Mystery of Hitler pondered in new biography

Hitler rides with Mussollini in Munich, Germany, in 1940. Author Ian Kershaw attempts to discover what it was about Hitler and his Nazi movement that Germans once found so appealing

In this story: Access from Russia's archives 'Hitler became his public image' RELATED STORIES, SITES

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- A chance conversation with a Jew-hating Nazi sympathizer at a cafe outside Munich in 1972 made Ian Kershaw wonder: Just what was it about Adolf Hitler and his Nazi movement that Germans once found so appealing?

"I remember one phrase in particular where he said 'Der Jude ist eine Laus' -- the Jew is a louse," the historian at England's Sheffield University said. "I had never come across these sentiments before and I was shocked, and I started wondering what went on in this little place where I was."

Now, after a decade of intense research and 2,000 pages of writing, Kershaw has completed the second and final volume of Hitler's biography, hailed by some as perhaps the most complete work on the German dictator in any language.

It does not offer shocking revelations but focuses on a detailed portrait of the interaction between Hitler and German society that facilitated his rise and hold on total power.

"You can't expect after 60 years a radically different view of Hitler would come forward," Kershaw told Reuters during a visit to Berlin, where he stayed just a few blocks from the site where Hitler once ruled much of the Western world.

"What you get out of this is a sense how this regime was inexorably moving toward war, genocide and final destruction, even without Hitler ... having to do very much. When you look at the unfolding of genocidal policy what is surprising is ... how little Hitler needed to do to unleash this tremendous genocidal dynamic in the state and in the population."

That meant that often aides would anticipate what Hitler would want and act, even when it come to implementing a policy as brutal and far-reaching as the Holocaust. A decade of research still could not unravel the mystery of all of Hitler's actions, Kershaw says.

Hitler was secretive about the Final Solution, barely speaking of it even among his closest advisers

"Why (was) Hitler so incredibly secretive about the Final Solution?" he asked, using the code for genocide.

"The fact is he didn't speak about this in any direct sense even among his closest entourage and that is a little bit surprising. Probably the answer was that he was concerned with his own image, his own prestige and he wanted to leave the dirty work to (SS leader Heinrich) Himmler."

Although a few minor Hitler aides, including his secretary and the valet who burned his body after his 1945 suicide, are still alive, Kershaw said they have long since provided their insights so he relied on earlier interviews and documents.

The opening of Russia's archives also gave Kershaw access to some new documents unavailable to historians of previous biographies. Perhaps most vital to his work was a complete copy of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels' diary, which has a detailed if biased daily look at the Fuehrer's activities.

The time needed to research and study the documents and write a book took him by surprise. "When I started ... doing the research, I didn't think it was going to last 10 years. Probably I would not have started it otherwise," he said.

"It cost a great deal in term of energy and time and effort and I wonder sometimes if the 10 years were best served in doing so. Many times I've wanted to watch a football match on the television or something but I said, 'No, I can't, because I must get on and write this next bit.'

Because Hitler was concerned with his image among the German people, he often left the dirty work to many of his officers, including, from left, Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels and Rudolph Hess

"All sorts of things then suffer at the fringes. Everything is subordinated to this one goal -- that sounds a little bit Hitlerian that," he said with a laugh.

Many critics are glad he made the effort and about 150,000 people have already bought the first volume. The New Yorker magazine called it "as close to definitive as anything we are likely to see," and other reviews have echoed the sentiment.

The German translation of the second volume covering the period 1937-45 and published last month brought positive reviews although some complained of inelegant prose.

The English language version will be published this month.

Some readers may be struck by the relative scarcity of personal life portrayed in the volumes.

"The things which in a biography that you would normally want to focus on very sharply are in Hitler's case relatively uninteresting. Hitler became in a sense just his public image ... so personal life sort of disappeared," Kershaw said.

"Just detached from the immense impact of this man, the personal life is really not so interesting, or Hitler's sex life. There's a book actually written about it but it is a very short book because there is nothing to say, really."

The unassuming Kershaw says that during the research he was immersed in the Hitler story but never obsessed by it.

"Although I have been prepossessed with Hitler as a subject of my work I have not been prepossessed with him as a person," he said. "I don't dream about Hitler, never have done."

Parisians watch as German POWs are marched out of the city by Allied forces in August 1944

He said he did not harbor a historian's secret wish to have met the man either. "Not only was he a repulsive figure but I wouldn't have actually got the answers to the questions I had about him," he said.

Although Kershaw says he was able to keep a professional distance from his subject matter, he said Hitler will always shadow Germany. "The country will retain its historic responsibility for what happened and to that extent it cannot never really get away from Hitler," he said.

"Hitler represents a crucial, perhaps the crucial episode in the history. As time goes on there will be greater distance and it won't be so immediate but I don't think they will escape from it."

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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