Hitler [Transcription note: Bracketed [Page] links provide access
to the individual images from which these transcriptions were
made]
Children first become aware of death as a phenomenon very early in
life and in view of these unusual circumstances it may have dawned
on Hitler even earlier than with most children. The thought of death,
in itself, is inconceivable to a small child and they usually are able
to form only the vaguest conception of what it means or implies
before they push it out of their minds, for later consideration. In
Hitler's case, however, it was a living issue and the fears of the
mother were in all likelihood communicated to
[Page 172]
him. As he pondered the problem in his immature way, he probably
wondered why the others died while he continued to live. The natural
conclusion for a child to draw would be that he was favored in some way
or that he was chosen to live for some particular purpose. The belief
that he was the "chosen one" would have been reinforced by the fact
that as far as his mother was concerned he was very much the chosen
one in comparison with her two step-children who were also living
in the home at that time.
This belief must have been strengthened considerably when, at the age
of five, his baby brother was born. This baby brother has undoubtedly
played a much more important role in Adolph's life than has been
acknowledged by his biographers. The pertinent fact at the moment,
however, is that this brother too died before he was six years old.
It was Adolph's first real experience with death and it must have
brought up the problem of death again in a much more vivid form. Again,
we can surmise, he asked himself why they died while he continues to be
saved. The only plausible answer to a child at that age would be that
he must be under divine protection. This may seem far-fetched and yet,
as an adult, Hitler tells us that he felt exactly this way when he was
at the front during the war, even before he had the vision.
Then, too,
he speculated on why it is that comrades all around him are killed
while he is saved and again he comes to the
[Page 173]
conclusion that Providence must be protecting him. Perhaps the
exemplary courage he displayed in carrying messages at the front was
due to the feeling that some kindly Fate was watching over him.
Throughout MEIN KAMPF we find this type of thinking. It was Fate that
had him born so close to the German border; it was Fate that sent him
to Vienna to suffer with the masses; it was Fate that caused him to
do many things. The experience he reports at the front, when a voice
told him to pick up his plate and move to another section of the
trench just in time to escape a shell which killed all his comrades,
must certainly have strengthened this belief to a marked degree and
paved the way for his vision later on.
The Messiah. complex.
Another influence may have helped to solidify this system of belief.
Among patients we very frequently find that children who are spoiled
at an early age and establish a strong bond with their mother tend to
question their paternity. Eldest children in particular are prone to
such doubts and it is most marked in cases where the father is much
older than the mother. In Hitler's case the father was twenty-three
years older, or almost twice the age of the mother. Just why this
should be is not clear, from a psychological point of view, but in
such cases there is a strong tendency to believe that their father is
not their real father and to ascribe their birth to some kind of
supernatural conception. Usually such
[Page 174]
beliefs are dropped as the child grows older. It can be observed in
young children, however, and can often be recovered in adults under
suitable conditions. Due to the unsympathetic and brutal nature of
his father we may suppose that there was an added incentive in
rejecting him as his real father and postulating some other
origin to himself.
The problem is not important in itself at the moment except insofar
as it may help to throw some light on the origins of Hitler's
conviction in his mission and his belief that he is guided by some
extra-natural power which communicates to him what he should and should
not do under varying circumstances. This hypothesis is tenable in
view of the fact that during his stay in Vienna, when still in his
early twenties, he grew a beard and again directly after the war when
he again grew a Christ-like beard. Then, too, when he was a student at
the Benedictine school his ambition was to join the Church and
become an abbot or priest. All of these give some indication of a
Messiah complex long before he had started on his meteoric career and
become an open competitor of Christ for the affections of the German people.
Fear of death and desire for immortality.
Although beliefs of this kind are common during childhood they are
usually dropped or are modified as the individual becomes older and
more experienced. In Hitler's case, however, the reverse has taken
place. The conviction
[Page 175] became stronger as he grew
older until, at the present time, it is the core of his thinking.
Under these circumstances, we must suppose that some powerful
psychological stream continued to nourish these infantile modes of
thought. This psychological stream is probably, as it is in many other
cases, a fear of death. It seems logical to suppose that in the course
of his early deliberations on the deaths of his brothers his first
conclusion was probably that all the others die and that consequently
he too would die. His fear would not be allayed by his mother's
constant concern over his well-being, which he may have interpreted as
an indication that the danger was imminent. Such a conclusion would
certainly be a valid one for a child to make under the circumstances.
The thought of his own death, however, is almost unbearable to a small
child. Nothing is quite so demoralizing as the constant dread of
self-annihilation. It gnaws away day and night and prevents him from
enjoying the good things that life affords.
To rid himself of this devastating fear becomes his major objective.
This is not easily accomplished, especially when all available evidence
seems to corroborate the validity of the fear. In order to offset its
potency he is almost driven to deny its reality by adopting the belief
that he is of divine origin and that Providence is protecting him from
all harm. Only by use of such a technique is the child able to convince
himself that, he will not die. We must also
[Page 176]
remember that in Hitler's case there was not only the unusual succession
of deaths of siblings, but there was also the constant menace of his
father's brutality which helped make the fear more intense than in most
children. This danger could easily be exaggerated in Hitler's mind due
to a sense of guilt concerning his feelings towards his respective
parents and what his father might do to him if he discovered his secret.
These feelings would tend to increase his fear of death at the same
time that they caused him to reject his father. Both tendencies would
serve to nourish the belief that he was of divine origin and was under
its protection.
It is my belief that this basic fear of death is still present and
active in Hitler's character at the present time. As time goes on and
he approaches the age when he might reasonably expect to die, this
infantile fear asserts itself more strongly. As a mature, intelligent
man he knows that the law of nature is such that his physical self
is destined to die. He is still not able, however, to accept the fact
that he as an individual, his psyche, will also die. It is this
element in his psychological structure which demands that he become
immortal. Most people are able to take the sting out of this fear of
death through religious beliefs in life after death, or through the
feeling that a part of them, at least, will continue to go on living
in their children. In Hitler's, case, both of these normal channels
have been closed and he
[Page 177] has been forced to seek immortality in a more direct form. He must
arrange to go on living in the German people for at least a thousand
years to come. In order to do this, he must oust Christ as a
competitor and usurp his place in the lives of the German people.
In addition to evidence drawn from experience with patients which would
make this hypothesis tenable, we have the evidence afforded by Hitler's
own fears and attitudes. We have discussed these in detail in Section IV.
Fear of assassination, fear of poisoning, fear of premature death, etc.,
all deal with the problem of death in an uncamouflaged form. One can,
of course, maintain that in view or his position all these fears are more
or less justified. There is certainly some truth in this contention but
we also notice that as time goes on these fears have increased
considerably until now they have reached the point where the precautions
for his own safety far exceed those of any of his predecessors. As long
as he could hold a plebescite every now and then and reassure himself
that the German people loved him and wanted him, he felt better. Now
that this is no longer possible, he has no easy way of curbing the
fear and his uncertainty in the future becomes greater. There can be
little doubt concerning his faith in the results of the plebescites.
He was firmly convinced that the 98% vote, approving his actions,
really represented the true feelings of the German people. He
believed this because
[Page 178] he needed such
reassurance from time to time in order to carry on with a fairly
easy mind and maintain his delusions.
When we turn to his fear of cancer we find no justification whatever
for his belief, especially in view of the fact that several outstanding
specialists in this disease have assured him that it is without
foundation. Nevertheless, it is one of his oldest fears and he continues
to adhere to it in spite of all the expert testimony to the contrary.
This fear becomes intelligible when we remember that his mother died
following an operation for cancer of the breast. In connection with his
fear of death we must not forget his terrifying nightmares from which he
awakes in a cold sweat and acts as though he were being suffocated. If
our hypothesis is correct, namely, that a fear of death is one of the
powerful unconscious streams which drive Hitler on in his mad
career, then we can expect that as the war progresses and as he
becomes older the fear will continue to increase. With the progress
of events along their present course, it will be more and more difficult
for him to feel that his mission is fulfilled and that he has
successfully cheated death and achieved immortality in the German
people. Nevertheless, we can expect him to keep on trying to the best
of his ability as long as a ray of hope remains. The great danger is
that if he feels that he cannot achieve immortality as the Great
Redeemer he may seek it as the Great Destroyer who will live on in
the minds of the German people for a
[Page 179]
thousand years to come. He intimated this in a conversation with
Rauschning when he said:
"We shall not capitulate -- no, never. We may be destroyed, but if
we are, we shall drag a world with us--a world in flames."
With him, as with many others of his type, it may well be a case of
immortality of any kind at any price.
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Psychological Analysis & Reconstruction
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