the Hitler typecast

In Allen's discussion of the Nazi leaders and members in the Nordheim district and city proper I found interesting parallels to Hitler’s own life experience and character traits. Although Allen notes these similarities in such as way as to make them enhance his text, he does not seem to stress the relevance of this point.

The first mention of the similarities is the description of Ernst Girmann, who is described as an outsider, much like Kershaw's description of Hitler, did not attend university but instead experienced his education in the war, received an Iron cross medal like Hitler and was a Christian but not extremely religious in his lifestyle. Wilhelm Spannus, another NSDAP leader in Nordheim is described as having a similar experience of disillusionment from the perceived surrender of the war by Germany as he returned from South America.

Thirdly is Walter Steineck who again is described, much like Hitler, as an outsider. It seems from Allen's account that many founding NSDAP members in Nordheim and perhaps in other small towns were those with life experience close to Hitler’s own, those who lived more on the fringes of society, known to be outsiders and were closed off from popular culture, with some schooling but by and large educated in the war, identifying largely with a military lifestyle and greatly disillusioned by Germany's collapse at the end. Whether this “Hitler type” was more drawn to the party by personal experience, ideology or sympathy with the NSDAP cause, makes one think that Hitler’s youth and formative experiences in Germany and Austria-Hungary were not quite as original as Kershaw paints them, and I imagine that quite a number of smaller branch leaders of the party held similar life experiences. Whether this holds in a larger sphere would be interesting to find out.

Another interesting point in Allen's account is how he pushes the significance of the NSDAP as a party, which attracted young people. The return to a stricter moral code supported by the ideology of the NSDAP and the anti-Semitic sentiment would lead one to believe that, in a climate of such radical cultural and political change such a party would be more likely to attract older more conservative voters. Although the NSDAP advocated change, the future image was not strongly of a technological or culturally advanced nature but rather a fall back on a previous lifestyle with some enhancements.