David Cesarani

Dear Führer…

Letters to Hitler

By

Polity 262pp £20 order from our bookshop

From the moment he attained notoriety for his attempted putsch in Munich, in November 1923, Hitler was the recipient of hundreds of letters each year from all over Germany. They offered support, advice, consolation and sometimes criticism. A large proportion were declarations of love by starstruck women. Hero-worshipping men sent money and gifts on his birthday or for Christmas. Some spontaneously pledged undying loyalty; others asked for favours in return for the years they had supported his cause when it was unfashionable. 

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • RT : A magnificent demolition job on this "acid laced tirade...unpleasantly self-obsessed...self pitying polemic...book… ,
    • 'Seventy years on, the time we have left to gather such first-hand testimony is running out.' John Keay on the sig… ,
    • The author 'seethes with contemptuous indignation at the shiny junk that an unregulated construction industry dumps… ,
    • 'The physical courage he demonstrated as a young man [...] gave way to intellectual power; radical thought, gifted… ,
    • 'While Jane Austen didn’t perhaps achieve the full recognition that she deserved in her lifetime, even then she out… ,
    • 'All I have is a voice To undo the folded lie, The romantic lie in the brain Of the sensual man-in-the-street And t… ,
    • 'You are interested in a particular subject; basic research hardens this interest into an obsession, after which th… ,
    Follow Us