The Young Hitler I Knew

by August Kubizek

Hardcover, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

943.086092

Genres

Collection

Anomaly Archives

Publication

Greenhill Books (2006), 256 pages

Description

An "extraordinary memoir [that] lends a personal and unique eye to explaining Hitler's character" (Midwest Book Review). August Kubizek met Adolf Hitler in 1904 while they competed for standing room at the opera. Kubizek describes a reticent young man, painfully shy, yet capable of bursting into hysterical fits of anger if anyone disagreed with him. But they grew close, often talking for hours on end. In 1908, they began sharing an apartment in Vienna. After being rejected twice from art school, Hitler found himself sinking into an unkind world of "constant unappeasable hunger." Kubizek did not meet his friend again until he congratulated him on becoming Chancellor of Germany. The Young Hitler I Knew tells the story of an extraordinary friendship, and gives fascinating insight into Hitler's character during these formative years. "An invaluable tool for every Hitler scholar; a fascinating portrait for every reader who is interested in Hitler." --Simon Sebag Montefiore … (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member mhaley

From the outset Ian Kershaw, who wrote the preface says that this work must be taken with a grain of salt. Also he endorses the book as a good rough sketch of Hitler's formative years, he feels that the book was embellished a bit by the obvious help of a ghost writer. Regardless of the details

perhaps being embellished to make the work a bit more interesting, it gave me a tremendous insight in the mental positioning of Hitler during the years of 16-20 years of age. Hitler obviously was a control freak at an early age, and only sought to have personal relationships with people who would allow him to control them. Hitler, much like other megalomanics, such as Stalin, Mao, and others, despised work of any kind, but showed a great energy for what he was interested in. Hitler spent most of his formative year dreaming of rebuilding his hometown of Linz, which he eventually did accomplish. Another insight was that he was actually a very loyal friend, and at times quite thoughtful to Kubizek, and never took advantage of him. For anyone who wants to understand Hitler at the primordial level this work is a must have for a Third Reich Special Collection.

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LibraryThing member snash

This is an account written by an exclusive friend and room mate of Hitler's from 16 to 20 giving an insight into his driven, volatile, egocentric, and imaginary world. It is the primary source for this period of Hitler's life used by all biographers of Hitler.

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