Started digging into this Hitler research after watching some old documentary late at night honestly. Weird how those rabbit holes suck you in. Grabbed my laptop around 1 AM, coffee cold beside me, just typing crap into search engines. Everyone knows the big evil stuff, right? Wanted the oddball bits, the stuff that makes you go "huh?".
The Hunt for Weirdness
First thing, hit up the local library archives next morning. Dude, smelling those old books is like time travel. Dug through microfiche – seriously, felt like a detective in some cheap movie. Found this one newspaper clipping from like '36 talking about Hitler rejecting some painter for a building project because the guy's style wasn't "Germanic" enough. Seems petty crazy for a guy starting a world war.
- Teeth & Diet: Read some old medical assistant's notes claiming Hitler had awful teeth and horrible breath, probably from his weird vegetarian diet mixed with like, constant gummy bears or something? Also got super paranoid about being poisoned. Paranoia on steroids.
- Bad Painter, Worse Architect: We know he got rejected from art school, but get this: found notes from his actual architect buddy Albert Speer. Ol' Hitler sketched out designs for giant, creepy monuments he wanted built after winning the war. Think giant eagle statues on steroids. Thank god he lost.
- Blowing Up His Own Stuff: Research trip last summer to Berlin. Went down into the bunkers – creepy place. Guide told us Hitler ordered the Gestapo headquarters blown up near the end, trying to hide stuff. They messed it up big time, building only partly collapsed. Kinda symbolic of the whole failed regime thing.
Down the Rabbit Hole Deeper
Spent a whole afternoon chasing rumors. Like, one book claimed he only had one testicle. Seriously? Cross-checked medical reports – turns out doctors after the war checked his body pieces and said nope, both were actually there. Weird myth that just sticks. Another hour wasted tracking down some story about him inventing anti-smoking campaigns in Germany. Found some legit propaganda posters, yeah, Nazis pushed that hard. But Hitler himself? Dude hated smoke but couldn't quite kick the habit, apparently sneaked cigs sometimes. Hypocrite much?
Stumbled onto accounts about his niece Geli Raubal too. Stayed at his mountain pad, then boom – dead by gunshot, ruled a suicide. Whole thing smells funny, some diary entries talking about his possessive control over her. Messy family secrets.
Wrapping Up
Honestly? Digging into this stuff gives me the creeps. It’s easy to see him as just a monster cartoon. Finding these small, stupid, almost pathetic details? Makes it weirder. He was a guy eating vegetarian junk food with bad breath designing ugly monuments while his empire crumbled. Finished my notes feeling kinda gross, like needing a shower after touching something slimy. History's full of these ugly, bizarre layers beneath the big, terrible headlines.
