The Hitler Library

Making a unique collection accessible to scholars, The Hitler Library is a complete bibliography of Hitler's books currently in the Rare Book Reading Room of the Library of Congress. Pointing to seldom used sources in social and political history, including photo albums, honorary citizenship diplomas, and festschriften, as well as trade books given to Hitler, the volume offers a very private view of one of history's most evil figures. A scholarly introduction, a commentary, and transcriptions of the many handwritten dedications in the books, providing fascinating insights into the cult of the F^Duhrer and the social history of the Third Reich are included.

Although the Hitler collection in the Library of Congress is fragmentary, including an unknown yet substantial percentage of the books Hitler must have owned, the collection offers fresh insight into the social and political history of the Third Reich. Presented by friends, admirers, and ordinary Germans, these books, many with handwritten dedications, help us to comprehend the role of Hitler in German society.

PHILIPP GASSERT is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Heidelberg. His areas of specialization are the history of National Socialism and postwar German history. His publications include Amerika im Dritten Reich (1997) and 1968: The World Transformed (1998).

DANIEL S. MATTERN is Senior Editor at the German Historical Institute. He edits the series Publications of the German Historical Institute, published by Cambridge, and all in-house publications, such as the GHI Bulletin, the Reference Guides series, and the Occasional Papers series.