In the summer of 1983, on the banks of the Rhine River near Frankfurt, Germany, I met and spoke briefly with an old woman. The moment was frighteningly memorable. My introduction as Herr Hauptmann (Mister Captain) Adolph apparently sparked her memory and a secret, heartfelt desire.
At the time, I was commanding a military intelligence company in the U.S. Army’s 5th Corps, which was then arrayed along the key fault line of the Cold War: the heavily armed border between East and West Germany. For reasons that I never understood, she pulled me aside and began speaking in a hushed whisper so that nobody nearby could overhear her. My unfortunate surname — Adolph — had awakened something within her that she felt compelled to share. Her subsequent darkly surreal monologue held me spellbound. Her topic was, “the man, Adolf Hitler, Der Führer.”
For the better part of 10 minutes, she spoke lovingly and longingly of the sociopathic narcissist, who was responsible for the mass extermination of six million Jews; hundreds of thousands of American and Allied deaths; the subjugation of Poland, Netherlands, France, Belgium and more; multiple millions military and civil losses in Russia; including the utter destruction of the Third Reich by Allied Forces when Hitler refused to admit defeat; and with a final conservative tally of over 4 million German citizens killed or missing.
I was stunned into silence. The old woman appeared normal in all other respects: well-educated and eloquent. She did not appear to be mentally impaired in any other aspect of her behavior. She left me shell-shocked.
I spent years mulling over that brief disturbing interlude. I came to understand much later that the old woman was a True Believer, which was the title of Eric Hoffer’s 1951 classic work on the psychology of mass movements. How did this happen? The fascist dictator empowered her with his manifold speeches on “the greatness of the German people.”
Hitler gifted her a positive self-image with his litany of lies, which were ably amplified by his Jew-hating and conspiracy-theory-propagating Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.
Between them, they made those among the German populace who saw themselves as maligned and forgotten, feel powerful. Few emotions are more addictive than power.
She was not alone. Millions of Germans followed Hitler down the rabbit hole and into the dark abyss — leading ultimately to their own annihilation.
Der Führer‘s multiplicity of mortal sins and serial deceptions clearly could not vanquish her lifelong and deeply held admiration for one of the most prolific mass murderers in human history.
She and her countrymen were essentially conned.
Hitler’s Nazi Germany was built on mountains of mendacities. His many duplicities ultimately failed to resist American and Allied force-of-arms. Truth can be delayed but seldom denied. However, evasion will be forever more seductive. The old woman unintentionally conveyed a warning for us all.
** A version of this article was previously published in the Tampa Bay Times
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