The Hitler by Fest, Joachim - Book Report/Review Example

When he went at large in December of 1924 he was a short-of-money 35 years old man. His National Socialist Party had already been banned and all Nazi press had been closed. The most fascinating chapter of the book is dedicated to Hitler’s rise to power during the next decade and his coming to power in 1933. Hitler by Joachim Fest is a really rewarding reading to see how Nazi leader succeeded to manipulate all of the other political interests and parties of Weimar Germany, how he made use of anticommunist sentiments as of important tactical means.

The note that surprised me the most has been the number of anti-Nazi conspiracies that were hatched from the very beginning of Hitler’s dictatorship. The most noteworthy one were the conspiracy organized by colonel von Stauffenberg, played up in the film with Tom Cruise starring and the plot involving SS Imperial Leader (the Reichsfuehrer) Heinrich Himmler that took place about 1943. As we know all these attempts have been abortive and Nazi crime #1 stage-managed his death himself (committed suicide in his bunker on 30 April, 1945, a decade after celebrating his birthday and a day after the day of his marriage).

Without a doubt this book is really a masterpiece of research and biography. Actually fest’s work that has won him worldwide fame was an element of the powerful “Hitler wave” that had washed over Western Europe by 1970s. Nevertheless Fest’s Hitler has not been lost among dozens of the pieces of worthless staff. Furthermore the latter had created a good background for Fest’s work. According to German experts’ estimations only 100 books out of 40 000 become the bestsellers and this hundred has comprised Joachim Fest’s masterpiece.

The book has been hardly the first work on Nazi dictator’s biography to introduce the true historical approach to study of his ominous personality. The book allows understanding Adolf Hitler’s personality as a historical person of figure. Such a “historyfying” however is by no means an attempt to discharge Hitler and his crimes. Moreover Fest puts Hitler not only before the trial of morality. He is put to trial of the history whose judgment is by never content with moral indignation. In spite of all its merits the book has born rather strict scrutiny by historians from both Western Germany and Eastern Block countries.

Furthermore it is worth to mention that in spite of all the differences in their views Fest’s critics their criticisms are similar in many respects. Many of these historians from both sides point out that Fest’s book does not represent responsibility of German army, clergy and oligarchy for the collapse of democratic Weimar Republic and as a result for Hitler’s rise to power. Reproaches heaped upon Joachim Fest for his neglecting socio-economic problems are not groundless at all. Yet had it been otherwise the work would not have been as original and Fest would not have been the Fest.

The book is distinctive for its depth of studying of Hitler’s behavioral motives which are represented as a curious mixture of unscrupulous opportunism and the reckless resoluteness. Without a doubt behavioral motives of the possessed fuehrer will surely attract interest of those readers who would never be content with the sheer summary of facts. This notwithstanding importance of Nazi fuehrer’s personality depends not only upon his inner mind but on the factors whish