Hitler at Home

A revelatory look at the residences of Adolf Hitler, illuminating their powerful role in constructing and promoting the dictators private persona both within Germany and abroad Adolf Hitlers makeover from rabble-rouser to statesman coincided with a series of dramatic home renovations he undertook during the mid-1930s. This provocative book exposes the dictators preoccupation with his private persona, which was shaped by the aesthetic and ideological management of his domestic architecture. Hitlers bachelor life stirred rumors, and the Nazi regime relied on the dictators three dwellingsthe Old Chancellery in Berlin, his apartment in Munich, and the Berghof, his mountain home on the Obersalzbergto foster the myth of the Fhrer as a morally upstanding and refined man. Author Despina Stratigakos also reveals the previously untold story of Hitlers interior designer, Gerdy Troost, through newly discovered archival sources. At the height of the Third Reich, media outlets around the world showcased Hitlers homes to audiences eager for behind-the-scenes stories. After the war, fascination with Hitlers domestic life continued as soldiers and journalists searched his dwellings for insights into his psychology. The books rich illustrations, many previously unpublished, offer readers a rare glimpse into the decisions involved in the making of Hitlers homes and into the sheer power of the propaganda that influenced how the world saw him.