Hitler was very complex personality-wise. re the OP, remember before he was in power he was a politician trying to more or less democratically win office (from circa 1921 to 1932). As such he needed people to, at the very least, work with him – better if some liked him.
Here is the OSS’s psych profile of Adolph.
Page after page is his socio-pathetic behavior. Look at Hitler as his associates know him.
One point they make alot too tho:
Fromm (371) writes that at a dinner:
“Hitler’s eagerness to obtain the good graces of the princes present was subject to much comment. He bowed and clicked and all but knelt in his zeal to please oversized, ugly Princess Luise von Sachsen-Meiningen, her brother, hereditary Prince George, and their sister, Grand Duchess of Sachsen-Weimar. Beaming in his servile attitude he dashed personally to bring refreshments from the buffet.”
I knew a man, Herman, who was a soldier in the German army in WWII. He was pleasant company, most of the time, but occasionally he gave me the creeps. One time was when he praised Hitler for making the German army more tolerable for common soldiers. Herman said that Hitler made a rule that officers had to ask “may I touch you?” before touching a soldier during inspection. Before Hitler, according to Herman, officers could physically abuse soldiers at will.
Now you see, leroy, I don’t understand what’s creepy about that at all. Officers should respect the troops, shouldn’t they?
Be right back. Looking for Daoloth’s 5000.
Peace,
mangeorge
Well, that’s really a minimum, although he hasn’t been too active with his firing squads in the past three decades. Although, he still does sustain various brutal prison camps such as the horrid Isla de Pinos.
Neil Davis, in his biography One Crowded Hour, called up Idi Amin (who hated western journalists). Kinda amusing ancedote, Idi was quite polite until Neil confessed to being a reported, and then Idi turned quite rabid. Of course, an awful lot of people react this way with reporters.
The “May I touch you?” thing is fairly common, and I doubt Hitler was the first person to think of it. In my time in the Canadian army, you absolutely had to ask “May I touch you?” before touching a subordinate on parade, or in class, or whatever; to not do so would have been considered assault. I personally witnessed two NCOs, who forgot this policy and touched their subordinates without permission, threatened by more senior NCOs that “If you do that again, I’ll charge you and you’ll go to jail.”
It’s just a way to avoid unpleasantries and respect the law. After all, touching someone without their permission is technically assault, and a soldier is a person who should not be assaulted. I believe this policy was adopted by many nations’ armies during the 20th century.
There was an item on a BBC radio programme yesterday with a jounalist, Riccardo Orizio, who has met with a number of deposed dictators, including Idi Amin, and written a book about it. You can listen to the programme here. The show should remain online until next Monday.
behavior. Look at Hitler as his associates know him.