HITLER’S FIRST ENEMY

The story goes that Hitler would sometimes refuse to begin his speeches before the arrival of one of his harshest critics. That man’s name was Konrad Heiden. As a reporter at the respected Frankfurter Zeitung, Heiden was one of the first journalists to follow and critically examine the Nazis’ rise to power. His two-volume biography of Hitler, published in Switzerland in 1936/1937, informed virtually all subsequent descriptions of the dictator’s life. And yet today, Heiden is all but forgotten. This is not only an insightful portrait of a fascinating man, but also vividly recreates Heiden’s unique perspectives on Hitler’s rise and rule. Heiden, a Social Democrat of Jewish ancestry, had already campaigned against the National Socialists as a student in Munich in the early 1920s. In a 1932 book published by Rowohlt, he described Nazism as “marching without a goal, staggering without being drunk, believing without God; not even its thirst for blood brings it any pleasure.” Forced to flee Germany in March 1933, Heiden continued his struggle against the Nazis, putting his life in danger in the process. In the US he was seen as the preeminent expert on the regime and as its ‘Public Enemy No. 1.’ He died in New York in 1966. It is high time that we remember the life and work of one of Hitler’s earliest adversaries.

› The impressive biography about Hitler’s Public Enemy No. 1.

› English sample translation available.

› The biography will be made into a film for TV.