Was it true that a Jew turned down his art school admission? Ive heard it wasn't and that the cause of Hitler's antisemitism was a mystery.
The latest word I heard (John Lukacs,
Brigitte Hamann) is that Hitler's violent anti-Semitism was a product of the post-WWI revolutionary struggles and German scapegoating of Jews for their defeat in the war. To be sure, pre-war Vienna was full of anti-Jewish sentiments, but they were less focused and less militant. Grievances and frictions were less pointed than after the war, and Hitler did have Jewish acquaintances and associates. It's a question of emphasis, though. One could trace the roots of casual antipathy towards Jews in pre-war Austrian and German politics and in Wagner, but for Hitler the urgency came later.
I had heard that about the art school. From the review, Hamann says it's not true. In any case how would he have known for sure whose rejection had kept him out of the school?