The essence of the Hitler myth was that the Fuhrer was at the same time a man of the people and one who stood above the people.



In contrast to Hindenburg, the Prussian aristocrat and Army commander blessed with the privileges of high birth and social status, Hitler was the decorated front-line soldier of the First World War, a man who understood and had shard the fears, sufferings and anxieties of the common man. By his extraordinary willpower - his 'will to power' - he had risen above the common herd to achieve the status of a 'superman'.

Hitler was presented as being above the party. Goebbels deliberately aimed to separate the Fuhrer from the party. Hitler was the father figure, the Ersatzkaiser who had been lacking in Germany since the abdication of Wilhelm II in 1918. He was the saviour who had deliberately forsaken marriage and having children in order to save and serve the fatherland. Indeed Hitler was blessed with mystical, almost religious qualities.

Hitler's power came to be regarded as something above and beyond that of a normal head of state. No matter who you were within the party or the state, you were answerable to Hitler. He was seen to be above party politics and beyond the law.

The Fuhrer principle basically meant that the country needed a strong charismatic leader who could lead the people in whatever way he thought best. Hans Franck, Hitler's lawyer, wrote that,

"Our constitution is the will of the Fuhrer...it was Hitler's regime, Hitler's policy, Hitler's victory and Hitler's defeat - nothing else."

Ian Kershaw, the respected historian of Nazi Germany, has spent a great deal of time investigating the way in which the 'Hitler Myth' was built up to consolidate the Fuhrer principle. The Nazis took power in 1933 because of Hitler, not because of their ideology. This Myth presented Hitler as an almost godlike figure for a German population eager for strong leadership. Goebbels later cited this as one of his greatest propaganda achievements. What he wore, said and the way he was depicted in the media was all carefully controlled (e.g. no pictures were allowed to appear which showed him wearing glasses - a sign of weakness!).

Many people began to separate Hitler from the party, allowing his own popularity to remain high when that of the Nazi regime started to fall. This was particularly the case during the Second World War. This image was not completely divorced from reality. Kershaw argues that Hitler himself was starting to believe his own hype - "Hitler himself was a convert to the 'Fuhrer myth', himself a victim of Nazi propaganda."