Antonio Spinosa
Ed. Oscar Mondadori
pp. 596
The Second World War was probably the greatest catastrophe witnessed by Man.
Hitler, if not the only culprit, was however one of his main protagonists.
I have read several books on the Second World War, books in which the figure of Hitler is normally described in gloomy colors.
Spinosa, with this biography, tells the life of a very particular man, trying to highlight his profile as a statesman, strategist, fomenter of folly but also of human being, with all his problems.
It is interesting to try to understand how certain events may have taken place, what prompted the German people to follow Hitler in his madness and how the greatest statesmen of the time permitted so many atrocities before intervening by force.
Adolfus Hitler was born in Braunau, an Austrian town on the border with Germany, the 20 April 1889. The father could not sit still in the same place for more than a couple of years, so Hitler, and the rest of the family, passed from one country to another, until he reached Linz.
He wasn't good at school, his performance was just enough, but he thought it was the professors' fault, let's say he felt like a misunderstood genius, he felt like an artist and he wasn't going to finish his days behind a desk with a normal job .
His father died when he was just fourteen.
In the following years he did not do anything good and began to wander around doing odd jobs such as the porter or the snow breaker, plus he rounded up selling his drawings. He lived very frugally and on more than one occasion had to adapt to living in poor homes. He moved to Vienna where he tried to be admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts without success. Ever since then he has had moments of great strength of spirit at times of dark depression, a swing that haunted him all his life.
In addition to his predilection for architecture, he was a lover of music, among his favorites was Wagner.
Since then he began to form his political thought, believing that Vienna was poisoned by the presence of Jews and Marxists. From Vienna he went to Liverpool, where he settled for a time at the home of his brother Alois. Also he did not combine anything and so he decided to return to Vienna, he was the 1914 and Adolf was then 24 years. In previous years he had avoided appearing in the military service, now, tracked down, he had to present himself before the commission, which however judged him incapable of serving because he was too frail.
A few months later, however, the call of war will change his life. Hitler, framed in the ranks of the 16 ° infantry regiment of the Bavarian reserve, left for the front ...
Spinosa continues the story of Hitler's life that is increasingly intertwined with the history of Europe and the world, covering it until the final defeat of the 1945.
A really interesting book that highlights how one man can affect the life of an entire nation and of the whole human race!
Alessandro Rugolo
