Top 10 Amazing Facts About Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler is the name that comes to mind when anyone thinks about cruelty and fanaticism. But, there are also other sides and many hidden aspects of the Führer which created controversy about the judgment towards him in later days. The left-wing German weekly, “Die Zeit”, once published “The enigma of Hitler is beyond all human comprehension.” He was awarded the “Man of the year 1938” by Time magazine who put him on the cover page. Regardless of his nature and behavior for a superior race, he was the man of suspense and mysteries. He was very hard working, too, as he slept only for three to four hours a night while ruling over 380 million Europeans and carrying on his shoulder the whole world. So here is the list of 10 amazing facts about Adolf Hitler.

Top 10 Amazing Facts About Adolf Hitler

• His Family Doctor was A Jew

Around 1903, Eduard Bloch was a Jewish doctor who was highly regarded, particularly among the lower social classes in his native Linz, Austria. He was available to assist his patients at any time, even at night. The first patient of the Führer's family he had to see was the Führer himself, who became seriously ill and bedridden due to a severe lung ailment, and he remained the family's physician until 1907. Bloch treated Führer's mother with breast cancer until she died without taking any money from them. The then-18-year-old Führer expressed his "everlasting gratitude" for this.

• He Always Carried His Mother’s Portrait

Führer's mother Klara Pölzl was hired as a household servant at the age of 16 after his father Alois Hitler's first marriage to Anna Glasl-Hörer. Alois and Klara married on January 7, 1885, after the death of Alois's second wife, Franziska Matzelsberger. Gustav was born on May 15, 1885, and Führer was born on April 20, 1889. His mother was devoted to her children and took them to church on a regular basis. He had a very close relationship with his mother, and her death devastated him.

• His First Love Was A Jewish Girl

When he was 16 and attended school in Linz, he met a girl named Stefanie Rabatsch. He fell deeply in love with her, a teenager’s first love in spring 1905. His childhood friend, August Kubizek, wrote in his book “Adolf Hitler, mein Jugendfreund” that, “Stefanie had no idea how deeply Adolf was in love with her.” He never managed to her, always saying that he would do so “tomorrow”. When his mother’s funeral procession passed Stefanie’s house, he stated that he had seen her behind the window and had found consolation in that. In his best friend’s words, “When she responded with a smile to his inquiring glance, he was happy and his mood became unlike anything I had ever observed in him.

• He Was A Strict Vegetarian

He followed a strict vegetarian diet since his early days and in 1941, he self-identified as an orthodox vegetarian. Ignatius Phayrethe later described him as “A life-long vegetarian at table”. He hated meat as he was strictly against any kind of animal slaughtering. German magazine “Die Weisse Fahneduring” once published in Führer’s ruling days, “Do you know that your Führer is a vegetarian, and that he does not eat meat because of his general attitude toward life and his love for the world of animals? Do you know that your Führer is an exemplary friend of animals, and even as a chancellor, he is not separated from the animals he has kept for years?” He himself also said, as recorded in the “Hitler’s Table Talk” that, “One may regret living at a period when it’s impossible to form an idea of the shape the world of the future will assume. But there’s one thing I can predict to eaters of meat: the world of the future will be vegetarian.”

• He was A Great Artist

Throughout his life, he had a strong interest in painting. During his time in Vienna around 1908, he created hundreds of amazing paintings and postcards that he sold to make a living. Many of his paintings were recovered after WWII and auctioned off at exorbitant prices. In his autobiography Mein Kampf, he stated that he had always wanted to be a famous artist, but was somewhat disheartened when he failed the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna's entrance exam as a painter twice in 1907 and 08, despite the fact that the institution stated he was a talented architect rather than a painter. Knowing his talent, the academy recommended he apply to Academies School of Architecture.

• He was A Big Time Disney Fan

His dearest friend Ernst Hanfstaengl, who he called Putzi, revealed, while remembering Führer, that he was a frequent whistler. He would regularly whistle “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” a song from the Disney movie, “The Big Bad Wolf”. As an interesting fact, his name itself was derived from old German word “Adalwolf” which also stand for “Noble Wolf”. Later in 2008, the director of a war museum in northern Norway, William Hakvaag, discovered some fantastic cartoon drawings by him during the Second World War and all of them were signed “A.Hitler”. Those paintings include Doc and Bishful from the 1937 Disney Movie “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” which is also one of his most favorite movies. Later Disney also showed honor to him with their movie “Der Fuehrer’s Face” aka “Donald Duck in Nutzi Land”, the only Donald Duck film to receive an Oscar till now.

• He Never Visited Any Concentration Camps

He never visited a single concentration camp and never spoke openly, even to his closest associates, about his plans to expel Jews from his country. He avoided all concentration camps as well as the final "Gas Chamber" solution. Whereas his Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler addressed SS leaders in 1943 about what it was like to see thousands of corpses lying side by side, describing "the extermination of the Jewish people".

• World’s First Anti-Smoking Campaign Was Led By Him

When German doctors discovered the link between smoking and lung cancer, he launched a strong anti-tobacco movement. He despised tobacco and never touched it again in his later years, despite leading the world's first anti-smoking campaign, which was also the most powerful anti-smoking movement on the planet, during the 1930s. This anti-smoking campaign included the prohibition of smoking in public places and the promotion of health benefits without the use of tobacco. He said, "He does not devour it (the cigarette), it devours him" in one of his anti-smoking ads named "The chain-smoker". From 1939 to 1945, smoking was strictly prohibited for his military personnel.

• He Was Nominated For The Nobel Peace Prize

He was nominated in the year 1939 for the Nobel Peace Prize by a member of the Swedish parliament named E.G.C. Brandt, though, that nomination was never taken seriously due to the war controversies that time and also for political dilemma of World War II. A number of Swedish parliamentarians had nominated the then British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin at the time for the Nobel Peace Prize, where Brandt viewed that the nomination with great skepticism, while nominating Führer as an opponent for the Nobel. However, that nomination was not well received by many other political leaders around the world and the nomination was swiftly withdrawn on 1st February, 1939, with just a single letter from Brandt.

• He Loved Dogs

Yes, he was a big dog lover, but he was terrified of cats, just like Napoleon Bonaparte or Julius Caesar. Ailurophobia, or cat fear, had been ingrained in him since childhood. Since his childhood, he has kept a safe distance from cats while enjoying dogs. German Shepherds were his personal favorite breed. Blondi, his own German shepherd, often slept with him in his bedroom and was also with him in the bunker where they committed suicide by cyanide pill without surrendering to anyone. Blondi also had five puppies with Gerdy Troost's German Shepherd, Harras. He named one of the puppies "Wulf," which is a play on his given name.