Hitler

The Memoir of the Nazi Insider Who Turned Against the Fuhrer

Ernst Hanfstaengl

• Publisher: Arcade
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781611450552
• eBook ISBN:
  9781628721393
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: History

Of American and German parentage, Ernst Hanfstaengl graduated from Harvard and ran the family business in New York for a dozen years before returning to Germany in 1921. By chance he heard a then little-known Adolf Hitler speaking in a Munich beer hall and, mesmerized by his extraordinary oratorical power, was convinced the man would some day come to power. As Hitler's fanatical theories and ideas hardened, however, he surrounded himself with rabid extremists such as Goering, Hess, and Goebbels, and Hanfstaengl became estranged from him. But with the Nazi's major unexpected political triumph in 1930, Hitler became a national figure, and he invited Hanfstaengl to be his foreign press secretary. It is from this unique insider's position that the author provides a vivid, intimate view of Hitler—with his neuroses, repressions, and growing megalomania—over the next several years. In 1937, four years after Hitler came to power, relations between Hanfstaengl and the Nazis had deteriorated to such a degree that he was forced to flee for his life, escaping to Switzerland. Here is a portrait of Hitler as you've rarely seen him.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION BY JOHN TO LAND
• FOREWORD TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION
• INTRODUCTION TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION
• LETTER TO THE AUTHOR FROM HERMANN GOERING
• I Harvard’s Gift to Hitler
• II Tristan in the Thierschstrasse
• III One Side to a Statue
• IV Particular Generals
• V Fiasco at the Feldherrnhalle
• VI Twilight at Landsberg
• VII Hitler and Henry VIII
• VIII The Bohemian at the Brown House
• IX Geli Raubal
• X Lohengrin Prevails
• XI Disillusionment at Nuremberg
• XII Circus at the Chancellery
• XIII A Murderer’s Welcome
• XIV The Last Chord
• XV Wilderness and Flight
• XVI The Catoctin Conversation
• AFTERWORD BY EGON HANFSTAENGL