[A_C_Slater]

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Hitler was not a literate one trick pony. It is very possible that Hitler was more widely read than just about anyone that ever lived (if not it would be close.) And he remembered everything he ever read. For the years when he was busto all he did was read books from the library. He read everything he could on art, theatre, opera, architecture, politics, history, etc.

This is why everyone had such trouble disputing his arguments, he had such a voluminous knowledge of everything that he could just exhibit pedantic displays of information overload until the opponent would retreat, feeling intellectually inferior.

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I haven't read a lot of this thread, but I caught this piece of [censored] hero worship.

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Whoa. Ok Hitler didn't have an excellent memory and voluminous knowledge about many things. People just did what he said because they felt sorry for him. I was trying to convey why so many million of Germans followed him. An idiot doesn't amass millions of followers.

And I said "pedantic displays" of knowledge. This indicates that most of the things he talked about were of no real value, but when less educated people heard him they thought he really must be saying something simply because he had so much to say.

So many people have no command of rhetoric and are easily influenced by it.

Did you read the whole thread before making this post?

From Life and Death of:

"When the wars were over, it became customary to speak of the banality of his mind and the turgidity of his speeches, but these were dangerous half-truths. He had a mind like a cutting edge, was learned in many disciplines, read widely, and possessed a phenomenal memory that retained nearly everything that he ever read or heard. His writing and speeches are turgid when presented in English translation, but this is partly the fault of the translators.

In the original they have raw energy and turbulent power designed to excite the audience to action, and there was np doubt that they admirably served his purpose. He was not an orator in the traditional sense, but a spellbinder who knew exactly how to arose the masses.

When he wanted to, he could coo like a dove. Men spoke of his sweet voice, which was the not the voice he employed at the Nuremburg rallies. Speaking in small gatherings at the opening of a new building, when there was no occasion for uttering threats, he would employ a low-keyed voice of sweet reasonableness, almost caressing. When he spoke quietly, simply, and earnestly, he was completely convincing. These small, intimate talks were seldom broadcast, but they played an important role in his legend. By their reasonablness and gentleness they convinced many Germans that his great ranting speeches were designed for foreign consumption and were not to be taken altogether seriously."