Hitler

September 1, 2020

Journalist Ullrich offers a magisterial but unoriginal sequel to Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939. With the first volume, Ullrich depicted Adolf Hitler's 50-year rise to power; here, he traces the dictator's apex and downfall during World War II. Elegantly translated by Chase (Inciting Laughter), this biography steers a course between the structuralist view of historian Ian Kershaw, who sought to explain Hitler through historical and social context, and the great-man school of history represented by Joachim Fest, who emphasized Hitler's "singular personality." According to Ullrich, "only the reciprocal influence of individual and collective sensitivities and neuroses can explain Hitler's otherwise baffling rise." Ullrich contends that Hitler radicalized his social inheritance of resentment, hawkishness, and the German political right's fear of Jews and Bolsheviks. He enacted the German nation's social pathologies to their utmost. Thus, Hitler was "both a continuity in German history and a fundamental caesura." None of these insights are original, but they are lucidly formulated for a new generation of readers and scholars. VERDICT A cogent retread of old ground, much of this densely detailed volume is about World War II and not Hitler personally; readers expecting a psychological deep dive should look elsewhere.--Michael Rodriguez, Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs

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Starred review from July 1, 2020
German historian Ullrich completes his comprehensive biography of the man who is perhaps history's most hated figure. Adolf Hitler celebrated his 50th birthday on April 20, 1939, with a huge party. But even then, months before World War II began, writes the author, "Nemesis was knocking at his door." Five birthdays followed until, hours after his 56th, he and the loyal though surprisingly impudent Eva Braun died by suicide. Ullrich has numerous concerns in this significant project, which, like the first installment, remains readable across its 800-plus pages. Far be it from finding excuses for his compatriots, he is unabashed in saying that "the F�hrer enjoyed the overwhelming support of the German populace, particularly after the Anschluss of Austria," so much so that had he been assassinated, he would be remembered today as a brilliant leader. Indeed, Hitler himself said, "In the future there will never be a man who holds more authority than I do....But I can be killed at any time by a criminal or an idiot." Another of the author's goals is to supply the Holocaust with a precise chronology; he notes that Nazi leaders had made provisional plans to export Europe's Jewish population to French-ruled Madagascar, which would become a German prison colony. This was a small mercy, however, since the Nazis figured that the Jews would quickly die in the tropical climate. Though "Hitler rarely missed an opportunity to scapegoat 'the Jews' as those pulling the strings behind the conflict," the author argues that after the euthanasia of handicapped citizens as a kind of proof of conflict, the mass destruction of the Jews in areas of German control began piecemeal, with SS and police executions behind the front lines that only eventually became regularized in the concentration camps. Ordinary Germans knew about the killings, Ullrich maintains, but looked the other way. So did the Allied leaders for too long, he adds, faulting them for not stopping the mercurial Hitler while they had the chance. An endlessly revealing look at the Nazi regime that touches on large issues and small details alike.

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