I just finished reading "The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin From the Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides."
The Russians captured SS officers Otto Günsche and Heinz Linge in Berlin at the end of World War II and held them prisoner until the mid-1950s. Through repeated interrogations, they wrung huge amounts of detailed information about Adolf Hitler’s personality, habits, idiosyncracies, health, diet, likes and dislikes from Günsche and Linge.
The information was compiled out of Soviet Premiere Josef Stalin’s obsession with his former enemy. The dossier was kept secret until it was discovered by German historian and researcher Matthias Uhl after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I’ve read a lot of books about World War II in general and the Third Reich and Hitler in particular, so I didn’t expect to learn much from this one. I was wrong. From this book we get a portrait of the Führer as a speed freak, injected with amphetamines every morning by his personal physician, Dr. Morell. Other biographers and historians have concluded that Hitler’s hand tremors and other problems were the result of advancing syphilis, contracted most likely during his youth in Vienna.
By the time the Russians were within 300 meters of his Berlin Bunker, Hitler was a crashing methhead in the terminal stage of syphilis. No wonder he shot himself. I was also interested to learn he used a 7.65mm Walther PPK to end his life. I have one just like it, complete with the Nazi Party RZM stamp on the slide. I suspect his had the deluxe eagle-and-swastika grips, though.
If you’re interested in WWII history, this is a fascinating read.
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