HITLER: A STUDY IN MEGALOMANIA"ALFRED SLEIGH, MD. 'History has seen many examples of men whose lives were characterized bv a driving lust for power. Adolf Hitler was one of them and it is not an exaggeration to term him a megalomaniac. Al-though it is difficult to make a 'psychiatric diagnosis', Hitler seems to fit the category of a paranoid personality. In the following historical note, the life and personality of 'that man' (as Winston Churchill called him) will be explored to reveal something of the meaning of this desire for power. Seven days before the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, on April30th, 1945, the man who was the architect and supreme dictator of the Third Reich probably met death by shooting himself in the mouth. The story is that Hitler and Eva Braun, his wife of one day, suicided and that their bodies were covered in gasoline and burned. Thus, ended a strange saga for Germany and the whole world. How did it begin? Hitler was born in 1889. At the age of thirty-five, he began his Mein Kampf by stating: "It stands me in good stead today that fate decided that Brauna on the Inn should be my birthplace. That little town lies on the frontier between the two German States, the re-union of which we younger one’s regard as a work worthy of accomplishment by all the means in our power." His family was of peasant stock and his father had shown some ambition in rising from a peasant beginning to being a customs official. This large, brusque man married three times and from the third union came° post-graduate seminars in the history of psychiatry (Prof. Edward L. Margetts). Department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia ‘Vancouver, Canada. Seminar 2 May 1962. 'revised Nov. 1965.'Resident in psychiatry (1961-2), University Health~~crew, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver,218Adolf. Adolf's mother was a quiet, dutiful person, some twenty odd years younger than her husband. She had repeated difficulties with childbirth and her first three babies died in infancy. After Adolf she gave birth to another boy who died at an early age and then in 1896, she had her last child, Paula. The young Hitler was well cared for and possibly even pampered by his sacrificing mother. There is evidence that she regarded him as a sickly child and probably made him feel that he was pre-coins and different from other young fellows. However, his father did not cater to his young son and his thought was to bring him 'up right' and see that he got into the honorable job of being a customs official. Adolf, a self-centered, stub-born child, soon was in conflict with his stern father over 'his choice of vocation, however, and steadfastly maintained that he was destined to be a great artist. In 1903, when Adolf was almost four-teen his father died and by this time it must have been settled that Adolf would be an artist. He continued at school until sixteen. His marks were always unpredictable and he was described as a lazy, undisciplined scholar who could show promise if he desired. In 1908, Hitler's mother died. As with the death of his father, it is difficult to ascertain Adolf's reaction to the loss. In any case, after that he went to Vienna and spent the years from nineteen to twenty-four living in squalor and poverty, but this was really of his own choice. Hitler never did any manual work to speak of, and remained convinced that he had the talents of an artist or an architect, despite being rejected at the Art Academy in Vienna. These were lonely years, but also years wherein the youthful Adolf June, 1966 HISTORICAL NOTE 219could read, wander about the city, dream, conceive of fanciful plans for Wagnerian-like operas or for rebuilding towns and even cities. These were years also for thinking about politics and observing the political happenings in that cosmopolitan city. He gained much in his understandings of the 'in-fighting' of politics, of mob psychology, and here began his terrible prejudice tow.
KR IRS 6126 ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Dr Sundar <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2026 at 08:46 Subject: [society4servingseniors] Atal Ji's Vision To: ggroup <[email protected]> My opinion...... If Venezuela had nuclear weapons today, the U.S. wouldn’t have the courage to attack it. That’s why Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s decision to make India a nuclear power was historic and essential Atal Bihari Vajpayee grasped this truth in 1998 when he made India a declared nuclear power. Global acceptance of India as a de facto nuclear state proves the wisdom of that decision. Jai to Atal Ji Namaskaram *"KNOW THYSELF .* *SELF KNOWLEDGE IS REAL KNOWLEDGE.* *ALL OTHER KNOWLEDGE IS IGNORANCE AND THEY ARE NO KNOWLEDGE " * *~~~ Bhagavan Ramana* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "societyforservingseniors" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/society4servingseniors/CAF%3D8Bw3mqx1KokR-srWnSGPv6Lt6FcPxwiOHw09Zq6wWiU%2Bp%2Bw%40mail.gmail.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/society4servingseniors/CAF%3D8Bw3mqx1KokR-srWnSGPv6Lt6FcPxwiOHw09Zq6wWiU%2Bp%2Bw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZorMCBxRYrt%2BLjtm%3DxFK7JTT2E5_6t9nTv-Sm-7tt%3D9mqA%40mail.gmail.com.
