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| Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Sportpalast Speech, February 10, 1933. |
Adolf Hitler is
well-known as a master rhetorician; however, most clips of Hitler’s speeches
usually feature just a few seconds of him frothing at the mouth. Compelling
enough, but they do not allow the viewer the grasp the broader aspects of his
ability as a public speaker. Hitler’s success as a public speaker was not due
to his ability shout louder than everyone else, but rather that he
scientifically broke down his performance, analyzing gestures and postures,
modulating tempo, learning to read the audience, and responding accordingly.
The following
video clip is from Hitler: The Whole
Story (1989 Cine-Art/Munich), which first aired on the Discovery Channel in 1990. Here, this segment provides an analysis
of the techniques Hitler used to improve his performance and maximize his hold
on the audience, as well as the psychological motivations behind his
extraordinary public speaking ability.
I had to add the disclaimer at the beginning to clear YouTube filters that tagged the clip as somehow being Pro-National Socialist, which it is definitely not.
For fuller
context, the next clip, from The Fatal
Attraction of Adolf Hitler (1989), features an interview with a 1930's-era
Berlin social worker who discusses the poverty that contributed to Hitler's
appeal as a secular “messiah.” Additionally, Egon Hanfstaengl, son of
Hitler's foreign press officer Ernst Hanfstaengl (who defected in 1937),
provides insight into Hitler’s psychology as it regards his approach to
connecting with the German masses. The clip also notes Hitler's then-innovative
use of airplanes in campaigning and ends with an extended excerpt from his
infamous speech at the Berlin Sportpalast on February 10, 1933, not long after
his appointment as Chancellor.
Seventeen
days after this speech, on February 27, 1933, the German Reichstag building was
burned down. Hitler blamed the communists and used the opportunity to
centralize power in his hands, eliminate his political opponents, and clear the
way to war.
Note: The above video clips are hosted on an Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
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