REVIEW POTPOURRI: Adolph Hitler; Composer: Otto Klem­perer

by Peter Cates

Adolph Hitler

Adolph Hitler

In the interest of getting a few columns ready a few weeks ahead of time, I am writing this one on April 20, the 135th birthday anniversary of one of the two most evil dictators of the 20th century (the other being Joseph Stalin), namely former German chancellor Adolf Hitler (1889-1945).

William Shirer

My earliest exposure to Hitler’s life came via a short paperback, The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler, by William L. Shirer (1904-1993) which I bought for 25 cents through the TAB Book Club when I was in sixth grade during the 1962-63 school year. John Kennedy was still president and his father, who was appointed Ambassador to Great Britain in the late 1930s, for some mysterious reasons by FDR, was one of Hitler’s biggest fans, much to the disgust of FDR who eventually fired him, and of son Jack who would quietly leave the room whenever his father was spouting politics.

Shirer’s book was based on the much longer 1961 Rise and Fall of the Third Reich which has sold millions of copies and was a Book of the Month Club selection. Much of the material was based on the author’s years as a journalist in Berlin from 1934 to 1940. More than any other correspondent during those six years, Shirer personally witnessed the triumph of evil in its various manifestations and brought to his writing an immediacy most others lacked.

He authored several other books on these experiences – Berlin Diary, End of a Berlin Diary, The Nightmare Years, Twentieth Century Journey, etc.

In 1934, once Hitler was establishing himself after being “democratically voted in by the people,” Shirer wrote in the Nightmare Years what he was witnessing in Berlin:

“Platoons or companies of brown-shirted storm troopers of the S.A. and black-coated guards of the more elite S.S. were constantly marching through the streets, their jackboots echoing on the pavement. I was warned that anyone on the sidewalk who did not pause to salute their standards and flags was liable to be beaten up on the spot. I soon learned to duck into a shop when they passed.”

In 1940, Shirer received word that the Gestapo was planning to arrest him on trumped up charges of espionage and execute him, and got out in the nick of time.

Spencer Tracy

Most highly recommended is a viewing of 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg dealing with the trial of four Nazi judges by an American military tribunal and starring Spencer Tracy as the presiding chief justice, Burt Lancester as one of the Nazis and an all star cast that includes Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, William Shatner, etc. Spencer Tracy stole the show.

A particularly disturbing aspect of the film was the several Germans who denied knowing about the death camps. And other pertinent historical issues were referenced – the beginnings of the Cold War, the temporary closing of Berlin by the Russians and the Berlin Airlift of 1948 in which food and other necessary supplies were parachuted by American planes.

And finally a haunting scene of Tracy as the Judge walking by himself through the outdoor amphitheater where Hitler had his rallies communicated powerfully.

Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer

Werner Klemperer

I have been listening to an eight CD set of the great Otto Klem­perer’s 1960s studio recordings of Bach’s B minor Mass and Saint Matthew’s Passion, Handel’s Messiah and the Beeth­oven Missa Solemnis, each of which is a masterpiece. Klemperer (1885-1973) was already in his 80s and still conducting at a peak level. Warner Classics 9 93540 2.

Klem­perer’s son Werner portrayed Colonel Klink on Hogan’s Heroes.

These recordings can be heard via YouTube.

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