The War Lord! The Manipulator!

Hitler is described as a war lord- therefore, if I’m thinking about why Hitler was such an effective dictator- one major reason was his war-lord powers to think ahead and destroy the enemy with no room for remorse. During World War II, Hitler as a human being disappeared, and he solely embodied “the historic figure of the Führer” (Hitler: A Study In Tyranny, 563). This historic figure is larger than life- Hitler became a man that no one questioned. They didn’t question his motivations, his decisions, or even his horrible actions- they respected him and followed him for as long as they could. If you remember, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia had a pact- but Hitler never had any intention of keeping that pact. Hitler was very diplomatic (or manipulative) though- so it never looked like Hitler was the one backing out of the engagement: “By no treaty or pact,’ Hitler wrote, ‘can a lasting neutrality of Soviet Russia be insure with safety. At present all reasons speak against Russia’s departure from this state of neutrality. In eight months, one year, or several years this may be altered” (564). Basically, Hitler makes it seem that it is Soviet Russia that will back out of the agreement and therefore they must strike soon!
MANIPULATOR- that’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Hitler uses his words and his control over art and propaganda to manipulate his country and his people into doing things that they never imagined they would take part in. Hitler manipulated his country through propaganda. For Hitler, art “was linked with the country life, with health, and with the Aryan race. "We shall discover and encourage the artists who are able to impress upon the State of the German people the cultural stamp of the Germanic race . . . in their origin and in the picture which they present they are the expressions of the soul and the ideals of the community." (Hitler, Party Day speech, 1935; in Adam, 1992).” All of the art glorified the soldiers, Hitler himself, the German citizens, and Hitler’s ideals. “The painters used their art to depict Hitler as the healing element that would cure the country's ills. They also painted the common "Volk" (folk) in everyday settings. The art of this racially pure country was to overcome differences in class and mold all of the people into one ideal. When not painting pastoral scenes or glorifying the war, the artists would turn their paint brushes against the Jew, depicting him as inhuman and inferior.” For example- anti-Semitic artwork.