Mark Steyn: Aside from the Hitler thing, Diana was the best kind of girl

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 08/16/03 | Mark Steyn

[Wilhelm Tell]

The evil of banality...

[knighthawk]

Ping

[beckett]

Not long ago I read John Lukacs' The Hitler of History in which he makes some observations about Hitler similar to Mosley's. In Lukacs case (I can't speak with any assurance about Mosley) none if it was done to absolve Hitler in any way, or to minimize the monstrosity of his crimes, but simply to acknowledge some of the skills he brought to bear as a leader and diplomat in his rise to power. Hitler could be charming, persuasive, endearing, enthralling and mesmerizing. It sounds almost scandalous to say it, but the evidence is quite substantial that that is the case.

Lukacs is an incredibly erudite historian, and a master writer. I could never do justice in a few hastily written words to the sophisticated portrait he paints of Hitler. But if you really want to see how a top rank historian handles this complex man, arguably among the top two or three pivotal figures in the whole of the modern age (ca 1500 - 2000), read Lukacs book. You must first have read at least a few biographies of Hitler before you tackle Lukacs, and some good histories of WWII also, but for the student of history, Lukacs' The Hitler of History is essential reading.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Calling Mr. Oswald with the swastika tattoo...

[deroberst]

The Mitford sisters were probably the most interenting cohort of siblings in the entire twentieth century. I used to live near their manor house at Astall. The countryside there is ineffably lovely. (It's near Burford and about 16 miles northwest of Oxford). I have heard that the BBC was making yet another version of "Love in a Cold Climate" filmed on location in Oxfordshire. Has anyone heard when it might be shown?

[mrustow]

Lukacs is singular. He wrote an essay for Chronicles a few years ago, which I think carried the title, "To Hell with Culture." His point was that we need civilization, not "culutre."

I've never seen Hitler dramatically portrayed in any sort of believable fashion. CBS ran a handsomely produced yet pathetic miniseries a few months ago, in which Hitler was portrayed as such an obvious nut job, that no one would have followed him. And although I have read repeatedly that he was a fearless soldier in WWI, the miniseries depicted him as crazy and incompetent. After Part I, I skipped the conclusion for much better, competing fare (The West Wing?).

[swarthyguy]

How the elite aristocracy of England almost gave the store away!

Who says elites can't be myopic?

Any parallels to our current situation?

SS-GB by Len Deighton for a nice take.

[stripes1776]

How the elite aristocracy of England almost gave the store away!

Why does the foolishness of one woman represent the entire aristocracy of England? She was an aberration, and that is what makes her a character of some interest.

Winston Churchill was part of that aristocracy and one of greatest statesmen in the history of that country. He provided the leadership for England to fight against the German Nazi party.

National Socialism (Naziism) was a political movement of the "Volk," the common people. That a few misguided aristocrats were persuaded by its simplistic ideas is not any more mysterious than those aristocrats who succumbed to the revolutionary fervor of communism in the name of the common people.

[swarthyguy]

She was symtomatic of widespread support among the aristocracy for the order of national socialism.

They weren't a few misguided aristocrats as you so naively put it.

Read some history about the period.

[stripes1776]

She was symtomatic of widespread support among the aristocracy for the order of national socialism.

There was never any widespread support among the English aristocracy for National Socialism. But of course history written by Marxists images Nazis wherever they want them to be.

National Socialism, like Communism, Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, was a political movement of the common people. That was it's power base, like all tyrannical movements.

[Servant of the Nine]

I've never seen Hitler dramatically portrayed in any sort of believable fashion. CBS ran a handsomely produced yet pathetic miniseries a few months ago, in which Hitler was portrayed as such an obvious nut job, that no one would have followed him.

A friend's father told me that he saw Hitler speak in the run up to the elections in which he came to power.
He said that Hitler was so charismatic that he wanted to join up immediately, and he was a Jew. He immediately sold everything and immigrated here.

How do you convey that kind of attraction without an actor with equal charisma?

So9

[breakem]

I often get caught up arguing one or two issues on the ole FR, but your post served as another reminder of the variety of reading available here. Thank you.

[aristeides]

How the elite aristocracy of England almost gave the store away!

Winston Churchill was the grandson of a duke, and was very conscious throughout his life of being an aristocrat.

[aristeides]

Of course, I realise I'm doing exactly what she did. When you brought up the Führer, she'd go on about his exquisite table manners, elegant fingers, beautifully fine brown hair, etc.

Huh? Here's a quote from p. 81 of the recent book The Oster Conspiracy of 1938: The Unknown Story of the Military Plot to Kill Hitler and Avert World War II, by Terry Parssinen:

For the remainder of the three-day tour Adam [Gen. Wilhelm Adam, commander of the construction of the West Wall in 1938] tried to avoid sitting next to Hitler whenever possible. When forced to join the führer at the table, Adam was disgusted by his uncouth table manners and his hectoring vegetarianism. Hilter self-righteously derided the company for eating "animal cadavers," Adam noted, while he dined on eggs stuffed with caviar! "Our mutual revulsion expressed itself in unpleasant ways."

[aristeides]

What about the three Song sisters, who married Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-Shek, and another Chinese political figure? Last I heard, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek is still alive and living in NYC.

[aristeides]

The point of Thomas Mann's Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man is that the Germans in World War One were fighting for (organic, authentic) Kultur against (Frenchified) Civilization. I wonder if Lukacs was reacting against that.

[aristeides]

I thought Derek Jacoby did quite a believable portrayal of Hitler in the dramatization of Speer's Inside the Third Reich.

[mrustow]

I suspect that it had to do with talk about culture in the U.S. (neocons' "culture" vs. racial socialists' "multiculture"), but I can't say for sure, as I read the article six or seven years ago.

[mrustow]

I thought Derek Jacoby did quite a believable portrayal of Hitler in the dramatization of Speer's Inside the Third Reich.

Thanks for the tip; I'll try and check it out.

[beckett]

I've never seen Hitler dramatically portrayed in any sort of believable fashion.

Agreed. Lukacs would contend that the demonization of Hitler, though richly deserved, distorts our understanding of him. The Hitler of History is about, among other things, the movement from demonization to historicization among historians in their treatment of Hitler, and the subsequent clearer picture that should emerge as the detachment of historicization takes hold.

The CBS movie was a joke. High production values, as you point out, but a poorly imagined concept of what it wanted to say about Hitler. Nothing that comes out of Hollywood can be trusted for accuracy, IMHO. Not only because of the ideological biases that may exist there, but more importantly because history and life don't reduce very well to film. The art form is better suited to fables.