About Adolph Hitler

There are many myths concerning Adolph Hitler that Holocaust deniers use in order to support the misguided idea that he was somehow “good” for Germany. The truth about Adolph Hitler is that many of the ideas some people have about him were created by his own Propaganda Ministry in the hopes of supporting his regime.
 
These exaggerated or untrue ideas continue to persist to the present day because they are accepted uncritically by people outside of the scholarly community of those who study history. However, it is important to know the real truth about Adolph Hitler to put the Holocaust into context.
 
MYTH: Hitler Was A Military Genius
Hitler’s reputation as a military genius was established through his invasion of France. During this invasion, Hitler and his military planners originated the “blitzkrieg” technique for the use of tanks to attack vulnerable positions. Although this was very effective, part of the reason was that tanks were very new and the French were unprepared. None of Hitler’s other military endeavors suggest he was “a genius.” In fact, his attack on Russia was so ill-planned that it decimated the German Army in the Russian winter.
 
MYTH: Hitler Was A Brilliant Leader
Historians have had many conversations concerning Hitler’s leadership style. Part of the work of a fascist state is to ensure that the many different “power brokers” in society are not able to take over from the supreme leader, in this case Hitler. We now understand that Hitler himself rarely made decisions and that he set up the government so that many of his lieutenants and supporters would have confusing, conflicting roles. This motivated them to engage in continual infighting.
 
MYTH: Hitler Was A Determined, Decisive Man
Although it is difficult to know precisely what Hitler was like in private, we can understand from his biography that he was not likely to be the “bold and dynamic leader” that some people might believe. Reports have indicated that he kept to his own schedule, rarely showed up for meetings and grew increasingly paranoid over time.
 
Even though most people understand the horrors surrounding the Holocaust, the myth of Hitler has continued to persist. Unfortunately, it is hard to come to terms with the idea that a mediocre man might have led an entire nation down the road to such destruction. However, it is important to realize that Hitler himself was not remarkable and could have been stopped.