Hitler in Lederhosen
In lederhosen and knee-high socks, Adolf Hitler lounges against a tree in a pose more twit than tyrant.
It is little surprise the Fuhrer later banned the absurdly camp woodland snap, calling it ‘beneath one’s dignity’.
But the rare archive photo, and several other portraits as comical as they are chilling, have been discovered in a Hitler ‘fan magazine’ from the Thirties.
Hitler seems ill at ease with his hands, squeezing them into his tight lederhosen pockets in one photo, and perching them awkwardly on his hips in another.
In one ridiculous picture, he tilts his head and tries a mean and moody stare to camera, topped off by a military cap.
It must have felt better than it looked, for after seeing the portrait, he never wore the cap again.
In another photo, Hitler tries to strike a casual-yet-serious pose as he balances on the edge of a log cabin veranda showing off his knobbly knees.
A snap of him relaxing in a deckchair in a meadow is proof, were it needed, that in those days leaders did not have expert public relations advisers close at hand.
The theatrical wartime leader’s personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann took many of the black and white photos for Hitler’s own use.
But they ended up in the Hitler fanzine – Deutschland Erwache (Germany Awaken) – full of hero worship and pin-up pictures of the Fuhrer, published by his fervent henchman Baldur von Shirach.
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