Hitler's Forgotten Library: The Man, His Books, and His Search for God

The Atlantic Monthly ^ | May 2003 | Timothy W. Ryback

[gd124]

long but interesting

[tet68]

Bump for later.

[Quix]

AGREE ON BOTH COUNTS.

Sobering to see a marginalized, insecure young man become such a monster through such influences and such a process.

Books--certainly powerful influences along with the people involved.

[goldstategop]

Any one know what is in Saddam's library yet or has it been looted already?

[jjm2111]

bump for later.

[babble-on]

I read this in the hard copy. Weird weird weird. Moral of the story is that pagan cults make bad source material for national leaders.

[goldstategop]

I recommend reading Robert Waite's The Psychopathic God. Possibly the best biography of Hitler ever written. When dictators start believing nothing is beyond their grasp, that's when their hubris gets them. How history repeats itself and some people never learn the lesson that in and of itself, absolute power is never a good thing.

[Just mythoughts]

"marginalized, insecure young man" never thought of him in these terms.

Always considered him having a mind from the dark side and sought the influences and people who gave, from fear or seduction, his stature.

Based upon his own words he was "god".

[Quix]

I don't remember the particular incidents in his youth--Jr high?

But they reminded me clearly of an insecure, hurting, angry young man.

Isn't there a famous story about an art teacher telling him what a terrible artist he was?

Anyway--I think there's plenty of features in his adult behaviors which confirm a less than confident, affirming youth.

In a sense, the whole of his adult life could be described as a raging compensation for the hurts and misfortunes of his childhood.

Then there's the aspect of the little short man syndrome.

[goldstategop]

Just like Caligula. Caligula was in the end killed by his own troops who finally felt their fear of what he could do turned to be more powerful than their fear of him. History will always have its share of madmen.

[Just mythoughts]

Could well be, however, doesn't one need be void of reading with understanding, to one day come to believe and promote oneself as "god".

He has always represented "evil" to me.

I cannot comprehend the mind of man like him, Stalin, Saddam, others that set about a course of destroying so many people, for no other reason than to maintain power make themselves "god".

[f.Christian]

bttt

[Petronski]

Bump for later.

[Cacique]

An interesting read.

[Just mythoughts]

"History will always have it share of madmen", this is so true.

When one takes a step away from the "madman" himself there always are many who do the "work", doesn't say much about their minds. Begs the question about that status of man's mind as a whole.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Speaking of Saddam's library and possible parallels with Hitler's library, Hussein had the Koran written in his blood and put on display at a museum. Can you imagine, say, a Christian producing a Bible written on his own blood? Or a Jew writing a copy of the Torah in his own blood? Wouldn't that be blasphemy? At the very least, gross presumption. That Saddam would desecrate the Islamic holy book might suggest that Saddam thought himself on par with God. That Hitler read many occult books is no surprise. There are occult teachings that one can become God or a god and no doubt Hitler was searching for "proof" that he was indeed God, as revolting as that sounds. So Hitler created a god in his own perverted image, and that god was himself and he sacrificed a "world in flames" to this false god.

[Amalie]

As a book collector, thanks for posting this story in its entirety. I thought the most telling thing was the close comparison between the handwritten manuscript and what is used to justify much of the New Age-style spirtualism found today. The parallels between the Man-God entity idea are frankly frightening.

[goldstategop]

As someone attracted to mysticism, I believe in the afterlife. But never for a moment would I consider myself to be the equal of G-d. As the Bible puts it, pride goeth before a fall.

[Captain Kirk]

I suspect Saddam was an Ian Fleming fan.

[Tribune7]

bump for later