INTERPRETING HITLER
When I started teaching history in the 1970s, a lot of the work done in schools was a
fact-heavy trudge through a string of mnemonics; explanations were delivered (and
learned by the pupils) as immutable truths. Given the exigencies of examination league
tables, perhaps, I sense pressure to go back to this. But, fortunately, the National
Curriculum requires teachers to address ‘interpretations of history’, and this, surely, is
the way forward – it is in informed debate that the subject comes to life.
How should we be stretching our best pupils? They have to demonstrate that
they know ‘the basics’, but they ought also to be showing that they have some
independence and originality of thought. An informed class debate on an important
issue will at once generate creative ideas, stimulate spontaneity of thought, and
emphasise the importance of factual support in logical argument.
However, if teachers are to address ‘interpretations of history’ in a meaningful
way, we need to go beyond issues as facile as ‘Was king John bad?’, and we need to
be up-to-date in our own scholarship.
So – what are the issues exercising historians interpreting Hitler? Two recent books
have made it much easier for History teachers to find out:
John Lukacs, The Hitler of History (Vintage Books, 1998, ISBN 0-375-70113-3)
Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler (Macmillan, 1998, ISBN 0-333-73457-2)
Of the two, Lukacs (pronounced ‘Loo-kash’) offers the more academic approach. In
Chapter One he gives the reader an historical survey of how historians have written
about Hitler. The succeeding chapters provide surveys of (and Lukacs’ opinions on)
the different problems of biographical interpretation which are still ‘live’ issues – such
as ‘Was Hitler an aberration in German history or a symptom of it?’, ‘Was Hitler
‘evil’?’ and ‘Was Hitler ‘great’?’. For teachers seeking interesting ‘big questions’ to
consider, such issues provide ideas for discussion with pupils (of all ages):
Ron Rosenbaum is a journalist. He tells us his aim in his Introduction – so many
writers have tried to explain Hitler that he decided instead to ‘explain the explainers’.
The reader accompanies Rosenbaum on this mission – delving into archives, travelling
round Germany, interviewing different people (note: ‘people’ – for, as well as
historians, Rosenbaum interviews the film-maker Claude Lanzmann, the novelist
George Steiner, the theologian Emil Fackenheim et al.). The book is less academic
than Lukacs – even, at points, salacious – but it’s more fun! Unlike Lukacs, you won’t
get away with reading only Chapter One. If you have to choose, read Chapters 3–5 and
14–20; it’s all thought-provoking stuff.
The Historiography of Hitler
Hitler on Hitler
Hitler wrote his own account of his life and thought, of course. Mein Kampf presents a
Hitler who had a relatively happy childhood (despite conflict with his father about his
ultimate profession) during which his history teacher, Dr Poetsch, filled him with a
When I started teaching history in the 1970s, a lot of the work done in schools was a
fact-heavy trudge through a string of mnemonics; explanations were delivered (and
learned by the pupils) as immutable truths. Given the exigencies of examination league
tables, perhaps, I sense pressure to go back to this. But, fortunately, the National
Curriculum requires teachers to address ‘interpretations of history’, and this, surely, is
the way forward – it is in informed debate that the subject comes to life.
How should we be stretching our best pupils? They have to demonstrate that
they know ‘the basics’, but they ought also to be showing that they have some
independence and originality of thought. An informed class debate on an important
issue will at once generate creative ideas, stimulate spontaneity of thought, and
emphasise the importance of factual support in logical argument.
However, if teachers are to address ‘interpretations of history’ in a meaningful
way, we need to go beyond issues as facile as ‘Was king John bad?’, and we need to
be up-to-date in our own scholarship.
So – what are the issues exercising historians interpreting Hitler? Two recent books
have made it much easier for History teachers to find out:
John Lukacs, The Hitler of History (Vintage Books, 1998, ISBN 0-375-70113-3)
Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler (Macmillan, 1998, ISBN 0-333-73457-2)
Of the two, Lukacs (pronounced ‘Loo-kash’) offers the more academic approach. In
Chapter One he gives the reader an historical survey of how historians have written
about Hitler. The succeeding chapters provide surveys of (and Lukacs’ opinions on)
the different problems of biographical interpretation which are still ‘live’ issues – such
as ‘Was Hitler an aberration in German history or a symptom of it?’, ‘Was Hitler
‘evil’?’ and ‘Was Hitler ‘great’?’. For teachers seeking interesting ‘big questions’ to
consider, such issues provide ideas for discussion with pupils (of all ages):
Ron Rosenbaum is a journalist. He tells us his aim in his Introduction – so many
writers have tried to explain Hitler that he decided instead to ‘explain the explainers’.
The reader accompanies Rosenbaum on this mission – delving into archives, travelling
round Germany, interviewing different people (note: ‘people’ – for, as well as
historians, Rosenbaum interviews the film-maker Claude Lanzmann, the novelist
George Steiner, the theologian Emil Fackenheim et al.). The book is less academic
than Lukacs – even, at points, salacious – but it’s more fun! Unlike Lukacs, you won’t
get away with reading only Chapter One. If you have to choose, read Chapters 3–5 and
14–20; it’s all thought-provoking stuff.
The Historiography of Hitler
Hitler on Hitler
Hitler wrote his own account of his life and thought, of course. Mein Kampf presents a
Hitler who had a relatively happy childhood (despite conflict with his father about his
ultimate profession) during which his history teacher, Dr Poetsch, filled him with a
