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Jewish World Review June 11, 2009 / 19 Sivan 5769 What we learn from the new Hitler photos By Lewis Grossberger
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Life has published a trove of previously unpublished photos of Adolf Hitler, asserting that these are astonishing and revealing. Actually, the most astonishing thing I learned from examining them was that Life still exists. I thought it had gone out of business decades ago. But the photos are in color, which is nice. I know I get tired of always having to see Hitler in black and white. That pink complexion of his goes so nicely with the black jackboots. The story of how these rare color photos of Hitler came to be published is quite fascinating. It seems they were sitting in Life's photo vault for 44 years until an editor said, "Let's run these." To think that except for that crucial decision, these valuable documents might still be sitting in Life's photo vault really gives one pause. The photos were taken by a man named Hugo Jaeger who, by a strange coincidence, was Hitler's personal photographer, and thus often had a camera with him. Despite the fact that Hugo has always struck me as a silly name, one that evokes giggles, Jaeger was a prescient fellow. As World War II came to an end, he had the foresight to realize that if he managed to keep his photos out of the hands of the American Army, he could sell them for a lot of money to the American media. Fortunately for all of us, he succeeded. Otherwise we would not now have learned the following: 1. Hitler was a Nazi. Of course, there were always rumors to this effect, but now we see him constantly wearing a swastika armband, a dead giveaway. 2. Hitler spent most of his time reviewing troops or christening battleships. When he reviewed troops, he kept his right arm raised in that famous Nazi salute, which must have been exhausting. No wonder he was always out of sorts and invading neighboring countries. 3. Hitler's living quarters and offices were usually empty, since Hitler was out reviewing troops or christening battleships. The only person in them was Hugo Jaeger, taking his pictures. This was not an easy job because the decor was stupefyingly awful. 4. On the 15th anniversary of the Munich beer-hall putsch, an abortive uprising that sent Hitler to jail, he held a big celebration and made the kind of speech only Hitler could–in German and with lots of yelling. The crowd was huge and enthusiastic as there was free beer and if you didn't applaud, you'd be shot. 5. Hitler loved his uniform and put it on every chance he got. It is possible he even thought it made him look handsome. 6. Hitler looked more like Hitler than most of the actors who portray him in movies. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
© 2009, Lewis Grossberger |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
