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Bohemian

He combined the life of the layabout with that of an artist by devoting himself to painting and the pen and ink drawing of architectural designs. One of these was a future view of the city of Linz with a new theatre and a modern bridge over the Danube. 35 years later he actually had the bridge erected there. At this time his tendency to prefer monumental constructions in the style of previous centuries was striking.

One example of Hitler’s inclination to monumental buildings is provided by this model of the Reich’s capital Berlin from 1938/39 designed by Albert Speer.

At this time he had little contact with those of a similar age. He actually just had one friend, the son of a decorator and upholsterer, August “Gustl” Kubizek. Together with him he forged fantastic plans and dwelled in a world, in which reality and fantasy were fluent. With a rare gift, he was able to present his utopian plans with such exactitude and clarity, with such fervour and persuasive force as would later come to be useful in rousing whole masses of people. But first it was Gustl Kubizek, who hung on Hitler’s every word and patiently listened to the long-winded monologues of his friend because he was filled with uncritical and undivided admiration. Richard Wagner’s music united the two men. In this context Kubizek portrays a visit to the early Wagner opera “Rienzi” particularly vividly, which deals with the rise and fall of a Roman tribune. Hitler, in his typical manner of relating everything that happens to himself, naturally identifies himself with the main character and, after the performance, drags his friend up a hill as if in a trance. There he revealed to him, in a hoarse and excited voice, that he was chosen by fate “to unite the German Empire and make it great”.¹⁴ Only 33 years later he would acknowledge to Kubizek in person: “That was the moment it began.”¹⁵

9th. Party Conference of the Nazi Party, “Party Conference for Work”, Nuremberg 7th to 13th September 1937. Appeal by political leaders on the Zeppelin field on 10th September. View over the Zeppelin field with Albert Speer’s “cathedral of light”.

The Nuremberg party rallies, gigantic media spectaculars with enormous publicity impact, organised by the Nazi Party, were from then on always¹⁶ to be opened with the overture from “Rienzi”. Hitler, who designated Wagner as “his forerunner”, which without doubt contributed significantly to the misunderstanding of the composer and his voluminous oeuvre, was convinced that the latter was the greatest “prophet” the German people had ever had. Hitler, who saw in Wagner a kind of soulmate, considered politics to be an art form. Convinced at heart that he was an artist, politics to him was less to do with content and more to do with the aesthetics with which this content is mediated. Thus this meant that politics for him also became a means of self-presentation.

In the winter of 1906/07 Klara Hitler became very ill and her son’s nicely ordered world with its comfortable way of life abruptly collapsed. The diagnosis of breast cancer made an immediate operation necessary. A risky procedure in that era. After a stay in hospital and convalescence at home during which she was cared for by her sister Johanna, the hunchback Aunt “Hanni”, at first her condition improved a little, only to deteriorate drastically again in the spring. She concealed her condition from her son as best she could. Every day she would go to see her Jewish family doctor, Dr. Bloch, in order to have her wound seen to. He was moved by her son’s pain and his care. 34 years later in his US exile, he would confide in a reporter: “No one at that time would have had even the slightest inkling that he would become the embodiment of all evil.”¹⁷

Senior Medical Officer Eduard Bloch. Family doctor to the Hitler family, in his surgery at the house at Landstraße 12. Photograph, circa 1930.

The tumour, an ulcer, had eaten into the skin such that the inflamed layers of flesh underneath could be seen. Hidden away in her innards, metastases were completing their destructive work. The changing of the dressings must have caused the patient unbearable pain. She tried to appear brave and refrain from making any noise. Every day the gauze soaked with wound secretion and pus had to be ripped away from the tissue. The iodoform contained in the dressing material, which was supposed to serve as an antiseptic, burned like fire on the skin. An unimaginable torture for both doctor and patient. In the end the morphine administered could scarcely provide any relief.

In November 1907 Adolf Hitler arrived from Vienna in order to look after his mother and his little sister, Paula. As well as his mother’s illness he had to cope with a quite specific setback: his project to become an artist had failed for the time being. Self-confident and more than convinced of his own capabilities, he had set off in September for the Austrian capital with a bundle of drawings in order to apply to the general painting school of the “Akademie der Bildenden Künste” [Academy of Fine Arts]. The admission examination was notorious and feared due to its exacting requirements; with 112 candidates, who shared the same dream, the competition was very great. In the end, out of 112 examination candidates only 28¹⁸ passed. Hitler initially got through the first round but then in the second one failed a test drawing. Upon viewing the works he had submitted, the examiner attested to him that from these “his unsuitability as a painter was obvious” but his “ability evidently lay in the field of architecture.”¹⁹ Thereupon he applied for a place to study at the Academy’s school for architects. A pointless undertaking: Hitler now received the payback for his lackadaisicalness and aimlessness. An important detail was missing for his admission: a valid matriculation certificate.

It was shortly before Christmas on 21 December 1907 at around two o’clock in the morning when Klara Hitler closed her eyes forever. She was only 47 years old.

Hitler described the period between 1907 and 1913 as his “Viennese years of apprenticeship and suffering”. In his work “Mein Kampf” he describes them thus: “I have that time to thank for the fact that I became tough and can be tough. And, more than that, I appreciate them for having torn me away from the hollowness of the comfortable life.”²⁰