how to give speech like hitler

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Hitler speech: what made Hitler a good public speaker?

This post looks at the role and techniques of Hitler speech and its effectiveness in his rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. It also discusses the purpose of Nazi rallies.

Hitler speech and his rise to power

Before the Nazis Party’s rapid ascent on the world stage in 1930s, Hitler’s party was largely unknown. It won just 3% of votes in Germany’s 1924 elections.

In order to compete with the established parties and make waves in German politics, he knew that he needed to travel the length and breadth of Germany and get his message to as many ‘ordinary people’ as possible. This meant speaking to people directly.

He started off small-scale, targeting working class venue in working class towns,  such as beer halls. People frequenting these types of places would respond best to his populist message.

Eventually, after many speeches and many beers, this would mobilise an entire political movement which would translate to votes further down the line. The result would impact the world for generations to come.

Hitler’s speech

The power of speech when talking about Hitler can not be underestimated. In his own words, taken from Mein Kampf, Hitler himeslf provides his view on the importance of the spoken word:

“I know that men are won over less by the written than by the spoken word, that every great movement on this earth owes its growth to great orators and not to great writers.”

He would be proven right in this assertion. Eight years after the Nazi party’s dyer performance in the 1924 election, the Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag. Ten years later in 1934, Hitler, his party, and his political agenda were totally in charge and leading the German government.

Hitler speech: a look at his technique

Hitler didn’t rely or trust anyone else with the important task of writing his speeches. He was known to write them for days at a time, editing them up to five times.

Time wasn’t important when it came to writing. He would work all hours of the day and often into the early hours of the morning, for several nights in a row. Numerous members of staff would work alongside him, taking notes and his dictation and typing it straight into typewriters. He would then carefully correct the drafts until they were perfect.

As an interesting aside, Hitler’s counterpart in the war, Winston Churchill also trusted no-one else to write his speeches.

Hitler’s trigger words

Hitler frequently used trigger words throughout his speeches to convey strength and power to whip up a reaction from the crowds. These words included “ sword ”, “ fire ”, and “ blood ”. Likewise, he also relied on symbolism, with metaphors such as the eagle and swastika featuring heavily. These would only be used in relation to Germany –

On the other hand, when Hitler spoke about ‘enemies’, Jews and Marxists, words that conveyed weakness were used. One of his favourites was ‘pacifist’. He used this term when speaking about anything he disagreed with. To Hitler, pacifism was the ultimate sign of weakness.

Hitler speech and persuasive techniques

Hitler’s persuasive method was built upon the foundation of treating the German people as a group, rather than as individuals.

He also kept his speeches fairly simple, preferring to focus on a single point rather than complex speeches that covered a lot of ground. In his opinion multiple points and speeches that covered multiple topics diluted his central populist message.

Evidence of this can be seen in another quote from Mein Kampf:

“… all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan. As soon as you sacrifice this slogan and try to be many-sided, the effect will piddle away”

Another technique Hitler employed in his speeches was the “either-or” fallacy. This is achieved by creating a false dilemma in the mind of his audience. He was able to convince them that although something was unethical, it was the only option.

For example:

Either Germany lie down and accept the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, accept their fate of being ‘second class’

or they could take back their dignity, ignore the Treaty of Versailles and re-arm and work to build up their lost territories.

At Nazi party rallies, Hitler would often start off quietly – barely audible at times – and appear shy and reserved. As the speech wore on he would become more and more animated. He would grow to become enraged, yelling at the top of his voice and waving his arms frantically. The impression left on listeners was one of passion and dedication to the fight, something that again reinforced Hitler as ‘not another politician’ and someone that would fight for the everyday man.

The final tactic Hitler used to persuade the  Volk  through his speeches was convincing his audience that the rest of the world thought of Germany as inferior, second-class citizens. This angered the crowd, who had been comprehensively indoctrinated to believe that they were the master race. Hitler offered up as evidence the Treaty of Versailles, which he believed treated the Germans as subhuman.

What was the purpose of the Nuremberg Rally?

One of the most overt ways that Hitler speech conveyed a sense of strength and power was through his speeches at rallies. like the famous ones at Nuremberg where upwards of 700,000 Nazi members would listen and watch.

Ultimately Nazis displayed strength through demonstrations of military might. Nowhere was this more prevalent than Nazi rallies.

Treaty of Versailles backlash

All this being said, the main thrust of Hitler speech and persuasive techniques ultimately relied on convincing his audience that the rest of the world thought of Germany as inferior and its people second-class citizens.

This angered the crowd, who had all lived though and seen the change in Germany following the conclusion of WW1 and it was the Treaty of Versailles that Hitler often referred to as evidence for Germans as being treated as subhuman.

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Adolf Hitler: Rhetoric’s Overlord of Darkness

Adolf Hitler was a master of oratory, mesmerizing crowds with words and gestures.

This article appears in: May 2012

By John Perry

When Nazi architect Albert Speer surrendered in 1945, he made a strange remark: “So now the end has come. That’s good. It was all only a kind of opera anyway.”

Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda Josef Goebbels agreed that Hitler turned politics into a grand play. Even the Führer called himself “the greatest actor in Europe,” enjoying contact with movie stars while plunging the world into a melodrama of madness. Through years of political propaganda, theatrical trappings, and charismatic speaking, this vagrant beer hall agitator became what biographer Alan Bullock called “the greatest demagogue in history.” During his rise to power, Hiter warned that the German people “must not be allowed to find out who I am. They must not know where I came from and who my family is.”

The blurred youth of Adolf Hitler set the stage for his meteoric rise to power after World War I. His harsh Austrian father Alois (Schicklgruber was the original family name) earned a middle-class income as chief customs official in Linz, the Austrian town Hitler later wanted to make the Reich’s cultural capital. Clara, his indulgent mother who died of cancer, called her thin, pale-faced, irascible boy “moonstruck” because he lived in a dream world.

Childhood friend August Kubizek later wrote that Adolf showed “a gift for oratory from his earliest youth. And he knew it. He liked to talk, and talked without pause. Sometimes when he soared too high in his fantasies I could not help suspecting that all this was nothing but an exercise in oratory.”

A teacher in Linz also remembered “Hitler holding duologues with trees stirring in the wind.” And in his book Mein Kampf jailbird Hitler reminisced that his “oratorical talent was being developed in the form of more or less violent arguments with my schoolmates.”

Hitler drifted to Vienna, selling watercolors and painted postcards on the street after twice failing the entrance exam to the Academy of Fine Arts—a slight that, coupled with his mother’s death, left unhealed scar tissue. Interestlingy, evidence of anti-Semitic hatred in Hitler seems slim before the end of World War I. Even then the social misfit with “lightning in his eyes” would jump to his feet and rave about Socialists, “not avoiding vulgarisms, in a very impetuous way” while dabbing paint on canvas and waving a T-square in the air. The budding artist sometimes sketched soap advertising posters, one showing black boots with a red background and white letters, colors later part of the Nazi flag. Hitler called these difficult days his “granite foundation.”

Vienna planted the seeds for Hitler’s perverse political platform through access to cheap printed material. He skimmed books, newspapers, pamphlets, the magazine Ostara, and the illustrated monthly Der Scherer, generally publications that supported his deluded ideas. Two arcane German writers, Guido von List and Jorg Lanz von Libenfels, helped feed fantasies of a glorious Germanic past full of pageantry and pagan rituals. It is also likely that he read Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion and Houston Stewart Chamberlain’s The Foundations of the Twentieth Century. Hitler also liked the romantic Western cowboy and Indian novels of Karl May.

It is probable that Hitler stayed in Vienna to avoid the draft. He returned to Munich when conditions seemed safe, but the Army summoned him for an examination. Military doctors found the future Army commander “not strong enough for combatant and non-combatant duties,” and rejected him as “unfit for military service.” Nevertheless, he managed to join the Bavarian Army and served as a regimental dispatch runner. Before the end of World War I, Hitler was gassed and injured. He recovered in a hospital where the psychiatric department labeled him a psychopath with hysterical symptoms. He did receive the Iron Cross twice but never rose above corporal (actually a private) because superiors felt this oddball lacked leadership qualities.

“He Has a Big Mouth. We Could Use Him.”

Germany became an economic wasteland after World War I. Out of this rubble rose magicians and messiahs, but the National Workers Party hit the jackpot with Hitler, lashing at communists, capitalists, intellectuals, trusts and monopolies, the French, the Polish and Jews, anything to create mass frenzy through fear.

After the war, Hitler returned to Munich and became involved in the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Film footage shows him marching at a funeral, head high, with an armband the color of the Socialist revolution. He remained in the army and did guard duty at a POW camp and train station. The Information Department offered “speaker courses” as training tools for troops. An instructor recalled, “The men seemed spellbound by one of their number who was haranguing them with mounting passion in a strangely guttural voice. I had the peculiar feeling that their excitement derived from him and at the same time they, in turn, were inspiring him.”

Officer Karl Mayr heard about Hitler’s oratorical skills and enlisted him as an undercover agent. “He was like a tired stray dog looking for a master” and “ready to throw in his lot with anyone who should show him kindness.”

Mayr later wrote: “He was totally unconcerned about the German people and their destinies.” The beer hall stumper spoke on topics such as “Social and Economic-Political Slogans.” Some soldiers found his talks “spirited,” one calling him “a born popular speaker.” Hitler exclaimed in Mein Kampf , “I could speak.”

He soon realized this talent paved the road to profit. August Kubizek read about his oratory in the 20s and recalled, “I was very sorry that he had no more been able to follow through with his artistic career than I had.… Now he had to make a living as a speaker at assemblies. Tough job.”

Mayr also used Hitler as a stooge to attend meetings of radical political parties in Munich. One group was called the DAP (German Workers Party, later changed to National Socialist German Workers Party, shortened to Nazi). Instead of observing, he shouted down a guest speaker and gained attention, leading the party’s founder to remark, “He has a big mouth. We could use him.”

Inspiration in Erik Jan Hanussen

Hitler joined the splinter group in 1919 and soon handled party propaganda, seeing himself as a drummer for the great revolution yet rapidly becoming the outspoken party voice. In 1920, for example, he roused crowds at over 30 mass meetings. The next year he spoke to over 6,000 members at Munich’s largest hall, and in 1922 an audience of 50,000 at a Nazi rally in Munich. Hitler may have been obscure in most of Germany, but not among diehard Nazis whose number soon reached 55,000. As businessman Kurt G.W. Ludecke recalled, “His words were like a scourge. When he spoke of the disgrace of Germany, I felt ready to spring on any enemy.”

During this incubating period, Hitler designed symbols for the Nazi party, most derived from earlier sources. A crooked cross called the swastika, black in a white circle with a blood-red field used as part of the esoteric Thule Society’s emblem, appeared for the first time in 1920.

Hypnotist, clairvoyant, and stage magician Erik Jan Hanussen is often overlooked as an influence on Hitler’s speaking style. Former Nazi ranking member Otto Strasser told a psychoanalyst in 1942, “Hitler took regular lessons in speaking and in mass psychology from a man named Hanussen, who was also a practicing astrologer and fortune-teller. He was an extremely clever individual who taught Hitler a great deal concerning the importance of staging meetings to obtain the greatest dramatic effect.” The Führer learned crowd control through gestures and the use of garish poses from Hanussen, who was later murdered by Nazis.

Pretty soon the unemployed young orator rode around in a Mercedes convertible carrying a rhinoceros whip and wearing a hat and long raincoat. Admirers called this carnival sideshow barker Germany’s young messiah and Germany’s Mussolini. Yet he still insisted, “I am nothing but a drummer and a rallier.” That soon changed.

The Publicized Putsch in Munich

Many saviors preached to Germans after World War I to gain political power. Papers often reported street fights, plots, and putsches to overthrow the government. On November 8, 1923, several thousand people packed a large Munich beer hall to hear the prime minister of Bavaria speak. Suddenly, the doors flew open and Hitler, flanked by storm troopers, entered with a holstered Browning revolver. He leaped on a beer table, fired a shot into the ceiling, and took politicians hostage. A heated oration ensued. The shaking, sweating Hitler screamed, causing beer drinkers to applaud. One spectator thought the hoarse, unshaven future Führer looked like “a poor little waiter.”

Snow and rain began to fall outside. Traffic stopped. Thugs with guns and clubs patrolled side streets. Yet, Hitler failed to take over government buildings, the railway station, and phone exchanges. Former World War I general Erich Ludendorff made the mistake of letting hostages go free on their honor. The ill-conceived putsch petered out by morning when Ludendorff decided to organize a protest march downtown. Hitler bought the idea. Gunfire broke out with state police. When the smoke cleared, over a dozen Nazis had been killed or wounded. Hitler fled in a yellow Opel and hid in a rich supporter’s attic, threatening to commit suicide.

The publicized Munich trial of conspirators turned into a travesty as Hitler dominated the courtroom, speaking for hours in a trance about the Versailles Treaty and the betrayal of the Fatherland. “You may pronounce us guilty a thousand times over, but the goddess of the eternal court of history will smile and tear to tatters the brief of the State Prosecutor and the sentence of this court. For she acquits us.”

When Hitler received a short prison sentence instead of being deported, crowds cheered both inside and outside the courtroom. Newspaper reporters featured the dramatic beer hall putsch, introducing a new German political figure to the world.

“Coming Generations Will Curse You in Your Grave”

In Landsberg fortress, Hitler preached to inmates while working on his seminal work Mein Kampf , dictating his thoughts to a dutiful Rudolf Hess. This historic book clearly states, “All great, world-shaking events have been brought about, not by written matter, but by the spoken word” designed for “mass effect and mass influence.” The intelligentsia “lack the power and ability to influence the masses by the spoken word” because they renounce its “real agitational activity.” They also miss a basic premise of propaganda. “The more modest its intellectual ballast, the more exclusively it takes into consideration the emotions of the masses the more effective it will be.”

After Hitler left prison, his movement lost leverage, but he continued to make public speeches, appealing mainly to farmers and workers who sought simple answers to complex problems through the Nazi Party. Yet, only a minority of Germans supported the National Socialists. They received 6.5 percent of votes in the 1924 election, less than 2.9 percent in the 1928 election, and Hitler lost the 1932 presidential election. He never received more than 37 percent of the popular vote. Everyone thought the Nazi Party was doomed. But through backstage political intrigue, Hitler convinced President Paul von Hindenberg to appoint him chancellor in 1933.

The outraged General Ludendorff wrote the elderly president a prophetic letter: “By naming Hitler as Reich chancellor, you have delivered up our holy Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I solemnly prophesy to you that this accursed man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation into inconceivable misery. Because of what you have done, coming generations will curse you in your grave.”

“Our Last Hope: Hitler”

Ascetic Hitler understood the power of place and theatrics in influencing the masses. “My surroundings must look magnificent. Then my simplicity makes a striking effect.” He dressed simply, ate simply, and lived simply—but made Nazi displays grandiose. Albert Speer thought that all the esoteric rituals were “almost like rites of the founding of a church.”

Hitler and Goebbels supplied the German masses with endless parades, rallies, and festivals such as the staged 1936 Olympics, annual Octoberfest in Munich, and the extravagant Nuremberg Rally. Openings usually included thousands of solemn Nazi soldiers doing the macabre goosestep. Drums rolled and trumpets blasted. A male chorus chanted heroic anthems. The electric atmosphere included everything from floats and colorful costumes to banners, flags, and enormous eagles. Smoke and torchlight parades trailed on for hours, often after sundown for a quasi-mystical effect.

The operatic spectacles of Richard Wagner served as a blueprint for Hitler’s rhetoric with their war, struggle, and mythological themes. Hitler attended productions of Wagner’s operas whenever possible and patterned the hypnotic tones of speeches after them.

When Hitler unsuccessfully ran for president against Hindenberg in 1932, red posters with Gothic lettering and simple slogans surfaced everywhere. One exclaimed: “Our Last Hope: Hitler,” while others read “Work, Freedom, and Bread!” and “We Are Creating the New Germany! Remember the Victims.” Hitler became the first politician to use an airplane, stumping at 20 rallies to almost a million Germans. Goebbels pushed slogans like “the Führer over Germany” in which Hitler seemed to descend from the clouds like some god. Between April and November he spoke at 148 mass rallies to cheering crowds of up to 40,000.

Goebbels also enlisted radio and movies in the struggle. One poster praised: “All Germany listens to the Führer with the People’s Radio.” By 1934, over six million radios existed in Germany, and during the war over 70 percent of homes had one, more than any other country. Loudspeakers were placed in schools, factories, and public squares. In 1933 alone, Hitler delivered 50 radio speeches but felt uncomfortable in a studio without a visible mass audience and seldom used the medium after 1933. The Nazis also made hundreds of propaganda films such as The Eternal Jew, Olympia, and Triumph of the Will in which Hitler strutted past 100,000 soldiers.

The Speeches of Adolf Hitler

Hitler wrote his own speeches, sometimes waiting until the last minute, and dictated to secretaries while planning melodramatic gestures. He once told a journalist, “When I compose a speech, I visualize the people. I can see them just as though they were standing before me. I sense how they will react to this or that statement, to this or that formulation.”

Speeches were often staged at night in large auditoriums with controlled lighting effects. He was probably influenced by noted German playwright Hanns Johst, who said, “Lighting changed forms, heightened them, dissolved them and turned them into fairy tale magic.” Entrances were carefully staged with delays, and Hitler usually left immediately after speaking, accompanied by stirring music.

Before speaking, Hitler became jittery, fingering cap and gloves, slouching down in a seat with head between hands. But then a miraculous transformation happened. He usually began very slowly in a tenor voice, sometimes for 10 or 15 minutes, searching for words and intuitively sizing up an audience. Then all hell broke loose. A secret wartime report said that his voice would rise, tempo increase, and get louder and louder, shrieking curses and foul names to frenzied audiences. Rhythms were liturgical, peppered with slogans, repetition of words and patriotic language such as “One people, one nation, one leader.”

Content was designed to arouse basic instincts rather than the intellect as illustrated by the following seething snatches from speeches in the 1920s. “There will be no peace in the land until a body is hanging from every lamp post”; “On one point there should be no doubt: we will not let the Jews slit our gullets and not defend ourselves”; or “Let us be inhumane! But if we save Germany, then we will have accomplished the world’s greatest deed. Let us do injustice! But if we save Germany, then we will have eliminated the world’s greatest injustice. Let us be immoral! But if our folk is saved, then we will have opened the way for morality again!”

Hitler wore a military uniform while speaking to give him confidence, like any actor playing a role, exploiting time, space, and rhythmic speech patterns for maximum emotional effect. Few denied his power of persuasion over mass audiences. After ranting for hours, his breathing grew heavy. He became drenched with sweat. Sometimes he nearly collapsed and would be helped off the stage while frenzied audiences gasped in awe at their savior. His valet wrote that after these exhaustive orations he would “wrap Hitler in a thick blanket and escort him home. There he took tablets to prevent getting a chill, drank tea laced with a log of cognac and took hot baths.”

Yet, the magic vanished backstage. The insecure Hitler, always surrounded by scores of SS guards, became just another face in the crowd, eating chocolates and cream cakes, watching Mickey Mouse cartoons, and retelling the same threadbare stories. His favorite American movie tune was “Donkey Serenade,” and he liked to whistle “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.”

Who Was the Real Hitler?

So who was the real Adolf Hitler, the cult figure who, in the end, failed as an artist, failed as a militarist, failed as a political leader? Nobody ever knew, even the Führer himself. Albert Speer recalled, “In retrospect, I am completely uncertain when and where he was ever really himself, his image not distorted by playacting.”

General Alfred Jodl, who saw Hitler nearly every day, wrote to his wife during the Nuremberg Trials: “Who will boast of knowing another when that person has not opened to him the most hidden corners of his heart? Thus I do not even know today what he thought, knew, and wanted to do, but rather only what I thought and suspected about it.”

Hitler’s tragic flaw? He failed to heed Nietzsche’s sage advice: “I am that which must overcome itself again and again.” Such a stark awakening might have saved the lives of 50 million people.

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You Praised Hitler in a Speech? How to Avoid Those “Oops” Moments

By Nathan Heller

Illinois GOP Rep. Mary Miller Apologizes for Her Remarks Praising Hitler at Pro-Trump Rally

— Chicago Sun-Times

Public speaking: it undoes the best of us. There is the desperate need to be amusing. There is the question of what on earth to do with your hands. There is the fear that, if you fail to prepare adequately, you could lose your train of thought, feel your palms go clammy, find yourself at a loss for words, and end up praising Hitler.

Trust me—we’ve all been there. One moment, you’re a confident account manager blazing into the boardroom with a PowerPoint in tow; the next, you’re a flustered, trembling mess, perspiring through your shirt and sputtering, “Europe never achieved unity because the Wehrmacht was resisted,” or “But for the Führer, Germany would have been destroyed by bankers and global degenerates.” You lose your place in your notes, and, instead of delivering the strategy pitch that was so smooth, so assured in your bedroom mirror, you find yourself declaring, “We must exterminate the gypsies.”

Fumbles like these can cost you that coveted promotion, a lucrative new partnership, or public office in certain states. It’s not always fair, but people are judged on their public-speaking skills, and on their ability not to talk about the historical inevitability of the Third Reich.

The good news, however, is that improvement is possible. Hope, like Argentina, remains within reach.

For decades, I have helped men and women in a range of professions to feel confident, communicate clearly, and stop expressing public sympathy for the Nazi project. Whether the goal is giving more memorable talks or cutting out nervous fillers—such as suddenly crying “Heil Hitler!” to the people in the front row—everybody benefits from coaching. I should know. I used to begin my work presentations with a three-minute warning about world domination by international Jewry. Now I start off with a joke.

Below are a few basic tips. Just remember: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and make friends in the British aristocracy.

Most important: be a problem-solver. At some point in your talk, look audience members in the eye and say, “I have a solution for you.” Try not to look audience members in the eye and say, “I have a final solution for you.”

Speak in simple language. Say “use” instead of “utilize,” and “detailed” instead of “granular.” Try not to refer to your growth plan as an “Anschluss.”

Hand gestures are your friend. Good ones involve open palms, joined fingertips, or spread arms. Do your best to avoid a “Sieg heil” salute, or pointing at a member of your audience with the words “This one, ja —step aside, please.”

Make full use of your space. As a rule, try to cross the stage once for every two minutes of speaking. It will feel strange, especially if you don’t click your heels on the turns, but it looks normal to the audience (promise).

Be a storyteller. “It was only five years ago that I hit rock bottom” is an arresting way to begin. “I want to take you on a journey” is another great start. “It was only five years ago that I ordered three tall blond men to start recording your comings, your goings, and your bathing habits” is less appealing—avoid it if you can.

Tell your listeners about a time you got it wrong. Let them learn from your mistakes. Don’t just say, “We were all in the Resistance or cooking coq au vin—honestly, I barely even read the newspapers during those years.”

Visual elements are a huge help, but only if they don’t distract from you . Don’t overcrowd your slides. If you skip ahead, say, “May I have the next slide, please?” Don’t panic and scream, “ Schneller, Juden, schneller! ”

Keep to the basics. Don’t use valuable time for inessential digressions—however important they may seem to you—such as praising “the mother to our Fatherland, the brilliant and very sexy Eva Braun.”

Always ask questions of your audience. Pro tip: “Is the gold in your dental fillings pure?” isn’t a good one.

Always remember that, although you may be the one speaking, you represent a team. If you like, give your team a fun name, like “Deborah’s Dynamos” or “Carol’s Cleanup Crew”—it can make the week go faster. “The Master Race” is not a good name for a work team.

Consider multimedia elements. I like to include a brief clip from a well-known movie to entertain my audience and drive the point home. “Home Alone” is a favorite. “Triumph of the Will” is less good. (Maybe try “Top Gun”?)

Don’t overwhelm your audience with proper nouns. If you are talking about medical care, there is really no need to make reference to “the excellent researches of Dr. Mengele.” (Obvious to you, I’m sure, but you’d be surprised how many people do this.)

Most of all, have fun out there. As long as you don’t begin a sentence “Hitler was right on one thing . . . ,” you’ll be fine. Don’t panic if you do, though—if you’re lucky, everyone will soon forget that we got there at all. ♦

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July 22, 1932

Hitler Campaign Speech

In July 1932 the Nazi Party wins 230 seats in German parliamentary elections, becoming the largest party represented.

Modern propaganda techniques—including strong images and simple messages—helped propel Austrian-born Hitler from a little known extremist to a leading candidate in Germany’s 1932 elections. This clip shows the full pageantry of Nazi rallies and the impassioned delivery style of Adolf Hitler in addressing the crowd, as he promises salvation for the German nation

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But they hand down their own worst sentence, in that they themselves confess to the failure of their efforts by the type of propaganda they use today. Once it was their desire to govern Germany better in the future than in the past, and they are forced to observe that the only real product of their attempts at government is that Germany and the German Volk are still alive.

In the November days of ‘18 [1918], they solemnly pledged to lead our Volk and in particular the German worker into a better economic future. Today, after they have had nearly fourteen years to keep their promise, they cannot cite a single German professional group as witness for the quality of their actions.

The German peasant has become impoverished; the mittelstand is ruined; the social hopes of many millions of people are destroyed; one third of all German men and women of working age is unemployed and thus without income; the Reich, the communities, and the Länder are over indebted; finances are in a muddle across the board; and all the coffers are empty!

What more could they possibly have destroyed? The worst thing, though, is the destruction of the faith in our Volk, the elimination of all hopes and all confidence. In thirteen years they have not succeeded in mobilizing in any way the powers slumbering in our Volk; on the contrary!

Out of their fear of the awakening of the nation, they have played people off against one another: the city against the country, the salaried workers against the civil servants, those who work with their hands against those who work with their brains, the Bavarians against the Prussians, the Catholics against the Protestants, and so forth, and vice versa.

The activism of our race was entirely consumed at home; outwardly, only fantasies remained: fantastic hopes of a cultural conscience, a law of nations, a world conscience, ambassador conferences, the League of Nations, the second Internationale, the third Internationale, proletarian solidarity, etc.—and the world treated us accordingly.

Thus Germany has slowly disintegrated, and only a madman can still hope that those forces which first caused this disintegration might now bring about the resurrection. If the present parties seriously want to save Germany, why have they not done so already? Had they wanted to save Germany, why has it not happened? Had the men of these parties honestly intended to do so, then their programs must have been bad. If, however, their programs were right, then either their desire cannot have been sincere, or they must have been too ignorant or too weak.

Now, after thirteen years, after they have destroyed everything in Germany, the time has finally arrived for their own elimination. Whether or not today’s parliamentary parties exist or not is of no consequence; what is, however, necessary is that the German nation be prevented from falling completely into ruin.

Therefore it is a duty to vanquish these parties, for in order to secure their own existence, they must tear the nation apart over and over again. For years they have persuaded the German worker into believing that he alone could save himself. Fooled the peasant for years by claiming that only his organization would help him.

The mittelstand was to be snatched from the jaws of ruin by parties of the mittelstand ; the economy by the parties of business. The Catholic was forced to seek his refuge with the Center, the Protestant with the Christian Socialist People’s Service. In the end even the house owners had their own political representation, just as did the tenants, the salaried workers, and the civil servants.

However, these attempts at breaking the nation down into classes, ranks, professions, and confessions and at leading it piece by piece to the economic good fortune of the future have now failed completely.

Even on the day our National Socialist Movement was founded, we were already governed by the conviction that the fate of the German individual is inseparably bound up with the fate of the entire nation. When Germany disintegrates, the worker will not flourish in social good fortune and neither will the entrepreneur; the peasant will not save himself then; nor will the mittelstand .

No, the ruin of the Reich, the disintegration of the nation, means the ruin and the disintegration of all! Not a single confession and not a single German tribe will be able to escape sharing the same lot. Even on the day our National Socialist Movement was founded, we had already long been certain that it was not the proletariat which would be victor over the bourgeoisie, and not the bourgeoisie which would be victor over the proletariat, but that international big finance must ultimately become the sole victor over both. And that is what has come to pass!

Recognizing this disintegration, thirteen years ago I took a handful of people and formed a new movement which in its very name is to be a proclamation of the new Volksgemeinschaft. There is no such thing as socialism which does not have the power of the spirit at its disposal; no such thing as social good fortune which is not protected by—and even finds its prerequisite in—the power of a nation.

And there is no such thing as a nation—and thus no such thing as nationalism—if the army of millions who work with their intellects are not joined by the army of millions who work with their fists, the army of millions of peasants. As long as Nationalism and Socialism march as separate ideas, they will be defeated by the united forces of their opponents. On that day when both ideas are molten into one, they will become invincible!

And who will deny that, in a time when everything in Germany is falling apart and degenerating, when everything in the business world and political life is reaching a standstill or coming to an end, a single organization has experienced an enormous and miraculous upturn?

With seven men I began this task of German unification thirteen years ago, and today over thirteen million are standing in our ranks. However, it is not the number that counts, but its inner value!

Thirteen million people of all professions and ranks—thirteen million workers, peasants, and intellectuals; thirteen million Catholics and Protestants; members of all German Länder and tribes—have formed an inseparable alliance. And thirteen million have recognized that the future of all lies only in the joint struggle and the joint successes of all. Millions of peasants have now realized that the important thing is not that they comprehend the necessity of their own existence; rather, it is necessary to enlighten the other professions and walks of life as to the German peasant, and to win them for his cause.

And millions of workers have similarly realized today that, in spite of all the theories, their future lies not in some “Internationale” but in the realization on the part of their other Volksgenossen that, without German peasants and German workers, there simply is no German power. And millions of bourgeois intellectuals, too, have come to the realization of how insignificant their own illusions are if the masses of millions comprising the rest of the Volk do not finally comprehend the importance of the German intellectual class.

Thirteen years ago we National Socialists were mocked and derided—today our opponents’ laughter has turned to tears! A faithful community of people has arisen which will gradually overcome the prejudices of class madness and the arrogance of rank. A faithful community of people which is resolved to take up the fight for the preservation of our race, not because it is made up of Bavarians or Prussians or men from Württemberg or Saxony; not because they are Catholics or Protestants, workers or civil servants, bourgeois or salaried workers, etc., but because all of them are Germans.

Within this feeling of inseparable solidarity, mutual respect has grown, and from this respect has come an understanding, and from this understanding the tremendous power which moves us all. We National Socialists thus march into every election with the single commitment that we will, the following day, once more take up our work for the inner reorganization of our body politic. For we are not fighting merely for the mandates or the ministerial posts, but rather for the German individual, whom we wish to and shall join together once more to inseparably share a single common destiny.

The Almighty, Who has allowed us in the past to rise from seven men to thirteen million in thirteen years, will further allow these thirteen million to once become a German Volk. It is in this Volk that we believe, for this Volk we fight; and if necessary, it is to this Volk that we are willing, as the thousands of comrades before us, to commit ourselves body and soul.

If the nation does its duty, then the day will come which restores to us: one Reich in honor and freedom—work and bread!  

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How Hitler's populist rhetoric contributed to his rise to power

• Hitler's rhetoric found a German audience after the onset of the global Great Depression.
• "People were most willing to follow him, because he seemed to have the right answers" during economic upheaval, a historian said.
• Hitler's oratory was not always persuasive. He also used intimidation and violence to seize power.

Correction : A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the year Hitler began leading the German government. That year was 1933. This article also relies heavily on a dubious account known as the Murray report, which Third Reich scholars have criticized for being based on hearsay and speculation.

Editor's note : This article failed to meet Insider's editorial standards by omitting some important context on Hitler's rise to power. Intimidation and violence were central to his seizing power and imposing a dictatorship. Nor was his oratory always persuasive. In 1928, Hitler was allowed to campaign freely and his Nazi party only won 3% of the vote, showing "his speeches had no effect at all," said Richard J. Evans, a leading historian of Nazi Germany and author of the acclaimed "Third Reich Trilogy." Reparations from World War I were canceled before Hitler took power. Indeed, Evans noted that Hitler never won more than 37.4% of the vote in a free national election. 

One of the world's most influential orators created the largest German political party, conquered a dozen nations, and slaughtered as many as 21 million people during his brutal 12-year Third Reich.

In more than 5,000 persuasive speeches, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler bewitched his audiences and promised them that his empire would reign for a thousand years.

Professor Bruce Loebs , who has taught a class called the Rhetoric of Hitler and Churchill for the past 46 years at Idaho State University, credits the Nazi leader's oratory to his charisma.

"He learned how to become a charismatic speaker, and people, for whatever reason, became enamored with him," Loebs told Business Insider.

"People were most willing to follow him, because he seemed to have the right answers in a time of enormous economic upheaval."

Plagued with enormous World War I-related reparations in addition to an increasingly depressed global economy, Germany's economic environment supported Hitler's rise in the 1930s.

Hitler took advantage of the brewing discontent and found himself at the forefront of an opportunistic political ideology, the National Socialist German Workers' party.

Hitler's political arena

Before the Nazis' rapid ascent to the world stage, Hitler's party was largely unknown, winning a trivial 3% of votes in Germany's 1924 elections.

"When Hitler decided to compete in the Reichstag," or German parliament, "he knew that meant that he had to give speeches and that meant that he had to speak to as many people as he could in order to get votes," Loebs told Business Insider.

Hitler was allowed to campaign freely in 1928 and his party only garnered 3% of the vote. But his rhetoric and intimidation tactics would bear fruit in the global Great Depression that began with the 1929 US stock market crash.

In 1933, Hitler and his frightening political agenda were leading the German government.

In short, as historian Robert Waite writes : "Hitler was Nazidom. Seldom in the history of western civilization has so much depended on one man's personality. He created his own political theory and a government that could not exist without him."

Hitler's speechwriting process

Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, wrote in his diary that Hitler was known to write his own speeches and edit them up to five times.

Related stories

He would "work deep into the night, several evenings running, occupying three secretaries taking dictation straight into the typewriters before carefully correcting the drafts," according to British historian Ian Kershaw.

"He simply did not want to rely on anyone to write his speeches," Loebs told Business Insider. "For Adolf Hitler, public speaking was so important that he would never trust anyone to write his speeches for him."

Loebs also noted that Winston Churchill preferred to write his own speeches as well, something rare among leaders of the time (and today).

Hitler's voice was 'mesmeric'

In Ron Rosenbaum's book " Explaining Hitler ," French-American novelist George Steiner describes the Nazi leader's voice as overwhelmingly powerful and "spellbinding."

"I was born in 1929, so from '33 on my earliest memories are sitting in the kitchen hearing The Voice [of Hitler] on the radio," Steiner shared with Rosenbaum.

"It's a hard thing to describe, but the voice itself was mesmeric ... The amazing thing is that the body comes through on the radio. I can't put it any other way. You feel you're following the gestures," Steiner said.

"In the German language, Hitler drew on a kind of rhetorical power which — in a way is perhaps a little bit peculiar to German — allies highly abstract concepts with political, physical violence in a most unusual way. And Hitler was easily a genius at that, absolutely no doubt about it."

Further, American psychologist Henry Murray describes the Führer's overall presence as "hypnotic" in " The Personality of Adolf Hitler ," a 229-page report that was commissioned in 1943 by the Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the CIA.

According to Murray's report , Hitler received frequent compliments on his grayish-blue eyes, even though they were described as "dead, impersonal, and unseeing."

Some Third Reich experts, however, have cautioned against reliance on the Murray report over concerns it's based on hearsay and conjecture.

'He had to add animation to his language'

Hitler workshopped his delivery, hand gestures, and body language while practicing his speeches.

"He absolutely had to work at his presentation since it was half of his message," Loebs told Business Insider. "He had to add animation to his language in order to successfully communicate his ideas."

Hitler's personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, captured 2 million images of the bellicose leader and was advised to never release a specific series to the public, according to his memoir, " Hitler was my Friend ."

In 1925, Hoffman took several photos of Hitler's facial expressions and gestures while he rehearsed speeches in a mirror.

After studying the images, the Nazi leader reportedly asked for them to be destroyed.

Secretly Hoffman saved the photos and published them 30 years later in his memoir.

"No other photographer in history landed the scoop that he [Hoffman] did: intimate and exclusive access to a major head of state — and importantly, the chance to work with a subject who knew very well how to 'work' the camera, and paid painstaking attention to the cultivation of his public image," historian Roger Moorhouse later wrote in the republished introduction of Hoffman's memoir.

Here is a video of one of Hitler's speeches with English subtitles:

Hitler's Third Reich officially ended on April 30, 1945, when the Führer committed suicide in his bunker with his new wife after learning Allied forces had surrounded Berlin.

• Main content

Hitler’s Speech to the Commanders in Chief (August 22, 1939)

• Nazi Germany (1933-1945)
• Military, Foreign Policy, and War
• Source (35/99)

On May 23, 1939, just a day after signing the “Pact of Steel,” Hitler told his generals that a German invasion of Poland was now inevitable. The conflict over Danzig and the Polish corridor was mere pretext. Germany could simply no longer do without Eastern European “living space” [ Lebensraum ] and the attendant raw materials. Hitler therefore announced his willingness to accept the possibility of a declaration of war by England and France. His greatest concern was a possible Soviet intervention on the side of the western Allies. But on August 21, 1939, when he received Stalin’s agreement to enter into a German-Soviet pact, Hitler saw that the course had been set for war. (Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed the pact two days later in Moscow.) On August 22, 1939, Hitler invited his generals to yet another situation meeting. On September 1, 1939, the invasion of Poland began.

• Adolf Hitler

Speech by the Führer to the Commanders in Chief on August 22, 1939

I have called you together to give you a picture of the political situation, in order that you may have some insight into the individual factors on which I have based my decision to act, and in order to strengthen your confidence.

After this we shall discuss military details.

It was clear to me that a conflict with Poland had to come sooner or later. I had already made this decision in the spring, but I thought that I would first turn against the West in a few years, and only after that against the East. But the sequence of these things cannot be fixed. Nor should one close one’s eyes to threatening situations. I wanted first of all to establish a tolerable relationship with Poland in order to fight first against the West. But this plan, which appealed to me, could not be executed, as fundamental points had changed. It became clear to me that, in the event of a conflict with the West, Poland would attack us. Poland is striving for access to the sea. This further development appeared after the occupation of the Memel Territory, and it became clear to me that in certain circumstances a conflict with Poland might come at an inopportune moment. I give as reasons for this conclusion:

1. First of all, two factors related to persons:

There is myself and there is Mussolini.

Essentially all depends on me, on my existence, because of my political talents. Furthermore, the fact that probably no one will ever again have the trust of the whole German people as I have. There will probably never again in the future be a man with more authority than I have. My existence is therefore a factor of great value. But I can be eliminated at any time by a criminal or a lunatic.

The second person to be taken into account is the Duce. His existence is also decisive. If anything happens to him, Italy’s loyalty to the alliance will no longer be certain. The Italian Court is fundamentally opposed to the Duce. Above all, the Court regards the expansion of the empire as an encumbrance. The Duce is the man with the strongest nerves in Italy.

The third person who can be counted in our favor is Franco. We can ask only for benevolent neutrality from Spain. But this depends on Franco himself. He guarantees a certain uniformity and stability in the present system in Spain. We must accept the fact that Spain does not as yet have a Fascist party with our internal unity.

The other side presents a negative picture as far as authoritative persons are concerned. There is no exceptional person in England and France.

It is easy for us to make decisions. We have nothing to lose; we have everything to gain. Because of our restrictions [ Einschränkungen ] our economic situation is such that we can only hold out for a few more years. Göring can confirm this. We have no other choice, we must act. Our opponents will be risking a great deal and can gain only a little. Britain’s stake in a war is inconceivably great. Our enemies have leaders who are below the average. They lack exceptional persons, masters, men of action.

Besides the factors related to persons, the political situation is favorable for us: In the Mediterranean, rivalry between Italy, France, and England; in the Far East, tension between Japan and England; in the Middle East, tension which causes alarm in the Mohammedan world.

The English Empire did not emerge stronger from the last war. Nothing was achieved from the maritime point of view. Strife between England and Ireland. The Union of South Africa has become more independent. Concessions have had to be made to India. England is in the utmost peril. Unhealthy industrialization. A British statesman can only view the future with concern.

France’s position has also deteriorated, above all in the Mediterranean.

Further factors in our favor are these:

Since Albania, there has been a balance of power in the Balkans. Yugoslavia is infected with the fatal germ of decay because of her internal situation.

Romania has not grown stronger. She is open to attack and vulnerable. She is threatened by Hungary and Bulgaria. Since Kemal’s death, Turkey has been ruled by petty minds, unsteady, weak men.

All these favorable circumstances will no longer prevail in two or three year’s time. No one knows how much longer I shall live. Therefore, better a conflict now.

The creation of Greater Germany was a great achievement politically, but militarily it was doubtful, since it was achieved by bluff on the part of the political leaders. It is necessary to test the military. If at all possible, not in a general reckoning, but by the accomplishment of individual tasks.

The relationship with Poland has become unbearable. My Polish policy hitherto was contrary to the views of the people. My proposals to Poland (Danzig and the Corridor) were frustrated by England’s intervention. Poland changed her tone towards us. A permanent state of tension is intolerable. The power of initiative cannot be allowed to pass to others. The present moment is more favorable than in two or three years’ time. An attempt on my life or Mussolini’s could change the situation to our disadvantage. One cannot forever face one another with rifles cocked. One compromise suggested to us was that we should change our convictions and make gestures. They talked to us again in the language of Versailles. There was a danger of losing prestige. Now there still is a great probability that the West will not intervene. We must take the risk with ruthless determination. The politician must take a risk just as much as the general. We are faced with the harsh alternatives to strike or to face certain annihilation sooner or later.

I will refer to previous hazardous undertakings.

I would have been stoned if I had not been proven right. The most dangerous step was the entry into the neutral zone. Only a week before, I got a warning through France. I have always taken a great risk in the conviction that it would succeed.

Now it is also a great risk. Iron nerves, iron resolution.

The following particular reasons give me strength in my conviction. England and France have undertaken obligations which neither is in a position to fulfill. There is no real rearmament in England, but only propaganda. A great deal of harm was done by many Germans, who were not in agreement with me, saying and writing to English people after the solution of the Czech question: The Führer was proven right because you lost your nerve, because you capitulated too soon. This explains the present propaganda war. The English speak of a war of nerves. One factor in this war of nerves is the demonstration of increase in armaments. But what are the real facts about British rearmament? The naval construction program for 1938 has not yet been completed. Only the reserve fleet has been mobilized. Trawlers have been purchased. No substantial strengthening of the Navy before 1941 or 1942.

Little has been done on land. England will be able to send at most three divisions to the Continent. A few things have been done for the Air Force, but it is only a beginning. Anti-aircraft defense is in its initial stages. At the moment England has only 150 anti-aircraft guns. The new anti-aircraft guns have been ordered. It will be long time before enough have been produced. There is a shortage of predictors. England is still vulnerable from the air. This could change in two or three years. At the moment the English Air Force has only 130,000 men, France 72,000, Poland 15,000. England does not want the conflict to break out for two or three years.

The following is typical of England: Poland wanted a loan from England for her rearmament. England, however, only granted credits in order to make sure that Poland would buy in England, although England cannot deliver. This suggests that England does not really want to support Poland. She is not risking eight million pounds in Poland, although she poured five hundred million into China. England’s position in the world is very precarious. She will not take any risks.

France is short of men (decline in the birth rate). Little has been done for rearmament. The artillery is obsolete. France did not want to embark on this adventure. The West has only two possibilities for fighting against us:

1. Blockade: It will not be effective because of our autarky and because we have supply sources in Eastern Europe.

2. Attack in the West from the Maginot line: I consider this impossible.

Another possibility would be the violation of Dutch, Belgian and Swiss neutrality. I have no doubt that all these States, as well as Scandinavia, will defend their neutrality with all available means. England and France will not violate the neutrality of these countries. Thus in actual fact England cannot help Poland. There still remains an attack on Italy. Military intervention is out of the question. No one is counting on a long war. If Herr von Brauchitsch had said to me, “I need four years to conquer Poland,” I would have replied: “Then it’s impossible.” It is nonsense to say that England wants to wage a long war.

We will hold our position in the West until we have conquered Poland. We must bear in mind

our great production capacity. It is much greater than in 1914–1918.

The enemy had another hope, that Russia would become our enemy after the conquest of Poland. The enemy did not reckon with my great strength of purpose. Our enemies are small fry. I saw them in Munich.

I was convinced that Stalin would never accept the English offer. Russia has no interest in preserving Poland, and Stalin knows that it would mean the end of his régime, no matter whether his soldiers emerged from a war victorious or vanquished.

Litvinov’s replacement was decisive. I brought about the change with respect to Russia gradually. We got into political conversations in connection with the commercial treaty. Proposal for a non-aggression pact. Then came a comprehensive proposal from Russia. Four days ago I took a special step, which led to Russia replying yesterday that she is prepared to sign. Personal contact with Stalin is established. The day after tomorrow von Ribbentrop will conclude the treaty. Now Poland is in the position in which I wanted her.

We need not be afraid of a blockade. The East will supply us with grain, cattle, coal, lead, and zinc. It is a mighty aim, which demands great efforts. I am only afraid that at the last moment some swine or other will yet submit to me a plan for mediation.

The political objective goes further. A start has been made on the destruction of England’s hegemony. After I have made the political preparations, the way will be open for the soldiers.

Today’s announcement of the non-aggression pact with Russia came as a bombshell. The consequences cannot be foreseen. Stalin also said that this course will benefit both countries. The effect on Poland will be tremendous.

In reply, Göring thanked the Führer and assured him that the Wehrmacht would do their duty.

Source of English translation: Speech by the Führer to the Commanders in Chief on August 22, 1939, in United States Department of State, Documents on German Foreign Policy: From the Archives of the German Foreign Ministry . Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1957–1964. Series D (1937–1945), The Last Days of Peace , Volume 7: August 9–September 3, 1939. Document 192, pp. 200–04. Edited by GHI staff.

Source of original German text: Ansprache Hitlers an die Oberbefehlshaber am 22. August 1939 über seine Absicht, Krieg zu führen und seine politischen Vorbereitungen dazu, sowie Voraussagungen über die Haltung anderer europäischer Staaten und den wahrscheinlichen Kriegsverlauf (Beweisstück US-29), in Der Prozess gegen die Hauptkriegsverbrecher vor dem Internationalen Militärgerichtshof. Nürnberg 14. November 1945 – 1. Oktober 1946. Volume XXVI, Amtlicher Text–Deutsche Ausgabe, Urkunden und anderes Beweismaterial. Nuremberg 1947. Reprint: Munich, Delphin Verlag, 1989. Document 798-PS, pp. 338–44.

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Scholarly edition of Adolf Hitler’s speeches from 1933 to 1945

A comprehensive critical edition of Hitler’s speeches beginning in 1933 has long been considered a research desideratum. The speeches constitute a central source for the nature and ruling practices of National Socialism. Despite this, there is neither a systematic overview of all of Hitler’s speeches, nor a reliable textual basis. As a result, researchers in the field of history and related disciplines such as linguistics have mostly relied on the flawed and incomplete compilation put together by Max Domarus in the 1960s. Besides that, only a select few speeches have been published in the form of scholarly editions.

It is indisputable that Hitler achieved his political rise before 1933 most notably as a speaker. His addresses motivated and provided political orientation to the Nazi movement in a way which surpassed his commentary in Mein Kampf .  after 1933, Hitler continued to frequently use his speeches as a concentrated performance designed to assert both political and ideological influence.

After years of preparation, the editorial project of Hitler’s speeches began on January 1, 2024. It is being carried out by the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) in cooperation with the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main (Chair for Contemporary History with a focus on 20th-century European history, Prof. Dr. Christoph Cornelißen), the Philipps University of Marburg ( Chair for Practical Computer Science , Prof. Dr. Bernd Freisleben), the German Broadcasting Archive (DRA) in Frankfurt/Main and Potsdam-Babelsberg (Dr. Götz Lachwitz), and the Leibnitz Institute for the German Language (IDS) in Mannheim (Prof. Dr. Henning Lobin). The German Research Foundation (DFG) will be funding the project for seven years.

The goal of the project is, for the first time, to comprehensively document Hitler’s speeches from January 30, 1933, provide commentary and context, and – as far as possible – render them accessible in both text and audio formats. As a working hypothesis and research interest, the central question of this project is the extent to which the speeches reflect the connection between political ideology, rhetorical communication and social mobilization as essential elements of the dynamization of Nazi rule and also the extent to which were themselves driven forward by the speeches. As of now, 745 speeches by Hitler have been identified, approximately four-fifths of which stem from the pre-war period. Around 300 of these have been preserved either entirely or partially in spoken form.

Following in the footsteps of earlier editorial projects conducted by the IfZ, notably “Hitler: Speeches, Writings, Directives, 1925-1933” and “Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition,” all of the speeches will be published in printed form with introductions that provide the current state of research and the historical context. They are also to be subsequently published digitally in an open access format.

The audio recordings are regarded as the most authentic versions of the speeches and thus constitute the main basis of the project. These recordings will undergo meticulous research and compilation, will be verified for authenticity by the DRA, and technically enhanced to ensure optimal sound quality. While the IfZ is to take the lead in establishing the textual corpus and providing commentary, the Chair for Contemporary History in Frankfurt will also provide its expertise in the field in order to edit and annotate the existing audio recordings for the first time, applying advanced electronic methods for comprehensive searchability and analysis.

The commentary will elucidate crucial issues and backgrounds to the speeches, will explore how the locations for speeches were staged as well as the staging of radio addresses and will introduce all the individuals mentioned. The conditions for the production, broadcasting, and reception of speeches will also to be reconstructed, with attention being paid to Hitler’s voice and speaking style as they appear in the audio recordings. The Marburg Chair for Practical Computer Science will develop tools to search the audio recordings and transcripts and will carry out the indispensable task of synchronizing the sound and text for the audio edition. The digital audio edition will be made accessible for use by various target groups (academic and educational institutions, journalism, public history). The IDS will accompany the project as a whole with a series of workshops, while also contributing its linguistic expertise to the development of software-based analysis tools.

The printed and digital text and audio editions will constitute a significant contribution to research on National Socialism, while also paving the way for new and innovative technical approaches to the discipline.

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ADOLF HITLER SPEECHES

From his first political speech as a new member of the DAP (German Workers Party) in October 1919, until his last address in February 1945, Adolf Hitler has made more than 1,500 public speeches all over Germany, and in other countries. This non exhaustive list is an attempt to present most of the known speeches given by Hitler during the course of these 26 years.

Sources • Harald Sandner: Das Itinerar • Milan Jauner: Hitler, A Chronology of his Life and Time • Max Domarus: Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations, 1932-1945

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8th-graders given hitler-themed assignment to rate nazi monster as a ‘solution seeker,’ ‘ethical decision-maker’.

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An Adolf Hitler-themed question-and-answer assignment given to students at a private school in Atlanta has sparked outrage among parents over its suspected antisemitic nature.

Eighth-grade students at the Mount Vernon School in Atlanta were given a series of questions asking them to rate some of the characteristics of Adolf Hitler — the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, whose antisemitic ideology fueled the Holocaust — as a leader, according to Fox 5 Atlanta . 

One question posed to students asked, “According to the Mount Vernon Mindset rubric, how would you rate Adolf Hitler as a ‘solution seeker’?” 

A second question asked how students would “rate Adolf Hitler as an ethical decision-maker?”

For both questions, the students were given the option of selecting “Lacks Evidence,” “Approaching Expectations,” “Meets Expectations” or “Exceeds Expectations” to describe the ruthless dictator. 

The bizarre questions ignited outrage among parents — many of whom were concerned the queries were antisemitic by nature, according to the outlet. 

Students at the private school also had issues with the questions, with one telling the outlet the assignment was “troubling” and could be seen as glorifying the warmongering totalitarian leader. 

“Obviously, that looks horrible in the current context,” another student told the outlet. “Knowing Mount Vernon, we do things a little odd around here.”

The student added that the school is known to “try to think outside the box” but shared that “oftentimes that doesn’t work.”

Several former students told Fox 5 that those questions weren’t given to them during eighth grade.

While many parents and students were shaken over the assignment, one student believes the school attempted to pose a historically provocative question that required students to use their critical thinking skills. 

“I can definitely see why they’d be upset, but overall, I think it’s important to look at both sides of the coin in every situation, and I think it’s important to be able to compare and contrast everything that’s happened in our world history, whether it’s been good or bad,” said the student.

Upon learning the phrasing of the questions in the assignment, Mount Vernon officials said they had removed it from the school’s curriculum. 

The principal of Mount Vernon, Kristy Lundstrom, wrote in a statement that the assignment was “an exploration of World War II designed to boost student knowledge of factual events and understand the manipulation of fear leveraged by Adolf Hitler in connection to the Treaty of Versailles.” 

“Immediately following this incident, I met with the School’s Chief of Inclusion, Diversity, Equality, and Action, Head of Middle School, and a concerned Rabbi and friend of the School who shared the perspective of some of our families and supported us in a thorough review of the assignment and community impact.”

“Adolf Hitler and the events of the time period are difficult and traumatic to discuss.”

The private school, about 16 miles outside downtown Atlanta, is a “co-educational day school for more than 1200 students in Preschool through Grade 12,” according to the institution’s  website . 

“We are a school of inquiry, innovation, and impact. Grounded in Christian values, we prepare all students to be college ready, globally competitive, and engaged citizen leaders,” its mission statement reads.

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