How did Hitler deal with the purported emphasis on innate German superiority as exemplified by the Tall, Blond, Blue-eyed Germanic prototype, when he himself was notoriously dumpy, dark-haired, brown eyed?
Is it that we’ve overstated the emphasis in Germany on that stereotype? Or is this a minor through extreme example of Der Grosser B.S. story? Or did it eat Der Fuehrer up inside?
(note: expect a lot of WWII-related threads from me the next months, as I’m teaching a course on WWII lit with a historian, with whom I have to struggle to keep up (in his area–I’m fine with the literature part, I think.) )
Simply put: the “blond, blue-eyed” stereotype does not accurately render Nazi racial ideology (which after all needed, for obvious political reasons, to accomodate the fact that most Germans, and most Nazis, and most of the Nazi leadership did not conform to it).
The stereotypical blond, blue-eyed look was often referred to as “nordisch” (Nordic), a subset of “arisch” (Aryan). It was OK not to be the former as long as you were the latter.
BTW, “dumpy” usually suggests both short and overweight. Hitler was of average height for men of his era, and doesn’t look particularly overweight in photos. He did have blue eyes.
As tschild said, most Germans didn’t fully fit the nordisch stereotype. Nevertheless, Hitler was intensely blue eyed, and about 1.73m tall (5’8") – at least average height for his generation.
I think it was A.J.P. Taylor who wrote something to the effect of, “Despite the Nazi Party’s Aryan dogma, most Germans continued to be tall like Goebbels, blond like Hitler, and slim like Goering.”
According to William L. Shirer, Hitler had pale blue eyes. That’s confirmed by this eyewitness report and this page. Also, his hair was sandy brown when he was young, and darkened as he aged. So it was easy for him to rationalize the blond, blue-eye stereotype, since he saw himself as fitting it.
See the movie Fight Club. Tyler padded around in a robe while the minions all wore black. Chuck said he got the idea from history. It’s a don’t look at me, just do what I say and we will all be great thing.
Leaders often pull this caca, The ceasers in Rome were a good example of this. Charisma (and power) goes a long way.
Just a note:
Speaking on “aryan superiority” I remember reading where Hitler commented on the black 1936 olympic gold medal winner Jessie Owens,he said, “America should be ashamed for letting negros win their medals for them”
Hope this helps…
Thanks for the helpful corrections. I guess it’s silly to posit eye color based on b/w photos.
He still looks dumpy to me. Maybe it’s the cut of his clothing. He needs more form-fitting material.
I just saw Leni Reifenstaler’s OLYMPIA this morning for the first time. Other than Hitler’s moments and the Owens races and the opening sequence, it’s fairly boring to watch athletic events from 8 decades ago.