A short description of Hitler prepared by the British Embassy in Berlin January 1937

Transcript

Hitler is a man of simple tastes, a vegetarian for health reasons, a non-smoker and teetotaller. Possessed of extraordinary vitality, four hours' sleep and twenty hours' work make up his normal working day. He is constantly on the move, usually by aeroplane or fast car. He manages to spend most week-ends at a little châlet in the Bavarian hills, the property of his sister. The profit on the enormous sales of Mein Kampf alone has made Hitler a rich man. He dislikes ceremony, and is only at his ease among his intimates, Hess Brückner, &c.

As a speaker, Hitler exercises astonishing sway over a German audience, presumably because public speaking is an unknown art in Germany. His speeches are practically repetitions of a few simple main theses, in the course of which platitudes are uttered with such extraordinary emphasis that an unsophisticated audience mistakes them for newly minted political aphorisms. He has sized up the German audience during his fifteen years of apprenticeship with astonishing accuracy. This and an undeniable political instinct have brought him to the top of the tree. None of his followers approach him in demagogic talent. He alone can rouse the crowd to that stage of political frenzy which makes all argument futile.

In appearance, Hitler is unprepossessing but is said to possess a certain charm of manner. Beyond an unfortunate love affair, in the course of which the object of his choice, a Munich lady of good social standing, rejected his suit, Hitler seems to have had little to do with the fair sex.