Letters to Hitler
October 12, 2007
German historian Henrik Eberle compiled "Briefe an Hitler" ("Letters to Hitler") after sifting through more than 20,000 documents war-time documents in the Russian state archives. The book was released at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week.
One letter from Gina, a girl from a poor family in Berlin, pays testimony to the devotion that Hitler could inspire.
"I love you so much, please write to me," the girl wrote in block capitals.
Her father included her letter along with a request for pictures of Hitler for his children and proudly announced that Gina was determined to marry the Nazi leader because he was "the best man in the world."
Father figure and ideal partner
Many other parents similarly sent pictures of their children, wrote to wish him a Merry Christmas. Party officials and politicians sent their greetings in cards covered in swastikas.
A small number of Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses also wrote to Hitler, begging him to spare their family members. There is also a small number of letters from non-Germans.
The letters compiled in Eberle's books, which is currently only available in German, begin in 1925 -- some seven years before Hitler took over power -- and end just before his suicide in 1945. At the peak of his popularity in 1938 the Nazi dictator received 10,000 letters, compared with 200 in 1925,
Political barometer
Eberle, who teaches at Martin Luther University in the German city of Halle, said Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess and Albert Bormann, a close aide, sorted the letters in a bid "to keep Hitler informed of the political climate among the people."
The author told the AFP news agency that the book showed German support for Hitler increasing in the early 1930s, but also that most correspondents were more concerned with their economic and social well-being than with his policies towards the Jews.
"In 1925, the letters mainly contained advice to Hitler, some asking him to be more socialist in his policies, others saying he should expel the Jews," he said.
"But from 1932, people wanted Hitler to become dictator and their fervor for the Führer became palpable in the letters."