Hitlers Authentizität

Die Sensationssuche rund um die kritische Edition von „Mein Kampf“ ebbt ab, die wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung kann beginnen. Andreas Wirsching macht einen inspirierenden Anfang. Angeregt durch neuere Beiträge der Hitlerforschung und aktuelle Fragen nach historischer Authentizität untersucht er das in „Mein Kampf“ präsentierte Selbstbild des „Führers“ der NSDAP und arbeitet verschiedene Schichten heraus. Hitlers politische Identität, so lautet die Kernthese, war, anders als sein Berufswunsch „Baumeister“, nicht das Resultat einer längeren, schlüssigen Entwicklung, sondern vor allem den Umständen geschuldet, in denen er sich am Kriegsende wiederfand. Aus der funktionalistischen Deutung von Hitlers politischer Biografie ergeben sich weitere Überlegungen zur Interpretation des NS-Regimes und seiner Tätermotivationen.The point of departure of this article is the concept of authenticity, which has increasingly gained importance for the construction of Bourgeois individual identity since the second half of the 19th century. The question regarding which elements of a personality can be seen as authentic, i.e. as real and credible, has also been raised about Adolf Hitler. It is thus an essential facet of the history of his ascent, which of his characteristics and biographical experiences he himself viewed or constructed as authentic and which were attributed to him as such by his environment. This encompasses aspects of Hitler's youth and his time in Vienna and Munich, as well as the question, when and under what conditions the foundations of his racist “world view” were laid. The article argues, that, in Hitler's case, a number of layers of authenticity have to be distinguished, whereby the wish to become an artist or architect plays a prominent role. His world view, which Hitler labels as authentic in “Mein Kampf”, is conversely a dimension which was added later. This emphasises the functional character of Hitler's political-ideological conditioning, which also influences the overall interpretation of the Nazi regime and the motivations of its perpetrators