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Adolf Hitler

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confronted with reality (in this case, that he was not the "superman" or "savior of Germany" he envisioned himself to be, as his plans and apparent early achievements collapsed about him). In addition, his regular methamphetamine use and possible sleep deprivation in the last period of his life must be factored into any speculation as to the cause of his possible psychotic symptoms, as these two activities are known to trigger psychotic reactions in some individuals. Hitler never visited a psychiatrist, and under current methodology, any such diagnosis is speculation.



Addiction to amphetamine

Hitler began using amphetamine occasionally after 1937 and became addicted to amphetamine after the late summer of 1942. Albert Speer stated he thought this was the most likely cause of the later rigidity of Hitler’s decision making (never allowing military retreats).



Criticism

In a 1980 article, the German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler was highly dismissive of all theories that sought to explain Nazi Germany as due to some defect, medical or otherwise in Hitler. Wehler wrote:

In Wehler's opinion, besides the problem that such theories about Hitler's medical condition were extremely difficult to prove, the problem was that they had the effect of personalizing the phenomena of Nazi Germany by more or less attributing everything that happened in the Third Reich to one flawed individual. Echoing Wehler's views, the British historian Sir Ian Kershaw argued that it was better to take a broader view of German history

by seeking to examine what social forces led to the Third Reich and its policies, as opposed to the "personalized" explanations for the Holocaust and World War II. In his 1998 book Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil, the American journalist Ron Rosenbaum sarcastically remarked that theories concerning Hitler's mental state and sexual activity shed more light on the theorists than on Hitler.



Sexuality

Hitler presented himself publicly as a man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission.

He had a fiancée in the 1920s, Mimi Reiter, and later had a mistress, Eva Braun. He had a close bond with his half-niece Geli Raubal, which some commentators have claimed was sexual, though there is no evidence that proves this. According to John Toland (in his book A.H.: a Definitive Biography), Hitler would often visit Geli in the manner of a suitor, and restricted his niece's movement unless she was chaperoned by him. All three women attempted suicide (two succeeded), a fact that has led to speculation that Hitler may have had sexual fetishes, such as urolagnia, as was claimed by Otto Strasser, a political opponent of Hitler. Reiter, the only one to survive the Nazi regime, denied this. During the war and afterwards psychoanalysts offered numerous inconsistent psychosexual explanations of his pathology. Some theorists have claimed that Hitler had a relationship with British fascist Unity Mitford. Lothar Machtan argues in his book The Hidden Hitler that Hitler was homosexual.