The Women Who Knew Hitler: The Private Life of Adolf Hitler by Ian Sayer, Douglas Botting Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Women Who Knew Hitler: The Private Life of Adolf Hitler
Book Review: Surprisingly Good
Summary: 5 Stars
I had limited expectations of this book given the subject matter. Perhaps in part due to the title or the rather bad cover art, I thought it might be a throw-away text written with a bent towards the salacious. I was surprised to discover that it was a relatively moderate, well-written exploration of Hitler's relationship with women and an excellent summary of his last days.
Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting flesh out an interesting portrait of Hitler with an elevated treatment of the subject matter. Refreshingly, the authors refrain from rampant speculation and amateur psychoanalysis and present instead a rather temperate treatment of the subject. They explore Hitler's known relationships with women and attempt to provide some insight into this aspect of the man - all the while doing so against the background of the image Hitler maintained as the public man.
Despite the title, only about half of the book explores Hitler's relationships with women. The last half deals more with Hitler's final weeks and days in the bunker as Berlin falls about him. Nevertheless, the change in focus is welcome as the second half of the book is perhaps even more engaging than the first.
Book Review: A Different Take
Summary: 4 Stars
Sayer has attempted what I personally consider to be a very difficult task...writing a book focusing on Hilter and the women around him. Difficult because Hilter himself was a very private person and he guarded his relationships closely. Perhaps this was the reason that I was originally drawn to this book.
This is not a expose' nor is it a typical biography. It looks at Hitler through the filtered lens of his relationships with the women...how his relationships worked, what women were attracted to him, what women he was attracted to and how his charismatic personality enabled him to overcome what many women felt was a somewhat unattractive physical appearance. There seems to have been something about him that certain women found alluring and interesting.
It is through this lens of relationships that Sayer paints a unique portrait of the man. The reader is at times almost sympathetic with Hitler. One also is afforded a closer look into the person that was Eva Braun.
I came away from this book with a more rounded picture of Adolf Hitler. Although his egomania and ruthlessness is ever present, Sayer allows a glimpse behind that and into the "person" himself. A glimpse allowed by people who actually knew Hitler or his love interests and shared their thoughts and impressions through conversations or letters.
I would recommend this book to those readers interested in seeing a different side of Hitler than those typically found in the many existing biographies of him.
Book Review: Hitler's loves, life, and death
Summary: 4 Stars
Adolf Hitler is without question one of the most evil individuals to ever walk the face of the earth. It boggles the mind that a person can commit the atrocities that he did and yet have a magnetic hold over an entire country. This book, The Women Who Knew Hitler: The Private Life of Adolf Hitler, by Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting attempts to shed some light on Hitler's psyche, especially how it relates to his dealings with women.
There is a long discussion about just what made Hitler tick. Apparently, the prevalent view among psychologists is that he had issues with sexuality and was traumatized as a child by his father. You definitely are left with the impression that Hitler was a sick, sick individual even prior to WWI and his entrance into politics.
I found the book's title to be a bit misleading. Yes, there is a lot of information to be found here about Hitler's numerous dealings (most of which could hardly be called relationships) with women. However, the book stretches on after the death of Hitler and his wife of one day, Eva Braun, and covers their cremation (in graphic detail), the fall of Berlin, and the Soviet, British, and American attempts to unravel the truth behind Hitler's death. The authors also include a significant discussion about and primary source material from Walter Wagner, the lowly civil servant who married Hitler and Braun. I found that to be a bit tedious and only tangentially relevant; some of the information has never been published previously, so it seems like they included it just to say they were the first.
The most interesting part of the book covers Hitler and Braun's relationship. Amazingly, the authors manage to (almost) humanize Hitler through their description of Hitler's physical and emotional decline as the Third Reich fell.
I recommend this book to those interested in learning more about Hitler's psychology and the women who were attracted to him. It is also worth reading for the account of Hitler's final days before his suicide.
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