The Psychological Assessment of Political Leadershe is to bring the Germans to the positions of supremacy which all
German statesmen have felt they deserved but were unable to
achieve." Langer observed that, in addition to his great abilities,
Hitler prided himself on his hardness and brutality: "I am one of the
hardest men Germany has had for decades, perhaps for centuries,
equipped with the greatest authority of any German leader... but
above all I believe in my success. I believe in it unconditionally."
In his messianic leadership, Hitler associated himself with Christ,
but his pride in his hardness stood in conflict with Christ's gentle,
loving nature. He handled this by redefining Christ's nature: "My
feeling as a Christian points to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. ... It
points to the man who recognized the Jews for what they were and
summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was
greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. ... I read through the pas-
sage which tells of us how the lord rose at last in His might and
seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the rod of vipers and
adders. How terrific was the fight for the world against the Jewish
poison!" (Langer 1972, 36). Langer concluded that Hitler increas-
ingly conceived of himself as a second Christ. He glowed with pride
when addressed with the salutation "Heil Hitler, our Savior."
Confirming his sense of his own role in history and his identification
with the Messiah, Hitler's propaganda machine painted the follow-
ing message on a hillside: "We believe in Holy Germany. Holy Ger-
many is Hitler! We believe in Holy Hitler!" (56).
Langer cites the reports of Hitler's preoccupation with his mau-
soleum, which was to be the mecca of Germany after his death. Plan-
ning a monument seven hundred feet high, which would have a
great psychological effect, Hitler declared, "I know how to keep my
hold on people after I have passed on. I shall be the Fuhrer they look
up at and go home to talk of and remember. My life shall not end in
the mere form of death. It will, on the contrary, begin then" (Langer
1972, 37-38).
A diplomat commented that Hitler was convinced of his own
infallibility and success. This in turn was associated with a resistance
to criticism, which angered him. "To contradict him in his eyes is a
crime.... {Opposition to his plans, from whatever side it may
come, is a definite sacrilege, to which the only reply is an immediate
and striking display of his omnipotence." Thus Langer asserted that