Undermined: Hitler's image as WWI hero

[IndianaGreen]

Undermined: Hitler's image as WWI hero

By Lucinda Cameron, PA

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

New research today undermined the idea that Hitler was a First World War hero whose wartime experiences propelled him into power.

A new book challenges the commonly held notion that he was considered a brave member of his close-knit regiment, and that his experience during the Great War radicalised him and formed his world view.

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While researching his book Dr Weber delved into the archives of Hitler's regiment - the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment (RIR 16), commonly called the List Regiment - much of which was uncatalogued and had not been used as a source in previous accounts of the Nazi leader's life.

Dr Weber discovered that records had survived largely intact and were housed in the Bavarian War Archive, but that those pertaining to Hitler's battle group were filed not under the List Regiment, but under the higher division to which the regiment belonged. As a result, they had lain untouched for decades.

Dr Weber also compiled a list of 59 Jewish members of the regiment and used various means to find out what happened to them during the Holocaust.

This led to him making contact with the relatives of several important figures from the regiment, including the family of Hugo Gutmann, the Jewish Officer who proposed Hitler for an Iron Cross in 1918.

Dr Weber also tracked down relatives of Justin Fleischmann, a Jewish soldier whose wartime diaries challenge received wisdom about Jewish experience of the Great War as they make no mention of anti-Semitism within the regiment.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/undermined-hitlers-image-as-wwi-hero-2054970.html

[onehandle]

1. Hitler was a lucky failure in just the right places at just the right time with a lot of help.