Hitlers charisma

Discussion in 'The Third Reich' started by Emmajanewatts, Jan 17, 2014.

  1. Emmajanewatts

    Emmajanewatts Member

    Hi everyone, does anyone think that Hitler did have charisma, i dont think he was bad looking so is that part of his charisma. Was he the way he was cos he was interbreed or was he just born mad or bad. I often wonder why he went for young girls only too.
    Was the rest of them born mad or bad, Goring, Himmler ext.
    It doesnt matter how much research i do i still just dont understand how all them people thought he was a great man and how he treat the jewish people, gypsies and disabled was right.
    In those days i myself would have been murdered by him cos of my situation.
    Will Germany ever get over it or is it still to soon. Im sure the documentary channels dont help. Ive often spoke about these points with my hubby.
    Has anyone else have thoughts,

    Emma xxx
     
  2. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Most of your questions could be addressed by some serious reading. I dare suggest Ian Kershaws' Hitler ( vol1 ; vol2 )
     
  3. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  4. TriciaF

    TriciaF Junior Member

    Also try to understand the mentality, mixture and background of the nation he was manipulating.
    And the extreme economic problems of the time.
    And the previous war histories.
     
  5. slick

    slick Junior Member

    One of the best books I`ve read was 'Albert Speer, his battle with truth', by Gitta Sereny. It goes a long way to explain the mindset in Germany at the time and why Hitler was such an appealing character. It`s a bit of a long book but well worth the effort.
     
  6. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    You should read material by those who knew him. Two of the most important witnesses were Traudl Junge, one of his secretaries, and Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and armaments minister. Konrad Heiden's observations are also supposed to be very good.

    To understand (or at least experience) Hitler's ability to manipuate crowds, you need to watch one or more of his speeches from beginning to end. He was a superb public speaker who knew how to win over an audience--he even made effective use of humor. Even subtitled in English, the force of his personality comes through. No doubt it was even more impressive for a German.
     
  7. Hesmond

    Hesmond Well-Known Member

    There was a superb BBC documentry back in 1993 on who voted for the Nazis in 1993 ,interviews with ordinary Germans who voted for Hitler,from all sections of society and both men and women ,must admit its a eye opener.
     
  8. arnhem44

    arnhem44 Member

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p01pm

    BBCs the Dark Charisma of Hitler is quite extensive and nails it quite well (for a non german native).

    It was aired on TV last year (2013), BBC and Nat.Geo ?


    The matter is too complex to answer in a short note, but here's some short responses:
    Hi everyone, does anyone think that Hitler did have charisma,
    yes.
    i dont think he was bad looking
    hmmm everyone its own preferences, but I dont think Hitler was regarded as attractive per se (more his power/status, his "eloquence" was attractive to certain women)
    so is that part of his charisma. Was he the way he was cos he was interbreed or was he just born mad or bad.
    ww1 effects and social situation before (Austria) and after (Bavaria) had A LOT of influence.So it would have on anybody.
    and I often wonder why he went for young girls only too.
    All men do (;p)...but obsessive Hitler wld know that deep down inside he cant handle criticism or arguments..so a relationship with a fullgrown adult woman is cumbersome.
    Was the rest of them born mad or bad, Goring, Himmler ext.
    yes/no..power atracts the wrong people at first.It takes a strong/wise "leader"to send incompetent men away..but in beginning you are content with all the help of fanatics you get (see Ernst Röm)
    It doesnt matter how much research i do i still just dont understand how all them people thought he was a great man
    there simply was no better alternative, and to each one with a problem, hitler could present a solution (haaa, politics..no different today)..for the poor unemployed labourer, for the wealthy but eager to get more industrialists, for the desillusioned ww1 veterans, the hungering -remembering- mothers with their poor children (note: UK and France kept economic blockade of germany 1918-1922..that is a long hunger period)...
    and how he treat the jewish people, gypsies and disabled was right.
    for every maltreated german victm there has got to be a scapegoat (again, no different from today's politics..even in western world)
    In those days i myself would have been murdered by him cos of my situation.
    not if you had understood the signs and gave up al yr material belongings and left in time.
    Will Germany ever get over it or is it still to soon.
    Germany is over it. Sometimes I think it's the jewish decendents that are not (Dutch Anne Frank "committee" disallowing the German ZDF to make a new film about Anne Frank?!)
    Im sure the documentary channels dont help.
    See BBC link above.
    Ive often spoke about these points with my hubby.
    Has anyone else have thoughts,
     
    Emmajanewatts likes this.
  9. Peccavi

    Peccavi Senior Member

    I have read Laurence Rees Book of the same title which accompanies the Series- not bad but not wholly convincing.

    Left with the feeling that "you can fool some of the people all of the time but not all of the people all of the time"
     
  10. TriciaF

    TriciaF Junior Member

    ^^^^
    I believe there was a big section of the german population who, for different reasons, saw through and hated H's policies, theories, actions, but were intimidated into "doing their duty " as germans. Open opposition wasn't tolerated.
     
  11. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Hitler was the rallying call for a nation in difficulty....loss of status from a war which they adamantly refused to accept that the German Army had been beaten in the field.He drew his following from the right wing Freikorps elements who saw that the settlement at Versailles was unjust and should be overturned.His vision also appealed to the German Army professionals who saw the opportunity to rekindle the flame of Prussian militarism despite Hitler's ideology to some, being unacceptable.

    At the head of the regime and National Socialism,women were attracted to Hitler and its surprising the numbers that were enthralled by him,both in Germany and abroad...see the views of those British political and socially influential families,such as the Mitford girls.One tried to commit suicide over the lack of attention from Hitler and died in 1948.Diane Mitford one of the sisters and the wife of Oswald Mosley died with her enchanting views of Hitler unchanged from the 1930s.

    Was it Hitler's charisma or political ideology that enthralled the likes of Rothermere? the owner of the Daily Mail, even up to the day of reckoning in September 1939 ...another from the political establishment was the Maquis of Londonderry,a great admirer of Hitler's and is classed by historians as a sycophant.

    Such was Hitler's following that his worshipers would congregate on the Obersalzberg at the weekends to chance a view of the
    Fuhrer as they were allowed to file past the Berghof.Hitler in turn, protected his brand as the salvation of the German people and outwardly projected the view to his following that he no time for the opposite sex.... for him, he was devoted wholly and wed to the German people.The secret of his relationship with Eva Braun was restricted to his inner circle.

    Power and influence are well known aphrodisiacs, one only has to look at Goebbels and the female following he enjoyed...the attraction for him by Magna Quandt who deserted her husband for him....still throughout his presence in the Third Reich leadership,Goebbels was always a womaniser and did not find it difficult to have admirers.Hitler could never be seen in the same light for the sake of his political image and chose to have his relationships with women safe from the public eye.

    Those who worked for Hitler in trivial positions are on record as saying "the Fuhrer was a good boss",living in the inner circle bubble they were not aware of what was being done in Germany's name...so they have left for history.

    Hitler......the German womanfolk attraction for him as the beloved Fuhrer,saw woman's organisations ranking below male structures...."Kinder,Kirche and Kuche"........ "a woman's place is in the home" was the Nazi Party ideology.


    Would agree with Za....there is an abundance of historical material available covering Hitler and the Third Reich...just a case of searching for quality works....The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. I also found Joachim Fest's work good...Fest was a former Wehrmacht ranker.
     
  12. TriciaF

    TriciaF Junior Member

    Joachim Fest - I bought his book "Not I..." - recently (translated into english). An excellent insight into what it was like growing up in H's Germany.
     
  13. L J

    L J Senior Member

    One point : Shirer is outdated and his reliability,even his seriousness is questionable
     
  14. Emmajanewatts

    Emmajanewatts Member

    Thankyou so much for your replies and i cant hardley walk so that would give it away abit lol. I enjoy reading everyones answers. I own the dark chrisma of hitler, book and dvd.
    Unity Mitford was already a big anti semita, she was known as a mitfart, or hang on and i dont know how you dont die from a gun shot to the head.
    Robert Carlyle plays Hilter well in The Rise Of Evil, and very handsome lol, even though not fully accurate.
    What does anyone think to Mein Kampf to?
    Albert Speer was the Nazi that said sorry and became in my opinion a macarbe celebrity.
    Also a biggie question, do any of you think it could happen again, after ww1 people said that war couldnt be repeated, nobody would want that to happen again and it did xxx
     
  15. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Hitler's Tabletalk is a most interesting book as well, a page-turner if I ever saw one.
     
  16. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Za throws up an interesting point.

    Hitler's Table Talk was always enchanting to those of his inner circle who jotted down every utterance he made at the table,then during his late night soirees which retirement was only possible after Hitler had decided to retire,His preferences were meticulously recorded by the likes of Goebbels and Bormann.

    These utterances would then be presented as Reich policy initiatives.....it is the "Fuhrer's will", the two would proclaim.
     
  17. TriciaF

    TriciaF Junior Member

    Harry Ree - excellent summary as usual.
    H emerged at a point in history that was just exactly right for his paricular views and speaking style to be accepted emotionally by certain groups of the german nation. And many outside the country.
    I once asked an elderly german Jewish lady, who had lived through and survived the Holocaust, "why did the germans love H?" She advised me to read, of all things ,Jerome K. Jerome's "3 Men on the Bummel", to get a good view of the german mentality in those days. i have the book, it's one I often re-read.
     
    canuck likes this.
  18. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    As one German said to me, "in 1939 we were all Nazi's and if you had been there, you would be too". During the long run of increasing prosperity and resurgence of German pride in the 30's who could have reasonably predicted that the outcome would be a world war and genocide.
    Hitler was the messiah for a desperate people, economically and psychologically. He took enormous risks to seize unique opportunities and had the right combination of skills at the right time to seduce a nation.

    Many great book references on this thread that I plan to acquire. Thanks all.
     
  19. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    You will accept that is debatable, right? Perhaps he have ought to have added the two words "or else", or what do you think the boys in brown were doing on the street by day, and the "men in black" by night?
     
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  20. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    Of course, that viewpoint is debatable. It was one man's statement, the intent of which was to convey that the vast majority of Germans in 1939 were supportive and caught up in the Hitler mystique. Those opposed were smaller in number and did not have a voice, primarily for the reasons you describe. The opposition, to the degree that it existed, was likely not visible to the average German. Goebbels had a hand in this too.
     

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