The Hitler I Knew: The Memoirs of the Third Reich's Press Chief [Hardcover]

A biography of Hitler by his long-serving press chief and close associate. Up to the last moment, his overwhelming, despotic authority aroused false hopes and deceived his people and his entourage. Only at the end, when I watched the inglorious collapse and the obstinacy of his final downfall, was I able suddenly to fit together the bits of mosaic I had been amassing for twelve years into a complete picture of his opaque and sphinx-like personality. - Otto DietrichWhen Otto Dietrich was invited in 1933 to become Adolf Hitler's press chief, he accepted with the simple, uncritical conviction that Adolf Hitler was a great man, dedicated to promoting peace and the welfare for the German people. At the end of the war, imprisoned and disillusioned, Dietrich sat down to write what he had seen and heard in twelve years of the closest association with Hitler, requesting that it be published after his death.Dietrich's role placed him in a privileged position. He was hired by Hitler in 1933, and was a confidant until 1945, and he worked and clashed with Joseph Goebbels. His direct, personal experience of life at the heart in the Reich makes for compelling reading.A biography of Hitler by his long-serving press chief and close associateFascinating insight into the workings of the Third Reich's propaganda machineRevealing eyewitness account from with Hitler's inner circleIncludes personal analysis of Hitler and his behavior a fascinating picture of the dictator as very few would have seen him& Filled with anecdotes and eyewitness observations, the book is a condemnation of the Third Reich and a searing analysis of Hitlers personality. Hitler was, Dietrich concludes, 'a schizophrenic of unique intensity', whose 'inhuman and insatiable will shattered the edifice of contemporary life.' ....should be given a careful reading by anyone with an interest in the mastermind that launched World War II and took his adoring nation with him into an utter devastation that would take decadel“8