Hitler's Library

Foreword

Foreword This work is an investigation of Hitler’s library. To be honest, I found myself in this “library” quite by accident. While reading in the Library of Congress in Washington, I discovered that Hitler’s books, or rather a number of his books, are lodged there in the Rare Book Division. American soldiers gathered them up from a salt mine near Obersalzberg . From the stamps in the books it is discernible that a significant part of the Hitler Library came from the Berghof in Obersalzberg, in addition to the books that arrived there from the Reich Chancellery, and from the Party Headquarter [Parteikanzlei]. What was it that drove me to take books into my hands that one of the foremost mass murderers of history had touched or leafed through? Well, as it happens, I am not terribly partial to the so-called modern era that we were taught was— perhaps only too correctly—a period that began with the “Great October Socialist Revolution” and continued, in the name of historical inevitability (but actually in the cause of shabby power-mongering) through the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. These events, as we now know, created more space for the Führer who set out from this era, and who might just as easily have become a slightly confused, amateur Social-Realist painter. Instead he stepped forward as, in Ernst Nolte’s apt words, the “last faithful vassal” of Wilson and the national self-regulation that he advocated.1 In fact the American viii president was an idealist, and turned away in disgust from the decidedly foul power politics of Europe. One product of such politics was the Führer himself, about whom A. J. P. Taylor would say: “In principle and doctrine, Hitler was no more wicked and unscrupulous than many other contemporary statesmen.”2 It is no accident that he was an admirer of Clemenceau, who reputedly emphasized with the following farreaching statement: “I don’t know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace an interlude during war.”3 Hitler and I, You and He… It is difficult to identify a motivation for interest in the Hitler library. First of all, I believe that a somewhat morbid curiosity is at work. A researcher who had been studying the Führer’s books for a decade closed his analysis on a descriptive yet somewhat understated point: “For a Jew born in Germany it was a peculiar feeling to hold books in one’s hand that had once been Hitler’s own, and which bore his ex libris, signature, notes in the margins, and underlinings: this, too is part of the challenge, experience, and adventure that faces historians.”4 Without doubt something similar was at work within me as well. Iván Horváth, the editor of the journal 2000, described this feeling even more precisely. He very systematically edited the precursory studies to this work, giving it the title “Gondolatok a könyvtárról” (Thoughts on the Library) and attaching a brief introduction to it: The historian’s heart, upon encountering Hitler’s books, is filled with joy, since he can unveil a wealth of resources barely quarried by others. Then doubts slowly begin to creep in. Were all these books indeed Hitler’s own? And if they were, then did all the notes in the margins originate from him—each and every mark and underlining? Could it have been he who put all the question marks along the margins of the decoratively bound volume of Mein Kampf? And how should one interpret the highlighted sections which were undoubtedly annotated by Hitler? Are they signs of approval, or perhaps the opposite? Even on the occasions when a note undoubtedly reflects Hitler’s opinion, it has to be taken into account that the reader’s view might have changed by the end of the book. Questions abound—some could not be resolved in the brief time given for research, and others will perhaps remain unanswered forever. The historian is able to do no more than to admit to his limitations, and to admit that he is incapable of offering a precise and completely objective description of the library. Thus he can only undertake to share his speculation with the reader of this book. ix Even that is no easy endeavor. In diving into the libraries of great minds, and in examining the origins of grand...