It's fairly well established that, in addition to being a psychotic mass murderer, Adolf Hitler was pretty intent on promoting his Personal Brand™. But a revelation from The New York Times today indicates that he was even more clever about it than previously known.
Historians have long concluded Hitler's transition from propagandist to megalomaniacal "leader in waiting" came with the publication of his manifesto, Mein Kampf. But the Grey Lady cites new research that indicates he got another book published under someone else's name two years earlier, in order to boost his profile on the national stage and set things up for his first (failed) coup, the Beer Hall Putsch.
That book, Adolf Hitler: His Life and His Speeches, was a nauseatingly doting missive that hailed Hitler as the savior of the German nation and compared him to Jesus Christ. It was credited to Adolf Victor von Koerber, a conservative German aristocrat whom Hitler thought could help mainstream his disgusting extremism. But researchers at the University of Aberdeen now believe that Hitler wrote the book himself.
"He brings out a book in anticipation of revolution," said Professor Thomas Weber, who found papers in von Koerber's archive that led him to his conclusion. "And we see here a political operator who understands the political process extremely well and knows how to produce a narrative for the kind of leader only he feels he can be. So he does not have to expressly say, 'I want to be leader.' He creates the expectation that others will call him to become the leader."
The findings indicate Hitler "had designs on taking power earlier than many historians have previously thought," according to the Times, "and manipulated public opinion to get there." At the time of this vintage John Miller routine, Hitler was a loudmouth propagandist giving frenzied speeches at beer halls. Things took off pretty fast after that.
