Hitler's blog, stardate 1925

SHOOT: It is a truth neither acknowledged nor widely represented, but Hitler softened and prepared the German citizens for what was to come with an 'Introduction to who I am' known as Mein Kampf [My Struggle/My Fight], written while he was in jail - for treason - in 1925. But it started even before that. It started in the same jail with a 24 page exposition called: 'What Happened On November 8?' Enthused by the results and the potential words could have beyond his personal confines he went on to write further. He originally called his next project 'Four and a Half Years of Fighting Against Stupidity, Lies and Cowardice'. Hess played the editor, suggesting the shorter and more credible 'Mein Kampf'.

Best and most insightful blog post: "Anybody who sees and paints a sky green and pastures blue ought to be sterilized." - Adolf Hitler

The propaganda of his work - which he clearly believed in and promoted in the work itself - was made ubiquitous in the German community by offering it for free [not to download but simply to read] to married couples, and it was considered normal/standard practise to send to troops serving on the front lines.

encyclopedia.tfd.com: The Hochzeitsausgabe (Wedding Edition), in a slipcase with the seal of the province embossed in gold onto a parchment-like cover was given free to marrying couples and in 1940, the Tornister-Ausgaube, a compact but unabridged edition in a red cover, was released by the post office for parents and partners to send to loved ones at the front.

clipped from encyclopedia.tfd.com Hitler felt that he needed to make sure that the public knew what he stood for, so began to dictate a book to Hess and Maurice, part-autobiography but also a political treatise. While imprisoned, Hitler’s first often overlooked contribution to the literary world was released, a small 24-page self-written booklet entitled ‘What Happened On November 8?’ aimed at clearing up confusion and rumor amidst both the party ranks and presumably some members of the public. A poster shows that Hitler originally wanted to call his forthcoming book ‘Viereinhalb Jahre [des Kampfes] gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit’ (Four and a Half Years of Fighting Against Stupidity, Lies and Cowardice). Hess is said to have suggested the much shorter Mein Kampf (often translated as "My Struggle", its meaning could also be conveyed as "My Fight"). [Hitler] hopes the book will run into many editions, thus enabling him to fulfill his financial obligations and to defray the expenses incurred at the time of his trial.’

Valkyrie Movie Review - and how DID the good Germans elect Hitler?

The thing wrong with this flick is that we all know that Hitler was never assassinated (though few may realise there were around 20 unsuccessful attempts). Hitler took his own life in the comfort of his own bunker when the damage was fully unleashed and the Russian Red Army (Russia lost 20 million in WWII) were sniffing for him around the courtyards of Berlin.

Singer could have done a much better job. Many of the scenes looked rather too clean and empty to me. It was World War II after all.

I would have liked the same grit we see when Cruise/von Stauffenberg gets blown up in the beginning, when he plants the bomb. We should smell the chemical fuse eating through, see a bead of perspiration form on Cruise' immaculate forehead.

That said, this is a valuable flick, worth the watch, even if only to realise the sheer futility, the utter waste that war is. Entire fields of good men, bad men - all men - are laid to waste, cut down like wheat, because of the hubris of a few (mad) men. It seems we can never learn this lesson - that war is a bad, dumb, wasteful idea (ALWAYS) - enough. Every few years Presidents forget it anew, and we let them.

For more, read: How did the good Germans elect Hitler?

clipped from movies.nytimes.com There are no discernibly nasty Nazis in “Valkyrie,” though Hitler and Goebbels skulk about in a few scenes, shooting dark, ominous looks at the heroic German Army officer played by Tom Cruise. Perhaps they’re wondering what this Hollywood megastar is doing in their midst, a sentiment that you may come to share while watching Mr. Cruise — who gives a fine, typically energetic performance in a film that requires nothing more of him than a profile and vigor — strut about as one of history’s more enigmatic players. It’s a war that offers moral absolutes (Nazis are evil) and narratives (Nazis are evil and should die) that seem easier to grasp than any current conflict. Truly, World War II has become the moviemaker’s gift that keeps on giving, whether you want it to or not.