Hitler at Home

A revelatory look at the residences of Adolf Hitler, illuminating their powerful role in constructing and promoting the dictator s private persona both within Germany and abroad

Adolf Hitler s 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 dictator s preoccupation with his private persona, which was shaped by the aesthetic and ideological management of his domestic architecture. Hitler s bachelor life stirred rumors, and the Nazi regime relied on the dictator s three dwellings the Old Chancellery in Berlin, his apartment in Munich, and the Berghof, his mountain home on the Obersalzberg to foster the myth of the F hrer as a morally upstanding and refined man. Author Despina Stratigakos also reveals the previously untold story of Hitler s interior designer, Gerdy Troost, through newly discovered archival sources.

At the height of the Third Reich, media outlets around the world showcased Hitler s homes to audiences eager for behind-the-scenes stories. After the war, fascination with Hitler s domestic life continued as soldiers and journalists searched his dwellings for insights into his psychology. The book s rich illustrations, many previously unpublished, offer readers a rare glimpse into the decisions involved in the making of Hitler s homes and into the sheer power of the propaganda that influenced how the world saw him.