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posted by martyb on Monday October 10 2016, @07:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the Wer-hat-das-geschrieben? dept.

A biography of Adolf Hitler published two years before his autobiography Mein Kampf may also have been written by Hitler:

In the early fall of 1923, when Adolf Hitler was still mostly known for his frenzied speeches at Munich beer halls, a slim biography was published that lauded him as the savior of the German nation and even compared him to Jesus. The book, "Adolf Hitler: His Life and His Speeches," was credited to Baron Adolf Victor von Koerber, a German aristocrat and war hero. Scholars have said that Hitler sought Mr. von Koerber out for the biography because he needed a conservative figure without links to the Nazi Party to help legitimize him as a leader.

However, new research says Hitler penned the work himself. This suggests that Hitler had designs on taking power earlier than many historians have previously thought and manipulated public opinion to get there.

"Adolf Hitler: His Life and His Speeches" was published two years before "Mein Kampf," the autobiography and manifesto that historians consider the moment Hitler went from political propagandist to leader in waiting. The von Koerber biography was published shortly before Hitler helped lead a bungled coup in Munich known as the Beer Hall Putsch.

"It's 1923, and Hitler suddenly decides he needs to boost his national profile," said Thomas Weber, a professor of history and international affairs at the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland, who uncovered documents in Mr. von Koerber's archival papers that he argues reveals Hitler as the biography's true author. The documents included a sworn statement by the publisher's widow.

Dusty old Godwin meme.


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  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday October 11 2016, @06:07PM

    by edIII (791) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @06:07PM (#413036)

    So Hitler didn't like the Jews very much. Trump of course has one of his kids married to a jew, done business for decades with others... I'm just saying if you think investing in crematoria is a wise financial investment, you're likely to be horribly disappointed after the trump victory. The odds of him cooking up his own kids and grandkids are kinda low.

    Jews are irrelevant here though, it's the nationalism that matters. Replace Jew with Muslim/Mexican.

    So... what exactly is there in MK or any other biography of Hitler that's even remotely similar to Mr Trump? Beyond the traditional "all republican candidates are literally Hitler" as has been tradition for decades?

    Trump has a lot in common with Hitler. For one, he doesn't recognize or grant human dignity and compassion to basically anybody other than white males (to them he is just an asshole). You cannot argue that he is good for women, but we are talking about Hitler so we can constrain it to civil rights largely. His talk about eliminating freedom of expression, outlawing specific knowledge (Anarchist's cookbook), and modifying due process. Contrast that Ronald Reagan for a moment, who was such a class act that you couldn't attribute Hitler to him on his worst day. Even in the light of history, Reagan may not have been the best president we've had, but he was no Hitler. Bush II comes close, but only in terms of the mass surveillance state, not statements he's made about entire peoples.

    When it comes to Muslims specifically, Trump is talking about internment camps and treats American Muslims as if they are criminals themselves, and has directly accused American Muslims as being responsible and part of the problem. See his islamaphobic double down answer about how he would protect American Muslims against islamaphobia.

    I'm in agreement with you about how the Democratic party abused this characterization for years, but now about how Trump doesn't deserve it. He completely deserves it, and the parallels to Nazi Germany right now are numerous and frightening, and to be fair, Trump only plays a part of it. It's a part he is playing well though.

    Where are all the good traits that Trump possesses that should distance himself from the Hitler characterization? Don't bother, he doesn't have any. He's an arrogant and brutish entitled child that has redefined narcissism while being a fraudulent charlatan that refuses to release his taxes or illuminate his conflicts of interest. Kind of hard to defend him, even playing Devil's advocate.

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