HITLER in VIENNA
THE HIGH AMBITIONS OF AN UNDERDOG
When Klara Hitler died in December 1907, it was a terrible shock for
her son Adolf Hitler. Family doctor Bloch testified that he never met
such a desperate soul in his career. Hitler spent the last weeks of
Klara by her side, tending to her with great care and affection.
Klara was buried on Christmas eve and she was given an expensive
burial. Without doubt, it was a very sad and somber day in Hitler's
life. A few days later in 1908, the 18 year old Hitler left home and his
two sisters, Angela (26) and Paula (13) and went to Vienna to find
some means of survival. The young man is then 18 years old and is
1.74m (5.8inch.) tall, a respectable height for his time. Johannah
Poezl, Klara's hunchback sister, took over the role of housewife.
Once again, Hitler was determined to try his luck at the Academy of
Fine Arts. He even had a letter of recommandation to Pr. Roller,
Director of Scenery at the Imperial Opera, written by Frau Johanna
Motloch in Vienna who was an acquaintance of the housewife of the
place where the Hitler's family now lived, a certain Magdalena
Hanish. Hitler thanked in a letter from February 10th 1908 but he
never used it, probably out of pride or maybe of lack of confidence in
his own ability to persuade the man that he was worth his artistic
ambitions. The same day he applied for orphan's allowance at the
Revenue District Office; the law stipulated that orphans up to the age
of 24 were entitled to receive one half of the maternal widow's
pension, in this case 50 Kr/month, understanding they would attend a
school. It was granted and Hitler left for Vienna, capital of the
Austro-Hungarian empire, with this little pension : he would not see
Paula again until 1921.
| Life with Kubizek He spent the major part of 1908 in Vienna with his friend Kubizek (picture below) who was attending the lessons of the Music Academy, pretending to him that he had made the test in 1907. But as he spent all his time in their common room in Stumpergasse at Mrs. Zakrey's, Kubi eventually asked questions and in an outburst of anger Adolf admitted to the deception and started blaming those "stupids teachers at the Academy." Always good friend, Kubi got over it and they stayed in Vienna until Music School recess : Hitler even started to write the Libretto of an Opera composed by Kubi and unfinished by Wagner in exile in Paris in 1850 : "Wieland der Schmidt" (sic). After some weeks of painful writing, he gave up. At that time, his expenditures in Vienna ran to 80-90 Kr. per month therefore dwindling his savings by 65 Kr./month. |
In July 1908, August Kubizek returned to Linz to his family home
and it is the last time he saw his good friend Adolf. In early October,
Hitler took once more the Art Academy test and once more failed :
the records of the Academy mention "A.HITLER, NOT ADMITTED TO
THE TEST." Undeterred by this failure, Hitler demanded a private
audience with the Director who told him frankly he had apparently
a greater disposition for architecture and advised him to apply to
this section of the Academy.
Hitler was refused to take the Architecture test, not because of his
insufficient talents but simply because he had not graduated from
Oberrealschule and, thus, did not qualified to take the exam. To be
admitted to take the test, candidates had to certify from a course
of construction techniques that was not very difficult but that was
only open to candidates with a Oberrealschule diploma. "All that,
wrote Hitler in Mein Kampf, was lacking in my resume and it then
seemed obvious to me that I could not achieve my dreams."
and it is the last time he saw his good friend Adolf. In early October,
Hitler took once more the Art Academy test and once more failed :
the records of the Academy mention "A.HITLER, NOT ADMITTED TO
THE TEST." Undeterred by this failure, Hitler demanded a private
audience with the Director who told him frankly he had apparently
a greater disposition for architecture and advised him to apply to
this section of the Academy.
Hitler was refused to take the Architecture test, not because of his
insufficient talents but simply because he had not graduated from
Oberrealschule and, thus, did not qualified to take the exam. To be
admitted to take the test, candidates had to certify from a course
of construction techniques that was not very difficult but that was
only open to candidates with a Oberrealschule diploma. "All that,
wrote Hitler in Mein Kampf, was lacking in my resume and it then
seemed obvious to me that I could not achieve my dreams."
| " Nothing in Austria without letters of introduction" Curiously enough, Hitler never made use of a letter of recommendation from a Frau Johanna Motloch who introduced him to one of Vienna's best known stage designers, Alfred Roller. On February 6, 1908, Roller answered personally to his friend Johannah Motloch pointing out that "Young Hitler can meet me every day in my office at.... Should I happen not to be in the office, the servant will call me by phone...." Hitler never met Roller. He went as far as replying a long letter of thanks to Frau Motloch but he never dared to knock at the door of Roller. Did he fear at the last minute he would not impress enough the stage designer ? Years later he would comment: "One got absolutely nothing in Austria without letters of introduction." A lie. He did not try. His rejection was the sanction of his usual truancy from school in Linz and Steyr and his tendency to reject both the school system and serious studies. Everything has a price and Hitler paid dearly for these facts: his main problem was that he always refused to play by the rules. In consequence, his failure to be admitted to the Academy struck him "like the lightening." Furthermore, it put him in the position of being labeled a misfit, a maverick, and, in a word, an outcast. Maybe, in the end, it is this image of himself that Hitler preferred to nourrish : an outcast. In 1934, on Hitler's recommandation, Alfred Roller staged "Persifal" in Bayreuth, Strauss conducting. Hitler sat next to roller and told him the story of his turn-around. When his friend Kubizek came back from his vacations in Linz, Hitler had left the pension without a word for his pal, incapable to face the music and to tell him he had once more failed the test. He never saw his good friend until 1938. Kubizek continued his studies : he graduated in 1912 and was hired as second conductor at the city theater at Marburg-on-the-Drau. He was geared towards a great career but during WW1 he contracted a serious disease infection and his good health was almost ruined : after the war, he became a private tutor and municipal secretary in Eferding near Linz. He never became the great conductor he had longed for. In April 1938, he met again with Hitler in Linz and the Fuehrer helped him to finance his sons' education ; he was asked by Martin Bormann to write his souvenirs of his life with the Fuhrer. He produced some 150 pages called "Reminiscences" that were not published and were stucked in the NSDAP's archives. In 1940, they met again in Bayreuth and in 1942 he became director of propaganda and regional manager of the "Kraft durch Freude" program of Robert Ley. After WW2, he was kept in jail during 17 months by the Allies -because of this late appointment- was released and in 1953 published a very much edited version of the NSDAP draft called in its German version "Adolf Hitler, friend of my youth" (1). |
It was a huge success but the book was later attacked by critics and
other authors as "inexact and biaised", notably by an ex-priest
named Franz Jetzinger who had worked with Kubizek earlier. In
1956, Jetzinger published a second hand account of Hitler's life in
Vienna but was jealous of the success of Kubizek's version and did
his best to discredit it : he claimed that Kubizek's book was full of
false statements and a glorification of Hitler. Unfortunately, the
historians believed Jetzinger and distrusted Kubizek's account.
Kubizek died the same year and could not defend himself. Actually,
even notably edited, his records of Hitler's life in Vienna are quite
accurate and credible. Poor Kubizek was a very nice friend but not
very lucky as a person. It is the Jetzinger's version that launched the
fiction of Hitler's indifference during the terminal illness of his
mother : it is a pure lie that has been passed down generations for
decades.
In November 1908, Hitler left Stumpergasse and took a lodging in #22
Felberstrasse at Frau Helene riedl with enough money to live one
year. He had borrowed some 500 KR from his aunt, the hunchback
Johannah, and he stayed there until August 1909 when he moved to
#58 Sechstrauserstrasse with Frau Antonia Oberlechner when most
of his savings were gone : he had just his 25 Kr. monthly pension to
live on.
At that time, the income of a district doctor was about 2500 Kr/year
minus an income tax of 36 Kr. Later in 1911 as he was making a sort
of regular income with his paintings, he had to relinquish it because
his half-sister Angela demonstrated in Court that she was in charge
of their younger sister Paula and she should have that money. One
month later, he was broke and he went through the worst moments
of his miserable life in Vienna. In 1910, he joined the legions of the
poor. Hitler found a job as a painter on construction sites but he
rapidly grew weary of the duress of the work and fell out with his
colleagues, who were not impressed by his long speeches, his
tirades against the Communists and his hatred for the
Social-Democrat policies which he said were "duperies of the
people."
other authors as "inexact and biaised", notably by an ex-priest
named Franz Jetzinger who had worked with Kubizek earlier. In
1956, Jetzinger published a second hand account of Hitler's life in
Vienna but was jealous of the success of Kubizek's version and did
his best to discredit it : he claimed that Kubizek's book was full of
false statements and a glorification of Hitler. Unfortunately, the
historians believed Jetzinger and distrusted Kubizek's account.
Kubizek died the same year and could not defend himself. Actually,
even notably edited, his records of Hitler's life in Vienna are quite
accurate and credible. Poor Kubizek was a very nice friend but not
very lucky as a person. It is the Jetzinger's version that launched the
fiction of Hitler's indifference during the terminal illness of his
mother : it is a pure lie that has been passed down generations for
decades.
In November 1908, Hitler left Stumpergasse and took a lodging in #22
Felberstrasse at Frau Helene riedl with enough money to live one
year. He had borrowed some 500 KR from his aunt, the hunchback
Johannah, and he stayed there until August 1909 when he moved to
#58 Sechstrauserstrasse with Frau Antonia Oberlechner when most
of his savings were gone : he had just his 25 Kr. monthly pension to
live on.
At that time, the income of a district doctor was about 2500 Kr/year
minus an income tax of 36 Kr. Later in 1911 as he was making a sort
of regular income with his paintings, he had to relinquish it because
his half-sister Angela demonstrated in Court that she was in charge
of their younger sister Paula and she should have that money. One
month later, he was broke and he went through the worst moments
of his miserable life in Vienna. In 1910, he joined the legions of the
poor. Hitler found a job as a painter on construction sites but he
rapidly grew weary of the duress of the work and fell out with his
colleagues, who were not impressed by his long speeches, his
tirades against the Communists and his hatred for the
Social-Democrat policies which he said were "duperies of the
people."
Arrogant vociferations and political tirades
Most of his colleagues were convinced Socialists, unionists or members of the Party, they had
better political training and understanding than Hitler, and they had no difficulty making him shut
his mouth or making fun of him. Hitler could not stand to be derided like this. He was totally
unprepared to deal with the realities of the working world, the perils of dangerous scaffoldings,
the brutal simplicity of the Marxist doctrine and the rude fraternity of the working classes. Even
rejected by the Visual Arts, he still looked at himself as a great artist and he felt a total stranger
to this world, even if he had started to develop a social conscience that would later bring him to
create a National-Socialist party (NSDAP).
Eventually Hitler irritated so much his colleagues on the sites that they threatened to push him
down the scaffoldings if he did not stop bothering them with his arrogant vociferations and his
political tirades. Furthermore his refusal to join the union cut him off from the last sympathizers:
it was the end of Hitler the bricklayer and the beginning of Hitler the thinker, a pompous
autodidact full of prejudices, keen on socio-political rantings that will one day become the Nazi
doctrines; "this is a new philosophical conception of the world", as Hitler wrote without modesty
or complex in Mein Kampf.
Most of his colleagues were convinced Socialists, unionists or members of the Party, they had
better political training and understanding than Hitler, and they had no difficulty making him shut
his mouth or making fun of him. Hitler could not stand to be derided like this. He was totally
unprepared to deal with the realities of the working world, the perils of dangerous scaffoldings,
the brutal simplicity of the Marxist doctrine and the rude fraternity of the working classes. Even
rejected by the Visual Arts, he still looked at himself as a great artist and he felt a total stranger
to this world, even if he had started to develop a social conscience that would later bring him to
create a National-Socialist party (NSDAP).
Eventually Hitler irritated so much his colleagues on the sites that they threatened to push him
down the scaffoldings if he did not stop bothering them with his arrogant vociferations and his
political tirades. Furthermore his refusal to join the union cut him off from the last sympathizers:
it was the end of Hitler the bricklayer and the beginning of Hitler the thinker, a pompous
autodidact full of prejudices, keen on socio-political rantings that will one day become the Nazi
doctrines; "this is a new philosophical conception of the world", as Hitler wrote without modesty
or complex in Mein Kampf.
| In her book, "Hitler's Vienna", Brigitte Hamman denied the likeliness of this bricklayer episode. She argues that no sensible foreman would have hired a frail guy like Hitler for jobs which were exhausting and required heavily built young men and she thinks the whole narration of his house painter's experience in Vienna in Mein Kampf is a myth forged by Hitler himself. I doubt it and there is no reason not to believe Hitler had a short and unsuccessful time as a brickalyer or a house painter. The job does not particularly required athletes. Anyway, the months that followed were extremely difficult; Hitler lived the existence of a Viennese bum, experienced the joys of begging for food and shelter. He was at a total loss, did not know whom to turn to nor where to go or what to do with himself. He wandered from one boarding house to another, from a shabby bar to a political meeting like a desolate soul. Hitler had no plan, no project, and no future. He did not even dare to have a hope to recover from his misery. |
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Calling on Kathie
He lived in the streets for some time before drifting to a homeless
shelter in Meidling (picture) , a nite asylum for destitute people
that opened in 1908 : Meidling, as it was known, was run by the
Shelter Association for the Homeless, almost exclusively financed
by private donations and supported by the Social-Democrats. It
had a very successful job-placement program. In 1909 when Hitler
got there, the city annual subsidies were cut from 50,000 Kr. to
30,000 Kr. in spite of the vehement protests of Der ArbeiterZeitung.
At that time in Vienna, the minimum taxable annual income was
1200 Kr.
With no money to buy cheap food at Meidling, Hitler very often had
"to call on Kathie", the Superior of a nearby Convent that was
giving away warm soup to indigents. In this desolate place, Adolf
met a bum called Reinhold Hanish who lived there under the name
of Fritz Walter and had spent 3 months in jail in 1907 in Berlin for
theft and 6 months in 1908 for forgery. But he was good at
convincing Hitler to sell his painting talents when Hitler introduced
himself as an "artist". Contrary to a very widespread opinion,
Hanish was not Jewish but Christian and rather anti-semite
himself. Hitler once more borrowed money (50 Kr.) from his aunt
Johannah to buy some painting material from a public pawn shop
called the Dorotheum and started the business of copying
postcards and offering them to Art galleries generally run by Jews.
On average, Hanish got 5 to 10 Kr. for each painting from the
dealers that he split with Adolf. In February 1910, the business was
doing so well that both of them moved to a better night asylum in
Brittgenau called Mannerheim that could lodge 500 men and
where the pension costed only 1/2 Kr per day.
He lived in the streets for some time before drifting to a homeless
shelter in Meidling (picture) , a nite asylum for destitute people
that opened in 1908 : Meidling, as it was known, was run by the
Shelter Association for the Homeless, almost exclusively financed
by private donations and supported by the Social-Democrats. It
had a very successful job-placement program. In 1909 when Hitler
got there, the city annual subsidies were cut from 50,000 Kr. to
30,000 Kr. in spite of the vehement protests of Der ArbeiterZeitung.
At that time in Vienna, the minimum taxable annual income was
1200 Kr.
With no money to buy cheap food at Meidling, Hitler very often had
"to call on Kathie", the Superior of a nearby Convent that was
giving away warm soup to indigents. In this desolate place, Adolf
met a bum called Reinhold Hanish who lived there under the name
of Fritz Walter and had spent 3 months in jail in 1907 in Berlin for
theft and 6 months in 1908 for forgery. But he was good at
convincing Hitler to sell his painting talents when Hitler introduced
himself as an "artist". Contrary to a very widespread opinion,
Hanish was not Jewish but Christian and rather anti-semite
himself. Hitler once more borrowed money (50 Kr.) from his aunt
Johannah to buy some painting material from a public pawn shop
called the Dorotheum and started the business of copying
postcards and offering them to Art galleries generally run by Jews.
On average, Hanish got 5 to 10 Kr. for each painting from the
dealers that he split with Adolf. In February 1910, the business was
doing so well that both of them moved to a better night asylum in
Brittgenau called Mannerheim that could lodge 500 men and
where the pension costed only 1/2 Kr per day.
Hitler's looks improved and he started to grow whiskers that made him resemble South Afrikaner
Paul Kruger to the point that it became his nickname. Until 1914, Hitler was going to lead that sort of
misfit life: five long years of wandering, vain weak attempts to make a name for himself, troubles
with the police and the justice; solitude will be his daily bread. These troubling traits will shape the
character of the future Chancellor of the Third Reich who will become the Terror of the XXth century.
Contrary to misconceptions about his life in Vienna, Hitler tried to make a living from his paintings,
but lacking the wild committment of real artists. Hitler once pretended to have painted or drawn over
a thousand watercolors, sketches or posters during those years. He even tried scientific and
architectural drawing, opera composing and writing. Most of his works are currently owned by the
US Government and stored in Washington: the US Federal Government refused a restitution demand
by Federal Germany due to pressure from Jewish associations.
| Degenerated capitalist bourgeoisie and parasitic Jewry Refused by the establishment of the Fine Arts, Hitler resented his failure as a sign of the mediocrity of the ruling classes and not of his own talents. He spent most of those five years in Vienna reading in the numerous elegant bars of the capital: a very fast reader gifted with a fantastic memory, Hitler was a reading sponge capable to assimilate more or less intelligently anything: newspapers, political essays, biographies, and tracts. He actually had the attitude of a starving autodidact and it is during this period of his life that Hitler put into place his ideas of a new and different world order. The most influential of his readings seemed to have been a maverick and esoteric magazine called OSTARA that promoted racial doctrine, the primacy of Aryan people vs. ape people, provided a cosmic system for the solution of every human problems and was published by a nut named Lanz von Liebenfels. When he moved to Mannerheim (right) Hitler took from the shop of Lanz a complete collection of 50 copies of the magazine. Influenced by publications like this, Hitler's vision of a different world will thus became that of a pan-Germany world without Austria and a purged Vienna, this modern Sodom and Gomorrha, where (he thought) a degenerated capitalist bourgeoisie was frolicking with a parasitic Jewry in a disgusting and continuous orgasm of pleasures, corruptions and wastes. However Hitler (who was no stranger to deep contradictions), spent long hours at the concert or at the opera. His favorites were Wagner's "Master Singers" and "Lohengrin", which he saw ten times and whose libretto he knew by heart. He had a penchant for Mozart but loathed the frivolous French Gounod and Italian Verdi, symbols of Latin amorality, as he would later state. Nevertheless, he appreciated the Jews Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler (Mahler was christened a Catholic but was from Jewish background) and held in high esteem the Jewish apostate and poet Heinrich Heine. Brigitte Hamann, a scholar who has written the most authoritative study of Hitler’s early years in Vienna (2), tells that the conductor at the time (1906) where Hitler was listening to Wagner's operas was Gustav Mahler, the charismatic Jewish emperor of musical Vienna (3). Therefore, Hitler saw in front of him, on one of his first nights in Vienna, Mahler whom, according to Kubizek, he loved, respected and admired. |
| An indecisive young man In many respects his entourage considered Hitler as an indecisive young man, not prone to continuous efforts and notably frustrated in his ambitions. Some of his colleagues used to say that he was not reading to learn something but exclusively to justify ideas, prejudices or pre-conceptions. He was not analyzing, they said, he was taking from the material what he was already predisposed to know to justify his own ideas. Hitler never bothered to serious reading : he developed his method of appropriating knowledge and his "Weltanschauung" (own vision of the world) by memorizing other sources verbatim and internalizing them as his own opinions. Christa Schroder, one of his private secretaries during the war, said in her Memoirs that she indentified once "a downright philosophical teatise " by Hitler as a mere "rendition of a page of Schopenhauer". In doing this, he was preparing himself to base his judgments exclusively on irrational and effective factors and to wrap the whole in a false appearance of intellectual argumentation. One night in Mannerheim, one of the lodgers interrupted one of his tirades to tell him he was "a reactionary swine." But on average he was respected by those uneducated men who did not even had a first grade in a Realschule, appreciated his good manners, his reserve and were impressed by his aloofness. Hitler had violent outbursts of anger when he was contradicted or unnerved by a political comment but the rest of the time he was generally calm and polite. However Hitler was not taken seriously by his comrades at the Mannerheim as a little incident showed : one evening, he was talking about Schopenhauer, and an old gentleman that the inmates called the professor asked Hitler if he had ever read Schopenhauer. Hitler turned crimson and said that he had read some. The old gentleman said that he should speak about things that he understood. After that Hitler was careful not to talk where he would suffer a fresh rebuke. The association with Hanish was successful for some time and Hanish honored his promises but he rapidly grew weary of Hitler's pathological laziness: as soon as a big order was delivered, Hitler stopped working hard and laid on his bed, reading or ranting for days or getting involved in Politics. Furthermore Hanish grew leary of Hitler : "Once I told him, he wrote in his "Memoirs" published before the war, to Hitler's great dismay, that he was no artist. The sort of work he did wasn't the work of artists but of daubers. He could never stand any criticism of his paintings." Once Hitler painted a picture of sea surf, with some rocks, and handed it to Hanish telling to take it to Mr. Ebedeser on the Opernring. Mr. Ebedeser only said, "That's nothing, absolutely nothing." Then Hanish often went with Hitler to the City Hall Museum and showed him watercolors that he might use as models. Hitler picked out those of lesser quality and remarked that they were no better than his. So Hanish told him that he must not take the worst examples but look at something by Richard Moser or by Rudolf von Alt. He pointed out the easy manner of this painting and compared the heavy way Hitler's turned out. Hitler wouldn't listen to that. |
Hanish wondered whether Hitler was not a Jew
At this period, Hitler was not yet an overt anti-semitic ; many of his
friends or acquaintances were Jewish and he even painted a
postcard for Dr. Bloch on the back of which he showed his
gratitude for the concern and the care given to his dear mother.
Hanish even wondered whether Hitler was not a Jew himself
because "his beard was very bushy and his feet as wide as those
of the wandering Jews in the desert." According to Hanish's "I was
Hitler's Buddy" published before the war, Hitler was then far from
being anti-semite : he appreciated the Jewish art dealers much
more than the Christian dealers, like the frame manufacturer
Schiefer in the Schumlenbrunnerstrasse, who didn't pay any better
than the Jews. Besides, they only bought again when they had
disposed of the first lot, while the Jewish dealers continued to buy
whether they had sold anything or not.
Hitler often said that it was only with the Jews that one could do
business, because only they were willing to take chances. They
were really the most efficient business men. He also appreciated
the charitable spirit of the Jews, and mentioned the statesman
Sonnenfels during Maria Theresa's reign. He went even further. For
instance, when the people in the asylum expressed resentment at
Queen Elizabeth's erecting a monument to Heine on her estate at
Corfu, Hitler argued that it was sad that Heine's fatherland did not
similarly recognize his merit. Hitler himself didn't agree with
Heine's views but his poetry deserved respect.
At this period, Hitler was not yet an overt anti-semitic ; many of his
friends or acquaintances were Jewish and he even painted a
postcard for Dr. Bloch on the back of which he showed his
gratitude for the concern and the care given to his dear mother.
Hanish even wondered whether Hitler was not a Jew himself
because "his beard was very bushy and his feet as wide as those
of the wandering Jews in the desert." According to Hanish's "I was
Hitler's Buddy" published before the war, Hitler was then far from
being anti-semite : he appreciated the Jewish art dealers much
more than the Christian dealers, like the frame manufacturer
Schiefer in the Schumlenbrunnerstrasse, who didn't pay any better
than the Jews. Besides, they only bought again when they had
disposed of the first lot, while the Jewish dealers continued to buy
whether they had sold anything or not.
Hitler often said that it was only with the Jews that one could do
business, because only they were willing to take chances. They
were really the most efficient business men. He also appreciated
the charitable spirit of the Jews, and mentioned the statesman
Sonnenfels during Maria Theresa's reign. He went even further. For
instance, when the people in the asylum expressed resentment at
Queen Elizabeth's erecting a monument to Heine on her estate at
Corfu, Hitler argued that it was sad that Heine's fatherland did not
similarly recognize his merit. Hitler himself didn't agree with
Heine's views but his poetry deserved respect.
| Finally, the partnership with Hanish lasted a few months and ended in bitter acrimony : Hitler sued his ex-partner and testified against him in Court. Hanish was jailed for some days not because of any fraud but because he had lied about his real identity and registered to the Viennese police under a false name. In the 30s, Hanish became a celebrity giving interviews about his life with Hitler and selling fake paintings by Hitler that he will prudently sign " A.H." instead of A.Hitler. In July 1933, he was jailed for forgery for a few days and in August he gave an interview to the "Wiener Sonn und Montagszeitung" describing Hitler as a bum in Vienna. It was Hanish -who hated Hitler since 1909 when he was jailed for a few days because of Hitler testimony in a fight about the proceeds of one of Hitler's paintings- who revealed to the public that the Fuehrer had lived for years in the men's hostel in Vienna. Hanish spoke also to the writer Rudolf Olden who published in 1935 the first biography of Hitler in Amsterdam. It was he too who told the journalist Konrad Heiden that der Fuehrer failed twice the exam to the School of Visual Art, thus considerably impairing Hitler's repute and aura. In 1936, Hanish was once more arrested and jailed in the Vienna County Court where he died on February 4th 1937 alledgedly of heart failure. In 1939, the american New Republic published a posthumous "I was Hitler's buddy" where Hitler is depicted as a liar, a cheater and resentful associate. Actually, it seems that Hanish - who was not Jewish- turned out to be jealous of another patron at Mannerheim, a Jew called Josef Neumann, 11 years older than Hitler, who had a greater influence upon Hitler and would also sell some Hitler's paintings. Neumann left the hostel in July 1910. |
Von Schönerer went as far as to propose a segregationist law
against the Jews based on the model of North American
"Legislation against the Negroes". He was the first Austrian to
advocate "anschluss" (union) of the two german states into one
German Reich. He hated the cosmopolitan Hapsburg and as soon as
1885 he had proclaimed anti-semitism "the pillar of a true folkish
mentality and thus the greatest achievement of this century." Hitler
adopted most of his ideas but prudently in the 1920s took some
distance with his anti-catholic views to focus on a campaign against
the Jews.
against the Jews based on the model of North American
"Legislation against the Negroes". He was the first Austrian to
advocate "anschluss" (union) of the two german states into one
German Reich. He hated the cosmopolitan Hapsburg and as soon as
1885 he had proclaimed anti-semitism "the pillar of a true folkish
mentality and thus the greatest achievement of this century." Hitler
adopted most of his ideas but prudently in the 1920s took some
distance with his anti-catholic views to focus on a campaign against
the Jews.
| Enjoying the life in Mannerheim After his parting with Hanish, Hitler pursued his business on his own, happy not to have to split anymore the proceeds of his trade with Hanish. He eventually enjoyed his stay at Mannerheim where he was considered as an old timer and could read and paint from the reading room without to worry about the bad Viennese weather. At the same time he started to develop a sort of social conscience through his assiduity in attending political meetings, notably those held by two notorious anti-semitic speakers, the aristocrat MP Georg von Schöenerer who spread the seeds of a violent anti-semitism in Austria and the Catholic mayor of Vienna Karl Lueger ,founder of the Christian Social Party, pioneer of a socialist policy for Vienna and a violent anti-Marxist. |
| Although politically arch-enemies, both men, Schönerer and Lueger, were young Hitler's first idols which indicates for Hitler a good degree of political independence. In 1908 when Hitler arrived in Vienna, Schönerer is politically dead but his ideas and views still have a lot of followers. Lueger who hated the pan-German movement and was faithful to the Dual Monarchy attracted Hitler for his anti-semitism and his talents of administrator. Hitler admired him : he even attended Lueger's funerals in 1911 whom he described as "the greatest German mayor of all times." The death of Lueger dragged Hitler in politics although he was not yet, in 1911, openly anti-semitic but rather a pan-Germanist. In "Mein Kampf", Hitler took some distance with Lueger whom he found not racist or radical enough :"Lacking was the conviction that this was a vital question for all humanity with the fate of all non-jewish people depending on its solution." Actually, even Schönerer lost in the early 1900s some of his lustre and Hitler took his distances with his hysterical and almost terrorist Alldeutsches Partei (Pan-German Party) whom he judged not Germanic enough. However both men had a strong influence upon Hitler. As for Lueger, in a country beset by ethnic rivalries, unemployment, inflation, a paralysed Parliament and a "blundering along" monarch, the mayor of Vienna -who was brilliant, handsome, energetic and a great achiever- shone so brightly that the rest of the political life looked gloomy and void. Hitler was extremely fond of Lueger and wrote in Mein Kampf "Vienna was the heart of the monarchy ; from this city, the last flush of life flowed out into the sickly, old body of the crumbling empire." A sexual pervert indifferent to women Far away from politics, viennese police archives of 1910 classified Hitler as a sexual pervert without elaborating or giving any evidence. Given the methods of the police at the turn of the century, this mention does not mean anything: however it might be an innuendo or a reference to Hitler's favorite sexual practice, voyeurism, because the rest of his life reveals such a penchant. Hitler often complained to have then led the life of an underdog but he never gave more information about his whereabouts and his shenanigans. Once he left the Mannerheim with his Jewish friend Josef Neumann to come back some days later without any comments : questioned by Hanish, he refused to provide any details about their escapade . One thing is sure, if Hitler did not enjoy Vienna's night life, he read a lot: gifted with a phenomenal memory and able to laser read 5 lines at one time, he accumulated knowledge and references, notably thanks to a certain Ernst Pretzche, in whose bookshop the future Fuhrer found a second home and where he discovered the esoteric magazine OSTARA published by the fanatical anti-Semite Georg von Liebenfels and a lot of other racist and pan-german publications. In any case, one thing is sure: the poverty in which Hitler lived from 1910 to 1913 was not the best way to become a successful artist or a local don Juan. His friend August Kubizek with whom he shared a lodging in 1908 during his first year in Vienna wrote in The young Hitler I knew that Hitler pleased older women and used to received "billet gallants" (invitations to love) from older women when they were at the Opera or in a Cafe but Hitler always turned them down or ignored their invitations. |
Escape to Munich
Finally in November 1912, according to Bridget Hitler's dubious
"Memoirs", wanted by the police, upset with "incestuous
Vienna and decadent Austria" which had ignored his ambitions
and despised his talents, Hitler left the Mannerheim pension
and Vienna for good and he suddently appeared in Liverpool in
place of Leo Raubal and his wife Angela, Alois Jr.'s sister, who
were expected by the Hitlers to discuss a new commercial
venture (4): he would have stayed there 4 or 5 months,
haunting the docks. A completely bogus story.
Finally in November 1912, according to Bridget Hitler's dubious
"Memoirs", wanted by the police, upset with "incestuous
Vienna and decadent Austria" which had ignored his ambitions
and despised his talents, Hitler left the Mannerheim pension
and Vienna for good and he suddently appeared in Liverpool in
place of Leo Raubal and his wife Angela, Alois Jr.'s sister, who
were expected by the Hitlers to discuss a new commercial
venture (4): he would have stayed there 4 or 5 months,
haunting the docks. A completely bogus story.
| In fact, Hitler never made it to Liverpool but stayed at Mannerheim until May 1913. He had met in February another young lodger called Rudolf Hausler, four years his cadet who has been thrown out of paternal roof for some prank at school. Hitler developed a friendship with this younger fellow and in May he convinced him to leave for Munich after the Austrian District Court decreed that the paternal inheritance be disbursed to the "artist" Adolf Hitler in Vienna. The money amounted to some 819 Kr and 98 Heller, a huge sum for the time. On May 24, 1913, Hitler and his new pal noticed the police they were moving and shared a room at 34 Schleissheimer Strasse at a Mr and Mrs Popp, tailor. They registered with the police but Hitler falsely stated he had no nationality. The stay in Munich was not easy and both men had difficult days. Furthermore, Rudolf was not the easy-going guy ready like Kubizez to listen all night to the rantings of his friend and Hitler resented it. Eventually, the Austrian police caught up with him and he had to go back to Salzburg for a medical exam prior to draft. On February 15, 1914 he was finally exempted from military service. The same day, Rudolf took a room of his own. He continued however to sell Hitler's paintings and got by doing odd jobs. He never wrote anything about his friendship with der Fuhrer. Both men lived in Munich until the declaration of War in 1914 not too successful in their trade making no significant breakthrough. Munich's art market was smaller than Vienne's and was already influenced by the likes of Kandinsky whom Hitler immediately disliked. However as Hitler learned the in-and-outs of the Munich art business, his paintings began bringing in 10 to 25 marks apiece and he sold all he could paint. Since a bank clerk of his age made about 70 marks a month while many metal workers, with families to provide for, made less than 100 marks a month, his living as an artist was bearable but success was not there. Eventually it was quite a relief to him that War broke out in August 1914 and he fell on his knees to welcome the forthcoming massacre, an attitude that does not vindicate his clairvoyance and his analytical capacities but well in the Viennese Zeitgeist (spirit of the time). However he had accumulated during his Viennese years a sort of pseudo-intellectual baggage that he will describe later in Mein Kampf as "an image of the world and a vision of life that will be the granite foundation to build my actions upon." (sic) It actually was a sad and meager baggage for a 24 years old man who has achieved so far nothing in his life but he was not ashamed to call that his "Weltauschuung". Great leaders have no small shames. In conclusion, an anecdote that tells all. During his short-lived partnership with Hanish, Hitler came out one summer day with the curious idea to sell to the galleries in Vienna an anti-freeze gel whose properties were to prevent windows to block during winter time. To Hanish who objected that nobody would buy a gel like this in July, Hitler responded that "in this case, one needs to display some oratory talent." As soon as 1910, Hitler the demagogue was boring his way under Hitler the failed artist. In 1919, a vainquished and humiliated Germany -on the soil of which no allied soldiers ever put their feet- will offer the demagogue-artist the springboard he has been expecting for so many years and propel him towards a future of madness, hatred and destruction. |
| (1) In the English version, "The Young Hitler I knew", Houghton-Mifflin 1955. (2) Hitler's Vienna. A dictator's Apprenticeship, Oxford. 1999 (3) According to Alex Ross of The New York Times, Hamann could not in her book provide the name of Mahler because "she did not bother to ask the company" which of course he did. Deprecating Mr. Ross should better read Mrs Hamann's book (or maybe read it) because everything about Mahler is mentioned in it including the day when Mahler conducted a performance of "Tristan" that Hitler certainly attended. The arrogance of those NY Times critics is sometimes unbearable (4) Bridget Hitler wrote in her unfinished "Memoirs" published in 1979 by Duckworth (Dallas) that Hitler stayed with them in Liverpool in 1912-13. However historians have always refused to consider her testimony as a reliable source. They generally branded it as false, made up and inflated and they pointed out that Hitler never mentioned to anybody his stay in England. Bridget pretended in her manuscript that Alois Hitler had paid the travel expenses from Austria to Liverpool to the Raubals to discuss a new commercial venture in the safety razors business. They were expecting the Raubals in november 1912 and what was their surprise when they welcomed at the Liverpool Station Adolf Hitler himself in lieu de Leo and Angela Raubal. The authenticity of Hitler's coming to England has always been refuted by historians. Some say that Hitler never mentioned his stay in England to anybody. In fact, he was then dodging the draft and it is remotely possible that he had found that way out to avoid being drafted in the army of a nation he hated. But there is an other reason to believe that Mrs Alois Hitler totally made up this episode of Hitler's life : Leo Raubal could not have planned to come to Liverpool in november 1912 for the good reason that he had passed away in 1910. It is higly probable that the Alois Jr. Hitlers never saw the shadow of Adolf in Liverpool. |
| Klara died of cancer in December 1907 aged 47, a very sad time for Adolf. Her grave and her husband's are in Leonding, Austria. Her teenaged children, Adolf and Paula, were at her side. |
Klara Hitler 1860-1907
| Even after WW2 Kubizek remained the best of all friends and never talked down his friend Adolf or their ancient friendship. |
| Alfred Roller, Vienna's most famous stage designer, used to work with Gustav Mahler, and would have gladly received Hitler, had the young man dared to knock at his door |
| Hitler alledged family house in Linz, Austria |
Hitler in Vienna, self portrait
| Those watercolours are the ones that Hitler painted most while he was in his early years in Vienna. They are generally inspired by postcards and do not reveal a huge talent. With the years Hitler will improve his drawing and his sense of colour will get better but still the poverty of what he represents is blatant. |
| Mannerheim was a boarding house where Hitler stayed more or less permanently between 1909 and 1913. This is a recent picture but the floor plan of the rooms was the same in the 1900's. Patrons could enjoy a private bedroom and a hot meal at night but they had to leave their room in the morning as they were supposed to have a job. It was located at 27 Meldemannstrasse and opened in 1905. IT was a model pension financed mainly by Emperor Franz Josef charity fund and subsidies from Nathaniel Rothschild and the Gutmann family. It could accomodate 544 guests, had excellent hygienic conditions and the rent for one sleeping place was 2,5 Kr./week, an amount that a single handiman or craftsman with an annual income of 1,000 Kronen could afford. There were 16 showers and 4 bathtubs, one bath costed 5 Heller and it had a house doctor. The guests were predominantly laborers and handimen (70%) and 70% also were under 35 years old while 45% were from Lower Austria or Vienna. Women were not admitted even for a visit. |
| The memory of his father's refusal to let him pursue art studies will haunt Hitler all his life. |
| Even when he did not have any money Hitler managed to attend Wagner's Operas in Vienna. He saw Lohengrin at least ten times and was never tired of it. Later he will become a fanatic supporter of Wagner's widow, the English born Winifred. |
| Hitler was a born comedian and he did not take much to make of him a very good actor and orator. Entranced by Wagner's operas as a bum in Vienna, once a politician he was carried away by his own speeches and could literally be drugged by his own vociferations |
Hitler's watercolours are not all bad or mediocre,
however the best ones represent houses or castles
as Hitler had undeniably an eye for architectural
forms. But his talent for composition, colours and
innovation has still to be demonstrated.
however the best ones represent houses or castles
as Hitler had undeniably an eye for architectural
forms. But his talent for composition, colours and
innovation has still to be demonstrated.
| In 1912 he failed to show up for the third time at the medical examination prior to military draft and he was wanted by the police to answer to an accusation of theft and he was technically and legally a deserter. During those years he seems to have had no love affairs, nor homosexual habits even if some historians pretend the contrary. Hitler used to sleep from 1910 to 1913 in night asylums where a bunch of young and impoverished men used to indulge into homosexuality but it does not make him a gay. If Hitler allowed himself into some homosexual intercourses during these years, nobody has ever come out from the closet to tell us. It is better to assume that Hitler stuck to his idea that "pederasty was against nature." |
As explained in the chapter "Hitler's artistic
drive", Hitler was fascinated by
greco-roman architecture that was the
canon of architectural beauty. Nothing
could change his mind.
drive", Hitler was fascinated by
greco-roman architecture that was the
canon of architectural beauty. Nothing
could change his mind.
| The aristocrat MP Georg von Schöenerer spread the seeds of a violent anti-semitism in Austria |
| Hitler admirer Luger, mayor of Vienna who was a rabid anti-semite and he even attended Luger's funeral in 1911. |
Rudolf Häusler, born in 1893,
was student in pharmacy
when he came to Mannerheim
in February 1913. Hitler took
him under his protection and
rapidly convinced him to
leave Vienna for Munich.
Both left the men's hostel in
May 1913 for Münich but
Häusler was no Kubizek and
the association did not last
long.
was student in pharmacy
when he came to Mannerheim
in February 1913. Hitler took
him under his protection and
rapidly convinced him to
leave Vienna for Munich.
Both left the men's hostel in
May 1913 for Münich but
Häusler was no Kubizek and
the association did not last
long.
A Richard Wagner fanatic
under the music of anti-semitic politicians
under the music of anti-semitic politicians
