Toland died in 2004 of pneumonia.

While predominantly a non-fiction author, Toland also wrote two historical novels, Gods of War and Occupation. He says in his autobiography that he earned little money from his Pulitzer Prize-winning, The Rising Sun, but was set for life from the earnings of his biography of Hitler, for which he also did original research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tol...

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

At 1,035 pages, they weren't screwing around when they decided to call this book "the definitive biography." I can pretty much tell you what Hitler ate for breakfast everyday between 1933 and 1945 (for instance, on April 30th, 1945 he ate a bullet).

A few months back, I picked up a biography of Diana Mitford, wife of Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists, and close friend of Adolf Hitler. In its entirety, the book was relatively dull, but I was captivated by Mitford's characterization of Hitler as a brilliant thinker, an enthusiastic leader, and (perhaps most unsettling of all) a compassionate and generous friend.

It occurred to me that I had never considered Hitler from any other perspective than the one offered in grammar school textbooks. It was startling to think of him as a living, breathing human being - one who takes tea and see films with friends. I decided then to read the longest and most comprehensive biography of him that I could get my hands on. Enter John Toland and this behemoth of a book. I wanted to comb through Hitler's experiences and find out what made him into such a horror of a human being. And also, I wanted to know how he managed to persuade an entire nation to turn a blind eye (or worse) to one of the most horrific atrocities perpetrated in recent history.

This book is amazing. There is literally not a single dull page among all 1,035. Though I was unable to identify anything particularly extraordinary in Hitler's early life that would explain his monstrous behavior later on, I came away with a better understanding of the many forces that combined to contribute to this train wreck of a period in German history.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The shame of Germany’s surrender on November 11 in the forest of Compiègne overwhelmed him…Like St. Joan, he heard voices summoning him to save Germany. All at once ‘a miracle came to pass’—the darkness encompassing Hitler evaporated. He could see again! He solemnly vowed, as promised, that he would ‘become a politician and devote his energies to carrying out the command he had received.’ …That night in the lonely ward at Pasewalk the most portentous force of the twentieth century was born. Politics had come to Hitler, not Hitler to politics.”
— Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography

There are so many books written about Adolf Hitler and his rise to power that it’s difficult to settle on one and be satisfied with it. The enormity of the war that he brought about and the depravity of the Nazis make it really difficult to say that I’m done with it, that I’ve had enough. Fortunately, the countless volumes on Germany in World War II, won’t let you run out of books. It’s possible to go and find details and stories that you didn’t know existed in the first place.

Toland is a great storyteller and this book is among the best biographies of Hitler that I know of. It’s not as long as Kershaw’s or Ullrich’s and despite the “definitive” in its title, it doesn’t try to do everything at once. Toland includes just enough detail and minutia to make his story rich but not more: he doesn’t argue, he doesn’t write to prove or disprove; he doesn’t psychoanalyze the bejesus out of Hitler. I read Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich a few years ago, so what I wanted most was a coherent and well-rounded narrative and that’s exactly what I got.

Toland’s account never overwhelmed me because he utilizes a limited scope and he sticks by it: he’s here to tell the story from the point of view of Hitler and those around him. This lack of analysis and arguments felt a bit jarring at first but as I read on, it made much more sense. You get to know (as much as it is possible) how the situation developed around Hitler and his coterie and what information was available to them; how Hitler’s pathological tendencies to fit everything into his ideology shaped German politics and precipitated a war that destroyed Europe. You get to know the pointlessness of arguing with Hitler once his mind was set on something. To some extent I even got a sense of how it felt to be around the Fuhrer with his endless tirades and boundless ego. At one point he answered his assistant’s question of why he doesn’t have any children by saying that because he is a genius, his child might end up being a mediocrity and it would be a difficult life for a child trying to live up to expectations set by the greatness of his father.

Toland starts with Hitler’s childhood and constructs his tale chronologically until we reach Adolf’s last day, April 30, 1945. Hitler’s days in Vienna before World War I and his desperation in trying to make a living as an artist/architect is dealt with in the first hundred pages. His love of everything German, especially operas and that of Wagner’s, developed suddenly it seems and from his youth he was a man possessed by romantic visions of German greatness and he indulged in them without restraint. His friendships were mostly one-sided and he just kept talking and talking and he only wanted someone to listen to him.

Then came World War I and it changed Adolf Hitler and the world around him dramatically. Toland’s narrative moves ahead quickly and before you know it, it is 1918 and Hitler is wounded and blind:

This wounded and demoralized corporal who fifteen years later would be the leader of the Reich was not yet aware of the magnitude of Germany’s defeat. Four years earlier, as the first great German offensive rolled over Belgian, French and British resistance, Hitler’s regiment had first been bloodied in battle in that same area, losing an almost inconceivable eighty per cent of its personnel in less than a week. To the ardent Hitler these losses, far from discouraging, had been proof of the fighting spirit of German troops.

Then came the demoralizing German surrender and “the stab in the back” myth held by nationalists and soldiers like Hitler who couldn’t accept Germany’s defeat without a sinister cause behind it. Out of this resentment and his visions of greatness, Hitler became a rabble-rouser and little by little he built a solid core around himself.

After the Beer Hall Putsch and serving time in Landsberg prison, he realized he needed more than street-fighters and conspirators for taking on the Weimar Republic. He needed unity and numbers; he avoided petty inter-party squabbles and slowly managed to unite the German population by attacking Marxists and Jews and promising salvation. Up until this point, Hitler seemed mostly a lost and bitter soul, too much bark and no real bite. But after he starts campaigning on the national scale and the number of brownshirts rises astronomically in his rallies, he is no longer — just — the Bohemian maniac. We read about Hitler rousing audiences with brilliant speeches and Toland tries to recreate the atmosphere:

As Hitler walked off the stage the audience exploded into applause and the cheers continued for several minutes. Later Hitler, wearing an ill-fitting field jacket and puttees, stood in the back seat of an open car to review 3500 (the enthusiastic Goebbels put the number at 15,000) storm troopers who marched past, a bit out of step, with right arms raised in salute.

The success of Hitler’s speeches was by no small account due to the way they were orchestrated: with rousing music, flags, standards, and deliberate pacing — and of course swastikas — the speeches became captivating performances and the audience devoured it and wallowed in it. But Hitler’s oratory was the most important element.

The danger in reading Hitler’s biographies — especially non-analytical ones like Toland’s — is that you might start laboring under the illusion that it all started and ended with Hitler. The rise of the National Socialist party was not just of his own making but I don’t think it’s incorrect to assume that Hitler’s character shaped the movement in unique ways. Had someone else been at the helm, the German quest for restoring their pride probably would’ve taken a different course, ultimately at least.

This book is not a political biography at all. Hitler’s politickings and maneuverings are not discussed at length. (Toland had to finish his narrative in 1000 pages.) Still, you get good chunks about the way he manipulated the political situation and the results are clearly presented. You might think that this is a personal biography, laser-focused on the Fuhrer but it’s not that either because after 1925, Hitler didn’t really have that much of a personal life apart from his political world and ambitions. But his relationships with women, especially Geli and Eva, are not disregarded and I think Toland has managed to bring Hitler to life by avoiding digressions from his story. After Geli’s suicide, Hitler even took the risk to travel to Austria to attend the funeral even though it would’ve cost him politically if he was caught. These are the only moments when Hitler actually cared about anything other than his dream to reach the pinnacles of power.

Next sections of the book cover Hitler’s rise to chancellery in 1933 and his following amassing of power and consolidation of the NSDAP at the expense of liberties and the subjugation of the German economy. Nazi’s rearmament program revived the depression-era economy and then devoured it wholesale. Hitler’s drive towards absolute power and eliminating all forms of dissent are the major themes of these sections and Toland does a satisfactory job, even though he has chosen to state the results and not to delve any deeper.

Hitler’s Weltanschauung was already set by 1930 and the idea of Lebensraum for Germany had taken root in his mind. There are two chapters dealing with the Holocaust and I think they were handled with care. Toland is of the opinion that even if Hitler was not directly involved in the machinations of the party that allowed Holocaust to take place, nevertheless Himmler and Heydrich and their gang took their cue from the Fuhrer. Toland points out that the “Final Solution couldn’t have happened without Hitler and Hitler alone could’ve ordered its execution”.
Numerous diaries and messages that the chief conspirators have left behind, show that it’s impossible for Hitler not to have known, given that it was his ideology that shaped the policies of his murderous regime.

Starting with 1938 up until Barbarossa, Toland writes about the diplomatic attempts that happened between Britain, France, Russia and Germany with the aim of preventing a global war. It moves ahead with ease and even though I was somewhat familiar with the situation, Toland’s retelling painted some unforgettable scenes for me.

Finally, the last sections about events from 1942 to 1945 are brief but read like a novel. This is the best part and the inherent drama of the time doesn’t need much embellishment. Toland just tells what happened in his own style and that is more than enough:

The Battle of the Bulge was over. Left behind were two tiny ravaged countries, destroyed homes and farms, dead cattle, dead souls, dead minds—and more than 75,000 bodies…[Operation] Autumn Fog was creeping back to the Führer like some huge wounded beast. It reminded many of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. Men shuffled painfully through the snow, feet encased in burlap bags, with shawls wound around their heads like careless turbans. They plodded on frozen feet, bedeviled by biting winds, bombs and shells. The wounded and sick crept back to the homeland with rotting insides, ulcers oozing, pus running from destroyed ears. They staggered east on numb feet with despair in their hearts, stricken by dysentery, which left its bloody trail of filth in the snow…Their will was broken. Few who survived the retreat believed there was now any chance of German victory. Almost every man brought back a story of doom, of Allied might and of the terrifying weapon forged in the Ardennes: the American fighter. The GI who came out of the battle was the quintessential American, the man Hitler did not believe existed.

Toland has done numerous interviews for this book which was published six years after The Rising Sun. His interviews were mostly with people who were connected with the Nazi regime in one way or the other and he has woven their recollections and memoirs in his story. When an account is not that reliable, Toland usually says so in the notes even though he doesn’t break his narrative to point it out. His research is extensive but not without fault as he sometimes presents viewpoints and arguments that are one-sided and even wrong, so it’s a good thing that he steers clear from arguments for most of the book. This however, doesn’t hurt his narrative that much. (At a few places, Toland mentions the prevalent astrological predictions concerning the fate of Germany and Hitler promulgated by charlatans of the time. At first I just dismissed them as an attempt by Toland to dramatize the story. But he kept bringing them up, and it started to feel a bit strange. It reminded of the History Channel's Vikings series with its ridiculous seer who correctly prophesized the future every single time and served as a built-in spoiler.)

I haven’t read Toland’s The Rising Sun so I don’t know how Adolf Hitler fares compared with his magnum opus. But he has made something special here, and he has managed to tell a well-rounded and very readable story of the destructive forces that Adolf Hitler unleashed which shaped the 20th century of the world we live in.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hitler and the Germans

John Toland’s biography of the bane of the twentieth century, Adolf Hitler is ultimate, definitive and impressive. First published in 1976 over 1000 pages long, it has stood the test of time. Toland has had many advantages of writing in his era. They major changes one being that he conducted around 150 interviews with people close to Hitler and the regime. A priceless feat. He still approaches this position of privilege with caution, sticking closely to what he can prove and as a result one of the greatest biographies of Hitler is born.

Starting with his family background and birth, Toland is quick to dispel many myths about his subject matter. For example, he was not deformed had both testicles as rumours would often have you dispute. He was a normal youth, who grew up no different then his peers, playing of American and Indians. He could have forged a steady and secure life for himself. Instead he wanted greater things, to be an artist and then an architect in the great hub of the Habsburg empire: Vienna. This failed and with this Hitler’s hatred of the dual monarchy, Slavs and Jews grew. Toland also points out Hitler was not celibate, establishing that both his relationships with Mitzi Reiter and Eva Braun were both consummated. The mutual admiration between his half sisters daughter Geli Raubal and Hitler is also interested and intense. It is possible she killed herder out of jealously, even if he did also isolate her.

When he joined the army in 1914, he was a reliable soldier, winning the Iron Cross. But he did not rise above the rank of Corporal as he should have done, on the grounds he ‘lacked leadership’. His extreme views were beginning to take shape. Traumatic events took their toll on Hitler and his spiral into satan’s pocket. The rejection of his art in Vienna, the death from cancer of his mother and sudden defeat of Germany in 1918 all corrupted his outlook. The Jews and Bolsheviks were to blame. Quantifying what this meant was another matter. However this hatred was his motivation and main driving force. Every decision would be based around this going forward. Hitler had total responsibility and oversight of the persecution of the Jews and the holocaust. Himmler, Heydrich and Bormann all answered to him.

Toland is impressed by Hitler’s grasp of military and strategic thinking, he was an amateur after all. Perhaps in the early days he had extreme luck. This helped to build the Führer myth. Furthermore he believed himself to Napoleon’s successor as a great general and a once in a generation character. Of course massive mistakes followed. Allowing the army to pause at Dunkirk so that the Luftwaffe could have the glory or invading the USSR in 1941. Luck was also not always on his side, the change in regime in Yugoslavia in 1941, where the king declared war on Germany, led him to have to invade and as such delayed Barbarossa for a vital six weeks. He was also unable to bring Facist Spain into the war against the allies. Toland also provides credit to Hitler’s excellent oratory. He intoxicated a nation, got into the minds and dreams of Germans and was able to march them off a cliff.

As the war wore on, Hitler’s health took a hit. He was ill by the end and was heavily medicated to combats his various illnesses. Perhaps this made suicide to ‘walk amongst the gods’ easier. When total victory was impossible, the final solution became more vicious. He couldn’t win the war so there was only death for both him and the Jews.

What is evident, even with such a huge book, the subject matter is too complex and too big to cover in one volume. In some ways Toland hasn’t been able to cover it all, in others this is comprehensive and complete. To Toland he still remains an enigma and as such there is no final analysis of him. For me this is a great narrative of one of the most destructive humans in history. Whether a historian or not, this is essential reading in some form to learn from these mistakes and identify dark forces and movements in modern life.

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Toland's Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography is another doorstop popular history of the Third Reich from the ‘70s, when nonfiction shelves of bookstores were practically swastika shrines. Toland conceives the book as a European counterpart to his The Rising Sun, a blow-for-blow account of World War II from the Nazi perspective; trouble is, William Shirer and others beat him to the punch. To compensate, Toland's book is rich in anecdotes and personal detail; Toland undertook a tremendous amount of firsthand research, interviewing over one hundred people about their relationship with Hitler, painting a usually-convincing portrait of the Fuhrer as Human. We see Hitler the "Great Man" who rallied Germany to his cause, instituted a totalitarian state and started history's most destructive war and most infamous genocide; we also see Hitler the Banal, Cranky Petit Bourgeois who resents his hardscrabble background and failed art career, who vacillates between unctuous charm and ranting egomania in his dealings with subordinates, diplomats and businessmen, who suffers from flatulence and indigestion, eats a vegetarian diet and swims in quack medicines, while maintaining a fraught but usually loving relationship with Eva Braun. Toland's narrative works best in these fly-on-the-wall moments, allowing us to recognize something pitiably, pathetically human in the 20th Century's nastiest dictator. Compared to the sadistic Stalin and fanatical Pol Pot, Hitler seems remarkably small: he's your angry, bigoted uncle who loves ranting about pet hates at the dinner table, only he somehow became leader of a country.

Toland is a gifted narrative writer and the book is generally compelling when revisiting Hitler's political triumphs, diplomatic clashes and military plans - familiar tales, well told and fleshed out with telling personal details. Readers with a taste for WWII history can thrill anew at the diplomatic arguments at Munich, the fraught councils of the German high command, the blow-by-blow accounts of the invasion of France, the Battle of Stalingrad and the plots to kill Hitler. And writing at a time when many mainstream historians downplayed Hitler's responsibility for the Holocaust, Toland shows that Hitler's obsessive antisemitism and megalomaniac micromanagement makes it impossible to conclude Hitler didn't know, and often played a hands-on role in the destruction of European Jewry (enough that some later authors, like Ian Kershaw, argue that Toland even overstates his case).

But Toland's analysis is often suspect, superficial and just plain wrong. Like Shirer, he evinces little detailed grasp on German history or culture beyond personal observations; he outlines Hitler's admiration of Anglo-American racism and empire-building while superficially discussing Germany's own history of imperialism and Jew hatred. His commentary on Hitler's rise bristles with dubious claims, like asserting "the vast majority of Germans" supported Hitler within months of his seizing power (never mind the March 1933 elections, where the Nazis won only 44 percent of the vote), that Hitler instituted an egalitarian welfare state (something which in fact dated back to Bismarck, and in any case claiming Hitler instituted anything "egalitarian" is patently absurd) or generally downplaying the role of Hindenburg and other conservatives in his ascent to power. Worse, Toland sometimes betrays an odd admiration for Hitler, for instance writing “if Hitler had died in 1937...that would undoubtedly have gone down as one of the greatest figures in German history.” By eliding the subsequent eight years and 50 million deaths caused directly or indirectly by the Fuhrer, Toland’s “if” does the heaviest lifting since Atlas.

In fairness, Toland avoids David Irving-esque revisionism and makes no effort to deny or downplay the costs of Nazi imperialism. (He was less discerning in several later works on the Pacific Theater, advocating old Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories discredited in the 1940s.) Mostly, he seems torn between viewing Hitler as an evil genius, like Shirer, and a boring man whose motives (if not actions) are universally recognizable. Neither explanation for fascism is fully adequate, and thus the book’s claim of being “definitive” seems laughable. Toland’s surfeit of anecdotes and narrative writing, while readable and filled with interesting details, will leave serious students of the Third Reich unsatisfied.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

(updated with further nasty comment)

Hitler was the world's greatest motivational speaker. You go to one of his meetings and he gives you astonishing dreams, and he gives you permissions. Next day, you see an old Jew in the street. Last week, you wanted to give him a kick. Today, you actually do that, right there, and he falls over. But a policeman was watching you the whole time. Sheiss! Now you're in for it. You look up from the Jew and meet his eyes. He laughs briefly and shrugs, and walks on. He was at the meeting too.

*********

Some times when I listen the Bob Dylan I think - Hitler would have had you killed if he had half a chance. Along with Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, George and Ira Gershwin, Philip Roth, Lou Reed, Mark Rothko - you could name dozens more - every one would have been shipped off to the nearest extermination centre. Himmler would have seen to it in his meticulous way. Their hatred was limitless.

*********

And just a quick something about this great book - it rang my head like a bell many years ago. You know where they say "it was a biography but I was turning the pages like it was a thriller"? This is the one that does that.

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the very best accounts of the Nazi period. I have now read the sections covering 1932-33 which tell the story of Hitler's rise to the Chancellorship, including who helped him and why.

[David A · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Adolf Hitler” (Ballantine Books, 1st September 1986 edition) by John Toland is probably my favourite history biography. It is a masterful detailed and absorbing account of the life of the most evil figure of modern world history. I read it 25 years ago when I was a 14 year old school boy, having been given an assignment to do for history class. When I came across it in our school library, and I spent the next few weeks reading it. Every spare minute I got I dived back in and was engrossed until I was finished. I got the Wordsworh Military Library edition of it a few years ago, but I was delighted to have found a Ballantine edition in a book shop. Toland perfectly sets out his subject dealing with his boyhood including how his name was actually Schicklgruber. His aimless wanderings in his 20’s are also clearly dealt with. Perhaps the book really takes off for me though when we enter the era of the First World War, and the treatment of Germany at Versailles following Germany's surrender which to me seems the lynchpin Hitler’s life turned on. Toland clearly sets out the how hitler established his gang of thugs, the taking over of a sideline political party, the fashioning of that party into a well oiled political machine and the eventual establishing of total power with the death of President von Hindenberg. As we know Hitler’s regime was premised on ‘Lebensraum’ for the German “Übermensch” and the smashing of the Jewish race in Europe whom he believed were responsible for all Germany’s woes. What I particularly liked about this book is the fact that Toland was in a position to seek out and interview the surviving members of Hitler’s regime to conduct research for the book. This adds something later authors were unable to achieve, first hand recollections and memories of their part in his regime. The thing I find astounding about Hitler is how he could hijack an intelligent industrious nation and dupe them down the path to total destruction. How one man could bring a nation to near total annihilation by the force of his oratory and political thinking has fascinated me. How Hitler commanded such blind and total obedience, especially from the Army has been long since a question I still fail to answer with adequate satisfaction. All in all Toland’s book is quite simply a brilliant book, and true to his form is written in the narrative style without comment or criticism, so what you get is the actual story of Hitler's life minus an analyses which can distract. Other works adequately provide analyses, but to get to know the subject, this book is the real deal. You will see traces of Toland in most works on Hitler which have followed since. Couldn’t recommend highly enough.

[Thar Lun Myat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about a life of a stubborn and cruel man, Adolf Hitler. He started to make his dreams come true. He made the most destructive war in history all because Germany lost one war before he became the fuhrer.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even at 1,000+ pages, this book was not a complete biography of Hitler. Superb research and extensive documentation was presented, detailing the events of his life and some of his compatriots, but in the end, I still did not understand the man, nor grasp how he was understood and admired by so many who followed him and believed in his vision.

Hitler obviously had a gift of oratory, but there is little offered here to help understand how that worked. He displayed at least two other character traits typical of strong leaders, but traits that I see—and I think research is beginning to bear out—as deep flaws. One is supreme confidence in one’s intuition and the other is ruthless perseverance. These qualities in the extreme can indeed lead to success, but at a price of the soul.

Toland did manage to show some of the grey area in the man who would be Fehr. Hitler’s persona is typically portrayed in the post-war modern world as one of all black. He is analogous with evil. When we want to thoroughly demonize anyone, we compare them to Hitler. It is too easy to fall into this binary mindset, and lose sight of the subtleties of any person, and with it a realistic perspective. Toland did express this when he cited Graham Greene’s observation that “the greatest saints” were “men with more than a normal capacity for evil,” and the most vicious men have sometimes narrowly evaded sanctity. Make no mistake about it, Hitler was an epic mass murderer. But as Toland points out, had he died at the age of 50, after ten years in power but before the invasion of Poland, he would today be regarded as one of the greatest leader in German history, if not the world. He was, in fact, a tremendous success, coming out of relative obscurity, having spent time as a political prisoner, and then rising to the most powerful position of exalted leader, with social and economic programs that were enormously popular. His anti-Semitism probably would have been little noticed by history or been explained away, as we do with the slaveholding practices of the founding fathers of America. One need not even go back that far to discover our own sins, and Toland claims that Hitler did so as well. “Hilter’s concept of concentration camps, as well as the practicality of genocide, owed much, so he claimed, to his studies of English and United States history. He admired the Camps for Boar prisoners in South Africa and for the wild Indians in the South West, and often praised to his inner circle the efficiency of America’s extermination—by starvation and uneven combat—of the red savages who could not be tamed by captivity.” In 1890, when Hitler was a one-year-old, the US Calvary systematically massacred men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, winding up an era of nationally sponsored genocide against Native Americans and a massive land-grab. They called it “manifest destiny”; Hitler called his land quest “lebensraum” (living space). While Hitler was instigating an anti-sematic policy in Germany, African-Americans in the United State were systematically and shamelessly oppressed, lynched, and subjected to Jim Crow laws and slavery by another name. Many Americans, like many Germans, didn’t pay attention nor show sympathy for the oppressed.

But a dictatorship is not a democracy. There is a difference between Hitler’s Final Solution and American racism, but mostly in terms of magnitude, in ruthless perseverance. Hitler was, initially, massively successful in his program of ethnic cleansing. But, ultimately, he failed in a way that would have horrified him, had he lived to see the outcome, with the establishment of a powerful Jewish state and the spread of communism beyond what would probably have been possible without his declaration of war on the Soviets and their march into Eastern Europe.

But I’m still left with the haunting unanswered question. How did he do it?

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

To dismiss Hitler as “pure evil” and to refuse to talk about him, means to turn your back to history and to an understanding of what made him possible. To say anything positive about him is even worse and an offense against the millions who died because of him. I believe that Toland did a great job here in presenting at length and quite objectively the most controversial person in the last two hundreds years as “a hybrid between Prometheus and Lucifer.”
It is mind blowing to follow the destiny of Hitler from a failed artist, bohemian, and vagabond in Vienna; to the supreme leader of Germany and the master of the entire Europe. He practically invented National Socialism. The Nazi party started with him and eventually took power because of his organizational and oratory leadership. He manipulated and outsmarted all his political opponents and eventually became the dictator of Germany. By threatening war, he got huge territorial concessions from the UK and France in Europe. He dominated the famous Prussian army and forced it to follow his blitzkrieg strategy with extreme success in 1939-40. At the height of his glory, almost the entire population of Germany stood behind him and considered him some kind of Messiah. He believed in his destiny to such an extent that everyone around him was fascinated and followed him until the end. Germany lost the war in 1941-42, but only capitulated in 1945 when Hitler killed himself; all of this because of his will to continue the war, not to surrender and make peace with Russia, and to gain time in order to systematically exterminate the Jews in Europe.
Hitler in some ways was the culmination and paroxysm of what Germany stood for the last hundred years: idealism, Prussian militarism, romanticism, realpolitik, racism and antisemitism, Marxism/communism and anti-communism, nationalism and monarchism, advanced capitalism, imperialism, will to power, Catholicism and Protestantism, ideologies and revolutions, and so on. Luther, Frederick the Great, Schopenhauer, Bismarck, Wagner, Nietzsche, and several others from German history already announced him.

[Dpwarzyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dismissed by some historians, Toland produces here the most objective biography of Hitler imaginable. Rooted on the solid ground of interviews with former Nazis living in hiding and unaccessible to other historians, makes a case for sour grapes.

Further, most people are very comfortable condemning Hitler as the devil, or some such reincarnation. However, if you want to meet the man, experience what he experienced, see him as he saw himself, then this is the book for you.

Toland employs a device where he allows his subjects to edit his writing based on their interviews--also unorthodox. What results is a purity that just rings true. There are some show stopping revelations in this book, but it is not for the feint of heart.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it's not perfect, I've rated this book five stars because it has served so long as my "go-to" reference on Hitler. Toland avoids a lot of the mistakes of popular treatments of Hitler’s life by being very careful about his sources, and making use of (and cross-referencing) interviews with surviving witnesses on a large scale. Particularly in terms of reconstructing Hitler’s early life, he presents a far more convincing narrative than Alan Bullock had, although of course the uncertainty of sources from this period always leaves questions open. At times, he does take Mein Kampf at its word, when of course much of that autobiography was written for propaganda purposes, but at least he avoids doing so when there are sources that contradict Hitler’s story.

Although it is quite long (over 1000 pages), the book is written in an engaging style with many vignettes and anecdotes that make it more accessible as a narrative. Certain stories, such as the tragic tale of the little dog “Fuchsl” who was Hitler’s pet in the trenches of World War I, have stayed with me over the years and colored my understanding of history. It includes many still photographs that give insight into the people and events in different stages of Hitler’s life, and of course tells the story of World War II and the Holocaust, both of which are points of major interest to non-professional historians. The details of the mass exterminations were (and are) still under constant scrutiny and so precise information will need to come from other sources, but Toland does exceed Bullock in this and other areas, simply by virtue of making better use of the sources available at the time and ignoring more questionable sources.

With a bit more distance from the events, a better biography was probably inevitable. It was now possible to be a bit more objective, with the war firmly in the past and the din of war propaganda (from both sides) out of the researcher’s ears, but this book also has the benefit of being written while many participants, victims, and witnesses were still living, and Toland made excellent use of his opportunities. It is not a comprehensive history of the Third Reich, much less fascism, and its brief section on international imitators of Hitler is most unsatisfying, but that is not the purpose of the book. It remains a very good treatment of its subject, although of course the serious researcher will want to become familiar with the newest interpretations of the evidence and not rely overly on a book nearly forty years old.

[AviP_C2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book and really visualized the lives of these poor Jews who had to go through this time. The Book Adolf Hitler by John Toland is a biography on Adolf Hitler's life. The book started when Hitler was born to a crowd of anti-Semitism believers. He thought being anti-Semitist was right and Hitler thought it was normal to hate Jewish people. This biography really opened my eyes up to the fact that the world is filled up with a bunch of crooks who believe in even more crooked things. As I went along the book sadness came into my eyes, because it explained how he threw the Jews into a concentration camp, and just left them for the end.

I really loved the story of his life
It widened my thinking of what's out there in the world.

[Arminius · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not believe that there is a better book available that covers the second most written about man in human history –Adolph Hitler. His chronicled life shows not only his evil prejudices but also his normal side. Toland gives plausible reasons for Hitler’s anti-Semitism. He exposes lies spread about Hitler such as his refusal to shake Jesse Owens hand after Owens’ Olympic victory. Very good and surprisingly funny anecdotes are incorporated such as Hitler’s crazy cousin spreading pamphlets claiming Hitler was part Jewish. It is a brilliantly researched book.

[Dan Sasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Childhood, Great War, the rise and fall of both the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich and World War 2 through the eyes of Adolf Hitler.

5/5 stars for me. This tomb of a biography delves into the life of one of histories most vilified figures while providing the context, depth and nuance that many biographies fail to do (caveating that many Hitler bios are still on my TBR list). First published in 1976, it benefits from Toland’s countless hours of interviews with people that knew and worked with the Furher but it can fall a bit short by not benefitting from having access to recently opened archives, ie the Soviet Union, or newly discovered documents and perspectives/theories.

Toland does an excellent job portraying his life and struggles from childhood through to his final days. He describes how the human being evolved into the monster we all know. He does not to excuse or mitigate the evil acts for which he is rightly infamous, but he conveys the psychological and historical contexts that shaped him.

The theme of Hitler's ascent is meticulously chronicled. Toland's narrative captures the post-WWI despair in Germany, painting a backdrop against which Hitler's rise seems not just plausible but inevitable. His charisma, political savvy, and the exploitation of the Versailles Treaty's aftermath are all laid bare, showing how a combination of personal ambition and national humiliation fueled his trajectory.

Hitler's ability to sway the masses is a focal point. Toland demonstrates this through quotes, speeches, and detailed accounts how Hitler's oratory and presence captivated both the downtrodden and the elite. This theme is crucial as it challenges readers to consider the power of rhetoric and the dangers of blind followership.

The psychological profile Toland constructs of Hitler is both fascinating and terrifying. By exploring Hitler's personal relationships, his war experiences, and his paranoia, Toland provides a lens through which certain decisions Hitler made can be understood and justified to his country people at the time. This psychological exploration is not to seek sympathy but to dissect the mind behind the madness.

The book does not gloss over the ideological underpinnings of Hitler's regime. From his racial theories to the machinations of Goebbels' propaganda machine, Toland shows how these ideas were not just Hitler's but were engineered to control and manipulate public opinion, leading to the Holocaust and global conflict.

Perhaps one of the most poignant arcs is Hitler's decline. The book doesn't spare the reader the grim reality of the last days in the bunker, offering a stark contrast to the earlier chapters where Hitler's confidence and power were at their peak. This decline serves as a narrative of caution and the inevitable fall of unchecked power. Especially with an individual as unstable as Hitler.

Toland's "Adolf Hitler" is a study in power, persuasion, and the human capacity for both greatness and the depths of evil. It's a must-read for anyone interested in WW2 and anyone wanting to understand how figures like Hitler come to be and the fine line between leadership and tyranny.

[Amber Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a long one. Worth the read though.

[Pat Rolston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always hesitated to go deeper into Hitler’s biography and warped psyche as it is so depressing. I did jump into the deep end in taking g on Toland’s epic account of Hitler’s life. This has been a journey of sorts as Toland is the absolute gold standard for putting the reader in the moment. He captures events like a journalist while always providing attribution that allows understanding resulting in a degree of wisdom. The rationale for reading about a monster like Hitler is ultimately to derive a deeper insight into history he shaped and quoting Jill LaPore, ‘ free us from the prison of the present.’ John Toland documents Hitler’s life in a manner that breaks through the stereotypes providing perspective to attain objectively where I had none. It is a reminder that Hitler never could have happened without those complicit. There is fertile ground in hate and ignorance in societies for the seeds of evil that can morph man into monster. I recommend the book, but allow for some time as it is very long, but absolutely a masterpiece.

[C. G. Telcontar · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are any number of serious, well researched Hitler bios in print, and there are several that are middling or downright awful. This is the third full length bio of Hitler that I've tackled, and I find it the most appealing, the others being Bullock's Study In Tyranny and Kershaw's two volume Hitler. Bullock's is a bit dated now, I think, and he did not have the depth of current research now available on the Third Reich, while Kershaw's, while excellent in many respects, is for me too narrowly focused, especially once the war starts. Both Bullock and Kershaw give too much play to the election cycle in 1932-1933 that eventually put Hitler in the driver's seat, and Bullock is too cursory with Hitler's childhood and WW1 experiences.

Many might say Toland went too far to make Hitler a person, rather than retaining him as monster and 20th century ultimate villain, but I find that view distasteful. Put the emotions aside and treat him as an historical figure and a human, and you can study his life in a little more neutral frame of mind. You won't be able to completely shed your distaste for the man, the myth or the legend, but you can appreciate his timeframe and what led to his decisions with a little better clarity.

Toland does an excellent job with Eva Braun, bringing her forward from the shadows and fleshing out the dismissive view nearly every historian has taken of her since Speer casted her as the dumb blond of history. He takes her diary entries and interviews with her sister and makes her human, as well. He uses the surviving members of the inner circle and their recollections as a starting point for his research, rather than as gospel truth itself, such as David Irving might use. His treatment of Goring's contributions to the Reich does get short shrift, but his brief portrayals of Goebels and Himmler are fascinating, but Ribbentrop gets virtually no stage time at all, and Speer is mercifully left waiting in the wings.

If there is one aspect of the history of Hitler that he pushes too hard, it is his assertion that Hitler had Jewish extermination planed and premeditated from an early point, and was fairly open about in his later 1930's speeches. I don't quite buy it, but until I can find texts of those speeches, specifically one given at Sonthofen in 1938 or 1939, I can't say definitively yes or no on this point.

The last point to remember about Toland is that he was a journalist first, and not a trained historian, and so the professionals tend to look down their noses at him, Kershaw and Hastings most of all. But I love his writing. He is a storyteller by profession as a journalist, and he really brings you into the story, with solid writing and good flow. He belabors nothing, and so long as you have a basic familiarity with the story of the Reich, you can take the very long trip in this book and enjoy it quite heartily.

Footnote: Mussolini and Franco are fleshed out well, too, while Stalin, Churchill and FDR remain at long range, viewed from Hitler's eyes, over the hill and through a glass dimly.

I give I 4 and a half stars and recommend the full two volume edition, which is sometimes hard to find these days. Be sure what you're buying if you look for it. There is an audio edition available from major library systems now also, which I listened to, and it's narrated quite well, with a voice actor who is very familiar with German (thank goodness!) and doesn't fumble any of the names or pronunciations.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ever wanted to read 900 pages about one of the most evil, if not the most evil person ever to live, this is the book for you. This book goes into painstaking detail about the lives of his parents and grandparents, his childhood, young adulthood as a struggling artist and in the German army, and his rise in the National Socialist (Nazi) party in Germany, and how he began to amass control of Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, etc. What I liked about this book is that it is so incredibly thorough. It explains exactly how people suspect he might have been of some Jewish descent. It tells about his days of homeless wandering and exactly how he fell in with (and became the leader of) the National Socialist movement. It details how he was able to annex Austria and Czechoslovakia so easily in those early days of the war and how his bad decisions regarding invading Russia turned the tide for him.

What is also amazing about this book is it, in all fairness, showed a different side of Hitler. He sincerely cared about the German people, the workers and the men in his army. When the people and the army had to sacrifice because of the war, he insisted that his generals and he himself sacrifice, too. He encouraged beautification initiatives in places like factories because he wanted the workers to have a pleasant place to work. Of course, he did not care about all German citizens, only the Aryan ones.

The book stayed mostly with Hitler's day to day life and did not focus on the atrocities of the Holocaust. The few mentions of the concentration camp conditions were enough to remind you of their horrors (and will bring tears to your eyes).

[Işıl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly remarkable. I'd been hard-pressed to find a decent fair biography of this enigmatic man called Adolf Hitler. Without reading them I'd compared dozens of biographies, asking people's opinions, combing through book reviews so as not to experience a disappointment since virtually every biography of Hitler is not less than 700 pages and usually has the word "evil" in its title (which is straight out bias). So this one by Toland has considerably met my expectations.

There is no finger pointing or hauling the blame only on Adolf Hitler since there had been a great deal of shameless appeasement on Britain's part once everything got a little tense, as well as the protectionist pacifist policies of the U.S. You also get to see the adverse shift in Hitler's war policy beginning from 1940 with reasonable explanations so it's not like the guy was plain crazy, though he merely pushed every country in his way to the limit -

There is great gratification on my part for having found the book which many may consider the "real deal."

[P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this tome as an audiobook (44H 43M worth) narrated by Ralph Cosham. If you're looking for an objective, non-maniacal chronical of the life of Adolph Hitler, this is it. Toland tells this tale without attempting to editorialize about his subject - he presents an accurate depiction of the facts and events about Hitler from his youth all the way to his final ignominious demise, and lets the reader (listener) draw the obvious conclusions. If you like history without a bent toward revisionism, this might be just the thing. It was for me. And as I've mentioned before, Ralph Cosham is a superb narrator. Simply superb.

[David Applegate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hitler was not just the world's greatest motivational speaker, he was confident, dedicated and calculated. Yet for all his charm, ability and intellect he choose to waste it on revenge over the first world war. The book is a powerful lesson in unchecked power and might give some insight how he came to power and why no authority should be absolute.

[Richard Fulgham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe you trust Toland. I checked out his sources. He seems to be truthful. Fascinating book! Good read.

[Yong Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A monumental masterpiece. I'm sorry I waited so long to read it.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and well written biography of the Fuhrer. There are many things left out, but for a single volume on such a remarkable man it is a good start.

[William Schrecengost · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent in depth biography of Hitler. We’ve done such a great job at villainizing him, we can’t fathom to understand why he did what he did. This was a great way to look into the heart and mind of a great and terrible leader. It is terrifying how easy it would be for someone to become him again. As it is with all sins, no one wakes up and decides to become a genocidal dictator. Hitler was an idealistic artist that spent a stint of his life homeless. He’d lost his mother to cancer. He got drafted at the beginning of WW1 and courageously threw himself into every conflict. He was temporarily blinded due to a mustard gas attack near the end of the war and suffered greatly due to supply issues caused by the Novemberist revolt at the end of the war. The Novemberist revolt is where his antisemitic beliefs began, prior to this he saw Jews as reliable and honest businessmen preferring to sell his art to them than others. But he saw the revolt as the cause for the German failure in the war. Hitler came to see the “Jewish problem” as the most significant threat to the world and the German nation. He came to National Socialism due to his strong nationalism and his hatred of the Jews on both the free market Bourgeoisie side and the Bolshevik communist side and saw socialism as the “Jew free” middle ground. Hitler took the party by storm thanks to his fervor and charismatic speaking skills. Soon becoming the Fuhrer and president of Germany.
Hitler saw the need to expand the German state to include all German peoples to save them from the Jewish threat, and so he began his expansions annexing Austria and Czechoslovakia and finally conquering Poland. His ultimate goal was to conquer Soviet Russia, which his saw as the prime world threat. A view agreed upon by the rest of the world.
Hitler’s blitzkrieg tactics took France by surprise and almost ended the war but for the evacuation of Dunkirk. Hitler’s downfall was his foolish dividing of power and declaring war on Russia. But his reason for doing this was his fear that he’d die before he could deal with the Soviets. Mass deportations of the Jews failed and so he came up with the “final solution” to the “Jewish problem”. The holocaust was not known to the vast majority of German people and even to Hitlers staff. The horrific revelations of it were as shocking to them as it was the rest of the world. Something that really stung with the “Final solution” is that Hitler claimed to take inspiration for it from the American treatment of the native Americans and the British treatment of the South Africans.
Hitler as a youth had wanted to become a priest briefly, in WW1 he said Christ wasn’t strong enough for a soldier. He was a big reader of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, which shows in his politics and beliefs. He definitely believed that the strong held the right to rule and act. He believed that he’d succeed because he believed in the strength of the German people. As everything collapsed around him he allowed everything to be destroyed because if the German people were weak enough to fall, then they didn’t have the right to rule or to life. He doesn’t appear to have ever renounced his faith and firmly believed that God had appointed him as the savior of the German nation. The Catholic Church never excommunicated him.

[Rafal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monumentalne, ciekawe dzieło. Z całą masą różnorakich szczegółów i ciekawostek z życia hitlerowskich wyższych sfer.

Niestety, chyba właśnie rozmiar powoduje, że chwilami jest chaotycznie a logika ciągów myśliwych bywa krucha. Ale i tak wiedza, która z tego płynie jest ogromna. Wynika z niej, że Hitler miał sporo szczęścia. Zarówno wtedy, gdy dochodził do władzy jak i wtedy, gdy już ją sprawował i wywoływał kolejne konflikty. Los mu sprzyjał co w połączeniu z jego fanatycznym poczuciem misji od Boga dało efekt, który znamy. I który wydaje się taki podobny do działań polskiego Wodza kilkadziesiąt lat później.

Ale skoro o Bogu. Hitler był katolikiem (podobnie Himmler, które tak gorliwie realizował ostateczne rozwiązanie kwestii żydowskiej). Książka nie pozostawia wątpliwości, że eksterminacja Żydów odbyła się na rozkaz i za wiedzą Hitlera. Ciekawie tez opisuje jak poradził sobie z faktem, że mordowanie, szczególnie na taką skale, nie jest za bardzo katolickie. Więc przede wszystkim bardzo ciekawie zdefiniował Żyda w ustawach rasowych. Podlegający represjom Żyd musiał mieć co najmniej troje dziadków Żydów lub dwoje ale wtedy musiał tez być wierzącym i praktykującym judaizm. Jeżeli dziadków było dwoje ale osoba nie praktykowała wiary - to spoko. W ten sposób, wg autora, Hitler wyłączył z działania ustawy siebie. Istniało bowiem podejrzenie, że jego dziadek mógł być Żydem. Ale także okazało się pod ustawę nie podchodził już Jezus. Jak wiadomo Jezus miał tylko dwoje dziadków Żydów (z powodu niepokalanego poczęcia dziadków ze strony ojca nie było) a równocześnie jako założyciel nowej religii - nie praktykował judaizmu. W ten sposób można było po katolicku oskarżać Żydów o zabicie Jezusa, który - wg hitlerowskiego prawodawstwa - Żydem nie był.
A potem Hitler obarczył Żydów także winą za wojnę.

No więc z tych i wielu innych powodów ta wielka książka jest ciekawa. Ale cieszę się, że mam ja już za sobą.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was epic and well researched with lots of footnotes. I definitely learned a lot.

[Tùng Hoàng · Rating 5 out of 5]

ADOLF HITLER – CHÂN DUNG MỘT TRÙM PHÁT XÍT (20/4/1889 – 30/4/1945?)

Tác giả: John Toland

“Phiên tòa của mối hận thù cá nhân và tính thiển cận chung đã kết thúc - và một ngày mới bắt đầu”
- Cuộc đấu tranh của tôi - Mein Kampf - Landsberg, ngày 01/4/1924

Bước qua những mơ tưởng hão huyền thuở thiếu thời, định hình tính cách, kiên định mục tiêu và tự dẫn dắt chính mình theo một ám ảnh cuồng tín đến kỳ lạ, Adolf Hitler đã từng bước đưa dân tộc Đức trỗi dậy thần kỳ từ đống tro tàn của Thế chiến thứ nhất, trở thành một đế chế hùng mạnh của châu Âu. Nắm trong tay thứ quyền lực mạnh mẽ và lãnh đạo đội quân như đến từ địa ngục, Hitler đã nhấn chìm thế giới trong biển lửa của Thế chiến thứ hai bằng những dã tâm cuồng vọng.

Đức và Do thái luôn là hai dân tộc mà tôi ngưỡng mộ, tò mò tìm hiểu qua sách vở, phim ảnh và từ nhiều nguồn tài liệu khác nhau. Với tôi, hai dân tộc này thật kỳ lạ, họ là những dân tộc theo tôi nghĩ là thông minh và giỏi nhất trên thế giới. Nhưng vì sao giữa họ có một sự ngăn cách không thể hòa giải, làm thế nào mà sự diệt chủng man rợ như vậy lại đến từ một dân tộc sản sinh ra những thiên tài âm nhạc, hội họa, triết học và văn chương như dân tộc Đức?

Và điều gì đã khiến một chàng trai đam mê hội họa hai lần thi trượt Học viện Mỹ thuật Viên, sống lang thang trong các khu ổ chuột, xếp hàng xin cháo thí trước cổng nhà thờ, tá túc trong những ngôi nhà cho người vô gia cư lại có thể trở thành nhân vật đứng đầu lực lượng đe dọa nền hòa bình thế giới? Vì sao mối thâm thù muốn tiêu diệt người Do Thái lại điên cuồng như vậy? Vì sao ngày nay vẫn có rất nhiều người Đức, đặc biệt là thanh niên vẫn tôn sùng Hitler và chủ nghĩa đã gần trăm tuổi này?

“Tôi ghê tởm trước cảnh tượng giống người pha trộn lúc nhúc ở thủ đô, giống Tiệp Khắc, Ba Lan, Hungary, Serb, Croat. Tôi ghê tởm giống Do Thái ký sinh trùng dai dẳng của nhân loại, ở đâu cũng thấy mặt.”

Cuốn tiểu sử đồ sộ chi tiết, với 31 chương kể về cuộc đời con người đã làm rung chuyển lịch sử thế giới thế kỷ XX. Những phân tích chi tiết, cùng các nguồn tại liệu chưa công bố, phỏng vấn hơn 200 người từng là đồng sự hoặc từng tiếp xúc với Hitler, John Toland đã tái hiện khá hoàn hảo, sinh động chân dung một trùm phát xít Đức quốc xã. Cuốn sách nhằm giải đáp phần nào cho chúng ta về con người đã làm nên sự ám ảnh lịch sử thế giới, về diễn biến lịch sử tư tưởng, văn hóa tại quốc gia có tư tưởng quân phiệt chủ nghĩa lâu đời này. Về sự hình thành phe Trục (Đức - Ý - Nhật) và khối Đồng minh (Anh - Mỹ - Liên Xô). Về những tai họa chưa từng có trong lịch sử, về những cánh cửa vào văn phòng tối tăm, bí ẩn, về những quái vật trên trái đất, về những khởi nguồn tư tưởng cho những thứ vũ khí giết người hàng loạt đe dọa sự tồn vong của cả nhân loại, sẵn sàng nhấn chìm nền văn minh của thế giới loài người trong biển máu.

"Tại sao Hitler lại khiến hầu hết những người Đức quỳ xuống và sùng bái ông, nhưng lại rất ít gợi được ấn tượng đối với người nước ngoài?" Trả lời câu hỏi của Knickerbocker, bác sỹ Carl Gustav Jung nói: “Ông ấy là người đầu tiên nói với tất cả người Đức những gì ông ấy đang nghĩ và cảm nhận từ lâu trong tiềm thức của mình về số phận của nước Đức, đặc biệt từ sau thất bại trong chiến tranh thế giới và một đặc điểm tác động đến mỗi người Đức là phức cảm tự ti của người Đức, một mặc cảm yếm thế của người đàn em, của người luôn đến ngày hội muộn hơn một chút…” “Một đất nước không có danh dự, không giữ lời hứa. Vì vậy, tại sao mọi người hy vọng Hitler giữ lời hứa? “Bời vì Hitler là cả dân tộc đó.”

Hitler, một cậu bé sinh ra trong một gia cảnh đặc biệt, trải qua những bước ngoặt của cuộc sống, tự mình gánh chịu hậu quả từ sự nổi loạn của tuổi trẻ. Ở Hitler có sự ám ảnh, đau đớn khôn nguôi khi chứng kiến sự ra đi của người mẹ vì căn bệnh ung thư, là giấc mộng công danh, sự nghiệp không thành và là chứng nhân cho sự trêu đùa của lịch sử. Về trường học thời trai trẻ của mình, khi quay trờ về Viên và hướng đến Munich cho tương lai, ông nghĩ: ”Tôi đã đặt chân lên thành phố này khi vẫn nửa là người lớn, nửa là trẻ con và rời đi khi đã trưởng thành, từ tốn và biết kiếm chế.” “Tôi học cách diễn thuyết ít hơn, nhưng lắng nghe nhiều hơn những người có quan điểm hoặc phản bác mang tính cổ xưa”.

“Chữ thập ngoặc trên mũ
Băng tay đen-trắng-đỏ
Biệt đội giông tố của Hitler
Đó là tên gọi của chúng tôi”

Ngay từ đầu, Hitler đã chủ trương thành lập một đội quân riêng và bộ máy của Đảng nằm hoàn toàn trong quyền kiểm soát. Tập hợp quanh Adolf Hitler là nhóm người thuộc mọi tầng lớp với các thành phần văn hóa và nghề nghiệp khác nhau, tất cả họ cùng theo chủ nghĩa dân tộc và e sợ chủ nghĩa Marx. Hitler luôn coi mình đang tranh đua với Mussolini, có thể nói, chính Mussolini đã vô tình trở thành hình tượng và là mẫu hình cho Hitler, để từ đó định hình nên một trùm phát xít cuồng tín, khát khao quyền lực tột đỉnh bằng mọi giá. Một chi tiết rất đáng chú ý trong cuốn sách, đó là tối 9/12/1936, vua Edward ký văn kiện thoái vị và trở thành vị vua đầu tiên trong lịch sử vương quốc Anh tình nguyện rời bỏ ngai vàng. Hitler không thể hiểu nổi tại sao một người lại có thể từ bỏ quyền lực chỉ vì một chuyện tình lãng mạn. Câu chuyện thú vị này đã lặp lại vào những ngày đầu năm nay với Quốc vương Malaysia Muhammad V khi ông bất ngờ tuyên bố thoái vị chỉ vài tuần sau khi ông kết hôn với một nữ hoàng sắc đẹp Nga (cuộc sống mà… 😄)

“Giao ước tinh tế như vậy sẽ được thực hiện. Bởi hòa bình, tự thân nó là một cuộc chiến giả trang” Dryden - Đề từ phần Năm – Cuộc chiến giả trang

Cuốn sách cũng đi qua nhiều sự kiện lịch sử đáng nhớ, như cuộc hội đàm của Hitler với thủ tướng Áo Kurt von Schuschnigg ở Berghof là một sự kiện đáng hổ thẹn trong lịch sử châu Âu, mà về sau đã được văn chương hóa trong cuốn tiểu thuyết “Chương trình nghị sự” nổi tiếng của nhà văn Eric Vuillard. Sau sự thôn tính nhẹ nhàng và dễ dàng với Áo, Hitler hướng tầm mắt của mình sang Tiệp Khắc. Tại đây, Hitler giành được chiến thắng theo một cách còn đáng kinh ngạc hơn nữa, chiến thắng bằng một sự ủy nhiệm, bằng công hàm tuyên bố rằng chính phủ Tiệp Khắc “chấp nhận một cách đáng tiếc” đề nghị của Pháp - Anh, một thông cáo khiến nhiều người phương Tây cảm thấy nhục nhã vì sự khiếp nhược, hèn kém của chính mình. “Chúng ta tin tưởng những người bạn có thể giúp đỡ chúng ta, nhưng khi xuất hiện vấn đề, chúng ta phải cắt bớt lãnh thổ nếu không sẽ phải chịu tấn công...những người bạn của chúng ta khuyên chúng ta mua tự do và hòa bình bằng chính sự hy sinh của chính chúng ta...không còn cách lựa chọn nào khác, bởi vì chúng ta cảm thấy mình đơn độc.” Vậy đấy, ảo tưởng vì một thế giới phương Tây hào hiệp, chính nghĩa, chủ nghĩa anh hùng “mọi người vì một người, một người vì mọi người” đã sụp đổ, chỉ còn lại sự thối nát giả tạo, sự bàng quan lạnh lẽo đến ghê người. Nhân quả báo ứng nhãn tiền, rồi sẽ đến lúc chính Anh – Pháp đến lượt mình sẽ phải gánh chịu hậu quả mà họ nghĩ mình sẽ không bao giờ bị đụng đến. Chủ nghĩa phát xít, như con quái vật trăm đầu, đã và đang vươn những chiếc vòi bạch tuộc ra toàn thế giới, và khi đó, thế giới sẽ phải nín thở, vì theo sau Hitler, là đoàn quân từ địa ngục.

“Thà làm chúa địa ngục còn hơn là nô lệ thiên đàng” - Lucifer (Thiên đường đánh mất - Milton)

Như một câu ngạn ngữ “Thiên tài bên trái, kẻ điên bên phải”, nếu Hitler chết vào năm 1937, trong lễ kỷ niệm 4 năm ngày lên nắm quyền, thì chắc chắn ông sẽ được lịch sử tôn vinh là một trong những nhân vật vĩ đại nhất trong lịch sử nước Đức, với hàng triệu người ngưỡng mộ khắp châu Âu. Trong rất nhiều thành tựu thần kỳ mà Hitler dẫn dắt đất nước Đức đạt được chỉ trong 4 năm đầu tiên, thì thành tựu đáng tự hào nhất của ông có lẽ là sự thống nhất đất nước: “Nước Đức đơn giản là được thống nhất và hoàn toàn thống nhất...những dấu vết cuối cùng của chủ nghĩa phân lập và sự phân biệt tầng lớp được Hitler xóa đi đơn giản bằng cách giảm tất cả mọi thứ xuống thấp nhất và mẫu số chung đáng sợ nhất là không có.”

Ngày 04/02/1938 là một ngày đáng nhớ trong lịch sử nước Đức khi những người hay có quan điểm bất đồng nhất ở Wehrmacht đã bị loại hoặc bị kiềm chế, và các nhà lãnh đạo quân sự hàng đầu của đất nước đều mắc nợ Hitler theo cách này hay cách khác. Hàng tít trên tờ Volkischer Beobachter nổi bật vào sáng ngày hôm đó: “Trong tay Fuhrer tập trung tất cả quyền lực mạnh nhất!” Cuối cùng, Hitler cũng là một nhà độc tài tối cao của đế chế Đức, sẵn sàng dấn thân vì mục đích của mình.

Nhưng rồi thời khắc của mọi tội lỗi phải trả giá đã điểm, giấc mộng du của cả dân tộc Đức kết thúc vào khoảng 3h30 chiều ngày 30/4/1945, ngọn cờ đã hạ xuống nơi Hitler gục ngã, theo đó là Quốc xã và Đế chế Đệ tam nghìn năm cũng chết. Lại một lần nữa, nước Đức yêu quý của ông lại lâm vào cảnh hoang tàn. Như một sự trớ trêu của số phận, với việc dự định tiêu diệt sáu triệu dân Do Thái làm món quà vĩ đại dành cho thế giới, Hitler đã làm hồi sinh và hình thành một nhà nước Do Thái - Israel quả cảm, kiên cường giữa lòng Trung Đông Hồi giáo. Chỉ sau một đêm, lực lượng chính trị hùng mạnh và đáng sợ nhất thế kỷ XX đã sụp đổ, kể từ sau thời Napoleon, không một cái chết của nhà lãnh đạo nào khác lại kéo theo sự sụp đổ hoàn toàn một chế độ như vậy.

Cái chết hay cuộc đào tẩu sống sót của Hitler hiện nay vẫn còn chứa đựng nhiều tranh cãi và bí ẩn. Nhân vật phi thường nhất trong lịch sử thế kỷ XX đã tan biến, chỉ được vài người chân thành thương xót. Sau tất cả, chỉ còn đó lời thú nhận cay đắng về giấc mộng quyền lực bá chủ điên rồ của một con người, hay của một con quỷ sống trong lòng một dân tộc.

“TÔI, MƠ TƯỞNG HÃO HUYỀN”

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Điểm đánh giá: 9.5/10

Nhận xét: Quá dễ để nói rằng cuốn sách này quả là một siêu phẩm không thể không có trong tủ sách mỗi người, nhưng quá khó để đọc và hiểu hết những điều cuốn sách chứa đựng. Tôi thực sự phải chuẩn bị gần nửa năm mới dám đọc kể từ khi cầm trên tay cuốn sách này, và khi đọc thì đọc mê mải, đọc 1 chương là lại ngồi ngẫm nghĩ, rồi thấy rằng, thực sự là quá khó để hiểu được trong chúng ta, ranh giới giữa tính thiện của con người và tính ác của loài quỷ dữ, biết làm thế nào mà phân định được cho rõ đây?

“Ta vẫn giữ lòng trung thành, dù tất cả đã bỏ trốn
Ta sẽ mang theo ngọn cờ, một mình bước đi loạng choạng.
Đôi môi tươi cười có thể lầm bầm những từ điên rồ,
Nhưng ngọn cờ chỉ hạ xuống khi ta gục ngã
Và lòng kiêu hành sẽ phủ đầy trên xác ta.” - Baldur von Schirach

[AttackGirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

If only history was unbiased because this is not an unbiased account and even the book discussion discuss Hitler as being Evil, not a good start for unbiased accounts. Perhaps a comparison to how many policies and plans are now implemented or what he projected to come has come.