How did Adolf Hitler fight in World War I? "Good soldier": how Hitler fought in the First World War

Adolf Hitler went down in history as the man who unleashed the Second World War. As a personality, the future founder and central figure of National Socialism, the founder of the totalitarian dictatorship of the Third Reich and the Fuhrer of Germany, was largely formed during the First World War.

What was the war of Adolf Hitler at that time when he was not the supreme commander, but one of the many soldiers of the First World War? Adolf before the First World War Having failed in the first round at the Vienna Academy of Art, Adolf Hitler took up what we today call “mow down from the army”: he changed addresses, moved from place to place, in every possible way evading conscription into the Austrian army. He did not want to serve side by side with Jews, Czechs and representatives of other nationalities, whom he would later declare "subhuman".

In May 1913, Hitler moved from Vienna to Munich. He earned money by selling his paintings and custom-made signs and posters. The Austrian police, meanwhile, were looking for him as an "evader". In the end, he even had to undergo an examination in Salzburg, and the commission recognized the future Fuhrer as unfit for military service.

Adolf - volunteer When did it start

World War I, Hitler was 25 years old. In his own words, he was very pleased with the news of the beginning of the war. He immediately applied to the name of the King of Bavaria with a request to serve in the Bavarian army, and received in response an invitation to appear in any Bavarian regiment.

Hitler began his service in the 6th reserve battalion of the 2nd Bavarian infantry regiment No. 16, which consisted of volunteers. On October 8, Hitler swore allegiance to the King of Bavaria and Emperor Franz Joseph. Adolf at war

Adolf Hitler began the war on the Western Front in October 1914. Participated in the battle of Yser and in the battles of Ypres. He fought, apparently, very well, since on November 1, 1914 he was awarded the rank of corporal. Hitler was transferred as a liaison to the headquarters of the regiment. In 1914, Corporal Hitler participated in positional battles in French Flanders, in 1915 he fought at Nave Chapelle and Arras, in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme. Was injured. From the hospital he returned to his regiment.

In 1917 - again Flanders and Upper Alsace, battles near Arras, Artois. In 1918, Hitler participated in the spring offensive in France, in the battles of Soissons and Reims, on the Marne and in Champagne. He distinguished himself in the delivery of reports to artillery positions in very difficult conditions and saved the German infantry from shelling by their own artillery. October 15, 1918 near La Montaigne was gassed. As a result of severe damage to the nervous system, he temporarily lost his sight.

He was treated first in a field hospital, and then in the psychiatric department of the Prussian rear infirmary in Lazewalka. It was here, in the hospital, that Adolf Hitler learned about the surrender of Germany and the overthrow of the Kaiser. According to his own recollections, the news of the surrender was for Hitler the hardest shock in his life. Adolf's awards As a soldier, Corporal Hitler was, apparently, brave.

In December 1914 he was awarded the Iron Cross II Class. In September 1917 - the Cross with swords for military merit of the III degree. In May 1918 he received a regimental diploma for outstanding bravery, and then a distinction for wounds. In July 1918, Hitler was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st Class.

Comrades-in-arms about Adolf According to numerous testimonies, Corporal Hitler fought bravely and skillfully.

Hitler's colleague in the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment named Meyer, recalling Hitler's courage, also recalls the testimony of their other colleague, Schleehuber. He described Hitler as "a good soldier and an impeccable comrade." According to Schleehuber, he never saw Hitler "in any way feel discomfort from service or avoid danger", nor did he hear "anything negative" about him during his time in the division.

All this is another confirmation of a simple fact: a track record in itself says absolutely nothing about a person.

So often I was sad about my, as it seemed to me, late appearance on earth and saw an undeserved blow of fate in the fact that I would have to live all my life among "peace and order." As you can see, I was no longer a “pacifist” from a young age, and all attempts to educate me in the spirit of pacifism were in vain.

Like lightning, the Boer war flashed hope.

From morning to evening I devoured the newspapers, following all the telegrams and reports, and I was already happy that I was able to follow this heroic struggle even from afar.

The Russo-Japanese War found me already a more mature person. I followed these events even more closely. In this war, I took a certain side and, moreover, for national reasons. In discussions related to Russo-Japanese War, I immediately took the side of the Japanese. In the defeat of Russia, I began to see also the defeat of the Austrian Slavs.

Many years later. What had previously seemed to me a putrid agony now began to seem to me the calm before the storm. Already during my stay in Vienna, a suffocating atmosphere dominated the Balkans, which predicted a thunderstorm. More than once individual lightning bolts appeared and flashed there, but they quickly disappeared, again giving way to impenetrable darkness. But then the first Balkan war broke out and with it the first gusts of wind reached the nervous Europe. The period of time immediately following the first Balkan war was extremely painful. Everyone had a feeling of an approaching catastrophe, the whole earth seemed to be red-hot and thirsty for the first drop of rain. People were full of anguish of expectation and said to themselves: may the sky have mercy at last, may fate soon send those events that are inevitable anyway. And finally, the first bright lightning lit up the earth. A thunderstorm began, and mighty peals of thunder mingled with the rumble of cannons on the fields of the world war.

When the first news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand came to Munich (I was just sitting at home and through the window I heard the first insufficiently accurate information about this assassination), I was at first alarmed that he had not been killed by German students, who were indignant at the systematic work of the heir on Slavicization of the Austrian state. From my point of view, it would not be surprising that German students would want to free the German people from this internal enemy. It is easy to imagine what the consequences would have been if the assassination of the Archduke had been of this nature. As a result, we would have a whole wave of persecution, which would certainly be recognized as "justified" and "just" by the whole world. But when I learned the name of the alleged killer, when I was told that the killer was definitely a Serb, I was seized with a quiet horror about how an inscrutable fate had taken revenge on the Archduke.

One of the most prominent friends of the Slavs fell victim to the hands of Slavic fanatics.

Those who in recent years have closely followed the relations between Austria and Serbia could not now doubt for a moment that events would develop irresistibly.

Now the Viennese government is often heaped with reproaches for the ultimatum it sent to Serbia. But these accusations are completely unfair. Any government in the world in a similar environment would do the same. On its eastern frontier, Austria had an inexorable enemy who provocated more and more often and who could not calm down until such a favorable situation led to the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In Austria, there was every reason to believe that a blow against her would be delayed at most until the death of the old emperor; but there were also grounds for believing that by that time the monarchy would no longer be able to put up any serious resistance at all. In recent years, this monarchy has been personified to such an extent by the decrepit Franz Joseph that in the eyes of the broad masses the death of this emperor must inevitably be presented as the death of the most obsolete Austrian state. One of the most cunning tricks of Slavic politics was that it deliberately sowed the idea that the "prosperity" of Austria was entirely due to the wisdom of her monarch. The Viennese court circles fell for the bait of this flattery all the more easily because this assessment did not at all correspond to the real merits of Franz Joseph. The Vienna court did not understand at all that mockery was hidden in this flattery. At court, they did not understand, and perhaps did not want to understand, that the more the fate of the monarchy is associated with the state mind of this, as it was then expressed, “the wisest of monarchs”, the more catastrophic the position of the monarchy will become when one fine day ruthless death knocks on the Franz Josef door.

Could Austria then have been imagined at all without this old emperor?

Will not the tragedy that once happened to Maria Teresa be repeated at once?

No, the reproaches leveled against the Viennese government for going to war in 1914, which, it seems to some, could still have been avoided, are completely unfair. No, the war could no longer be avoided; it could be delayed for a maximum of one or two years. But this was the curse of German and Austrian diplomacy, that it still tried to delay the inevitable clash and was finally forced to take the fight at the most unfavorable moment. There is no doubt that if the war could be delayed for a short time, then Germany and Austria would have to fight at an even more unfavorable moment.

No, the situation is such that whoever did not want this war should have had the courage to draw the necessary conclusions. And these conclusions could only consist in sacrificing Austria. War would have come even in this case, but it would not have been a war of all against Germany alone. But at the same time, the division of Austria would have been inevitable. Germany would then have had a choice: either to take part in the division, or to return from the division empty-handed.

Those who grumble and scold the most about the situation in which the war began, those who are now so wise in hindsight - it was they who in the summer of 1914, they most of all pushed Germany into this fatal war.

The German Social Democracy has for many decades carried on the most vile persecution of Russia. On the other hand, the Center Party, out of religious motives, contributed most of all to making Austria the starting point of German policy. Now we have to pay for the consequences of this madness. We reap what we sow. It was impossible to avoid what happened under any circumstances. The guilt of the German government lay in the fact that, in the pursuit of maintaining peace, it missed the most favorable moment for starting a war. The fault of the German Government is that, in the pursuit of peace, it took the path of the policy of alliance with Austria, got bogged down in this policy and, in the end, became the victim of a coalition that opposed its determination towards war to our chimerical dream of maintaining peace.

If the Viennese government had then given its ultimatum a different, milder form, it still would not have changed anything. The most that could happen was that the indignation of the people would immediately be swept away by the Viennese government itself. For in the eyes of the broad masses of the people, the tone of the Vienna ultimatum was still too mild, and not at all too harsh. Anyone who is still trying to deny this today is either a forgetful idler or simply a conscious liar.

God have mercy, isn't it clear that the war of 1914 was by no means imposed on the masses, that the masses, on the contrary, thirsted for this struggle!

The masses wanted at last some kind of denouement. Only this mood explains the fact that two million people - adults and youth - hastened to voluntarily appear under the banners in full readiness to give their last drop of blood to defend their homeland.

I myself experienced an extraordinary upsurge these days. There were no hard feelings. I am not at all ashamed to admit that, carried away by a wave of mighty enthusiasm, I fell on my knees and from the depths of my heart thanked the Lord God for giving me the happiness to live at such a time.

A struggle for freedom began on such a scale and scope as the world has never known. As soon as the events that had begun took the course they were bound to inevitably take, it became clear to the broadest masses that the matter was no longer about Serbia or even about Austria, that the fate of the German nation itself was now being decided.

After many years now, for the last time, the eyes of the people have been opened to their own future. The mood was extremely high, but at the same time serious. The people knew that their fate was being decided. That is why the national upsurge was deep and strong. This seriousness of mood fully corresponded to the circumstances, although at the first moment no one had any idea how incredibly long the beginning war would last. The dream was very common that by winter we would finish the job and return to peaceful labor with renewed vigor.

What you want, believe it. The vast majority of the people have long been fed up with the state of eternal anxiety. This explains the fact that no one wanted to believe in the possibility of a peaceful solution to the Austro-Serbian conflict, and everyone around them hoped that war would finally break out. My personal mood was the same.

As soon as I heard in Munich about the assassination attempt on the Archduke of Austria, two thoughts entered my mind: first, that war was now inevitable, and second, that under the circumstances the Habsburg state would have to remain loyal to Germany. What I feared most in the old days was that Germany would be thrown into the war in the last analysis because of Austria, and yet Austria would remain on the sidelines. After all, it could happen that the conflict would not start directly because of Austria, and then the Habsburg government, based on domestic policy probably would have tried to hide in the bushes. And even if the government itself decided to remain loyal to Germany, the Slavic majority of the state would still sabotage this decision; it would sooner be ready to smash the whole state to smithereens than to allow the Habsburgs to remain loyal to Germany. In July 1914, events fortunately turned out in such a way that such a danger was eliminated. Willy-nilly, the old Austrian state had to get involved in the war.

My own position was perfectly clear. From my point of view, the struggle did not begin because of whether Austria would receive this or that satisfaction from Serbia. In my opinion, the war was about the very existence of Germany. It was a question of whether or not to be a German nation; it was about our freedom and our future. The state created by Bismarck now had to draw its sword. Young Germany had to prove anew that it was worthy of those conquests that were bought in the heroic struggle by our fathers in the era of the battles of Weissenburg, Sedan and Paris. If in the forthcoming battles our people prove to be at the height of their position, then Germany will finally occupy the most prominent place among the great powers. Then, and only then, will Germany become an indestructible stronghold of peace, and our children will not have to go undernourished because of the phantom of "eternal peace."

How many times in my youthful years did I dream that the time would finally come when I could prove by deeds that my devotion to national ideals was not an empty phrase. It often seemed to me almost a sin that I shouted "Hurrah" without having, perhaps, an inner right to do so. Shouting “Hurrah”, in my opinion, has a moral right only to those who have at least once experienced themselves at the front, where no one is in the mood for jokes and where the inexorable hand of fate carefully weighs the sincerity of each individual and of entire nations. My heart overflowed with proud joy that now, at last, I could test myself. How many times have I sung in a loud voice, "Deutschland's alley," how many times from the depths of my heart have I shouted "long live!" and "hooray!" Now I considered it my direct duty to the Almighty and to people to prove in practice that I was sincere to the end. I had long ago decided for myself that as soon as the war came (and that it would come, I was quite sure of that), I would put the books aside. I knew that with the beginning of the war, my place would be where my inner voice would indicate to me.

I left Austria primarily for political reasons. The same political considerations demanded that, now that the war had begun, I should take my place at the front. I did not go to the front to fight for the Habsburg state, but at any moment I was ready to give my life for my people and for the state that personifies their destinies.

On August 3, 1914, I submitted an application to His Majesty King Ludwig III with a request to accept me as a volunteer in one of the Bavarian regiments. Of course, his Majesty's office had a lot of trouble these days; I was all the more delighted when the very next day I received an answer to my petition. I remember that with trembling hands I opened the envelope and with spiritual trepidation I read the resolution on the satisfaction of my request. The joy and gratitude knew no bounds. A few days later I put on a uniform, which I then had to wear for almost 6 whole years in a row.

Now for me, as for every German, the greatest and unforgettable era of earthly existence has begun. The whole past has receded into insignificance compared to the events of these unprecedented battles. Now that the first decade has passed since these great events, I remember these days with great sorrow, but also with great pride. I am happy and proud that fate was merciful to me, that it was given to me to participate in the great heroic struggle of my people.

I remember vividly, as if it were only yesterday, how I first appeared among my dear comrades in military uniform, then how our detachment marched for the first time, then our military exercises, and finally the day we were sent to the front.

Like many others, at that time I was oppressed by only one tormenting thought: will we be late? This thought did not give me peace of mind. Reveling in every news of a new victory for German weapons, at the same time I secretly suffered from the thought that I personally would not be late to come to the front. Indeed, with each new news of victory, the danger of being late became more real.

At last the longed-for day came when we left Munich to go where duty called us. For the last time I looked at the banks of the Rhine and said goodbye to our great river, to the protection of which all the sons of our people now stood. No, we will not allow an ancient enemy to pollute the waters of this river? The morning mist dissipated, the sun came out and illuminated the surroundings, and now the great old song “Wacht am Rhein” burst out from all breasts. Everyone sang to one person in our long endless train. My heart fluttered like a captured bird.

Then comes the wet cold night in Flanders. We walk in silence. As soon as it begins to dawn, we hear the first iron "greeting". A shell bursts with a crack over our heads; fragments fall very close and blow up the wet earth. The cloud from the projectile had not yet had time to dissipate, as the first loud “hurray” was heard from two hundred throats, serving as an answer to the first herald of death. Then around us begins a continuous crackling and roaring, noise and howling, and we all feverishly rush forward towards the enemy and through a short time we converge on a potato field chest to chest with the enemy. Behind us, a song is heard from afar, then it is heard closer and closer. The melody jumps from one company to another. And at the moment when it seems that death is very close to us, the native song reaches us, we also turn on and loudly, victoriously rushes: “Deutschland, Deutschland uber ales.”

Four days later we returned to our original position. Now even our gait has become different, 16-year-old boys have turned into adults.

The volunteers of our regiment may not yet have learned how to fight properly, but they already knew how to die, like real old soldiers.

That was the beginning.

Month after month and year after year followed. The horrors of everyday battles have supplanted the romance of the early days. The first enthusiasm gradually cooled down. Joyful upsurge was replaced by a feeling of fear of death. The time has come when everyone had to vacillate between the dictates of duty and the instinct of self-preservation. I also had to go through these moods. Always, when death wandered very close, something in me began to protest. This "something" tried to inspire the weak body, as if the "reason" required to give up the fight. In fact, it was not reason, but, alas, it was only cowardice. She, under various pretexts, embarrassed each of us. Sometimes the hesitation was extremely painful, and only with difficulty did the last vestiges of conscience overcome. The louder the voice that called for caution became, the more seductively it whispered thoughts of rest and peace into one's ears, the more resolutely one had to struggle with oneself, until finally the voice of duty prevailed. In the winter of 1915/16, I personally managed to finally conquer these moods in myself. Will has won. In the early days, I went on the attack in an enthusiastic mood, with jokes and laughter. Now I went into battle with calm determination. But it was precisely this latter mood that alone could be lasting. Now I was able to face the most severe trials of fate, without fear that the head or nerves would refuse to serve.

The young volunteer turned into an old hardened soldier.

This change took place not in me alone, but in the whole army. She emerged from the eternal battles matured and strengthened. Those who were unable to endure these trials were broken by the events.

Only now could one truly judge the qualities of our army; only now, after two, three years, during which the army went from one battle to another, all the while fighting against superior enemy forces, enduring hunger and all sorts of hardships, only now we saw what priceless qualities this one of a kind army.

Centuries and millennia will pass, and mankind, remembering the greatest examples of heroism, will still not be able to pass by the heroism of the German armies in the world war. The further these times go into the past, the brighter the images of our immortal warriors shine for us, showing examples of fearlessness. As long as the Germans live on our land, they will remember with pride that these soldiers were the sons of our people.

I was a soldier at that time and did not want to engage in politics. Yes, this time was not for politics. Even now I am convinced that the last unskilled worker in those days brought much greater benefit to the state and the fatherland than any, say, "parliamentarian." Never have I hated these talkers more than during the war, when everyone honest man who had something for his soul, went to the front and fought with the enemy, and in any case was not engaged in oratory in the rear. I simply hated all these "politicians" and, if the matter depended on me, we would put shovels into their hands and form them into a "parliamentary" battalion of laborers; let them then discuss among themselves as much as their heart desires - at least they would not bring harm and would not revolt honest people.

So at that time I did not want to hear about politics; however, it was still necessary to speak out on individual topical issues, since it was about such problems that were of interest to the whole nation and had a particularly close relationship to us soldiers.

At that time, two things upset me internally.

One part of the press, already immediately after our first victories, began gradually and, perhaps, even imperceptibly for many, to pour a little bit of bitterness into the general cup of the popular upsurge. This was done under the guise of a certain benevolence and even a certain concern. This press began to express its doubts that our people, you see, are too noisily celebrating their first victories.

And what? Instead of taking these gentlemen by their long ears and shutting their throats so that they would not dare to offend the struggling people, instead they began to widely talk about the fact that our enthusiasm is really “excessive”, they make an unsuitable impression, etc.

People did not understand at all that if enthusiasm now wavered, then it would not be possible to call it back at will. On the contrary, the ecstasy of victory had to be supported by all means. Could the war really have been won, which demanded the greatest effort of all the spiritual forces of the nation, if there had not been the force of enthusiasm?

I knew too well the psyche of the broad masses not to realize how out of place all the so-called "aesthetic" considerations are here. From my point of view, one had to be crazy not to do everything possible to inflame passions even more - to the boiling point. But that people wanted to further reduce their enthusiasm, I simply could not understand this.

Secondly, I was extremely upset by the position that we took at that time in relation to Marxism. From my point of view, this proved that people have no idea what a destructive effect this plague produces. We seemed to seriously believe that the statement “we have no more parties” really had some kind of influence on the Marxists.

We did not understand that in this case it was not about the party at all, but about a doctrine entirely aimed at the destruction of all mankind. Why, after all, this “we” in our jewish universities did not hear. And it is known that many of our high-ranking officials are very little interested in books, and what they did not hear on the university bench does not exist for them at all. The biggest revolutions in science pass completely without a trace for these "heads", which, by the way, explains the fact that most of our state institutions often lag behind private enterprises. Individual exceptions here only confirm the rule.

In the August days of 1914, to identify the German worker with Marxism was an unheard-of absurdity. In the August days the German worker had just escaped from the grip of this plague. Otherwise, he would have generally been unable to take part in the common struggle. And what? Just at that time, "we" were stupid enough to believe that Marxism had now become a "national" trend. This thoughtful consideration has only proved once again that our high rulers have never taken the trouble to become seriously acquainted with Marxist doctrine, otherwise such an absurd idea could not have occurred to them.

In the July days of 1914, the Marxist gentlemen, who set themselves the goal of destroying all non-Jewish nation-states, were horrified to see that the German workers, whom they had hitherto held in their paws, were now beginning to see the light and were going over to the side more and more decisively every day. of his fatherland. Within a few days the spell of the Social Democracy melted away, the vile deceit of the people was dispelled to dust. The gang of Jewish leaders remained lonely and abandoned, as if not a trace of their 60-year anti-people agitation remained. It was a difficult moment for the deceivers. But as soon as these leaders realized what danger threatened them, they immediately put on a new mask of lies and began to pretend that they sympathized with the national upsurge.

It would seem that just then the moment has come - to resolutely clamp down on this whole slanderous company of poisoners of the people's consciousness. It was then, without distant words, that it was necessary to deal with them, not paying the slightest attention to weeping and moaning. The bogey of international solidarity in August 1914 completely vanished from the minds of the German working class. Only a few weeks later, the American shrapnels began to send our workers such impressive "brotherly greetings" that the last vestiges of internationalism began to evaporate. Now that the German worker has returned to the national path, the government, correctly understanding its tasks, was obliged to ruthlessly exterminate those who set the workers against the nation.

If on the fronts we could sacrifice our best sons, then it was not at all a sin to put an end to these insects in the rear.

Instead of all this, His Majesty Emperor Wilhelm personally extended his hand to these criminals and thus gave this gang of insidious murderers the opportunity to take a breath and wait for "better" days.

The snake could continue its evil deed. Now she acted, of course, much more circumspectly, but that is why she became even more dangerous. Honest simpletons dreamed of a civil peace, while these insidious criminals, meanwhile, were preparing a civil war.

I was at that time extremely disturbed by the fact that the authorities had taken such a terrible half-hearted position; but that the consequences of this, in turn, would be even more terrible, I could not then

It is clear as daylight what needed to be done then. It was necessary to immediately lock up all the leaders of this movement. It was necessary to immediately condemn them and free the nation from them. It was necessary at once, in the most resolute manner, to set in motion military force and exterminate this plague once and for all. The parties had to be dissolved, the Reichstag had to be called to order with the help of bayonets, and it was best to completely abolish it at once. If the republic now considers itself entitled to dissolve entire parties, then during the war this could have been resorted to with much greater justification. After all, then for our people the question was on the map - to be or not to be!

Of course, then the following question would immediately arise: is it possible at all to fight with the sword against certain ideas. Is it even possible to use brute force against this or that “world outlook”.

I asked myself this question more than once at that time.

Thinking through this question on the basis of historical analogies related to the persecution of religions, I came to the following conclusions.

It is possible to defeat certain ideas and ideas by force of arms (regardless of how true or incorrect these ideas are) only if the weapon itself is in the hands of people who also represent an attractive idea and are carriers of a whole world outlook.

The use of one naked force, if there is no big idea behind it, will never destroy another idea and make it impossible to spread. Only one exception is possible from this rule: if it comes to the complete destruction of every single bearer of this idea, to the complete physical extermination of those who could continue the tradition further. But this, in turn, for the most part means the complete disappearance of the whole state organism for a very long time, sometimes forever. Such a bloody extermination for the most part falls on the best part of the people, because the persecution, which does not have a big idea behind it, will cause a protest precisely from the best part of the sons of the people. Those persecutions, which in the eyes of the best part of the people are morally unjustified, lead precisely to the fact that the persecuted ideas become the property of new sections of the population. The feeling of opposition in many is aroused by the mere fact that they cannot calmly see how a certain idea is pursued by means of naked violence.

In these cases, the number of supporters of this idea grows in direct proportion to the persecution that falls upon it. In order to destroy such a new doctrine without a trace, it is sometimes necessary to carry out such a merciless persecution that the given state runs the risk of losing the most valuable people. This state of affairs avenges itself by the fact that such an "internal" purge is achievable only at the cost of the complete weakening of society. And if the persecuted idea has already managed to capture a more or less extensive circle of supporters, then even such the most merciless persecution will turn out to be useless in the end.

We all know that childhood especially at risk. At this age, physical death is very common. As you mature, the body's resistance becomes stronger. And only with the onset of old age should he again give way to a new young life. The same can be said, with certain modifications, about the life of ideas.

Almost all attempts to exterminate this or that doctrine with the help of naked violence without a definite ideological basis that would stand behind the violence ended in failure and often led to directly opposite results.

But the first prerequisite for the success of a campaign carried out by force is, in any case, systematic and persevering. It is possible to defeat this or that doctrine by force only if this force is first of all applied for a long time with the same perseverance. But as soon as hesitation begins, as soon as persecution begins to alternate with gentleness and vice versa, then it can be said for sure that the doctrine to be destroyed will not only recover from persecution, but will even grow stronger as a result of them. As soon as the wave of persecution subsides, a new outrage will arise over the suffering that has been endured, and this will only recruit new adherents to the ranks of the persecuted doctrine. Its old adherents will become even more hardened in hatred of the persecutors, the adherents who had broken away, after the danger of persecution has been eliminated, will return again to their old sympathies, etc. The main prerequisite for the success of persecution is, therefore, their continuous, persistent application. But perseverance in this area can only be the result of ideological conviction. That violence that does not stem from a firm ideological conviction is bound to be insecure and vacillating. Such violence will never have enough constancy, stability. Only the worldview in which people fanatically believe gives such constancy. Such perseverance depends, of course, on the energy and brutal determination of the person who directs the operation. The outcome of the case, therefore, to a certain extent also depends on the personal qualities of the leader.

In addition, the following must also be kept in mind.

It can be said about every worldview (whether of religious or political origin - sometimes it is difficult to draw a line here) that it is not so much fighting to destroy the ideological base of the enemy as to push through its own ideas. But thanks to this, the struggle acquires not so much a defensive as an offensive character. The goal of the struggle is easily established here: this goal will be achieved when one's own idea wins. It is much more difficult to say that the enemy's idea has already been finally defeated and victory over it is finally guaranteed. It is always very difficult to establish the moment when exactly this last goal can be considered achieved. For this reason alone, the offensive struggle for one's own worldview will always be waged more systematically and on a larger scale than a defensive struggle. In this area, as in all areas, offensive tactics have every advantage over defensive ones. But a violent struggle waged against certain ideas will certainly have the character of a defensive struggle only as long as the sword itself does not become the bearer, herald and propagandist of a new ideological doctrine.

As a result, you can say this:

Any attempt to overcome a certain idea by force of arms will fail, unless the struggle against the mentioned idea itself takes the form of an offensive struggle for a new world outlook. Only in this case, if another world outlook opposes one world outlook in ideological armor, will violence play a decisive role and benefit the side that will be able to apply it with maximum ruthlessness and duration.

But this is precisely what has been missing up to now in the struggle that has been waged against Marxism. That is why this struggle did not lead to success.

This also explains why Bismarck's exceptional law against the socialists, in the end, did not lead to the goal and could not lead to it. Bismarck also lacked a platform for a new worldview, for the triumph of which it would be possible to wage all the struggle that had begun. This role could not be played by more than liquid slogans: “peace and order”, “authority of the state”, etc. Only unprincipled officials and stupid “idealists” will believe that people will go to death in the name of such, so to speak, slogans.

For the successful implementation of the campaign launched by Bismarck, the ideological bearer of this entire campaign was not enough. That is why Bismarck had to make the very implementation of his legislation against the socialists in a certain dependence on that institution, which itself is already a product of the Marxist way of thinking. Bismarck was forced to make bourgeois democracy the judge in his dispute with the Marxists, but this meant letting the goat into the garden.

All this followed logically from the fact that in the struggle against Marxism there was no other opposing idea that would have the same attractive force. Bismarck's entire campaign against the socialists resulted in nothing but disappointment.

Well, at the beginning of the World War, was the situation different in this respect? Unfortunately no!

The more I thought at that time about the need for a sharp and decisive struggle by the government against Social Democracy as the embodiment of modern Marxism, the clearer it became to me that we have no ideological replacement for this doctrine. What could we then give the masses in order to break the Social Democracy? We did not have any movement capable of leading the vast masses of workers who had just freed themselves, to a greater or lesser extent, from the influence of their Marxist leaders. It is absolutely absurd and more than stupid to think that an international fanatic who has just left the ranks of one class party will immediately agree to join the ranks of another, also a class, but bourgeois party. No matter how unpleasant it may be to hear this for various organizations, one has to say that our bourgeois politicians also fully defend the class character of organizations - only not foreign, but their own. Whoever dares to deny this fact is not only insolent, but also a stupid liar.

Beware in general of thinking that the broad masses are dumber than they really are. AT political issues right instinct often means more than reason. It may be objected to us that the internationalist sentiments of the masses prove the exact opposite and refute our opinion about the true instincts of the people. To this we will object that democratic pacifism is no less absurd, and meanwhile the bearers of this "teaching" are usually representatives of the propertied classes. As long as millions of bourgeois continue to read and pray to democratic newspapers every morning, it is not fitting for the representatives of our propertied classes to laugh at the stupidity of "comrades". In the end, both the workers and these bourgeois have more or less the same ideological "food" - both of them feed on filth.

It is very harmful to deny the facts that exist. It is impossible to deny the fact that the class struggle is not only about ideological problems. This is often asserted, especially in the electoral campaign, but it has nothing to do with the truth. The class prejudices of one part of our people, the attitude towards the manual worker from top to bottom - all this, unfortunately, is real facts, and not at all the fantasies of lunatics.

Unfortunately, our intelligentsia does not even think about how it happened that we could not avoid the consolidation of Marxism. It thinks even less about the fact that since our excellent system has not been able to prevent Marxism from gaining a foothold, it will not be so easy to make up for what has been lost and uproot it. All this does not at all speak in favor of the great mental abilities of our intelligentsia.

The bourgeois (as they call themselves) parties will never be able to simply win over the "proletarian" masses into their camp. For here two worlds oppose each other, partly divided artificially, and partly natural. The relationship of these two worlds can only be a relationship of struggle. The victory in this struggle would inevitably go to the younger party, i.e., in this case, Marxism.

It was, of course, possible to begin the struggle against the Social Democracy in 1914; but until a serious ideological replacement for this movement was actually found, this struggle could not have solid ground and could not give good results. Here we had a huge gap.

I formed this opinion long before the war. And that is why I could not decide to join any of the already existing parties. The events of the World War have further strengthened my opinion that there is no real way of waging a struggle against Social Democracy until we can counter it with a movement that is something more than an ordinary "parliamentary" party.

In the circle of my close comrades, I have often expressed myself in this sense.

It was in connection with this that my first thought arose to someday get involved in politics.

This gave me reason to say more than once in small circles of friends that after the end of the war I would try to become an orator, retaining my old profession.

I thought about this all the time and, as it turned out, not in vain.

CHAPTER VI
MILITARY PROPAGANDA

Having begun to delve deeper and deeper into all questions of politics, I could not but turn my attention to the problems of military propaganda. In general, I saw propaganda as a tool that the Marxist-Socialist organizations use masterfully. I have long been convinced that correct application this weapon is a real art and that the bourgeois parties are almost completely unable to use these weapons. Only the Christian social movement, especially in the era of Lueger, still knew how to use the means of propaganda with some virtuosity, which ensured some of its success.

But it was only during the World War that it became quite clear what gigantic results can be produced by correctly staged propaganda. Unfortunately, here, too, the case had to be studied on the examples of the activities of the opposing side, because Germany's work in this area was more than modest. We almost completely lacked any kind of educational work. This was directly evident to every soldier. For me, it was just another reason to think more deeply about the issues of propaganda.

Leisure for reflection was often more than enough. The enemy gave us practical lessons at every turn.

This weakness of ours was used by the enemy with unheard-of dexterity and truly with ingenious calculation. From these samples of enemy military propaganda, I learned an infinite amount. Those who, by virtue of their duty, were in charge of this, least of all thought about the excellent work of the enemy. On the one hand, our superiors considered themselves too smart to learn anything from others, and on the other hand, they simply lacked good will.

Did we have any kind of propaganda at all?

Unfortunately, I have to answer this question in the negative. Everything that was done in this direction was from the very beginning so wrong and useless that it could not bring any benefit, and often brought direct harm.

Our "propaganda" was unsuitable in form, but in essence it completely ran counter to the psychology of a soldier. The more we looked at the production of propaganda in our country, the more we became convinced of this.

What is propaganda - an end or a means? Already in this first a simple question Our bosses didn't understand at all.

In fact, propaganda is a means and therefore must be considered only from the point of view of an end. That is why the form of propaganda must follow from the goal, serve it, be determined by it. It is also clear that, depending on the general needs, the goal can change and propaganda must also change accordingly. The goal that confronted us in the world war, for the achievement of which we waged an inhuman struggle, was the most noble goal that ever stood before people. We fought for the freedom and independence of our people, for a secure piece of bread, for our future, for the honor of the nation. Contrary to the contrary assertions, the honor of a nation is something that really exists. Peoples who do not want to defend their honor will sooner or later lose their freedom and independence, which, in the end, will only be fair, because the worthless generations, deprived of honor, do not deserve to enjoy the benefits of freedom. He who wants to remain a cowardly slave cannot have honor, because because of it he will inevitably have to enter into conflicts with one or another hostile force.

Participation in the First World War instilled in Hitler that craving for a military organization, which later, after the defeat of Germany, was restored by him in unofficial armed structures. In the photo, Hitler participates in the ceremony of consecrating the standards of the party's paramilitary organizations (in this case, the NSKK).

The German people waged a struggle for human existence, and the purpose of our military propaganda should have been to support this struggle and contribute to our victory.

When peoples on our planet are fighting for their existence, when their destinies are decided in the battles of peoples, then all considerations about humanity, aesthetics, etc., of course, disappear. After all, all these concepts are not taken from the air, but stem from the imagination of a person and are associated with his ideas. When a person leaves this world, the aforementioned concepts also disappear, for they are generated not by nature itself, but only by man. The carriers of these concepts are only a few peoples, or, better to say, a few races. Such concepts as humanity or aesthetics will disappear if those races that are the creators and bearers of them disappear.

That is why, since this or that people is forced to enter into a direct struggle for its very existence in this world, all such concepts immediately acquire only a subordinate meaning. Since these concepts run counter to the instinct of self-preservation of the people who now have to wage such a bloody struggle, they should no longer play any decisive role in determining the forms of struggle.

As regards humanity, Moltke has already said that in time of war the most humane thing is to deal with the enemy as soon as possible. The more mercilessly we fight, the sooner the war will end. The faster we deal with the enemy, the less his torment. This is the only form of humanity available in times of war.

When in such things they begin to talk about aesthetics, etc., then one has to answer only this way: since questions about the very existence of a people are on the queue, this frees us from any considerations about beauty. The ugliest thing that can be in human life is the yoke of slavery. Or do our decadents find, perhaps, very "aesthetic" the fate that has now befallen our people? With the gentlemen of the Jews, who in most cases are the inventors of this fiction about aesthetics, one can not argue at all.

But if these considerations of humanity and beauty cease to play a real role in the struggle of peoples, then it is clear that they can no longer serve as the scale of propaganda.

During the war, propaganda was supposed to be a means to an end. The goal was to fight for the existence of the German people. The criterion of our military propaganda could thus be determined only by the above-named goal. The most brutal form of fighting was humane if it ensured a quicker victory. Any form of struggle had to be recognized as "beautiful" if it only helped the nation win the battle for freedom and dignity.

In such a struggle for life and death, it was the only correct criterion military propaganda.

If at least some clarity on these matters prevailed in the so-called decisive authorities, our propaganda would never be distinguished by uncertainty in matters of form. For propaganda is the same instrument of struggle, and in the hands of an expert in this matter - the most terrible of weapons.

Another question of decisive importance was the following: to whom should propaganda be addressed? To the educated intelligentsia or to the vast mass of poorly educated people.

It was clear to us that propaganda must always appeal only to the masses.

For the intelligentsia, or for those who are now called intellectuals, what is needed is not propaganda, but scientific knowledge. Just as a poster is not an art in itself, so propaganda is not a science in its content. All the art of the poster comes down to the ability of its author to attract the attention of the crowd with the help of colors and form.

At an exhibition of posters, it is only important that the poster is visual and attracts due attention. The more the poster achieves this goal, the more skillfully it is made. Whoever wants to deal with questions of art itself cannot confine himself to studying only the poster, it is not enough for him to simply walk through the poster exhibition. From such a person it is necessary to demand that he engage in a thorough study of art and be able to delve into individual major works of it.

To a certain extent, the same can be said about propaganda.

The task of propaganda is not to give a scientific education to a few separate individuals, but to influence the masses, to make certain important, albeit few, facts, events, and necessities accessible to its understanding, of which the masses still had no idea. .

All art here should consist in making the masses believe: such and such a fact really exists, such and such a necessity is really inevitable, such and such a conclusion is really correct, etc. This simple, but also great thing, you need to learn how to do it yourself. in the best, most perfect way. And so, just as in our example with the poster, propaganda should affect more on the feeling and only to a very small extent on the so-called reason. It is a matter of riveting the attention of the masses to one or a few major necessities, and not at all of providing a scientific justification for individuals who already have some training already.

All propaganda must be accessible to the masses; its level must proceed from the measure of understanding inherent in the most backward individuals from among those whom it wants to influence. Than to more propaganda appeals to people, the more elementary should be its ideological level. And since it is a matter of propaganda during a war in which literally the entire nation is involved, it is clear that propaganda should be as simple as possible.

The less so-called scientific ballast in our propaganda, the more it appeals exclusively to the feelings of the crowd, the greater will be the success. And it is only by success that in this case it is possible to measure the correctness or incorrectness of a given staging of propaganda. And in any case, not with how satisfied individual scientists or individual young people who have received an “aesthetic” education are with the production of propaganda.

The art of propaganda consists in correctly understanding the sensory world of the masses; only this makes it possible to make this or that idea accessible to the masses in a psychologically understandable form. This is the only way to find the way to the hearts of millions. The fact that our overly smart bosses did not even understand this, once again speaks of the incredible mental inertia of this layer.

But if you correctly understand what has been said, then the next lesson follows from this.

It is wrong to give propaganda too much versatility (which is appropriate, perhaps, when it comes to the scientific teaching of the subject).

The susceptibility of the masses is very limited, the circle of its understanding is narrow, but the forgetfulness is very great. For this reason alone, any propaganda, if it is to be successful, must confine itself to a few points and state these points briefly, clearly, understandably, in the form of easy-to-remember slogans, repeating all this until there can no longer be any doubt that that even the most backward of listeners must have learned what we wanted. As soon as we abandon this principle and try to make our propaganda multifaceted, its influence will immediately begin to dissipate, because the broad masses will be unable to digest or remember all the material. Thus, the result will be weakened, and perhaps even lost.

Thus, the wider the audience we want to influence, the more carefully we must keep in mind these psychological motives.

For example, it was completely wrong that German and Austrian propaganda in humorous leaflets all the time tried to present the enemy in a ridiculous way. This was wrong because at the first meeting with a real enemy, our soldier received a completely different idea of ​​him than was portrayed in the press. The result was enormous damage. Our soldier felt deceived, he ceased to believe in everything else in our press. It began to seem to him that the press was deceiving him in everything. Of course, this could not in any way strengthen the will to fight and temper our soldier. On the contrary, our soldier fell into despair.

The military propaganda of the British and Americans, on the contrary, was absolutely correct from a psychological point of view. The British and Americans painted the Germans as barbarians and Huns; by this they prepared their soldier for any horrors of war.

As a result, the English soldier never felt cheated by his press. In our case, it was just the opposite. In the end, our soldier began to count; that our entire press is "a total deceit." This was the result of the fact that the business of propaganda was given into the hands of donkeys or simply “capable little ones”, without realizing that the most brilliant experts in human psychology should have been put in such work.

A complete misunderstanding of the soldier's psychology led to the fact that German military propaganda became a model of what not to do.

Meanwhile, we could learn a lot in this respect already from the enemy. It was only necessary to observe without prejudice and with open eyes how for four and a half years, without weakening his efforts for a single minute, the enemy tirelessly struck at the same point with tremendous success for himself.

But worst of all, we have understood what is the first prerequisite for any successful propaganda activity, namely, that all propaganda must in principle be painted in subjective colors. In this regard, our propaganda - and, moreover, on the initiative from above - sinned so much from the very first days of the war that one truly has to ask oneself: yes, completely, were these things explained by sheer stupidity!?

What would we say, for example, about a poster that should advertise one particular kind of soap, but which would at the same time begin to convey to the masses the idea that other types of soap are quite good.

AT best case we would just shake our heads at such "objectivity".

The task of propaganda is, for example, not to scrupulously weigh how fair the positions of all the parties participating in the war are, but to prove their own exceptional rightness. The task of military propaganda is to constantly prove its own rightness, and not at all to seek objective truth and doctrinairely present this truth to the masses, even in cases where this turns out to be to the advantage of the enemy.

It was a huge mistake of principle to raise the question of the culprits of the war in such a way that it was not only Germany that was to blame, but also other countries. No, we had to tirelessly propagate the idea that the blame lies entirely and exclusively on the opponents. This had to be done even if it was not true. Meanwhile. Germany was not really to blame for the outbreak of the war.

What happened as a result of this half-heartedness.

After all, millions of people do not consist of diplomats and professional lawyers. The people do not consist of people who are always capable of sound reasoning. The mass of the people consists of people who often hesitate, of the children of nature, who are easily inclined to fall into doubts, to go from one extreme to another, etc. . The masses are no longer able to decide where the wrongness of the enemy ends and where our own wrongness begins. Our masses in this case become distrustful, especially when we are dealing with an enemy who by no means repeats such a stupid mistake, but systematically strikes at one point and without any hesitation throws all the responsibility on us. What wonder, then, if in the end our own people begin to believe hostile propaganda more than our own. This misfortune becomes all the more bitter when it comes to a people who are already easily hypnotized by "objectivity." After all, we Germans are already accustomed to thinking most of all about how not to inflict some kind of injustice on the enemy. We are disposed to think so even in cases where the danger is very great, when it comes directly to the destruction of our people and our state.

There is no need that the top understood it wrong.

The soul of the people is distinguished in many respects by feminine features. The arguments of a sober mind act on her Less than the arguments of feeling.

Popular feelings are not complex, they are very simple and monotonous. There is no room for particularly subtle differentiation here. The people say "yes" or "no"; he loves or hates. Truth or lie! Right or wrong! People talk straight. He has no half-heartedness.

English propaganda understood all this in the most ingenious way, understood and took it into account. The British truly had no half-heartedness, their propaganda could not sow any doubts.

English propaganda perfectly understood the primitiveness of the feelings of the broad masses. The British propaganda about the "German horrors" is a brilliant evidence of this. In this way, the British simply ingeniously created the prerequisite for the stamina of their troops on the fronts, even at the moments of the most serious British defeats. The British achieved equally excellent results by their tireless propaganda of the idea that the Germans alone were responsible for the war. In order for this impudent lie to be believed, it was necessary to propagate it precisely in the most one-sided, rude, persistent way. Only in this way was it possible to influence the feelings of the broad masses of the people, and only in this way could the British achieve that they believed in this lie.

How effective this propaganda turned out to be is evident from the fact that this opinion not only remained in the enemy camp for four whole years, but also penetrated among our own people.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that fate did not promise such success for our propaganda. Already the internal duality of our propaganda had in itself the germ of impotence. The very content of our propaganda from the very beginning made it unlikely that such propaganda would make a proper impression on our masses. Only soulless dummies could have imagined that such pacifist water could inspire people to go to their deaths in the fight for our cause.

As a result, such unfortunate "propaganda" turned out to be not only useless, but downright harmful.

Even if the content of our propaganda were completely ingenious, it still could not be successful, since the main, central premise is forgotten: all propaganda must necessarily be limited to only a few ideas, but repeat them endlessly. Constancy and perseverance are the main prerequisite for success here, as well as in many other things in this world.

Just in the field of propaganda, one can least of all listen to aesthetes or jaded intellectuals. The first cannot be obeyed, because then in a short time both the content and the form of propaganda will be adapted not to the needs of the masses, but to the needs of narrow circles of cabinet politicians. It is dangerous to listen to the voice of the latter because, being themselves deprived of healthy feelings, they are constantly looking for new thrills. These gentlemen get bored of everything in no time. They are constantly looking for variety and are completely incapable of even for a minute to think about how a simple artless crowd feels. These gentlemen are always the first critics. They do not like the ongoing propaganda either in content or form. Everything seems to them too outdated, too formulaic. They are all looking for something new, versatile. Such criticism is a real scourge; it interferes at every step with really successful propaganda, which would be able to win over the real masses. As soon as the organization of propaganda, its content, its form begin to align with these jaded intellectuals, all propaganda will blur and lose all attractive power.

Serious propaganda exists not in order to satisfy the need of jaded intellectuals for an interesting variety, but in order to convince, first of all, the broad masses of the people. The masses, in their inertia, always need a considerable period of time before they even pay attention to this or that question. In order for the memory of the masses to assimilate even a completely simple concept, it is necessary to repeat it before the masses thousands and thousands of times.

Approaching the masses from completely different angles, we must in no case change the content of our propaganda and each time we must lead it to the same conclusion. We can and must propagandize our slogan from various sides. It is also possible to highlight its correctness in different ways. But the result must always be the same, and the slogan must invariably be repeated at the end of every speech, every article, etc. Only in this case will our propaganda have a truly uniform and unanimous effect.

Only if we adhere to this in the most consistent manner, with restraint and perseverance, will we eventually see that success begins to grow, and only then will we be able to see what amazing, what downright grandiose results such propaganda yields.

And in this respect, the propaganda of opponents was exemplary. It was conducted with exceptional perseverance, with exemplary indefatigability. It was devoted to only a few, few, but important ideas and was designed exclusively for the broad masses of the people. Throughout the war, without respite, the enemy propagated the same ideas in the same form to the masses. He never once began to change his propaganda even in the slightest, for he was convinced that its effect was excellent. At the beginning of the war, it seemed that this propaganda was downright insane in its impudence, then it began to produce only a somewhat unpleasant impression, and in the end everyone believed it. Four and a half years later, a revolution broke out in Germany, and what? This revolution borrowed almost all of its slogans from the arsenal of military propaganda of our opponents.

One more thing was well understood in England: that the success of propaganda to a large extent also depends on its mass application; the British did not spare any money for propaganda, remembering that the costs would be covered a hundredfold.

In England, propaganda was considered a tool of the first rank. Meanwhile, in Germany, propaganda has become an occupation for unemployed politicians and for all those knights of a sad image who were looking for warm places in the rear.

This explains the fact that the results of our military propaganda were equal to zero.

CHAPTER VII
THE REVOLUTION

The military propaganda of the opponents began in our camp already in 1915. From 1916 it became more and more intense, and by the beginning of 1918 it was already directly flooding us. At every step one could feel the negative influences of this trapping of souls. Our army gradually learned to think the way the enemy wanted.

Our measures to combat this propaganda proved to be useless.

The then head of the army had both the desire and determination to fight against this propaganda wherever it appeared at the front. But, alas, for this he lacked the appropriate tool. Yes, and from a psychological point of view, countermeasures should not have come from the command itself. For our counter-propaganda to have its effect, it had to come from home. After all, it was for this house, because it was for our fatherland that the soldiers at the front performed miracles of heroism and went to any hardships for almost four years.

And what happened in reality? How did the motherland respond, how did our house respond to all this outrageous propaganda of opponents?

Similar information.

Statements have been made that fascism originated directly during the First World War. Hitler himself assured that those years were decisive for the formation of his anti-Semitic and pan-German ideology. To achieve political and career goals, he actively used his military experience, and his followers created many myths and legends, which were based on the heroic deeds of the Fuhrer and his innate qualities of a leader.

Thomas Weber refutes all these claims. Due to the lack of documentary data about Hitler relating to those years, the researcher uses to the maximum extent the front-line reports of the Munich Military Archive and the testimonies of his former comrades-in-arms in the 16th Bavarian Infantry Reserve Regiment (16 PRP), named the List regiment in honor of the first commander who died in 1915.

The purpose of the book is to analyze whether Hitler fits into the special microcosm of this military unit and to decide what influenced the formation of his worldview: the horrors of war or the post-war revolutionary experience. Was Hitler a direct product of the war, or are we dealing with an exceptional case of political self-hypnosis? In the scientific work, a clear answer to this question is not given. Although the author denies the influence of the war on the formation of radical political views, at the same time he emphasizes the influence of such unforeseen events as a radical turn in the development of the Bavarian Revolution of 1918-1919. And it comes to the assertion that if the Bavarian monarchy had continued the line of conservative reformism and thus prevented the revolution, Hitler would have continued to earn a living by drawing touching postcards.

The book primarily examines the history of the 16th Bavarian PRP, a military unit that was not particularly valued by the high command. She participated in major battles (in the first battle of Ypres in 1914, in the Neuve Chapelle (Neuve Chapelle) battle of 1915 and in the battle of the Somme in the autumn of 1916). In this regiment, there was an increase in cases of desertion and disobedience to commanders, and the number of casualties was higher (one in four soldiers died) than the average for the German army (one in six).

Scorched earth

Indeed, between the soldiers of the opposing sides, fraternization rather than bitterness was observed. Although at first the German command took extremely harsh measures against the French and Belgian snipers, which was caused by the need for a quick victory in order to avoid fighting on two fronts, the bitterness on the battlefield intensified only after Hindenburg and Ludendorff took over the high command, becoming use scorched earth tactics.

The 16th PRP participated in the battle of Verdun and showed itself very poorly in the battles on the Somme River. It was there that his final moral decay occurred. Having lost more than 50% of his personnel, he fought for only three weeks, instead of the prescribed two months.

From reports and testimonies it is clear that Hitler was very obsequious and generous towards his superiors and treated his comrades with contempt. He managed to get himself a warm place at the headquarters of the regiment and, thanks to this, was at less risk than the fighters on the front line. He was twice wounded, decorated (in August 1918 he received the Iron Cross, first class) and was in military service during 42 of the 51 months of the war. He participated in the battle on the Somme for only four days, and even then being two kilometers from the front line. He again found himself far from the front when the most fierce battles of the summer and autumn of 1918 broke out. A gas attack on the night of 13/14 October ended his participation in the war. Hitler underwent treatment for "trench hysteria" in the psychiatric department of a military hospital, which he carefully concealed throughout his later political career.

The second part of the book describes the impact that the war experience had on the rise of Nazism, Hitler's imperial sentiments, and on the historical development of Germany after the First World War.

Weber concludes that it was not the war that caused the growth of ultranationalist sentiments among the soldiers of the 16th Bavarian PRP, but it was the subsequent events (the proclamation of the Republic in Germany, the assassination of Eisner in February 1919 and the transition to the radical positions of the Bavarian Soviet Republic) that led to the strengthening and integration into political system right-wing forces and the simultaneous weakening of the social democratic and liberal parties.

stormy times

Following the participants in the Historikerstreit (discussions of the 80s about the responsibility of the Nazis for what happened in Germany), the researcher claims that the fight against Bolshevism was not among the priorities of National Socialism at an early stage of its development. In these turbulent times, confusion in the minds of the people was quite commonplace, as confirmed by Hitler's service to the Soviet government of Bavaria and his support for the National Bolshevik ideas of E. Niekisch, head of the Revolutionary Council. His anti-Semitism arose in the revolutionary and post-revolutionary period, but his political future had not yet been finally decided when he entered the counter-revolutionary propaganda department of the army.

Seeing the disappearance of camaraderie among the soldiers, until then replacing his family, in September 1919 he joins the Workers' Party of Germany, where he tries to rally his former colleagues from the headquarters of the regiment. However, most of them did not follow him: only 17% of the veterans of the 16th Bavarian PRP became members of the Nazi Party. The autobiographical hoax Mein Kampf, which used the myth of the impeccable service record of the List regiment as Hitler's prototype of the future National Socialist society, could not hide the fact that during the war there was neither camaraderie (Kameradschaft) nor military fraternity (Frontgemeinschaft), but only mutual suspicion and enmity between the rank and file.

The myth of the brave soldier was actively promoted by Nazi propaganda from 1925 to 1933, despite rebuttal claims and the weak desire of former fellow soldiers to stand under the banner of Hitler and National Socialism.

It also does not seem reasonable to speculate about the lack of continuity between the violence of the First World War and the brutality of the Second, which are based on the fact that the main actors both wars were representatives of the younger generation, who had no experience of combat operations. As G.L. G.L. Mosse, the spirit of militarism that filled the years between the two wars, brought together the extreme experiences of both generations.

The First World War did not become a breeding ground for future Nazis, but veterans emerged from its crucible, whose memories illuminated the political future of the Fuhrer with their mystical light. Perhaps, as Weber points out, the character named Hitler was not a direct product of the war, but the result of the war was a world that made possible appearance the myth of Hitler.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

On May 24, 1913, Hitler left Vienna and moved to Munich, where he settled in the apartment of the tailor and merchant Josef Popp on the Schleissheimerstrasse. He still earned his living by commercial painting. In the capital of Bavaria, he was eventually sought out by the Austrian military authorities on a tip from the Munich police. Before that, he lived in the Bavarian capital quite comfortably, even better than in Vienna. Yes, and contact with the Austrian military department, as it turned out, did not bring any trouble to Hitler. In general, he later called life in Munich on the eve of the First World War a happy time.

On January 19, 1914, the police brought Hitler to the Austrian consulate. In this regard, he sent a letter with a tax return to the magistrate of Linz, who demanded his appearance for military service. Hitler wrote: “I earn as a freelance artist only in order to secure further education for myself, since I am completely deprived of funds (my father was a civil servant). I can devote only part of my time to earning a living, as I am still continuing my architectural education. Therefore, my income is very modest, they are only enough to live on. I enclose my tax return as evidence and request that it be returned to me again. My income is listed here at 1,200 marks, and it is more overstated than understated (it would be interesting to see a person who overstates his income on his tax return. - B.S.), and one should not assume that each month there are exactly 100 marks.

Hitler was obviously crying, trying to pity the officials of his native city: maybe they will sympathize and decide that the poor artist can not be taken into the army. And Adolf achieved his goal. The consulate's report on Hitler's visit, sent to Vienna and Linz, said: “According to police observations and personal impressions, the data set forth in the attached statement of justification are fully consistent with the truth. He also allegedly suffers from a disease that makes him unfit for military service ... Since Hitler made a favorable impression, we have so far refused to force him to be delivered and recommended that he without fail appear on February 5 in Linz for the draft board ... Thus, Hitler will leave for Linz, if the magistrate does not consider it necessary to take into account the circumstances of the case and his poverty and does not agree to the holding of a draft board in Salzburg.

In fact, 100 marks, taking into account the real scale of prices, was more than Hitler's monthly salary in Vienna, which was 60–65 crowns. After all, prices in Munich were significantly lower than in Vienna. By the way, a novice bank clerk in Munich at that time earned only 70 marks a month.

In Vienna, in order to dine in a restaurant every day, it took 25 crowns a month, and in Munich - 18-25 marks. The worst room in Vienna cost 10-15 crowns, and for a well-furnished room with a separate entrance in Munich, Hitler paid only 20 marks. Excluding the expenses for breakfasts and dinners, he had at least 30 marks a month for other needs, while in Vienna he had practically no free money left. And since Hitler was unpretentious, he even, apparently, accumulated some savings. In 1944, he confessed to his personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, that he needed no more than 80 marks a month in Munich in 1913–1914.

As in Vienna, Hitler was very lonely in Munich. It can be assumed that both there and there he had fleeting connections with women, but nothing concrete is still known about this. The people around looked at Hitler as an eccentric, which did not hurt him at all. He still read a lot, not only books on art and philosophy, but also works on military affairs, as if foreseeing that a world war was about to break out.

At the same time, Hitler dressed well, tastefully and often in the evenings talked in cafes and pubs with people of art - the same artists, poets and musicians of the second or third row, who did not receive public recognition. He willingly discussed not only cultural, but also political topics and discovered an unusual gift for persuading his interlocutors - subsequently, many of them joined the National Socialist Party. But he did not get close to anyone and did not open his soul to anyone, including, as we will see later, to his beloved women.

On February 5, 1914, Hitler went to the draft board in Salzburg. The Linz authorities took into account his alleged poverty and allowed him to pass the draft board in Salzburg, which was much closer to Munich. The commission declared him "unfit for military and auxiliary service due to his weak physique" and released him from military service. Hitler was by no means going to skimp on the performance of his military duty, but preferred to do this in the ranks of the Bavarian rather than the Austrian army. Just in the days of his arrival in Munich, a scandal broke out connected with the case of Alfred Redl. On the night of May 25, 1913, Colonel Redl of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, exposed as a Russian spy, committed suicide in Vienna. Knowing about his homosexual inclinations, Russian intelligence by blackmail forced him to issue a plan for the strategic deployment of the imperial-royal army. The case of Redl was regarded by Hitler as evidence of the decay of the Austro-Hungarian army and reinforced his conviction not to serve in it. In the book "My Struggle" he admitted: "I left Austria in the first place for political reasons. I didn't want to fight for the Habsburg state." The German historian Werner Maser described Hitler's position as follows: "He does not want to serve in the same army with the Czechs and Jews, to fight for the Habsburg state, but he is always ready to die for the German Reich." Hitler was ardently convinced that Austria-Hungary had long ago “ceased to be a German state entity”, that in the Danubian monarchy the only bearers of the idea of ​​a close alliance with Germany “remained only the Habsburgs and the Germans. The Habsburgs out of calculation and out of necessity, and the Germans out of gullibility and political stupidity. He had no doubt that internal instability would soon lead to the collapse of the Habsburg Empire. And even then, in Munich, Hitler said more than once that "the future of the German nation depends on the destruction of Marxism."

On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on France and Russia, and on August 16, Hitler volunteered for the Bavarian 16th Reserve Infantry Regiment in Munich. His feelings at the time of receiving the news of the outbreak of war in the book “My Struggle” he conveyed as follows: “Those hours became for me, as it were, a deliverance from unpleasant memories of youth. I am not ashamed ... to admit that I fell to my knees because of the delight that seized me and thanked heaven from the bottom of my heart for the fact that I was given the happiness of living at such a time.

On October 8, 1914, Private of the 6th Recruitment Reserve Battalion of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, Adolf Hitler took the oath first to King Ludwig III of Bavaria, and then, as an Austrian subject, to his Emperor Franz Joseph I. And already in mid-October he was part of 1 th Infantry Company of the 16th Regiment ended up on the Western Front. Hitler described his first combat impressions in Flanders during the battle of Ypres in the most detailed way in February 1915 in a letter to his Munich comrade, assessor Ernst Hepp. This is the most detailed sketch of the “trench truth” that came out from the pen of the Fuhrer: “Already on December 2, I received the Iron Cross. Opportunities to get it, thank God, were more than enough. Our regiment was not in the reserve, as we thought, but already on October 29 in the morning it was sent into battle, and for three months now we have not given them rest for a minute - if not on the offensive, then on the defensive. After a very beautiful journey along the Rhine, we arrived in Lille on October 31st. Already in Belgium, signs of war were visible. Leuven was all in ruins and conflagrations... Somewhere around midnight we finally entered Lille... an imprint on the whole of Lille. At night we sang songs, some of us for the last time. On the third night at 2 o'clock the alarm was suddenly announced, and at 3 o'clock we moved to the assembly point. None of us really knew anything, but we decided that this was a training alert ... Somewhere at 9 o'clock we stopped in some kind of palace park. Two hours of rest, and then again on the road until 8 pm ... After a long ordeal, we reached the broken peasant farmstead and made a halt. That night I had to stand on watch. At one o'clock in the morning the alarm was again announced, and at 3 o'clock we marched. Before that, replenished ammunition. While we were waiting for the order to move forward, Major Tsekh rode past us on horseback: tomorrow we are going to attack the British. Everyone rejoices: finally. Having made this announcement, the major took his place at the head of the column and set out on foot. At 6 o'clock in the morning we meet with other companies near some hotel, and at 7 o'clock everything begins. We platoon-by-platoon pass through the forest located to our right and go out into the meadow in perfect order. We have four guns buried in front of us. We take up positions behind them in large trenches and wait. The first shrapnel is already whistling above us and cuts the trees at the edge like straw. We look at all this with curiosity. We don't have a real sense of danger yet. No one is afraid, everyone is waiting for the command “Attack!”. And things are getting worse. They say that there are already wounded. From the left, 5 or thugs in clay-colored uniforms appear, and we scream with joy. 6 British with a machine gun. We are looking at the convoys. They proudly follow their prey, and we are still waiting and can hardly see anything in the hellish smoke in front of us. Finally, the command "Forward!". We disperse in a chain and rush across the field in the direction of a small farm. Shrapnel explodes to the left and right, English bullets whistle, but we pay no attention to them. We lie down for ten minutes, and then again forward, I run ahead of everyone and break away from the platoon. Here they report that they shot the platoon leader Shtever. “This is how things are,” I manage to think, and then it begins. Since we are in the middle of an open field, we need to run forward as quickly as possible. The captain runs ahead. Now the first among us are already falling. The British fired machine guns at us. We throw ourselves on the ground and slowly crawl along the ditch.

Sometimes we stop, which means that someone has been shot again, and he does not allow to move forward. We drag him out of the ditch. So we crawl until the ditch ends and again we have to get out into the field. After 15–20 meters we reach a large puddle. One by one we jump up there and take a position to catch our breath. But there is no time to lie down. We quickly get out and march-march to the forest, which is about 100 meters away. There we gradually gather together again. The forest has already thinned out. Now we are commanded by Vice-Sergeant Major Schmidt, a great, hefty guy. We crawl along the edge. Bullets and fragments whistle above us, and knocked down branches and pieces of trees fall around us. Then shells burst at the edge, raising clouds of stones, earth and sand and pulling out huge trees with roots, and we suffocate in a yellow-green terrible, stinking smoke. It doesn’t make sense to lie here forever, if you die, it’s better in the field. Here comes our major. We are running forward again. I jump and run with all my might across the meadow, over the beet beds, jump over the trenches, climb over the wire and bush fences, and suddenly I hear shouts ahead: "Here, everyone here." There is a long trench in front of me, and after a moment I jump into it. In front of me, behind me, to the left and to the right, others also jump there. Next to me are the Württembergers, and below me are the dead and wounded British. The Württembergers occupied the trench before us. Now it becomes clear why it was so soft for me to jump off. At 240-280 meters to the left of us, English trenches are still visible, and on the right is the road ... which is in their hands. Above our trench there is an uninterrupted iron hail. Finally, at 10 o'clock, our artillery begins to work. The guns fire one after another, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Every now and then a shell hits the English trenches in front of us. The British jump out like an anthill, and we again run to the attack.

We instantly skip the field and after hand-to-hand combat, which was quite bloody in places, we knock them out of the trenches. Many people raise their hands. Anyone who does not give up, we finish off. This is how we clear trench after trench. Finally, we get to the main road. To the left and to the right of us is a young forest. We enter it. We drive out whole packs of Englishmen from there. Finally we reach the place where the forest ends and the road goes further along the open field. On the left, there are some farmsteads that are still occupied by the enemy, and terrible fire is being opened on us from there. People fall one by one. And then our major appears, brave as hell. He smokes quietly. With him is his adjutant Lieutenant Piloty. The major quickly assesses the situation and orders to concentrate on the left and right of the road and prepare for an attack. We no longer have officers, and there are almost no non-commissioned officers left. Therefore, everyone who is still able to jump up and run for reinforcements. When I return for the second time with a group of breakaway Württembergers, the major lies on the ground, shot through the chest. There are a lot of corpses around him. Now only one officer remains, his adjutant. We are filled with rage. “Mr. Lieutenant, lead us to the attack,” everyone shouts. We are moving through the forest to the left of the road, there is no way to pass along the road. Four times we rise to the attack - and four times we are forced to retreat. Out of my entire team, only one person remains besides me. Finally, he falls too. The sleeve of my tunic is torn off by a shot, but by some miracle I remain alive and well. At 2 o'clock we finally go to the fifth attack and this time we occupy the edge of the forest and the farm. In the evening at five o'clock we gather together and dig ourselves 100 meters from the road. 3 days of fighting go on, until finally on the third day we overturn the British. On the fourth day, we march back ... Only there did we appreciate how heavy our losses were. In 4 days, our regiment was reduced from three and a half thousand people to 600 people (Hitler wrote to his Munich landlord J. Popp back in December 1914 that 611 remained in the regiment of 3600 people. - B.S.). Only 3 officers remained in the entire regiment, 4 companies had to be reorganized. But we were proud to have overthrown the British. Since then, we have been at the forefront. In Messina, for the first time, I was introduced to the Iron Cross, and in Witschet - for the second time, this time the presentation against me ... was signed by Mr. Lieutenant Colonel Engelhardt, our regimental commander. December 2, I finally received it. I now serve as a messenger at the headquarters. The service here is a little cleaner, but also more dangerous. In Vitshet alone, on the day of the first offensive, three of us were killed, and one seriously wounded. We, the four survivors, and the wounded were awarded. At that time, this award saved our lives. When the list of those presented to the cross was being discussed, 4 company commanders entered the tent. Because of the tightness, the four of us had to go out for a while. We didn't stand outside for even five minutes, when suddenly a shell hit the tent directly, seriously wounding Lieutenant Colonel Engelhardt, and everyone else in the headquarters was either wounded or killed. It was the most terrible moment in my life. We all just adored Lieutenant Colonel Engelhardt.

Unfortunately, I must finish, and I ask you, dear assessor, to forgive me for my bad handwriting. I'm too nervous right now. Day after day, from 8 o'clock in the morning until 5 o'clock in the evening, we are under heavy artillery fire. Over time, this can ruin even the strongest nerves. For the two parcels that you, Mr. Assessor, were so kind to send me, I express to you and your dearest wife my most heartfelt gratitude. I often think of Munich, and each of us has only one desire: to settle accounts with these bandits as quickly as possible, no matter what the cost, and that those of us who are lucky enough to return to our homeland again see it cleansed of all foreignness, so that thanks to the sacrifice and suffering that hundreds of thousands of us experience every day, and to the rivers of blood that are shed in the fight against the international conspiracy of enemies, we not only defeated Germany's external enemies, but also internal internationalism collapsed. This is more important than any conquest of territory. Everything will start with Austria, as I always said.”

Here one can hear not only pride in military successes, but also sincere compassion for the dead and wounded comrades. Hitler had an understandable hatred for his opponents, characteristic of soldiers just out of battle. But even then, xenophobia was clearly manifested in him, which resulted in a desire to cleanse Germany of “foreigners” (he already included Austria in Germany at that time).

As for the losses of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, there are data from official reports. According to the official list of losses, on October 29, 1914, on the day of the "baptism by fire", 349 people died in the regiment, and in the period from October 30 to November 24, 1914, another 373 people (the main part - in early October and early November, during the most intense fighting). Taking into account the fact that there were probably about three times as many wounded, about 600 people could actually remain in the ranks by the end of November. So the data cited by Hitler must be recognized as very accurate. In total, the 16th regiment lost 3,754 soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers during the war.

Characteristically, in Hitler's letter to Ernst Hepp, the thesis of the Kaiser's propaganda about an international conspiracy against Germany is experienced quite sincerely, and the conclusion suggests itself that it is necessary to simultaneously deal with the "internal enemy" - internationalism. Thus, the legend born in 1918 of “a stab in the back with a dagger” is anticipated, that it was the “subversion” of the Social Democrats that led to the collapse of the front and the defeat of Germany. The most interesting thing is that this letter already contains in a compressed form the program of the future German expansion, in case of defeat, which will have to be started from Austria. As is well known, it was the Anschluss of Austria that became Hitler's first annexation - the prelude to World War II. And what else is very curious: the English, "racially close" to the German people, the future Fuhrer simply called bandits. Such a feeling casts doubt on the reality of the combinations of the Anglo-German alliance, which were later attributed to Reich Chancellor Hitler as the fundamental idea of ​​​​Nazi foreign policy. Rather, it was purely propaganda-diplomatic maneuvers.

Hepp's letter also refutes the widely held belief that it was only in 1919 that Hitler felt political activity as his vocation. Already in this letter we do not see an artist at all, but we see an extremist politician with a definite program of action.

And further. Judging by the description of his first battle, Hitler in it certainly had to kill one of the enemy soldiers, and most likely not one. He probably killed someone in subsequent battles - there were more than 30 such battles on Hitler's account. But after the First World War, the head of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany and the Fuhrer of the German people did not kill a single person with his own hands, preferring to destroy millions people with the stroke of a pen.

On December 3, 1914, Hitler also wrote to J. Popp about his first battles: “I was assigned a corporal, and as if by a miracle I survived, and after a three-day rest, everything started all over again. We fought in Messina, and then in Vitshete. There we went on the attack twice more, but this time it was harder. There are 42 people left in my company, and 17 in the 2nd. Now a transport has arrived with a replenishment of only 1200 people. After the second battle, I was introduced to the Iron Cross. But the company commander was seriously wounded on the same day, and everyone was put on the brakes. But I ended up as an orderly at the headquarters. Since then, I can say that every day I risk my life and look death in the eye. Lieutenant Colonel Engelhardt then himself introduced me to the Iron Cross. But on the same day he was seriously wounded. This was already our second regiment commander, since the first (List, whose name the regiment received. - B.S.) died on the third day. This time, Adjutant Eichelsdörfer introduced me again, and yesterday, December 2, I still received the Iron Cross. It was the happiest day of my life. Almost all of my comrades, who also deserved it, died. I ask you, dear Mr. Popp, to save the newspaper, where it is written about the award. I would like, if the Lord God leaves me alive, to keep it as a memory ... I often think of Munich and especially of you, dear Mr. Popp ... Sometimes I feel so homesick.”

At that moment, Hitler undoubtedly believed in God, as did most of the soldiers who are daily in mortal danger at the front. And then. that, after spending four years at the front, he survived, he attributed to his own God's chosen people. Providence, Hitler thought, had reserved him for great things. And he spent two of his military holidays in Spital - the "family nest" of the Hitlers. Faith in God, Hitler retained in the future. Only it was not a Christian all-forgiving and sacrificial God, but a pagan Providence, marking with its seal the strong and indifferent and even hostile to the weak.

The military past forever remained for the Fuhrer a symbol of the heroic in his life. In the book “My Struggle,” Hitler wrote: “The volunteers from the List regiment may not have been able to fight, but they knew how to die like old soldiers. This was just the beginning. Then year after year followed. The romance of the first battles was replaced by harsh military everyday life. Enthusiasm gradually cooled, and unbridled delight was replaced by fear of death. The time has come when the instinct of self-preservation and the sense of duty fought in everyone. Such a struggle took place in me too... In the winter of 1915/16, this struggle ended. The unconditional victory in it was won by the will. If in the early days I could go on the attack with laughter and delight, now I was full of calm and determination. And it remained forever... The young volunteer turned into an experienced soldier.”

Hitler was a good soldier. Already on November 1, 1914, he was awarded the rank of corporal. In the same month, he was transferred to the regimental headquarters as a liaison officer. Hitler served here until October 1915, when he was transferred as a liaison commander of the 3rd company of the 16th regiment. On October 5, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, Hitler was wounded in the thigh near Le Bargur and spent almost three months in the infirmary in Belitz, near Berlin. On September 17, 1917, for the heroism shown in the battles in Flanders, Corporal Hitler was awarded the Military Merit Cross with swords of the 3rd degree. On May 9, 1918, a new award followed - a regimental diploma for outstanding bravery in the battle of Fontenay. August 4, 1918 for participation in the second battle of the Marne - the last German offensive in the First World War - Hitler was awarded his highest award - the Iron Cross 1st class. This order rarely complained to soldiers and non-commissioned officers, so the corporal had to do something very outstanding in order to deserve it. On August 25, 1918, Hitler received his last award - a badge of service distinction. And on October 15, 1918, he suffered severe gas poisoning near La Montaigne, and his participation in the war ended. Until November 19, he lay in the Prussian rear infirmary in Pasewalk, where he even lost his sight for a while. Later he was assigned to the 7th company of the 1st reserve battalion of the 2nd Bavarian infantry regiment.

All reviews of Hitler's military service given before 1923 - the time of his appearance in the political arena - are extremely positive. It was later, and especially after 1933, that Hitler's opponents circulated versions that he received his Iron Crosses through blasphemy. But, for example, the same adjutant of the Eichelsdörfer regiment, in a history of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment named after List, written in 1932, noted that Hitler was a very prudent soldier and persistently persuaded Lieutenant Colonel Engelhardt to take care of himself so as not to fall under enemy fire.

The former commander of the 16th regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel von Luneschlos, testified in the spring of 1922 that "Hitler never failed and was especially well suited for assignments beyond the strength of other orderlies." And another commander of the same regiment, Major General Friedrich Petz, stated: “Hitler ... demonstrated great mental alertness, physical dexterity, strength and endurance. He was distinguished by the energy and reckless courage with which he difficult situations in battle he went into danger. Another regimental commander, Ritter Max Josef von Spatney, recalled on March 20, 1922: “A very turbulent and difficult front (Northern France, Belgium), where the regiment constantly operated, made the highest demands on each soldier in terms of self-sacrifice and personal courage. In terms of ego, Hitler was a model for everyone around. His personal energy, exemplary behavior in all situations of combat had a strong impact on his comrades. Since he combined this with modesty and amazing unpretentiousness, he enjoyed the deepest respect of both soldiers and commanders. And the last regimental commander of Hitler, Colonel Count Anton von Tubef, who presented him with the Iron Cross of the 1st degree, wrote in his memoirs that Hitler “was tireless in his service and was always ready to help. There was no such case that he did not volunteer for the most difficult and dangerous task, demonstrating his constant readiness to sacrifice his life for the sake of others and for the good of the motherland. On a purely human level, he was closest to me among the soldiers, and in personal conversations I admired his unparalleled love for the motherland, decency and honesty in his views. Toubef became the only officer of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment whom Hitler promoted to general after coming to power.

The submission to the Iron Cross 1st Class, signed by Lieutenant Colonel von Godin on July 31, 1918, noted: “Being a messenger (Hitler was a scooter, that is, a messenger on a bicycle. - B. S.), in conditions of both positional and maneuver warfare, he was an example of composure and courage, and he always volunteered to deliver the necessary orders in the most difficult situations with the greatest danger to life. When all lines of communication were cut off in heavy fighting, the most important messages, despite all the obstacles, were delivered to their destination thanks to Hitler's tireless and courageous behavior. Hitler was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for the Battle of Witschet on 12/2/1914. I think he is absolutely worthy of being awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class.”

Fritz Wiedemann, adjutant of the battalion in which Hitler served, during interrogation by the Allies on September 7, 1948, when it was necessary to have a certain courage to say at least some kind word about Hitler, answered the question of Hitler receiving the Iron Cross 1st degree : “He got it by right. I made the first performance myself.” In the regiment, the first presentation was made by the adjutant (chief of staff) of the regiment Hugo Gutman, a Jew by nationality, which subsequently gave the case additional piquancy. By the way, in the future, Hitler did not forget Wiedemann. After the Nazis came to power, in 1934-1939, he headed the department in the Fuhrer's personal office that dealt with "letters of workers", petitions for clemency, etc. Then Wiedemann became a diplomat, prepared the Munich Agreement, was the German consul in San Francisco and Shanghai, and at one of the Nuremberg trials received 28 months in prison as a "minor Nazi criminal."

One of the feats for which Hitler was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class was saving the life of the commander of the 9th company on July 17, 1918. During the battle south of the Courtiesi, Hitler saw an officer badly wounded by American shrapnel and dragged him to his trenches. Another feat, which, together with others, drew on this high award, was that Hitler, under fire, made his way to the artillery positions and prevented the opening of fire on his infantry.

All the listed qualities of Hitler as a soldier, the hero of the First World War, apparently correspond to reality. All his superiors could not have come to an agreement and sing praises to a corporal unknown at that moment!

But, I note, just these qualities, composure, energy, fearlessness, are very useful to the commander. Why, then, did the chiefs, who willingly and generously awarded Hitler with crosses, never promoted him to an officer's rank and even to a non-commissioned officer? There is a mystery here that may never be solved. During interrogation in Nuremberg, the same F. Wiedemann stated: “We could not find commanding qualities in him. It is said that Hitler himself did not want to be promoted.”

The first part of the statement looks doubtful. As we saw, the commanders named a number of Hitler's qualities that could be useful to the commander on the battlefield. But the second part is credible and explains well why Hitler did not rise in the ranks above the corporal. Apparently, at that moment he preferred, paying tribute to his character, to occupy a position where he could independently, without depending on anyone, either from superiors or from subordinates, show his will, energy and ingenuity. The position of a messenger suited him completely.

But perhaps there was another, purely intimate moment. At the front, Hitler was visited by his first true love. And the post of messenger allowed long time stay in the same locality where the headquarters of the regiment was located and where he had the opportunity to meet regularly with his mistress.

Her name was Charlotte Lobjoie. She was born on May 14, 1898 in the French village of Seklin near the Belgian border, in a butcher's family. The love affair between her and Hitler took place in 1916-1917. Charlotte was distinguished by a rather easy behavior, men before Hitler, and after Hitler, she had a lot. Hitler painted her portrait in oil, from which a rather pretty, plump girl looks at us. In March 1918, Charlotte gave birth to a son, Jean Marie, from Hitler, whom she later gave the name Clement Felix Lore, whom she married in 1922, already in Paris. Just before her death, on September 13, 1951, she told her son that his father was Adolf Hitler. F. Wiedemann recalled in 1964: “The regiment was in positions south of Lille, and the headquarters of the regiment was in Fourne, in the notary's house. In those periods when the reports said: "All the same in the West", our messengers, and indeed the entire headquarters of the regiment, had a relatively calm life. Hitler lived in the house of the butcher Gomber, where he met with Charlotte Lobjoie. On June 26, 1940, he again visited his former apartment, which by this time had become the butcher Custenoble. Charlotte followed Adolf to various locations of the 16th Regiment - to Premont, where they met, then to Fourn, Wavrin, Seclin, and then to the Belgian town of Ardoye. Hitler's landlord in Ardøya, Josef Guthals, recalled how Hitler painted "naked women" from memory. However, we still cannot say whether Charlotte was Hitler's first girlfriend, or whether he had already managed to gain sexual experience by that time in Vienna and Munich, as well as in the first years of front-line life. Much later, on the night of January 26, 1942, the Fuhrer declared: “It is fortunate for some statesmen that they were not married: otherwise a catastrophe would have occurred. In one thing, a wife will never understand her husband: when, in marriage, he cannot devote as much time to her as she requires ... When a sailor returns home, for him it is nothing more than celebrating a wedding again. After so many months of absence, he can now enjoy complete freedom for several weeks! This would never happen to me. My wife would have greeted me with a reproach: “And me ?!” In addition, it is very painful to meekly obey the will of his wife. I would have a sullen, rumpled face, or I would have ceased to perform marital duties.

Therefore, it is better not to marry. The worst thing is that in marriage the parties enter into legal relations with each other, hence the claims. It is much wiser to have a mistress. No hardships, and everything is perceived as a gift. Of course, this only applies to great people.

I don't think a man like me will ever get married. He came up with an ideal for himself, in which the figure of one woman is combined with the hair of another, the mind of a third and the eyes of a fourth, and each time he checks a new acquaintance with him (Hitler seems to be quoting Gogol's "Marriage". - B.S.). And it turns out that the ideal simply does not exist. It is necessary to rejoice if a girl is charming in one thing. There is nothing more beautiful than raising a young being: a girl of 18-20 years old is malleable like wax. A man should be able to impose on any girl the stamp of his personality. This is just what the woman wants.

Daughter, fiancee of my chauffeur Kempka, a very nice girl. But I don't think they will be happy. Kempka, except for technology, is not interested in anything, but she is smart and intelligent.

Oh, what beauties there are! .. In Vienna, I also happened to meet many beautiful women».

It must be admitted that the locals were not too fond of Hitler's mistress, who, moreover, subsequently became addicted to the "green serpent". One of the inhabitants of Wavren, Louise Duban, back in 1977, in a conversation with V. Mazer, spoke with contempt about “this peasant woman”, who “entered into a relationship with Hitler and gave birth to a son from him”, and even in the house of her, Duban, relatives . She claimed: “Here, everyone knew Hitler. He ran everywhere with his easel and painted his paintings. In June 1940 he came here again.”

By the way, Hitler's military watercolors were highly rated by experts. In 1919 in Munich, he submitted his works, mainly from the war period, for review to the famous artist Max Zeper, who was so impressed by their high level that he asked to see the paintings of another expert, Professor Ferdinand Steger, to make sure that he had not made a mistake in its assessment. And Professor Steger confirmed, looking at landscape watercolors and oil portraits: "A completely unique talent."

In the First and in the Second World War, the connections of German soldiers and French and Belgian girls were quite common - and after them quite a large offspring remained. Another thing is that after the liberation, the compatriots did not favor both women, who thus provided themselves with a relatively comfortable existence under the conditions of occupation, and children born from the German military. Therefore, mothers tried to record one of the French or Belgians as their fathers and, if possible, hide the circumstances of their birth. So Charlotte tried when she persuaded a certain Frison to adopt Jean Marie, to hide the real birthplace of her son. Official documents indicated that he was born on March 25, 1918 in Seboncourt. However, Charlotte and her parents arrived there only at the end of 1918, when the Germans had already left this place. In fact, Hitler's son was born in Seclin.

At the end of September 1917, Hitler broke up with Charlotte forever. Although at first her pregnancy did not seem to portend trouble. On one of his paintings, Hitler put the exact date - June 27, 1917, which, in fact, he did very rarely. It is possible that he thus celebrated the day of the conception of his unborn child. Perhaps at first he wanted a son. But already at the end of September 1917, he abruptly broke off all relations with Charlotte and, by the way, resumed correspondence with his Munich correspondents, which had been interrupted for the duration of the affair with the Frenchwoman. It is not known which cat ran between Adolf and Charlotte. Perhaps it seemed to Hitler, who believed in his own greatness, that Charlotte was too primitive for him, uneducated and unable to appreciate the depth and uniqueness of his thoughts. Although, on the other hand, Hitler spoke more than once about the fact that a woman should not be overly educated. So, most likely, Hitler simply decided not to burden himself with family life for the time being, especially with a foreigner, believing that this would interfere with his career, anyway - artistic or political. It is no coincidence that on April 23, 1942, he said, referring to Frederick the Great: "If a German soldier is required to be ready to die without any conditions, then he must be able to love without any conditions." Probably, at that moment, as well as afterwards, he did not want to bind himself by marriage, as well as in general to assume any obligations that fettered his free will.

Hitler, of course, was a strong-willed man and above all valued the ability to control the situation. In this regard, even his suicide was an act of subjugation of circumstances in a purely hopeless situation. Hitler died in such a way that his case became a symbol of eternity, and did not allow the allies to arrange a high-profile trial over him.

In any case, already in May 1918, he learned from one of his colleagues that his mistress had given birth to a son from him in Seclin. And then he remembered him. So, on November 8, 1923, he told his party ally Martin Muchman that somewhere in France or Belgium there is a portrait of his work, which depicts the mother of his son (the portrait was found after the Second World War).

In the autumn of 1940, the foreign department of the SD, on Hitler's orders, sought out in occupied Paris Charlotte Lobjoie-Lauret and her son Jean Marie Lauret-Frison (he was adopted by a certain businessman Frison and at one time bore his last name). In October 1940, Jean Marie, according to his own recollection, was very politely interrogated at the headquarters of the Abwehr in the Paris Hotel Lutetia. An anthropological examination was also carried out here - for compliance with the criteria of the Germanic race. The Fuhrer did not dare to meet again with former mistress and with a son whom he never saw. However, according to the testimony of people from his entourage, in particular F. Wiedemann, in 1940-1944 Hitler repeatedly said that he would very much like to take his son to him. But the Fuhrer did not dare to take this step. Perhaps he did not want to admit his connection with a representative of the Aryan, but not the German people. Yes, and in relation to Eva Braun, he would then be in a very ambiguous position. After all, Hitler repeated more than once that the Fuhrer cannot devote himself family life until complete victory. And then it turns out that he already has an adult son. One way or another, Hitler decided to remain the father of all Germans, and not one half-French, half-German Jean Marie Lauret, whose mother was also a drunken singer of a third-rate cabaret in Paris (this is how Charlotte made a living). In any case, during the occupation, Charlotte and her son were under the supervision of the German military administration, which made sure that the family was not oppressed in any way. It probably also played a role that Hitler still felt guilty to a certain extent in front of his former mistress, whom he left at the moment when he was convinced that she was expecting a child from him (so as not to be bound), and did not want her to remind him about such an unkind act. By the way, Eva Braun's sister Ilsa claimed that Hitler did not tell Eva anything about his former mistress and illegitimate son: "If Eva knew about this, she would surely buzz Hitler's ears that he should take care of his son and his mother accordingly."

At that time, a love affair with Charlotte Lobjoie was certainly not the main business of the future Fuhrer. Therefore, let us return to the combat days of Corporal Adolf Hitler. As a messenger, he often had to communicate with regimental staff officers, company and battalion commanders, and in his eyes they sometimes looked out of place. better side. At the end of 1944, Hitler recalled frequent cases: “... The commander on the front line received a postcard from home, and someone had to run in broad daylight to deliver this postcard to him, which he learned about by phone. Sometimes it cost a person his life, and there was a danger for the headquarters, because in the daytime it was clearly visible from above who was going where. Just idiotic! But only when they pressed from above, this disgrace gradually ceased. It was the same with horses. Then, for example, to bring a pound of butter, they sent a cart from Messina to Furn. It is impossible not to notice common sense in such reasoning, and you cannot refuse Hitler's soldier's ingenuity.

The end of Hitler's participation in the battles of the First World War came near La Montaigne in mid-October 1918, four weeks before the armistice. On November 19, 1921, in a letter to one of his acquaintances, he described how it was: “On the night of October 13-14, 1918, I received severe mustard gas poisoning, as a result of which at first I was completely blind.” While in the infirmary, first in the Bavarian city of Odenaard, and then in Pasewalk in Pomerania, Hitler was afraid that he would forever remain blind and would not be able to draw or engage in politics. And the political situation then increasingly occupied him. In the same letter dated November 19, 1921, Hitler admitted: “Disturbing rumors constantly came from the fleet that everything was seething there ... It seemed to me that this was more a product of the imagination of individuals than the actual mood of the broad masses. Everyone in the infirmary spoke only of hopes for a speedy end to the war, but no one thought that it would end immediately. I couldn't read newspapers... In November, the general tension began to grow. And then suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, trouble came. Sailors arrived in trucks and began to call for a revolution. Several Jews turned out to be the leaders in this struggle for the “freedom, beauty and dignity” of the life of our people. None of them were at the front. Three of these "eastern" personalities (soldiers Eastern Front subjected to strong Bolshevik agitation. - B.S.) on the way to their homeland they went through the so-called "clap infirmary", and now they were trying to impose a red rag on the country ... Terrible days and even more nightmarish nights! I knew all was lost. At best, fools or liars and traitors could hope for the mercy of the enemy. During these days and nights, hatred grew within me. Hatred for the instigators of these events. Then I realized my future destiny. And I laughed at the thought of the future, which until recently gave me such worries. Isn't it ridiculous to build houses on such soil? In the end, it became clear to me that something had come that I had long been afraid of and refused to believe in.

After Hitler learned about the revolution and the end of the war, he asked to be transferred to Munich as soon as possible. Moreover, his vision has already been restored. On November 21, he was discharged from the infirmary. In December 1918, Hitler ended up in the reserve battalion of the 2nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment. The First World War was over for him, but military service was not yet.

On August 1, 1914, the First World War began. Hitler was delighted by the news of the war. He immediately applied to Ludwig III for permission to serve in the Bavarian army. The very next day he was offered to report to any Bavarian regiment. He chose the 16th Reserve Bavarian Regiment.

In April 1916, he met Charlotte Lobjoie, who, according to some, bore him a son, Jean Loret. Wounded in the left thigh by a fragment of a grenade near Le Bargur in the first battle of the Somme. I ended up in the Red Cross infirmary in Beelitz. Upon leaving the hospital, he returned to the regiment

October 15, 1918 - gassing near La Montaigne as a result of the explosion of a chemical projectile next to it. Eye damage. Temporary loss of vision. Treatment in the Bavarian field infirmary in Udenard, then in the Prussian rear infirmary in Pasewalk. While recovering in the hospital, he learned about the surrender of Germany and the overthrow of the Kaiser, which was a great shock to him.

Hitler considered the defeat in the war of the German Empire and the November Revolution of 1918 to be the offspring of traitors who stabbed the victorious German army in the back.

November revolution -- revolution in November 1918 in the German Empire, one of the reasons for which was the increase in social tension and the disruption of economic life, which were symptoms of Germany approaching defeat in the First World War. The revolution led to the establishment of a parliamentary democracy in Germany, known as the Weimar Republic.

The legend of the stabbing in the back is a conspiracy theory spread by representatives of the German high military command and shifting the blame for the defeat of the country in World War I to social democracy. According to this legend, the German army came out undefeated from the battlefields of the world war, but received a "stab in the back" from the opposition "rootless" civilians at home. At the same time, anti-Semites linked the "internal" and "external" enemies of the empire with a Jewish conspiracy.

After the war, Hitler had not yet decided whether he would be an architect or a politician. At the same time, he gave his work to the prominent artist Max Zeper for evaluation. He handed over the paintings for conclusion to Ferdinand Steger. Steger wrote: "... a completely outstanding talent."

What is happening in Germany is the same leapfrog as in Russia. Fight against Bolshevik power. (Hitler against them). He speaks openly about anti-Semitism, which allows him to get into the German Workers' Party, which later became the NSDAP.

For disrupting the speech of the Bavarian politician, Hitler was sentenced to three months in prison, but he served only a month in the Stadelheim prison in Munich - from June 26 to July 27, 1922. On January 27, 1923, Hitler held the first congress of the NSDAP;

On the morning of November 9, Hitler and Ludendorff, at the head of a 3,000-strong column of storm troopers, moved to the Ministry of Defense, but on Residenzstraße they were blocked by a police detachment that opened fire. Carrying away the dead and wounded, the Nazis and their supporters left the streets. This episode entered the history of Germany under the name "beer putsch".

In February-March 1924, a trial took place over the leaders of the putsch. Only Hitler and a few of his associates were in the dock. The court sentenced Hitler for high treason to 5 years in prison and a fine of 200 gold marks. Hitler was serving his sentence in Landsberg Prison. However, after 9 months, on December 20, 1924, he was released.

After prison, the left arm and left leg begin to tremble. Due to poor diets, abdominal pain, hoarseness and malaise in the voice, an operation to remove polyps. He inspires himself that he will die and writes a political testament. A sick person meets the war, suspiciousness and heart disease appear ... He makes decisions quickly, but after Stalingrad he calms down, it gets worse, swelling of the eyes, a crooked back, trembling again left-hand side vision deteriorates. Sometimes I agree with my colleagues, sometimes I don't.

Rise to power, elections, arson...

From 1925-1931, a love affair with Geli, after her death, he became a vegetarian.

1929 - acquaintance with Eva, but there is Gel: during the day - Eva, in the evening and at night - Gel, after the death of Eva, the final lover.

According to the archives of the Nazi secret services, they tried to kill Hitler from 17 to 20 times. True, the writer Will Berthold, who once worked as a reporter at the Nuremberg trials, believes that there were at least 42 attempts on the Nazi leader. However, recent data indicate that Hitler was tried to take his life at least fifty times.

The most famous is the July 20, 1944 conspiracy against Hitler, a conspiracy was organized, the purpose of which was to physically eliminate him and make peace with the advancing allied forces. The bombing killed 4 people, Hitler survived. After the assassination attempt, he was not able to be on his feet all day, since more than 100 fragments were removed from them. In addition, he had a dislocation right hand, the hair on the back of the head is scorched and the eardrums are damaged. I was temporarily deaf in my right ear. He ordered that the execution of the conspirators be turned into humiliating torment, filmed and photographed. Subsequently, he personally watched this film.

According to witnesses from among the attendants, even the day before, Hitler gave the order to deliver canisters of gasoline from the garage (to destroy the bodies). On April 30, after dinner, Hitler said goodbye to people from his inner circle and, shaking hands with them, retired to his apartment with Eva Braun, from where the sound of a shot was soon heard. Shortly after 3:15 p.m., his servant and his adjutant entered the Fuhrer's quarters. Dead Hitler sat on the couch; There was a blood stain on his temple. Eva Braun lay next to her, with no visible external injuries. People wrapped Hitler's body in a soldier's blanket and carried it into the garden of the Reich Chancellery; Eve's body was carried out after him. The corpses were placed near the entrance to the bunker, doused with gasoline and burned.

There are a number of conspiracy theories claiming that Hitler did not commit suicide, but escaped. According to the most popular version, the Fuhrer and Eva Braun, leaving doubles in their place, disappeared into South America, where they lived safely under false names until old age. The photo allegedly depicts 75-year-old Hitler on his deathbed.