Hitler's Charisma

April 1, 2013
A searching study that addresses the question, not why so many Germans and Austrians accommodated Adolf Hitler, but why they so ardently embraced him. Fresh from the news that the Nazi labor- and death-camp system was much more widespread and widely known than hitherto thought, British historian Rees (World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West, 2009, etc.) examines Hitler's career through a Max Weber-ian perspective of charisma, noting that Hitler promised not just decent wages and orderly streets, but "broader, almost spiritual, goals of redemption and salvation." In the end--and Rees is rightly emphatic about this--Hitler was, like any politician, willing to compromise on almost any front except his central program: the extermination of the Jews. Apologists explain away German and Austrian acquiescence to this program, but Hitler made no effort to disguise his intentions; it was his ability to sell it with impassioned speeches and to cow his opponents with popularly supported terror that won the day for him, at least for a while. Rees looks into several questions and punctures a few myths along the way: Hitler was no slouch in battle, no mere "paper-hanger," but was a brave and selfless soldier on the World War I front (and commended with an Iron Cross by his Jewish commander), if given to "haranguing those around him about any subject that took his fancy." He was able to gather followers among religious Germans by professing Christianity, much as he despised it. He rose to power at a time when Germans were begging for an authoritarian figure to solve their economic woes, and though he had a propaganda chief, he himself was one of the best propagandists in history. So how did Hitler convince his generals to invade Russia and his subjects to ignore the genocide around them? This readable, fascinating book, a worthy addition to the vast literature surrounding Hitler, has plausible answers.

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April 1, 2013

Rees (former creative director, history programs, BBC; WW2History.com; Auschwitz: A New History) builds on his earlier BBC television documentaries and their companion books, also authored by him, to reflect on why so many Germans willingly followed Hitler to destruction. This book also accompanies a BBC documentary. Rees adroitly points out that prior to 1918 few would regard Hitler as possessing charisma; he was not good at debating politics (preferring instead to yell at those who disagreed with him) and lacked the ability to connect emotionally. Yet by 1933 Hitler's intransigence was depicted as visionary political principle, while his inability to form emotional bonds was now described as one of the qualities of an inspired leader whose complete devotion to his people placed him above ordinary human connections. Rees situates this transformation from lost soul to charismatic leader both in Hitler's own innate political sense and in the unique circumstances of the Weimar Germany in which the dictator evolved. Rees moves easily from the broad themes of German politics and economics to the individual voices of those who supported and opposed Hitler. VERDICT Incorporating most of the latest scholarship on Hitler, Rees provides valuable insights here into a topic that is not new. For all readers who study the Nazi era.--Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati Clermont Coll., OH

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