Hitler wie ihn keiner kennt. 100 Bilddokumente aus dem Leben des Führers – Hitler as No One Knows Him. 100 Photographic Documents from the Life of the Leader. Zeitgeschichte-Verlag, Berlin 1932 – First Edition. An album featuring 100 rare photographs (many of which are published here for the first time) of Adolf Hitler, photographed by the official photographer of the Nazi Party, Heinrich Hoffman. A rare glimpse into the world of the Führer of the Third Reich, intended to create a profound impression and garner sympathy among the German public. The introduction and descriptions are by Baldur von Schirach, the leader of the Hitler Youth.
The photographs in this album are personal and rare, with many of them being published for the first time. They are meant to depict Hitler as a warm-hearted and considerate man, in stark contrast to the tough and harsh public image of Hitler that Germany knew from mass rallies and his official speeches. The album aimed to present a different image of Hitler than that drawn by his political opponents, by showcasing photographs from his private and less formal life. The publisher’s goal here was to present Hitler as a kind and caring personality in a personal sense, in order to strengthen the German public’s identification with and loyalty to the Führer. The photographs featured here cover his youth up to the early 1930s and were taken by Hoffman in a “spontaneous” and informal manner. In these photographs, the German reader sees Adolf as a baby, the house where he was born, his mother and father, his childhood friends, as a soldier in World War I, Hitler with a choir, on the front lines, with his friends, sister, and dogs (one photograph depicts Hitler’s beloved dog, poisoned by Communists), at informal lunch gatherings with friends, in Landsberg prison, holding a whip, laughing at newspaper reports about his “Jewish girlfriend, ” at his villa in Bavaria, leaving a church (to portray him as a devout Christian), with children, with friends from his youth, with his allies and loyalists who became key figures in the Nazi regime in Germany – Goebbels, Göring, Streicher, and others, and more. The album became a bestseller in Nazi Germany and was one of the most successful tools of the Nazi propaganda machine. It helped humanize Hitler’s image and promote his portrayal as the “savior of Germany.”
In the introduction to the album, which serves as a “praise song” for Adolf Hitler, Schirach writes: “For countless millions of Hitler’s followers, this volume fulfills their yearning: to gain insight into the personal life of the leader and discover more about his far-reaching interests and inclinations. The photographs presented here are largely unknown. The photographer Heinrich Hoffman, who had been in Hitler’s closest circle for ten years, selected them from thousands of photos, thus creating a unique visual work that can present the documentary truth. It will be particularly welcomed as an illustrative addition to Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf.’ Among other things, Schirach tells how Hoffman became Hitler’s personal photographer – in the early days of the Nazi Party, Hitler strictly forbade photographers from taking his pictures. On one occasion, a major American newspaper asked the press photographer Heinrich Hoffman to provide a photograph of Adolf Hitler. Hoffman managed to photograph Hitler without his knowledge, but when Hitler found out that Hoffman had a photo intended for publication in the American press, he asked him not to publish it. Hoffman complied and shelved the photo. As a token of thanks, when Hitler realized that publishing his photos would advance the Nazi Party, he chose Hoffman and gave him the exclusive right to photograph and publish his images.
XIV [1] 96 pages. Light stains on the cover. Original sticker from the Herman Kruger bookstore in Germany. Good-very good condition.
