The Ages of Hitler. From Satan to the Flesh and Blood Man, and Representations Stemming from Parody

Abstract

Adolf Hitler has been the cause of perverse fascination from the very moment he appeared on the German political scene, a feeling that in the course of time has given way to numerous cultural representations about the Führer. The sample, rich and varied both in its matter of substance and in its form, shall allow us to devise three stages in relation to the process of historiographical construction of Hitlerism, which commenced immediately after the fall of the Third Reich. These stages are largely connected to the sociopolitical and cultural developments that have affected society at a global scale from the end of the war up to the present and may be summed up in three: firstly, the demonizing trend; secondly, the humanization process; thirdly, parody approaches. In this paper, I offer a historical tour of different cultural products on the German dictator, the ultimate goal of which is to unravel the psychological portrait created on the basis of Hitler’s figure