Adolf Hitler was born at Braynau, Austria, on this date in 1889. The New York Times obituary from May 2, 1945, (Hitler died April 30) is an excellent contemporary source. It’s worth reading the entire piece, but here are a few excerpts:
Like Lenin and Mussolini, Hitler came out of the blood and chaos of 1914-18, but of the three he was the strangest phenomenon. Lenin, while not know[n] to the general public, had for many years before the Russian Revolution occupied a prominent place as leader and theoretician, of the Bolshevist party. Mussolini was a widely known Socialist editor, orator and politician before making his bid for power. Hitler was nothing, and from nothing he became everything to most Germans.
Many who watched Hitler from the time when he first made his appearance on the political scene noticed his megalomania, his gambler’s readiness to take risks, his habit of wild exaggeration and inability to grasp the full implications of things he said and did. It was this failure to measure the significance of his words and deeds that was considered responsible for the coolness he displayed at critical moments after violent outbursts of thought and temper, although on occasions he was reported to fall into tears and hysterics.
The German dictator himself never married. At the age of 16 he suffered from lung trouble. On his mother’s side there were several eccentrics in the family. In general, the family showed definite tendencies to illness and mental instability.
Adolf Hitler was an ascetic, a celibate and a vegetarian and he neither smoked nor drank. From his early youth he was an eccentric. At the age of 16 he suffered from lung trouble and his passionate ambition to become a great historical figure impelled him to take good care of himself. Careful diet was his deliberately chosen method.
Though merciless to political opponents, he was kind to animals. A militarist, he was sickened by the sight of blood. A Wagnerian mystic, he loved spectacles of heroics and death. He was simple, Spartan and vain to the point of megalomania.