Highway to Hitler - American Economic Association. Really!

I am not sure why the AEA has accepted this paper for publication in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics!

This subject, i.e. the Autobahn network built by Hitler, has been extensively debated and researched since the 1950s! What is new?

From the content of the abstract, the results are clearly a joke or even junk science!

Papers like this make economics look like a sciences of esoterics or marginals!

According to Google Scholar a book by the same title and same authors was already published in 2014! Why the heck did the AEA rehash this subject?

The first author Nico Voigtländer (UCLA Anderson School of Management) has a lifetime citation count of 5,409. Not very impressive!

The second and last author Hans-Joachim Voth (UBS Foundation Professor of Economics, Economics Department, University of Zurich) has a lifetime citation count of 11,173. Somewhat better, but not great either!

Caveat: I did not read the paper.

From the abstract:

"We show that the building of the Autobahn network in Nazi Germany boosted popular support for Adolf Hitler, helping to entrench the Nazi dictatorship. Direct local economic benefits are unlikely to explain the effect. Instead, it reflects successful propaganda: The regime portrayed the Autobahn as a symbol of recovery and the end of austerity. Support rose particularly strongly where highway construction coincided with greater radio availability and in politically unstable regions.

Our findings suggest that visible infrastructure projects can raise support for autocratic regimes when voters are led to associate them with economic progress and an end to political instability."

Highway to Hitler - American Economic Association (no public access)

TV-Doku untersucht Hitlers DNA: Grosse Aufregung um einen kleinen Penis. Wirklich!

Wie sich da die Schweizer Neue Zürcher Zeitung geirrt oder sich sogar lächerlich gemacht hat! 

Habe hier vor kurzem zum kleinen Penis und fehlenden Hoden von Hitler gebloggt.

"Für eine TV-Doku haben britische Forscher das Erbgut von Adolf Hitler analysiert. Die vermeintlichen Enthüllungen sind wissenschaftlich fragwürdig [???]. Aber selbst wenn sie sich bestätigen, tragen sie wenig [???] zum Verständnis des grössten Kriegsverbrechers aller Zeiten bei."

NZZ Wissenschaft & Technologie

TV-Doku untersucht Hitlers DNA: Grosse Aufregung um einen «kleinen Penis» (behind paywall)

Hitler’s DNA Finally Decoded: Shocking Discoveries Reveal Historical Secrets with Molly Gambhir

So Hitler had little or no testicles and a micropenis! What will we one day find out about Putin the Terrible? 😊

Letzte Briefe aus NS-Todeszellen: „Liebe Mutter! Heute bekomme ich den Kopf abgeschnitten“

Werden wir jemals den Horror der Nazis abarbeiten können? Wahrscheinlich nicht in meiner Lebenszeit.

Nie wieder!

"„Liebe Mutter! In den ersten Worten meines Briefes teile ich Euch mit, dass ich heute um 5 Uhr nachmittags, am 2.11. den Kopf abgeschnitten bekommen werde.“ ..."

"Die Haftanstalt München-Stadelheim war im Nationalsozialismus eine „zentrale Hinrichtungsstätte“ und zählt damit zu den Hauptorten des NS-Unrechts in München. Über 1.000 Menschen wurden dort bis 1945 hingerichtet. Bewegende Dokumente sind nicht zugestellte Abschiedsbriefe von Verurteilten an ihre Angehörigen, die von der damaligen Gefängnisverwaltung oder den damaligen Strafvollzugsstellen zurückbehalten wurden. Mehr als 50 solcher Briefe finden sich in 844 sogenannten Hinrichtungsakten, die seit 1975 im Staatsarchiv München für wissenschaftliche und private Recherchen frei zugänglich aufbewahrt werden. ...

Die Suche nach Angehörigen beginnt

Die Staatlichen Archive Bayerns und die Arolsen Archives starten nun eine Kooperation zu den Abschiedsbriefen und Hinrichtungsakten. Ziel der im April 2025 vereinbarten Kooperation ist die Vernetzung des Aktenbestandes des Staatsarchivs München mit den Dokumenten in der Sammlung der Arolsen Archives. Gemeinsam mit ihrem europaweiten Netzwerk von Freiwilligen werden die Arolsen Archives zudem nach Adressaten der Abschiedsbriefe und Familien dieser NS-Opfer suchen, sie kontaktieren und ihnen auf Wunsch Kopien der Originalbriefe übergeben. ..."

Letzte Briefe aus NS-Todeszellen: Arolsen Archives suchen Angehörige | FAZ "Viele Abschiedsbriefe von hingerichteten NS-Opfern erreichten nie ihre Empfänger und lagerten jahrzehntelang in den Akten. Jetzt wird versucht, Hinterbliebene ausfindig zu machen."

„Bei manchen Briefen schießen einem die Tränen in die Augen“

Nicht zugestellte Abschiedsbriefe von NS-Verfolgten "Die Staatlichen Archive Bayerns und die Arolsen Archives starten Kooperation zu Hinrichtungsakten aus München-Stadelheim."

Einige der Abschiedsbriefe von NS-Opfern aus München-Stadelheim

«Als Leni Riefenstahl Hitler traf, hatte sie Schweissausbrüche. Es war wie etwas Erotisches»

Hatte der olle Adolf etwa sex appeal auf manche Frauen? Oder war die Leni ein bisschen verirrt? 

Interview zum «Riefenstahl»-Dok: «Sie war Hitler wie erotisch verfallen» "Lange galt Leni Riefenstahl als ikonische Filmemacherin. Dass sie eine führende Nationalsozialistin war, wurde verdrängt. «Es war kein Zufall, dass Riefenstahl Hitler gefunden hat und Hitler sie», sagt die Produzentin Sandra Maischberger, die zusammen mit Andres Veiel den Riefenstahl-Mythos dekonstruiert."

Hitler in der Schweiz: Eine Geschichte von Geld, Angst und einem Mordversuch

Auch die Schweizer sind wohl immer noch nicht ganz mit der Aufarbeitung von Hitler fertig!

Die Schweizer fühlen sich mitschuldig!

"Vielleicht hätte der Welt viel Leid erspart werden können, wenn das Schweizer Generalkonsulat in München vor hundert Jahren anders gehandelt hätte. «Der bekannte Führer der national-sozialistischen Partei, Schriftsteller Adolf Hitler, hat bei uns am 25. August um die Einreiseerlaubnis auf acht Tage zu Studienzwecken nachgesucht. Wir haben ihm das Visum erteilt, nachdem uns versichert wurde, dass von jeglicher politischer Tätigkeit Abstand genommen werde», schreibt die Vertretung ans Aussendepartement in Bern. Allerdings zu spät, erst Anfang September 1923, als der Mann mit dem quadratischen Schnauz bereits wieder abgereist ist. ..."

Hitler und die Schweiz: «Der ganze Mensch bebt, wenn er spricht; er spricht wundervoll» Vor hundert Jahren reiste Adolf Hitler in die Schweiz, um Geld für seinen Putsch zu sammeln. Es war der Anfang einer unheilvollen Beziehung mit dem späteren Diktator. Eine Geschichte in fünf Episoden.

The Dark Secrets Of Hitler's Upbringing | Hitler's Secret Sex Life

Very recommendable! I thought, I knew a lot about Hitler's biography, but e.g. his intimate affair, perhaps even including deviant sexual behavior, with his half niece I do not remember.

Hitler's family background is lots of inbreeding. 

Hitler had in 1937 the village destroyed where is father's family came from.

He was possibly 1/4 Jewish. DNA analysis in 2010 confirmed he had Ashkenazi in his genes.

He was breast fed until age 4. He may have developed an Oedipus complex. His mother fixation was evidenced in several ways.

His father was very abusive. He would e.g. beat his children to the point of unconsciousness.

After WW I, Hitler had a number of older patronesses who introduced him into German high society.

One of Hitler's patronesses: Helene Bechstein 

After the older patronesses, he had an intimate affair with his half niece Geli Raubal starting at her age of 17 from 1925-1931

Eva Braun: Hitler's Mistress & Later Wife

I am not sure this documentary is recommendable! However, Eva Braun's dedication and commitment to Hitler to the bitter end with such a naivete is striking. 

One of Eva Braun's predecessor mistresses shot herself with Hitler's pistol. I have never heard this story before, I believe. Eva Braun also felt she was neglected by Hitler around 1932 and aimed her father's pistol at her heart, but the shot misfired and only injured her. Around 1935, Eva Braun attempted another suicide with pills, but she was discovered by her sister.

The there was Hitler's interest in the then attractive film director, photographer, and actress Leni Riefenstahl.

Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler only got married in the final days of World War II when Soviet soldiers were already invading Berlin just days before they both committed suicide.

Hitler's Dark Methods of Manipulation or Hitler's Propaganda Machine

Very recommendable! I was familiar with most of its content, but it is a good refresher and synopsis!

Henry Abramson: Hitler before Nazism

Recommendable! So Hitler could not himself have become a member of the SS because of uncertainties about his family tree (he was not able to provide proof Aryan ancestry)? I had forgotten about this irony of history.



Intentionalism vs. Functionalism as explanations for the Holocaust? I think neither theory is adequate! Of course, WW II made it possible to execute the Holocaust for multiple reasons among them many Jews lived in occupied countries; war times bring out the worst in humans and make massacres more likely etc. 

Adolf Hitler Was Super Wealthy

Posted: 3/20/2015

Trigger

Recently watched this documentary Hitler's Riches. It provides hard to come by evidence about the income and wealth of Hitler during his lifetime. It also suggests that Adolf Hitler systematically built his fortune. I was not aware of this until I watched this documentary.

This documentary also extensively covers his last will written just hours before he committed suicide.

Mein Kampf Was A Bestseller

His book was translated and sold in multiple languages and it was given away to every German couple at the wedding.

His images and photographs of him (Hitler also had a personal photographer) were sold like merchandise.

Epilogue

I have yet to think about what the import of this documentary is or why the Smithsonian Channel thought it was relevant to release this documentary at this time for what purpose.

Perhaps, I leave it with a question: Was Hitler besides, his monstrous ideology and belligerence, just a business savvy person or was he also full of avarice. I tend to agree with latter.

Is Russia’s Putin a possible parallel to Hitler in this respect! Putin is also reported to have amassed riches (see e.g. this PBS Frontline video).

What Do Hitler Nazis And Mao Communists Have In Common!

Both bloody dictators kept meticulous records of their cruel mass murder!

That the Nazis kept such records is well documented. That the Chinese Communists did the same from 1948 onwards is less known. However, e.g. check out following event video recording.

Hitler’s Food Taster

Posted: 4/9/2013 Updated: 9/20/2014

Interview Of Probably Last Surviving Food Taster

The German weekly magazine Der Spiegel published on 3/28/13 an interview (article is in German) with a 95 year old lady who is said to have been Hitler’s food taster at his headquarters “Wolfschanze” for about 2.5 years.

Meanwhile the Times of India also has a story about Margot Woelk here. She lived a nightmarish life ever since.

Summary & Comment

She was one of 15 young women who were coerced to be a food taster for Hitler. She never saw Hitler, which would imply he never thanked her.

Apparently, the dictator either did not trust volunteers or there were not enough devoted followers to volunteer for this job.